civil-rights

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.____History is humanizing, yet the stories of so many important individuals are often left out.Throughout my high school education, the only history I learned about Black people was during a crash course on the Civil Rights Movement in February, and when we talked about America’s history of slavery. As an impressionable young Black girl, I believed that was the extent of my history.It wasn’t until a hot summer in Maryland, sitting in my grandparents’ yellow kitchen, that I learned about my own personal connection to history. My grandfather told me a story about how he had gone to college (at the HBCU North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University) with the Greensboro Four, a group of brave Black college students who started a lunch counter sit-in at Woolworth’s department store in the ‘60s. (The section of counter where they sat now lives in the Smithsonian.)I also learned that contrary to what my teachers had taught me, the sit-in wasn’t peaceful — in fact, it was quite the opposite. While the Greensboro Four sat quietly, white counter-protestors spit at them, poured hot coffee on them and made threats on their lives. You can experience a sliver of what the protestors went through at The Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta.Despite the backlash they received, the protesters continued to demand equal treatment at that lunch counter for months. Their persistence eventually resulted in the integration of Woolworth’s, and their bravery inspired other student-led sit-ins in 13 states. I couldn’t believe my own grandparents went to college with them!This personal connection to such a powerful moment in history sparked my journey to understand the intricacies of Black history — a subject which we barely scratch the surface of in our social studies classes. We talk about historical figureheads, but we avoid talking about the history of systemic racism, which continues to impact people of color to this day.History is humanizing because without it, we cannot even begin to understand the lived experience of those around us. In my high school magnet program, which was predominantly composed of white and Asian American students, I witnessed firsthand the impact of an incomplete historical education on my peers.I was called a “coconut” — brown on the outside and white on the inside — for being a high-performing Black student. I was told I would only get into a good school because of Affirmative Action — a stance that grossly misrepresents what the policy intends to do.And many of the students in my class used the n-word casually with each other. During my junior year, I decided to confront them about their use of the racial slur.Instead of an apology, I was met with multiple students defending their use of the n-word: It isn’t racist if we say it as a joke, and you’re being too angry and confrontational.I had trouble finding the right words. How do I explain the issues with using the n-word to my white peers? How do I start unpacking how that word was used to dehumanize and delegitimize an entire race for hundreds of years?I reported the incidents to my school, hoping that something would be done. Instead, they asked what I wanted the administration to do about it, and sent out an empty, school-wide email calling for the use of “inclusive language.”Once I realized I would not receive any support from my school in addressing the slurs, I took matters into my own hands and founded DICCE, an organization that creates programming and curriculum for Gen Z that explores Diversity, Inclusion, Cultural Competency and Equity. Our team is composed of students from across the country, along with three adult advisors, representing an array of experience with DEI and anti-racism. In our curriculum, we strive to close the gap between history and the present-day, lived experience of marginalized people.With support from Civics Unplugged, a civic social enterprise that empowers young people to build the future of American democracy, and the University of Kentucky, we began seeking resources that we could utilize to educate the next generation on the history of race.Through the Made By Us coalition, a network of history and civics institutions that have joined forces to develop new tools and experiences to meet the needs of young people, we discovered  the National African American History and Culture Museum and their collection of resources explaining the origins of race and how to be an anti-racist. These resources served as launch points for our deep dives into the origins of race science, breaking down these complex sociological concepts for high school students.Learning a broader version of history is humanizing. We can’t create inclusive spaces until we understand the history of those around us, and we cannot begin to reform our institutions to be equitable and just until we understand how we got to where we are.That means understanding the complex history of slavery and immigration, examining how we have reclassified race and determining how privilege has evolved over time. It also means asking the hard questions: Why are police officers incentivized to arrest more people? Why are there more Black people than any other race on death row? Why did our schools remain so segregated, even after Brown v. Board of Education?The humanizing process starts when we look critically at history, and realize that the names and faces we see in history books are more than just ideas; they were and are real people who dared to make change happen.For me, the process started in my grandparents’ kitchen in Maryland, when I heard the story of their friends, the Greensboro Four. I hope that for you and my peers, that process will start today.Ask yourself the following: Are you hearing every perspective of a historical event? Who is writing the history you are learning? And most importantly, where can you go to hear from those whose voices have been silenced? The answers to these questions might invite a new...

