Commentary by Black Kos editor JoanMar
I’m not particularly fond of award shows. I very rarely watch them. I do, however, make an exception for the NAACP Image Awards. Sad to say, I missed even that this year. I should have watched it. I’d have wanted to see the acceptance speeches of Gabrielle Union and her husband, Dwyane Wade, in real time. I heard that their speeches were powerful, and protective, and evocative, and loving, and beautiful. It seemed that Zara Wade’s parents understood their assignment and executed it masterfully. I went looking for videos of the speeches.
If there’s one group of people that racists hate more than they do Black people, it has got to be transgender folks, especially Black transwomen. There is now a fierce competition to see who can conjure up the most offensive and dehumanizing language against people whose only sin is to have the audacity to believe that they too should be free to live their authentic lives. Republicans and their fascist henchmen and women have launched a full-on campaign against the most vulnerable among us.
Murders of trans people nearly doubled over past 4 years, and Black trans women are most at risk, report finds…
Notably, while only 13% of the transgender community is estimated to be Black, according to UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute, Black trans women accounted for nearly three-quarters of the known victims.
I’ve seen adults post comments about teenage Zaya Wade that left me in tears, and I’m not related to her. Well, those who are related to her have had enough. Her (step)mom and dad had something to say and they said it beautifully.
From a protective mom:
"Let's just name a couple hard truths. First, the intersection of Black rights and the rights of the LGBTQIA, trans and gender-nonconforming people continues to be rough — that’s a huge understatement. Even as we demand equality at the top of our lungs, we consistently fail to extend our advocacy to protect some of our most vulnerable among us. And second, Black trans people are being targeted, terrorized and hunted in this country, every day, everywhere. And there’s rarely a whisper about it.
We honestly don't approach this work as activists or leaders as much as we do this as parents. Parents who love our children and will do whatever the hell we can to keep them seen, secured and safe. This is a conversation worth having in ways that actually build bridges; that don’t fan the flame of hatred or division; that don’t enable lawmakers or justice systems to look the other way when Black trans people are under attack; that don’t drive more young people to hate themselves or harm themselves; that don’t cost people their lives.”
From a proud dad:
I want to take this moment to publicly speak to our daughter, Zaya. Zaya, as your father, all I've wanted to do was get it right. I've sat back and watched how gracefully you've taken on the public scrutiny. And even though it's not easy, I watched you walk out of the house every morning as yourself.
I admire how you've handled the ignorance in our world ... that you face every day. To say that your village is proud of you is an understatement. Thank you for showing me that there's more than just one way to communicate effectively. You've taught me that communication with my mouth isn't enough.
Thank goodness that with loving, supportive parents like these, Zara will never have to know what it means to feel unloved, unwanted, and abandoned. The same cannot be said for the vast majority of trans youths, and especially Black trans youths.
One in 4 Black transgender or nonbinary youths attempted suicide in the previous year, a figure more than twice the rate of their Black cisgender peers, according to a new research brief from the Trevor Project that called the situation "a public health crisis that deserves immediate attention."
People desperately needing honey are consistently offered vinegar:
The American Civil Liberties Union said 336 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in statehouses across the country in 2023, eclipsing the record 315 tallied by the Human Rights Campaign in 2022. Many bills target transgender youths, prohibiting gender-affirming care or participation in school sports teams aligned with their gender identity.
We have so much work to do. Thanks to Gabrielle and her husband for going on the offensive. Well done.
Resources for at risk youths:
1. Trans Lifeline is a free crisis hotline staffed by transgender people for transgender people: (877) 565-8860
2. Call the Trans Youth Scheduling Line at 617.457. · If you are looking for behavioral health services only (ages 12+), call 617-927-6202
3. TrevorLifeline 1-866-488-7386. Crisis intervention and suicide prevention phone service available 24/7/365.
4. Disaster Distress Helpline: Call or Text 1-800-985-5990
5. Call Lifeline anytime, 24/7: 988
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News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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A group of human rights attorneys have filed a joint submission urging the United Nations to review abusive solitary confinement practices used in the U.S. against Black Americans.
The submission, which comes ahead of U.N. officials’ April trip to the U.S. to review issues related to racial justice and equality in law enforcement, details the physical and mental health repercussions of solitary confinement.
The visit is part of a four-point agenda to end systemic racism and human rights violations by law enforcement against Africans and people of African descent. It comes after the Biden administration extended an invitation to the U.N. in December.
“A lot of times there’s a focus on pretrial work and bail reform, which is incredibly important. But sometimes we lose sight of what happens to people post-conviction,” said Delia Addo-Yobo, staff attorney for Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights U.S. Advocacy and Litigation program, one of the organizations involved in the submission.
“More often than not, the people who are put in custody, pretrial or post-conviction, they’re returning to society, they’re coming back home and it’s really tragic that they’re having these deep psychological and physical wounds placed upon them.”
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Flores sued the league and three teams a year ago, saying the league was “rife with racism,” particularly in its hiring and promotion of Black coaches. The Grio: NFL coach Brian Flores’ discrimination case going to court
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NFL Coach Brian Flores can press discrimination claims against the league and three teams after a federal judge on Wednesday rejected the option of arbitration, presumably before Commissioner Roger Goodell, and offered some stinging observations about the status of racial bias in the sport.
