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The March On Washington 60 Year Mark

The March On Washington happened 60 years ago today. It was a call for a just America, like the one Langston Hughes poetically envisioned for Black people long oppressed by racism and terrorism under the American system of white supremacy law and governance. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his powerful I Have A Dream speech that fateful day. Its powerful message of hope for mankind is still a transcending tenor for future generations and a better humanity to come.  As we reflect on the 60 year anniversary of the March on Washington, contrasting the issues of that time and today, it is crucial We, The People apply a critical and objective eye at the pace and sincerity of pragmatic change. 

We can never forget how Dr. King delivered that powerful oration on this day 60 years ago.  And sadly, and as hate would have it, we can also never forget that his iconic I Have A Dream speech didn’t prevent the killing of four girls in the racial bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, just a few weeks after the March on Washington.  And 60 years later, despite the blood, sweat and tears, Black folks are still being terrorized by white supremacist, as the nation marks another mass shooting of Black people at a store in Florida two days ago.

60 years later, the time is ripe to ask our leaders where they are leading us. 

Editor’s Note: From the archives of the Library of Congress. 

The March on Washington

For many Americans, the calls for racial equality and a more just society emanating from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28, 1963, deeply affected their views of racial segregation and intolerance in the nation.  Since the occasion of March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom 50 years ago, much has been written and discussed about the moment, its impact on society, politics and culture and particularly the profound effects of Martin Luther King’s iconic speech on the hearts and minds of America and the world.  Several interviewees from the Civil Rights History Project discuss their memories of this momentous event in American history.

Click HERE to read more about the Library of Congress Civil Rights History Project.

Good Trouble In Prince George’s County, Maryland

Last year, 48% of Prince George’s County residents reported being food insecure, according to data from the Capital Area Food Bank’s Hunger Report. And the ministry of Iola and Keith Johnson who have a food pantry serving families and individuals who have fallen on hard times or are recently unemployed and need assistance to make ends meet, are bridging the gap despite all the noise surrounding their county.

With help from local business partners and farms, eager to help and even teach community members on food sustainability and farming, their ministry, Great Commission Change Of Life Ministries, provides food and other services to meet basic nutritional and other needs for those less fortunate.

Food pantry service is provided Thursdays from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. If you’re in need please call (301)785-0661 for more information on all the services they provide. To learn more about the Good Trouble Pastor Iola and Overseer Keith Johnson are taking on, please listen to our interview below and if possible, join in the fight to bring about a better world for all people. 

ePa Live interview with Pastor Keith Johnson of Great Commission Change Of Life Ministries in Prince George’s County:

Serenading The Consciousness And Condition of Black People In America

Jason Aldeen’s song is missing the chorus his ancestors played

 

BY JEANETTE LENOIR

“The prejudice against us is not because of our color, it is because of our condition. If we must have justice, we must be strong. If we must be strong, we must come together. If we must come together we can only do so in the system of organization.” – Marcus Garvey

Country singer, Jason Aldeen took his anti-Black Klansmen spirit to the airwaves, and just like Trump’s call to “Make America Great Again,” majority of the nation is standing up to salute his dog whistle. Sadly, he lacks even the most basic knowledge of American history responsible for the sociological patterns, symptoms, Black condition and “inappropriate behavior patterns” or “the Rodney King syndrome” as described by Dr. Claud Anderson in full manifestation. Instead, he has chosen to express the privilege it is to be White in America, as those who were forced to build this nation under the brutality of chattel slavery are now “free” to enjoy some of its bounty … or flip the table like a scene from reality television. Let’s break down his small town views and ignorance feigning expression reminiscent of the Key & Peele skit titled, Country Music.

Try That In A Small Town

Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk
Carjack an old lady at a red light
Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store
Ya think it’s cool, well, act a fool if ya like

It’s true, we’ve seen numerous incidents of criminals wreaking havoc across the country. Our society is on full HD display thanks to our powerful media industry. Many of these images we see and read about show mostly Black people committing these types of crimes. And this strategic maneuver has been done deliberately by the media since the birth of this nation. What they won’t show or talk about? The sucker punches thrown at Black people trying to get an education, cast their vote, look for work, or the hounds they released to tare the flesh off of women and children, the poisoning of livestock, the swindling of their hard-earned pay, and the bombing of their little girls in a church.

