At least 73 people were shot over Fourth of July weekend in Chicago.11 were killed, and at least 62 people wounded between Thursday and Sunday night.
Rev. Al Sharpton has announced plans to relocate to Chicago to address and bring attention to the city’s gun violence crisis. Sharpton vows to make the move in September, where he’ll rent an apartment and work with community leaders and organizations.
A recent study asserts that people generally believe black people feel less pain than whites. Called the racial empathy gap, it helps to explain the persistence of racial disparities in our society; in everything from medical care, to social and economic policies, to the criminal justice system.
Like every other politic nerd I’ve been following what’s happening in Texas pretty closely. For those that don’t know, Texas’ legislator is trying to pass one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country; a ban on abortions past 20 weeks.
Rhymes and Reasons interviews Pugz Atomz about the Hip Hop songs that changed his life: Saafir’s “Light Sleeper,” Whodini’s “The Freaks Come Out,” “Spaceship” from Kanye West, GLC, and Consequence, and “Brooklyn Hardrock,” by Thurston Howell III.
Happy Juneteenth, everyone! As many of you know, Juneteenth is a day that celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. What began in Texas in 1865 is now a holiday that many blacks commemorate.
We talked a lot about the criminal justice system and prison industrial complex, especially as it pertains to black youth. The astronomical number of people who have been incarcerated and the effects their imprisonment has on those individuals, their families, and the communities they leave and sometimes return to is part of that discussion. […]
Philadelphia is set to close 23 public schools, nearly 10 percent of the city’s total. 81 percent of students impacted by school closings are black, even though they make up only 58 percent of the population. Meanwhile, the city has recently begun work on a $400 million prison project, said to be “the second-most expensive state project ever.”
Jacinda Bullie – a founding member of Chicago’s influential hip-hop arts and education collective, Kuumba Lynx – talks w/ R&R about the Hip Hop songs that changed her life: “Roxanne’s Revenge,” by Roxanne Shante, the lovers’ anthem “All I Need,” by Method Man ft. Mary J. Blige, and more
NBA star Dwyane Wade has partnered with Hip Hop artist Lecrae and a group of activists on “This Is Fatherhood,” a campaign promoting the importance of fatherhood. The campaign asks contestants to submit videos, songs, or essays that answer the question: “What does fatherhood mean to me?”
When we view young people like Asean Johnson, shouting, crying out and having their voice heard in the name of opposition, it does two things. It encourages us all to remember that the next generation of black youth can speak for themselves, and it also reminds us that we as black people are all connected. […]
Now that the Chicago school closings have been announced, parents have reacted with outrage. With the closings disproportionately affecting minority students, there’s been a lot of backlash. A lot of the coverage I’ve seen has talked about how this will impact Mayor Emanuel’s next election.  To no one’s surprise, a bunch of pissed off teachers […]