The written decision by Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan clearing the way for Flores to bring his claims to trial also required two other coaches who joined the lawsuit to submit to arbitration. The league had tried to move the Flores claims to arbitration, citing contracts that coaches had signed.
Flores sued the league and three teams a year ago, saying the league was “rife with racism,” particularly in its hiring and promotion of Black coaches.
Caproni wrote that the descriptions by the coaches of their experiences of racial discrimination in a league with a “long history of systematic discrimination toward Black players, coaches, and managers — are incredibly troubling.”
The judge said it was “difficult to understand” how there was only one Black head coach at the time Flores filed his lawsuit in a league of 32 teams with Black players making up about 70% of the rosters.
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A long-awaited hearing examining racism allegations which brought shame on English cricket’s most successful county team started Wednesday, with past and present internationals set to give evidence to a disciplinary panel over the next week.
It is the next stage of a scandal that erupted when Azeem Rafiq, a former player at Yorkshire, went public alleging he had been the victim of racial harassment and bullying across two spells at the club between 2008-18.
Rafiq’s complaints reached the British Parliament — where he testified through tears to legislators and called English cricket “institutionally racist” — and led to Yorkshire losing sponsors and briefly the right to stage international matches at its home, Headingley Stadium, over its response to the scandal.
Despite seven of Rafiq’s 43 claims being upheld after an investigation and Yorkshire apologizing for Rafiq being the victim of “racial harassment and bullying,” the full report was not published and didn’t lead to any of the club’s hierarchy facing disciplinary action following its own internal investigation.
As a result, disrepute charges were issued by the England and Wales Cricket Board in June against seven individuals with prior connections to Yorkshire Cricket Club, which was also charged.
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For much of his political career, Nigerian President-elect Bola Tinubu has exerted power from behind the scenes, widely regarded as a "godfather" who uses an extensive patronage network to back candidates for office.
Tinubu's support helped outgoing leader Muhammadu Buhari win two terms in office, in 2015 and 2019. And since he bowed out as Lagos governor in 2007, Tinubu has picked every subsequent winning candidate to run Africa's biggest city.
That power will now be tested as Tinubu attempts to tackle Nigeria's crises and improve on Buhari's lacklustre record.
Nigeria is beset by armed groups that have rendered swathes of the country ungovernable, while its economy is barely keeping up with population growth amid surging inflation and crippling cash shortages after a botched introduction of new bank notes.
Many of these problems worsened under Buhari, on whose party ticket Tinubu ran. But asked at a weekend news briefing why voters should elect him, he distanced himself from the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) party he helped create.
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Mining indaba, Africa’s largest mining conference, is an anthropologist’s dream. There are the corporate chief executives: alpha males keen to cut big deals for big rocks. There are the engineers staffing stands in bright corporate attire, resembling darts teams on tour, and the colourful African delegations: Ghanaians draped in kente cloth or Congolese dandies with watches the size of clocks. They are offset by Chinese officials in dark suits and Saudis in white thawbs.
This year’s event, which took place in Cape Town in February, attracted America’s largest delegation ever, including officials from the White House and departments of state, commerce and energy. Its size reflects America’s hunger for the 50 “critical minerals” it deems essential to reduce carbon emissions and create green jobs in the process. Though America’s search is global, Africa, home to around 30% of the world’s mineral resources, is a crucial part of the hunt. And by pledging to do mining differently—both from how China does it now and how the West has in the past—America says it will help transform African economies. “The energy transition is an opportunity for an Africa transition,” says Amos Hochstein, Joe Biden’s envoy for all things concerning energy security.
American officials see Africa as helping to solve two problems. The first is a global shortfall in the minerals that will be needed if the world is to meet its climate goals. The International Energy Agency, an official forecaster, reckons that makers of clean-energy technologies will need 40 times more lithium, 25 times more graphite and about 20 times more nickel and cobalt by 2040 than in 2020. Demand for rare-earth elements—metals in the esoteric parts of the periodic table used in everything from wind-turbine magnets to fighter jets—may be seven times higher by the end of the next decade.
The second problem, at least for the West, is China’s outsized influence on supply chains. China refines 68% of the world’s nickel, 40% of copper, 59% of lithium and 73% of cobalt, according to a report in July by the Brookings Institution, an American think-tank. “China has had free rein for 15 years while the rest of the world was sleeping,” says Brian Menell, chief executive of TechMet, a minerals firm. Though China is less dominant in mining, where its firms compete with multinational majors, Western governments are concerned that, without additional supply, firms will struggle to feed new downstream processing facilities that officials are keen to see built in friendly countries.
America views cobalt, which is used in batteries, as a cautionary tale. In Congo, the source of about 70% of global production, Chinese entities owned or had stakes in 15 of 19 cobalt-producing mines as of 2020. America’s decision to allow a us firm to sell one of Congo’s largest copper-cobalt mines to a Chinese one in 2020 is seen in Washington as an enormous act of stupidity. It is little comfort that battery-makers are trying to use less cobalt, in part because of concerns about operating in Congo. “We cannot allow China to become an opec of one in critical minerals,” says an American official, referring to the oil cartel.
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