Do the Right Thing

B-PEP Speaks out in support of Passage of Some sort of Voting Rights Act

Wednesday, January 12, 2022 – 5:30 pm

When I, along with others, officially launched the Black Political  Empowerment Project (B-PEP) thirty-five plus years ago,  on May 21, 1986 our key mission statement was: “African  Americans VOTE in EACH and EVERY Election”.  Along with  wanting African Americans to VOTE in EACH and EVERY election, we also wanted our votes to COUNT, as well as we  wanted the votes of Black and brown people to be fully counted  across the landscape of America. According to the Brennan  Center some 19 states, most of them controlled by  Republicans, have enacted some 34 laws that make voting harder,  while at the same time, many so-called ‘blue’ states have  expanded access, particularly to mail in voting. It is very sad to

 report that the Brennan Center also states that there are more  than 425 bills with provisions that restrict voting access that  have been introduced in 49 states in the 2021 legislative sessions. 

 As founder, Chairman and CEO of the Black Political  Empowerment Project I do not find it hyperbole to boldly  state that the future of democracy is at stake in the United States  of America. We are no longer the country that nations  across the globe look to as model for freedom and democracy.  Not that we ever fully lived up to those high and lofty goals, we  have now, however hit a new low!  The 1965 Voting Rights Act was passed following the historic  march which took place on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma,

 Alabama which ignited national attention to the plight of this  nation’s Black citizens to have the right to vote. I, along with  millions of Americans following the signing of that bill into law  on August 6, 1965 by then President Lyndon Baines Johnson, felt  that the rights of Black voters, and of all voters, were forever

 protected. That assumption was wrong. In 2006 the 1965 Voting  Rights Act, during the administration of then Republican  President George W. Bush, was passed in the U.S. House by an  an overwhelming majority, and in the U.S. Senate by a vote  of 98-0 to maintain the full implementation of the 1065 Voting

Rights Act. I state again that such widespread support for protecting the rights of every citizen of the United States of America, existed in 2006. It was NOT seen as a partisan divide. It was seen as protecting the foundation of our country. In 2013 the Supreme Court, in what was called Shelby County V. Holder,

gutted section 4B of the 1965 Voting Rights Act which provided a formula for determining which states and local governments would be subject to pre-clearance of changes to voting laws or practices. What is so perplexing and upsetting to B-PEP and to many Americans today is that sixteen (16) of the now sitting

members of the United States Senate, who are currently opposing the reinstatement of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, along with other proposed versions thereof, were a part of that 2006 vote to maintain the contents of the original Voting Rights Act. B-PEP asks this question: WHAT HAS CHANGED IN AMERICA?!? The partisan divide has gone much too far. We are in trouble. We are at a crossroads for what our country will look like for years to come, in terms of protecting the integrity and the sanctity of the vote, and the foundation of who we say we are as a nation.

The Freedom to Vote Act would:

1. Expand voter registration and election day access.

2. Provide universal mail in ballots.

3. Make Election Day a Federal Holiday

4. Ban partisan redistricting

 The John Lewis Voting Act would:

1. Reinstate pre-clearance for voting rule changes, which would reinstall federal oversight for states with histories of voter Discrimination. President Biden and Vice President Harris were both in Atlanta,

Georgia yesterday, in the cradle of civil rights, to strongly urge the U.S. Senate to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. President Biden stated on January 6th that “the Soul of our nation is at stake” , and yesterday stated his efforts and those of his Vice President Kamala Harris, and so many others is “…a fight to protect our democracy.” B-PEP absolutely agrees with those  sentiments and we call upon the United States Senate to stand up for democracy and pass these

bills. Sen. Manchin of West Virginia also drafted a bill so support voting rights to attempt to get bi-partisan support, but still has NO one from the Republican Party to join in this effort to help

preserve our nation. We are indeed becoming “UNAMERICAN”!!

We call upon the good Senator from West Virginia and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to read the writing on the wall and join with their Democratic colleagues, and hopefully all who may at all be hesitant to do the right thing, to do what is right. We also call upon key Republican Senators, Mitt Romney, Kristen Hillenbrand, and Lisa Markowski to do the same. If some kind of bill is not passed to protect the rights of all Americans to be able to VOTE in EACH and EVERY Election, our future will truly be

at stake! We could become unrecognizable. It is in this spirit, therefore, that the Black Political Empowerment Project calls upon Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who is NOT running

for re-election, to use the freedom that his not running gives him to join his Democratic colleagues in attempting to save our nation. The political moral compass of our nation is seriously adrift. As we approach the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday this coming Monday, what better time could there be for the passing of these voting rights acts? We cannot afford to wait. What we are facing is much too important. History will one day look back at this time and judge us all as to what we did, and what we did not do. Let those who still have a pulse in their moral compass stand up, stand up for justice, Stand up freedom, and stand up for

what we thought was “the American Way’”!!

“It’s a LIFETIME COMMITMENT…

African Americans VOTE in EACH and EVERY election!!”

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Email: b-pepinfo@b-pep.net

Website: www.b-pep.net

  As we continue to review the disgraceful events that took place on January 6, 2021, we must remember that many who committed the seditious acts did so as they carried “Christian banners, flags and wooden crosses;” held “Christian praise and worship sessions;” and wore “Jesus Saves” as well as other “Christian” paraphernalia (For details, see January 6th May Have Been Only the First Wave of Christian Nationalist Violence and Flags, TIME, January 6, 2022).  Also of great significance is the fact that these privileged, White, racist, “Christian” nationalists can trace their misguided raison d'être to the highest levels of the “Christian Church,” i.e., some of their past infallible Popes.

In their divine wisdom, numerous Popes issued official letters (Papal Bulls) that provided religious “justification” for the race-based inhumane treatment of Indigenous People and enslaved Africans in America. For example, the infamous Pope Alexander VI issued a Papal Bull that authorized “…Spain and Portugal to colonize the Americas and its Native peoples as subjects” as well as enslave Africans. (See, The Pope asserts rights to colonize, convert, and enslave - Timeline - Native Voices (nih.gov) 

Other Papal Bulls that enabled colonial exploitation are as follows:

· “In 1452, the papal bull Dum Diversas instructed the Portuguese crown “to invade, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens, pagans, and other enemies of Christ, to put them into perpetual slavery, and to take away all their possessions and property.”

· “In 1454, another bull titled Romanus Pontifex furthered that thinking, sanctifying the seizure of non-Christian lands in parts of Africa and restating the legitimacy of enslaving non-Christian people.”

· “In 1493, after Christopher Columbus’ fateful voyage, Inter Caetera granted Ferdinand and Isabella ‘full and free power, authority, and jurisdiction of every kind,’ over almost all of the Americas, save for a portion of modern-day Brazil and a few island outposts.” (See Vinnie Rotondaro, September 4, 2015) 

Given that the enslavement of Africans constituted a gross contradiction between the nation’s stated ideals as compared to the realities of American colonial life, callous slave masters attempted to justify the unjustifiable by invoking the “Bible basis for slavery.” More specifically, these corrupt “Christians” cited Biblical verses such as the following: 

• “Abraham, the ‘father of faith,’ and all the patriarchs held slaves without God’s disapproval (Gen. 21:9–10).

• Canaan, Ham’s son, was made a slave to his brothers (Gen. 9:24–27).

• The Ten Commandments mention slavery twice, showing God’s implicit acceptance of it (Ex. 20:10, 17).

• Slavery was widespread throughout the Roman world, and yet Jesus never spoke against it. 

• The apostle Paul specifically commanded slaves to obey their masters (Eph. 6:5–8).” 

Additionally, the perpetrators of inhumanity had the audacity to assert that slavey gave Christians an opportunity to “humanize,” to “civilize” the enslaved, to rid them of their “heathen” ways. https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-33/why-christians-supported-slavery.html

Given modern American White racist nationalists’ roots coupled with the many “liberals’” and “moderates’” declarations of America as a “Christian Nation,” it is little wonder that, today, many “Christians” constitute some of the most racist people in America. As Robert P. Jones indicated, “…For more than two decades, I've studied the attitudes of religiously affiliated Americans across the country. And year over year, in question after question in public opinion polls, a clear pattern has emerged: White Christians are consistently more likely than Whites who are religiously unaffiliated to deny the existence of structural racism…” (July 27, 2020).

Going forward in 2022, we must be cognizant of the fact that White racist “Christian” nationalism continues to be a cancer that must be removed from American society. If one needs a brief but compelling set of historical reasons for doing so, then consider [1] the millions of lives lost during the Crusades when some sought to “cleanse the church;” [2] the millions of Indigenous People and Africans who lost their lives in the American “Christian” crucible of colonialism and chattel slavery; and [3] the unknown millions of Blacks who suffered, in excruciating ways, ever since 1776 because “God” was/is allegedly on the side of White racist “Christian” nationalists. 

