By HWM Partnership As humans, our dreams of being world travelers usually bring to mind stunning scenery, unique buildings and museums, and tasty cuisines. And what if you could see the world through a cocktail glass? Different cities have their cocktails that may be combined with others to create a blend of flavors that represent…
By HWM Partnership Surgery of any kind can be a frightening prospect, made even worse when you are in the dark about what you must do to prepare yourself for the ordeal. While you have probably received a detailed set of instructions from the doctor/surgeon who will perform the procedure, there are lots of other…
AA Lux Ride is a must-have if you want to travel with the utmost convenience and comfort. Unlike standard car services, you are offered top-notch amenities that add a touch of luxury to your travel. Here’s a deep dive into what makes a luxury transportation beyond first class: Stepping into Opulence The instant you set…
The theme for this year’s New York Urban League (NYUL) gala is “Fight Today, Change Tomorrow: Voting & Civic Engagement,” which NYUL President Arva Rice said is in line with the work of each of this year’s four honorees.
The gala’s celebrity co-chairs are the actress Meagan Good, television and film producer Tonya Lewis Lee, and legendary fashion model and activist, Bethann Hardison.
“The event is designed to honor individuals who in the spirit of Frederick Douglass know that there is no progress without struggle,” said NYUL President Arva Rice. The gala’s theme and the night’s honorees reflect the Urban League’s national campaign which is focused on “defending democracy, demanding diversity, and defeating poverty,” Rice adds.
Gresham’s work providing help and support for people in the labor movement ties in with Aurora James’s push to have more Black designers represented in major department stores. Renee McClure’s position as a director at National Grid put her in the position to be a strong advocate for bringing more African Americans into the emerging world of opportunities in the energy field, and Camille Joseph Goldman’s reception of the Ann Keele Award acknowledges her activist efforts throughout the city. Each honoree is doing what the national Urban League promotes.
“Unfortunately, at this point in time, we have to defend democracy in a way that I never would have thought of with the rollback in voter rights, voter suppression, voter ID laws that have been introduced in the large majority of states,” Rice said. “The very, very core of what the Urban Leagues are about, which is to defend democracy, has become once again front and center. That’s one of the reasons why we have selected this theme about fighting today and changing tomorrow.
“The second reason why we’ve selected it is because we need to demand diversity,” Rice added. “The fact that just less than [a few years] years ago, after George Floyd, people had a profound awakening and understanding of the African-American struggle in this country, and now we have completely gone full circle and are having to demand diversity: DEI programs are being dismantled around the country. People have even started to use DEI pejoratively, as in ‘didn’t earn it,’ which is just deplorable, and we saw the takedown of the president of Harvard University. Demanding diversity is a key component of the work that the Urban League must do now and do in the future.
“And the last reason is because it’s what we do all the time, which is we’re working to defeat poverty. That’s the reason why we have our education programs, why we have our employment programs. Why we have investment in small businesses is that we’re trying to defeat poverty, because we know the crippling impact that it has on children, families, education, [and] employment. Those are our three prongs for defending democracy, demanding diversity, and defeating poverty.”
Representatives from all five families involved in the historic Brown v. Board of Education case met with President Joe Biden in honor of the landmark decision’s 70th anniversary this month. The decision, finalized May 17, 1954, struck schoolrooms across the nation with equal prowess in regards to the pursuit of adequate facilities and improved academic resources regardless of race.
“I welcomed the family of plaintiffs of that landmark case to the White House, to the Oval Office—their office. Once upon a time, they were excluded from certain classrooms. But 70 years later, they’re inside the most important room of all, the Oval Office, where they belong,” Biden said. “They’re a living reminder that ‘once upon a time’ wasn’t that long ago. And all the progress we’ve made is—still have more to do. And there are still groups that are trying to erase it.”
According to PEN America, there were over 4,000 instances of book bans across the nation in the first half of the school year. Wisconsin experienced 481 bans across three school districts, Iowa had 142 in three school districts as well, and Texas reported 141 bans across four school districts. However, students in Escambia County School District lost access to 1,600 books in one year under the rule of Florida’s Governor, Ron DeSantis.
Biden is aiming to combat this trend by encouraging parents to enroll their children in school earlier.
“Because of the nation’s legacy of discrimination, the Black children start school with an average of seven months behind their white peers in reading,” Biden said. “But one year of universal, high-quality pre-K could eliminate 98% of that gap. Just one year.”
“Children who go to preschool are nearly 50% more likely to finish high school and go on to earn a two-year or four-year degree no matter what their background is,” he added.
His laser-focused remarks were clear as he touted the American Rescue Plan’s efforts to ensure a viable education for all children, “regardless of their Zip Code.”
But there’s still more work to do. NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson raised various concerns at the celebration ceremony which took place at the National Museum of African American History and Culture as he drew the audience’s attention to severe underfunding, teacher shortages and book bans. He emphasized that “we have yet to fulfill the promise of Brown.”
Statistics show high-poverty districts serving mostly students of color receive about $1,600 less per student than the national average, according to a 2019 report from EdBuild.
“The black community is well aware that progress is not possible without expending every resource at our disposal. So yes we litigate, we also advocate, we agitate, [and] we show up in the halls of power echoing the rally cries of our community,” Johnson said.
The NAACP President did commend Biden for taking note of the state of crisis many families are facing due to limited access to a strong culture of learning.
Seven decades ago, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren delivered the unanimous ruling which upheld Thurgood Marshall, the chief legal counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) argument that separate learning institutions were inherently unequal.
“It follows that with education, this Court has made segregation and inequality equivalent concepts. They have equal rating, equal footing, and if segregation thus necessarily imports inequality, it makes no great difference whether we say that the Negro is wronged because he is segregated, or that he is wronged because he received unequal treatment,” Marshall argued before the court.
Those words still ring true among many. The family members from the Brown decision remain hopeful that soon a powerful and permanent change will come in the field of education.
“We’re still fighting the battle over whose children do we invest in,” said Cheryl Brown, daughter of landmark plaintiff Oliver Brown, after her meeting with Biden. “Any time we can talk about failing underfunded public schools, there is a problem. There should be no such thing. Public institutions, where most of us got our education, should be world-class educational institutions.”
