Wilcox County High School Students Host First Racially Integrated Prom
On Saturday, April 27, 2013, Wilcox County High School students hosted their first racially integrated prom. Wilcox County High School is located in Rochelle, Georgia. Steve Smith, Superintendent of Wilcox County Schools, Chad Davis, Principal of Wilcox County High School, and the Wilcox County Board of Education denied the request of 2 Black female and 2 White female Wilcox County High School students to host the school’s first racially integrated prom on the campus of Wilcox County High School. Steve Smith, Chad Davis and the Wilcox County Board of Education continue to endorse racially segregated proms at Wilcox County High School.
Because of the great love and support numerous people of all races, ethnicities, and backgrounds from across the nation and world showed Stephanie Sinnot, Mareshia Rucker, Quanesha Wallace, and Keela Bloodworth, the four girls who led the effort to make history by having the school’s first racially integrated prom, many Wilcox County High School students were able to enjoy their first racially integrated prom. They held their prom in a nice location in Cordele, Georgia. The prom was a tremendous success and many media sources covered the prom, including CNN.
People across the world should continue to voice their outrage at Wilcox County High officials (Superintendent Steve Smith, Principal Chad Davis, and the Wilcox County Board of Education) who refuse to support racially integrated proms.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Related Articles
- Wilcox County High School and Racially Segregated Proms (revolutionarypaideia.com)
- Governor Deal Supports Racially Integrated Prom at Wilcox County High School (revolutionarypaideia.com)
- Support Racial and Social Justice at Wilcox County High School (revolutionarypaideia.com)
- Georgia High School to Host 1st Integrated Prom (theroot.com)
- Mo Ivory: I Went To The Integrated Prom-Gov. Nathan Deal Did Not! SHAMEFUL! (atlanta.cbslocal.com)
- Students hold Georgia school’s 1st racially integrated prom (usnews.nbcnews.com)
- New Prom Challenges Tradition in Georgia (learning.blogs.nytimes.com)
- Ga. high school hosts first integrated prom (kvue.com)
- Georgia school holds first integrated prom (newsfixnow.com)
Governor Deal Supports Racially Integrated Prom at Wilcox County High School
(Photo Credit: colorlines.com)
The racially segregated proms the Wilcox County Board of Education, Superintendent Steve Smith and Principal Chad Davis support at Wilcox County High School in Rochelle, Georgia have drawn a response from Georgia Governor Nathan Deal. Governor Deal is proud of the two white and two black female Wilcox County High School students who have spearheaded the effort to end racially segregated proms at the school, and he wants the educational leaders in Wilcox County to find a long-term solution to this problem. Read Governor Deal’s statement of support here: Governor Deal on Racially Segregated Proms at Wilcox County High School.
Superintendent Steve Smith hoped that this issue would be swept under the rug like so many other racist and discriminatory things in the past have been done at Wilcox County High School, but this issue has gained national and international attention and outrage and is not being swept under the rug. Since his support of racially segregated proms has received such significant attention, more investigation of Superintendent Steve Smith, Principal Chad Davis, and the Wilcox County Board of Education is going to reveal just how they have created a culture of racism, discrimination, nepotism, and corruption at Wilcox County High School.