Finally, for those “Christians” who remain myopically driven by the Big Lie regarding a stolen election, perhaps they should revisit John 8:44 which states, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” 

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

January 12, 2022

 (September 17, 2021) As part of the City of Pittsburgh’s Welcoming Week 2021, the Office of Mayor William Peduto and Office of Equity’s Welcoming Pittsburgh are pleased to announce that Pittsburgh has been named a Certified Welcoming place, becoming the 12th in the United States to achieve this designation.   

To become Certified Welcoming, the City of Pittsburgh completed an intensive evaluation. Local policies and programs for immigrant, refugee and New American inclusion, led by Welcoming Pittsburgh, were compared to the comprehensive Welcoming Standard that covers community investments from education to economic development to policing. 

As of 2019, immigrant residents in Pittsburgh make up nearly 4% of the population, with 76% being of prime working age (16-64). Additionally, immigrant residents are 27% more likely to be entrepreneurs and more likely to hold graduate degrees. According to New American Economy, immigrants in Pittsburgh pay $1.2 billion in taxes and hold $2.7 billion in spending power, demonstrating their sizable impact on the economy locally and beyond.  

"Pittsburgh has a tradition of welcoming immigrants from all around the world to contribute to the rich cultural fabric of our city,” said Mayor Peduto. “We know that today, just as it has been historically, immigrants make our city stronger because when our neighbors have equitable access to opportunities and succeed, Pittsburgh succeeds. That’s why we have strived to be a welcoming city and are grateful to be a Certified Welcoming city. I’d like to thank Welcoming America for recognizing the work of Welcoming Pittsburgh, our community partners and our residents in creating a community where our policies and programs promote action for immigrant inclusion, especially in a time where our immigrant neighbors need us the most.” 

Welcoming Pittsburgh works with several partners to implement policies, programs and initiatives guided by the Welcoming Pittsburgh Roadmap, a comprehensive citywide plan compiled by 40 local leaders from diverse sectors and over 3,000 community members. Partners include the Welcoming Pittsburgh steering committee, All for All Coalition, Allegheny County Department of Human Services, Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh and more.  

Policies and initiatives enacted as a result of the roadmap are available here.  

The Certified Welcoming program is run and administered by Welcoming America, a national nonprofit organization that aims to build a nation of neighbors by fostering welcoming communities. 

"It’s my great pleasure to congratulate the City of Pittsburgh on achieving the status of Certified Welcoming. As Pittsburgh becomes a more diverse city, and prepares to welcome new families from Afghanistan, this public-private partnership reflects the phenomenal work of community based organizations with the public sector to reduce the barriers residents might face to full participation - civically, socially, and economically," said Rachel Perić, executive director of Welcoming America. “A big thanks to Mayor Peduto for his leadership and legacy; Feyisola Alabi of Welcoming Pittsburgh; and the Welcoming Pittsburgh Steering Committee for their work and belief in welcoming values as a benefit for all Pittsburghers."  

Pittsburgh landlords who are interested in working with the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development to provide housing for refugees can find out more information here, fill out this poll or contact refugeehousing@pittsburghpa.gov. 

May 27, 2021

Restore Voting Rights

Republican politicians in Harrisburg are engaging in a power grab, actively working to suppress the vote and stop regular people from having a say. Recently my colleagues across the aisle introduced their so-called election reforms for PA that include voter identification laws, purging legitimate voters and excessive signature verifications on mail-in ballots.

I am a Black woman in a white-male-dominated legislature. And I am the only Black woman who has ever chaired the House committee that oversees voting laws in our state. As chairwoman in the Democratic minority, I am continually sickened by the way in which the Republican majority repeatedly makes these voter suppression tactics seem normal, much in the way poll taxes, literacy tests and other barriers were made to seem valid leading up the Civil Rights Act of 1965. Even after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, and still today, Black women continue to fight for fairness and equality for marginalized communities in our democracy.

Today, just 4.82% of state legislators are Black women (356 out of 7,383 legislators), and that needs to change. Through the #NoDemocracyWithoutBlackWomen awareness campaign, we are striving to break all barriers to true equality in our democracy by making sure Black women are at the forefront in legislatures across the state, working to dismantle the structural systems of racism and sexism where they exist, including voting. State legislatures are critical front lines of the policy battles we are seeing play out in this country, and are crucial to building the world we want to live in.

While PA is my fight, PA is not alone. From state-to-state across the country, democracy is under attack. We continue to see the extent of damage Republicans can do. They are prioritizing political parties over voters and making it harder than ever to vote by creating unnecessary restrictions and complications to voting across all formats. More than 300 bills have been introduced in 47 states, each containing provisions that would make it harder for everyday Americans to vote.

Fortunately, and in tandem with us at the federal level, House Democrats have introduced the For the People Act (H.R.1, S.1) to heal our democracy. It is a critical reform package to get dark money out of politics, stop billionaires from buying elections, crack down on corruption, end partisan gerrymandering, protect the freedom to vote and ensure elections are safe, accurate and accessible.

The For the People Act is essential to restoring the public’s faith in our democratic institutions and ensuring everyone’s voice and vote is heard, counted and protected. These commonsense reforms would restore our democracy and benefit all Americans, whether you voted for Joe Biden, Donald Trump or a third-party candidate.

Once passed, H.R.1/S.1 would ensure our elections are accurate by securing our voting systems to prevent hacking and potential foreign and domestic threats to our elections. It would ensure Americans in all 50 states have equal access to early voting and vote-by-mail options while also prohibiting voter suppression tactics such as voter purging and caging that are often dishonestly used to take eligible voters off the rolls. H.R.1/S.1 would work together with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act by strengthening access to the ballot box in communities of color where voting rights are under attack.

Beyond access to the ballot box, the For the People Act would shine a light on dark money in politics by requiring political groups to disclose their largest donors and adding transparency rules for online political ad spending. Washington has never been more broken: people are being told by elected leaders to doubt the security of our elections and special interests are still setting the agenda. It’s time to restore our democracy.

At a time when our country is more divided than ever, I’m grateful we have a U.S. senator like Bob Casey fighting to break the gridlock, make progress and save lives. The For the People Act would prevent barriers to voting from being normalized and protect all Americans’ freedom to vote equally.  Now is the time for all senators in all 50 states to join him and move this to the Senate floor so we can get big money out of politics and maintain the integrity of our elections. 

Now is the moment to make the changes needed to restore our democracy.

Rep. Margo Davidson is Democratic chair of the House State Government Committee in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. She represents the 164th Legislative District in Delaware County.

When it comes to radically reducing gun violence in America, many who could affect positive changes constitute the “dictionary definitions” of obdurate, i.e., hardened, obstinate, stubborn, impertinent, reprobate, callous, unfeeling, insensible, and unyielding people who will not do so until “the chickens come home to roost.”  Having received “filthy lucre” from their respective lobbyists, many members of Congress and State Legislatures are simply intransient when it comes to altering their extreme positive dispositions related to the gun industry.  While surveys indicate that 65% of American citizens support gun legislation, a mere 35% of elected Republicans share their view.  Similarly, many of the latter ignore the documented warnings regarding domestic terrorism.  

The Department of Homeland Security has told us that “White supremacists will remain the most persistent and lethal threat in the United States through 2021,” and “…Although foreign terrorist organizations will continue to call for attacks on the US,  …we judge that ideologically-motivated lone offenders and small groups will pose the greatest terrorist threat to the Homeland through 2021, with white supremacist extremists presenting the most lethal threat."  

For those willing to take their heads out of the sand when it comes to America leading the world in gun violence, please note that the Boulder and Atlanta mass killings were indicators of long-standing phenomena, not a “new normal.”  As one source noted,  “Since 2009, there have been 245 mass shootings in the United States, resulting in 1391 people shot and killed and 950 people shot and wounded. (https://everytownresearch.org/maps/mass-shootings-in-america-2009-2019/)  Another report’s headline read “2020 Ends as One of America's Most Violent Years in Decades.”  Therein, it was noted that “Gun violence and gun crime, in particular, had risen drastically, with over 19,000 people killed in shootings and firearm-related incidents in 2020. That’s the highest death toll in over 20 years…”  Nevertheless, following the most recent mass-killings, the same old rhetorical drills occurred, i.e., declarations that feign action but, in the end, are just words dutifully uttered during the current mass-killing news cycle.

