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Tedx Speaker Dena Crowder Offers 5-Minute Guide on Tapping into Your Own Power to Affect Meaningful Change (WATCH)

Tedx Speaker Dena Crowder Offers 5-Minute Guide on Tapping into Your Own Power to Affect Meaningful Change (WATCH)

By goodblacknews on June 6, 2020

In 1971, Wadsworth A. Jarrell painted “Revolutionary (Angela Davis),” tapping into his own power and skills as an artist to amplify the message and mission of the Black Power and Civil Rights movements by dynamically depicting political activist and leader Angela Davis.

Also in 1971, Gil Scott-Heron famously recorded “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” using his power and skills as a musician to passionately address, fortify and amplify the very same movements.

The last line in the song presciently lays out a deeper truth – “The Revolution Will Be Live” – because for any moment to turn into a lasting movement that culminates in systemic change, we all have to “be live.” To harness, hone and offer on our own unique power and skills to the greater mission.

Last week Tedx speaker, performance coach and GBN’s “This Way Forward”contributor Dena Crowder offered a six-minute “Power Shot” with guiding words and an exercise to help release and transform trauma into energy to fuel us forward.

Today, Dena (pictured above with Jarell’s painting) offers a five-minute “Power Shot” to help focus on tapping into and staying connected to our own inner power and skills and using them to guide our actions as we navigate the political and societal sea change ahead of us. Watch:

Like that? You can also check out Dena’s three-minute video designed to help maintain our mental health and wellness.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has “Black Lives Matter” Painted on Street Leading to White House

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has “Black Lives Matter” Painted on Street Leading to White House

By goodblacknews on June 5, 2020

According to abcnews.go.com, a major street in Washington D.C that leads to the White House, has been painted with bold, bright-yellow letters reading “BLACK LIVES MATTER.” at the behest of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.

The giant letters are painted just two blocks from Lafayette Square, where on Monday U.S. Park Police and other law enforcement agencies used what protesters described as tear gas to make way for the president’s walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church where he took a photo holding a Bible.

“There are people who are craving to be heard and to be seen, and to have their humanity recognized, and we had the opportunity to send that message loud and clear on a very important street in our city,” Bowser said at a press conference. “And it is that message, and that message is to the American people, that Black Lives Matter black humanity matters, and we as a city raise that up as part of our values as a city,”

The mayor said that the people who painted it were from the D.C. Public Works department.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser also has ordered the stretch of 16th Street NW between H and K streets renamed “Black Lives Matter PLZ,” she told reporters at a press conference today.

The new sign bearing the plaza’s name has been put up at 16th and H streets.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/dc-mayor-unveils-black-lives-matter-painted-streets/story?id=71088808

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/d-c-mayor-bowser-has-black-lives-matter-painted-street-n1225746

Protest Options: A List of Links to Petitions, Donations, Resources and Education

Protest Options: A List of Links to Petitions, Donations, Resources and Education

By goodblacknews on June 1, 2020

Protest is powerful – so much so, it is listed as a right in the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. But when marching is not an option, there are other ways to keep fighting for justice.

Good Black News offers sincere thanks to Jessie Davis and The Members of the UC San Diego Student Sustainability Collective (@sscucsd on Instagram & Facebook) for letting us share the relevant links and resources they have compiled:

SIGN PETITIONS

JUSTICE FOR GEORGE FLOYD: 

http://chng.it/Rtpbxv2CdK 

CHARGE THE MINNEAPOLIS POLICE OFFICERS: 

https://www.change.org/p/change-org-the-minneapolis-police-officers-to-be-charged-for-murder-after-killing-innocent-black-man

JUSTICE FOR BREONNA TAYLOR: 

https://www.change.org/p/andy-beshear-justice-for-breonna-taylor/psf/promote_or_share?recruiter= (includes option to donate)