If we’re going to continue to strike mighty blows at racism and discrimination, we have to keep issues like racially segregated proms at Wilcox County High School in our discourses and demand and work for justice.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Related Articles
- Wilcox County High School and Racially Segregated Proms (revolutionarypaideia.com)
- Support Racial and Social Justice at Wilcox County High School (revolutionarypaideia.com)
- NAACP Meets with Wilcox County Board of Education (revolutionarypaideia.com)
- Kids host their first racially integrated prom (ac360.blogs.cnn.com)
- Ga.’s Wilcox County Students Fight Tradition of Segregated Proms (atlantablackstar.com)
- Rejecting Racism: Georgia High Schoolers Demand Their First Ever Integrated Prom (VIDEO) (addictinginfo.org)
- Georgia High School to Host 1st Integrated Prom (theroot.com)
NAACP Meets with Wilcox County Board of Education
(Photo Credit: jacksonville.com)
On April 9, 2013, the Georgia Chapter of the NAACP, led by Chapter President Edward O. DuBose, addressed the Wilcox County Board of Education and Steve Smith, Superintendent of Wilcox County Schools, at the Wilcox County Board of Education’s office in Abbeville, Georgia about racially segregated proms at Wilcox County High School and other issues pertaining to racism and discrimination. When the Wilcox County Board of Education saw that the NAACP and 11 Alive News (a NBC affiliate) planned to attend the meeting, they cancelled the scheduled Board meeting and turned it into a closed work session. Edward O. DuBose and other NAACP representatives informed them that they had traveled over 3 hours and 30 minutes from Atlanta, Georgia to speak to them and they were not going to leave until they spoke to them. Superintendent Steve Smith informed the NAACP members that the Board’s meeting was canceled and rescheduled for next Tuesday, April 16, 2013.
After seeing that the NAACP members were passionate about speaking with them, the Wilcox County Board of Education and Superintendent Steve Smith agreed to hear what they had to say. The 11 Alive News cameras covered what transpired. Watch the 11 Alive News coverage of this event here: NAACP Urges Wilcox Schools to End Segregated Proms.
The Georgia Chapter of the NAACP has expressed that it will continue to investigate issues pertaining to racism and discrimination at Wilcox County High School, and told the Wilcox County Board of Education and Superintendent Steve Smith that if they don’t make changes concerning racism and discrimination that they plan to help the people of Wilcox County to obtain the justice they deserve. The Georgia Chapter of the NAACP is investigating issues that go beyond just the racially segregated proms at Wilcox County High School—the organization wants answers to many other questions involving racism and discrimination at Wilcox County Schools in Rochelle, Georgia.
I urge the NAACP to continue a zealous investigation into racism and discrimination at Wilcox County High School. If the organization needs evidence of discrimination at Wilcox County High School, I can certainly provide it with the evidence it seeks.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Related Articles
- Wilcox County High School and Racially Segregated Proms (revolutionarypaideia.com)
- Support Racial and Social Justice at Wilcox County High School (revolutionarypaideia.com)
- Ga.’s Wilcox County Students Fight Tradition of Segregated Proms (atlantablackstar.com)
- Ga. students fight tradition of segregated proms (cbsnews.com)
- Prom is still segregated at Wilcox County High School GA (motleynews.net)
- Students Need Help Stopping Segregated Prom (newsfixnow.com)
- Georgia Teens Fight for Racially Integrated Prom Because It’s 2013, for Chrissakes (jezebel.com)
- Georgia Teens Look to Dump Segregated Proms (newser.com)
- In black and white: Segregated proms continue but students at Georgia school trying to make history with first integrated prom (blogs.ajc.com)
Support Racial and Social Justice at Wilcox County High School
(Photo Credit: jezebel.com)
Wilcox County High School in Rochelle, Georgia is still the site of racially segregated proms, racially segregated Homecoming dances, only one Black teacher (and she’s made it known she’s not returning at the end of this school year), and great hostility toward Black students, parents, and faculty. On April 9, 2013, Wilcox County High School’s Leadership Team will meet to discuss a potential school-sponsored prom for 2014. This does not address the racially segregated proms that will continue this year. One can expect Steve Smith, Superintendent of Wilcox County Schools, to have the Leadership Team to develop a plan for having a racially integrated school-sponsored prom in 2014 to attempt to evade the numerous charges of racism and discrimination that have been directed to him, the Wilcox Board of Education, and Chad Davis, Principal of Wilcox County High School.
The students who requested to use campus facilities to host a racially integrated prom this year were denied. Others have often been granted privileges to use campus facilities to conduct various activities and host various events, including to have non-school related basketball tournaments and to hold a prayer rally.
Too often we see racial and social injustices happen and all we do is talk about them and write about them, but the troubling racial and social injustices occurring at Wilcox County High School offer us an opportunity to strike a mighty blow at vestiges of the Jim Crow Old South present at Wilcox County High School.
