Written by Thomas Craemer, University of Connecticut____The cost of slavery and its legacy of systemic racism to generations of Black Americans has been clear over the past year – seen in both the racial disparities of the pandemic and widespread protests over police brutality.Yet whenever calls for reparations are made – as they are again now – opponents counter that it would be unfair to saddle a debt on those not personally responsible. In the words of then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, speaking on Juneteenth – the day Black Americans celebrate as marking emancipation – in 2019, “I don’t think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none of us currently living are responsible is a good idea.”As a professor of public policy who has studied reparations, I acknowledge that the figures involved are large – I conservatively estimate the losses from unpaid wages and lost inheritances to Black descendants of the enslaved at around US$20 trillion in 2021 dollars.But what often gets forgotten by those who oppose reparations is that payouts for slavery have been made before – numerous times, in fact. And few at the time complained that it was unfair to saddle generations of people with a debt for which they were not personally responsible.There is an important caveat in these cases of reparations though: The payments went to former slave owners and their descendants, not the enslaved or their legal...

Nancy Navarro, a Latina lawmaker who was speaking about racial inequities during a virtual meeting in Maryland on Tuesday, is outraged after two attendees mocked her accent during the discussion.The man and woman, who didn't realize that they were unmuted during the Zoom meeting, can be faintly heard in the background of the video laughing and making fun of the Montgomery County councilmember, CNN reported. "I love how her accent comes out and pronounces words that she thinks that they're pronounced," said a woman, referring to how Navarro says the words "represent" and "hologram."The man responding to the woman said "I heard 'hologram,' and I was like, 'That's kinda interesting.'""So cute," the woman replied while mocking the council member who was speaking about how the county's coronavirus vaccine rollout had failed people of color. Navarro didn't realize what happened until after the meeting when her colleagues told her about the comments that had been made."This sort of commentary is completely inappropriate and uncalled for," the Venezuelan immigrant said in a statement after the incident. "It is a loud commentary on the toxicity and culture of disrespect directed at leaders and community members of color."The two attendees have not been identified by name. However, council spokesperson Sonya Healy said the man was a trainee with Montgomery Community Media, an organization that runs the council's virtual meetings. The woman is described as an employee of the Montgomery County Council. Responding to the incident in a statement, the council vowed to recommit itself to educating the workforce and "fostering a culture that is absolutely respectful, free of bigotry and reflective of Montgomery County's values.""The Montgomery County Council stands in solidarity with Councilmember Nancy Navarro after a troubling and unacceptable incident occurred during Tuesday's televised Council session, in which concerning background audio was heard on the broadcast," the members stated. "The entire council is committed to racial equity and safe workplaces. Furthermore, our community expects that our council and its employees and contractors are held to the highest standard."The Montgomery Community Media described the mockery as a microaggression."The behavior of the male MCM trainee involved is completely unacceptable and not reflective of our culture," the organization stated. "We are appropriately disgusted and disappointed."Navarro, who was born in Venezuela, came to the U.S. when she was 10 years old and eventually moved back to her native country. She then returned to America at the age of 17. The councilmember and her husband have lived in Montgomery County since the early '90s. Navarro, who became the council's first Latina member when she was elected in 2009, has focused her career on racial equity and social justice. The latest incident has only heightened her concern about racial inequity."If this is how they're talking about this elected official, then what does that mean in terms of how this impacts government service delivery to a community like this one?" she said.In an interview with FOX 5, the lawmaker said she's not "there to be cute" in a response seemingly directed towards the woman who said the lawmaker was "so cute.""I’m there as a policymaker," Navarro said. "I’m the first immigrant to ever be elected to the Montgomery County Council, the first Latina and only woman." The longtime Montgomery County resident doesn't want people to undermine the implications behind the incident. "For some people, they may just brush it off and say it was an affectionate way of referring to somebody’s accent or something like that, but that is what leads to an environment where issues of discrimination, you know, inequities, disparities, etc., become amplified," she said.The county's human resources office is now investigating the...

