Every day in America there are 321 citizens who are impacted by gun violence, says Readers Digest – Dave Saldana. The people who are shot, 111 will die, 42 will be murdered, and 65 by suicide and the rest will live. There are 390 million guns on the streets and only 329 million people are citizens, and there are more guns than people.
Browsing: Opinions
Black history is the undeniable history of this country, its people, actions, triumphs, and atrocities. Yet, Black history is deemed “controversial” by people like Governor Ron DeSantis, institutions like the College Board that attempt to water down curricula, and those that press for outright bans on teaching about the contributions and experiences of African Americans in public schools. A battle is raging right now against words like “intersectional” and “systemic marginalization.” Meanwhile, the freedom to learn, the future of education, and the brilliance of our children are caught in the crosshairs.
It’s hard to believe that with the amount of damage that the tobacco industry has inflicted on the Black community, that there are still Black organizations accepting their funding. By doing so, these Black organizations enable the tobacco industry to portray themselves as allies to our community. They help silence our voices and efforts aimed at encouraging policymakers to take specific steps to protect our people, thus becoming complicit in our death and disease.
Milestones Show Us Where We’ve Come From, Where We Need to Go
Building off the core values of community and resilience last week, the Coalition to Advance Public Safety (CAPS) kicked off its groundbreaking initiative to reduce gun homicides and non-fatal shootings by 20 percent over the next five years in Newark, Baltimore, Baton Rouge, and Indianapolis – the first four of an expected 12 cities where CAPS- – will work with mayors, community based organizations and communities to scale up, unite and bring greater cohesion and funding to cities community violence intervention (CVI) ecosystems.
As a lifelong organizer, I know that you grow movements by listening first, so that’s how I’ve spent the last month. As I started a new job as executive director of the Sierra Club. I’ve traveled more than 15,000 miles, crisscrossing the country from the Deep South to New England to the Pacific Northwest to listen.
Unfortunately, mass murder in America has reached a level such that it’s classified as both an epidemic and a National crisis. No longer can we only label Middle Eastern countries as uncivilized because of their use of radicalized suicide bombers as weapons. Our own escalating murders could lead one to conclude that we’re also uncivilized and facing a “Mass Murder Syndrome.”
It’s been a few weeks since a mess started boiling over in Florida with the rollout of the new AP African American Studies course, and no one involved is looking good: not the state Department of Education, not the College Board, and definitely not Gov. Ron DeSantis, who blasted the course publicly and pressured the College Board to water it down. Now DeSantis, pumped up by what he thinks is his victory over educators, is making noise about going after all AP courses in the state.
It is no surprise Georgia State Senator Emmanuel Jones (D) was able to call Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas an Uncle Tom. Like the expression, “It takes one to know one,” It took an Uncle Tom to know an Uncle Tom.
What We Need is Love