Contact the NAACP here: http://www.naacp.org/page/s/contact and tell them to join the fight against the racial and social injustices happening at Wilcox County High School. If you don’t feel fully confident about the details of issues at Wilcox County High School, just tell them to contact me (Antonio Maurice Daniels) at antoniomdaniels@gmail.com for further details. It’s essential, however, that they hear from as many people as possible to demonstrate how serious the request for their support is.
Contact the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) at 212-549-2500 or contact your local ACLU here: http://www.aclu.org/affiliates. Let the ACLU know that Wilcox County High School approved individuals to use campus facilities to host a prayer rally, but denied students’ requests to use campus facilities to host a racially integrated prom. Again, if you need further details to be provided, have the ACLU to contact me (Antonio Maurice Daniels) at antoniomdaniels@gmail.com.
Contact the National Action Network here: http://nationalactionnetwork.net/about/contact-us/.
Contact the Rainbow PUSH Coalition here: http://rainbowpush.org/pages/contact_us.
We must not simply sit back, talk, and write about these racial and social injustices at Wilcox County High School—we must act! Show how angry you are with these injustices by contacting the previously mentioned contacts. We have to move from anger to action! Anger is not a strategy. Act today!
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Related Articles
- Wilcox County High School and Racially Segregated Proms (revolutionarypaideia.com)
- Georgia Teens Fight for Racially Integrated Prom Because It’s 2013, for Chrissakes (jezebel.com)
- In black and white: Segregated proms continue but students at Georgia school trying to make history with first integrated prom (blogs.ajc.com)
- Ga. students fight tradition of segregated proms (cbsnews.com)
- Georgia High School to Host 1st Integrated Prom (theroot.com)
- It’s 2013 And A High School In Georgia Is Still Holding Racially Segregated Proms (madamenoire.com)
- Students Need Help Stopping Segregated Prom (newsfixnow.com)
- Georgia Students Want To Hold The First Integrated Prom In Their High School’s History (thinkprogress.org)
- Georgia Teens Look to Dump Segregated Proms (newser.com)
Wilcox County High School and Racially Segregated Proms
(Photo Credit: nydailynews.com)
Despite meaningful racial progress across the nation, vexing vestiges of the Jim Crow Old South still exist at Wilcox County High School in Rochelle, Georgia. Although nearly 50% of the student population at Wilcox County High School is composed of Black students, there’s only one Black teacher at the school. Last year, there were two minority teachers at the school but they both were terminated. It was last year when Steve Smith, Superintendent of Wilcox County Schools, led the effort to oust a highly popular Black male teacher who was adored by his students, parents, and the community (see “Citizens Want Teachers Back Next Year” published in The Cordele Dispatch; see also “Racial Discrimination and Free Speech Violations at Wilcox County High School” and “Unfair Termination Hearing for Wilcox County High School Black Male English Teacher”). This is the same school where Superintendent Steve Smith and Principal Chad Davis made the decision to forfeit the first round of the state playoffs for the all-Black varsity boys basketball team in 2012 for a minor off-campus incident that directly involved only one of the players; none of the team members’ parents were consulted before this decision was made and some of the players’ parents stated that Superintendent Steve Smith and Principal Chad Davis are racists (see ““Wilcox County High School Boys Basketball Team Unfairly Forced to Forfeit Playoff Game”). The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported about how minority students are not being adequately prepared academically for higher education at Wilcox County High School. Historically, Wilcox County High School has been a site of great racial problems.
On April 3, 2013, various Georgia and Florida news sources reported the fact that Wilcox County High School has always had and continues to have racially segregated proms, and Black and White female students at the school are joining forces to fight to have the school’s first racially integrated prom. The students have requested to use campus facilities to host the integrated prom, but Wilcox County School officials have denied their request. Wilcox County School officials have not made any substantial efforts to end racially segregated proms. They have adopted a hands-off approach, arguing that they leave decisions and organization of proms to students and parents. A hands-off approach to the problem of racially segregated proms is an endorsement of the status quo (which does not accommodate students’ desire to host an integrated prom on campus).
