AustinTalks (http://austintalks.org/tag/racism/)
Columnist John W. Fountain III hasn’t decided if he will vote in this fall’s election. “My ancestors did not die for the right to vote. They died for the ability to be equally accounted for in the clause ‘all men are created equal,'” he writes. “My single vote over the years has not changed that notion or swayed the pendulum toward economic inclusion or political power.
Ira Acree, pastor of Greater St. John Bible Church, and Jose Abonce of Austin Coming Together both traveled to D.C. last week to take part in the “Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks.”
Racism is indeed a health crisis, writes Daryl Satcher. The sick system is the true virus that we need to defeat. But we must destroy this virus within ourselves first.
ROYAL, a group of youths from Oak Park, led a march through Austin, Garfield Park and Oak Park last weekend. They were protesting police brutality and commemorating the death of Elijah McClain, a Black man who died while walking home from work last year in Colorado and after police put him in a choke hold.
Allies to black life must be willing to die for black lives to matter, writes columnist John W. Fountain III. The systemic racism in law enforcement, education, housing and healthcare has simmered to a tipping point.
If white people are programmed to be racist, then my people are programmed to hate ourselves, writes Daryl Satcher. Systemic racism is the true virus that we need to defeat. You must first defeat this disease in your mind before you can defeat it in your world.
To every person who needed to see buildings burning before doing something about racism, welcome to the movement, writes Illinois Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford. To everyone who felt uncomfortable speaking on race issues, welcome to the movement. To every corporation who made their first statement in support of Black lives, welcome to the movement. To every young person who took to the streets in protest for basic human rights, you are the movement. Keep pushing.
If true reforms do not happen right away, we need to eliminate our current system, writes state Rep. La Shawn Ford. The Austin lawmaker says this is not about individual police officers or bad apples; this is about a system that is inherently flawed.
Raheem Cooper-Thomas, Cortez Watson Jr., Chukwuka John Okafo and Herb Howard have these questions on their minds: When do we fight back? How and when do we seek justice for all the lives lost? And when will we have any opportunity in this country?
All lives don’t matter until black lives matter. Columnist John W. Fountain III says he’s starting to sound like a voicemail recording because he’s advocated so long for justice and the responsibility of elected officials to remain accountable for our communities. When will things change?