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.____While 2020 has offered glimmers of a hopeful new future, being Black and a woman in America means living in a constant state of dissonance and duality. We are simultaneously silenced and celebrated when we, instead, should have power to simultaneously dismantle and repair corruption that was built on the backs of our ancestors.In the same year that we buried Breonna Taylor’s murdered body, we applauded Kamala Harris for being the first Black person and woman to become Vice President-Elect in our nation’s history.In the same year that Michelle Cusseaux was murdered in seconds by the police in Phoenix, former Georgia House Representative Stacey Abrams and other Black women activists ignited a revolution of voting access and turnout that would inspire the world and secure a new president for our country.In the same year that Black women have been disproportionately dying from COVID-19, they are serving as essential workers and have given their blood, sweat and tears for an America that has always dehumanized them.In the same year audiences watched as more Black Emmy nominees, particularly the Black trans actors from Netflix’s Pose, were snubbed once again, they tuned into HBO Max’s Lovecraft Country for Afrofuturistic magic and sci-fi possibilities.Black life shouldn’t be lived within so much contradiction and cyclical trauma. W.E.B. Du Bois explained that Black people are forced to navigate the world through a “double consciousness,” in which they see through their own eyes, thoughts and experiences, while simultaneously viewing the world through the eyes of white civil society’s hatred, racism and anti-Blackness.It would seem that within the reality of 2020, Du Bois was right: we are living in a world divided. Black people, especially Black women, are liberating the oppressed and making systemic change, but also being murdered with impunity and erased from their stories.The misogynoir shapes the way in which Black girls grow into Black women, if they live long enough to grow up. In her acceptance speech, Vice President-Elect Harris said, “To young girls and women everywhere: Dream with ambition and know that there are no limits to what you can be.” President-Elect Joe Biden added, “This morning, all across the nation, little girls woke up, especially little Black and brown girls, who so often feel overlooked and undervalued in their communities. But today, just maybe they’re seeing themselves for the first time in a new way: as the stuff of presidents and vice presidents.”Despite their inspiring words, police brutality and systemic racism and sexism persist. Black women can save the world but are still cast as “angry Black women,” aka the villains trying to destroy society, while being quietly or not so quietly victimized.In the first eight months of 2020 alone, police killed 164 Black people in the United States. To date, Black people have been 28% of those killed by police in 2020, though only 13% of the population. When it comes to Black women, these records and stories are incomplete. There is no definitive number or statistic, because no one has gathered the data. Even after the mass gatherings of protesters across the nation, both justice and truth have yet to unfold — and it’s no accident.According to author Andrea Ritchie, when police brutality toward Black women “takes place in the home, it takes place in the context of calls for help and is often unseen as a result." When human life amounts to the proverbial tree falling in the forest without being heard, there is an undeniable reckoning to come.Social activist and leader LaTosha Brown is one of many Black women who have stepped up and refused to step down. Brown envisions a better future. She has shamelessly asserted, “Yes, I am a woman and my eyes are squarely centered on Black Liberation.”This year, a record-breaking number of 26 Black women won election or reelection to Congress. These Congresswomen include Marlyn Stickland, the first Black-Korean woman to represent Washington in Congress, and newly appointed Democratic Party Chair, Nikema Williams, who has filled the seat of the late John Lewis. Numerous phenomenal Black women leaders have been appointed to important grassroots and academic roles.Williams expressed that now is the time for true change to take place. “It's the perfect opportunity where policy meets protest.” Her sentiment alludes to praxis, a concept asserting that theory and action alone cannot create change. Through this lens, as activism informs policy, the two can combine to catalyze material liberation.It will take years to reform, rebuild and re-educate a nation that has been misaligned since its conception. But as movement work and political methodology align, with Black women leading at the helm, we now have a chance. Let’s take it....