The failure of Superintendent Steve Smith, Principal Chad Davis, and the Wilcox Board of Education to allow students to use campus facilities to host the school’s first racially integrated prom ostensibly means they support racially segregated proms. Most schools across the nation sponsor school proms. Is it possible that Superintendent Steve Smith and the Wilcox County Board of Education are not sponsoring a school prom to avoid explicitly having to state that they don’t want racially integrated proms at Wilcox County High School? This is certainly possible.
Before last year, all aspects of Homecoming were racially segregated but it was decided to elect only one Homecoming court this past Homecoming. In the past, there was a Homecoming court elected for each racial group. The Homecoming dances are still racially segregated and the school has not made any substantial efforts to end racially segregated Homecoming dances.
Last year, when a biracial Wilcox County High School student attempted to attend the “White Prom,” he was prevented from attending by police officers. Yes, this happened in 2012—no need to get your eyes checked!
Superintendent Steve Smith is also a Church Pastor. Under his leadership, racially segregated proms and Homecomings are taking place, however. It’s time for Superintendent Steve Smith to ask what would Jesus do in response to racially segregated proms. Jesus would not support racially segregated proms and he would not deny students the right to host an integrated prom on campus. In addition, Jesus would not simply leave decisions about proms in the hands of students and parents, especially when those proms have continued to remain racially segregated.
If Wilcox County School officials were really sincere about their claims to be Christians and their claims to do what’s in the best interests of the students, then they will no longer continue to deny students the right to host a racially integrated prom on campus, and will not continue to take a hands-off approach in responding to racially segregated proms.
If you support the effort of Wilcox County High School students to have a racially integrated prom on the Wilcox County High School campus and disagree with the decisions of Superintendent Steve Smith, Principal Chad Davis, and the Wilcox County Board of Education to not allow a racially integrated prom to take place on campus, then call and/or email Superintendent Steve Smith at (229) 467-2141 and smiths@wilcox.k12.ga.us and call and/or email Principal Chad Davis at (229) 365-7231 and davisc@wilcox.k12.ga.us to let them know how you feel.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Related Articles
- In black and white: Segregated proms continue but students at Georgia school trying to make history with first integrated prom (blogs.ajc.com)
- Georgia High School Still Holds Segregated Proms (complex.com)
- Race Matters: Georgia Teens Organize First Integrated Prom After Police Turned Away Bi-Racial Student From White Prom (bossip.com)
- GA seniors push for integrated prom (wcnc.com)
- It’s 2013 And A High School In Georgia Is Still Holding Racially Segregated Proms (madamenoire.com)
- Georgia Students Want to Hold Their First Ever “Integrated” Prom? What Year Is This? (bonjublog.com)
- Georgia Teens Fight for Racially Integrated Prom Because It’s 2013, for Chrissakes (jezebel.com)
Professional Athletes Are Worthy of Their Pay
Although many people think professional athletes make too much money, they deserve the money they earn. Professional athletes provide professional team owners with the highest quality talent and skills available in the world for the positions they fill. When you’re hiring the best available people in the world for the positions you have, those individuals are worthy of earning lucrative salaries. Professional sports team owners are multi-billionaires who make billions more off of the athletes they employ. Unfortunately, the significant income disparities between professional athletes and professional team owners are overlooked. Many people see athletes making millions and fail to realize the owners are raking in billions by giving what’s pocket change to them to the athletes responsible for their continual prosperity. Yes, many professional athletes are rich, especially baseball, basketball, and football players. In comparison to money their team owners receive, these professional athletes are making minimum wages or less.
