For as long as I can remember, the path our boots on the ground in protest have taken have led us up the steps into some courthouse.
“Eyes on the prize” becomes eyes on judges and juries.
Whether federal, state or local, we wait to see if justice means “just-us people in power” or if the voices of the black, brown, yellow, red and rainbow segment of citizens will triumph under the rule of law.
(Photos from Mega Moral Monday Protest – June 3, 2013, NC,
facebook page Heather Rattelade)
Civil disobedience is a time honored tactic in our struggles over the years for civil and human rights. Sunday, I wrote about the Moral Monday Movement in NC, and the upcoming June 3rd “Mega Moral Monday” protest, and had to follow up today to report on how things went.
More than 200 people gathered support the people arrested for peaceably protesting at the N.C General Assembly building in Raleigh, North Carolina.
This is the powerful message of a growing movement in North Carolina.
Gathered together on “Moral Mondays” a coalition of activist North Carolinian’s of all races, and ethnicities-the young and the old, are putting their bodies on the line, and getting arrested to defend and advance civil and human rights in the state.
Crowds Grow and Arrests Continue at NC General Assembly | Moral Monday 4th
This is what a movement looks like.
Morehouse graduates in the rain cheer President Obama at commencement address (Pete Souza)
If you have not yet listened to, and watched President Obama delivering the commencement address at Morehouse College, on Sunday, May 19, 2013 it is posted here for you to absorb and view.
This was the 129th commencement ceremony at Morehouse, an historically black college (HBCU). What made it different from all of the ones that preceded it, was that the “Mighty Men” of Morehouse were being addressed by the President of the United States. Black man to young black men.
Though this story is about specific organizing in NYC, I think it’s important to share the steps that are being taken there by a broad based coalition of progressive activists, which can be applied across the U.S.
New York City’s Stop and Frisk laws are racist, and negatively affect black, brown, and gay New Yorkers. A majority of those who have been targeted are young people. Communities United for Police Reform is organizing to stop this.
Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) is an unprecedented campaign to end discriminatory policing practices in New York, bringing together a movement of community members, lawyers, researchers and activists to work for change. The partners in this campaign come from all 5 boroughs, from all walks of life and represent many of those most unfairly targeted by the NYPD. This groundbreaking campaign is fighting for reforms that will promote community safety while ensuring that the NYPD protects and serves all New Yorkers. We are a movement that is here to stay – a Campaign that will be a visible, lasting presence on the streets of neighborhoods citywide. We will be in communities and on the streets, educating people about their rights; and in the courts and on the steps of City Hall and the state capitol, demanding change to the NYPD — until these policies end.
Re-creation of burned Greyhound Freedom Rider bus, National Civil Rights Museum
The recreation of the burned out Greyhound bus pictured above doesn’t begin to capture the horror of the actual event, that took place on Mother’s Day outside of Anniston, Alabama.
Perhaps this actual photo illustrates more of the tale that is told by those Freedom riders who were on the bus that day.
It is May. Springtime. A month of hope and rebirth. It is also a month of memories that we need to revisit yearly until the seeds of hate no longer can sow sorrow in the U.S.A.
I was only 13 years old in May of 1961. Not too young to be concerned with civil rights however, and I looked up to those young people, only a few years older than I, who packed up their bags and headed off to do battle against racial segregation.
They were black, and white, and they knew they were facing possible death.
Yet they got on buses and headed south.
I have to admit that rather than being angry about Republican attempts to lure black voters by twisting and spinning and blatantly lying about who they are as a party and who and what they stand for, I have been watching their contortions with an almost unholy glee.
They have had it so easy fogging the minds of low-information white folks who consist on a steady diet of Fox news, conspiracy theory, and panic-driven racism, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia, that blinded by buying their own propaganda and bigotry, they have bought the package they sell and continue to make futile attempts to steer us “blah” folks to vote for them, even as they spit on us in public on a daily basis.
Echoing the words of First Lady Michelle Obama:
President Obama called NBA player Jason Collins Monday to offer his support after Collins announced he’s gay, becoming the first openly gay major league professional athlete, CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett has learned.
The president offered congratulations and support on Collins’ courage and willingness to be the first in the four dominant pro sports to make this announcement.
First lady Michelle Obama also showed her support for Collins on Twitter Monday.
“So proud of you, Jason Collins! This is a huge step forward for our country. We’ve got your back!” she tweeted, signing it “-mo,” which indicates she – not an aide – sent the message.
Jan 21, 1941-April 22, 2013
We have all heard by now of the death of Richie Havens.
I’d like to spend a little time celebrating his life. Not just as the iconic opening performer at Woodstock, or hall of fame blues folk artist.
He was a man with a message, about the environment.
Havens devoted his energies to educating young people about ecological issues. In the mid-1970s, he co-founded the Northwind Undersea Institute, an oceanographic children’s museum on City Island in the Bronx. That, in turn, led to the creation of The Natural Guard, an organization Richie describes as “a way of helping kids learn that they can have a hands-on role in affecting the environment. Children study the land, water, and air in their own communities and see how they can make positive changes from something as simple as planting a garden in an abandoned lot.
There are few people in the world who do not know the face of Desmond Tutu. When Nelson Mandela appointed him to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, he became the public face of an extraordinary process that few people could have even dreamed of or imagined during the long hard years of battling the brutal Apartheid regime.
The road to reconciliation was not easy.
