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Saturday, May 11, 2013
Caracas, May
10 - With AfroVenezuelan
Day due to be celebrated this Friday,
Juan Piñango, a member of
the Movimiento Social de Afrodescendientes (Social Movement
of People of African descent), spoke
out about how the Bolivarian
Revolution has helped to increase inclusion of the nation's
Afro-descendant communities in
government policies, reports the Agencia Venezolana de Noticias (AVN).
"It was with the arrival
of President Chávez that, for the first time, a
space opened up for grassroots
social organizations to be able to dialogue with
the State. That had
previously been denied. And
it was the first time someone opened
the door and invited
us in to help build the State,"
Piñango said, during an interview
broadcast on Venezolana de Television (VTV).
He said that one of
the main achievements AfroVenezuelan
communities had won was the
2011 enactment of
the Organic Law against
Racial Discrimination, which is
"a genuine law
of people's empowerment, written
and created by us,
with broad support",
he explained.
11:54 pm edt
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Remembering Venezuela’s Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías
By Karen Juanita Carrillo The
shock from the news of the death of Hugo Chávez’s is still strong. Vice
President Nicolás Maduro appeared on Venezuelan national television to announce the report: “Today,
March 5, … we were instructed to come here, to the Military Hospital of Caracas, to find out
about the health of our president. Just as we arrived, alongside his daughters, his brothers, and family,
we received the harshest and most tragic news that we now have to convey to our people: that at 4:25
this afternoon, today March 5, our commander, President Hugo Chávez Frias, died.”
(Karen Juanita Carrillo photo (c) 2005)  Maduro announced the death of Chavez with fellow
legislators standing at his side. He promised that he and other Chavez-aligned politicians would continue
the late president’s work and added: “To all the people of the world, the presidents who have
called during this time of pain and difficulty, we send you an eternal thank you because we know that
this world we inhabit today, grants a love and a great appreciation to those who use their lives to create projects that
make life more beautiful and humanistic…” read more
10:28 pm edt
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Rosewood’s story still lives in South Florida "Janie Black is a mild-mannered
woman who works at a community center in North Miami-Dade County," writes Jose Perez in the South Florida Times. "She is something of a
matriarch for the many, young and old, who offer her a smiling greeting. By initial appearances, Black is quietly enjoying
her golden years. Black, however, is on a mission.
"Born Janie Bradley
in the early years of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal era, Black has dedicated her spare moments to telling the story
of what happened in what was supposed to be her hometown 90 years ago this month.
"Black is the daughter of Nada Bradley, who
as a young boy in January 1923, saw his world turned into flames when his community was literally burned to cinders.
"Bradley
lived in Rosewood, the African-American community in Levy County that was literally wiped off the map after January 1923
when hundreds of rampaging whites, responding to a white woman’s disputed claim of abuse by a Black man, converged
for murderous attacks and combed the countryside while survivors hid in the woods and swamps.
"As a descendent of the survivors of the
Rosewood Massacre, Black does not shy away from questions about the town, its people, and what happened during those cold
winter nights so many years ago. For her, opportunities to talk and teach others what happened in Rosewood are welcomed." read more
5:05 pm est
Monday, February 4, 2013
"On New Year's Day 1863, Quinn Chapel, a Black church in Chicago, hosted a celebration
of the Emancipation Proclamation," Ron Grossman writes in the Chicago Tribune. "Abraham Lincoln's executive order freeing the Confederacy's slaves had just gone
into effect, triggering a mass movement of Southern blacks rejecting fear and embracing hope.... "Strange
as it now seems, Southerners were stunned when Blacks voted for freedom with their feet in the third year of the Civil War.
One of the intellectual underpinnings of slavery was a fantasy that happy-go-lucky African-Americans were content to toil
for others' benefit. Desperate for an explanation of what had gone wrong, some slave owners blamed religion, as the Tribune
noted in November 1863, quoting a Virginia newspaper. 'Upon the last appearance of the Yankees at Fredericksburg the only
negroes who went off with them when they retired were those who belonged to, or were frequenters of, the African church there,'
the Richmond Whig reported. 'This is bad for the Christian religion.' "As
things worked out, the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment didn't remove the stain of racism. Starting in 1876,
Southern Blacks were subjugated by Jim Crow laws that mandated segregation, necessitating a second struggle for freedom
during the Civil Rights Movement nearly a century later. "But by the last year of the Civil
War, the African-American community of Charleston could write slavery's death certificate with a massive parade. " 'Next in order came the Twenty-first regiment United States Colored Troops, Lieut.-Col. Bennett commanding,
preceded by a band,' a Tribune correspondent wrote. 'A company of school boys, the leading boy carrying a banner
with the device, 'We know no masters but ourselves,' followed the military." read more
3:52 pm est
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Law Prof to Head NAACP Legal Defense Fund as High Court Could Curb Civil Rights Gains "The new president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund takes over as the U.S. Supreme Court
is considering two cases that could curb gains made by the group," writes Debra Cassens Weiss in the ABA Journal. "University of Maryland law professor Sherrilyn Ifill begins the new job next month, NPR reports. She tells the broadcast network that discrimination persists despite the fact that the nation’s president
and attorney general are African-American. Many people of color are in poverty as a result of the financial crisis, she
said, and too many have a hard time finding homes and a good education. "In an interview
last month with the Root, Ifill spoke of the disparities. 'LDF changed America,' she said. 'But too many have been left behind, and the opening
of the door is getting narrower and narrower.' " 'We want to spend some time addressing
the effects of the economic crisis on the African-American community,' Ifill told the Root. 'That includes the foreclosure
crisis, which has had devastating effects on families, neighborhoods and educational systems in African-American communities.