Deeply underlying many people’s arguments against professional athletes earning the lucrative salaries they collect is a racist critique of the perceived realities of the professional sports economy. One of those racist critiques of the perceived realities of the professional sports economy is it’s leading to too many black male millionaires. While black men are becoming millionaires in the professional sports economy, it does not compare to the way white men become millionaires in the larger national economy. Many racists contend that the professional sports economy threatens to upset white economic dominance. This is such a ridiculous racist postmodern anxiety. The number of black males receiving million dollar salaries in the professional sports economy is analogous to throwing pebbles in a pond—the number is insignificant in comparison to the number of whites who are millionaires. Many racists are simply uncomfortable with seeing a black millionaire, especially a black male millionaire. They try to camouflage their racial hatred for black people by asserting that making millions for playing sports is unjustified.
Last month, Lebron James defended the many millions he makes as a professional basketball player. Although he’s right in explaining why he deserves to be paid such a significant amount of money, it’s time to expose the racism, prejudice and unsubstantiated arguments offered by many who question the legitimacy of professional athletes earning multi-million dollar salaries. One has to wonder would this be such a highly discussed topic if there weren’t a conspicuous number of black men getting multi-million dollar salaries to play professional sports.
Professional athletes have elected to devote themselves to careers in sports and their career choices should be respected as you desire to have your career choices respected.
Do you believe professional athletes make too much money? Why or why not?
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Related Articles
- This Is Why So Many Professional Athletes Are Going Broke (businessinsider.com)
- Media Sports and Money Talk: What Really is Important Here? (leisapath.wordpress.com)
- The 10 Best Careers In Sports (forbes.com)
- Millionaire athletes look to flee California’s 13.3% income tax… (foxnews.com)
- Kobe Bryant tops Forbes’ list of top NBA earners (m.si.com)
- Tom Brady Says All NFL Players Make ‘More Than Fair Share’ (manolith.com)
- Joe Flacco Celebrates Record-Breaking Contract with Trip to McDonald’s (bleacherreport.com)
- Is Flacco Worthy of NFL’s Top Salary? (newsy.com)
Define Yourself, Redefine the World: A Guided Journal for Black Boys and Men: A Review
Define Yourself, Redefine the World: A Guided Journal for Black Boys and Men (2012), penned by Brandon Frame of The Black Man Can, is a powerful journal specifically designed for Black boys and men to engage in critical thought and reflection. In the 284 pages of the journal, Black boys and men have an opportunity to create a vision and plan for ameliorating their own lives in their own language. Never has there been a personal journal produced solely for Black boys and men. Through this journal, they are provided with space to express their thoughts on a range of issues and respond to essential questions. Powerful quotations from accomplished Black men have been carefully selected and masterfully deployed by Brandon Frame to inspire critical thought.
An extensive body of empirical research has evinced that Black male students throughout the educational pipeline academically underperform all students. In the face of this reality, tools must be available to militate against the factors that contribute to Black male academic underachievement. Define Yourself, Redefine the World: A Guided Journal for Black Boys and Men is one of those innovative and valuable resources we need to help Black boys and men to progress academically, professionally, socially and personally. The issues and questions they will confront in the journal offer them opportunities to face what they must do to make a significant change in their lives.
Too many Black boys and men are allowed to read and internalize negative narratives about themselves—primarily verbal and written narratives from Whites who do not wish them well. Harper (2009) contends that Black males must have the opportunity to tell their own narratives in their own voices to offer meaningful and necessary counternarratives to the dominant extant narratives about them—the dominant narratives about them are mostly untrue, demeaning, and racist. Through this journal, Frame empowers Black males with opportunities to write their counternarratives.
A growing body of professional literature demonstrates that mentoring Black male students leads to higher academic achievement and motivation. Frame’s journal equips those who mentor with a resource that can be used to aid them in the process of transforming the lives of Black male students. For those who mentor Black men, it gives them a tool to facilitate proper guidance and support.
Black fathers and sons now have a serious means through which to share and learn from one another. I envision this journal helping to form Black male virtual and non-virtual communities and spaces where important ideas, challenges, problems, and solutions are discussed, shared, envisaged and implemented. Additionally, I can see multifarious conferences and think tanks developing from those who read and use this journal.
