Yahoo Movies The 44 Percent: Black History 365, Ketanji Brown Jackson & CRT
Black History Month cannot be confined to just February. Aside from it being the shortest month of the year (thanks again, President Ford), we don’t need to be told when we can or can’t show love. We celebrate Black History 24/7, 365 on this side.
So boom, here’s five random Black History facts:
Ever had a firefighter save you from a burning building? You owe Garrett Morgan, the inventor of the gas mask, one big thank you. (Morgan also invented the three-light traffic signal).
Someone unsuccessfully try to break into your house last week? Thank none other than Mary Van Brittan Brown, who helped invent the home security system in 1966.
The Black Panthers’ Free Breakfast for School Children Program led the government to implement the School Breakfast Program, which provides a free meal for kids in the morning.
The richest person ever isn’t Elon Musk, Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos. It’s Mansa Musa, the king of the Mali empire whose wealth the BBC deemed “indescribable.”
Nine months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin was arrested for doing the exact same thing.
INSIDE THE 305
Critical Race Theory is Republicans’ dangerous boogeyman in the culture war they’re waging | Opinion:
Keeping in line with my intro, I wanted to point you to an opinion piece courtesy of Miami Congresswoman Frederica Wilson.
A former educator and school board member, Wilson was probably getting in her students’ backsides (in the best way possible) if they slacked off, especially if they were Black. So it should come as no surprise that Wilson is not a fan of the right’s assault on critical race theory. The congresswoman, a Democrat, did not mince words when it came to her displeasure, calling the belief that CRT is taught in K-12 schools “a big fat lie” and properly contextualizing the repercussions of such a debate:
Unfortunately, this stream of misinformation is leading to real-world harms, including the politicization of school curriculums and efforts to police, or worse, prevent, the historical teaching of racial injustices such as slavery and Jim Crow-era segregation, as well as their enduring legacies.
Supreme Court prospect Brown Jackson was ‘star in the making’ at Miami’s Palmetto High:
A Black woman from the 305 on the Supreme Court? Sign me up!
The impending retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer leaves a hole on the Supreme Court that President Joe Biden pledged to fill with a Black woman. Enter Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Palmetto High grad who now serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Jackson’s credentials speak for themselves — not one but TWO degrees from Harvard (the college and law school) — yet it was her time at Palmetto, where she was student body president and won a debate title, that gave her “the self-confidence that can sometimes be quite difficult for women and minorities to develop at an early age.”
“I learned how to reason and how to write,” she said during a 2017 lecture at the University of Georgia. “I have no doubt that, of all the various things that I’ve done, it is my high school experience as a competitive speaker that taught me how to lean in despite the obstacles.”
OUTSIDE THE 305
What would you do if you’re house-hunting and discovered Ku Klux Klan memorabilia inside a home?:
That question is at the heart of a new episode of “This American Life” entitled “A Couple Walks Into a House.” I don’t want to spoil too much so just give it a listen and I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Republican lawmakers pushing to put parents’ rights first when it comes to schools:
HB 1557, commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, is Florida Republicans’ latest attempt to shape school conversations. The bill specifically discourages “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.”
Although supporters believe the legislation to be a win for parental rights, critics say the bill is stigmatizing.
“We are your brothers and sisters,” Jon Harris Maurer of Equality Florida told the House Education and Employment Committee. “Conversations about us aren’t something that should be banned.”
HIGH CULTURE
How Dave Chappelle continues to reinforce the “Black Ass Lie”:
I hate to admit it, but I really didn’t understand the vitriol behind Dave Chappelle’s latest comedy special “The Closer.” One line from the great Jamilah Lemieux’s phenomenal Vanity Fair piece made me realize how ignorant I was:
When a Black man is made a hero for speaking out about race, while speaking down on women and LGBTQ+ people, there is a clear message sent about the hierarchy of love and needs.
Lemieux’s issue with Chappelle isn’t just that he’s poking fun at the LGBTQ+ community, it’s that he’s doing so while making himself out to be an authority on race despite ignoring the experiences of Black women and LGBTQ+ people. Put differently, Chappelle has seemingly fallen victim to the age-old trope that Black freedom means Black male freedom. Here’s the thing: freedom isn’t truly freedom until those that face homophobia, misogyny and racism are free.
Where does “The 44 Percent” name come from? Click here to find out how Miami history influenced the newsletter’s title.