Before each mass-killing news cycle ends, CEOs, government officials, and organized groups post public moral statements.   We learn how “saddened” they are, how their “thoughts and prayers” are with the families of the victims.  Unknown numbers of individuals post social media statements such as “Boston Strong,” “United Against Hate,” “Stronger than Hate,” “I am Charlie.”  Currently, some who were formerly posting “Black Lives Matter” are posting more expansive statements such as “I Stand with the AAPI Community,” “Stop the Hate,” and “End Racism Now.”  “Capitalist Pimps” profit from hastily made paraphernalia  displaying such slogans.  A Congressional and/or a few State legislative committees might hold hearings related to guns, but in the end, all too  many citizens will behave as if mass-killings are “things you have to live with” in American society, something like the cliché regarding “death and taxes.”

Sadly, mass-killings are occurring so frequently in 2021 that most Americans don’t know how many have taken place these first few months!  They can’t tell you something as simple as how many people were killed and wounded this year during mass-shootings in [1] Bolivar, Mississippi, [2] Detroit, Michigan,  [3] Little River Park in Miami, Florida, [4] Indianapolis, Indiana, [5] Muskogee, Oklahoma, [6] South Side Chicago, Illinois, [7] Houston, Texas,  or [8] Tampa, Florida.  Instead, people died; flags were flown at half-mast; clusters of citizens publicly protested for a few days; and America’s killing fields seemed to be fertilized by the fresh blood which is likely to flow ever faster until this mass dance with death becomes a matter of the “chickens coming home to roost.”  Note, for example, the media coverage of the Boulder victims and community members.

Perhaps eye witness Ryan Borowski put it poignantly best when he stated, “Boulder feels like a bubble and that bubble burst.”  Let us not forget, however, that this “bubble” was created centuries ago, after “settlers” stole the land from Indigenous People.  A World Population Review article indicated that, for 2021, the Boulder “bubble” has the following homogenous demographics: White: 87.37%; Asian: 5.80%; Two or more races: 3.82%; Other-race: 1.51%; Black or African American: 1.20%; Native American: 0.21%; and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander: 0.10%.  

Nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, home to large historically White college populations and a plethora of STEM-based industries, a Pollyanna disposition would have residents enjoying magnificent hiking trails and waxing nostalgic as they listen to John Denver sing “But the Colorado Rocky Mountain high, I’ve seen it raining fire in the sky, the shadow from the starlight is softer than a lullaby…”  Withing the idyllic predominantly-White “Boulder bubble,” one should not have their life change forever after hearing a weapon of mass destruction being used by a terrorist to slaughter innocent people.  

Without formal governmental intervention, more “Boulder bubbles” will burst and many, other than the mass killers, will have the proverbial “blood on their hands.”  It is tragic that mass-killings have been normative or, as one person stated, they existed “yesterday, today, and will continue tomorrow.”   Still worse is knowing these deaths will continue until the “chickens come home to roost” in many other “American bubbles,” e.g., in Marjorie Green’s 14th Congressional District, not Atlanta Georgia; in Cameo Shores, not Watts, California; or in the Pennsylvania Borough of Jefferson Hills, not the Hill District of Pittsburgh.  

Jack L. Daniel

Co-Founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

March 25, 2021

  “…But there comes a point when
When we exhale, yeah, yeah
…Life never tells us the when's or why's
…But when you've got friends to wish you well
You'll find your point when you will exhale, yeah…”
Songwriter, Kenneth Edmonds

On January 20, 2021, President Joseph Biden’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’s Inauguration Day provided an opportunity to exhale, i.e., a chance to physically and psychologically recuperate from the many consequences of simultaneously enduing the Corona virus pandemic, the racial pandemic, and the toxic world P45 as well as his sycophants created over the past 4 years. Especially contributory to this moment to exhale was the 22-year-old National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman.

Ms. Gorman reinvigorated people with, “…Somehow we weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished… And, yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect. We are striving to forge our union with purpose. To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man…” Gorman added, “…We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover… there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.” In addition to the inspiration from Ms. Gorman, the Inaugural Ceremony provided other opportunities to exhale. 

It was a very soothing moment, a signal that “morning comes,” when Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor administered the oath of office to Vice President Harris while using the same bible as did former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshal. The powerful presence of diverse women was reinforced by the aura of Queen Mother, former First Lady, Michele Obama as she graced the platform. At one point, it seemed as if Queen Mother Obama signaled to Vice President Harris, “You go, Girl!” Further underscoring the presence of women’s power were the opening remarks by Senator Amy Klobuchar and the participation of former First Lady Hillary Clinton as she observed a major crack in the White, male, patriarchal glass ceiling she had hoped to shatter. 

Evidence of the Inaugural Day exhale also came from women members of Black Greek-lettered organizations as they displayed their solidarity by wearing strings of pearls symbolically associated with Vice President Harris’ Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and “chucks,” her comfort shoes of choice. Unfortunately, some folks debunked the “pearls and chucks exhale” moment by declaring that the election of Vice President Harris was a “token” gain in a still rigorously racist, capitalistic, imperialistic country.  Do know, however, the “pearls and chucks exhale” was also a matter of psychologically preparing to “climb the hill” Gorman referenced –the hill built by White, racist, terrorists.

Just as the Great Pyramids were not built in a day, social movements do not realize their end goals in a year, much less a day. Rather, as we experience the ebb and flow of successes and setbacks, our civil rights movement is sustained by celebrating critically-important intermittent victories because the “hills we climb” are steep, treacherous, and occupied by ferocious enemies. Therefore, freedom fighters pause to exhale while knowing that “We as a people will get to the promised land.” 

As we “keep pressing on,” we will need more moments to exhale. Afterwards, we must not permit anyone or anything to turn us around. We must go forward attacking some of the biggest lies ever told, e.g., that [1] the most recent Presidential election was stolen; [2] men are inherently superior to women, that anatomy is destiny; [3] that one religion is “the correct” religion and there is “one correct version” of that religion; [4] the White race is biologically and divinely superior to all other races; and [5] by deeds, America has adequately practiced its creeds. 

“Turn me round, turn me round,
Ain't gonna let nobody, turn me round,
I just keep on a-walkin', keep on a-talkin',
Marching on to freedom land.
…Ain't gonna let no jailhouse, turn me round,
Turn me round, turn me round,
…I can't let segregation, turn me round,
Turn me round, turn me round,
…Ain't gonna let no dogs, Lord, turn me round,
Turn me round, turn me round,
Ain't gonna let no dogs, Lord, turn me round,
I'm gonna keep on a-walkin', keep on a-talkin',
Marching on to freedom land…”

Jack L. Daniel

Co-Founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

January 27, 2021

2020, A PRELUDE TO THE 2021 WHITE SUPREMACIST ATTACK ON CONGRESS

​A quick online search will yield numerous references to 2020 being a “racial awakening” year in America.  As with many words, “awakening” has multiple meanings including, the literal awakening from sleep; developing a renewed interest or attention; and a rude calling of attention to uncomfortable facts. When it comes to racism, 2020 was more of a rude awakening to uncomfortable facts related to the extent of racism, especially as practiced by some police officers.  As is well known, this rude awakening was stimulated by the videotaping and rebroadcasting of George Floyd’s murder by police officer Derek Chauvin who knelt mercilessly on Floyd’s neck.  In short, 2020 was a year of reticent White Americans receiving incontrovertible evidence that racism was rampant in America, that it was indeed systemic, and that it literally had deadly consequences.  However, 2020, was not a year of “racial reckoning.”  

​“Racial reckoning” is not a matter of tokenism, e.g., a formerly overwhelmingly White corporation quickly hiring a Black assistant to a White senior level employee; a university promising a modest enrollment increase of Black students; or a city passing a resolution regarding racism being a public health matter.  If there were “racial reckoning” in America, after centuries of justice delayed/denied, then Black Americans would finally receive their “40 acres and a mule,” i.e., reparations appropriate to 2021 circumstances.  

​If there were “racial reckoning,” for example, the City of Pittsburgh in conjunction with partners from higher education institutions, foundations, the private sector, and families would with all deliberate speed resolve the matters that produce the educational achievement gaps in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.  After years of not having done so, “racial reckoning” would include the University of Pittsburgh, on an ongoing basis, extending multi-million-dollar business contracts to Black owned and operated companies.  “Racial reckoning” would include Pittsburgh being a leading city where all essential workers are compensated appropriately, especially in professions such as early childhood education where Blacks are disproportionately underpaid.  It would entail making Pittsburgh a “most livable city” for all.  Given that these types of things have not happened in Pittsburgh or elsewhere, 2020 was more of an epiphany.  

2020 was a “year of epiphany” that signaled how internal decay was causing the crumbling of racist, patriarchal, homophobic, xenophobic, sexist, and other deleterious walls.  November 3, 2020 was similar to that moment when “Dorothy” realized the “Wizard” was not only a complete fake but also an exploiter of human beings.  Instead of “going home,” American citizens “clicked their heels” and evicted P45 from America’s home.  Their 2020 actions were reinforced on January 5, 2021,when they “showed up and showed out” in Georgia, electing two senators from the Democrat Party.  