Mourners outside funeral services for Carol Robertson, one of four girls killed in the 1963 bombing.

“By the time I was 10 or 12, I just wished to God I was white, you know, because they had food to eat, they didn’t work, they had money, they had nice homes. And we would nearly freeze, we never did have any food, we worked all the time and didn’t have nothing.”Fannie Lou Hamer

Mainstream media also fails to highlight the numerous incidents of carjacking of innocent Black people, even old ladies, who had managed to scrunch up enough money to pay-off a car they desperately needed to rebuild their families’ lives after emancipation and during the great depression. And there are numerous historic accounts of guns being pulled on Black store owners who’s perceived “success” was so deeply offensive to their White countrymen, academics have coined this phenomenon as “white rage” to describe their outright refusal to tolerate any Black person doing better than their former enslaved status.

Cuss out a cop, spit in his face
Stomp on the flag and light it up
Yeah, ya think you’re tough

Well, try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won’t take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don’t
Try that in a small town

This part of the song should remind of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, today a National Historic Landmark that was the site of the brutal Bloody Sunday beatings of civil rights marchers, including the late Congressman John Lewis. They were cussed out by cops who spat in their faces; symbolically stomping and burning the flag America says stands for freedom and democracy, and a beacon of hope for the rest of the world. John Lewis was marching for voting rights for Black people, a fundamental right denied to them, not just by Congressional action and inaction, but by state sponsored terrorism from unformed officers, White mobs and Klansmen. This took place in a small town, Selma, Alabama, and Aldeen is absolutely right, they didn’t make it down the road. They didn’t even make it across the bridge to meet the other side of the road. The cops took care of their own White people that day by beating down Black folks who dared to cross their racial line. And it didn’t take long for Black Americans to find out what truly goes down in small towns across America.

Even the Green Book became necessary to allow safe passage for Black folks in small towns. It became “the bible of black travel” during the era of Jim Crow laws, when open and legal discrimination against Black people was the American way, duly noted in Aldeen’s country howl. The south may have lost the Civil War but history and Aldeen’s crass tune makes clear that the country is still controlled by White racialists who voted for our last president who ran to, “Make America Great Again” for them.

Got a gun that my granddad gave me
They say one day they’re gonna round up
Well, that shit might fly in the city, good luck

Try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won’t take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don’t
Try that in a small town

The Second Amendment continues to be a contentious national debate. We’ve seen numerous incidents where race was a factor—Philando Castille, Alton Sterling, Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott—of the law being applied, and the loud inaction or response to these cases from the powerful NRA makes this also clear. This isn’t a new line drawn in the sand, as race has always been a factor in the application of the gun law. Case in point; Cliven D. Bundy and his militiamen took up arms against the federal government and were backed by the NRA who called the confrontation, “a proper, legitimate, lawful response to illegitimate, unlawful exercise of government power.”

And here’s another reminder of our divided America: The Branch Davidians and the siege at Ruby Ridge, had Wayne LaPierre, longtime NRA head honcho whaling in defense of those he sees as true Americans, “If you have a badge, you have the government’s go-ahead to harass and intimidate, even murder, law-abiding citizens.” Miraculously LaPierre lost his voice when Philando Castille was gunned down by a cop despite being a licensed gun owner. The only difference is that he was Black and the law was never considered with him in mind. “The National Rifle Association is America’s longest-standing civil rights organization. Together with our more than five million members, we’re proud defenders of history’s patriots and diligent protectors of the Second Amendment,” reads the official NRA statement. Imagine the audacity of that assertion.

Since the inception of the right to bear arms, the law was never intended to include Black people; it was intended to keep guns out of their hands. And White mobs have a long documented history of using guns “granddad gave” them to stop Black people from crossing racial lines in their fight for justice, freedom, access and equality.

In her book, The Second; Race and Guns In A Fatally Unequal America, Carol Anderson writes, “Even for the NRA, Black people did not have Second Amendment rights. A broken treacherous rights landscape, of course, has always been the reality for African Americans. We know that the 15th Amendment, the right to vote, was undercut by poll taxes, literacy tests, violence and understanding clauses for nearly 100 years and unfortunately, since 2013 has come under assault again. Similarly, the amendments covering the justice system, the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th, have offered little to no protection for African Americans because of numerous Supreme Court decisions that have imbedded racism and racial profiling into policing, trial procedures and sentencing. But the Second Amendment charge for a well regulated militia and the right of the people to keep and bear arms offers a particularly maddening set of standards where race is concerned.”

