Five legendary African cities you didn’t know were destroyed by Europeans – Face2Face Africa

Time and time again, archaeological findings have proven that Ancient African civilizations were well ahead of their time. Even though ancient Egypt has often been the main reference point when interpreting the past and experience of Africa, there were other kingdoms that sprang up to become equally powerful empires.
African history and civilizations did not only feature well-established towns or cities but also advanced systems of governance and trade. The following cities, which were created largely because of trade, cultural exchange or transit for traders and pilgrims, were thriving until they were destroyed by European imperialists.

 

Source: Five legendary African cities you didn’t know were destroyed by Europeans – Face2Face Africa

Black Lives Matter Protesters Topple Slave Trader Statue and Dump It in Harbour – VICE

Black Lives Matter protesters in Bristol have toppled a statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston and rolled it into Bristol Harbour.

The Colston statue has long been a controversial and much-hated monument in the city, with Bristol West MP Thangam Debbonaire calling for its removal in 2018. It stood on Colston Avenue – a street also named after the slave trader – in the city centre.

 

Source: Black Lives Matter Protesters Topple Slave Trader Statue and Dump It in Harbour – VICE

What Southeast Asian Refugees Owe to Black Lives — PIVOT – The Progressive Vietnamese American Organization

I was put on this by a friend of mne, an Angoleira named Xau Ying Ly.
As usual, you can find the link to the full article on the bottom of this post.
“Two decades before the first Southeast Asian refugees resettled in the United States, Black civil rights activists advanced the policies that helped reshape immigration policies that have saved our families. Their efforts culminated in the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which codified equality, anti-discrimination, and anti-racism as our country’s official policy.
…
Black civil rights leaders also had a direct hand in advocating for Southeast Asian refugees. Bayard Rustin, a Black and gay civil rights leader who co-organized the March on Washington, was a member of the International Rescue Committee’s Citizens Commission on Indochinese Refugees. Rustin visited refugee camps in Thailand in 1978, listening to the struggles of Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, and Vietnamese refugees. In part due to Rustin’s advocacy, President Carter supported a policy that rescued Southeast Asian refugees who had been turned away elsewhere.
Rustin also took on the difficult task of changing the mind of public opinion. Through national organizing, he convinced over 80 Black civil rights, organized labor, business, and academic leaders to publicly support the resettlement of Southeast Asian refugees. They took out an advertisement in the March 19, 1978 issue of The New York Times, soliciting donations for the International Rescue Committee, and connecting the plight of refugees to those of poor and Black Americans. Among the signatories are giants such as Coretta Scott King; Rev. Jesse Jackson; Daisy Bates; Hazel N. Dukes; and A. Phillip Randolph.
Within the Black community, Rustin responded to objections that refugees would only take away desperately needed jobs and housing by explaining the humanitarian crisis, going as far as calling the Southeast Asian refugee relegated to precarity the new ‘invisible man.’ This invisible man, formulated by the legendary Ralph Ellison, is one who is not seen for who they are as an individual, but only as a subset of stereotypes.
…
Our fight for resettlement is over, but the fight for the civil rights of Black people continues. In May of 1978, regarding the plight of Southeast Asian refugees, Rustin wrote: ‘Black people must recognize these people for what they are: brothers and sisters, not enemies and competitors.’ They were there for us, and we should be there for them: it is our turn to stand up for Black lives, not out of a debt that needs repaying, but out of decency.”

 

Source: What Southeast Asian Refugees Owe to Black Lives — PIVOT – The Progressive Vietnamese American Organization

Martin Luther King Jr Day: What We Get Wrong About His Story | Time

 

“In the 1960s, the vast majority of white people, South and North, disapproved of the movement’s tactics. In a May 1961 Gallup survey, only 22% of Americans approved of what the Freedom Riders were doing, and 57% of Americans said that the “sit-ins at lunch counters, freedom buses, and other demonstrations by Negroes were hurting the Negro’s chances of being integrated in the South.” Just before the March on Washington, Gallup found only 23% of Americans had favorable opinions of the proposed civil rights demonstration.”

 

Source: Martin Luther King Jr Day: What We Get Wrong About His Story | Time

Murder of Black Youth in Rio de Janeiro Shows Racist Nature of Policing in Brazil | Black Agenda Report

The recent murder of a teen in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil has thrown light on the racist nature of policing in the country. The 14-year-old Black student, João Pedro Mattos Pinto, was killed during an operation of the Federal Police (PF) and of the Coordinator of Special Resources (Core) in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro on the afternoon of May 18, Monday. He was hit in the stomach when he was playing in the yard of his house. The adolescent was taken away in a helicopter of the civil police after being shot. His family was provided no information about his whereabouts till the morning of May 19.

 

Source: Murder of Black Youth in Rio de Janeiro Shows Racist Nature of Policing in Brazil | Black Agenda Report