John Brown Lives! Friends of Freedom

Frontline and ProPublica just put out an episode on how to understand the far-right extremist groups that have evolved since Charlottesville and that led to the January 6th insurrection. I will speak to some of this in my talk next Friday. It's an excellent bit of journalism. FYI.

Backpacks When black boys are born We mothers kiss their faces Twirl our fingers in their curls... Put them in carriers on our chest Show them to the world Our tiny black princes And when they start school As early as 3 We mothers Place huge back packs on their backs And we slowly fill them with bricks Etched with tools Tattooed with truths Hoping to save them Don't talk back Don't get angry Say yes ma'am Say no sir Don't fight Even if they hit you first Especially if they are white Do your best Better than best Be still Worker hardest BRICK they get a little older And we add more Keep your hands out of your pockets Don't look them in the eye Don't challenge Don't put your manhood before your life Just get home safe Don't walk alone Don't walk with too many boys Don't walk towards police Don't walk away from police Don't buy candy or ice tea Don't put your hood up I'll drive you I'll pick you up You can't be free Don't go wandering Come home to me BRICK They get a little older And we add more Understand you are a threat Standing still Breathing Your degrees are not a shield Your job is not a shield Your salary makes you a target Your car makes you a target Your nice house in a nice neighborhood Makes you a target Don't put your ego before your safety Don't talk back Don't look them in the eye Get home to your wife Your son BRICK They weigh them down. This knowing Of having to carry the load Of their blackness the world hasn't changed The straps just dig deeper into their skin Their backs ache But their souls don't break Our beautiful black men When you say to me #AllLivesMattermatter I simply ask Will your son die At a traffic stop Will your son die For a 20 dollar Bill Will your son die with the a knee on his neck Mine have #DaunteWright #airfreshener #defundthepolce #BlueLivesMurder #BlackLivesMatter #minneapolis #TrafficStopsMeanDeathIfYouAreBlack #Backpacks #BecauseThisIsGroundHogsDay #LatherRinseRepeat #BlackDeath #WeAreGrievingPerpetually #ArtByHalltoons #Halltoons #ThisOneIsInTheBook #buymybookplease http://www.blurb.com//60961c6d7586a0cd67babc86e7a0da3e8d38

I'm giving a public lecture next Friday on fascist and authoritarian cultures in the North Country. The goal is to help people identify and explain significant white power and anti-government cultural iconography present in our area. More info here:

WOW! These kids.

"Motionless Black bodies have been the tableau upon which the American story has unfolded, and Floyd’s body is sadly but one of the latest examples."

Thoughts on the H.A.L.T Law Being Passed in New York by JBL! Board Treasurer, Tom Terrizzi I join in celebrating this significant legislative initiative to limit the devastating effects of long term solitary confinement. While we should celebrate, it's important to recognize that this is only another step forward and not a complete solution. Like so many events in the fight for civil rights, this represents an opening for real change which will require advocates doubling down...Continue reading

"The year she married Poston, Savage was one of 100 women awarded a scholarship to attend the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts in Paris. But when the admissions committee realized that it had selected a Black woman, Savage’s scholarship was rescinded. In a letter explaining the decision, the chairman of Fontainebleau’s sculpture department, Ernest Peixotto, expressed concern that disagreeable complications would arise between Savage and the students from the Southern states.

Upcoming speaker series! Hosted by the Kelly Adirondack Center at Union College.

A huge victory! "The new law is set to restrict prisons and jails from holding people in solitary confinement nearly all-day isolation for more than 15 consecutive days. It also bars the practice entirely for several groups, including minors and people with disabilities."

https://mailchi.mp/e6c17de48fc7/nycaic-2100524?e=[UNIQID]

21 Day Racial Equity Challenge In follow-up to the February series Black History Matters, the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) encourages folks to engage in Dr. Ernie Moore’s 21 Day Racial Equity Challenge. The NAHOF website will provide the link to Moore’s self-paced program on Monday, April 5, 2021. To access the Challenge, visit www.nationalabolitionhalloffameandmuseum.org and select the 21 Day Racial Equity Challenge. The free program provides several mo...des of accessing information delivered each day. The programs of the first week (of five days) includes Understanding Systemic Racism, The Effects of Racism, Understanding Bias, Understanding Privilege, and Cultural Competence. A tracking tool is supplied to personalize and chart individual progress. The 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge was created by Dr. Eddie Moore Jr.(#BlackMind) and co-developed with Debby Irving, and Dr. Marguerite Penick (#DiverseSolutions). The plan has been adopted by organizations, associations, and corporations in the nation and world. Dr. Moore is the Director of The Privilege Institute in Green Bay WI. He created the Challenge to not only help people better understand issues surrounding equity, inclusion, privilege, leadership and supremacy, but also to do so in a way that would build a habit of learning by stretching it over 21 days. NAHOF is pleased to be offering this 21-Day Challenge in partnership with Dr. Moore. As participants engage in the various activities over the next 21 days, they are encouraged to be sure to tag, comment, and follow 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge | Facebook. Eddie Moore, Jr. received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in Educational Policy and Leadership Studies with research on Black Football Players at Division III Schools in the Midwest. For ten years Dr. Moore served as Director of Diversity at Brooklyn Friends School in Brooklyn NY and The Bush School in Seattle, Washington. In 1996, he started America & MOORE, LLC to provide comprehensive diversity, privilege, and leadership trainings, and workshops. Dr. Moore is co-editor of the publications Everyday White People Confront Racial and Social Injustice: 15 Stories and The White Women’s Guide to Teaching Black Males. The National Abolition Hall of Fame and (NAHOF) is chartered by the Board of Regents, New York State Education Department. NAHOF honors antislavery abolitionists, their work to end slavery, and the legacy of that struggle, and strives to complete the second, and ongoing abolition the moral conviction to end racism. NAHOF is located in historic Peterboro NY in the two-hundred-year-old building in which abolitionists held the inaugural meeting of the New York State Antislavery Society in 1835. The Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark is an Underground Railroad site just down the street.

Repost from @staceyabrams From passage of the #SB202 voter suppression bill targeted at Black and brown voters to the arrest of a Black legislator who was adv...ocating for the voting rights of her constituents, today was a reminder of Georgia’s dark past. We must fight for the future of our democracy #gapol See more

Breaking news! A big kudos to everyone that signed onto the letter initiated by JBL! to hold the officer accountable.

Adirondack Diversity Initiative (of which JBL! is a Core Team member) is a signatory on this letter.

Happy Hanukkah to all of our friends. May your celebrations be be safe and renewing.

Two upcoming opportunities next week to engage with JBL! friend Nell Painter as she engages in conversation. In "Brooklyn"Nell will be talking with Jane Dailey about her new book White Fright on Monday, 14 December, 6:30 PM EST CBH Talks: White Purity, Black Sexuality, and Their Roles in America's History of Racism https://bklynlibrary.zoom.us//re/WN_cSRUgFx2SN2fKQ-uJwPDEQ... and In "Manhattan" on Wednesday, December 16, 6 PM EST Nell will be talking with Andrea Martin, Indhu Rubasingham and Jacqueline Woodson How do these artistsa lauded novelist, theatre director, and actorinterpret the relationship between their personal lives and the art they generate? A Conversation on the Enactment of Identity: Andrea Martin, Indhu Rubasingham and Jacqueline Woodson Moderated by Nell Painter https://www.92y.org/event/enactment-of-identity

Today is International Human Rights Day!