5 Things Friday
Ding, ding, ding…time to wake up! Here are your antiracism action steps for May 21.
Still from Netflix’s “High on the Hog,” which begins each episode with a montage that includes the Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters, performing at the ruins of St. Helena Island’s Chapel of Ease, in South Carolina.
I know, thanks to the internet, jeans, dances, and phrases have a shelf life of staying cool for exactly 4 days. "Woke" is one of those words that made a whole lotta sense this summer, but thanks to overuse, cringy references, and right-wing talk show hosts leeching onto it, it's kinda been blasted of meaning. But the concept is still a very real thing, and one that we are seeing the effects of right now.
Understanding one type of systemic oppression—like the way America's laws, culture, and media are undergirded with racist ideas and practices that continuously harm the Black community—suddenly gives you a new lens on how you view other institutional and cultural structures. Like immigration. Or climate change policy. Or a decades-long war happening on the other side of the world that suddenly bears some shockingly similar traits to the displacement, oppression, and colonialism we've been schooling ourselves on at home.
So, while the suffering across the world remains immense, I for one am heartened that many in America (which still influences global policy in a major way) are waking up to a new way of seeing these issues. And most importantly, we are making our voices heard when it comes to speaking up and out against injustice everywhere.
Here are your 5 Things.
KNOW THIS. The three known survivors of the 1921 race massacre in Tulsa, Okla., in which white mobs gunned down Black people in the streets and Black-owned businesses were burned to the ground, appeared before a congressional committee on Wednesday, arguing that justice was far overdue. Watch survivors Viola Fletcher, age 107, Hughes Van Ellis, age 100, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, age 106, share their stories before a House Judiciary subcommittee and ask members of Congress to help them secure justice.
WATCH THIS. Sit back and devour the Netflix series, High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America (it comes out this Wednesday). Chef and writer Stephen Satterfield traces the delicious, moving throughlines from Africa to Texas in this docuseries, illustrating just how Black food is American food. Beyond the stand alone beauty and power of the 4-part series, we are also extra excited to see Stephen—a Bay Area icon in the food world (he cut his teeth at Nopa while founding his Whetstone publishing house)—in the starring role. Read this to whet your appetite.
MAKE THIS CALL. Ronald Greene was murdered by Louisiana State troopers on May 10, 2019. Footage from the dashcam was leaked yesterday showing how police brutalized Ronald. Call these 3 numbers and use the call script below to demand justice for Ronald Greene.
Governor John Bel Edwards: (225)342-7015
Louisiana Dept of Justice: (225)326-6705
Louisiana State Police Department: (225)925-6006
"Hello, my name is (NAME) and I am calling in regards to Ronald Greene. Ronald was murdered in Monroe in 2019 by multiple state troopers. There is no excuse as to why Ronald's family is still seeking answers and clarity about his death two years after the fact. I am demanding immediate action be taken to arrest each of the officers involved in Ronald's death. I am also demanding the immediate release of all bodycam and dashcam footage. Ronald Greene's life mattered. Proceed with this in mind. Thank you.
SIGN THIS. If all these repeated calls for justice (and the infuriating lack of it) are sounding like a broken record, there's a reason. For decades, qualified immunity has been a key part of the architecture of impunity that allows government officials, including police officers, to act above the law. After the end of the Civil War, Congress passed Section 1983, a key civil rights law that granted people, especially Black people, the ability to seek redress in court if an official violated their rights. But in the 1960s, the Supreme Court invented and then expanded qualified immunity to limit these rights. Thankfully there are members of Congress currently fighting to end qualified immunity. Add your name now to voice your support for Ayanna Pressley’s legislation that will finally end qualified immunity.
KEEP AN EYE ON THIS. When it comes to broad American military support for Israel, Bernie Sanders has long been a voice of dissent. Finally, he's not the only one. Yesterday, following the lead of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mark Pocan,and Rashida Tlaib, Sanders introduced a resolution on Thursday disapproving of the U.S. sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons to Israel. "At a moment when U.S.-made bombs are devastating Gaza, and killing women and children, we cannot simply let another huge arms sale go through without even a congressional debate,” Sanders said in a statement to The Washington Post. America actually changing its stance (and major cash and weapons support) would have seemed unthinkable in decades past, but, hey, the alarm is ringing...and folks are waking up.