If you’re interested in sharing your opinion on any cultural, political or personal topic, create an account here and check out our how-to post to learn more.____In the last year, we have seen communities pull down actual statues erected to celebrate, honor and perpetuate white supremacy. Now, it’s time to destroy some figurative monuments to white supremacy as well — specifically the bans on insurance coverage for abortion that have prevented one in four low-income people from accessing the care they need, and which disproportionately put care out of reach for Black women and girls, people of color, young people, immigrants, and trans, queer and gender non-conforming folks — not by circumstance, but by design.Just as confederate statues were erected to preserve and uphold white supremacy, we see systemic paeans to institutional racism in the electoral college, the Senate filibuster and policies like the Hyde Amendment, which blocks Medicaid coverage for nearly all abortion care. On the surface, these may seem neutral, but in reality they serve to systematically discriminate against people of color.You’ve likely heard of the Hyde Amendment thanks to the organizing work of people of color in the reproductive health, rights and justice movements who have raised awareness about its harm. But you may not have heard of Harris v. McRae, the Supreme Court case that provides the legal underpinnings for Hyde. Until we overturn this case, even repealing Hyde won’t eliminate the looming spectre of future coverage bans that could be reintroduced by anti-abortion politicians who are anxious to deny abortion access to those who already face the most barriers to care.Indeed, Hyde and the McRae case were steeped in racism, sexism and classism from inception. Congressman Henry Hyde openly said as much in 1976, when he introduced his rider during the annual budget process: “I certainly would like to prevent, if I could legally, anybody having an abortion, a rich woman, a middle-class woman or a poor woman. Unfortunately, the only vehicle available is the … Medicaid bill.”After the Hyde Amendment was first passed in 1976, Cora McRae, who was directly impacted by the restrictions, and other plaintiffs including a group of New York clinics and hospitals, and the Women’s Division and officers of the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, took their case all the way to the Supreme Court, challenging the restrictions on federal funding being used to cover abortion care. In this case, the Supreme Court narrowly ruled to uphold the Hyde Amendment, reasoning that while the government could not place an obstacle in the path of a person exercising their right to abortion, there was no obligation for the government to remove obstacles. The ruling essentially ignored the systemic inequalities — including racism — at the root of economic disparities and poverty, and instead upheld the legal ideology that the government has no obligation to remove barriers, without fully recognizing the ways the government actually had a hand in creating those inequities.In his McRae dissent, Justice Thurgood Marshall named the Hyde Amendment for what it was, writing that “the Hyde Amendment [was] designed to deprive poor and minority women of the constitutional right to choose abortion.” Justice Marshall identified then what we still know to be true today: “the undeniable fact that, for women eligible for Medicaid — poor women — denial of a Medicaid-funded abortion is equivalent to denial of legal abortion altogether.” The Hyde Amendment created a tiered system of abortion access, denying care to people who qualify for public health insurance.We know that economic justice is reproductive justice is racial justice, and the effects of the Harris v. McRae ruling are still being felt today in a system concerned with a right to abortion that does not exist in practice for millions of people in this country. Fast-forward 40 years, and last summer’s June Medical decision — which challenged abortion restrictions in Louisiana — demonstrated that the status quo is still not enough when it comes to going beyond the right to abortion and ensuring access to care. Chief Justice Roberts’ concurrence is already being used to undermine access by signaling a roadmap to states on ways to enact restrictions that would be deemed constitutional.Low-income folks, including a disproportionate number of whom are women of color, must not be barred from accessing care by anti-abortion politicians withholding Medicaid coverage for abortion via Hyde and, beneath it all, Harris v. McRae. That’s why If/When/How is working with coalition organizations and movement leaders to raise awareness about the lasting impact of this case, as well as generating the legal arguments and organizing the attorneys who will someday overturn it.We’re providing technical assistance and support to our movement partners, and we’ve teamed up with reproductive justice organizations like New Voices for Reproductive Justice to use our legal expertise to uplift the lived experiences of the Black women, girls and gender non-conforming people who are most impacted by abortion restrictions. And we’re mobilizing our extensive network of law students and lawyers to both raise awareness about the impact of Harris v. McRae, and to be ready to join the fight in challenging this legal travesty and dismantling its harmful impact so that we can secure coverage for abortion once and for all.____Jeryl Hayes is the Movement Building Director at If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive...