One fascinating thing about poetry and prose is its ability to transcend generations, especially when the author of those works addressed difficult topics that altered the course of history. The late Audre Lorde did all of that and more. Born in New York to Caribbean parents, she effortlessly entwined African lore and modern existence. Her outspoken demeanor could be sensed in everything she published, bringing light to issues affecting various minority groups that unfortunately still yearn for equal rights today.As a member of the LGBTQ community, Lorde spoke brazenly about the complexities of being a Black, lesbian woman in the 1970s and 1980s. She merged her personal experiences with her political views to produce a number of pieces that served as the blueprint for how wordsmiths after her followed a similar path.She's one of the rare people who can be attributed to hundreds of quotes, but these five sayings are a great introduction into the mind of one of the most gifted authors of the 20th...

At a time when Black Americans were being silenced, oppressed and persecuted, American author and poet James Baldwin emerged as one of the most important voices in history. The Harlem-born essayist found a way to beautifully articulate the consequences that would soon follow if this society failed to address its growing imperfections. Throughout those same bodies of work, he would bring attention to personal conflicts, writing about his struggles with sexuality and religion, in addition to other troubles. In the same manner some Black Americans see prolific activists as influential to their political ideologies, Baldwin revolutionized literature at a time when this country was undergoing a major and necessary overhaul.The limit does not exist when it comes to the phenomenal impact Baldwin had during his 63 years on earth, but the following five projects might be considered some of his finest pieces of...

Poet Langston Hughes remains essential to Black history and culture. Referring to the Harlem Renaissance as "expression of our individual dark-skinned selves," his columns, songs and poems loudly celebrated Black excellence at a time when adversaries focused on trauma. He wasn't naive to the troubles minorities faced, recognizing that Black people were still undervalued in a supposedly impartial society. In a way, his compositions arguably served as coping mechanisms.Contemporary lyricists remain indebted to the late Hughes, but thankfully have over a dozen of his published works to study and apply to their everyday lives. Here are five poems that remain just as relevant now as they were when Hughes first released...

Armed with the belief that a better life could only be accomplished by individuals accepting personal responsibility, Lucille Clifton revolutionized the power of positive affirmations. Born in Depew, New York, she received early encouragement from her mother, who was also a poet, to write her own compositions.After leaving Howard University in 1955 to fully dedicate her profession to poetry, Clifton's first book, Good Times, was published in 1969. From there, she worked in various roles with the state and federal government until she was hired at Coppin State College in Baltimore, Maryland in 1971 to be a writer in residence. Clifton's finest Maryland acknowledgement was in 1979, when she became the second woman and the first Black person to be named as the state's Poet Laureate. She held this title until 1982.She continued to publish many more compositions and poems throughout her adult years, venturing into children's literature at the tail end of her career. Clifton passed away in Baltimore on February 13, 2010.There's no limit to the impact Clifton has when it comes to verse, but the the following five poems are just a glimpse into why she is regarded as one of the most gifted thinkers of our...

A brilliant wordsmith, Gwendolyn Brooks made admirable strides to use her voice in a manner that detailed the everyday struggles of the Black community. Born in Topeka, Kansas in 1917, she lived the majority of her life in Chicago where she helped to transform the state's literary scene in a great way. By age 16, Brooks had published nearly 75 poems and as a means to support herself, worked as a librarian until her notability grew.Her hustle certainly paid off. Her second book, Annie Allen, was published in 1949 and received rave reviews. The following year, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, making her the first Black person to receive the honor.Though it's been nearly 20 years since her passing, Brooks' impact can be seen through her work, especially the following five poems. Though there are plenty more to study from, these compositions are a great introduction into her massive...