2020 was predictive of what took place on January 6, 2021,as the Electoral College vote was being counted.  It forecast the unthinkable, that a sitting American President, with narcissism, ignorance and intolerance dripping down his face and hatred frothing at his mouth, would incite White supremacists to attack members of Congress!  If there ever were such a thing as being totally disengaged from reality, he so demonstrated by once again ranting about a “stolen election,” an election that had in fact been confirmed, reconfirmed, and reconfirmed again by all relevant parties. 

Before the next President could be inaugurated, we witnessed the most infamous moment in American Presidential history.  All doubts were removed regarding how some police treat Black peaceful protesters as compared to how they treat White supremacists engaged in destruction. The criminal assault on Congress was so disgraceful that the leaders of other nations declared that the would be American “emperor” has no clothing.Things sank so low that P45’s most loyal sycophants abandoned him as evidenced by Senator McConnell stating "If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral. We'd never see the whole nation accept an election again," and Senator Graham exclaiming "…but today…count me out. Enough is enough."  

Aside from insuring that P45 never again holds public office in America and being appropriately prosecuted for all of his criminal conduct, now is the time for an unwavering assault on the beast that remains in America as evidenced, for example, by the more than 100 members of Congress who objected to the Electoral College results, AFTER AN ASSAULT BY WHITE SUPREMACISTS ON CONGRESS A FEW HOURS BEFORE THEY VOTED!  

Let the federal investigation of the resultant 5 deaths and all aspects of the attempted coup proceed as rapidly as possible. Instead of P45’s enablers slapping him on his wrists for a few days, Facebook and other social media should permanently ban him as Twitter did.

If nothing else moves “we the people” to action, then never stop thinking about the possibility that instead of 5 lives being lost during the White supremacist assault on the Capitol, we could have had a mass-murder that claimed the lives of unknown numbers of members of Congress and, still worse, the mob that moved on Congress was incited by P45, his son, his lawyer, and others.  And shamefully, a so-called “breakdown” in security would have been contributory.  

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

January 8, 2021

 OpEd from the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus 

We are at a crossroads as a commonwealth and a nation as we battle the most serious and deadly surge of coronavirus cases to date. Despite a White House that has focused all its attention on making baseless claims to undermine election results, the CDC continues to urge Americans to avoid gathering this holiday season to slow the spread and save lives. It’s a tall order and significant sacrifice for all of us as we grapple with the thought of not seeing friends and family members. It truly didn’t have to be this way if our leaders had worked together from the start. 

We know the pandemic has been grossly mismanaged at the federal level with disastrous effects. Here at home, Republicans who have held the majority in our state legislature for the last decade have spent 10 months trying every trick in their book to undermine our governor, our health professionals and a preponderance of the medical and scientific evidence that has guided Pennsylvania's pandemic response.  

Most recently, many have joined President Trump in his fruitless quest to disenfranchise Pennsylvania voters -- landing themselves, once again, on the wrong side of history. Even in Georgia, where President-elect Biden won by a much slimmer margin than in Pennsylvania, GOP legislators resisted the urge to pander to an inflamed mob and, instead, discharged their constitutional duty responsibly and faithfully. They didn’t take part in the Rudy Giuliani traveling COVID super-spreader circus, and they didn’t attempt to convince their congressional delegation to ignore millions of their state’s voters in an attempt to overturn the election. Alternatively, Pennsylvania Republicans’ reaction to the election and the pandemic have been in lockstep with Trump’s: ignore reality, sow division and discord, and abandon the responsibilities voters entrusted them with. 

Since March, we’ve seen disturbing behavior from Republicans in their districts and in Harrisburg, where they’ve discouraged mask-wearing and intimidated local officials, pressuring them to defy state orders. In Lebanon County, emails revealed by PA Spotlight showed state Rep. Russ Diamond, state Rep. Frank Ryan and state Sen. Dave Arnold encouraging businesses and local officials to “go rogue” against the governor’s stay-at-home order. In Cumberland County, commissioners pushed back against their local Republican lawmakers’ calls to prematurely enter the Green Phase of reopening. There have been calls for the secretary of health to resign and efforts to impeach the governor -- all at the behest of Republicans in Harrisburg who seem to believe they know better than the medical and public health experts. 

As virus numbers climbed exponentially this fall, the legislature had the opportunity to provide $1.3 billion in federal CARES Act money directly to the frontline workers, farmers, childcare providers, veterans, families, local restaurants and other businesses most impacted. Instead, Republican leaders refused to consider any of these proposals, and took the money to help fill budget holes largely of their own creation. 

And, when the governor responded to this latest surge and acted to slow the spread and save lives, Republican’s only input was, “He’s trying to cancel Christmas.” Seriously? Let’s be clear: COVID-19 is a global health crisis that requires a response from leaders across the globe. The governor’s efforts are not a targeted political attack on certain people in this commonwealth: They are an attempt to save lives. 

These are serious times, and we face serious challenges. The election is over, and the pandemic is surging. For the sake of all Americans and all Pennsylvanians, serious leaders need to respond to these challenges honestly and responsibly. As we prepare for the new legislative session, PA House Democrats will once again be proposing fiscal and legislative policies to keep people safe while providing the help they need to support their families, communities, and businesses until this pandemic is over. The people of this commonwealth need our Republican colleagues to find the courage and focus to join us in this effort. 

By Pa. state Rep. Jake Wheatley

This week, I was reminded of some dark realities that have sadly been a constant presence in my life and only moments away.

There have been several shootings around our city in recent days, but the one that took the life of 1-year old Zykier Young just hits me differently. As a human and as a father, I must ask myself if this violence will ever end? 

I have started reading a book by Ta-Nehisi Coates to my 8-year-old son, called Between the World and Me. It gives us an opportunity to bond but to also to talk about what it means to be a Black man and our role in this world. But, the other night, I just couldn’t do it. It’s too painful to look at my son and know that there just doesn’t seem to be any rest or secure place for us in this world. 

When you can’t find safety in the place where you rest your head, and you can’t walk or sit or drive in your neighborhood without fearing death from those who are sworn to protect you and those who you fight to protect, what’s left? Where does the stress and trauma of it all end?

I’m an eternal fighter and believe that I was born to fight for freedom and justice. I believe that we have no choice but to continue pushing ahead, but there are days where it drives me to my sunken place and opens those windows of doubt. We must do better -- for our next generation, for our families, for us.

It’s vital we continue to fight against this violence on all fronts in our cities and towns large and small across our great state. Far too many of us have dealt with the anguish, grief and anger that comes after losing a loved one to senseless gun violence. We all deserve to feel safe in our homes and our communities, and the only way we’re going to accomplish this is by working together to make systemic and effective changes to end this scourge, once and for all. 

Rep. Jake Wheatley is Democratic chairman of the Pa. House Finance Committee and represents the 19th Legislative District.

 Five months after the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, activists and influencers, including 1Hood Media Founder and CEO Jasiri X, continue to call for the arrest of the police officers who pulled the trigger. To increase the visibility of the protests for police prosecution and other issues impacting the community, Until Freedom, an intersectional social justice organization, is hosting BreonnaCon August 22-25 in Louisville. This first-of-its-kind “community convention” will include workshops, food and school supply giveaways, a faith revival and more. Several celebrities, including Real Housewives of Atlanta stars Porsha Williams and Phaedra Parks and Love & Hip Hop New York cast member Yandy Smith-Harris will participate in the 4-day convening. 

"We are honored to participate in the convening for Breonna Taylor this week. Justice delayed us justice denied. #JusticeForBreonna — with Farooq Al Said, Jasiri Oronde and Brittney Chantele at Injustice Square. From 1 Hood Media."

1Hood Media is a collective of socially conscious artists and activists who utilize art as a means of raising awareness about social justice matters affecting people around the world. The mission of 1Hood Media is to build liberated communities through art, education, and social justice .

 For information about 1Hood Media, visit 1hoodmedia.com. 

"According to PUM Contributor Dr. Jack L. Daniel  who is also an Emeritus Vice Provost and Professor, Chancellor Patrick Gallagher's update is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, set of action steps I have seen since campuses across the nation recommitted themselves to the pursuit of equity and social justice."