She continues, “There’s almost an eerie silence on this particular amendment, which its advocates call central to citizenship. That silence is not accidental. The 18th century origins of the right to bear arms explicitly excluded Black people. South Carolina encoded into law that the enslaved could not carry or make use of firearms or any offensive weapons whatsoever, unless in the presence of some White person. Moreover, the states various militias had the power to search and examine all Negro houses for offensive weapons and ammunition. In Delaware there could be no valid earthly reason that any bought servant or Negro or mulatto slave be allowed to bear arms. Georgia was even more direct, not only were Blacks forbidden from owning or carrying firearms but White men were required to own a good gun or pistol to give them the means to search and examine all Negro houses for offensive weapons and ammunition. The distinction was clear; citizens had the right to keep arms, the slave did not.”

“Revolution is never based on begging somebody for an integrated cup of coffee. Revolutions are never fought by turning the other cheek. Revolutions are never fought on love your enemies and pray for those who spitefully or despitefully use you. And revolutions are never a wave playing we shall overcome. Revolutions are based on bloodshed. Revolutions are never a compromise. Revolutions are never based upon negotiations. Revolutions are never based upon any kind of tokenism whatsoever. Revolutions are never even based upon that which is begging a corrupt society or a corrupt system to accept us into it. Revolutions overturn systems.”– Malcolm X

Full of good ol’ boys, raised up right
If you’re looking for a fight
Try that in a small town
Try that in a small town

Try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won’t take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don’t
Try that in a small town

Try that in a small town
Ooh-ooh
Try that in a small town

Don’t kid yourself; Aldeen is right, small towns are “Full of good ol’ boys” who are always looking for an unfair fight with those they’ve been too comfortable terrorizing with each new generation learning the tricks to tie their lynching ropes. This is how they take care of their own. Ahmaud Arbery lost his life to these same “good ol’ boys” in a small town in Georgia where the likes of, Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael, William Bryan Jr. and even Jason Aldeen howl to burning crosses at night to feel supreme human.

“The white man prefers to keep the black man at a certain human remove because it is easier for him thus to preserve his simplicity and avoid being called to account for crimes committed by his forefathers, or his neighbors.” – James Bladwin

Nonetheless, Black people must also take account of their part in the global enslavement of Africans, the racial struggle and dominance by Whites. From Africa, throughout the middle passage and into the New World, Black people have consistently taken part in their peoples own misfortunes and subjugation. Africans were instrumental in the slave trade, even trading manila currency with Europeans and Arabs in exchange for sending captured Africans to their enslavement across the globe. There’s even an account of a 19-year-old African male stopping a slave ship revolt on a slave vessel called The Eagle, and taking a machete blow to protect his White captures. Upon arrival, “he was rewarded and recognized for it and he personally benefitted at the expense of his own people,” said Dr. Claud Anderson in his lecture, A Road Block to Empowerment. And believe it or not, the first person to own a slave named John Casor for life in America was a free Black man from Angola named Anthony Johnson who came to the colonies in 1621 aboard the slave ship James after his capture by Portuguese slave traders. He even acquired land under the Headrights system.

After the assassination of Malcolm X ordered by the man he once worshipped, Elijah Muhammad, who led the Nation of Islam (NOI) from 1934 until his death in 1975 said, “The way I see it, Malcolm is the victim of his own preaching. He preached violence and so he become the victim of it. So Malcolm met with just what he preached. This death of Malcolm, god himself had something to do with that. And I think the people will learn that this was some work of god himself.”

Evidently, the god Muhammad prayed to didn’t see fit to plague Whites for their crimes against humanity, but somehow this so-called god is responsible for the killing of one of the greatest Black leaders America has ever known. Malcolm X sought to lead his people to freedom like Moses led his people from the Pharaoh, and true to Black conditioning, the NOI made sure he didn’t succeed.