I highly recommend this journal. It can be purchased here: Purchase the Journal Here. For only $15.00, you could save your own life and/or the life of a Black boy or man by buying this journal.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Related Articles
- Young black men, unaware and at the highest risk of HIV/AIDS (thegrio.com)
- IU Press to publish new journal on black masculinities (iupress.typepad.com)
- Hey America! Can you please stop killing our (usually) innocent Black male children now? (dailykos.com)
- Single Black Female- The Epidemic (nubiansisters.com)
- “The Hunt is On, and Brother, You’re the Prey” (jackandjillpolitics.com)
- Are black boys endangered? (jsonline.com)
- Premeditated Manslaughter: Notes From a Black Male Suicide Survivor (gawker.com)
- Minister dedicates life to mentoring young black men (chicagotalks.org)
- The “Acting White” Myth (andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com)
- Why do Blacks student not enroll in immersion programs? Avoiding acting White? Probably not (daveporter.typepad.com)
Wilcox County High School Boys Basketball Team Unfairly Forced to Forfeit Playoff Game
Superintendent Steve Smith of Wilcox County Schools and Principal Chad Davis of Wilcox County High School in Rochelle, Georgia made a truly unfair decision to force the all African-American varsity boys basketball team to forfeit their first round state playoff game in February of 2012. The decision was made in response to a minor fight between one member of the Wilcox County High School varsity boys basketball team and a Wilcox County High School Black male student who is not on the basketball team. The fight involved one punch and the Black male basketball player received the punch. A significant number of the boys basketball team members were around at the time this minor fight transpired off-campus.
Again, this was a small fight that happened off-campus.
Take a moment and read “Wilcox County Forfeits out of GHSA Boys Basketball Playoffs” to gain more information.
Superintendent Steve Smith arranged a meeting of the boys’ parents, the boys, administrators, and the head coach of the varsity boys basketball team to inform them of his decision to forfeit the game because of the minor off-campus fight where one of the players was involved in the fight and a significant number of the basketball team members were present. Superintendent Steve Smith made this move without much thought and consideration about what was in the best interest of these Black male student-athletes. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Steve Smith is unfair to African-Americans, and he seems to not have a problem discriminating against African-Americans.
The parents of the Wilcox County High School boys basketball team expressed their outrage at this decision and cited racism as being the chief motivation behind the decision of Superintendent Steve Smith and Principal Chad Davis. Steve Smith and Chad Davis had to orchestrate their plan and this decision late the night before the game was scheduled or possibly early in the morning of the day the game was scheduled. By going ahead and forfeiting the game early in the morning, this would not allow the parents and players to have their voices properly heard and would give them the impression that there was nothing they could do about this decision.
Principal Chad Davis stated that “if anyone thinks that he is a racist, then they don’t really know me too well.” The reality is those parents are too familiar with him and were articulating their beliefs based on a history of actions from him that evince for them he’s a racist.
If there would have been adequate time to advice the parents about what they could do to respond to the decision of Superintendent Steve Smith and Principal Chad Davis, they would have been informed that they had the power to have a lawyer to file an injunction, which would have temporarily overruled the forfeit and allowed the boys to play in the first game of the state playoffs that day. By the time a judge would have heard the case, the boys could have been well into the playoffs and possibly in the championship game before the case would have had a chance to be heard by a judge. Even then, a judge could have ruled against Superintendent Steve Smith and resolved that his decision was not proper.
The Black community in Wilcox County must become more organized and active in fighting against injustices, discrimination, and racism. You live in a county where Jim Crow still rears his ugly head daily.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Unfair Termination Hearing for Wilcox County High School Black Male English Teacher
Wilcox County Superintendent of Schools Steve Smith will propose to the Wilcox County Board of Education the termination of a Black male English teacher who has significant support from students and citizens of the county on Thursday, August 2, 2012 at 3:30 p.m. at the Wilcox County Board of Education located at 395 College Street West, Abbeville, Georgia.
