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Category Archives: African Americans
Why I Called Herschel Walker Coonish: The Right of Black People to Call Out their Traitors
Editors’ Note: This article has been held until after the Georgia runoff election so there would be no suggestion of a political endorsement. Since Donald Trump’s incursion into US politics in 2015, deprecation and intimidation have become pervasive. Trump and … Continue reading
143 total views
Posted in African Americans, African Americans, bigotry, Politics, Racism, Voices, White Nationalism
Tagged fascism, media, politics, racism
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How The Issue of Representation Impacts Central Illinois
The issue of unequal representation of cultures has plagued the nation since its birth, often resulting in the perversion of people’s natural rights. In central Illinois, it extends that perversion through aggressive discrimination. Although minorities have seen more representation on … Continue reading
304 total views, 1 views today
Posted in African Americans, African Americans, bigotry, Media, Racism, Section, Violence, Voices
Tagged African American, discrimination, media stereotypes, racism, violence
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A Time of Monsters: The New Nadir and the Crisis of the Black Worker
We currently reside in what Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci called “A Time of Monsters.” Exacerbated by the catastrophic COVID-19 pandemic, the Black working classes continue to struggle under what Black Studies scholar Sundiata Cha-Jua has dubbed “the New Nadir.” For … Continue reading
228 total views
Posted in African Americans, African Americans, Economy, labor, Labor/Economics, Politics
Tagged Black workers, economic inequality, economic racism, new nadir, underemployment
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Juneteenth Freedom Day
Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19 that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with … Continue reading
263 total views
Posted in African American history, African Americans, African Americans, Racism, Remembering, Voices of Color
Tagged African American traditions, holidays, Juneteenth, Memory, Slavery
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Reckless Law, Shameless Order: Behind the Scenes
One afternoon in April of 2021 Faranak Miraftab called me to ask if I was interested in holding an art workshop with formerly incarcerated artists in continuation of the “IDENSCITY,” a conceptual art space that I had been developing … Continue reading
309 total views
Posted in African Americans, African Americans, Arts, Immigrants, incarceration, Local Arts, Prison Arts, Prisoners, Voices, Voices of Color, Women
Tagged Immigrants, incarceration, local arts, Prison arts
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Shamar Betts Case Moves to Federal Appeals Court
On April 8, the case of Urbana resident Shamar Betts moved to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Betts was arrested in June, 2020 in the midst of a national crackdown on protests against the murder … Continue reading
688 total views, 1 views today
Posted in African Americans, BLM, incarceration, Justice, Racism
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“It’s a Money Grab”: Billions in COVID Relief Going to Fund Police and Prisons
If you’re from inner-city Birmingham, Alabama, there’s a “99-percent chance” you have a family member or friend who has been incarcerated, according to Veronica Johnson, deputy director for the Alabama Justice Initiative, which has been fighting against a proposal to … Continue reading
292 total views
Posted in African Americans, COVID-19, incarceration, Justice, Police, police accountability, Policing
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Passing: Can One Ever “Pass”?
