Ex-BLM Leader Rashad Turner Says He Quit After Learning ‘Ugly Truth’ About Organization And Claims They Have ‘Little Concern For Rebuilding Black Families’; Co-Founder Patrisse Cullors Steps Down After Purchasing $1.4 Million Home

A former Black Lives Matter leader in Minnesota who quit after 18 months says he learned the ‘ugly truth’ about the organization’s stance on family and education after working on the inside.

Rashad Turner, who founded the local BLM chapter in St. Paul in 2015, released a video last week titled ‘The Truth Revealed about BLM’.

In the video, the 35-year-old said he eventually came to the realization that BLM had ‘little concern for rebuilding black families’.

Speaking about becoming the founder of the local BLM chapter, Turner said: ‘I believed the organization stood for exactly what the name implies – black lives do matter. 

‘However, after a year on the inside, I learned they had little concern for rebuilding black families and they cared even less about improving the quality of education for students in Minneapolis.’

Turner, who now campaigns heavily for education, said his stance on BLM became clear when the organization called for a freeze on the growth of charter schools and further investment in public schools in 2016.

‘I was an insider in Black Lives Matter and I learned the ugly truth… 

‘The moratorium on charter schools does not support rebuilding the black family but it does create barriers to a better education for black children. 

‘I resigned from Black Lives Matter after a year and a half but I didn’t quit working to improve black lives and access to a great education.’  

His video also highlighted how BLM’s website once stated that it wanted to ‘disrupt the nuclear family structure’. 

That phrase was removed from the national website last year.  

The video was published online by an organization called TakeCharge Minnesota.  

It serves as a promotion for Turner’s new role as with the Minnesota Parent Union, which he says is dedicated to helping black parents find successful schools for their children. 

He said that in his new role he was ‘up against forces that don’t want us to succeed’ but didn’t not elaborate further. 

Turner, who ran as a Democrat for the state legislature back in 2016, was born and raised in St. Paul.  

Turner’s comments about the BLM organization come less than a week after its national co-founder Patrisse Cullors revealed she was stepping down.

Cullors, who has been at the helm of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation for nearly six years, had faced criticism in recent weeks after it emerged she had amassed a $3 million property portfolio despite describing herself as a ‘trained Marxist’. 

The 37-year-old activist told The Associated Press that she is leaving to focus on other projects, including the upcoming release of her second book and a multi-year TV development deal with Warner Bros. 

‘I’ve created the infrastructure and the support, and the necessary bones and foundation, so that I can leave,’ Cullors stated. ‘It feels like the time is right.’  

Cullors faced fierce backlash over revelations about her personal spending – including the recent purchase of a $1.4 million home in a ritzy L.A. neighborhood. 

It prompted many to question what percentage of BLM donations were actually going towards social justice programs. 

She insisted, however, that her resignation was in the works for more than a year and had nothing to do with the personal attacks she has faced. 

‘Those were right-wing attacks that tried to discredit my character, and I don’t operate off of what the right thinks about me,’ Cullors told the Associated Press. 

Last month, she described the criticism as ‘racist and sexist’ smears deliberately put out by the ‘right-wing media’. 

But it wasn’t just conservatives who pressed Cullors over her finances. 

The head of New York City’s BLM chapter called for an independent investigation into the organization’s finances after revelations about the property portfolio surfaced.  

Source: DailyMail

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Dick Gregory: Race, Comedy, And Justice

Its hard to predict whether Dick Gregory will be most celebrated as a path-breaking comedian or a trailblazing civil rights activist. Its impossible to imagine the history of either movement without him—or without his unique blending of the two. In the early 1960s, he became one of the first black comedians to perform before integrated audiences. In 1967, he ran for mayor of Chicago against Richard J. Daley, and a year later for president as the Freedom and Peace Party candidate. The author of and contributor to many politically charged books, Gregory is still a staunch, wry political voice across a range of issues as varied as nutrition, social justice, and the environment. Chicago Sun-Times columnist Laura Washington interviews the provocative and always unpredictable Gregory.

The Real Story Of The Green Book – The Guidebook That Helped Black Americans Travel During Segregation

Until the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, the Green Book was critical for black Americans wanting to travel across the country.

Road tripping in the 20th century became an iconic American obsession, and the rising middle class was eager to travel the country on the new interstate highway system. The Green Book was a unique travel guide during this time, when segregation was practiced all over the country.

