naacp
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Let White Leaders Defend Institutional Racism; Let Black Leaders Defend Black Lives
If one looks and listens closely, black reform advocates and charter leaders are responding to the mythology that black people don’t want charter schools or reform in general. For most black folk, however, not liking reform equates to not liking institutional racism, which impacts our communities no matter how many black and brown people an organization hires.…
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White Lives Matter and the Lost Art of Shutting the F Up
I consider myself a practitioner of a dying art form that is slowly disappearing from society. Long before it was an internet acronym or a text message abbreviation, this unique skill was passed down to me as a man who was raised by a single mother in a house with three other sisters. I honestly…
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Federal Judge Finds Ferguson, Mo., School Elections Unfair to Black Voters
A federal judge ruled Monday that the Ferguson-Florissant School District in suburban St. Louis must change its election process, after finding that the current school system is unfair to black voters, USA Today reports. According to the report, U.S. District Judge Rodney Sippel found that the current system illegally undermines the political power of black…
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‘White Lives Matter’ Group Protests Outside Houston NAACP
About 20 members of a “White Lives Matter” group protested outside the NAACP in Houston’s 3rd Ward Sunday, calling out what they said was the civil rights organization’s failure to speak out against pro-black organizations like Black Lives Matter, SFGate reports. “We came out here to protest against the NAACP and their failure in speaking…
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Michael Jordan: A Day Late and a Million Dollars Short
On Monday, Michael Jordan decided to break his Clarence Thomas-like silence on race relations in this country to denounce the killings of unarmed black men, women and children at the hands of police. In a piece for The Undefeated, Jordan also condemned the killings of cops and donated $1 million each to the NAACP Legal…
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Ohio Attorney Faces Jail Time for Refusing to Remove Black Lives Matter Button
Youngstown, Ohio, attorney Andrea Burton was removed from court and taken into custody after a judge declared her in contempt for refusing to take off a Black Lives Matter pin. WKBN reports that Youngstown Municipal Court Judge Robert Milich said that Burton was in contempt of court for refusing to remove the button in his…
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NC Senator Wanted to Drop Tuition at State HBCUs to $500. How’d He Get Labeled a Racist?
North Carolina state Sen. Tom Apodaca claimed that he was only trying to make tuition at some of the state’s historically black colleges and universities affordable when he proposed Senate Bill 873, which would have dropped tuition to $500 a semester. But the North Carolina NAACP said that the Republican senator’s bill was a shady…
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The Lynching of My Husband’s Ancestor Shocked a Nation
Dear Professor Gates: I am seeking help with finding the parents of my husband’s four-times-great-grandmother Leanna Donegan Knox (born in 1794 in Hopkinsville, Ky.). She was mulatto and, according to an Illinois Servitude and Emancipation record, the daughter of a white woman. She owned land in Todd, Ky., until 1847, when she was “removed” to Illinois. I found…
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What About Bob?: My White Friend Who REALLY Wanted To Be Black
When I was in middle school in Frankfurt, Germany, I had a friend named Bob Dobalina. Obviously this isn’t his real name, but a name I’ve made up to protect the identity of said friend….who is not named Bob Dobalina. But we shall call him that. Mr. Dobalina, Mr. Bob Dobalina. Bob would be 36…