2016-2020
Day 96
2016: University of Texas White Student Sues School Because She Didn’t Get In, and of Course Blames Black People
Abigail Fisher had a dream: To attend the University of Texas.
Sadly, she didn’t get in. Rather than recognizing that her grades really weren’t very good, she decided to blame Affirmative Action- suing the university by saying that the university admitted students of color who were less qualified than her and she was therefore being discriminated against.
The University of Texas admits 19,482 freshmen every year out of about 50,575 applicants. Of those numbers, there were 47 students admitted who had lesser credentials than Fisher (so, she obviously wasn’t super qualified to begin with if she was number 48 from the bottom. Her grades were OK, not great, and her SAT score was only 1100). Of the 47, 42 of them were white. Yes, you read that correctly- 42 were white. 5 were black or Latino.
Also, there were 168 black or latino students who scored HIGHER than Fisher but were not admitted.
Did Fisher sue the white students who got in? Of course not. She only sued the POC. Perhaps she thought the white students who had lower scores than her somehow deserved to be put in, but the students of color did not. I have no idea.
Eventually, she lost the lawsuit.
Ultimately, this case was not about Abigail Fisher. There really never was an argument that she deserved to be at UT- even her lawyers admit that. Really, it was about gutting admission policies that try to be inclusive.
This absurd case was brought to the courts by a conservative group who is seeking to overturn the rights fought long and hard by people of color. This group led the charge in 2013 to gut the Voting Rights Act of 1964 (the one the Freedom Riders fought so hard for) and won, allowing for massive discrimination in voting rights.
It boggles my mind that there are groups who are fighting to take away the rights of people of color and to take us back to the time of Jim Crow. It honestly makes me ill. These court cases are devastating- we need to be vigilant in watching the continued attacks against people of color.
Sources/Comments:
The entire series is worth listening to, but THIS episode in particular talks about this case in detail. #seeingwhite
Day 97
2017: Racism in Sports
2017 was a terrifying year as we saw a dramatic rise in white nationalism (i.e., the KKK), the Unite the Right rally which killed one person, huge increases in hate crimes, and even an increase in racism in sports. I am going to talk about the Unite the Right rally and the rise of white supremacy tomorrow, so today’s focus is on the rise of racism in sports. This is something I had no idea was happening, and it has increased even more since 2017.
This is from Richard Lapchick at ESPN. He has a series of posts, every January, recounting the racist incidents within sports from the previous year.
“According to research from the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, acts of racism in sports in the U.S. increased from 31 in 2016 to 41 in 2017 (note: in 2018, it rose again to 52). Internationally, there were 79 racist acts in sports.
In May, Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones said that he was berated with racial slurs and that a bag of peanuts was thrown at him during a game at Boston's Fenway Park. Jones later called it one of the worst experiences of his 12-year career. This incident led to support from a number of athletes, including Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, who said he had experienced similar indignities.
A few weeks later, on the eve of the Cavaliers and Warriors meeting for the third straight year in the NBA Finals, a racial slur was spray-painted on the front gate of LeBron James' Los Angeles home. Visibly shaken by the news, James addressed the media and said, "No matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, no matter how many people admire you, being black in America is tough. We got a long way to go for us as a society and for us as African-Americans until we feel equal in America."
James was not the only person on the receiving end of such hatred at home. Texas A&M football coach Kevin Sumlin received hate mail that criticized his coaching, called him the N-word and ended with a threat. Sumlin's wife, Charlene, posted a photo of the letter on social media.
Fan behavior made headlines numerous times throughout 2017. A Missouri bar owner taped Marshawn Lynch and Colin Kaepernick jerseys as a doormat to the entrance of his establishment; placed side by side, the jerseys spelled "Lynch Kaepernick." Somebody hung a dummy of Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict from a noose near the Pittsburgh Steelers' stadium.
Five football players from Creston High School in Iowa were kicked off the team after a photo of them wearing KKK hoods, brandishing a firearm, burning a cross and showcasing a Confederate flag went viral. Another story from Iowa made headlines after a racist social media post about Clear Creek Amana football player Darius Moore who knelt during the national anthem. The Snapchat posting showed a picture of Moore with a message reading, "kick this f---ing n----- off the football team like honestly who the f--- kneels for the national anthem."
(Back to me): Is it any wonder that athletes are fighting so hard against racism right now? I hope that we will listen to what they are saying- really listen, with the intent to understand- so that we can help stop these racist incidents from happening.
Sources/Comments:
Day 98
2018: Rise of White Nationalism
It is heartbreaking to admit, but the KKK is gaining significant ground right now.
