Author: Carma Henry

Roy Mizell & Kurtz Funeral Home

 NNPA NEWSWIRE — On behalf of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) representing the Black Press of America, we extend our sincerest condolences to the Jackson family. Leadership matters. Jesse Jackson’s leadership in the Civil Rights Movement in America and the human rights movement throughout the world was outstanding. Jackson uttered a strong penetrating voice for the voiceless. His courage on the battlefield for freedom, justice and equality was unparallel.

     The high-profile civil rights attorney snagged a regional Emmy for producing the short documentary “How to Sue the Klan,” a film that revisits one of the most daring courtroom takedowns of the Ku Klux Klan in modern history.

      In this moment in Black history, we pause to remember Frederick Douglass, a man born into slavery in 1818 who would become one of the most powerful voices for freedom the world has ever known.

“Swimming While Black”

      Representation isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a necessity, especially in the stories we share with our children. Being able to provide a child with a book featuring characters who look like them is a transformative experience.

       I had to come to an uncomfortable realization: some of the obstacles in my life weren’t placed there by systems, circumstances, or other people. I was building them myself.

   This metaphorical  title clearly symbolizes our Founding Fathers greatest fears for the viability of America’s democracy as a fledging “republic.” They did everything conceivable to protect and defend democracy. Yet knowing that democracy as a system of governing by men and women is always threaten when integrity and humanity are conceded to a demagogue.

       The continued value of Carter G. Woodson’s sociological tour de force “The Mis-Education of the Negro,” first published in 1933, exists because every aspect of the book reveals truth that Black people are confronted in 2026 with the same Centuries-old problem. Once basic education became available for so-called “freed” Black people, a system of exclusion accompanied total immersion in European dominance learning. Blacks learned nothing of Africa or of a place of dignity for themselves in America.

     I believe this powerful report was accurate, timely and appropriately titled. Africans in America, Black people are caught up in one of the most dangerous periods in the history of the USA; a moment where, under the umbrella of the MAGA movement, the foundational documents that tenuously bind this imperfect union together are under vicious assault by racist, white supremacist and white nationalist forces.