And these stories and historical accounts aren’t unique to America. Africa has its own sins to atone for, including the murder of Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was killed by his own people by order of the Belgium’s, and even America and Great Britain played a role in his assassination. His crime? He spoke out about the suffering of African people at the hands of their European oppressors. In other words, the truth he spoke to power made him a threat, even to his own fellow Africans desperate for personal power and a seat next to their oppressors, or a place in the master’s home. In 2022, Belgium returned Lumumba’s tooth after holding it as a trophy for 61 years, similar to a serial killer keeping items from their victims to mark and reminisce of their evil.

“Dead, living, free, or in prison on the order of the colonialists, it is not I who counts. It is the Congo, it is our people for whom independence has been transformed into a cage where we are regarded from the outside… History will one day have its say, but it will not be the history that Brussels, Paris, Washington, or the United Nations will teach, but that which they will teach in the countries emancipated from colonialism and its puppets…a history of glory and dignity,” – Patrice Lumumba

The dignity Lumumba talks about has yet to arrive. Just look around you and take in the state of our American culture. Last week, two White males, 38-year-old Daniel Walls and a 17-year-old, were arrested and charged with Civil Rights intimidation for posting Ku Klux Klan recruitment flyers outside of three Black churches in Columbia, Tennessee. A Black “influencer” who goes by the name Sassy Trucker is being held in Dubai for the ratchet behavior she’s known for on social media. And the other latest embarrassment is called Carlee Russell, a Black woman who created a kidnapping hoax for attention. Not only did she lie, she made sure to ask for thoughts and prayers from real victims of this particular crime. And to further stick her finger in the nation’s eye and worsening the stigma for Black folks, she made sure to crack a smile in her mug shot. Making matters even worse, a dozen Black teens have just been arrested for a unprovoked brutal and horrific attack on a Black man at a gas station, followed by indiscriminate shooting with automatic weapons. This is our America today, despite the blueprint left by Black giants like the Black Panther Party who started the school lunch program and fought against police brutality.

Jason Aldeen’s melodic words certainly sting, but he’s serenading the consciousness and condition of Black people in America. The only missing chorus is the role his White ancestors played in the shaping of our divided nation. Similar to Florida under Ron DeSantis who is feverishly working to rewrite history to make slavery look like a benefit to Black people, Aldeen’s country tune separates itself from truth too, like oil refuses water.

“You can’t do anything by legislation, it takes education. The White men in this country need to be reeducated so that his behavior patterns towards non-whites will change. And the Black men in this country also need to be reeducated so our behavior pattern and attitude toward ourselves will change.” – Malcolm X

 

The naked truth about the state of America.

Supreme Court Affirmative Action Ban Displays Historical Anti-Black Ideologies

After the recent ban of Affirmative Action by the current Supreme Court 6-3, when discussing the historical context of Supreme Court justices, it is important to acknowledge that some past justices owned slaves and played a role in supporting or upholding discriminatory laws. Here are just a few anti-Black Supreme Court justices:

1. John Rutledge (1739-1800) – Owned several slaves and participated in drafting the U.S. Constitution, which allowed for the continuation of slavery.

2. James Moore Wayne (1790-1867) – Supported the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which allowed the capture and return of escaped slaves.

3. Roger B. Taney (1777-1864) – Authored the majority opinion in the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford case (1857), which denied citizenship to African Americans and declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.

4. Joseph P. Bradley (1813-1892) – Supported the majority opinion in the Civil Rights Cases (1883), which struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875 and perpetuated racial segregation.

5. Horace Gray (1828-1902) – Supported the majority opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which upheld racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine.

It is crucial to recognize the historical impact of these justices’ decisions, as they contributed to the maintenance of discriminatory laws and practices and biased anti-Black ideological agendas.

Note: authored by, Ken L. Harris, Ph.D., President/CEO The National Business League | Historian | Economist | Black Business Influencer  

Changing The World Through Research

On June 21, 2023, a group of academics from the University of California held a symposium in Washington, DC to call attention to some of the pressing issues facing society and the world. The professors, committed to enacting the change they strongly believe in and have backed-up with research, are calling for policy changes and taking a stand for humanity and the environment.  The event was help at UCDC and organized by the University of California Washington Program.

“Why We Need Police Abolition”

Nikki Jones, H. Michael and Jeanne Williams Professor and Department Chair.