Dear Members of the University Community:

Racial inequality and injustice run counter to the very mission of a university. Our fundamental objectives—to advance the frontiers of knowledge, to be a source of opportunity through education, and to improve society—are all directly harmed if we allow or sustain inequality or injustice based on an individual’s race or ethnicity.
To truly thrive, a university must be an open, just and supportive community—a space that, by design, fosters the pursuit of learning, teaching and the creation of new knowledge. Yet, at the University of Pittsburgh, racist behaviors, systems and structures remain an all-too-common reality. As a community, we must move beyond the goal of creating a more diverse campus and instead work to create an equitable, welcoming and inclusive environment for everyone.
This work involves looking beyond our campuses. A university is also a vital part of a broader community: our region. As an anchor institution, Pitt offers tangible benefits to the places we call home. Far from being an ivory tower, we are counted on to be an effective partner, economic powerhouse and an advantage for those who live and work near us in western Pennsylvania.
Yet, despite Pitt’s remarkable role in transforming our region, not all of our neighbors have benefited equally from our success. In Pittsburgh, large racial and ethnic disparities persist in terms of family wealth, health and education. These divides are particularly daunting in the city’s historically Black neighborhoods. As an anchor institution, we have a commitment to connecting all of our neighbors—including those within our university’s shadow—to these opportunities.
A university is also a global force, dedicated to advancing and sharing knowledge to make the world a better place. Racial injustice and inequity have no regard for campus boundaries or city lines. These issues are among the greatest challenges facing our society today.
Pitt, like all great universities, tackles great challenges. Transforming our campus systems and structures to fully support the success of Black students, faculty and staff is a start—one that will require years of internal examination, active conversations and conscious change.
Moving forward, we must tirelessly recognize and address racist attitudes, behaviors and policies. We must take a closer look at every area within our university—including how we approach teaching, research, financial decisions, policing, recruiting, hiring and contracting.
We must do better.
In early June 2020, we kicked off this mission-critical work. We’ve filled the last few weeks with listening, advocating and learning. But we’ve also taken real and concrete steps toward building a more inclusive campus environment for everyone—and especially for our Black peers and peers of color.
To share a few examples of actions already underway across the University:
In the Office of the Provost
Developing a one-credit online course on systemic anti-Black racism and anti-racism. First-year students are required to take this course, which will be available to all Pitt students beginning fall 2020.
Hiring Dr. John Wallace as the new vice provost for faculty diversity and development, a role that involves envisioning and overseeing Black faculty diversity and development.
Hiring an assistant director in the Center on Race and Social Problems to help establish the center as an interdisciplinary, University-wide hub for race-related research and faculty support.
Engaging a University-wide tenure and promotion committee in developing expectations and guidelines for counting diversity- and inclusion-related service and community-engaged research for promotion and tenure.In the Division of Student Affairs
Launching an Anti-racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan. This plan initiates an array of changes within the Division of Student Affairs, including:Recruiting and training staff as restorative justice mediators to respond to bias incidents.
Requiring bias incident report training as well as annual anti-racism training for all professional staff and student workers.
Increasing the percentage of Black clinicians working in the University Counseling Center to align with the percentage of Black students on campus.In the Office of Human Resources
Adding an anti-racism training module to the required anti-sexual harassment training for all new employees.
Requiring hiring proposals to plan for diversity outreach to Black candidates in order to ensure adequate diversity in hiring pools.In the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Expanding the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to become the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. This change, spearheaded by the newly appointed Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Clyde Pickett, will support expanding programming that specifically aims to implement and advance equity and inclusion strategies.
Committing to publishing statistics on bias incident reports.
Hosting a three-day virtual symposium called “Advancing Social Justice: A Call to Action” that drew at least 12,000 registrants from around the world.In the Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management
Hosting at least three events each semester, in partnership with the Division of Student Affairs, to build relationships with Black students and student representatives.
Publicly posting the office’s policies online.
Creating a checklist of expectations for security guards and Pitt police officers who are paid to support student organization events.In the School of Medicine
Establishing a Dean’s Scholarship that covers four years of tuition costs, as well as living stipends and travel funds, for up to three underrepresented minority students, with guaranteed support for two Black medical students, annually.Across all six Health Sciences Schools
Creating an Office of the Ombudsperson, which will offer confidential and anonymous support to students of these schools.In the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid
Increasing the involvement and engagement of Black Pitt students in the recruitment, enrollment and retention of Black high school students.In the Office of the Chancellor
Expanding membership of the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Public Safety to bolster representation by Black students.These early and immediate efforts complement many others that are already underway in our schools, departments and programs.
Looking ahead, we will continue engaging students, faculty and staff—as well as many stakeholders in surrounding communities—and grow this list of actions. Our extended University planning process will focus on formalizing these plans, committing the resources necessary and presenting to the Board of Trustees once our plans are complete.
To the students, faculty, staff and scholars, including many members of the Black community, who have helped us pivot toward progress: Thank you. We still have considerable work to do, but your voices, time and efforts have guided our early steps toward becoming a better university.
In the coming week, we will be launching a website devoted to identifying and tracking these objectives. This site will also serve as a channel for members of our community to share ideas and provide feedback on our progress. I encourage you to bookmark it now—and check back in a few days for the full launch.
Respectfully,
Patrick Gallagher

 “I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, When he beats his bars and he would be free’ It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core, A plea, that upward to Heaven he flings-I know why the caged bird sings.”

-Paul Laurence Dunbar-

Wearily we watch as “Black babies face double the risk of dying before their first birthday” (see Gaby Galvin, August 1, 2019).  Tragically, Black teens have the highest probability of becoming a homicide victim.  The most gifted Black child’s life can be halted when a wanton bullet finds its deadly mark.  Black men know that jogging while wearing a “hoodie” and a Covid-19 protective mask could contribute to them being murdered.  Like Sandra Bland, days after a traffic stop arrest, a Black woman can be found dead in a cell, or, as with Breonna Taylor, be aroused from sleeping and murdered during a “botched” police raid.

Far too many Black lives are ones in which hopes are routinely dashed; excruciating pain is daily delivered; spirits are constantly broken; and life is like trying to breath inside a stifling vault.  For no other reason than being Black, these harsh things and more are strapped on Blacks’ backs and, in turn, contribute to the rapid rise in mental illness among Blacks (See Cordilia James and Petersen Pedersen in the Wall Street Journal, July, 21, 2020). 

More than a century after Dunbar wrote the above poem, my father-in-law (Nathaniel S. Colley, Sr.) experienced what all highly accomplished Blacks know, i.e., that “doing the right things” does not provide him/them with a pass to escape the deleterious fate of being born Black in America.  He did his undergraduate work at Tuskegee; earned his law degree from Yale; served as an army officer during World War II; was a NAACP Western Region general counsel; and, while assisting President John F. Kennedy, he agreed to take part in an inspection of military troops stationed in Japan.  

While in Japan, a Japanese citizen sought to understand the extent of White American racism by asking, “Mr. Colley, if you go to Mississippi, will they also put dogs on you too?”  My father-in-law said, “Yes, if I go to Mississippi, they’ll put dogs on me too!”  For the rest of his life, Colley Sr. reminded himself and others that neither his Tuskegee and Yale degrees nor his many distinguished trial lawyer accomplishments would prevent “dogs from being put on him too”  ---that Malcolm X spoke truth when he asked and answered, “What do Whites call a Negro with a PhD?  A Nigger!”

Recently, I had a reminder that “dogs could be put on me too.  The rear deck of my home is about 15 feet from the water that feeds into the Chesapeake Bay.  An armed White police officer walked past my home many evenings and spoke to me as I sat on my deck.  His seemingly friendly “hellos” caused me to have a lapse in judgment, but I was reminded of who I was when I went down to the boardwalk to fish.  

As the White officer approached, I said “Hello,” and he said, “Excuse me, do you live here?” I said “Yes” and, pointing to my home, I added, “I speak to you from that deck behind us when you pass by each evening.”  He said, “Oh and, by the way, you have to move your stool off the boardwalk.  There are no chairs allowed on the boardwalk.”  Noticing the gun strapped on the officer’s hip, I knew being a Black man was in play, not “Dr. Jack L. Daniel, the emeritus Vice Provost and Distinguished Service Professor.”  Hence, I said nothing and moved my stool.  

After the officer left, I thought about what could have happened had I gotten angry, jumped up and asked, “How can you ask me if I live here when, after so many evenings, you passed by my home and spoke to me?”  In minutes, the story could have become, “After fearing for his life, officer accidentally shoots angry man who was breaking the law on residential boardwalk,” followed shortly thereafter with “#Jack L. Daniel, say his name.”