As part of his popular program, "Are You Smarter Than A Preschooler?" TikTok star LaRon Hines gathered children from his parents' daycare and quizzed them on the nominees of Sunday's Golden Globe Awards, especially delighting the kids when he asked them about Chadwick Boseman. "Who is Chadwick Boseman?" Hines asked.The young movie buffs gave a similar description of the late actor, who won a Golden Globe on Sunday for his role in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom."Black Panther," the children replied when they were asked about the Hollywood star.One child also described Boseman as the "good guy." The participants also answered several other questions, adorably attempting to show off their knowledge about Captain America, Jane Fonda, Hamilton and more.One child, who was asked to explain the Golden Globes, said it's a "treasure." According to another little one, people "sit on the couch and brush their teeth" during award shows.  Asked to describe how movies are made, one boy said "they're made of bricks." There was also a question about Ozark, which one girl identified as "the cookie monster to the cookie jar." "Where does the royal family live?" Hines asked the children."They live in a rainforest," one boy replied.But according to another girl, "they live across the street."La'Ron quizzed kids about the #GoldenGlobes and we'd say they aced it. 😉 pic.twitter.com/1ddwvaBbHU— NBC Entertainment (@nbc) March 1, 2021 According to People, the video included Hines' godsister, Ja'Bria McCullum, who is a regular in his TikTok videos. "How many people were in The Chicago 7?" Hines asked the little girl."500 hundred," she said with full...

A woman in New York had to have a liver transplant and nearly died after getting hepatitis B from a nose ring, according to The Today Show and ABC7. Dana Smith said she always wanted a nose ring and went with a friend to get one around her birthday late last year. But by Jan. 10, the 37-year-old Queens resident began feeling pain in her stomach and started throwing up. She thought it was simply a stomach ache from bad food until she began throwing up blood. That's when her sister took her to a hospital, where she passed out and didn't wake up until Jan. 20.“I didn't have any irritation, no redness anything. I didn't have any issues with the actual piercing itself. If I would have waited another day (to get help), my chances of survival were very, very thin,” Smith told Today. Smith said a friend had picked out the nose piercing place and that she knew other people who had gotten piercings at the shop, which was located inside of a nearby mall. She had no concerns about the shop or its cleanliness before becoming ill. Dr. Lew Teperman, director of organ transplantation at Northwell Health in Long Island, New York, was there when she woke up on Jan. 20 and told her she had a brand new liver. “She was in such dire straits. It was a miracle that we were able to get a liver in time,” Teperman said.  Teperman told Today that according to the tests they conducted, Smith had a rare case of fulminant hepatitis B liver failure, which caused her to have seizures and brain swelling. He added that he was worried about how she would recover from the medically-induced coma they had to put her under in order to save her. “She responded overwhelmingly to the virus and her body was working on clearing it, but it killed her liver,” Teperman noted, adding that if Smith did not get a new liver in just five days, she would have died. Thankfully, doctors put Smith at the top of the list in the country's United Network for Organ Sharing. In three days, Smith was able to receive a liver from a 35-year-old woman who died. By Jan. 17, Teperman was working on getting it into Smith. Teperman said he only realized the nose ring was the cause of it all after they finished the surgery and removed the breathing tube from her face. “The timing was perfect for it having caused the hepatitis B and the fulminant failure. There were no other risk factors at all. This was it — it all made sense,” he said. While there is a hepatitis B vaccine, many people do not have it, and a number of people have contracted it from piercings or tattoos.  The CDC notes that hepatitis B is generally contracted when people come in contact with blood, semen and body fluid infected with the virus. Infections generally enter people's bloodstream from needles and other sharp tools, like those involved in piercings. Smith is perfectly fine now and able to return to her regular routine. But both she and Teperman said they would advise their children to wait on any piercings or avoid them altogether. “I believe the large majority of these places all practice good hygiene and they should be even more vigilant now with COVID. But I did tell my daughter that I do not want her to have a nose ring,” Teperman explained, adding that everyone should get vaccinated for hepatitis B. Smith did say she was keeping her nose ring despite the ordeal, but wouldn't allow her daughter to get...