Written by Jelani M. Favors, Clayton State University____As an 18-year-old student attending a training session for activists at the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tennessee, John Lewis stuttered and struggled to read. A visiting professor mocked his stammered speech and “poor reading skills” and dismissed Lewis’ potential as a “suitable leader” for the burgeoning movement.Famed activist and organizer Septima Clark rose to his defense and her support of Lewis paid off.The unassuming teenager from the backwoods of Troy, Alabama, became a giant of the Black freedom struggle and, ultimately, would go on to serve more than three decades in Congress. He died on July 17.Enthralled by ‘Social Gospel’Lewis enrolled in American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee, mainly because it charged no tuition, but also due to the profound moral calling that he felt in his life. It was in Nashville where Lewis grew fascinated with the potential of the Social Gospel – a theoretical movement that applied Christian principles to addressing social problems such as poverty and white supremacy.He soon came under the tutelage of James Lawson, a graduate student at Vanderbilt who was fully immersed in the doctrines of non-violence. Lawson trained other notable activists such as Diane Nash, James Bevel and Bernard Lafayette – all friends and contemporaries of Lewis.The student activism that emerged from southern Black colleges beginning in February of 1960 was the catalyst that the modern civil rights movement desperately needed to confront segregation. The thrust of direct-action protests, such as sit-ins and Freedom Rides, provided the dramatic confrontation that the earlier bus boycotts did not.However, it was Lawson’s young pacifist disciples from Nashville that heavily influenced the ideology of the early student movement. It also aided in the creation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, better known as SNCC.In dedicating his life to the movement as a young student, Lewis willingly gave up the comforts, experiences and accoutrements of a typical college student. Instead of gaining traditional work experience, Lewis got an insider’s look at numerous southern jails and prisons. His activism led to 40 arrests between 1960 and 1966.Late-night bull sessions with his fellow SNCC activists who debated the proper path towards freedom became his laboratory. Sit-ins and Freedom Rides served as his examinations. They often resulted in beatings and bloodshed.SNCC leadershipBy 1963 Lewis had assumed the chairmanship of SNCC, a position he would hold for the next three years. The formidable organization would undergo its most drastic changes during this period as they wrangled with more moderate and traditional organizations, concerns about white liberalism and the intractable nature of white supremacy.Lewis and other SNCC organizers were forced to swallow a bitter pill during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Although Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech became a focal point, it was Lewis’ speech that drew the most controversy.Archbishop Patrick O'Boyle, along with march organizer Bayard Rustin, forced Lewis to change his original draft that placed a heavy critique on the slow response of the Kennedy administration in protecting the civil and human rights of activists in the Deep South. The edit prompted Malcolm X to derisively refer to the event as “The Farce on Washington.” It was not the last ideological scrum SNCC would have with liberals and moderates.During the Democratic National Convention in 1964, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, or MFDP, arrived in Atlantic City, New Jersey, expecting to be the duly recognized delegation from the Magnolia State in place of the all-white delegation of the party that had used violence and intimidation in an attempt to keep Blacks from the polls.Famed activist Fannie Lou Hamer declared that “if the MFDP is not seated now, I question America.” The party was not seated. A backroom compromise – orchestrated between traditional Black moderates such as NAACP head Roy Wilkins, SCLC organizer Bayard Rustin and Dr. King – left many younger activists bitter and broken. “This was the turning point of the civil rights movement,” Lewis declared. “We had played by the rules, done everything we were supposed to do, had played the game exactly as requested, had arrived at the doorstep, and found the door slammed in our face.”A year after the disappointment of Atlantic City, the learning curve would continue for Lewis.As bitter as he and other SNCC activists were about the fallout from the 1964 Democratic Convention, Lewis was still a committed ideologue who held fast to his belief in non-violence as a way of life. That position grew increasingly unpopular with younger activists who championed their constitutional right to armed self-defense in the face of tyranny.[You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors. You can get our highlights each weekend.]Many SNCC activists grew wearisome of the practical politics, moderation and compromise that some (including Lewis) argued produced setbacks within the movement. This frustration was on full display during Lewis’ most famous moment - the Selma to Montgomery March of 1965. SNCC’s executive committee had voted against the organization’s involvement because they saw such protest marches as largely ineffective. Lewis participated anyway. The result was “Bloody Sunday,” a horrific display of white terrorism that served as a springboard for the passage of the Voting Rights Act later that year. The world watched in horror as television cameras captured the moment that Lewis and hundreds of other peaceful protesters were teargassed, beaten and trampled by state troopers.Like many committed activists, the social and political education of John Lewis had numerous twists and turns - from a wide-eyed and eager disciple of nonviolence (a commitment that never wavered) to a seasoned activist and organizer whose heroics and courage made him an icon of the movement. That journey came with bumps and bruises – both literally and figuratively – and he would later employ some of those lessons as a United States congressman representing the 5th Congressional District of Georgia for 33 years. In this role, Lewis would champion legislation that upheld the ideals that made him an icon of the movement. He sponsored or co-sponsored thousands of bills targeting poverty, gun violence, civil rights, health care and reform of America’s justice system, just to name a few. He became an award-winning author, and he was lionized as “the conscience of Congress.”While Lewis learned the fine art of negotiating during his years as a movement leader, he never compromised in his insistence for justice and equality for all. In a tweet from 2018, Lewis implored young idealists and activists to “Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” Lewis remained a noise maker and a “drum major for peace” until his final days, and his courage and sacrifice should be an inspiration for us all.____Jelani M. Favors, Associate Professor of History, Clayton State UniversityThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original...

