Tag: Social justice

King Charles III is touring the Caribbean for nine days, but it won't be a pleasant trip. Everybody is talking about his need to apologize for Britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade. But what good will an apology do? Black folks have become so accustomed to accepting symbolic gestures that we mistake them for progress. An apology doesn't require a check or a policy change. All it does is allow powerful people to feel less guilty about historical injustices while keeping everything they gained from those wrongs.

Black women have always been at the center of movements, even when history did not give them credit. For many Black LGBTQ+ changemakers, the intersectionality of race and sexuality creates even greater barriers. Women like Barbara Smith and Stormé DeLarverie turned identity into power, while others like Lori Lightfoot, Laphonza Butler and Karine Jean-Pierre wielded visibility into political action. These disrupters, activists, artists and politicians expanded what leadership can look like.

More than 1,000 children are buried at former juvenile detention centers and reform schools across the country. Researchers with the Forgotten Children Initiative are working to make sure their stories don't stay buried. The Georgetown University initiative identifies children, mostly Black, who died while in state custody, locates their graves and reconnects them with surviving family members when possible.

A. Philip Randolph was one of the most influential Black labor leaders and trade unionists in American history. He founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first major Black-led labor union, and used organized labor as a vehicle to fight both workplace discrimination and racial inequality.

A growing number of influential Black celebrities have publicly voiced their support for Palestine as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues. Actors, musicians, filmmakers, comedians and athletes have used their platforms to spotlight the global crisis and show solidarity with the Palestinian people. From signing high-profile open letters demanding a ceasefire to leveraging content on personal social media channels, these artists are drawing parallels between international human rights movements and global fights for racial justice. By doing so, these Black celebrities build upon a historical tradition of Black-Palestinian solidarity linking domestic racial equality struggles to global movements for justice.

John Boyd Jr., founder of the National Black Farmers Association, says Black farmers are suffering under the Trump administration after three decades of advocacy in Washington. He claims canceled agricultural grants and policies to increase foreign beef imports are pushing struggling farmers closer to losing their land. Boyd is frustrated that previous administrations provided billion-dollar funding and access to policymakers, while Trump has excluded him from White House events. He's also calling out Black leaders, athletes, and wealthy Americans for remaining silent as hundreds of farmers face foreclosure.