Sunday, May 14, 2017
Michelle Obama Slams Trump School Lunch Changes
SENATOR KAMALA HARRIS CHALLENGES HOWARD UNIVERSITY GRADUATES TO FORGE A WAY FORWARD
United States Senator Kamala Harris delivered the commencement address Saturday morning at Howard University, urging students to go to the front lines to fight for the nation’s deepest values of justice and equality.
“History has proven that each generation of Howard graduates will forge the way forward for our country and our world, and now graduates it is your turn,” Harris said. “You are graduating in a very different time than you arrived a few short years ago.”
The Howard University alumna applauded the members of the class of 2017 for their social activism as college students, including their contribution to the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and participation in the roiling protests of social injustice throughout the country.
“You students have joined the fight for justice — you protested,” Harris said. “From the streets of Ferguson to the halls of the United States Congress, you have lived the words of James Baldwin, ‘There is never a time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment, the time is always now.’”
Harris is both the first African-American and first woman to serve as Attorney General for the state of California. She is the second African-American woman in history to be elected to the United States Senate.
The University has marked the 150th anniversary of its founding throughout the academic year. Howard University President Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick has said the establishment of the University constituted one of the most noteworthy accomplishments in the history of American colleges and universities.
“It is evident that the success of Howard University is the result of a labor of love and a deeply-rooted desire to pursue a very radical idea, ‘education for all,’” Dr. Frederick said at the ceremony. “As we grapple with the uncertainties of this nation, Howard University will fervently provide solutions to the world’s most pressing issues.”
Howard University conferred 2,173 degrees, including 318 master’s degrees, and 105 Ph.Ds. More than 375 students received professional degrees in law, medicine, pharmacy and dentistry. Howard University has the only dental and pharmacy colleges in the District of Columbia. The 2017 graduates represented 47 states and 39 countries; 157 graduates were from the District of Columbia.
This year’s commencement celebration featured an all-women list of honorary degree recipients.
Anna Pauline “Pauli” Murray was posthumously recognized with an honorary Doctor of Laws. Murray, a 1944 Howard University School of Law graduate, was a quiet force behind some of the most iconic civil rights and social justice events of the 20th century. She was one of the founding members of the National Organization for Women. Murray was also the first African-American woman ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1977.
Maureen Bunyan received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Bunyan is an award-winning journalist and news anchor who is a founder and board member of the International Women’s Media Foundation, and a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists. In her remarks, Bunion said opportunities for Blacks in the mainstream media were born out of the urban rebellions of the 1960s. She urged students to hold the media accountable and to promote the interests of African Americans, immigrants, and other marginalized people.
Howard University also celebrated one of its own renowned scholars. Dr. Eleanor W. Traylor received an honorary Doctor of Letters. Dr. Traylor is a Howard University graduate professor of English and an acclaimed scholar and critic in African-American literature and criticism.
Dr. Traylor said Howard inspired her vocational commitment “to prepare the next generation for its work – seriously, relentlessly, and even ruthlessly.” She said the institution had “mapped a way out of no way on the road to excellence” in its 150-year history. “The real beauty of this day is equaled only to that day when the idea of our University was born.”
About Howard University
Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private research university comprised of 13 schools and colleges. Students pursue studies in more than 120 areas leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. Over the past 20 years, the University has produced four Rhodes Scholars, nine Truman Scholars, two Marshall Scholars, over 80 Fulbright recipients, 22 Pickering Fellows and one Schwarzman Scholar. Howard also produces more on-campus African-American Ph.D. recipients than any other university in the United States.
Saturday, May 13, 2017
Baltimore Orioles' Adam Jones donates $20K to Negro Leagues museum
Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones, the target of racial taunts during a recent game in Boston, has donated $20,000 to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.
Jones visited the museum and spoke with its president, Bob Kendrick, on Saturday before the Orioles continue their series against the Kansas City Royals.
The museum, founded by a group of former Negro Leagues stars, is located in the historic 18th and Vine district, a hub of black culture in Kansas City during the first half of the 20th century.
Jones' experience on May 1 in Boston touched off a discussion of racism across the sports landscape. Major League Baseball is reviewing security protocols at all 30 of its stadiums, and the Red Sox banished a fan from Fenway Park for using a racial slur against another fan in a separate incident.
He said Saturday that the widely condemned racial insult hurled at him at Fenway illustrates the need for dialogue about race and for fans to police each other.
Texas Southern cancels unwanted Republican's commencement address
Texas Southern University said Friday that Sen. John Cornyn will no longer speak Saturday during the historically black college’s commencement ceremony.
The announcement — two days after Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was booed during a commencement address at a historically black college in Florida — comes in the wake of opposition to the Texas Republican’s appearance by many graduates. A petition signed by some students expressed opposition to Cornyn’s votes for DeVos’ and Attorney General Jeff Sessions confirmations, among other issues.
The Houston-based university released the following statement via Facebook:
OFFICIAL STATEMENT REGARDING COMMENCEMENT:
Texas Southern University’s number one priority is student success and completion. We are proud to announce that 1,138 students have completed their academic journey and are now positioned to compete on a national level. Commencement exercises are special moments for our students, their families and the entire University. Every consideration is made to ensure that our students’ graduation day is a celebratory occasion and one they will remember positively for years to come. We asked Senator Cornyn to instead visit with our students again at a future date in order to keep the focus on graduates and their families. We, along with Senator Cornyn, agree that the primary focus of commencement should be a celebration of academic achievement.
Thursday, May 11, 2017
National Mama's Bailout Day
Money kept them in.
Black love got them out.”
— Pat Hussain, Co-founder of Southerners on New Ground
The week before Mother’s day organizations in Oakland, Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, Montgomery, Memphis, Minneapolis, Durham, Atlanta and beyond will bail out as many mothers as possible who otherwise would spend Mother’s Day in a cell simply because they cannot afford bail.
National Mama’s Bail Out Day will give incarcerated mothers an opportunity to spend Mother’s Day with their families and build community through gatherings that highlight the impact of inhumane and destructive bail practices on our communities!
We will bail out mama’s in all of our varieties — queer, trans, young, elder, and immigrant.
The impact of money bail on our Mamas…
Everyday an average of 700,000 people are condemned to cages and separated from their families simply because they cannot afford to pay bail. Since 1980 the number of incarcerated women has grown by 700%. Black women and Trans women are especially vulnerable to incarcerated. Black women are twice as likely as their white counterparts to be jailed. One in five transgender women have spent time in prison or jail and one in three of them reported being sexually assaulted while there.
Eight in ten incarcerated women are mothers and nearly half are in local jails, locked in cages for crimes they have not been convicted of. Most of the women in jail are accused of minor drug and ‘quality of life’ offenses and are languishing in cells simply because they cannot afford to pay bail.
In addition to the over $9 billion wasted to incarcerate people who have been convicted of no crime, pre-trial incarceration has catastrophic impacts on families and communities. Even a few days in jail can ruin a woman’s life. She may lose her job, her family may lose their housing and some even lose their children.
What we can do…
We can buy their freedom and push against mass criminalization and modern bondage!
In the tradition of our enslaved Black ancestors, who used their collective resources to purchase each other’s freedom before slavery was abolished, until we abolish bail and mass incarceration, we’re gonna free ourselves.
It is going to take our collective effort to give as many Black mamas their freedom this Mother’s Day, as possible. Now more than ever, we must support our people and dismantle this system that destroys our humanity and breaks up our families.
Click Here Donate to National Mamas Bailout Day
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)