Written by Lawrence Burnley, University of Dayton____With the deaths of Rep. John Lewis and the Rev. Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian, the U.S. has lost two civil rights greats who drew upon their faith as they pushed for equality for Black Americans.Vivian, an early adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died July 17 at the age of 95. News of his passing was followed just hours later by that of Lewis, 80, an ordained Baptist minister and towering figure in the civil rights struggle.That both men were people of the cloth is no coincidence.From the earliest times in U.S. history, religious leaders have led the struggle for liberation and racial justice for Black Americans. As an ordained minister and a historian, I see a common thread running from Black resistance in the earliest periods of slavery in the antebellum South, through the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s – in which Lewis and Vivian played important roles – and up to today’s Black Lives Matter movement.As Patrisse Cullors, a founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, says: “The fight to save your life is a spiritual fight.”Spiritual callingVivian studied theology alongside Lewis at the American Baptist College in Nashville, Tennessee.For both men, activism was an extension of their faith. Speaking to PBS in 2004, Lewis explained: “In my estimation, the civil rights movement was a religious phenomenon. When we’d go out to sit in or go out to march, I felt, and I really believe, there was a force in front of us and a force behind us, ’cause sometimes you didn’t know what to do. You didn’t know what to say, you didn’t know how you were going to make it through the day or through the night. But somehow and some way, you believed – you had faith – that it all was going to be all right.”Fellow civil rights activists knew Vivian as the “resident theologian” in King’s inner circle due to “how profound he is in both his political and biblical exegesis,” fellow campaigner Rev. Jesse Jackson recalled.Rejecting ‘other world’ theologyFaith traditions inform the civil rights and social justice work of many Black religious leaders. They interpret religious teachings through the prism of the injustice in the here and now.Speaking of King’s influence, Lewis explained: “He was not concerned about the streets of heaven and the pearly gates and the streets paved with milk and honey. He was more concerned about the streets of Montgomery and the way that Black people and poor people were being treated in Montgomery.”This focus on real-world struggles as part of the role of spiritual leaders was present in the earliest Black civil rights and anti-slavery leaders. Nat Turner, a leader in the revolt against slavery, for example, saw rebellion as the work of God, and drew upon biblical texts to inspire his actions. Likewise fellow anti-slavery campaigners Sojourner Truth and Jarena Lee rejected the “otherworld” theology taught to enslaved Africans by their white captors, which sought to deflect attention away from their condition in “this world” with promises of a better afterlife.Incorporating religion into the Black anti-slavery movement sowed the seeds for faith being central to the struggle for racial justice. As the church historian James Washington observed in 1986, the “very disorientation of their slavery and the persistent impact of systemic racism and other forms of oppression provided the opportunity – indeed the necessity – of a new religious synthesis.”‘Ubuntuism’The synthesis continued into the 20th century. Religious civil rights leaders like Lewis and Vivian clearly felt compelled to make the struggle for justice a central part of a spiritual leader’s role.In 1965, Vivian was punched in the mouth by Dallas County Sheriff Jim Clark in an incident caught on camera and carried on national news. Vivian later said: “Everything I am as a minister, as an African American, as a civil rights activist and a struggler for justice for everyone came together in that moment.”Though their activism was grounded in Christianity, Lewis and Vivian both forged strategic and powerful coalitions with those outside of their faith. In some ways, they transcended theologically informed ideologies with a world view more akin to Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s interpretation of “Ubuntu” – that one’s own humanity is inextricably bound up with that of others.Lewis and Vivian personified this value in their leadership styles.George FloydRacial justice remains integral to Black Christian leadership in the 21st century.After the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, it was the Rev. Al Sharpton whose words were carried across the globe, calling on white America to “get your knee off our necks” at Floyd’s memorial service.In recent years, the Rev. William J. Barber II has been such a vocal and powerful presence in protests that some Americans consider him to be a the successor to past civil rights greats.In an interview in early 2020, Barber said: “There is not some separation between Jesus and justice; to be Christian is to be concerned with what’s going on in the world.”John Lewis and Rev. C.T. Vivian lived those words.____Some of this information appeared in a previous article published on June 17Lawrence Burnley, Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, University of DaytonThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original...

