Category Archives: Black History

Pioneers, Activists, Black People, Black History

On June 2,1964 3 men were abducted and murdered, on June 20,2016 the case was closed and in 2018 Killien died in custody … The grim story of folks wanting to register fellow Americans in a campaign for Civil Rights is below:

Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney had only just begun working on the Freedom Summer campaign to register black Mississippians to vote when they suddenly disappeared.

Schwerner and Goodman were two Jewish men from New York—they had been there less than a week—and Chaney was a local black activist. They had just finished investigating the bombing of a nearby church when they were taken into custody under false pretenses, and never again seen by their fellow volunteers. The disappearance of these three men sparked national outrage, and the FBI converged on Mississippi to investigate.

They discovered that on June 21, 1964, immediately upon being released from custody, the young activists had been brutally beaten and murdered by a Ku Klux Klan lynch mob. The FBI’s investigation led to the first successful federal prosecution of a civil rights case in Mississippi.

The anniversary of the day we lost these brave defenders of civil rights.

Please Register People to Vote for Joe Biden

The circumstances under which we fight may have changed, but our values remain constant. All Americans, regardless of income or the color of their skin, must be able to freely exercise their constitutional right to vote.

The work of civil rights activists to protect this right did not stop when Freedom Summer ended, or even with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As long as there are legislators fighting to keep our most vulnerable populations away from the polls, our work and our struggle continues.

Join your voice with your fellow champions of civil and human rights. Take just one minute to do these things:

Pledge to exercise your hard-won right to vote in November.

In solidarity,

Lorraine C. Miller
Interim President and CEO
NAACP

Black History, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Tell Randolph County school board to reverse its ban on “Invisible Man” a repost – Black History

02/16/2024 Nativegrl77 5 Comments

Black literature is under attack.

Demand Randolph County reverse its ban on Invisible Man at tonight’s meeting.

It took just one letter from an angry parent to convince a North Carolina school district to remove Ralph Ellison‘s Invisible Man from school libraries in the county. A short board meeting prompted by a single letter — describing one of the most significant pieces of Black literature in American history as “filthy” — was all that five members of the Randolph County Board of Education needed to feel justified in voting to ban the novel last week.¹ It’s just the kind of quiet injustice — and officially-sanctioned bias — that happens behind closed doors in towns across the country all of the time. But this time, we have an opportunity to push back.

Just days after Randolph’s decision made national headlines, the school board called an emergency special meeting for tonight regarding the ban.² If a couple of bad press hits is enough to make Randolph reconsider, imagine how powerful thousands of our voices can be.

The Board is meeting TONIGHT. Will you join us in demanding that the school board reverse its decision and return Invisible Man to library shelves? It only takes a moment.

This isn’t the first time in recent months that books by Black authors depicting American racism have been attacked. Earlier this month, the president of the Ohio Board of Education called Toni Morrison‘s The Bluest Eye “pornographic.”³ And in July, a Detroit-area school district came under fire for dumping a collection of over 10,000 volumes of invaluable Black books and artifacts.⁴ Enough is enough.

Banning Black stories not only alienates Black students, it denies all students the opportunity to engage with and discuss important themes like racial enmity in society and the development of personal identity. For elected officials concerned with the education of our young people, it’s particularly perverse that Randolph’s school board failed to recognize the irony of banning a book that’s about silencing critical voices and the ways in which racist culture restricts individuals from reaching their full human potential.

Please join us in calling on the Randolph County school board to reverse its book ban at tonight’s meeting. Together we can send a message about the critical value of Black literature in our schools.

Thanks and Peace,

–Rashad, Arisha, Matt, Kim, Hannah, Johnny and the rest of the ColorOfChange team.
September 25th, 2013

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way

References

1. “Invisible Man Banned: Ralph Ellison’s Landmark Novel Banned From School Libraries,” Huffington Post, 09-19-13
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2956?t=9&akid=3136.1174326.F-YN-i

2. “Board to reconsider its ‘Invisible Man’ ban,” Asheboro Courier-Tribune, 09-20-13
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2957?t=11&akid=3136.1174326.F-YN-i

3. “ACLU to Ohio schools leader: Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye’ not porn,” News Channel 5, 09-12-13
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2958?t=13&akid=3136.1174326.F-YN-i

4. “Discarded Black history books incite protests in Detroit,” Amsterdam News, 08-10-13
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2959?t=15&akid=3136.1174326.F-YN-i

Black History, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Kelley Williams-Bolar – 2011- Black History

02/13/2024 Nativegrl77

Story of mother sentenced to jail for enrolling a child in different district, in 2011

Your voice is making a huge difference in the case of , the Ohio mother who was convicted of a felony after allegedly misleading authorities and sending her children to a school outside her district:

•Since we wrote to you about Williams-Bolar, you and more than 67,000 ColorOfChange.org members have called on Ohio Governor John Kasich to take a public stand and commit to pardoning Williams-Bolar.

•Last week, Gov. Kasich acknowledged the public outcry about the case and said he’d investigate.1 Also last week, prosecutors dropped the remaining charges in the case (for grand theft) against Williams-Bolar and her father.2

•On Monday, we went to Gov. Kasich’s office to deliver your signatures, along with thousands more from Change.org and MomsRising.org — more than 165,000 signatures in all. The petition delivery was covered by most of the major media in the state capitol.3,4,5

•On Tuesday, Gov. Kasich responded by asking the state’s parole board to review Williams-Bolar’s case.6

This an important step towards justice: before Gov. Kasich can pardon Williams-Bolar he must receive a recommendation from the parole board. To review her case and make a recommendation, the parole board had to receive a request from the governor or Williams-Bolar herself. Now that Gov. Kasich has made that request, the process for pardoning Williams-Bolar or commuting her sentence can begin.

Our voices are also having an impact beyond this particular case. By speaking out for Kelley Williams-Bolar, we’re also helping to focus the country’s attention on the conditions that put her in this situation: the lack of access to safe, quality education that so many of our children face, and the fact that it’s often rooted in economic and racial inequality.

Gov. Kasich acknowledged the public pressure that led him to take action Tuesday, saying “Many people have shared their thoughts with me in letters, email and phone calls, and I appreciate their outreach.”7

We still don’t know if the parole board will do the right thing. And we need to make sure that Gov. Kasich stays involved and committed to doing everything he can to ensure a just outcome for Kelley Williams-Bolar and her family. But we do know that they are a few steps closer to justice now, and it’s thanks in large part to the voices of ColorOfChange members and our friends at Change.org and MomsRising.org.

Thanks for getting involved. We’ll keep you posted on the case, and let you know if there are more ways you can help.

— James, Gabriel, Dani, William, Natasha and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team

February 10th, 2011

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU — your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/5?akid=1890.1174326.wUnIwC&t=2

References

1. “Ohio governor weighs in on Kelley Williams-Bolar case,” Akron Beacon Journal, 2-1-11

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/720?akid=1890.1174326.wUnIwC&t=4

2. “Theft dismissed in residency case,” Akron Beacon Journal, 2-1-11

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/721?akid=1890.1174326.wUnIwC&t=6

3. “Petition to Pardon Mom,” ABC 6, 2-7-11

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/722?akid=1890.1174326.wUnIwC&t=8

4. “Kasich asked to pardon mom in school-enrollment fraud,” Columbus Dispatch, 2-8-11

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/723?akid=1890.1174326.wUnIwC&t=10

5. “Groups ask Ohio gov. to pardon district switcher,” Associated Press, 2-7-11

http://act.colorofchange.org/go/724?akid=1890.1174326.wUnIwC&t=12