#JUSTICEFORBRE: 

https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/justiceforbre-breonna-taylor-officers-fired?source=coc_main_website (includes the option to film a 30 second video) 

FIGHT FOR BREONNA:

https://justiceforbreonna.org/

#RUNWITHMAUD:

 https://www.runwithmaud.com/ (includes option to call)

JUSTICE FOR AHMAUD ARBERY:

 https://www.change.org/p/liberty-county-distric-attorney-justice-for-ahmaud-arbery 

JUSTICE FOR TONY MCDADE: 

https://www.change.org/p/black-lives-matter-activists-justice-for-tony-mcdade

HANDS UP ACT PETITION:

https://www.change.org/p/us-senate-hands-up-act

FOR THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE INTERNATIONALLY: 

Postal codes: 

90015 – Los Angeles, California

10001 – New York City, New York

75001 – Dallas, Texas

TEXT:

TEXT JUSTICE TO 668366

TEXT FLOYD TO 55156

TEXT RESIST TO 50409

TEXT ENOUGH TO 55156

DONATE

AFFECTED FAMILIES

GEORGE FLOYD MEMORIAL FUND: 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd

DONATION TO AHMAUD ARBERY’S FAMILY:

 https://www.gofundme.com/f/i-run-with-maud

JUSTICE FOR BREONNA TAYLOR: 

https://www.change.org/p/andy-beshear-justice-for-breonna-taylor/psf/promote_or_share?recruiter= (petition includes option to donate)

BAIL FUNDS

LOUISVILLE COMMUNITY BAIL FUND

https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/louisville-community-bail-fund

NATIONAL BAIL FUND NETWORK:

bit.ly/localbailfunds (find any protesting city & contribute to their bail funds)

Cities to consider:

Atlanta, Georgia

Chicago, Illinois

Columbus, Ohio

Denver, Colorado

New York City, New York

Check the news for updates for MANY other cities where your donations can help.

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND ANTI-RACISM IN POLICING
https://www.lawyeredu.org/justice-resources/

BLACK VISIONS COLLECTIVE, MINNESOTA: 

https://www.blackvisionsmn.org/ (includes option to donate)

RECLAIM THE BLOCK DONATION: 

https://secure.everyaction.com/zae4prEeKESHBy0MKXTIcQ2?fbclid=IwAR1mozFqHICrjSN7tPDAkjJAwnxdkw8VbVVI6xygTPscsvzC-lQfhEaey0U

BLM DONATION: 

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_blm_homepage_2019 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC.

https://www.naacpldf.org/

CONTACT REPRESENTATIVES

CONTACT MINNEAPOLIS REPRESENTATIVES EMAILS: 

citizeninfo@hennepin.us 

police@minneapolismn.gov 

minneapolis311@minneapolismn.gov 

policereview@minneapolismn.gov

MINNEAPOLIS SENATORS: 

https://www.senate.mn/members/

HOUSE MEMBERS:

https://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/members/list

CONTACT KENTUCKY REPRESENTATIVES:

Louisville Police Dept Twitter: @lmpdky Instagram: @lmpd.ky

Louisville Mayor Twitter: @louisvillemayor Instagram: @mayorgregfisher

Kentucky Governor Twitter: @govandybeshear

Instagram: @govandybeshear

DOCUMENTARIES/FILMS/SHOWS/PODCASTS 

I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO (2016) 

Director: Raoul Peck

Brief synopsis: “ The film explores the history of racism in the United States through James Baldwin’s reminiscences of civil rights leaders Medgar Evers, Malcom X, and  Martin Luther King Jr. as well as his personal observations of American History ” 

Let the Fire Burn (2013) 

Director: Jason Osder

Brief synopsis:  “A film about the events leading up to and surrounding a 1985 stand-off between the black liberation group MOVE and the Philadelphia Police Department.” 

