Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death is a sobering wake up call. Her death came at a time of immense upheaval in our country, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and a national reckoning with systemic racism.
As a Black woman and former mayor of Baltimore, a predominantly Black city, I know firsthand the inequities and challenges that Black women face every day in America.
By Hasan James These past seven months have been a time for the ages. I vividly remember being told by a Black Medical Doctor that COVID-19 would not affect African Americans in large numbers because our pigmentation would protect us from the deadly disease. Yet here we are with well over 8.3 million cases in the United States, with well over 221,000 deaths and African Americans being three times more likely than whites to contract COVID-19. After seeing so many people I know being personally affected by the disease; including…
With Black historical education joining the movement as a pivotal step toward racial progress less is known about the African Americans who make up the rural and mountain south. Synonymous with Folk music, Trump country, banjos and whiteness the geographical areas known as Appalachia are void of African American story telling on a broad scale and the Black in Appalachia Project is doing work to change that. Notable cities within Appalachia include Asheville, NC, Binghamton, NY, Knoxville, TN, Roanoke, VA, Pittsburg, PA, and Huntsville Alabama. However the entire Appalachian region…
By I. Malik Saafir, President & CEO of The Southern Renaissance A panoramic view of environmental racism allows Black Americans to see their communities through seven lenses of justice: housing, education, employment, healthcare, recreation, and religion. Environmental justice gives Americans a panoramic view of environmental racism from the perspective of Black Americans. The history of this kind of panoramic view of racism can be traced back to what I call the First Wave of the Civil Rights Movement, a time when Black Americans first experienced racism through the seven lenses…