If you are Black in America, then you don’t drive your car; walk down the street; barbecue in a public park; enter your own apartment late at night; fall asleep in the reception area of a dorm hall; attempt to cash a check with “Dr.” in front of your name; or engage in any normal activity without the nagging realization that you could become a fatal statistic.  You can’t be stopped at a red light without the possibility of a White male throwing lighter fluid on you and setting you on fire as was done recently to a Black woman in Wisconsin.  Even in death, as was the case for Congressman John Lewis, racist derived inhumanity was put on full display when, in  their “tributes to John Lewis,” Republican Congressman Marco Rubio and Senator Dan Sullivan mistakenly posted pictures of themselves and Elijah Cummings.  

Notwithstanding the woes of being Black in America, we of good faith will continue to do as John Lewis commanded, i.e., “get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America.”  We will do so  because we know, as John Legend sang, “One day when the glory comes; It will be ours, it will be ours; One day… When the war is won; When it's all said and done; We'll cry glory, oh glory.”

Jack L. Daniel

Co-Founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

July 28, 2020

  THE “WALLS” CAME TUMBLING DOWN:

Not just statues, flags, names, and other accouterments of systemic racism

The biblical account of the battle at Jericho indicates that people marched around Jericho for six days and, on the seventh day “…As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city” (Joshua 6:20). Note that the people did not simply enter the city. They also destroyed the city. With this biblical story in mind, one might reflect on the desirable outcomes for the efforts of today’s freedom seeking people who are marching around the “City of Systemic Racism.”

As a result of the many protest marches since George Floyd’s death, we have witnessed things such as the following:

· Princeton University removed the name of former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson from a building on its campus because of his racist beliefs and policies.

· Mississippi lawmakers voted to remove the Confederate battle emblem from its state flag.

· Walmart ended its practice of locking up Black beauty products.

· In a letter to the House Clerk, Speaker Nancy Pelosi requested the "immediate removal" of the portraits of four Speakers who served the Confederacy in various capacities: Robert Hunter of Virginia, Howell Cobb of Georgia, James Orr of South Carolina and Charles Crisp of Georgia.

· NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from all its events.

· PepsiCo decided to change the stereotypical Aunt Jemima name and image. 

· HBO removed “Gone with the Wind” from its offerings.

· Commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL was wrong for not listening to players' criticisms of racism. 

As necessary  as the foregoing acts of contrition might be, they are not sufficient for destroying the “City of Systemic Racism.” To do so, for example, Princeton University must destroy all old policies and practices that enabled systemic racism and replace them with new policies and practices that enable timely positive outcomes in terms of equity and social justice throughout the University. Again, the NFL must go beyond updating the Rooney Rule and make good on its promise to hire Blacks in senior positions as well as significantly involve Blacks throughout the business that depends so heavily on Blacks. 

Instead of being satisfied with the outcomes of the recent protest moments, we, the people, must march on through November 2020 and attack the “City of Systemic Racism” by taking control of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Presidency. Subsequently, the new national leadership must [1] implement science-based strategies and tactics against Covid-19; and [2] legislatively address things such as lynching, affordable health care, police reform, the cost of higher education, pathways to citizenship, and appropriate wages for essential workers.

Destroying the “City of Systemic Racism” means doing what CNBC reported regarding Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon’s call to action, i.e. “…the country’s top CEOs will look for ways to address racial inequities that span society, from how the world of finance works to how police treat black Americans. In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” McMillon said the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man pinned down by a Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on his neck, has prompted new urgency to do more than just donate money. McMillon, who is chairman of the Business Roundtable, announced the group of business leaders will form a special committee to advance racial equality and justice solutions. ‘What we see is a moment here, a moment where we can make a bigger difference.’”

If we are to destroy the “City of Systemic Racism,” then higher education leaders must do as Pitt’s Chancellor Patrick Gallagher did when he declared, “…In this moment of raw grief and anger, we must plot a path forward. We must find ways to build bridges, listen and empathize—even when it is uncomfortable. And we must demand better of our leaders, holding them accountable by voting and pushing to reform the laws and institutions of our democracy. Working together, we have enormous power to realize change.

…The University of Pittsburgh is a longstanding leader in our region. Yet, for all of our remarkable accomplishments, African Americans living within the Cathedral of Learning’s shadow are still confronting an alarming opportunity gap. We can expand our efforts to translate our work into practice and spur a local renaissance in our surrounding neighborhoods and communities.

Reshaping our university to be more diverse, inclusive and just—while also expanding our reach and impact in promoting social justice—is a significant effort, and we will need to resource and sustain this transformation over time. Because of this, I am putting our nearly complete strategic planning process—which aims to chart Pitt’s course over the next five years—on hold. This pause will give us time to incorporate specific strategies to strengthen our commitments to racial equity and justice. I will need your help in identifying the most promising initiatives in this final plan, and I hope you will participate.”

In a Joshua like fashion, Chancellor Gallagher has launched a process which, with the assistance of the University community as well as the Pittsburgh community, should result in the building of a new “city” from the one now known as the University of Pittsburgh. Let us not stop “marching” until the “walls” preventing equity and social justice at the University have truly come tumbling down. 

“…One day when the glory comes
It will be ours, it will be ours
Oh one day when the war is won
We will be sure, we will be sure
Oh glory (Glory, glory)
Oh (Glory, glory)

Now the war is not over, victory isn't won
And we'll fight on to the finish, then when it's all done
We'll cry glory, oh glory (Glory, glory)
Oh (Glory, glory)
We'll cry glory, oh glory (Glory, glory)
Oh (Glory, glory)”

-John Legend-

Jack L. Daniel

Co-Founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

July 19, 2020

Tricknology: “The techniques of deception and manipulation employed by a dominant group (especially a White majority) to disempower a weaker one (especially a Black minority)”

The racist tricknology referenced herein is related to how some devious Whites, along with their willing Black workers, flip the “Brer Rabbit” script and the “rabbit” is duped by the “fox.”  These Machiavellian types know very well what constitutes White privilege; that there are health and wealth disparities as a function of systemic racism; and that it is White racism when a Black man is murdered by a White cop who keeps his knee on the neck of the handcuffed Black man for more than 8 minutes!  However, when brutal incidents trigger urban insurrections, then the following scenario plays out.  

• The “fox” immediately cries crocodile tears and, after a hearty cry, the “fox” declares her/his intentions “to do something significant, if not radical,” to address racism.

• The “fox” begs for the “rabbit” to  explain “White racism,” to describe “what it is like to be the recipient of “racism,” to “help me understand so that I can do the right thing(s)”  because “Black lives matter.”

• The “rabbit” throws the “fox” into her/his “home”/comfort zone by spending inordinate amounts of time explaining White racism to the “fox.” 

• The “rabbit” and “fox” “discuss and discuss racism until it becomes disgusting” and the “rabbit” finds her/himself “sick and tired of being sick and tired”  —all while nothing of significance is done to halt the racism pandemic.  

Having deployed the foregoing tricknology, the racism pandemic marches on as evidenced by Ferguson essentially being Ferguson six years later; the NFL being without more Black coaches having been hired years after implementing the Rooney Rule; and White cops keep on killing Blacks as White racism is being explained to Whites who know all too well the nature of racism given that they too are likely practitioners.

As Blacks explain White racism, police misconduct flourishes, e.g., two Buffalo officers knocked a 75-year old man down, causing him a serious injury and no police assisted the man who lay bleeding on the ground.  After the two perpetrators were suspended without pay, 57 members of Buffalo’s police emergency team resigned from the unit.  During this time period, we witnessed six Atlanta officers get charged after they pulled two Black college students out of their car, smashed in their windows, and used a stun gun on them.  And, just as police misused a helicopter to clear D.C. streets for 45 to do a photo opportunity, back in February 2020, police escorted masked White nationalists when they marched in D.C.  

As tired, worn down, duped Blacks explain White racism to the powers that be, Black unemployment remains in a depression-like state. The June 6-7, 2020 Wall Street Journal reported, “…The jobless rate fell to 13.3% from April’s 14.7%, a post-World War II high.”  Note that 13.3% was an “overall” number and that unemployment rates for Hispanics, Blacks, and Whites were  17.6%, 16.8%, and 12.4% respectively.  Thus, Hispanic and Black unemployment remained higher than the nation’s historical high.

Having fallen victim to the tricknology, little if anything takes place regarding the development of Black wealth via home ownership.  For example, Linda Lutton, Andrew Fan, and Alden Loury observed that, in Chicago, “68.1% of dollars loaned for housing purchases went to majority-white neighborhoods, while just 8.1% went to majority-black neighborhoods and 8.7% went to majority-Latino neighborhoods…” (June 3, 2020).