Sadly, employment discrimination remains an ongoing problem.' " read more
10:29 pm est
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2013.05.05
2013.03.10
2013.02.24
2013.02.03
2012.12.23
2012.09.30
2012.08.19
2012.08.05
2012.07.08
2012.04.01
2012.01.22
2011.12.04
2011.09.25
2011.08.21
2011.08.07
2011.06.26
2011.05.29
2011.04.03
2011.03.13
2011.01.30
2011.01.09
2010.12.05
2010.10.10
2010.09.05
2010.07.25
2010.07.11
2010.06.27
2010.06.20
2010.04.18
2010.04.11
2010.03.21
2010.03.07
2010.02.14
2010.01.17
2010.01.10
2010.01.03
2009.12.06
2009.11.08
2009.11.01
2009.10.25
2009.10.04
2009.09.20
2009.09.13
2009.09.06
2009.08.23
2009.08.16
2009.07.19
2009.07.12
2009.07.05
2009.06.28
2009.06.14
2009.06.07
2009.05.24
2009.05.10
2009.04.19
2009.04.12
2009.03.22
2009.03.08
2009.02.22
2009.02.08
2009.01.18
2009.01.11
2009.01.04
2008.12.28
2008.12.21
2008.12.07
2008.11.30
2008.11.16
2008.11.02
2008.10.26
2008.10.19
2008.10.12
2008.09.28
2008.09.21
2008.09.14
2008.09.07
2008.08.31
2008.08.24
2008.08.10
2008.07.27
2008.07.20
2008.07.13
2008.06.29
2008.06.22
2008.06.15
2008.06.08
2008.06.01
2008.05.25
2008.05.18
2008.05.11
2008.05.04
2008.04.27
2008.04.20
2008.04.13
2008.04.06
2008.03.30
2008.03.23
2008.03.16
2008.03.09
2008.03.02
2008.02.24
2008.02.17
2008.02.10
2008.02.03
2008.01.27
2008.01.20
2008.01.13
2008.01.06
2007.12.30
2007.12.23
2007.12.16
2007.12.09
2007.12.02
2007.11.25
2007.11.18
2007.11.11
2007.11.04
2007.10.28
2007.10.01

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The Sound of My Footsteps: Narratives of Migratory Jamaican immigrants
Interviews with over 30 Jamaican immigrants on their
pre-migratory perceptions of New York and England Click
here to view and purchase the book.
The Afro-Latin@ Reader:
History and Culture in the United States
The Afro-Latin@ Reader focuses attention on a large, vibrant, yet oddly invisible community
in the United States: people of African descent from Latin America and the Caribbean. The presence of Afro-Latin@s
in the United States (and throughout the Americas) belies the notion that Blacks and Latin@s are two distinct categories
or cultures. Afro-Latin@s are uniquely situated to bridge the widening social divide between Latin@s and African
Americans. At the same time, their experiences reveal pervasive racism among Latin@s and ethnocentrism among African
Americans. Offering insight into Afro-Latin@ life and new ways to understand culture, ethnicity, nation, identity,
and antiracist politics, The Afro-Latin@ Reader presents a kaleidoscopic view of Black Latin@s in the United
States. It addresses history, music, gender, class, and media representations in more than sixty selections, including
scholarly essays, memoirs, newspaper and magazine articles, poetry, short stories, and interviews. Click here to view and purchase the book.
African American History Day by Day: A Reference Guide to Events by Karen Juanita Carrillo The proof
of any group's importance to history is in the detail, a fact made plain by this informative book's day-by-day documentation
of the impact of African Americans on life in the United States. One of the easiest ways to grasp any aspect of history
is to look at it as a continuum. African American History Day by Day: A Reference Guide to Events provides just
such an opportunity. Click here to view and purchase the book. The
View from Chocó: The Afro-Colombian past, their lives in the present, and their hopes for the future by Karen Juanita Carrillo The View from Chocó: The Afro-Colombian past, their lives in the
present, and their hopes for the future is an introduction to the lives of Blacks in Colombia. Afro-Colombians
live in a resource-rich yet remote region of Colombia. They only recently won recognition as one of that nation's
distinct ethnic groups. But Colombia's on-going civil war has led many Afro-Colombians to reach even farther than
their nation's borders for recognition: many have made their way to the United States as refugees and as political
activists working for peace in their homeland. The View from Chocó introduces the lives and struggles of a too-long neglected community of Colombian Blacks. Click here to view and purchase the book.
Raise Your Brown Black Fist is a collection of essays
written by Kevin Alberto Sabio during his time as a Contributing Writer for an online magazine.
The book combines his two article series, "Black
vs Brown" and "Black Thoughts: A Political Ideological Perspective
for Afrolatinos" into one volume, plus three other miscellaneous entries. The book
is currently available through his publisher, AuthorHouse. Click
the logo above to view and purchase the book.
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