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Posts tagged as “racial violence”

“Me Too” Founder Tarana Burke Making Activism More Accessible Via “Me Too Act Too” Site

“Me Too” Founder Tarana Burke Making Activism More Accessible Via “Me Too Act Too” Site

By goodblacknews on October 15, 2020

[Me Too Founder Tarana Burke photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images]

The Me Too Movement against sexual violence and sexual harassment gained widespread attention three years ago. In 2020, the movements against racial violence, police brutality and the ongoing struggle with the coronavirus pandemic have also emerged as dominating issues of our times.

According to the Huffington Post, Tarana Burke, founder of the Me Too Movement and a longtime activist, knows people are outraged ― and overwhelmed. So Burke and the Me Too organization, in collaboration with creative data marketing agency FCB/SIX, are launching a new digital platform called “Me Too Act Too” that allows activists, experienced and new, to educate themselves and get involved.

To quote from Huff Post:

“I think one of the mistakes that we make on the movement side is that there’s so much judgment around what it means to be an activist or what it means to be active. And if you’re not doing it a certain way, then you’re not really contributing. And that’s not true,” Burke told HuffPost.

Me Too Act Too is a crowd-sourced digital platform that gives “survivors, advocates and allies tools to work toward a world free of sexual violence,” according to the organization. The website is meant to be an accessible tool for people who may not see themselves as career activists or who do not have the ability to devote a large amount of time to this work.

Tedx Speaker Dena Crowder Offers 6-Minute Guide on Transforming Trauma (WATCH)

Tedx Speaker Dena Crowder Offers 6-Minute Guide on Transforming Trauma (WATCH)

By goodblacknews on May 30, 2020

Ahmaud Arbery.

Breonna Taylor.

George Floyd.

Three people we have recently witnessed dying violently, people who died solely because as African Americans, their lives are not valued in this country.

Tragically, this horror is not new. Arbery, Taylor and Floyd are now part of a sickeningly long chain of Black people in the United States to lose their lives to systemic racism, brutality and hate.

A recent article in USA Today titled “George Floyd Video Adds to Trauma: ‘When Is The Last Time You Saw a White Person Killed Online?'” addresses what those who have been experiencing it already know: African Americans are suffering greatly from constantly watching these acts of racial violence play out month after month year after year.

To quote:

“African Americans face harmful mental health effects every time high-profile incidents of racism and police brutality go viral, especially when little changes in the aftermath.”

Combined with a global pandemic, healthcare disparities and a financial crisis, African Americans are currently coping with exponential levels of trauma that will likely not dissipate any time soon.

So what can we do to protect ourselves as we bear these trying times, especially when community and family gatherings are so severely limited?

Last week, in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, Tedx speaker, performance coach and GBN’s “This Way Forward” contributor Dena Crowder offered a three-minute video as an aide for mental health and wellness.

Today, Dena offers a six-minute “Power Shot” with guiding words and an exercise to help release and transform trauma into energy to fuel us forward. Watch:

(Dena Crowder: DenaCrowder.com; IG: dena.crowder)

Dena Crowder (photo courtesy Dena Crowder)

Lucy McBath, Mother of Racial Violence Victim Jordan Davis, Wins Democratic Primary for U.S. Congressional Seat in GA

By goodblacknews on July 25, 2018
U.S. Congressional Candidate Lucy McBath (photo via bradfordera.com)

by Sarah Ruiz-Grossman via huffingtonpost.com

Gun control advocate Lucia “Lucy” McBath won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District.

McBath beat her Democratic opponent, businessman Kevin Abel, in Tuesday’s runoff after they finished as the top contenders in the state’s May primary but neither garnered the majority of the vote. She won 53.7 percent of the vote.

McBath thanked her supporters early Wednesday morning, saying she was at a “loss for words.” “We deserve better representation in DC, and I intend to show the good people of #GA06 what a tough, determined mother can do,” she wrote on Twitter. “On to November.”

McBath, a national spokeswoman for gun control group Moms Demand Action, will now face a challenging race against incumbent Rep. Karen Handel (R-Ga.) in November’s general election. Handel famously beat Democrat Jon Ossoff in last year’s special election ― the most expensive U.S. House race in history, with more than $50 million spent on both bids.

McBath was spurred into activism by the 2012 death of her son, Jordan Davis, a black 17-year-old who was shot dead at a Florida gas station by a white man complaining about loud music. Initially planning to run for a state House seat, McBath decided to run for Congress after the February school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people, most of them teens.

“I knew that I could no longer sit on the sidelines,” McBath wrote on her campaign site, “while the politicians in the pocket of the gun manufacturing lobby decide the future of our gun laws.”

She said Wednesday that Jordan was her “rock & inspiration” through the race.

As a “Mother of the Movement” ― part of a group of women who’ve lost a child to gun violence or in police custody ― McBath advocates for “common sense gun violence prevention laws,” including background checks, raising the age for firearm purchases to 21 years old and fighting against “conceal carry” measures. The two-time breast cancer survivor is also pushing for more affordable health care and improving women’s access to health services.

Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lucy-mcbath-georgia-democratic-primary_us_5b4e6062e4b0de86f487c43d