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Why the 150th Anniversary of the 15th Amendment Deserves Your Attention in 2020

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As the 2020 Presidential campaign unfolds, history marks the 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment which gave Black men the right to vote and paved the way for a short-lived chapter of political achievement upended by the brutally oppressive Jim Crow era.

“The ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 occurred at a time that different circles were debating who should have access to the franchise, especially given the fact that African Americans were newly-included citizens in the United States via the Fourteenth Amendment,” explains Dr. Shayla Nunnally, a Political Science professor at the University of Connecticut. “People debated whether black men should have the right to vote or whether white women should have the right to vote.  The question about the franchise was posed in such a way that people were considering whether race should be accounted over gender in who would have access to the franchise, first.”

Fifty years passed before women gained the right to vote through the 19th Amendment.

Nunnally says, “Black women also protested for this right, even though, because of their race, they were also discriminated against in discussions and protests in which they asserted their claims for the franchise. Even members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. participated in their first public act of social action by protesting in the mass, suffrage march on March 3, 1913 in Washington, D.C. in which they were forced to march at the back of the march, while white women were marching in front of them.”

 By that time, racial violence and other tactics were being used to suppress the efforts of black men to vote. Many years passed and lives were lost as Black men and Black women sought to exercise their right to vote granted. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, borne of the marches and protests of The Civil Rights Movement, outlawed many of the discriminatory voting practices utilized in southern states to suppress the voice of Black Americans after the Civil War. It represented a major accomplishment for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the other courageous men and women who pushed President Lyndon B. Johnson to support the legislation.

Black Voting Rights in the 21st Century

Yet, many are concerned about a lack of voter participation among Black Americans in the 21st century.

“Since the 1960’s I believe that Black people have become largely complacent about exercising their rights and protesting. It takes a crisis to mobilize us,” says Matt Mixon, a former television executive who works with the voting outreach organization, Souls to the Polls. “We get comfortable, and we do not demand agenda items from the people we do elect, and we do not keep the pressure on them. I believe the Democratic Party takes us for granted largely and too many of us are apathetic.”

In Wisconsin where Mixon lives, he says “multiple organizations” are working to activate voters.

“I worked on this project in 2018, and we think we made a difference, but the job has gotten bigger if anything,” states Mixon.

Using his experience with media, Mixon “drags his camera around” to give voters an opportunity to voice their opinions. Some Wisconsin voters have protested the state’s plan to purge more than 209,000 voters from the rolls. They see it as an attempt to suppress the vote.

“It was frozen, put on pause by the state Appeals Court for the first two elections, but we still have to be on guard because the Republicans are trying to push this through,” Mixon explains. “Their main objective, I assume, is to try to help Donald Trump in November.”

Across the country, reports of voter suppression are increasing. And, Nunnally voices concern that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is vulnerable to judicial and legislative decisions.

“Today, this act is practically nullified, due to the Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder (2013) U.S. Supreme Court case, which found Section 4 of the act to be unconstitutional, and the U.S. Congress has not yet passed legislation to correct this unconstitutionality,” she adds.

For a group of Americans who have faced significant hurdles in their fight for the franchise, the future may involve more legal skirmishes, a dire reality unforeseen more than a century ago when passage of the 15th Amendment suggested long-awaited and permanent electoral inclusion.

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Black History

America Heads Into the Last Mile of the 2024 Presidential Election

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With only a week until Election Day, Vice-President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are holding their final campaign rallies and crisscrossing the battleground states. Both candidates know the importance of every vote, and they are rallying their base in the closing days.

Vickie Newton, founder of The Village Celebration and Love Black History, traces the history of Black voters in America on the eve of the historic 2024 presidential election.

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Black History

Coco Gauff Becomes the Youngest Flag Bearer in US Olympic History

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During the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony, the female American flag bearer will be Coco Gauff, the 20-year-old tennis star. She will be the youngest flag bearer in American Olympic history. Basketball legend LeBron James has been selected as the male flag bearer.

Gauff said, “I was not expecting that.”

Delighted to be selected, Gauff admitted she has “no idea” what her assignment includes, adding, “I don’t know if there’s flag bearer-training I have to go to.”

James has been to the Olympics four times. He was part of U.S. teams that won bronze in 2004, gold at Beijing in 2008 and gold again in London in 2012.

But this will be his first time as the flag bearer.

He said, “It’s an absolute honor. I hope I continue to make my community proud and continue to make my family proud.”

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California Is the First State to Create A Public Alert for Missing Black Youth

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It’s been 21 years since Cleashandria Hall disappeared from Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Her mother Laurell Hall says she dropped her 18-year-old daughter off at her after-school job and never saw her again. For years, Hall and her family have kept their loved ones name in the media by hosting vigils and events that remind the public of their steadfast hope for answers.

But the attention is unusual. More often than not, experts say Black people who go missing do not receive the coverage as whites.

In October 2023, the state of California passed legislation that alerts the public to the disappearance of young people. It’s called the Ebony Alert, and it hopes to change the narrative about Black youth who are missing but don’t receive the same media coverage as white youth.

“We feel it’s well beyond time that we dedicate something specifically to help bring these young women and girls back home because they’re missed and loved just as much as their counterparts are,” State Senator Steven Bradford said in an interview with NBC News.

The recent docuseries about a California woman who faked her disappearance garnered 3.6 million viewers on Hulu, making it the most popular docuseries ever on the streaming service– a distinction that adds more credibility to the ongoing conversation about the disparities in media coverage and public attention when Black Americans are missing.

 Sherri Papini grabbed the spotlight in 2016 as authorities searched for her before she reappeared and years later admitted the hoax. The popularity of the docuseries has reignited the dismay Black families experience when their loved ones are missing.

According to the Black and Missing Foundation, Black Americans make up 40% of missing Americans but only 13% of the population.  

Foundation Founder Natalie Wilson said, “There’s a need for an Ebony Alert because people of color are disappearing at an alarming rate, and typically their cases are under the radar when it comes to media coverage and getting law enforcement resources.”

The Ebony Alert is activated when local authorities request it because a Black youth is missing, and there is concern the youth has been targeted for trafficking, or foul play is suspected. The Ebony Alert uses electronic highway signs and encouraged radio, TV, and social media and other systems to spread information about the missing persons’ alert.

In 2022, California began the Feather Alert which publicizes the disappearance of Indigenous people.

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