Former First Lady Michelle Obama shared some life advice and wisdom with Zaya Wade on Instagram on Thursday afternoon, imploring young people to move out of their comfort zones and prepare themselves for life's challenges. Obama said her husband, former President Barack Obama, and Wade's father, NBA legend Dwyane Wade, met in Hawaii while on vacation and suggested the two should speak.The former First Lady, who has since become a best-selling author and podcast host, imparted some choice words to Zaya during their 10-minute conversation. Zaya asked her about any advice she would give to teenagers these days, and Michelle said teens should be prepared to expand their social circles and experiment with who they are. "Be patient with yourself. At your age, or in the teenage years and probably through your 20s, you're going to be experimenting with so many versions of yourself. All young people are trying on different versions, different voices. They're learning more about their intellect, they're learning about what they love, what they're good at, what they like," Michelle said.  "This is the period of exploration and sometimes, we put too much pressure on teenagers to know who you're going to be," she added. "Your job now as a teenager is not to have it all figured out but to give yourself space and time to learn and grow. So that means you want to try things on, you want to read a lot of good books, you want to experiment with different friends and connect with people who are not like you."Michelle went on to say that more teens and everyday people should look to expand their social circles to include people who are not like them, noting that teenagers often seek out "sameness." View this post on Instagram A post shared by dwyanewade (@dwyanewade) "Growth comes from difference. Growth comes when you try on something new, and you learn from that. Right now, I would just encourage young people to keep on exploring that because its a lifelong journey, and who you are today, no matter how confident you feel, by the time you're my age, almost 60, you will have tried on so many different versions of yourself and hopefully I have more things to try on," she said. "So the journey of becoming and learning who you are, it never ends. just continue to grow if you're lucky," she continued.The 13-year-old agreed with the sentiment and shared a personal story from her life about a friend who helped give her a different perspective. "We all think we thrive with people who are just like us. But I think getting a different perspective from someone else who isn't like you really helps, and that definitely helped me in becoming me and defining my truth. Change, even though it's scary, is probably one of the most beneficial things in growth," Zaya said.Michelle said she and many others are often afraid of change and growth because of fears about thinking outside of your sphere of knowledge, but she noted that everything good that will happen in your life will probably require trying something new. She begged young people to not miss out on opportunities due to fear and to lean into hesitation because it often fades in a short amount of time.  "Learn how to do something new. Learn how to do things that make you feel uncomfortable, because if you don't, then you're just stuck where you are. You're stuck in the same place with the same people and if you do that for decade after decade, that's kind of sad," Michelle said."I want young people to practice embracing the new because I don't want them to ever feel stuck in their lives. I think that you are the kind of individual that will never feel stuck. and that's one of the important things you're offering to the audience that you're serving," Michelle explained to Zaya. "Break out of the same old thing and try something new because the world will be your oyster, and you'll be able to do anything in life."The two pledged to meet in the flesh at some point in the future and lauded each other for their impact.Zaya noted that she had to skip a period of class for the conversation but said her teacher would probably...