When They See Us (2019) 

Director: Ava Duvernay

Brief synopsis: “It is based on events of the 1989 Central Park Jogger cae and explores the lives and families of the five male suspects who were falsely accused then prosecuted on charges related to the rape and assault of a woman in Central Park, New York City.” 

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015) 

Director: Stanley Nelson Jr. 

Brief synopsis: “The first feature-length documentary to explore the Black Panther Party, its significance to the broader American culture, its cultural and political awakening for black people, and the painful lessons wrought when a movement derails.” 

Ferguson: A report from occupied territory (2015) 

Director: Orlando de Guzman

Brief synopsis: “This film goes to the frontlines of the national dialogue regarding racial profiling and police brutality; a dialogue triggered by the killing of Michael Brown in August of 2014and offers invaluable insights from Ferguson residents for whom the burdens of discrimination and injustice are a daily fact of life.”

Do Not Resist (2016)  

Director: Craig Atkinson 

Brief synopsis: “Filmed over two years in 11 states, this film examines the increasingly disturbing realities of the rapid militarization of police forces in the United States.” 

13th (2016) 

Director: Ava Duvernay

Brief synopsis: “The film explores the “intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States” it is titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1865, which abolished slavery throughout the United States and ended involuntary servitude except as a punishment for conviction of a crime.”

Black Power Mixtape

Director: Göran Olsson

Brief synopsis: “A documentary film that examines the evolution of the Black Power movement in American society from 1967 to 1975 as viewed through Swedish journalists and filmmakers.” 

What Matters

Podcast organized by BlackLivesMatter

https://blacklivesmatter.com/whatmatters/

Brief Synopsis: “What Matters combines documentary narrative with interviews to illuminate specific, timely issues, aiming to create safe dialogue to promote freedom, justice, and collective liberation.

What Matters is a salve and a safe place where we can connect, learn, think freely, and transform the world. New and upcoming episodes include interviews with Rep. Karen Bass, BLM South Bend, Donna Brazile, Dr. Cedric Dark, Jane Fonda, and Marc Lamont Hill.”

READING

The Ballot or the Bullet by Malcolm X

Martin and Malcolm by James Baldwin 

Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis

Assata Shakur’s Autobiography 

The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House by Audre Lorde 

No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear By Toni Morrison 

Why I Won’t Vote by W. E. B. DuBois

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Political Prisoners, Prisons, and Black Liberation by Angela Davis 

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein

Activist Zyda Culpepper Mellon Brilliantly Explains How White Colleagues, Friends and Family Can Be True Allies (WATCH)

By goodblacknews on May 30, 2020

Good Black News is grateful to brilliant young woman Zyda Culpepper Mellon for taking the time to put her thoughts and feelings on current events sparked by the brutal killings of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd into words and sharing her spot-on, heartfelt and timely message.

Mellon’s video appeared first on Facebook three days ago and has started going viral. Now, with her permission, Good Black News is sharing it directly on our site.

Mellon’s labor not only educates and challenges those who need it, it offers a tool to those who are struggling to find the words to say to white colleagues, friends and family while dealing with so much anger and trauma:

(Facebook: Zyda Culpepper; Instagram: @zydacsoprano; Twitter: @ZydaMellon)

#SaveUSPS: How You Can Support the United States Post Office and Its Workforce

#SaveUSPS: How You Can Support the United States Post Office and Its Workforce

By goodblacknews on April 13, 2020

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Last week, the Washington Post reported the White House rejected a bail out proposal for the United States Post Office, which is suffering mightily due to the coronavirus pandemic.

To quote the article:

“Trump threatened to veto the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, if the legislation contained any money directed to bail out the postal agency, according to a senior Trump administration official and a congressional official who, like others in this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity.”

“We told them very clearly that the president was not going to sign the bill if [money for the Postal Service] was in it,” the Trump administration official said. “I don’t know if we used the v-bomb, but the president was not going to sign it, and we told them that.” Instead, Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) added a last-minute $10 billion Treasury Department loan to the Cares Act to keep the agency on firmer ground through the spring of 2020, according to a Democratic committee aide.