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.____“The Confederacy was on the wrong side of history and humanity. It sought to tear apart our nation and subjugate our fellow Americans to slavery. This is the history we should never forget and one that we should never again put on a pedestal to be revered.As a community, we must recognize the significance of removing New Orleans’ Confederate monuments. It is our acknowledgment that now is the time to take stock of, and then move past a painful part of our history. Anything less would render generations of courageous struggle and soul-searching a truly lost cause.”— New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, upon removal of the city’s last remaining Confederate monuments in 2017Mississippi’s decision this week to eliminate a Confederate symbol from its state flag is the culmination of more than 40 years of activism, and a single step in the ongoing effort to eliminate white supremacist imagery and monuments from our public spaces.It seems at last that we have the will, as a nation, to confront the ugly truth about these monuments built as symbols of resistance to racial equality. As long as they remain in places of honor, they remain symbols of resistance to racial equality.More than 1,500 public monuments and memorials to the Confederacy remain in the United States, in 31 states plus the District of Columbia — far exceeding the 11 Confederate states. Almost none of these monuments or memorials were created in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, and almost none were intended to memorialize the dead. There were two huge spikes in construction: in the early 1900s, after *Plessy v. Ferguson unleashed the terroristic system of Jim Crow, and then again in the 1950s and 1960s as the 20th Century Civil Rights Movement gained traction.The current Mississippi flag was adopted 30 years after the end of the Civil War. The state’s Civil War-era flag didn’t even feature Confederate imagery.The notion of “erasing history” is the hollowest of defenses. The truth is, the reality of Black voices finally being heard is an unsettling development for people so accustomed to white privilege they can scarcely discern its very presence.What respect for history really means is reckoning with the horror of two and a half centuries of chattel slavery and another century of the institutionalized terrorism known as Jim Crow.The Cult of the Lost Cause, which draped the atrocities of the Confederacy in a gauzy lie about states’ rights, infects our public discourse even today. The state of Texas finally voted in 2018 to teach that slavery was the central issue of the Civil War.The illusion that Confederate memorials are anything but a celebration of white supremacy collapses under the slightest scrutiny. Take for example the 1913 dedication of a Confederate monument at the University of North Carolina, later nicknamed “Silent Sam.”University trustee Julian Carr urged the audience to devote themselves to the maintenance of white supremacy with the same vigor that their Confederate ancestors had defended slavery. He praised Confederate soldiers for their defense “of the Anglo Saxon race during the four years after the war,” when “their courage and steadfastness saved the very life of the Anglo Saxon race in the South.” These four years refer to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, which Carr supported. He then boasted that “one hundred yards from where we stand, I horsewhipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds because she had maligned and insulted a Southern lady.”Students pulled the statue from its pedestal in 2018.Confederate statues in public spaces, near government buildings — especially in front of courthouses, where people go to seek justice — are a form of racial intimidation. They are meant to assure those who approach that “white supremacy reigns here.” If we want to dispense with white supremacy, we must dispense with its signifiers. They advertise a product no one wants any more.In the Gettysburg Address, Abraham called on the nation to “strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”  More than a century and a half later, we are still striving to bind up the nation’s wounds.#TakeEmDown, now.____Marc H. Morial is the President and CEO of the National Urban...