If you’re interested in sharing your opinion on any cultural, political or personal topic, create an account here and check out our how-to post to learn more.____Almost every day there’s a media article highlighting how COVID-19 has plunged our country into a child care crisis.  With alarming headlines like “When Schools Closed, Americans Turned to Their Usual Backup Plan: Mothers” and “A million mothers are out of work during the pandemic,” these news stories have highlighted that mothers have been particularly affected by the closing of child care centers and schools, and have uncovered how women are responsible for an unequal share of unpaid care work in many households.But the link between child care and racial inequality hasn’t received as much attention. It’s only buried deep in the articles where you find the racial breakdown of the impacts of COVID-19, and it’s only then you see that Black and Latina women are faring the worst.The true history of child care in the U.S. helps explain how we’ve reached such a crisis point: society has historically undervalued the work of Black women — and more recently, non-Black women of color — as caregivers, which has led to a child care system that is broken, inefficient and doesn’t serve Black women.The child care system in this country originated during slavery — since before our nation was founded, white women of a certain economic class were able to outsource care work to Black women who were enslaved.  For enslaved women relegated to house work rather than field work, this included child rearing in addition to other care work like cleaning, cooking and laundry. Slavery also robbed Black women of the opportunity to care for their own children. Dorothy Roberts notes that slavery was the onset of when Black women’s worth was tied to their role as the caretakers of white children and not to their own motherhood, which has driven cultural narratives and policymaking ever since.After slavery ended, many Black women took on paying jobs, and they largely worked in the agriculture and domestic services sectors. The archetype and ideology of “Mammy” painted Black women as docile, unsexual and as the happy caretakers of white families’ homes and children (but not their own). While white women’s paid labor force participation almost doubled from 1870 to 1960, the participation rate for non-white women has remained constant. Black women have historically had the highest employment rate among women, including as recent as in 2019, and have often had to leave their children at home or with family or friends while they worked. This is in stark contrast to white women, who were seen as valid, ideal stay-at-home mothers, even while they often outsourced their care work to Black women.The only national child care program in the United States’ history was set up during World War II, when a record number of white women entered the paid workforce to take on the jobs left behind by men at war. The government quickly realized that to further facilitate women’s much-needed paid labor force participation — particularly white, middle-class women who were least likely to already be in the paid labor force — they would need to address their child care needs. In 1940, the Lanham Act was amended to include funding for child care, which amounted to $1 billion and 3,000 daycare centers 49 states, granting thousands of families access to affordable child care. When the war ended, this funding was quickly withdrawn — as white women were expected to leave the paid work force but Black women continued to work outside the home — and the U.S. ended up with the inefficient, unaffordable and inaccessible child care system we largely have today, where costs are mostly shouldered by parents using private child care providers.Today, the history of Black womens' underappreciated and exploited role in child care, and the lack of value placed on them as mothers since slavery, plays out in our child care system in two ways:First, Black and Latina women are disproportionately represented in caregiving jobs, including child care work.  According to the National Women’s Law Center, Black women make up 15% of all child care workers, while Latinas make up 21% and Asian/Pacific Islander women make up 4%. More alarmingly, the poverty rate among child care workers is more than double that of other women workers, with Black women child care workers experiencing the highest rate of poverty when compared to child care workers of other races (Latina child care workers come in at a close second) and a higher rate of poverty than Black women workers overall.Second, access to and affordability of child care is a problem across the board, but it’s felt most severely by Black and non-Black people of color, particularly those who are low-income. According to diversitydatakids.org, Latinx (72%) and Black parents (69%) are most likely to experience unaffordable child care. Furthermore, low-income families (who are much more likely to be Latinx and Black) pay about 28% of their income on center-based child care, while the benchmark of affordable care, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, is 7%.It’s time for us to reckon with the racist and sexist roots of our child care system by pushing for transformational change within the sector. To start, Congress needs to take immediate action so that the child care industry doesn’t further collapse due to COVID-19. Second, child care needs to be treated as a public good moving forward. This means the government should fund child care in a way that makes it accessible and affordable to Black and non-Black communities of color, while also ensuring child care workers are paid well and have workplace rights. Without a new, reimagined child care system, Black women will continue to be overburdened and undervalued in ways that will hold all of society...