As with no gains for Blacks in home ownership, there are no gains in terms of closing the educational achievement gap.  Instead, the June 6, 2020 New York Times article indicated, “New research suggests that by September, most students will have fallen behind where they would have been if they had stayed in classrooms, with some losing the equivalent of a full school years’ worth of academic gains. Racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps will most likely widen because of disparities in access to computers, home internet connections and direct instruction from teachers…”  

Explaining racism to Whites does very little in terms of reducing the systemic factors that make race a critical factor when deciding whether to put a parent in a nursing home.  We know that “…Covid-19 has been particularly virulent toward African-Americans and Latinos: Nursing homes where those groups make up a significant portion of the residents — no matter their location, no matter their size, no matter their government rating — have been twice as likely to get hit by the coronavirus as those where the population is overwhelmingly white…” (New York Times, May 21, 2020).

Whites have had sufficient opportunities to learn about White racism, having practiced and benefited from it for several centuries.  Therefore, Blacks must  “flip the script” and have White folks explain what specifically they are going to do to end White racism!  Whites should “put some skin in the game” by doing things such as the following: 

• Take any one of the existing police reform plans and implement actions steps that end the murders of Blacks and other forms of police brutality.  

• Never again hire a less-qualified White instead of a higher-qualified Black.

• Stop all “red lining” related to the purchase of homes.

• Use federal, state, and local public dollars to end the systemic causes of Black health, income, wealth, and educational disparities.

• Implement effective gun legislation, including taking weapons of mass destruction off the streets of urban America.

• In 2020, implement a voting tsunami that washes away the “principalities in high places.”  

• At the end of 2020, as a New Year’s gift, explain to Blacks how the foregoing was accomplished.

For any who still insist that they don’t understand White racism, please binge watch the murder of George Floyd or the horrendous circumstances related to the deaths of Michael Brown, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and Breonna Taylor.  Then listen to Billie Holiday sing, 

Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant South

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolia, sweet and fresh

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck

For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop

Here is a strange and bitter crop

Jack L. Daniel

Co-Founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

PITTSBURGH, PA (May 29, 2020)—The following is a message Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Chief Scott Schubert sent bureau-wide at 6 a.m. today. Public Safety is releasing it publicly in response to questions from the public and media about PBP’s response to the tragic and senseless death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Colleagues,

I'm certain many of you have by now viewed the video of George Floyd’s in-custody death in Minneapolis on May 25.

Like you, I was deeply disturbed and saddened by what I saw.

This is not how we are trained to restrain people and it's not what we stand for as police officers.

Regardless of the original crime or what occurred prior to the arrest, a person in handcuffs and face-down on the ground should not lose their life due to the action or in action of the involved officers. It was difficult to watch Mr. Floyd pleading for help and gasping for breath before saying his final words—all while pedestrians frantically pleaded with officers to help him. I simply cannot comprehend the actions of the officers or their lack of moral courage and duty to intervene and stop the action before it was too late. My prayers are with Mr. Floyd and his family during this most difficult time.

As police officers, we have a fundamental duty to care for and safeguard everyone and anyone in our custody. That did not occur with this particular incident. A man was de prived of his life, a family was deprived of their loved one, a community was deprived of their faith in the people who are entrusted to keep them safe and our noble profession was deprived of its legitimacy by the incomprehen sible and senseless actions of a few. There was no consideration for the value of human life and that is inexcusable. These officers don’t represent any of us in law enforcement and must face the consequences for their actions! We are better than this. We must continue to do what's right. 

I'm thankful for the men and women of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. I know the high level of training each of you have received and I know firsthand the high level of professionalism, bravery, courage and compassion our officers display on a daily basis. We have sworn an oath and I trust that all of us will use our moral courage to intervene when we see something wrong. We owe it to each another, we owe it to our noble profession and we owe it to the community we protect and serve.

I have asked the Academy to review this senseless death and share additional information that can help reinforce our training and policies. Excessive force is unacceptable and will not be tolerated at any level.

Thank you for your commitment to selfless service. Please stay safe and healthy!

Scott

Chief Scott E. Schubert

City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police

THOSE WHO HAVEN’T  FIGURED OUT 

WHETHER TO VOTE FOR TRUMP AIN’T BLACK

It is very problematic for anyone to define the essential factors for being Black.  Over several centuries, Blacks have struggled to specify the collective noun by which they are to be identified and, in turn, articulate the attendant beliefs, behaviors and values associated with names such as “Negro, Colored, Afro-American, African American, and Black.”  Regardless of the appellation used, it has always been a well-known fact that “all skin-folk ain’t kin-folk!” Nevertheless, one “litmus test” to be or not to be Black is offered herein, i.e., [1] the extent to which a racially Black person acts in ways that advance Blacks’ pursuit of freedom, justice and equality and, conversely, [2] the extent to which a racially Black person consciously acts in ways to retard Blacks’ pursuit of freedom, justice and equality.  

With the foregoing in mind, consider a few iconic examples of “skin-folk who ain’t kin-folk” and, therefore, not Black regardless to whether their skin color is “light bright and damn near White,” “teasing tan,” “mellow yellow,” “paper bag brown,” or “indigo black.”    

• The Slave Snitch.  The Slave Snitch caused other slaves to be killed by doing things such as inform the slave master when slaves were planning to run away or warn the master when freedom-loving slaves plotted to  burn crops in the field.  They were brainwashed to believe “servant obey thy master” was applicable to them and their White master.  The Slave Snitch was a traitor to his/her people, a real “Judas” who never got rewarded with pieces of silver but rather with something as simple as a pat on the head and leftover food from the master’s table.

• The Tragic Mulatto.  The Tragic Mulatto was not Black because he/she had a minimal amount of “Black” blood.  The disqualifying factors for the Tragic Mulatto were things such as [1] self-hatred based on their belief that their minimum amount of “Black” blood reduced them to something less than human; and [2] they were in such agony about not being “pure White” that they did things such as attempt to “pass for White;” detest any positive cultural phenomenon ascribed to being Black such as the creation of the spirituals and jazz; and they were as willing as any White racist to take actions that denied freedom, justice and equality for Black people. 

• The Brown-Tongue Sycophant.  This groveling, obsequious, backside-licking person will “kiss up” to and do the bidding for White racists, e.g., oppose economic programs to aid Black businesses even though the same programs are used to aid White businesses; fight against progressive programs that result in justice and equity on college campuses; stymie efforts to provide Blacks with affordable housing; and advance educational policies that are known to sustain achievement gaps.  They take great delight in being “poster children” for movements against affirmative action, voting rights acts, reducing Black maternal mortality, and other forms of social justice.  

• The Demented Sociopath.  We know these demented folks by the death and destruction they cause for other Blacks when they sell guns, dope, drugs, and other poisons in Black oppressed communities.  They shamelessly sell Black bodies for sex as well as write and sing filthy lyrics about Black women.  These are the lacking in consciousness pons who produce the annual records of Black homicides.  Properly miseducated and infused with self-hatred, they help deliver hell on earth for Black people.  

• House Negro.  As Malcolm X described the House Negro, “His master’s pain was his pain. And it hurt him more for his master to be sick than for him to be sick himself. When the master’s house started burning down, that type of Negro would fight harder to put out the fire than the master himself would.”  

As sad/sick as the foregoing “skin-folk who ain’t kin folk” might be, it is very important to remember that, as with the House Negro, they are the minority of Black folk regardless of how conspicuous they might be.  As Malcolm X noted, “…the field Negroes were the masses. They were in the majority. When the master got sick, they prayed that he’d die. If his house caught on fire, they'd pray for a wind to come along and fan the breeze.”  Today, the masses of Blacks know for certain that Trump must go and will vote for him to do so!  Therefore, one is left to wonder how a few outlying “skin-folk” got so confused about whether to vote for Trump.”

It might well be that we are in the presence of the “Jonestown Effect,” a situation in which [1] cult members got drawn into a universe of “alternative facts,” habitual lying (18,000 by Trump since he took office), and, for various reasons, [2] these confused souls “drank the Kool Aid” poured in the form of “What have you got to lose?”  Once they drank from the poisonous cup, 2+2 no longer equaled 4 and racism, however blatantly expressed, was not racism.  Lost and confused, truly bamboozled, the following bizarre thinking occurred.  

• Trump could not have had me in mind when he derided people from “shit hole countries.”  

• It was not racism when, in 1989, Trump paid about $100,000 for ads calling for the execution of the innocent “Central Park Five.”  

• There is nothing racist about Trump’s “birther” attacks on President Barack Obama or Trump’s recent refusal to hold a ceremony for hanging President Obama’s portrait in the White House.  

• When Trump’s spewed racist phlegm regarding Hispanic immigrants being rapists and murders, he was just engaged in “campaign rhetoric” and he most certainly did not believe the same things about African and Caribbean immigrants.

• Trump was simply being objective, not racist, when he claimed there were some “very nice people” among the White Nationalists who ran amuck in Charlottesville.  He was telling the truth when he said he did not know the White supremacist leader David Duke who endorsed him.

