As we exit the month of February, flooded with Black History observances and information, we often find much emphasis on slavery. As I like to explore definitions I was especially intrigued with those of “slavery” among which we find the most common (especially during Black History Month) to be, “the practice or system of owning slaves,” and “a condition compared to that of a slave in respect of exhausting labor or restricted freedom.”

These are the ones most recognizable and remembered. I find a third one, however to be far more detrimental affecting so many in so many ways as it can neither be easily recognized, legislated nor controlled. Continue reading “A Closer look at slavery”… →

The U. S. A. was established on a system of white supremacy, meaning specifically the subjugation and subordination of people of African descent and Native peoples. Many people have fought and died trying to change this system, occasionally even having a little success, but never overturning white supremacy’s basic structure. Consequently, many if not most societal issues revolve around race and racism.

More than anything else, what happened at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 was white supremacists rebelling against the inclusion of nonwhites in citizenship activities. These white supremacist groups express in a more militant way the concerns that elected Donald Trump in 2016 and voted in such large numbers for him in 2020. They feel a threat to their presumed status in American society. Continue reading It’s Race, Y’all →

by Patrick Chura,
Ph.D Professor

By coincidence, I spent most of Valentine’s Day reading a book about a heart transplant. Zulu Heart, published in 1974, was the last novel completed by writer-activist Shirley Graham, the second wife of W.E.B. Du Bois. Only 160 libraries worldwide own a copy of this rare book, but Graham biographer Gerald Horne called it “the most significant work of art she produced during her long and fertile career.” Graham’s novel is relevant now. Continue reading Science and Racial Politics in Shirley Graham’s Zulu Heart →

Mississippi’s former Governor William Winter, who died on December 18, 2020, helped transform Mississippi’s rigidly segregated public education system. He ran for office promising to focus on education and kept his promise. His signature accomplishment was a law that improved the futures of Mississippi’s children—especially Black children who had been harmed for decades by a separate and profoundly unequal education system. When he took office in 1980 Mississippi was the only state with no compulsory public education requirement, a result of Mississippi’s state legislature’s racist actions after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling sought to desegregate public schools. Continue reading Remembering Wonderful Mississippi Governor William Winter →

It seems ironic that Valentine’s Day falls in the middle of Black History Month as both intrinsically epitomize Love.

I’m sure that most have heard the expression “Black Love” but only Black centenarians, their predecessors and immediate descendants can remotely understand its depth.

Black Love is the love of family, Black or White that one was an intricate part of, whether by birth, inheritance, marriage, ownership and otherwise. Black Love is synonymous with pride, dignity, tenacity and trustworthiness on the part of loving individuals while leaving judgement of what is deserved to the Creator of us all. Continue reading A Black History/Valentine message →