If you’re interested in sharing your opinion on any cultural, political or personal topic, create an account here and check out our how-to post to learn more.____With Black History Month now over, we've celebrated the beauty and brilliance of the African diaspora, and recognized the visions, achievements and sacrifices of those who have come before us. But we must also acknowledge the American promise of "equality for all" that has yet to be fulfilled. In my home, our nation’s capital, white households have 81 times the net worth of Black households, and amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the racial wealth gap in America continues to widen. It’s estimated that by 2053, the median wealth of Black Americans could fall to zero. That prospect is especially stunning when considering the myriad of inequalities that already exist for Black people in health care, education and in our legal system — to name a few.This moment in the fight for racial equality demands significant change, and too often we tend to think of policy and direct service priorities as either/or options — they are not. We can, and must do both to break the generational cycles of racial inequality and injustice. I believe that these efforts, combined, will help close the wealth gap.Since last summer’s racial justice awakening, sparked by George Floyd’s murder, I’ve heard countless people note they are aspiring to promote change. Change through major legislation, while much needed, is also complicated and slow. For those who want to have a direct impact on Black youth, I would suggest that mentorship is a great place to focus. Mentorship can boost confidence, provide guidance and allow a young person to dream and experience beyond the limitations of their neighborhood. Data shows that young adults who have a mentor are more likely to enroll in college, volunteer regularly and hold leadership positions. To address the decades of ongoing disinvestment in Black children, our youth need not only more resources, but deep support from a caring community that will protect and promote Black futures.Having led mentoring programs for the past two decades, I also know well that mentoring alone will not level the playing field for Black youth. Our government leaders have a responsibility and a once-in-a-generation legislative opportunity to address systemic racial inequalities in our health care, education and criminal justice systems to ensure that Black youth have a brighter tomorrow.Disparities in our healthcare system have long existed and the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated them for Black people. Black youth with COVID-19 have been hospitalized at a rate five times higher than white children and are significantly more likely to die from the coronavirus than white children. On top of the financial strains and emotional burdens caused by the pandemic, Black Americans are being vaccinated at rates significantly lower than white Americans and lower than their share of the general population. It’s imperative that a racial justice lens is incorporated in the distribution, delivery and education around the COVID-19 vaccines through federal directives that ensure that the vaccines reaches Black communities, without being co-opted by white neighbors from wealthy communities.In our education system, predominantly Black schools remain consistently underfunded. Reports show white schools receive $23 billion more each year than Black schools. As a result, predominantly Black public schools tend to have fewer high-rigor courses, crumbling facilities, outdated learning materials and less-experienced teachers with fewer credentials. We must establish a system where the quality of education is not based upon the wealth within a ZIP code, but where we instead prioritize investment in our most under-resourced group — Black youth.Tax dollars that could strengthen our schools are instead fueling mass incarceration. State and local spending on prisons and jails has increased at triple the rate of funding for public education in the last three decades. Black Americans represent nearly 40% of people in prisons and jails, despite being only 13% of the U.S. population, and the growth in our incarceration rates is beginning in our schools. Black students are more likely to be suspended and expelled than white students and are more likely to have police in their schools than guidance counselors, nurses or psychologists. We must shift our incarceral approach that criminalizes Black youth to one that empowers them and enriches their communities to help ensure that opportunities for economic mobility are abundant and easily accessible.Federal investments and individual actions of support will not eliminate a wealth gap that has been building for 400 years, but they will begin to reverse the growing inequality we see today. And to realize the promise of brighter futures for our young people, we cannot afford to wait. The time is now for bold action that allows the talent and creativity of our Black youth to shine and that moves us toward a society that is truly equal for all.____Khari Brown is CEO of Capital Partners for Education, a non-profit providing mentoring for career and college success to low-income...

