In yesterday’s article we went over the conditions of voting for former slaves during the 19th century and how voting rights evolved over time in legislation and in practice. As people began to communicate around the barriers restricting their voting rights they became more equipped to organize in the interest of dismantling those barriers. This […]
Black people have exponentially grown as a demographic in the states since our kidnapping. Our population broke a million by the 19th century and continued to increase rapidly to 30 million by the 20th century. While our numbers, and contribution (labor, taxes, etc.) to the United States has grown, unfortunately our influence politically has failed […]
As we enter into Black History month I want to recognize the role that Black media plays in preserving all of the stories that we celebrate during this time and throughout the year. Without Black media so much of our history would go untold, or would be told with indifference or inaccuracy, so it must […]
Earlier this month Prisoners in North Carolina received notification (attached below) that new restrictions would be placed on their trust fund accounts (prisoner’s version of a bank account). The new policy once instated would limit their ability to receive funds from those on the outside to only the people on their visitation list effecting over 38,000 […]
In 1874 on McNeil Island, a body of land west of Steilacoom, Washington, was where the first penitentiary was built in the United States. Washington state was the first region in this country to establish a brick-and-mortar prison solely for the purpose of warehousing human bodies. The state has been the national leader in the prison […]
In 2016 the Ballots of Bars campaign began as an effort to raise awareness about criminal disenfranchisement in Massachusetts, in collaboration with two incarcerated people and the Emancipation Initiative. Incarcerated activists have identified criminal disenfranchisement as one of the most significant injustices that they face. Incarcerated people have been fighting for their voting rights in Massachusetts for more than 40 years. […]
On April 3, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. gave his last speech, pleading with Black America to shift their wealth into Black owned institutions the night before his assassination. It is by no coincidence that his death came shortly after the world renowned speaker gave this radical advice to the millions who had been following […]
The one year mark since the original introduction of the Good Time Bill is right around the corner. February of 2018 was when the bipartisan HB 5666 was first introduced in Michigan’s legislature by Representatives David LeGrand (D) and Martin Howrylak (R). Over the year since the bill was introduced its been stalled in the […]
If Beale Street Could Talk it would whisper to us all that the stories made on it are worth telling. It would remind us of the lives that were enhanced by its presence and it would sob for every life stolen from its sidewalks, screaming for all the potential greatness lost for every man that […]
Being a rapper has a stigma attached due to the ‘trap’ rap genre saturating mainstream music entertainment. The genre’s repetitive lyrics and catchy melody coerce people into praising negative behaviors ranging from drug use to murder and prostitution. Growing up in an urban area myself, becoming a rapper was the number one career choice that […]