A panel debate Sunday at the Union Chapel over how economic issues play into the social justice movement shifted quickly.
A panel debate Sunday at the Union Chapel over how economic issues play into the social justice movement shifted quickly.
Fifty years later, the question is, what changed? Is the South and the country as a whole a better place because of the direct action at that time? The answer is more complicated than a simple yes or no.
Black Americans on average die four years before White Americans, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistic released last month. “When America gets a cold, poor black folk get pneumonia,” said Dr. David Williams, professor of public health at Harvard, in a panel discussion last week.
Fifty years ago this month Harry Belafonte helped make history. On August 28, 1963, Mr. Belafonte, at Martin Luther King Jr.’s behest, recruited celebrities to speak to the estimated 250,000 Americans assembled on the Washington Mall — an event which, for many, defined a decade, even a century.
Music videos, movies, the Internet and the news have embedded the stereotypes of African American men as dangerous and violent in society, said the chairman and CEO of BET Networks, Debra Lee, at a forum on Friday afternoon.
Members of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Martha's Vineyard recently assembled for a Sunday worship service that was typical for the congregation. It began with brief community announcements, a hymn and the lighting of a chalice.
But when it was time for the sermon, something different happened. Instead of one minister taking time to talk about the Bible or God or even Martin Luther King Jr., as is the tradition on the second Sunday of the year, the Rev. Bruce Kennedy and two guest speakers each told stories about racial injustice and about "conversations" on race they have had during their lives. When they were done, other members of the congregation also spoke, taking turns voicing their own memories and feelings on the issue.