A Mississippi middle school is facing backlash after a teacher assigned an essay asking students to pretend they're slaves.The incident took place at Purvis Middle School in Lamar County, Mississippi, as part of what was supposed to be a lesson on the "atrocities and negatives of slavery,” WDAM7 reported. Titled the “Slave Letter Writing Activity,” the assignment prompted the students to “pretend like you are a slave working on a Mississippi plantation” and “write a letter to your family back in Africa or in another American state describing your life.” The worksheet then went on to ask that students include daily tasks they would perform as enslaved people."You may discuss the journey to America, as well as the day-to-day tasks you perform," the assignment continued. "You may also want to tell about the family you live with/work for and how you pass your time when you aren't working."The project intended to "show the students how horrible slavery was and to gain empathy for what it was like to be a slave,” Lamar County School District Superintendent Dr. Steven Hampton said.“We do not discriminate against race. We want to be sensitive to what happened in the past,” Hampton told the news station. Hampton said administrators at the school have already addressed the teacher, but there will be further discussion with administrators at the district level.Black Lives Matter Mississippi posted a photo of the assignment and demanded an explanation from school officials.This is at purvis middle school. Someone needs to explain 😡 #Blacklivesmattermississippi pic.twitter.com/PZeGOB55ZR— Black Lives Matter Mississippi (@BLivesMatterMS) March 3, 2021Frank Bunnell, the principal of Purvis Middle School, addressed the incident in an email to parents. In the email, obtained by The Daily Beast, Bunnell apologized for the activity "happening under [his] watch.”However, Bunnell also said the image circulating on social media was a part of a PowerPoint and was taken out of context when it was posted online.“A person could read just the assignment and draw a very unrealistic view of the true tragedies that occurred. That was not intended,” he wrote. “However, intent does not excuse anything. There is no excuse to downplay a practice that (even after abolished) spurs unjust laws, unfair economic practices, inhumane treatment, and suppression of a people.”Jarrius Adams, the president of Young Democrats Mississippi, called the assignment inappropriate.  "It is extremely tone-deaf and inappropriate to have middle schoolers put themselves in the shoes of slaves without proper context,” Adams said.“It does not matter what the intention was, the impact is the only thing that matters,” Adams said. “If I were a parent of a student in the classroom, I would be pissed. There are proper ways to educate students about the history of this nation — this was not one of them.”About 12% of the students at Purvis Middle School are Black, while 80 percent are white, according to The Daily Beast. However, more than 50% of the students in Mississippi public schools are Black.The region is "Klan territory,” according to Jeremy Marquell Bridges, social media manager for Black Lives Matter Mississippi."I don’t know how a logical person teaches this,” Bridges said. “Like someone who went to school to teach children could think this exercise was helpful in any way. It’s not helpful, it’s hurtful.”Another controversial assignment, which was given at a Texas charter school in 2018, asked students to identify the "positive" and negative aspects of slavery, as Blavity previously reported. In the same year, another Texas school asked to draw a picture depicting themselves as slaves.  “There's nothing about slavery that I would want any child, regardless of color, to have to relive,” Tonya Jennings, an outraged mother of a student at Four Points Middle School, said."It is completely out of place," Jennings said, as Blavity previously reported. "To ask my child to put herself in a situation where she has to draw herself as a slave was an issue just, you know, all the way up the...

The daughters of actresses Gabrielle Union and Tia Mowry had a super adorable playdate over the weekend, and their moms shared the cute meetup on social media.On Sunday, Union’s daughter Kaavia James and Mowry's daughter Cairo touched the hearts of their Instagram followers with heartwarming pictures and videos of the two-year-olds enjoying each other’s company."The playdate we've all been waiting for. When @Kaaviajames met Cairo! Bringing the girls together was magic and pure sweetness and comedy! #BlackGirlMagic," Union wrote in the caption of a video of the girls driving a toy car. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Gabrielle Union-Wade (@gabunion)In one of the videos, Kaavia takes the wheel while Cairo hangs out on the passenger side, anxious to see her new friend’s driving skills.Kaavia’s Instagram page also posted a video of her hugging Cairo before they went off to play. "When 2 queens link up 🖤🖤 Sunday Sweetness Edition. #ShadyBabies," the caption...