This termination hearing is a part of the process that is established by the Fair Dismissal Act of Georgia. One can reasonably anticipate that the Board of Education will vote for Steve Smith’s proposal to fire the Black male English teacher, considering the Board fired him in the past at Smith’s request and a new teacher has already been introduced to the Wilcox County High School faculty as the new English teacher. The new English teacher is an African-American female. Seemingly, they hired the first Black to walk through the door as an attempt to cover up their wrongs. However, hiring a random Black will not camouflage their wrongs.
Wilcox County Board of Education hired the Black male English teacher in July of 2011, fired him in April of 2012, hired him again in May of 2012, and will fire him on August 2, 2012. Wilcox County citizens went to a Board of Education meeting in May of 2012 to request that he be rehired and Superintendent Steve Smith and the Board of Education hired him back with Smith’s illegal and unfair stipulations (see “Citizens Want Teacher Back Next Year”).
For a fundamental understanding of what’s going on, read “Racial Discrimination and Free Speech Violations at Wilcox County High School”.
Steve Smith seems to have a personal vendetta against the Black male English teacher because he refuses to be a docile Negro. Steve Smith is a pastor of a church. Unfortunately, he’s leading this unfair effort to fire the Black male English teacher at Wilcox County High School.
If you think the Jim Crow epoch is really over, all you have to do is follow phenomena in Wilcox County in Georgia and you will discover that it certainly has not ended.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Be an Advocate for Justice
Love and justice are inextricably linked. You cannot love someone if you’re not willing to advocate for justice for him or her. Justice is what love looks like in public. When things are going on in your community that are not right, you need to take a stand against those things. In order to make change happen, you have to get out and do something that’s going to initiate change. You’re not going to make significant change happen by sitting up in your home hoping that it will materialize. Meaningful change happens when serious efforts are engaged in to make it occur.
As history has demonstrated, African-Americans have suffered from disquieting injustices since they have arrived in America to the present day. We have to do a better job of reporting the injustices we experience throughout the nation. All of the injustices we experience are not going to appear in the mainstream media. We have to, therefore, find ways to have our important narratives heard and read.
Through the power of social media, you can advocate for justice for yourself and others.
Social media presents us with opportunities to have our voices heard. It does not cost an individual anything to use Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, and etc. to let a global audience know about injustices that have happened to you, someone you know, and someone you don’t know. More people have to learn they’re not powerless against racism, prejudice, discrimination, sexism, and etc. You can fight against injustice if you would only get up off your butt! One does not have to be rich to defeat injustice.
One person can start a revolution.
Don’t think that your efforts to pursue justice for yourself and others are in vain—they’re not. Organize people around your cause. There’s strength in numbers. When you begin to have people to join your cause, they can start to give you information about individuals and organizations that can help to maximize the power and potential of your efforts. Although it’s vital for you to advocate for justice for yourself and others, don’t fool yourself into thinking you can handle this cause on your own. You need people to assist you in advocating for justice.
If you’re supervisor is treating you unfairly, don’t let him or her continue to be unfair to you. Stand up to him or her! You can get another job. You have to understand that you need to place a value on yourself that’s greater than any job you have and/or will have.
Black people should never allow their White employers to control them. If they allow them to do this, then they’re willingly accepting enslavement. Our ancestors paid the ultimate sacrifice for us to be free from the manacles and bondage of slavery in all forms. Don’t render their work useless by being a docile body willing to accept enslavement and exploitation. Honor the legacy of our ancestors by fighting for your right to not be dominated by injustice.
Advocating for justice for yourself and others is not a glamorous job, but it is essential work that must be done for the good everyone and for the good of the global community. When you’re fighting against racism, prejudice, discrimination, sexism, and etc., you have to be willing to be in a war against those phenomena for the long haul. You’re not going to conquer those aforementioned phenomena with “microwave advocacy.” In fact, you will only reaffirm their great power.
Don’t sit back and let things happen to you and people in your community that are unfair. Commit yourself to being an advocate for justice. Black people, it’s time for us to stop settling for oppression, depression, estrangement, exploitation, discrimination, and etc. Let’s use our talents, resources, knowledge, and etc. to defeat the many injustices we confront.
Act today! Be an advocate for justice!
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
