discrimination

A Glimpse Inside the Desolate Streets of Ferguson, Mo.

Andres Tapia

It’s breathtaking enough walking through the business district along Florissant Ave. to see one storefront after another still boarded up either because of broken glass or as a prevention against vandalism or looting. But that scene does not ready my companion and me for the devastation a few streets over on West Florissant Ave., the epicenter of the worst violence in the wake of the non-indictment of police officer Darren Wilson for the deadly shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown.

My Civil Rights Year

Paul Kleyman

My Selma experience was deeply sensory, staying up all night in the basement of the Brown AME Chapel making coffee for people, moving to the rhythmic speeches and songs in the church sanctuary, crowding into the back of a pickup truck to go to the march after a chilly, pre-dawn rain—and walking 19 miles in tennis shoes (decades before “cross trainers”), only to peal them off in Montgomery and plunge my feet into the happy coolness of red mud.

Obama on Ferguson Grand Jury: Anger ‘Is an Understandable Reaction’

Colorlines

President Obama, who addressed the nation Monday evening shortly after a grand jury announced that it declined to indict Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown, said that while, “the decision was the grand jury’s to make,” disappointment and anger about the announcement “is an understandable reaction.” Obama echoed the calls of Michael Brown’s family who in recent days have called for peaceful protests following the grand jury’s decision. 

Why Redheads are (Sheepishly) Organizing a Civil Rights Movement

Stephanie Stark

Redheads are starting a movement to combat the everyday discrimination they face. But instead of a shot heard round the world, their revolution is starting out with a giggle.
From “Kick a Ginger Day,” on September 20, to the ease with which they are derogatorily referred to as “gingers” in everyday interactions, the casual discrimination of redheads is widespread and commonplace. Now, with movements raising awareness of the blatant discrimination of redheads, "gingers" are, if sheepishly, starting to stand up for themselves. 

Lawsuit Brings to Light Discrimination Tactics at 7-11 Corp.

Sunita Sohrabji

On July 11 — as 7-Eleven (also known as 7-11) stores across the nation were giving away free Slurpees to celebrate the company’s birthday – the Franchise Owners Association of Greater Los Angeles filed a lawsuit against the giant, multinational corporation, alleging racism, ageism, and unscrupulous business practices. The suit said it represents 1,200 franchisees in the area, the majority of whom are South Asian American.

Are School Closures Discriminatory?

Julianne Hing

Sixty years after Brown v. Board of Education, schools are still both separate and unequal. Community and civil rights groups say they’ve identified a key force that’s aggravated the inequity: school closures. On May 14, on the same week the nation recognized the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark school desegregation ruling, the civil rights group Advancement Project and the national community group network Journey for Justice Alliance filed three federal complaints with the U.S. Department of Education and Department of Justice.

How a Black Police Officer Infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan

Breanna Edwards

Stallworth's Klan investigation ended after about seven months because he was so good at his job that "the local organizer had the idea that they needed someone who was a resident of Colorado Springs to assume the duties," he says. "They took a vote at one of their meetings, and by unanimous vote they had determined that they wanted Ron Stallworth to become the new local organizer because he was a 'loyal and dedicated Klansman.' "

The New and (White) Face of Journalism Start-Ups

Charles D. Ellison

Diversity has always been—and for a number of reasons still is—the china-crashing elephant in the room that few really want to talk about or address. Lack of black people in the mainstream newsroom is an ongoing phenomenon that most—if not all—outlets seem unwilling to fix. Even worse is the lack of black leadership in the newsroom. But the fact remains that most demographic segments, regardless of background, still rush to bigged-up brand-name institutions as their most reliable sources for news. That won’t and shouldn’t change if you’re a rapacious consumer of information. As a result, people of color should hold these vaunted publications’ collective feet to the fire.

 

Why Ralph Ellison Still Matters

Greg Thomas

Never out of print since it became a best-seller in 1952, and winner of the National Book Award in 1953, Ellison’s fictional masterpiece is generally recognized as one of the most influential novels of the 20th century. This is the tale of the often slapstick (mis)adventures of a nameless African American protagonist whose blues-drenched, pinball-like journey from the South to the North and from rural to city not only mirrored the historical trajectory of black folk, but whose search for identity resonates, even today, with all.

The Echoes of a Struggle: From South Africa to Brazil

Cheryl Sterling

When the Movimento Negro Unificado (United Black Movement) formed in Brazil in 1979, they turned to the anti-apartheid struggle and to Mandela, in particular, for a vision for change and a symbol of empowerment. They looked at the apartheid structure; its separation of the races; the mandatory passes that blacks carried that showed all aspects of their lives; the separation of place and space in social, economic and political spheres, and they concluded that Brazil was an apartheid state.

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