The Postal Service projects it will lose $2 billion each month through the coronavirus recession while postal workers maintain the nationwide service of delivering essential mail and parcels, such as prescriptions, food and household necessities.

That work often comes at great personal risk. Nearly 500 postal workers have tested positive for the coronavirus and 462 others are presumptive positives, USPS leaders told lawmakers. Nineteen have died; more than 6,000 are in self-quarantine because of exposure.

Even the $10 billion loan will likely not be enough, according to Forbes. Postmaster General Megan Brennan told lawmakers on Thursday that the agency may run out of cash by September thanks to a $13 billion loss in revenue this year.

This crisis threatens the jobs of around 600,000 workers, a large percentage of who are people of color. It also threatens access to voting by mail, census counting by mail, and rural deliveries.

In the past few days, political leaders, journalists, celebrities and concerned citizens have been rallying behind hashtags such as #SaveThePostOffice, #SaveUSPS and #SaveTheUSPS to amplify the issue and publicize ways individuals and communities can help prevent the nation’s Postal Service from destruction:

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren says she plans to call on Congress to save USPS.

Sherilyn Ifill, President & Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and sister to the late journalist and broadcaster Gwen Ifill (who was honored with a Black Heritage Stamp earlier this year), encourages citizens to call on Congress and the White House to #SaveTheUSPS:

https://twitter.com/Sifill_LDF/status/1249332960651862016

“AM Joy” host Joy Reid tweeted more suggestions for citizens to support the Postal Service:

Additionally, scores of concerned citizens such as Tina L. Kris are doing their part to take action and spread the word:

New York Times writer Nicole Hannah Jones offers a thread of tweets worth clicking through to read about how USPS workers are disproportionately black and brown, and how devastating it would be to communities to lose post office jobs, benefits and pensions:

https://twitter.com/nhannahjones/status/1249382181719375878

Actor and activist Danny Glover, whose parents both worked for the Post Office, weighed in on the need to protect USPS last July, and offered ideas such as postal banking to help low-income Americans and help the Post Office generate sustaining revenue:

In his excellent opinion piece in USA Today he wrote:

Today, the Postal Service remains a critical source of good jobs for African Americans. Black employees make up 28.6% of the postal workforce — more than double their share of the U.S. population.

In 2018, average Postal Service wages were $51,540 a year, just slightly below the average for all U.S. workers. According to the Institute for Policy Studies, wages were substantially lower in the nine other occupations in which blacks make up at least 25% of employees. For example, home health aides, 26.1% of whom are black, averaged just $25,330 per year. Barbershop employees, 30.8% of whom are black, earned $33,220.

Instead of more cuts, policymakers should do away with the onerous pre-funding mandate and explore new profit sources, such as postal banking. One government report found that expanding services such as check cashing, bill payment and electronic money orders could generate as much as $1.1 billion in annual revenue after five years — all while dramatically expanding financial services for low-income Americans.

To learn more on the history of black postal workers, check out “Defend the Post Office, Defend Black Workers” in Jacobinmag.com.

To Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day 2020, King’s Progeny Read From His 1965 “American Dream” Speech (WATCH)

To Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day 2020, King’s Progeny Read From His 1965 “American Dream” Speech (WATCH)

By goodblacknews on January 20, 2020

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

To honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2020, CBS This Morning aired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s children, Bernice King and Martin Luther King III, and his granddaughter, Yolanda King, reading part of the civil rights icon’s insightful, inclusive “The American Dream” sermon, which built upon and extended his iconic “I Have A Dream” speech from 1963’s March on Washington. (See a brief history of that speech here.)

