I know the type. VERY well.
Commentary by Chitown Kev
I’ve known a few of the Mark Robinsons nearly all of my life.
Men (mostly Black and some white) with the veneer of being “deeply religious.” Men that hold the most reactionary opinions which they have no problem voicing in the church or the barber shop or (in Mr. Robinson’s specific case, apparently) a pornographic message board. The laudatory comments about Hitler sound familiar. Decrying anything that sounds or acts in the least bit gay (forget about the LGBTQ, it’s all gay to this type). Whether they are with a group of their homies or by themselves in public spaces, they say all sorts of hateful things about others without fear or shame.
I’ve also known a few of them because I’ve been to bed with them or had anonymous sex with them in the outdoors. I’ve occasionally acknowledged their knocks in the booths of certain adult bookstores and welcomed them in for two minutes (and sometimes it doesn’t even take that long!). I’m always amazed when they tell me not to “tell anyone about what we did” as if we share similar social circles or something. Or as if the deed that was done was something to write home about. (TMI, I know...but necessary to fill out the profile.)
Over time, I’ve learned that what the Mark Robinson-types of the world hate the most is to be ignored. It’s all about being the “shock jock” or, as Atlantic writer David Graham called this type, a poster.
A troll. A hypocrite.
It’s took some time but I’ve just learned to ignore the type since my late 20’s. How this Mark Robinson-type gets elevated politically into statehouses, governor’s mansions, and even the White House is above my pay grade but we all have our own exposures to this type as well as our own learning curves.
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News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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The Government Accountability Office found that Black girls received nearly half of the most severe punishments, like expulsion, even though they represent only 15% of girls in public schools. NPR: Exclusive: Watchdog finds Black girls face more frequent, severe discipline in school
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Black girls face more discipline and more severe punishments in public schools than girls from other racial backgrounds, according to a groundbreaking new report set for release Thursday by a congressional watchdog.
The report, shared exclusively with NPR, took nearly a year-and-a-half to complete and comes after several Democratic congressional members requested the study. Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, later with support from Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, asked the Government Accountability Office in 2022 to take on the report.
The findings offer a first of its kind snapshot of the disciplinary disparities that Black girls face in public schools across the U.S. — often for similar behaviors.
Over the course of the 85-page report, the GAO says it found that in K-12 public schools, Black girls had the highest rates of so-called "exclusionary discipline," such as suspensions and expulsions. Overall, the study found that during the 2017-18 school year, Black girls received nearly half of these punishments, even as they represent only 15% of girls in public schools.
According to the report, Black girls accounted for 45% of out-of-school suspensions, 37% of in-school suspensions and 43% of expulsions for actions like "defiance, disrespect, and disruption." Nationally, Black girls received such exclusionary discipline at rates 3 to 5.2 times those of white girls. The study also found that when they had a disability, discipline rates for Black girls grew even larger.
"This new report, it's damning. It affirms what we've known all along that Black girls continue to face a crisis of criminalization in our schools," Pressley said. "And the only way we can address this crisis is through intentional, trauma-informed policy. And Congress must act."
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Slumped on the ground over a mound of dirt, Divine Wisoba pulled weeds from her daughter’s grave. The 1-month-old died from mpox in eastern Congo in August, but Wisoba, 21, was too traumatized to attend the funeral.
In her first visit to the cemetery, she wept into her shirt for the child she lost and worried about the rest of her family. “When she was born, it was as if God had answered our prayers — we wanted a girl,” Wisoba said of little Maombi Katengey. “But our biggest joy was transformed into devastation.”
Her daughter is one of more than 6,000 people officials suspect have contracted the disease in South Kivu province, the epicenter of the world’s latest mpox outbreak, in what the World Health Organization has labeled a global health emergency. A new strain of the virus is spreading, largely through skin-to-skin contact, including but not limited to sex. A lack of funds, vaccines and information is making it difficult to stem the spread, according to alarmed disease experts.
Mpox — which causes mostly mild symptoms like fever and body aches, but can trigger serious cases with prominent blisters on the face, hands, chest and genitals — had been spreading mostly undetected for years in Africa, until a 2022 outbreak reached more than 70 countries. Globally, gay and bisexual men made up the vast majority of cases in that outbreak. But officials note mpox has long disproportionately affected children in Africa, and they say cases are now rising sharply among kids, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups, with many types of close contact responsible for the spread.
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The head of South Africa's flagship Black economic empowerment program plans to introduce additional incentives and potential fines to improve corporate participation and curb exploitation of the system meant to tackle the country's gross inequality, he said. Reuters: South Africa seeks to reform faltering Black empowerment system
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The head of South Africa's flagship Black economic empowerment programme plans to introduce additional incentives and potential fines to improve corporate participation and curb exploitation of the system meant to tackle the country's
gross inequality, he said.
The African National Congress, which had ruled unchallenged for 30 years until it lost its parliamentary majority in
May elections, is under intense pressure to improve the lives of Black people left disadvantaged by decades of white minority rule.
The empowerment law enacted in 2003 created a scorecard system that encourages companies to hire and promote Black people by offering them tax breaks and access to government contracts.
Two decades later, unemployment is
five times higher for Black people than for white people and income inequality is the worst in the world, according to the World Bank, and critics say the empowerment policy has not worked.
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Television legend Oprah Winfrey and United States Vice President Kamala Harris shared the stage on Thursday in a event called “Unite for America” to drum up support for Harris’s presidential campaign. Harris is the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate for the November election.
This is not the first time the television personality has voiced support for Harris during this election. She made a surprise speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) last month.
Since emerging as her party’s frontrunner for the presidential nomination, and especially since winning that nomination, Harris has secured the endorsements of hundreds of prominent Americans — from Hollywood stars and music icons to her party’s stalwarts and Republicans who say they cannot vote for their party’s nominee, ex-President Donald Trump.
However, few public figures in the US enjoy an aura like Oprah’s. Here’s more about her history of election endorsements and how much those have influenced outcomes.
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