Nikki Jones is a Professor of African American Studies at UC Berkeley. Her work focuses on the experiences of Black women, men, and youth with the criminal legal system, policing, and violence. Professor Jones is the author of two books: Between Good and Ghetto: African American Girls and Inner-City Violence (2010) and The Chosen Ones: Black Men and the Politics of Redemption (2018), which received the Michael J. Hindelang Outstanding Book Award from the American Society of Criminology in 2020.  

ePa Q & A with Professor Nikki Jones:

“Open Our Borders: America’s New Conversation about Immigration”
Grace Peña Delgado, Associate Professor of History and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. 

Professor Delgado is a historian of borderlands and migration in nineteenth and twentieth-century North American. She is the author of Making the Chinese American: Global Migration, Localism, and Exclusion in the US-Mexico Borderlands (Stanford: 2012), distinguished as a CHOICE Academic Title. Delgado is also co-author of Latino Immigrants in the United States (Polity: 2011).

 

Digital Chains: Unveiling the Inhumanity of ICE Electronic Monitoring on Immigrants”
Mirian Martinez-Aranda, Chancellor’s postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of California Davis.

She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from UCLA in 2021. Her research examines the social, material, and health consequences of immigration detention on immigrants, families, and communities. She is also a former National Science Foundation and Marvin Hoffenberg fellow with the Center for American Politics and Public Policy, and a Ronald E. McNair Scholar. Her work has been published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and Law and Society Review. 

Q & A with Professor Mirian Martinez-Aranda:

 

“African Kingdoms as Resourceful Corporations: The Story of South Africa’s Bafokeng”
Shingirai Taodzera, Assistant professor of African American and American Studies at the University of California Davis.

Professor Taodzera’s scholarship focuses on the political economy of development in east and southern Africa, particularly the governance of high value extractive natural resources such as oil and minerals. He is currently working on turning his dissertation, entitled, “Nations within a state and the emerging hydrocarbons industry in Uganda” into his first monograph. 

Q & A with Professor Shingirai Taodzera:

 

“Engineering our Way out of Environmental Harm”
Sabbie Miller, Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California Davis.

Dr. Miller is interested in improving the sustainability of the built environment. The Miller group focuses on designing sustainable materials with an emphasis on assessing and improving the performance of infrastructure materials while minimizing their associated environmental impacts. The laboratory is working to develop means to robustly assess local, regional, and global burdens from materials consumption, to make advancements in alternative material resources, and to pioneer methods to tailor desired material behavior. The team works primarily with cementitious materials, bio-derived materials, and polymeric materials.  

 

“The Healing Power of Community: My Unexpected Journey as BTS ARMY”
Kate Ringland, Assistant Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Kathryn (Kate) Ringland, PhD in Informatics from the University of California, Irvine, was previously a NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University and a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Santa Cruz. Her research interests include studying and designing playful and community-oriented technology for people with disabilities.

Kate is currently affiliated with the Computational Media Department at University of California, Santa Cruz where she leads the Misfit Lab. Her past affiliations include: ASSIST Lab at UC Santa Cruz, the Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies (CBITs) and the People, Information, and Technology Changing Health (PITCH) Lab at Northwestern University, as well as the Star Group in LUCI in the ICS School

 

Affording New York City
Rowena Gray, Associate Professor & Graduate Program Chair at the University of California Merced.

Rowena Gray is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of California, Merced, and a Research Affiliate at Queen’s University Belfast’s Centre for Economic History. Dr. Gray received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Davis, in 2011. She is an American economic historian of the past two hundred years. Her research explores questions about the inequality effects of technological change and the impact of immigration on crime and housing markets.  

Establishing Ownership Of The Benin Bronzes

The Restitution Study Group Files Lawsuit To Establish Ownership of Benin Bronzes

 

Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, Executive Director Restitution Study Group, (RSG) a New York–based organization Restitution Study Group is spearheading a lawsuit against the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. to reverse the return of the museum’s 29 Benin bronzes to Nigeria and establish ownership of the ancient and highly valuable artifacts. Farmer-Paellmann joined ePa Live to discuss the lawsuit and the importance of the bronzes.