• Although he initially called Coronavirus a hoax, delayed action steps, and said nothing the day we reached  100,000 American deaths, including disproportionate numbers of Blacks, Trump cares more about the loss of human life than the economy.    

• Trump is not attempting to stifle the Black vote by attacking the use of absentee ballots.  He is just trying to make America great again by preserving democracy.

• Trump is simply being respectful given that he tweets profusely but said nothing to condemn a policeman who kneeled on a Black man’s neck until he died.

• Trump might be a little homophobic, xenophobic, and misogynistic but he is not racist. 

The miniscule number of “skin-folk” who might be figuring out whether to vote for Trump could resolve their dilemma by recalling that chickens don’t deliberate whether to not only permit the fox to guard but also take up residence in the hen house.  If this common sense does not register, then recall the indecisiveness of those minorities who wondered whether to support Adolf Hitler as he rose to power.  As for one who would use the Black masses to help replace Trump, remember “there’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip” and, therefore, “don’t count your chickens before they hatch!”

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

May 29, 2020

  Displaying extraordinary demeanor, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson transcended the vile, duplicitous Senate Republicans’ “sunken place,” a place in American society created by systemic racism and within which Black folks as well as others are abused. Within “sunken places,” Black women are marginalized, trivialized, and belittled in the most insensitive ways. To appreciate just how ludicrous Republican Senators were while holding Judge Jackson captive, consider a few of the ridiculous questions with which they grilled her.

· “On a scale of 1 to 10, how faithful would you say you are in terms of religion?” “Do you attend church regularly?” -Senator Lindsey Graham

· “Can you provide a definition for the word ‘woman’?”  “So, what personal hidden agendas do you harbor or do you think other judges harbor?” - Senator Marsha Blackburn 

· “Do you agree with this book that is being taught with kids that babies are racist?” – Senator Ted Cruz 

· “Do you think we should catch and imprison more murderers or fewer murderers?” -Senator Tom Cotton

The foregoing and other such questions constituted a shameful throwback to the Jim Crow era during which Blacks were unable to vote because they could not guess the number of jelly beans in a jar. 

Not to be outdone by his White Republican Senate ogres, the melanated Republican Senator Tim Scott stated, “It is clear that Judge Jackson’s judicial philosophy and positions on the defining issues of our time make her the wrong choice for the Supreme Court.” One is left to wonder how many pieces of silver are required to purchase such remarks. 

Within the Senate’s judicial “sunken place,” Republicans persisted with their ill-founded attacks despite the fact that Judge Jackson received endorsements from groups such as the [1] International Association of Chiefs of Police; [2] National Fraternal Order of Police; [3] American Bar Association; [4] Cuban American Bar Association; [5] three-million-member National Education Association; [6] 145 Black Chambers of Commerce; [7] National NAACP; [8] National Urban League; [9] Checks and Balances, a group of conservative judges; and [10] group of former Supreme Court Clerks who wrote, “We hold diverse points of view on politics, judicial philosophy, and much else. Yet we all support Judge Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court, because we know her to be eminently qualified for this role in intellect, character, and experience."

As the buzzards circled Judge Jackson, hoping for a carcass, Judge Jackson might have been reminded of the distinguished former First Lady Michelle Obama’s articulation of her family’s motto, i.e., “When they go low, we go high!” Fortunately, Judge Jackson had what it took to “go high” as Republicans tried to drag her “low.” She “went high” by making use of her extraordinary intelligence, core values, Job-like patience, unprecedented professional experiences, and profound wisdom. 

Judge Jackson is what her West African name Ketanji Onyika signifies. She is the “Lovely One” who resides “…In a country where African men and women were once forced to change their names by slave owners, and where having an African-sounding name can still hurt your chances of landing a job…” (Ifeoma Ajunwa, March 24, 2022). She wore her symbolic Crown (Sisterlocks) long before the passing of the 2022 CROWN Act (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair and preventing discrimination based on hair styles). Now, notwithstanding the lowest of low antics displayed by Republican Senators, she has been appropriately crowned as a Supreme Court Justice! As such, she is a testament to the following words of Maya Angelou. 

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

…Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

…You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

…Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave…

In the poetic spirit articulated by Amanda Gorman, such is nature of The Hill We Climb. Finally, using the words of James Baldwin, I say, “Judge Jackson, ‘Your crown has been bought and paid for. All you must do is put it on.’” 

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

April 7, 2022

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 To be woke is to be alert to injustice and discrimination in society, especially racism. Not to be woke is to be distracted regarding the active, virulent nature of discrimination is society. In the latter condition, people find themselves participating in what former President Obama referenced as a “silly season,” i.e., a period when media hype about less important events is used to distract from major societal issues. At the moment, we are in the midst of a “silly season” stimulated by the slapping of Chris Rock by Will Smith. Consider, for example, the misguided statements by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote, “When Will Smith stormed onto the Oscar stage to strike Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife’s short hair, he did a lot more damage than just to Rock’s face. With a single petulant blow, he advocated violence, diminished women, insulted the entertainment industry, and perpetuated stereotypes about the Black community…”  In my opinion, Abdul-Jabbar signaled the nature of the current “silly season” when he proffered that  a “petulant blow,” a single, temperamental, childish act could [1] advocate violence, [2] diminish women, [3] insult the entertainment industry, and [4] perpetuate stereotypes about the Black community. 

Many people used social media to echo Abdul-Jabbar’s remark regarding the Will Smith slap having perpetuated stereotypes regarding violence in the Black community. In doing so, they mistakenly reinforced one of the worst dynamics of systemic racism, e.g., attributing something negative to the Black collective because of something done by a single Black individual but not doing the reverse. Thus, for example, a Black student expelled from college for academic reasons is said to reinforce the racist notion of Black intellectual inferiority. On the other hand, thousands of Black college students graduating magna cum laude hardly make a dent in the intellectual inferiority myth. 

During the current Will Smith induced “silly season,” many people indicated that somehow Will Smith “diminished women.” Such misguided people have  truly been “slapped silly,” lulled to sleep, if they believe that Will Smith’s slap diminished women more than things such as [1] the filthy words and deeds of former President Trump; [2] the despicable crimes of Harvey Weinstein; [3]  the detestable crimes of Jeffrey Epstein; and, related to the Oscar venue, [4] the disgraceful history of women as portrayed in Hollywood films. See for example, Representations of Black Women In Hollywood. Representations of Black Women in Hollywood - See Jane

Folks have had their brains scrambled if they really believe that, when it comes to the daily violence in the Black community, we must take steps to ensure that a Will Smith never again slaps a Chris Rock during a “dignified” event instead of focusing on the systemic factors that contribute to the flooding of many urban Black communities with guns, dope, and preventable diseases.  It is truly “silly season” when masses of people turn their attention away from facts such as gun violence being up 25% in places such as Baltimore and, instead, debate ad nauseum the significance of the “violence” associated with Will Smith’s slap. We should not be in a “silly season” during which, even momentarily, we forget that we live in a society where “violence” against Blacks includes horrendous acts such as a White policeman murdering a Black man by kneeling on his neck for approximately 8 minutes; a Black woman being shot by a police officer while she is sleeping; or a White police woman killing a Black man when she confused her Taser for a gun! 

Woke folks understand that it took until March 2022 to get the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act passed, i.e., a federal law that enables the prosecution of crimes as lynchings if they are committed during a hate crime in which the victim is injured or killed. On the other hand, a Will Smith induced “silly season” draws attention away from the fact that more than 6000 Blacks have been lynched in America and it took centuries to enact the Emmet Till Bill There have been more than 6,400 lynchings since the end of the Civil War, new study reveals | TheHill

Before saying/writing/texting/tweeting another “silly season” thing about the Will Smith slap, please keep in mind facts such as the following: [1] As of this writing, Historically Black Colleges and Universities have received so many bomb threats that the Biden-⁠Harris Administration had to provide intervention resources. [2] Over the past two years, the Covid Pandemic has wreaked havoc on Black communities (See THE STATE OF BLACK AMERICA AND COVID-19 A TWO-YEAR ASSESSMENT). [3] In some places, The Black Homeownership Rate Is Now Lower Than It Was A Decade Ago (See, article by Anna Bahney, CNN Business February 25, 2022). [4] American women are diminished by employers who pay them a fraction of what they pay men, particularly White men. [5] Across the nation, public schools are under attack by ill-informed, ill-advised, ignorant folks who don’t understand “critical,” “race,” or “theory.” 

In sum, do understand that America is one of the most violent countries in the world because of things such as people with weapons of mass destruction engaging in school shootings, not because of a “petulant slap” during an event for “one percenters.”

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

March 31, 2022