D.C. police recruits are learning about Black history, go-go music and half-smokes. Leaders think it will make them better officers.

Peter Hermann

May 29, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

Unsuccessful at filling its police officer ranks with more people of color from the neighborhoods where they'll patrol, the D.C. police department takes its largely white recruit classes into those neighborhoods for lessons on local history and culture. Residents talk to the new officers about their need for safety but their fear and resentment of police abuses. They also educate them about local customs that outsiders might see as a threat until they have a deeper understanding of the culture.

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Black Mothers Face Dangerous Health-Care Disparities. Can Midwives Bridge the Gap?

Sarah Weiser

May 13, 2021 |

The New Yorker |

Multi-Media |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Memphis, Tennessee

Choices - Memphis Center for Reproductive Health provides midwifery services and trains new generations of midwives, with a focus on improving the experiences of women of color. Midwives played a central role in Black communities for centuries and research shows that women with low-risk births have better emotional and physical outcomes with midwives. Women also express a greater sense of trust and understanding with Black midwives, who can relate to their experiences as women of color in the healthcare system. Midwives take more of a holistic approach to treating women’s emotional and physical needs.

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How two Black CEOs got corporate America to pay attention to voting rights

Todd C. Frankel

May 04, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Georgia

A small group of prominent Black business leaders personally urged their corporate peers to oppose the restrictive voting laws being considered in dozens of states. Public statements framing voting rights as a moral, non-partisan issue led to hundreds of corporations - including Microsoft and Target – publicly opposing the bills, with some threatening to withhold investment and campaign donations in states that pass such laws. The Major League Baseball All-Star game was pulled from Georgia. Organizers believe White executives were more likely to listen to Black executives than Black grassroots activists.

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Africa's Wikipedia Editors Are Changing How the World Sees Their Continent

Tolu Olasoji

April 12, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: South Africa

WikiAfrica Education increases information about Africa’s diverse languages, cultures, and politics from the voices and perspectives of African people. AfroCuration events enlist the help of young people to create and edit content for Wikipedia. The volunteers receive lessons on democracy and freedom movements and then use that information to create profiles of key events and history-makers. Strategic partnerships provide technical support and other resources, which have enabled hundreds of young people to produce hundreds of new entries and translate many existing entries into indigenous languages.

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What Other States Can Learn from Georgia's Historic Elections

Fiza Pirani

April 08, 2021 |

Yes! Magazine |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Georgia

A complex combination of successful fundraising campaigns, engaging with and energizing Black voters, and mobilizing the state’s other ethnic and racial groups helped Democrats flip Georgia blue in 2020. Large financial investments allowed organizers to implement effective voter education and registration campaigns and distribute the resources to areas where the need to mobilize voters was greatest. Organizers tapped into Black culture through food, music, and the Black church to energize voters. They also conducted multiracial, multi-ethnic, and multilingual outreach to engage other marginalized groups.

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The invisible shield: how qualified immunity was created and nearly destroyed the ability to sue police officers in America Pt. I

Herb Boyd, Damaso Reyes

April 01, 2021 |

New York Amsterdam News |

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Response Location: United States

The Civil Rights Act of 1871, as a direct response to white resistance to Reconstruction-era reforms in the former Confederacy, gave people the right to sue government officials for depriving them of their civil rights. But a series of court decisions from the Civil Rights Era of the 1960s through the 1980s undercut the law's intent, so much so that police officers ended up with "qualified immunity" from liability for rights violations – effectively avoiding accountability, even when they act in bad faith.

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As COVID-19 Damages Black Appalachian Communities, This Mother, Daughter Team Are Working to Save an Unexpected Casualty: Black History

Kristen Uppercue

February 09, 2021 |

100 Days in Appalachia |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Uniontown, Pennsylvania

The Fayette County Traveling Museum collects, preserves, and shares Uniontown’s Black history. The owners sift through archives, libraries, and donated boxes of materials, which are displayed as educational resources. The museum, which before COVID-19 was set up at schools and churches, details the early history of African Americans, both enslaved and free, the town’s Underground Railroad stop, prominent Black community figures, and the area’s Klu Klux Klan presence. Video and oral histories of older residents also encourage young people to explore their history and make the information more accessible.

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16 Raleigh churches begin to chip away at NC's inequity in vaccine distribution

Adam Wagner

February 06, 2021 |

The News & Observer |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Raleigh, North Carolina

A partnership between WakeMed and Wake County Public Health made 1,700 shots available with vaccine clinics in 16 churches and a community center. Trusted messengers, like pastors, are more effective at communicating why people should get vaccinated and convincing them to actually get the shot. Local availability helps people overcome transportation and other equity concerns, like needing access to the county’s online registration system or waiting on hold to make an appointment. The sites offered on-site registration and on-site and culturally and linguistically appropriate information.

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‘Make no mistake': Drag queens are leading a racial reckoning in Chicago's famous LGBTQ neighborhood

Jake Wittich

February 03, 2021 |

The GroundTruth Project |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

The Chicago Black Drag Council launched after a series of protests that called on Chicago’s LGBTQ neighborhood to address racial discrimination and oppression. A handful of businesses quickly agreed to a live-streamed town hall to discuss ways to increase inclusivity. As a result, a prominent host of popular drag shows was ousted for racial discrimination and the business chamber dropped the neighborhood’s nickname, “Boystown,” from marketing materials because it is not inclusive. The Drag Council has also raised tens of thousands of dollars in cash and supplies to support Black- and trans-led initiatives.

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Plantation tours bypass the ‘big house' to focus on the enslaved

Lindsey McGinnis, Noah Robertson

January 15, 2021 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

In an effort to combat racial injustice, former plantations are shifting the narrative typically given on tours to focus on the lives of the enslaved who once lived there instead of enslavers who owned the plantations. The initiative sprung from a need to accurately portray the history of slavery and better “inform the present.”

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