In the early 1900’s, the KKK had very little power. They were on the outs- until Woodrow Wilson became president. He lauded the KKK, and even screened Birth of A Nation at the White House. He applauded the KKK, wrote a history book praising the Confederacy, and he rolled back hard-fought economic progress for Black Americans, overseeing the segregation of multiple agencies of the federal government.
Suddenly, with Woodrow Wilson as president, the KKK was back in business.
Sadly, history seems to be repeating itself. Whether you love or hate our current president, it is impossible to ignore that his election was a catalyst for white supremacy. David Duke declared himself “The happiest man in the world” when he was elected.
In 2017, the Unite the Right rally happened- a KKK gathering. A member of the KKK drove his car into a crowd- then backed up to run over bodies again. Eventually, he was sentenced to life in prison, but our president said those who came to the rally were “very fine people,” even as one woman was killed and black men were beaten (David Duke praised the president's comments).
Members of the president’s staff, caught off guard by his remarks, said they never expected to hear such a voluble articulation of opinions that the president had long expressed in private.
Let me reiterate: The president of our country expresses pro-white supremacy opinions in private.
The Department of Homeland Security declared in 2020 that white supremacists are the greatest terrorist threat in our country (and yet, our president does nothing to condemn or reprimand them).
In 2018 the following was reported:
Far-right extremists have killed more people since 9/11 than any other category of domestic terrorism.
71% of extremist-related deaths between 2008 and 2017 were committed by members of a far-right movement, while Islamic extremists were responsible for 26%, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Between 2002 and 2017, the U.S. spent $2.8 trillion on counterterrorism. In that time frame, terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists killed 100 people in the U.S.
Between 2008 and 2017, meanwhile, domestic extremists killed 387 people.
In 2018, our country reached an all time high of 1,020 known operating hate groups- with most of them adhering to white supremacy.
With the increase of hate groups, there has also been a great increase in hate crimes since the election of 2016. In 2018, 8,819 hate crimes were reported to the FBI, with 66% of them being racially motivated (most of the others were related to sexual orientation or gender identity bias). This does not include all of the hate crimes committed but not reported to the FBI.
It seems for every step we take forward in regards to eradicating racial hatred, we take 3 steps backwards. We almost beat the KKK in the early 1900’s, but then it came roaring back when we elected a President who praised the KKK.
I see history repeating itself.
I sincerely hope that regardless of who you vote for, that you will be someone who stands up against this racial hatred, who condemns white supremacy on every level, and that you call out leaders- especially the leader of our country- for not speaking out against this hatred and for calling those who perpetuate this hatred as a “good guy.”
When you have a president who accepts and applauds the KKK, the rest of us must step up and do all we can to stop them/him.
Sources/Comments:
Day 99
2019: Blacks Win School Board Election, and are Subsequently Arrested Under False Allegations of Voter Fraud
Last year, Matthew Holden, the son of a sheriff, burned down three black churches to promote his heavy medal band- and that barely made the news. Elijah McClain was murdered by police for the crime of being black and walking down the street in front of his own house- still no charges have been filed. The persecution of African Americans was simply too massive in 2019 (and, well, every other year) to recount all the horrific crimes against them.
Also in 2019: After years of canvassing, encouraging black voters to register to vote, knocking door to door to win an election, an African American slate of candidates won in their bids for their local school board in the predominantly white town of Quitman, Georgia. This is a town with an extremely long history of violent racism***, but the win was a huge sign that maybe the racist past was turning.
Or not.
Instead of accepting the results of the election, police arrested the “ring leader” of the scheme to get people to register to vote and 11 of her political allies.
Note: They were innocent! All they did was get people to LEGALLY register to vote!
Nevertheless, their mugshots wearing orange jumpsuits were plastered across news sites across the country. They were seen as the poster children of voter fraud, EVEN THOUGH THERE WAS NO VOTER FRAUD AND NOTHING ILLEGAL WAS DONE (and, to this day, there is zero evidence of voter fraud occurring on a mass scale- please stop spreading the lie that voter fraud is a serious issue. It isn’t).
The Georgia governor used this as an example to continue his role in voter suppression- purging voter rolls of thousands of black voters and closing voting locations in black neighborhoods. Black citizens living in Georgia often have to wait in line for TWELVE hours to vote. Voter suppression of the black community is currently a major issue in Georgia and throughout the South thanks to the gutting of the 1964 Voter Rights Act in 2013.
Just the act of arresting and harassing these 12 black citizens led to fear around the state about blacks being active in the political process. Many of them fear receiving the same retribution for being politically active.
