On August 29, 1970, the Chicano Moratorium Against the Vietnam War mobilized the largest Chicano protest and the largest anti-war protest led by a community of color at the time. Combining a critique of US imperialism abroad and racism at home, the Chicano Moratorium was the result of years of organizing and consciousness raising by Chicano liberation […]
Tag: Racial Justice
Posted inDNC, elections 2024, Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Racial Justice, The Real News Network, video
DNC protests begin: ‘Reproductive justice means free Palestine!’
On Sunday, Aug. 18, one day before the beginning of the Democratic National Convention, protestors rallied in downtown Chicago at a march organized by Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws: Coalition for Reproductive Justice & LGBTQ+ Liberation. As the coalition states on their website, “We demand national legislation to expand access to abortion, support families, and defend […]
Posted inArticle, Baltimore, Economy, Economy and Inequality, Politics and Movements: US, Racial Justice, Reprint, The Real News Network
Scenes from a sacrifice zone: South Baltimore residents fight back against industrial pollution
This story was co-published with in In These Times on Aug. 14, 2024. The explosion happened on Dec. 30, 2021, in the working-class South Baltimore neighborhood of Curtis Bay. At the coal plant building owned and operated by rail giant CSX Transportation, no more than a city block away from residents’ homes and local businesses, a buildup of methane […]
Posted inpolicing, Politics and Movements: US, Prisons and Policing, Racial Justice, Rattling the Bars, The Real News Network, video
It’s been 10 years. When will we get justice for Michael Brown?
On Aug. 9, 2014, Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. Police left Brown’s lifeless body in the hot sun for four hours, plainly demonstrating the contempt of law enforcement for the local community. The righteous rebellion that followed in Ferguson shook the nation and the world, turning the Black Lives Matter […]
Posted inclimate change, Climate Crisis, Prison Industrial Complex, prison reform, Prisons and Policing, Racial Justice, Rattling the Bars, The Real News Network, video
Black woman dies in California prison from heat over 110 degrees
A 42-year-old Black woman, Adrienne Boulware, has died in the custody of the California Department of Corrections at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. On July 4, prison guards exposed Boulware to extreme temperatures outdoors during a heatwave for 15 minutes, leaving her with just a small glass of water in the over 110 F […]
Posted inPrison Industrial Complex, Prisons and Policing, Racial Justice, Rattling the Bars, The Real News Network, video
Slavery once split up Black families. Today, prisons do the same thing.
The modern prison system’s origins in slavery can be seen in telltale signs throughout the system. The system of chattel slavery had no incentive to keep Black families together—in fact, separation was deliberately used to punish the enslaved. Today, the prison system mirrors this in its treatment of families of the incarcerated. Prisoners are denied […]
Posted inArticle, Economy and Inequality, Politics and Movements: US, Racial Justice, Reprint, The Real News Network
On losing “the greatest teacher of nonviolence in America”
This story originally appeared in In These Times on July 02, 2024. It is shared here with permission. I had the privilege of teaching a course at UCLA on “Nonviolence and Social Movements” with Rev. James Lawson, Jr. for more than 20 years. The course analyzed contemporary social movements that embrace the philosophy of nonviolence, and encouraged students to apply nonviolence […]
Posted inBioneers
Debt’s Reach: Unveiling Injustice and Collective Power with the Debt Collective
In an era where financial struggles are often framed as personal failings, conversations about debt are critical lenses into systemic injustices and collective resilience. Maddy Clifford and René Christian Moya, prominent voices from the Debt Collective, bring these discussions to the forefront. Through their work, they illuminate how debt intersects with social inequality, housing insecurity, […]
Posted inBioneers
What the Hell Should We Be Doing About Rising Fascism?
Amid the current rise of fascist leaders, rhetoric, and movements in the U.S., we need to examine contemporary expressions of fascism and how individuals, communities, organizations, and networks can respond and resist. Especially in the context of the 2024 elections, the anti-fascist actions of millions of ordinary people will determine whether our baseline democratic norms […]
Posted inprison reform, Prisons and Policing, Racial Justice, Rattling the Bars, The Real News Network, video
The prison system isn’t ‘broken’—it’s designed to traumatize Black people en masse
The lived reality of the racist prison system can get lost in the swirl of facts and figures surrounding mass incarceration. Frigid cells in winters and sweltering conditions in summers; the volatility and capriciousness of hostile guards and correctional staff; food barely fit for human consumption; isolation from one’s community and deprivation from the routines […]