MLK Jr. originally delivered the “American Dream” speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta in 1965. To hear King himself, listen below:

To read the full transcript of “The American Dream,” go to: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/american-dream-sermon-delivered-ebenezer-baptist-church

 

Danielle Outlaw Becomes 1st Black Woman Commissioner of Philadelphia Police Department

By goodblacknews on January 2, 2020
New Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw (photo via Portland Police Bureau)

NBC News recently reported that former Portland, Oregon police chief and Oakland, California native Danielle Outlaw will be the new Police Commissioner of Philadelphia. She is the first black woman to hold that position.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney addressed his new hire, according to nbcnews.com, by saying: “I am appointing Danielle Outlaw because I am convinced she has the conviction, courage and compassion needed to bring long-overdue reform to the Department,” Kenny said in a statement. “With our support, she will tackle a host of difficult issues, from racism and gender discrimination, to horrid instances of sexual assault on fellow officers.”

To further quote the article:

Kenny added that such violence often disproportionately “impact women, especially women of color within the Department.”

Beyond addressing issues within the Philadelphia Police Department, Kenny said Outlaw will also work to curtail violent crime and gun violence. The city is currently experiencing a gun violence epidemic; more people were shot in Philadelphia this year than in any other year since 2010, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Outlaw herself is quoted saying: “I am convinced there can be humanity in authority; they are not mutually exclusive.”

To read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/danielle-outlaw-becomes-first-black-woman-commissioner-philadelphia-police-department-n1108761

Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, Widow of Rep. Elijah Cummings, to Run for His Seat in Congress

By goodblacknews on November 12, 2019
Maya Rockeymoore Cummings and the late Elijah Cummings (photo via heavy.com)

According to baltimoresun.com, Maryland Democratic Party Chairwoman Maya Rockeymoore Cummings,  widow of the late U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, is running for her husband’s seat in Congress.

“I am, of course, devastated at the loss of my spouse, but his spirit is with me,” Rockeymoore Cummings, 48, said. “I’m going to run this race and I’m going to run it hard, as if he’s still right here by my side.”

Cummings passed away on Oct. 17 from cancer after serving more than two decades in the U.S. House of Representatives. He left a record of fighting for the needy and battling for social justice and voting rights.

Rockeymoore Cummings, a public policy consultant who is founder of the Washington consulting firm Global Policy Solutions LLC and a former 2018 candidate for governor, said her husband told her months before he died he would like for her to succeed him.

Rockeymoore Cummings plans to kick off her campaign Tuesday at her home office in Baltimore’s Madison Park neighborhood. She said she will focus on issues important to the late congressman, such as battling the opioid crisis and “fighting for the soul of our democracy” against the Trump administration, but also on her areas of expertise, which include health and education policy.

Rockeymoore Cummings also said she will have a preventative double mastectomy Friday. She said her mother died from breast cancer in 2015, and her sister was diagnosed last year with the disease.

To read more: https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-maya-cummings-20191112-ptsbywxf45ecjgyu5ovdeyqvyy-story.html

R.I.P. U.S. Congressman and Chair of House Oversight and Reform Committee Elijah E. Cummings, 68

By goodblacknews on October 17, 2019

Rep. Elijah Cummings, a key Trump opponent, dies at 68
— Read on www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-10-17/us-representative-elijah-cummings-dies

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Awarded 2019 Nobel Peace Prize

By goodblacknews on October 11, 2019
Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahmed Ali (photo via commons.wikipedia.org)

According to the New York Times, Abiy Ahmed, the prime minister of Ethiopia, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his work in restarting peace talks with neighboring Eritrea and beginning to restore freedoms in his country after decades of political and economic repression.

To quote the article:

Abiy, 43, broke through two decades of frozen conflict between his vast country, Africa’s second most populous, and Eritrea, its small and isolated neighbor. When he became prime minister of Ethiopia in 2018, he threw himself at a breakneck pace into reforms at home, and peace negotiations with the rebel-turned-dictator Isaias Afwerki, president of Eritrea.

To read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/11/world/africa/nobel-peace-prize.html