What To Know

  • During a ceremony on October 11th, “The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art transferred ownership of 29 Benin bronzes to the National Commission for Museums and Monuments in Nigeria. The bronzes, which were part of the museum’s collection, were stolen from Nigeria during the 1897 British raid on Benin City. The Smithsonian’s Board of Regents voted to officially remove the bronzes in June in keeping with the Smithsonian’s new ethical returns policy.”
  • The transfer project was led by Ngaire Blankenberg, former Director of the National Museum of African Art.
  • Blankenberg who left the Museum at the end of March 2023 after less than years leading the iconic museum says she led the museum with “nuance, transparency, and respect.” Reports and other sources, including Farmer-Paellmann says Blankenberg is being forced to resign partly due to her handling of the artifacts.
  • RSG won two awards for its short film on the Benin Bronzes, They Belong To All Of Us, at Cannes on May 25th.

ePa Live with Deadria Farmer-Paellmann

Part I

 

Part II

 

ePa Live: Question Of The Day

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Yale Study: Racism & Discrimination Main Cause For Excess Deaths For Black Americans

 

BY JEANETTE LENOIR

 

Black folks are still dying at an alarming rate compared to other ethnic groups in America. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a new Yale study that sheds more light on racial disparities in the U.S. regarding life expectancy for Black folks. The alarming new study shows Black people still suffer from illnesses at higher rates and die younger than white people. However, the study also revealed that the higher mortality rate for Black Americans translates to 1.63 million excess deaths compared to white people. This study is over the course of more than 20 years.

According to the report, the staggering higher mortality rate for Black folks from 1999 to 2020 led to the loss of more than 80 million years of life in comparison to white folks.  Key points of the findings are below.

Original Investigation

May 16, 2023

Excess Mortality and Years of Potential Life Lost Among the Black Population in the US, 1999-2020

Key Points

Question: How many excess deaths and years of potential life lost for the Black population, compared with the White population, occurred in the United States from 1999 through 2020?

Findings: Based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, excess deaths and years of potential life lost persisted throughout the period, with initial progress followed by stagnation of improvement and substantial worsening in 2020. The Black population had 1.63 million excess deaths, representing more than 80 million years of potential life lost over the study period.

Meaning: After initial progress, excess mortality and years of potential life lost among the US Black population stagnated and then worsened, indicating a need for new approaches.

Abstract

Importance: Amid efforts in the US to promote health equity, there is a need to assess recent progress in reducing excess deaths and years of potential life lost among the Black population compared with the White population.

Objective: To evaluate trends in excess mortality and years of potential life lost among the Black population compared with the White population.

Design, setting, and participants: Serial cross-sectional study using US national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1999 through 2020. We included data from non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black populations across all age groups.

Exposures: Race as documented in the death certificates.

Main outcomes and measures: Excess age-adjusted all-cause mortality, cause-specific mortality, age-specific mortality, and years of potential life lost rates (per 100 000 individuals) among the Black population compared with the White population.

Results: From 1999 to 2011, the age-adjusted excess mortality rate declined from 404 to 211 excess deaths per 100 000 individuals among Black males (P for trend <.001). However, the rate plateaued from 2011 through 2019 (P for trend = .98) and increased in 2020 to 395—rates not seen since 2000. Among Black females, the rate declined from 224 excess deaths per 100 000 individuals in 1999 to 87 in 2015 (P for trend <.001). There was no significant change between 2016 and 2019 (P for trend = .71) and in 2020 rates increased to 192—levels not seen since 2005. The trends in rates of excess years of potential life lost followed a similar pattern. From 1999 to 2020, the disproportionately higher mortality rates in Black males and females resulted in 997 623 and 628 464 excess deaths, respectively, representing a loss of more than 80 million years of life. Heart disease had the highest excess mortality rates, and the excess years of potential life lost rates were largest among infants and middle-aged adults.

Conclusions and relevance: Over a recent 22-year period, the Black population in the US experienced more than 1.63 million excess deaths and more than 80 million excess years of life lost when compared with the White population. After a period of progress in reducing disparities, improvements stalled, and differences between the Black population and the White population worsened in 2020.

