News

Category: Racism
View by Month
Analysis

Who’s afraid of Black History?

By Henry Louis Gates Jr., The New York Times, Feb 17, 2023. Dr. Gates is the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard. He is the host of the PBS television series “Finding Your Roots.” Lurking behind the concerns of Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, over the content of

Continue Reading »
Racism

The NAACP will not tolerate Florida DOE’s reprehensible “whitesplaining” of Black Studies

By Dr. Ivory Toldson, Director of Education Innovation and Research Strategy, NAACP| Empowerment Programs The NAACP is outraged by the Florida Department of Education’s (DOE) recent “whitesplaining” of Black history and culture. The DOE’s pathetic attempt to defend the DeSantis administration from criticism after they rejected AP African-American Studies shows just how out-of-touch they are

Continue Reading »
News

Proud Boys rally for Marco Rubio’s campaign after he defends white nationalist GOP staffer 

When Christopher Monzon, a GOP canvasser working with Marco Rubio’s campaign was revealed to have extensive ties to white nationalist groups and a well-documented history of racist and antisemitic comments, Rubio spent an entire week defending him and ignoring calls to denounce his bigotry. Just recently, members of the Proud Boys, including those who stormed the Capitol on January 6, rallied for Marco

Continue Reading »
Opinion

Ending the war on marijuana is crucial for racial justice

By Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post Columnist, October 10, 2022. President Biden’s historic pardon of thousands of Americans convicted of a federal crime for simple marijuana possession is a long overdue correction in the overheated war on drugs — a failed effort that has disproportionately affected Black and Brown people and wreaked havoc in communities of color. It’s hard

Continue Reading »
Opinion

An open letter to the purveyors of hate

The following editorial was published in our local newspaper,  The Daily Sun on July 3, 2022. OUR POSITION: There should be no appetite for, nor acceptance of, bigotry here or anywhere. People in Venice, Sarasota, Punta Gorda and elsewhere have been waking up to find a vile little package in their yards — a plastic

Continue Reading »
People

AAPI Month: it remains important

By Jim Hussey, Charlotte County Dems contributing writer. Even the most decent person can often look out at the world and assume that life beyond their direct experience is probably close to what they’ve seen. If we – as residents of Charlotte County – were to make a similar judgment about the Asian American and

Continue Reading »
Florida Legislation

In his fight against ‘woke’ schools, DeSantis tears at the seams of a diverse Florida

By Tim Craig and Lori Rozsa, The Washington Post, Feb 7, 2022. MIAMI — The school system in Florida’s most populous county includes students whose families moved here from 160 nations. Its expansive cultural mix is represented in the district’s curriculum, which includes not only American history, but also the stories of violent government upheavals, such as the revolution

Continue Reading »
Analysis

It’s Black History Month in Florida!

Black history is American history, and Black history is Florida history. The following information is shared courtesy of Florida Watch. Each February, we celebrate Black History Month to honor the contributions and sacrifices of African Americans who have helped shape our nation. Black History Month celebrates the rich cultural heritage and triumphs of the Black community

Continue Reading »
Racism

Ron DeSantis is following Trump’s white supremacy playbook

By Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post Columnist, February 1, 2022. The first rule of the MAGA movement: Never condemn white supremacists. In 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump in an interview with Jake Tapper refused to disavow former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who had publicly endorsed his campaign. (Trump later improbably claimed his refusal to disavow Duke was due

Continue Reading »
Analysis

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s history lessons

King understood the nation’s challenges as part of a continuous narrative. Today, a narrow view of America’s past could imperil its future. By Jelani Cobb,  The New Yorker, January 9, 2022. On March 25, 1965, at the conclusion of the brutally consequential march from Selma to Montgomery, Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered a speech titled “Our God Is

Continue Reading »
Gun Violence

Guilty verdicts in Ahmaud Arbery case

Today a jury in Glynn County, Georgia found Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William Bryan Jr., accused of killing 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery in February of last year, to be guilty of murder. In reaction to these verdicts, Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz issued the following statement: “The jury’s verdicts in the Ahmaud Arbery trial

Continue Reading »
Sun Newspapers Logo
Opinion

Don’t ban discussion of nation’s prejudice

Editor’s note:  this letter by a Charlotte Dems member appeared in the Daily Sun on July 22nd. Please support our local newspaper by subscribing to it! GOP lawmakers are attempting to drag us into a moral panic over a problem that doesn’t exist: critical race theory (CRT). Their rants alleging there is no racism have

Continue Reading »
Analysis

Jim Crow 2.0

By Bill Welsch, Charlotte Dems contributing writer ‘If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.” George Bernard Shaw During the Reconstruction period following the U.S. Civil War, it was not uncommon for African Americans to be elected to local and state offices. Although election to

Continue Reading »
Opinion

Taking on racism and crime should be the same fight

Opinion by E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post Columnist, June 20, 2021 We must fight racism and fight crime at the same time. We must reform policing and make policing more effective. And we must battle any demagoguery that casts demands for justice as concessions to criminality. Harmonizing these goals is morally urgent as the movement for

Continue Reading »
Opinion

Kamala Harris speaks the truth about race, unafraid

Opinion by  Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post Columnist, May 29, 2021 Throughout her political career, Vice President Harris has never shied away from issues of race. In fact, the former senator from California, state attorney general and San Francisco district attorney has been very intentional about taking on problems that have their roots in our nation’s

Continue Reading »