This is not a fear I face. I am very active politically, and I have never worried about being arrested for exercising my civic and Constitutional rights.
This story is horrifying, with many details and nuances. Please read the sources for much more information about this case of racism and voter suppression happening in our country RIGHT NOW.
***Like its namesake, Brooks County embraced the use of extreme violence to maintain white supremacy. EJI’s research on racial terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950 shows that Brooks County had the third-highest number of racial terror lynchings in Georgia. Many of the 20 documented lynching victims were killed during the Lynching Rampage of 1918, when white mobs terrorized African Americans for days after the fatal shooting of a notoriously abusive and exploitative white plantation owner, resulting in attacks, property damage, and lynchings. Mary Turner, a young mother of two who was eight months pregnant, was lynched after she publicly denounced the lynching of her husband. The mob hanged her by her feet from a tree, drenched her with gasoline, and set her on fire. She burned “amid the wild cheers of the assembled mob.” When the flames died down, her unborn child was cut out of her and stomped to death. The mob then fired hundreds of bullets into Mary Turner’s corpse. A historical marker installed in 2010 at the site where Mrs. Turner was lynched also has been shot full of bullet holes.
Sources/Comments:
For information on the burning of black churches click HERE
Elijah McClain:
AURORA, Colo. — His death began on a streetside patch of grass less than 100 feet from his front door.
Elijah McClain, his hood up against a slight chill and a bag with Arizona Iced Tea in his hand, made his way from the corner Shell station convenience store to his apartment building one night a year ago. The quarter-mile walk home was his last.
Three police officers in this large Denver suburb tackled the unarmed McClain, who they later said looked “suspicious,” and choked him unconscious. Paramedics then shot him up with a sedative, a dose later found to be too much for his 143 pounds.
Struggling for air through his own vomit, the 23-year-old called out, “I can’t breathe,” as he lost consciousness.
McClain never woke up. He died in the hospital nine months before George Floyd uttered the same dying refrain in Minneapolis when a police officer held a knee to his neck on the street.
Being Black in Aurora has proved dangerous. The same is true across many of the nation’s suburbs where predominantly White, male police departments, once a fair facsimile of their communities, have failed to change as rapidly as the places they are charged with protecting.
Day 100
2020: Honoring The Victims
I have thought long and hard about how to end this. There is so much to say, and yet words are inadequate.
For this post I will simply ask you to read this list of names- names of black sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, who were murdered with very little regard for their lives. Then, I invite you to take a few minutes of solitude- find a quiet place where you can sit and ponder, and maybe even shed a few tears, and listen to this beautiful song as you think of all of those who have died because of racism in our country.
Take a minute to mourn with those that mourn. To feel the pain and suffering of our black brothers and sisters.
Take a minute to pray for the loss of our brothers and sisters taken way too soon:
George Floyd
Breonna Taylor
Trayvon Martin
Ahmaud Arberry
MIchael Brown
Tamir Rice
Justin Howell
Eric Garner
Philando Castile
Elijah McClain
Emmitt Till
George Stinney
David McAtee
Michael Brent Charles Ramos
Manuel “Mannie” Elijah Ellis
Atatiana Koquice Jefferson
Emantic “EJ” Fitzgerald Bradford Jr
Kalief Browder
Charles “Chop” Roundtree Jr.
Chinedu Okobi
Botham Shem Jean
Antwon Rose Jr
Saheed Vassell
Stephon Alonzo Clark
Aaron Bailey
Charleena Chavon Lyles (and her unborn baby)
Jordan Edwards
Chad Robertson
Deborah Danner
Alfred Olango
Terence Crutcher
Terrence LeDell Sterling
Korryn Gaines
Joseph Curtis Mann
Alton Sterling
Corey Lamar Jones
Jamar O’Neal Clark
India Kager
Samuel Vincent DuBose
Sandra Bland
Brendon K. Glenn
Freddie Carlos Gray Jr
Walter Lamar Scott
Eric Courtney Harris
Phillip Gregory White
Mya Shawatza Hall
Meagan Hockaday
Tony Terrell Robinson, Jr.
Janisha Fonville
Natasha McKenna,
Jerame C. Reid
Rumain Brisbon
Akai Kareem Gurley
Tanisha N. Anderson
Sadly, the list goes on. I wanted to list all of the unarmed black men, women, and children who have been killed by police since 1968, but the list was 23 pages long.
Say their names.
Sources/Comments:
HERE is a collection of the names of unarmed black men, women, and children who have been killed by police since 1968.
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