Author: YES!

Photo by Gage Skidmore and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 The recent spate of anti-abortion legislation is rooted in White extinction anxiety and carries on a long tradition of White people controlling the lives and reproduction of people of color. Last year, White people constituted 60% of the U.S. population, down from about 90% in 1950. It’s projected that by 2050, they will be the new minority and people of color will be the majority—a nightmarish prediction to some White people. Senator Lindsey Graham voiced his concern of a demographic dilution at the 2012 Republican convention, when he said,...

“We will never achieve racial justice in America if this country does not examine the impact and legacy of slavery, and make strides toward achieving reparatory justice.” – Jeffery Robinson, ACLU deputy legal director For nearly 250 years, enslaved Africans and their descendants toiled on the land and in the homes of White enslavers in the United States. They planted, fed, weeded, mowed, and harvested crops that were not theirs. Cared for and fed children they did not birth, and cleaned homes and tended lands they did not own. We’re all familiar with this uncomfortable but sanitized image of...

Slavery made America wealthy, and racist policies since have blocked African American wealth-building. 40 acres and a mule would be at least $6.4 trillion today. African-Americans have been free in this country for less time than they were enslaved. Blacks have been free for just over 150 years, which means that most Americans are two to three generations removed from slavery. However, former slaveholding families have built their legacies on the institution and generated wealth that African-Americans have not been privy to. Their enslaved labor was forced, segregation maintained wealth disparities, along with overt and covert discrimination that limited...

As legislation has languished in Congress, many cities and states are moving forward with their own non-discrimination bills. The U.S. House of Representatives last month passed the Equality Act, more than four decades after it was first introduced, extending civil rights protections to LGBTQ+ people. This vote should give us some hope. Its passage at 236-173 was bipartisan and a rare feat these days. Its provisions are expansive, granting protection in the areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations. Its language includes both sexual orientation as well as gender identity, allowing for explicit inclusion of transgender individuals. Yet to...