The book, which grew to cover locations in all 50 states, listed hotels, restaurants, gas stations, beauty salons, and other services that would reliably serve African Americans. The listings grew from user correspondence and a network of African American postal workers under the guidance of Victor Hugo Green, the book’s publisher.

The American road trip would go on to be an anchor in the civil rights discussion, as it highlighted the injustices and prejudice that African Americans suffered under Jim Crow. Before the Civil Rights Act outlawed racial discrimination in public accommodations, Victor Green’s booklet helped black Americans navigate their country.

Chris Rock Explains Why He Hates Civil Rights Movies: ‘They Make Racism Look Very Fixable’

Chris Rock sounded off on films that deal with Civil Rights struggles and said the issue with the majority of these films is that they “make racism look very fixable.” Rock said the stories his mother used to tell him about the Civil Rights Movement era make it clear these films should be “dirtier,” if they want to be accurate.

“I hate all Civil Rights movies,” Rock said. “Don’t get me wrong, I applaud the effort and they should exist. The problem is they only show the back of the bus and the lunch counter. They actually make racism look very fixable. They don’t get into how dysfunctional the relationships were in the ’40s and ’50s, white men would just walk in your house and take your food… it’s a predator-prey relationship. Do you think when it was time to rape, [white men] were raping white women? No. They would go and rape the women they could actually rape without going to jail for.”

“This shit is so much dirtier than any movie ever shows,” Rock continued. “My mother used to get her teeth taken out at the vet because you weren’t allowed to go to the dentist. No movie shows you that.”

Rock did not call out any Civil Rights movies by name, although his argument that such films “make racism look very fixable” were the same criticisms thrown at Best Picture winner “Green Book.” 

Source: IndieWire

Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans Are at an ‘Alarming Level’, UN Says

Experts from the United Nations (UN) formally expressed concerns about the growing number of attacks against Asian Americans amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the alleged lack of measures from authorities to combat them.

The experts, appointed by the Human Rights Council (HRC), serve as rapporteurs on (1) contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance; (2) human rights of migrants; and (3) discrimination against women and girls.

“Racially motivated violence and other incidents against Asian-Americans have reached an alarming level across the United States since the outbreak of COVID19,” experts continued.

These included vandalism, verbal harassment, physical attacks, and refusal of service and access.

Verbal harassment comprised the majority of the incidents. Victims reportedly heard profanities such as “f**ing Chinese,” “die ch*nk die,” “yellow n*****” and “go back to China, b**ch!”

The group also cited the alleged link between President Donald Trump’s anti-China rhetoric and the surge in hate incidents. They noted that his actions have been “seemingly legitimizing” the phenomenon.

Trump has used controversial terms to refer to COVID-19, including “Chinese Virus,” “China Virus,” “China Plague,” “Wuhan Virus,” “Kung Flu.” The World Health Organization (WHO), a specialized agency of the UN, has long opposed the use of such terms.

“Don’t attach locations or ethnicity to the disease, this is not a ‘Wuhan Virus,’ ‘Chinese Virus’ or ‘Asian Virus.’ The official name for the disease [COVID-19] was deliberately chosen to avoid stigmatization,” the agency said in March.

Congress has since introduced bills (House of RepresentativesSenate) condemning all forms of anti-Asian sentiment. The House passed its version by Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) last month, which led to attacks against the official herself.

Reddit changes logo in support of #BlackLivesMatter and co-founder Alexis Ohanian resigns; asked to be replaced with black candidate

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Current CEO Steve Huffman posted a letter to Reddit employees on June 1 outlining support for the Black Lives Matter movement, but it did not include specific actions the company was taking. The logo will remain black for eight days, in symbolism of the number of minutes Minneapolis police office Derek Chauvin held his knee on George Floyd’s neck.

Today, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian announced his resignation from his role on the board of directors and asked to be replaced with a black candidate. He has also donated one million dollars to Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights campaign, and said he will funnel all future gains on his Reddit stock to benefit the black community.

Source: SF Gate

Elizabeth Eckford

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Like a boss. 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford ignoring angry parents & students on her first day integrated into Little Rock High School during desegregation. White teenagers chanted “Two, four, six, eight, we ain’t gonna integrate”. Photos by Will Counts (1957)