Posts by dr_fran
Samuel Jackson Traces the History of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
Samuel L. Jackson hosts a six-part docuseries, “Enslaved,” that premiered last Monday on Epix. The series traces Mr. Jackson’s journey across the globe as he uncovers elements of the history of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The story also follows Diving With a Purpose, an offshoot of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers, as they search for wreckage of slave ships along the ocean bottom.
Read MoreSpecial News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Statement on the Death of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
The BLM Movement salutes Justice Ginsburg as a woman of resilient courage, strength and character. She was determined to change the trajectory of inequalities in communities often forgotten. Even to the end of her life, she remained committed to BLM’s mantra: that none of us are free, until we are all free.
Read MoreSpecial News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Breonna Taylor’s Family to Receive $12M Settlement From Louisville
In the aftermath of the botched police raid in which Ms. Taylor was killed, the city also agreed to institute changes aimed at preventing future killings by officers.
Read MoreSpecial News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Documents Reveal How the Police Kept Daniel Prude’s Death Quiet
A Black man, Daniel Prude, died of suffocation in March after police officers had placed his head in a hood and pinned him to the ground. The public had never been told about the death, but that would change if police body camera footage of the encounter got out. A mass of city documents released on Monday show how prominent Rochester officials did everything in their power to keep the troubling videos of the incident out of public view.
Read MoreCourt blocks DeVos from diverting COVID-19 relief from public schools
A federal court ruled that Secretary of Education DeVos violated the language of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act – by siphoning off relief funds to private schools, to the detriment of underserved children in public schools, including children from low-income families, children with disabilities, children of color and English language learners.Now public schools will receive the full federal emergency aid to which they are entitled.
Read MoreFaces of Power: 80% Are White, Even as U.S. Becomes More Diverse
The most powerful people in the United States pass our laws, run Hollywood’s studios and head the most prestigious universities. They own pro sports teams and determine who goes to jail and who goes to war. A review by The New York Times of more than 900 officials and executives in prominent positions found that only about 20 percent identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, multiracial or otherwise a person of color.
Read MoreThe Oscars’ New Diversity Rules Are Sweeping but Safe
#OscarsSoWhite hashtag became a rallying cry, the academy began taking great strides to diversify a membership that had been largely white and male for nine decades. This week, the academy unveiled an even more ambitious diversity initiative with the intention of reshaping not just how movies are rewarded, but also who’s hired to make them in the first place.
Read MoreOld Navy to pay employees to work election polls
Old Navy is giving their 50,000 workers paid time off to serve as poll workers on Election Day 2020. Huge poll worker shortages are expected due to the coronavirus keeping retired poll workers away.
Read MoreEnslaved Peoples in African Societies Before the Transatlantic Slave Trade
Slavery in Africa originated as the rewards of war and a punishment for criminals. People were not commonly born into slavery. Unlike in the Americas, Slavery was not automatically passed from parents to children. People enslaved in African societies often gained freedom before the end of their lives. At times they even became equal family members with those who once enslaved them.
Read MoreSpecial News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Black Lives Matter goes big on policy agenda
The BREATHE Act is the centerpiece of the policy agenda activists are pushing after months of demonstrations over racial injustice.
Read More