Buffalo Massacre: A Year Later, White Supremacist Propaganda Continues To Spur Violence

BY CALEB KIEFFER

On May 14, 2022, a gunman carried out a horrific, racist attack on the Black community, killing 10 people and wounding three others at a Tops Friendly Markets grocery store in east Buffalo, New York. The gunman left behind an online screed suggesting the attack was motivated by a racist conspiracy theory that has previously inspired other white supremacist acts of terror.

On the anniversary of the atrocity in Buffalo, we remember and mourn those lost in the attack and those whose lives have forever been altered. To honor them, we call for urgency and vigilance in preventing and countering extremist violence and the white supremacy behind it. While testifying before the House Oversight Committee in June 2022, Zeneta Everhart, whose son Zaire was wounded in the shooting, spoke candidly about the nation’s problems stemming from white supremacy and gun violence.

“Domestic terrorism exists in this country for three reasons,” Everhart said. “America is inherently violent. This is who we are as a nation. The very existence of this country was founded on violence, hate and racism.” A lengthy digital footprint said to be associated with the shooter shows false conspiracy theories about a “great replacement” spurred him to drive more than 200 miles to a predominantly Black neighborhood to carry out the massacre.

The “great replacement” theory is a central tenet of white nationalism. Steeped in racist and antisemitic narratives, it falsely asserts there is a concerted and covert effort to replace white populations in white-majority countries with immigrants of color. The conspiracy theory has inspired many other attacks carried out by white extremists against people of color, immigrants, Jewish people and Muslims. Once a fringe idea propagated by hate groups and other extremists – frequently in online message boards – the “great replacement” theory and ideas akin to it have been normalized and dragged into the mainstream, in part, with the help of conservative political figures, media personalities, lawmakers and lobbying groups.

MAINSTREAMING HATE

Tucker Carlson, the now-former Fox News commentator, was one of the biggest media purveyors of “great replacement” ideas. He used his prime-time spot to stoke fear about immigration at the southern border and falling birthrates as existential threats to white people. While Carlson was careful to avoid using the more overt terms favored by avowed white nationalists, these extremists have praised him for mainstreaming their ideas.

These ideas have had a far-reaching effect. In a survey by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Tulchin Research, nearly seven in 10 Republicans agreed to at least some extent with the notion that demographic changes in the U.S. are deliberately driven by liberal and progressive politicians attempting to gain political power by “replacing more conservative white voters.”

A year after the Buffalo massacre, this type of rhetoric is still prevalent. This year, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives has held multiple committee hearings on immigration featuring extremist voices and giving a platform to xenophobic rhetoric about a migrant “invasion” happening at the southern border.

On March 6, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, sent a letter signed by all committee Democrats to Rep. James Comer, the committee chairman, asking him and his Republican colleagues to denounce the white nationalist “great replacement” conspiracy theory. The letter said that during one hearing on Feb. 7, Republicans “invoked dangerous and conspiratorial rhetoric echoing the racist and nativist tropes peddled by white supremacists and right-wing extremists.” This included warnings about “invasion” and accusing the Biden administration of implementing a plan “to deliberately open our border” for purposes of “changing our culture.” Comer and all the other Republicans refused to sign, calling it an attempt to “distract” from issues about the border.

This rhetoric has had deadly consequences. Aside from the Buffalo massacre, “great replacement,” antisemitic and invasion-style rhetoric has inspired numerous domestic terror attacks and other acts of violence – in places like Christchurch, New Zealand; El Paso, Texas; and Poway, California. The Buffalo anniversary this year comes during the trial of a man accused of killing 11 Jewish worshippers in a 2018 antisemitic mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.

The Black community of Buffalo was already dealing with the daily impacts of racism, false conspiracy theories and violence before the shooting.

“This attack compounded the preexisting generational and ancestral trauma that plagued this targeted Buffalo neighborhood and its Black residents,” wrote Thomas Beauford, president of the Buffalo chapter of the National Urban League, in the organization’s 2023 State of Black America report.

‘HELP US TO CREATE THE CHANGE’

Too often, following white supremacist acts of terror, politicians and others who refuse to take real action offer their “thoughts and prayers.”

But thoughts and prayers for the victims of extremist violence are not enough, says Zeneta Everhart. She told lawmakers, “We need you to stand with us in the days, weeks, months and years to come, and be ready to go to work and help us to create the change that this country so desperately needs.”

