Posts by dr_fran
‘Bring More Black Farmer Voices Together’: How the Black Farmers Collective Is Growing a Black-Led Food System Rooted in Black Liberation
Black farmers make up less than 2 percent of the overall farming population in the US and have been stripped of millions of acres of land in the last century. Even the USDA itself played a major role in financially bankrupting Black farm families. The US Dept. of Agriculture was to offer a multibillion dollar loan forgiveness program for farmers of color as part of COVID relief, but is on hold now due to white farmers’ claim of “reverse discrimination.”
Read MoreRevealed: neo-Confederate group includes military officers and politicians
Leaked membership data from the neo-Confederate Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) organization has revealed that the organization’s members include serving military officers, elected officials, public employees, and a national security expert whose CV boasts of “Department of Defense Secret Security Clearance” violent neo-Confederate groups such as the League of the South (LoS).
Read MoreOpinion: The cold truth about Republicans’ hot air over critical race theory
Christopher Rufo, a clever propagandist who has done more than anyone else to whip up the national uproar over critical race theory, tweeted out in March an explanation of how he was redefining the term.
Read MoreABHM Book Club presents Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
ABHM Book Club is reading A Long Walk to Freedom: the Autobiography of Nelson Mandela during June and July. Sign up for the free Book Club meetings here and learn more about the world-touring exhibition about Mandela currently at the Milwaukee Public Museum.
Read MoreI’m happy Juneteenth is a Federal holiday–but don’t let it be whitewashed
An Op-Ed: We should be happy to popularize and celebrate Juneteenth. But we should celebrate it with the same fervor in which it was celebrated the summer of 2020, with protests, political education, and an understanding that the house of the slavemaster still stands, despite a fresh coat of paint. We must celebrate Juneteenth knowing the kind of force it took for enslaved Black people to attain emancipation – and the equivalent political force it may take to finally and absolutely uproot the American capitalist. Wisconsin celebrated it 50th Juneteenth in 2021 with a long parade up Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, complete with Civil War re-enactors, beauty queens and kings, and Black public servants, among them County Executive David Crowley and Congresswoman Gwen Moore. This city was one of the first in the nation to celebrate the holiday.
Read MoreWhy History Museums Are Convening a ‘Civic Season’
The Smithsonian Institute’s American History Museum decided to re-create the training experience of the nonviolent direct action workshops like those Reverend James Lawson had begun in 1959 in Nashville where he taught Ghandian tactics to eventual movement leaders like John Lewis and Diane Nash. Read about how complicated histories can be exhibited in museums in new, highly engaging ways and watch a 20 min. video of that play and audience participation.
Read MoreMilwaukee helping shape a national conversation on racism as a public health crisis
Inequality can be deadly.
Milwaukee was among the first counties to reveal how deadly when the coronavirus pandemic struck just over a year ago. By tracking and publicly sharing demographic data, officials here quickly recognized what soon became a troubling national trend: COVID-19 was devastating Black and Latino communities. Milwaukee County was one of the very first in the country to explicitly track this data based on race.The data has helped determine where resources would be directed, including when it came to testing and vaccinations.
Read MoreSpecial News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – CDC Director Declares Racism A ‘Serious Public Health Threat’
“Racism is a serious public health threat that directly affects the well-being of millions of Americans,” declared the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “As a result, it affects the health of our entire nation. Racism is not just the discrimination against one group based on the color of their skin or their race or ethnicity, but the structural barriers that impact racial and ethnic groups differently to influence where a person lives, where they work, where their children play, and where they worship and gather in community. These social determinants of health have life-long negative effects on the mental and physical health of individuals in communities of color.
Read More‘Raise my taxes – now!’: the millionaires who want to give it all away
Abigail Disney has parted with $72m – and thinks the rich need to pay far more. As COVID widens the inequality gap an international league of the super-rich are urging governments to take their money as increased taxes.
Read MoreHelp Wanted: Social Media Manager for ABHM, Part-time
ABHM seeks a part-time Consultant as Social Media Manager to promote the mission and vision of ABHM through a web-based environment and social media. Supports audience engagement strategies through effective message-driven content development for a variety of social media platforms to help promote the work of ABHM.
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