I recently watched one of the most beautiful and perhaps also one of the most significant movies I have seen in a long time. Passing, based on a 1929 novel by the Harlem Renaissance author Nella Larson (1891–1964), is a … Continue reading
331 total views
Posted in African American women, African Americans, Arts, film, Racism, Section
Tagged African American women, film, race, racism
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Local Community Protests Former Champaign Police Chief’s Teaching Appointment at Parkland College
Former Champaign Police Chief Robert T. Finney was hired in August, 2020 to teach Community Policing as well as Introduction to Criminal Justice at Parkland College. “Unbelievable” is what one African American community member thought on hearing the news; “Shocking,” … Continue reading
840 total views
Posted in African Americans, Education, Justice, police accountability, Police brutality, Policing, Section
Tagged education, Parkland College, police brutality
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Countering Violence in Champaign-Urbana
The uptick in murders in 2021 represents a national crisis. In 2020, the FBI counted 21,750 homicides in the US, a 30 percent increase over 2019 and the largest percentage increase since 9/11. The total number of murders rose slightly … Continue reading
802 total views, 1 views today
Posted in African Americans, Champaign County, Gun violence, racial segregation in Champaign/Urbana, Youth Services
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Ending Gun Violence Requires Long-Term Investments in People and Communities
Quansay L. Markham (17 years old), Jonathon McPherson (17), Jadeen Moore (19), Acarrie Ingram-Triner (19), and Jordan Atwater-Lewis (17) are among the people who were shot and killed in Champaign-Urbana in 2021. Are there things we could have done as … Continue reading
514 total views
Posted in African Americans, African Americans, Champaign County, Gun violence, Voices, Youth Services
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Urbana’s Long Search for Traffic-Stop Equity
In 2004 the State of Illinois required all law enforcement agencies to report their annual traffic stop data to the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). The Urbana Police Department’s (UPD) data shows they have enforced traffic laws inequitably every year … Continue reading
427 total views
Posted in African Americans, Champaign County, Justice, Police, Policing, Racism
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The Unacknowledged and Ongoing Genocide: Violence against African Americans
I began writing this reflection on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2021, a national holiday created by President Lincoln in the hopes of healing the wounds following the Civil War. Yet for many the wounds still run deep. One of the … Continue reading
443 total views
Posted in African Americans, Racism, Violence
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The Ubuntu Project and the Need for a Progressive Shift in Policing
Ubuntu is a term that originated with the Zulu people and roughly translates to “humanity” in English. The term emerged as a political concept following apartheid’s disintegration in South Africa. Now a collective of local community members, scholars, clergy, and … Continue reading
1,011 total views
Posted in African Americans, Community, Justice, police accountability, Police Brutality, Policing, Voices of Color
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Scapegoating and the 2020 Marketplace Mall Riots
I watched the legal machinery eat further into the life of a young man this past month. On June 14, I joined others at the sentencing hearing for Shamar Betts at the federal courthouse in Urbana. Betts is accused of … Continue reading
2,083 total views
Posted in African Americans, Justice, Police
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Black Art Politicized: A Discussion with Leslie Smith
I had the amazing opportunity to interview Leslie Smith, a board member of the Urbana–Champaign Independent Media Center (UCIMC) and the founder of Black Voices Theater Production. As someone who grew up in a household with a father who is … Continue reading
Posted in African American Women in CU, African Americans, African Americans, Arts, Local Arts, Voices of Color, Women
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“It’s Scary Having a Fifteen-Year-Old Son”: Community Voices on Gun Violence in C-U
In the midst of the global pandemic, Champaign-Urbana has its own local epidemic: gun violence. As of July 20, police had received 95 reports in 2020 of shooting incidents in Champaign alone. This is more than double the total for … Continue reading
Posted in African Americans, African Americans, Gun violence, incarceration, Poetry, Violence, Voices of Color
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The Decline of African Languages at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois used to be one of the best universities for learning African languages. Emeritus professor of Linguistics Eyamba Bokamba would always say, “here in Illinois we offer African languages from A to Z, Arabic to Zulu.” Unfortunately, … Continue reading
Posted in Africa, African Americans, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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We Don’t Live in a Food Desert, We Live under Food Apartheid: Interview with Dawn Blackman
Dawn Mosley Blackman, a Chicago native, moved to Champaign in April, 1993. She is the current steward of the Randolph Street Community Garden and a pastor at the Church of the Brethren. As a military wife she lived in Europe … Continue reading
Posted in African Americans, Community, Food Insecurity, health, Poverty
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Emma Scott Bridgewater: Lived Experience Marked by Race and Discrimination
I met Mrs. Erma Pauline Scott Bridgewater (1913-2013) in Spring, 2009, during my research visits to Bethel A.M.E. Church. She led a life of service, racial work, and local activism in Champaign, being, arguably, the most interviewed and celebrated local … Continue reading
Posted in African Americans, bigotry, Women
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