Author: Natalie Bean

Recently I came across a new Netflix mini drama series that will be coming to Netflix at the end of May. Enticed by the title of the series, I clicked on it in curiosity. What I watched lead me further and further into learning about the cases of the Central Park Five and how unjust and terrible their experience was. The Central Park Five case is a 1989 case involving a white jogger who was beaten and rapped while jogging in the park at night. Around the same time, a group of youths who were in the park were suspected of assaulting other joggers, throwing rocks at bicyclists and harassing a homeless man. The police department wrongfully assumed that five boys from that group were the ones who raped and injured the jogger. What unfolded was a series of alleged mistreatment towards the five boys charged with her assault, depriving them of necessary resources like food and water, interrogating them without their parents in the room and forcing them to corroborate their stories. After a series of trials and (in my opinion) unfair trials, the boys were convicted. In 2002, all five (now) men were vacated of their charges.

I hope that this series will shed some light on the issue of racially charged police treatment and corrupt justice systems that were happening then and are still happening today. I also hope it shows how quick people are to negatively judge youths who are not white. I think that this series will educate a new generation of youth about the Central Park Five and their stories. I was born and raised in New York, but I didn’t know about their stories and cases of wrongful (and extremely unjust) convictions until this year. It will be interesting to see how the public receives the series and if it leads to more discussion and action towards corrupt and racially motivated police cases.

On April 29th, Delaware State University announced their plans to open up a Center for Global Africa. The center is going to focus on re-educating the descendants of slaves in the United States. It is also meant to “renew and strengthen descendants connections to their continent of their ethnic origin.  Doctor Ezrah Aharone, a professor at the university, commented that it would connect HBCU scholars with scholars in Africa. The article also states that “The new center already has plans to conduct an African economic development project involving asset mapping.”.  I think that this topic is especially interesting in todays political and racial climate. While it is an opportunity for African Americans to connect with something I believe our country is still trying to stray away from recognizing, I do have my doubts. I wonder if people will be able to connect with the countries their ancestors were taken from like the Center hopes to. I remember reading about how hard it is for some African Americans to feel like they belong when visiting the country of their descendants. Still, I think that the center will be a great place for people who want to re-explore their descendants history to do so.

Source: https://goodblacknews.org/2019/05/03/delaware-state-university-establishes-center-for-global-africa-to-educate-descendants-of-enslaved-people-on-their-african-past/

On February 14th of this year, Brooklyn based activist and journalist Shaun King and friend Benjamin Dixon relaunched the North Star,  an abolitionist newspaper created by Fredrick Douglass in 1847. This time however, it is a modern media company serving a “modern hub for liberation journalism”. The North Star’s publishing agenda includes articles, podcasts, broadcasts and stories in many different forms. As written on the North Star Website, their mission is to be unapologetic freedom fighters who speak the truth from their own perspectives. This company is in many ways bridging the gaps between modern social-justice media by presenting a single platform for all of the different social-justice forms to come together. Since it’s launch in February, the company has built their own television broadcast studio (with broadcasts coming soon), created a website, published articles to that website, produced and released two podcast episodes and more. Oh, and it should also be mentioned that the North Star has been entirely funded by crowdsource funding by over 25,000 people and without the help of other big wig media companies.

Interestingly enough, after the North Star’s relaunch in February, many people were skeptical of their actual existence, as the North Star was not as active on their social media as some would have liked. The news that the company was not actually happening and that all employees had been fired spread throughout twitter and many people became worried. The North Star responded to this by providing links to their current articles and media out, as well as the news that studios that were being built. This almost immediate backlash and suspicion to the company is interesting to me. What does that say about the social-justice initiative today and the direction in which media approaches it? Perhaps the North Star will address that in their next podcast or article.

https://www.npr.org/2018/11/10/666569978/activist-shaun-king-on-why-hes-reviving-frederick-douglass-north-star-paper

https://thenorthstar.com/

This week, members of the Wisconsin legislator’s black caucus attempted to pass a resolution honoring African American leaders for Black History Month.  The resolution was set to honor Colin Kaepernick (among others) for his advocacy on police brutality and the injustice towards the black community. However, Wisconsin Republicans lawmakers blocked the resolution on Tuesday, saying that they would not let it pass with Kapernick’s name on the list of honorees. Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke even went as far as saying that Kapernick was left off of the resoution for “obvious reasons” and called him a controversial figure.The Republicans then drafted their own resolution, leaving Kapernick’s name off of the list, offering the new resolution or none at all. The new resolution was ultimately passed leaving many democrats and black caucus leaders unhappy, as it will continue on in the state senate.

David Crowley,  the chairman of the Wisconsin legislators black caucus spoke to reporters about the resolution saying, “You’re telling African-Americans they can’t honor who they feel are the leaders in their community,” and he is exactly right. In fact, Crowley and many other African-American legislators spoke out about that exact point during their debate. Why should a group of white men dictate which African Americans get to be honored for Black History Month? To put it simply, they should not. A group of white men should not get to tell African-Americans who they can celebrate and be proud of in their own communities. This serves as an example of the systematic racism of which America was built on and how ingrained it still is in our society today.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/celebrities/kaepernick-fight-stalls-black-history-month-resolution/2019/02/12/9cf1440a-2f09-11e9-8781-763619f12cb4_story.html?utm_term=.1a3a84f3914e

https://www.dailyfreeman.com/news/national/wisconsin-senate-refuses-to-honor-colin-kaepernick/article_85d43cb0-2a17-5606-a0ed-f734c445628b.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/02/13/wisconsin-gop-lawmakers-force-removal-colin-kaepernicks-name-black-history-month-resolution/?utm_term=.4c6f3339f1f6