In fact, there are a number of policy actions that can be taken to mitigate the impact of far-right extremism. They include:

  • Improving the collection of hate crime data. The most recent FBI hate crime report documented the highest number of hate crimes ever reported, including the highest number of race-based crimes – mostly directed against Black people. After 30 years of incomplete data and underreporting from the FBI, Congress should enact legislation to require credible hate crime reporting by local and state law enforcement as a condition of receiving federal funds.
  • Expanding upstream prevention initiatives to build community resilience. The FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Justice have all confirmed that the primary domestic terrorism threat comes from racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists who advocate for the superiority of the white race. To bolster community well-being and ensure that everyone is prepared to inoculate young people against radicalization, federal and state governments should provide funding for long-term prevention and education initiatives. The SPLC has partnered with American University’s Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab to produce resources for parents and caregivers to assist them in helping to steer young people away from extremist propaganda. And the White House must follow through on the wide array of government initiatives and public-private partnerships against hate and extremism announced last September at the United We Stand Summit.
  • Defending and promoting inclusive, truthful education. As many states push new laws to restrict inclusive education and restrict teaching about difficult history in the U.S., more needs to be done to ensure young people are presented the unvarnished facts about this country’s history – both good and bad – to shape a better future. In her testimony, Everhart stated, “We cannot continue to whitewash education, creating generations of children to believe that one race of people are better than the other. Our differences should make us curious, not angry. … That awful day that will now be a part of the history books … let us not forget to add that horrific day to the curriculum that we teach our children.”
  • Promoting online safety and holding tech and social media companies accountable. Tech companies must be held accountable for their role in spreading extremist disinformation and indoctrinating young people into racist and other hateful ideologies. These companies should create and enforce policies and terms of service to ensure that social media networks, payment service providers and other internet-based services do not provide platforms where hateful activities and extremism can thrive.

Finally, elected officials, civic leaders, law enforcement and business leaders must repudiate dangerous and false ideas like the “great replacement” theory. A year after the Tops supermarket shooting, far too many political figures and pundits continue to perpetuate this dangerous rhetoric.

As we remember those who were killed and those whose lives were permanently changed because of the hate-based violence in Buffalo, we must come together to challenge white supremacy in all its forms and strive for a world free of it.

Caleb Kieffer is a senior research analyst for the SPLC’s Intelligence Project.

The Feds Charge Lying NY Rep. George Santos

BY JEANETTE LENOIR

Lying New York Congressman, George Santos has been charged with federal crimes and could be hauled in front of a judge at Brooklyn’s Eastern District court as soon as Wednesday, according to multiple reports Tuesday afternoon. He is expected to turn himself in.  The indictment are sealed and the exact nature of the charges are not immediately clear.  However, Santos had been under scrutiny for lying about his life and professional background, including fundraising practices during his 2022 House campaign.

Santos, 34, made national headline news late last year when it was uncovered that he lied to secure a House seat to represent New York’s 3rd Congressional District. The embattled congressman confessed to a series of spectacular fabrications about his background and work experience, including lying about being Jewish and being related to Holocaust survivors. 

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15 Minutes: Snuffing Out A Black Man On The F Train

BY JEANETTE LENOIR

A troubled man was choked to death on a New York train in Lower Manhattan this week and the city didn’t even skip a beat as District Attorney Alvin Bragg hastily decided the snuffing out of a sick, hungry and tired Black man was justified, if not welcome. After first deciding not to file charges against the wannabe white savior, Bragg hit reverse when the public cried foul after video of the horrific incident made its way to the internet for the world to bear witness, once again, to the callous killing of a Black man.

“If folks can’t imagine you as human, all the policy in the world is irrelevant.” – Ta-Nehisi Coates

Jordan Neeley

Adding to this normal tragic occurrence in the American Black experience, Neely’s own mother, 36-year-old Christie Neely, was choked to death by her boyfriend in 2007 when he was only 14-years-old, according to a 2012 report by the Star-Ledger.

His mother’s body was stuffed in a suitcase and dumped on Henry Hudson Parkway. Imagine a young boy, just 14, having to live with this trauma, facing societal rejection, pressure and historical disadvantages simply because he was born a Black boy in America.

At this trajectory in our human experience as Black people, the only thing left is to ask: Which one of our Black souls is next?

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