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Dear Progressive Reader,
July 25 would have been the eighty-second birthday of Emmett Till—had he not been brutally murdered ([link removed]) on August 28, 1955. Till was a young fourteen-year-old from Chicago, visiting relatives in Mississippi when he crossed the unwritten line and violated the unspoken racial moires of the 1950s South. Till’s murder, and the subsequent campaign by his mother get out the truth of his violent killing to the world, energized and informed ([link removed]) the burgeoning civil rights movement. Activists like the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks ([link removed]) would later tell how their actions were in part informed by the 1955 lynching of Till. The 1968 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was set on August 28 to recognize the anniversary of Till’s death.
This past week, President Joe Biden announced ([link removed]) the creation of an Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument in three locations ([link removed]) in Mississippi and Illinois. But it took until March 29 of last year, more than one hundred years ([link removed]) since it was first proposed in Congress, for a piece of legislation against lynching (now named after Till) to finally be signed ([link removed]) by Biden. And yet, the deaths of young African Americans, often ([link removed]) at the hands of uniformed police, continue on a regular basis in this country.
The legacy of racism in the United States must be addressed, not shoved under the rug ([link removed]) as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and others are attempting ([link removed]) to do. And, as Linda Wiggins-Chavis writes ([link removed]) on our website this week, “We must reject this false narrative, develop an anti-racist mindset, and fight against social, political, and economic injustice. This is the only way this country will be able to dismantle the systems of racial oppression that it so aggressively denies and build an equitable society for everyone.”
Elsewhere on our website this week, Jeff Abbott reports ([link removed]) on the expansion of a U.S. State Department list of corrupt individuals in Latin America; Mike Ervin looks at ([link removed]) the way Florida is commemorating the thirty-third anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act by continuing to violate it; Christopher Blackwell and Kevin Light-Roth write from behind bars ([link removed]) in Washington State about the realities of solitary confinement; and Olivia Riggio tells the story ([link removed]) of a now-exonerated rapper who was able to secretly record an album in prison that told the world of his innocence. Plus, Bill Blum drills down
([link removed]) on Donald Trump’s extensive plans to subvert democracy should he be re-elected in 2024, Tanya Greene pens an op-ed ([link removed]) on the undemocratic nature of the “Cop-City” police training facility planned for Atlanta; and Linnea Hjelm opines on the importance of including young people in decision-making at all levels. “The myriad crises we collectively face,” she says ([link removed]) , “demand innovative and collaborative solutions. It is time for the expertise of teens and young adults to take center stage. Our future depends on it.”
Finally, this July 30 is designated as National Whistleblower Day, based on a U.S. law that is even older than the Constitution. Sarah Cords, who often writes ([link removed]) on the cases of whistleblowers for The Progressive, tells the story of the day, and all the ways in which whistleblowers have not been protected, but rather penalized, by successive U.S. administrations. Cords explains ([link removed]) that a simple thing “all Americans could do to honor whistleblowers is to do the one small thing that whistleblowers have wanted them to do all along: Pay attention to the stories it is their duty to tell you.”
Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
P.S. - The 2023 Hidden History of the United States calendar is now on sale for half price. You can still order one online ([link removed]) .
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