Learning about our Stories

There is no solution in America without executing anti-racist and pro-economic justice policies. So, the labor movement have every right to join the anti-racist struggle. We are against racism, classism, and any injustice. what is really important is not only food and shelter. It is about social justice. People need adequate economic resources to survive and people need policies of discrimination to be extinguished and ended. The BLM is going out to oppose police brutality, racial profiling, economic injustice, and racism. The lie is that BLM promotes anti-white bigotry, which it doesn't advance (as they don't hate people by virtue of skin color). The BLM does promote black self-determination, anti-white racism, and justice for black people. Ultimately, there is no human liberation without black liberation. Also, we have to address poverty, homelessness, and class oppression in general if we are to be truly liberated as human beings. People are pitted against each other in many ways and that doesn't mean that folks give up. People should fight that and promote solutions including the promotion of racial justice and economic justice. As for the Presidential race, Donald Trump has used his campaign to promote misogyny, ad hominem attacks, and demagogy. A Trump adviser Roger Stone said that Trump has virtually no infrastructure in the states. Trump even never campaigned in Colorado and never even visited the state. Trump hasn’t voted in a primary for the last six 4 year cycles. The Eagle Forum is a reactionary organization founded by Phyllis Schlafly to oppose the Equal Rights Amendment over 40 years ago. Schlafly endorsed Trump and she may be ousted from the Eagle Forum since disgruntled board members have endorsed the extremist Ted Cruz.

This is a great story. Against all odds, Melanie have shown the world that we should never ever give up. Her actions and her spiritual faith have guided her life. The naysayers are refuted once again with her not only graduating from high and college. She has graduated from law school. She is the living example of perseverance, the excellence of black women, and the intellectual strength of black people. She once again refutes the lie that single black mothers collectively lack character and honor. We know many single black women with integrity and with outstanding human character. Melanie is a black woman who loves her daughter and is standing up for herself and for her family. She has survived homelessness and she will make even more accomplishments in her blessed life. We love her strong spirit and we want her to establish even more blessings. She is a hero and she is a great black woman. We honor her deeds and we are always in favor of honoring the human determination of black women. We are all in awe of Lupita Nyong'o's wisdom, humbleness, compassion, and great humanitarian spirit. This is a great project and I do wish the best for all of the actors and actresses involved in this new film. Lupita (who plays a mother in the film) is right to seek out diverse roles with great meaning in order to bring diverse stories to the world and to inspire human beings to achieve their dreams irrespective of challenges. A story about a young Sister doing chess is a beautiful story.
Black Women Rock

Jackie Robinson was a man of courage. His wife is a woman of courage too. I saw a lot of the PBS documentary about Jackie Robinson's life from baseball to politics. Jackie Robinson experience a huge amount of disrespect, slurs, and hate from racists. Yet, he never given up. He not only made accomplishments in baseball. He supported civil rights, opposed injustice, and advocated for black people to have ownership of teams in the major leagues. He personified class and character. His wife has promoted tolerance and human justice for decades as well. He lived as a man on a mission to advance racial justice and human dignity. We honor his memory and we always respect the courage and the great strength of his wife (including their children). In our generation, we, as black people, are still fighting for justice. Jackie Robinson played in the Negro League and he played in the Brooklyn Dodgers back in 1947. He was the first African American to play in the Dodgers. Dodgers President and general manager Branch Rickey supported the integration of baseball. During this time, there was the explosive development of American industry, so many African Americans came from the rural south to northern cities like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Detroit during the first 70 years of the twentieth century. Black people also traveled into the West Coast in cities like Seattle, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, etc. There was the massive union movement that used strikes to fight for workers’ rights. During World War II, despite a segregated military, nearly 900,000 blacks served in the armed forces. Blacks and whites returning from the war soon took part in the greatest strike wave in US history. The years 1945 and 1946 saw more than 4 million workers on strike. By that time, over 500,000 black workers had become members of CIO unions. He fought discrimination and racism in the Army and in real life long before the 1950’s. The labor movement, the civil rights movement, etc. fought to integrate baseball.

In December 1943, Paul Robeson, the prominent black actor, singer and left-wing activist, addressed baseball’s owners at their annual winter meeting in New York, urging them to accept black ball players. Under orders from Landis, the owners ignored Robeson and failed to ask him a single question. In 1945, the New York State legislature passed the Quinn-Ives Act, which banned discrimination in hiring, and soon formed a committee to investigate discriminatory hiring practices, with a particular focus on baseball. In short order, New York’s mayor, Fiorello LaGuardia, established a Committee on Baseball to push the Yankees, Giants and Dodgers to sign black players. Jackie Robinson became the Rookie of the Year. He lead the Dodgers to the World Series in 1947. He retired at the end of 1956 after bringing Brooklyn its first World Series victory in 1955. In 1959, the Boston Red Sox was the last team to sign African American players. Jackie Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. He was the first black player inducted in the Cooperstown museum. Jackie Robinson was a political independent. He was once a Republican and then switched his allegiance to the Democrats. Jackie Robinson opposed Barry Goldwater for his views on civil rights and voted for LBJ in 1964. He supported progressive causes like the Civil Rights Act and he supported Hubert Humphrey against Nixon in 1968. He supported the Vietnam War. I oppose the Vietnam War. Protesting the major leagues' ongoing lack of minority managers and central office personnel, Robinson turned down an invitation to appear in an old-timers' game at Yankee Stadium in 1969. He made his final public appearance on October 15, 1972, throwing the ceremonial first pitch before Game 2 of the World Series. He gratefully accepted a plaque honoring the twenty-fifth anniversary of his MLB debut, but also commented, "I'm going to be tremendously more pleased and more proud when I look at that third base coaching line one day and see a black face managing in baseball." This wish was fulfilled only after Robinson's death: following the 1974 season, the Cleveland Indians gave their managerial post to Frank Robinson (no relation), a Hall of Fame-bound player who would go on to manage three other teams. Robinson passed away in 1972.


Certain stories fill me with disgust and anger. This is one of those stories. That company overtly used discriminatory practices against the young woman Cree Ballah in Toronto. Also, Zara has no explicit policy regarding hairstyles (as documented by a CBC News article that I read), so Cree has a great case against the company. Members of the company slandered Cree's hair as not clean when her hairstyle can never cause a distraction in the location. Cree Ballah's hairstyle is very professional. This problem doesn't exist in a vacuum. In the States, the U.S. Army had to change its policies on hairstyles since it once had an overtly discriminatory policy that discriminated against black women with certain hairstyles. Today, we see story after story of black women and women of color being humiliated and mistreated by corporations who can't stand hair shown in a certain way (while many white workers can shave their hair, dyed it in multiple colors, etc. without criticism or repercussions). I hope that Cree Ballah is successful in her actions. There must be a tone set that such actions of discrimination should never be tolerated at any circumstance.

By Timothy