Parents in a Missouri school district are incensed after a photo made its way to social media showing teachers at Christian High School wearing letters that spelled out the word "coons," according to local news outlet 12News.Faculty with the Christian School District were playing a game of human Scrabble and rearranged themselves to spell the word "coons." The teachers took a photo of themselves doing it and someone posted it to social media, setting off a firestorm in O'Fallon, Missouri. The photo shows faculty from the Christian School District rearranging letters to form the word "coons". This is the results when the teacher doesn’t look like your child and doesn’t share the child world views. pic.twitter.com/fiUzSW2Yn6— IG: RahiemShabazz (@rahiemshabazz) March 3, 2021 The NAACP branch in St. Charles County joined with parents in criticizing the teachers for not only doing something like this but taking a photo of it and sharing it on social media.  "I'm angry. I'm hurt because I trust you with my child," one parent told 12News.Jake Ibbetson, the school’s principal, explained the situation, saying the teachers were trying to spell the word raccoon but couldn't find someone with the other letters.  "I don't believe it that five Caucasian teachers, not one of them knew that. Maybe one didn't know it, maybe two didn't know it, but all five didn't know it?" Ibbetson said. Opinions locally were split, with some other teachers defending those seen in the photo while other students and parents were furious at the teachers in the photo. "Mom, I'm tired of it, do what you need to do because this is not fair and I'm tired of feeling like this,” one teen told his mom, according to 12News."Everybody in the world makes mistakes,” John Smith, a basketball coach at the school, said. Smith added that the photo did not truly represent the teachers."This is not our school. I truly believe that they did not know what they were posting," Smith said. The school released a lengthy statement apologizing for the incident and said an investigation is underway. But one parent did not accept the statement, saying the school district routinely releases apologies when similar things happen. "It's a blanket statement, it's the same thing, we always have to forgive them for their transgressions because they don't know how to handle racial issues," the parent said to 12News.  CSD Statement by Sam Clancy"We recognize that this ill-informed action caused hurt and offense to many students and families in our school and in the wider community,” the statement read. “We offer no excuse as to why this word was used. In a statement to families last night, we apologized for the incident and sought their...

Tanesha Grant, an activist and mother of three in Harlem, New York, is raising money to get new laptops for children who are struggling to get the essential device while learning remotely during the pandemic. Grant's group, Parents Supporting Parents NYC (PSPNYC), has already given away more than 100 laptops since the beginning of the school year. "I do this work because I love my people. I love our babies. And I was one of them little Black babies that was told that I totally deserved hand-me-downs," the community leader told CBS News. "That's why I do it because if I don't do it, who will?"About 4.4 million households with students don't have access to a computer, according to the Census Bureau. One of the students who received a laptop from Grant is eight-year-old Cataleya."When I didn't have the laptop, I felt like I was the only one that didn't have one. I felt sad. But with this new laptop, I feel so happy and I feel special," Cataleya said.  The PSPNYC group, which has raised more than $65,000 through its GoFundMe page, plans to give laptops to at least 1,000 students. "Central Harlem has the most students in temporary housing, shelters, English language learners, and a high rate of students with IEP's," the organization stated. "Central Harlem is also the most overlooked community in the city. Yet, so much culture and history come out of Harlem. It's time to give back to this community."The organization is also calling on internet providers to contribute to the effort."Since COVID-19, our children have been disproportionately traumatized by this virus, from losing loved ones, food insecurity, and not having the tools to further their education," PSPNYC stated. "We are hopeful that in raising the funds for the devices, internet providers will partner with us to help give back to the community with free and dependable WiFi services."And if there is money left over after the purchase of the laptops, the organization plans to purchase coats for children in shelters and temporary...