by

What Does it Mean to Come to Terms With the History of Slavery?

Nick asks:
“But what are the future implications for society’s coming to terms with slavery?”

 

Does it matter whether or not we acknowledge the past so that we can ensure a more just future?

Does coming to terms with slavery mean historians should be advocating for policy reforms and other collective actions like peaceful protests?

 

What can I say and not say as a professional historian in uniform speaking on behalf of the federal government to the public?

 

Continue reading to see Andrew Pegoda’s response

Sourced through Scoop.it from: andrewpegoda.com

 

The U.S. still enslaves people through the prison industrial complex.

 

What are we gonna do about that?

 

by

23 Cents an Hour? The Perfectly Legal Slavery Happening in Modern-Day America

If you thought slavery was outlawed in America, you would be wrong. The 13th amendment to the Constitution states that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

In plain language, that means slavery in America can still exist for those who are in prison, where you basically lose all of your rights.  (You don’t gain a lot of your rights back when you get out of prison, either, but that is a different story.) So, given the country’s penchant for rapacious capitalism, it may not come as a surprise that there is much of the American prison system that exploits American prisoners much like slaves.

In fact there is large-scale exploitation in American prisons benefiting American corporations and the military-industrial complex. UNICOR, better known as Federal Prison Industries, or FPI, is a government-owned corporation that employs inmates for as little as 23 cents per hour, to provide a wide range of products and services under the guise of a “jobs training program.” In theory, this is supposed to give inmates skills that will prepare them for the workforce upon release.

 

Continue reading

Sourced through Scoop.it from: prisonreformmovement.wordpress.com

by

South Carolina Senate Votes to Remove Confederate Flag From State Capitol Grounds; House Vote Still Needed

This is a developing story…

————

Weeks after a gunman shot nine people in a racially fueled attack on Charleston’s Mother Emanuel AME church, South Carolina lawmakers are set to debate whether to remove the Confederate battle flag from State House grounds, or leave it flying high.

The debate to remove the flag was sparked after photographs of accused AME gunman Dylann Roof holding the storied and hurtful reminder surfaced. Days after the shooting, Gov. Nikki R. Haley called for the flag’s removal.

In a weekend interview with NBC’s Today Show, Haley said the removal would be an action of respect.

 

Continue reading

 

Sourced through Scoop.it from: goodblacknews.org

#AbuseOfPower #PoliceBrutality Tweets 7.3
by

#AbuseOfPower #PoliceBrutality Tweets 7.3

by

‘A Conversation With White People on Race’ [VIDEO]

By BLAIR FOSTER and MICHÈLE STEPHENSON

Why do so many white people find it extremely uncomfortable to talk about race? Setting out to make the next installment of our Op-Doc video series about race in America, we hoped to address that question. Because we live in New York, where there is no shortage of opinions, we didn’t think it would be too hard to find white people willing to speak publicly on this topic. We were wrong.

…when we dug a bit deeper, the discussion gets tense, and visibly uncomfortable.

With this Op-Doc video, we’ve attempted to lean into that discomfort and prompt some self-reflection. We are all part of this system, and therefore we all have a responsibility to work toward dismantling it. If we’re going to have an honest conversation about race in America, that includes thinking — and talking — about what it means to be white in America. It might be uncomfortable, but it’s a conversation that must involve all of us.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.nytimes.com

By Glenn Robinson

The system the authors are referring to is probably the system of disenfranchisement and oppression held up by what Dr. Martin Luther King called the Doctrine of White Supremacy.

Anyone can believe in the Doctrine of White Supremacy; a doctrine that believes that White is right and worthy and that people of color are undeserving of equal opportunities and equal humane treatment.

We see inequality play out in the way immigration laws are written to favor the highly educated, while (im)migrants in labor and agriculture are demonized.

We also see that the U.S. will not offer universal single payer health care – as if all humans do not deserve equal treatment by the health care industry.

And we see the prison industrial complex incarcerate disproportionately high numbers of Black and Latino people; and the military industrial complex recruit disproportionately high numbers of Black and Latino people.

And we see disproportionately high numbers of killings of unarmed Black and Latino people by the police.