Tag Archives: Africana Studies

“Reimagining ‘Justice’ in Environmental Justice: Radical Ecologies, Decolonial Thought, and the Black Radical Tradition” by Laura Pulido and Juan De Lara, 2018

September 25, 2019 5:51 pm /
Submitted by: Suzanne Oboler, Professor, Latin American and Latinx Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice
“In this article, we rethink the spatial and racial politics of the environmental justice movement in the United States by linking it to abolitionist theories that have emerged from the Black Radical Tradition, to critical theories of urban ecology, and to decolonial epistemologies rooted in the geopolitics of Las Americas. More specifically, we argue that environmental justice organizing among multi-racial groups is an extension of the Black Radical Tradition’s epistemic legacy and historical commitment to racial justice.”
This article was retrieved from the author’s website. It is open access. The article was published in Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 2018, Vol. 1(1–2) 76–98
Posted in: 2011 - Present, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , , , ,

“Principles of Environmental Justice”, 1991

September 24, 2019 4:46 pm /

Submitted by: Suzanne Oboler, Professor, Latin American and Latinx Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice

To read online, click here: 17 Principles of Environmental Justice

The Delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held on October 24-27, 1991, in Washington DC, drafted and adopted 17 principles of Environmental Justice. Since then, The Principles have served as a defining document for the growing grassroots movement for environmental justice.”

PREAMBLE

WE, THE PEOPLE OF COLOR, gathered together at this multinational People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, to begin to build a national and international movement of all peoples of color to fight the destruction and taking of our lands and communities, do hereby re-establish our spiritual interdependence to the sacredness of our Mother Earth; to respect and celebrate each of our cultures, languages and beliefs about the natural world and our roles in healing ourselves; to ensure environmental justice; to promote economic alternatives which would contribute to the development of environmentally safe livelihoods; and, to secure our political, economic and cultural liberation that has been denied for over 500 years of colonization and oppression, resulting in the poisoning of our communities and land and the genocide of our peoples, do affirm and adopt these Principles of Environmental Justice:

This document is in the public domain and was posted and retrieved online at the environmental organization’s website: https://www.ejnet.org/ej/principles.html.

 

Posted in: 1990-1999, Part 1: Texts for Teaching and Learning about Justice, US / Tagged: , , , , , , ,

The Movement for Black Lives: Platform, 2014

September 23, 2019 10:30 pm /

Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College

Click here for: Platform for Black Lives.

“The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) is a coalition of groups across the U.S. which represent the interests of black communities. It was formed in 2014 as a response to sustained and increasingly visible violence against black communities, with the purpose of creating a united front and establishing a political platform. The collective is made up of more than 150 organizations, with members such as the Black Lives Matter Network, the National Conference of Black Lawyers, and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, and endorsement from groups including Color of Change, Race Forward, Brooklyn Movement Center, PolicyLink, Million Women March Cleveland, and ONE DC. In response to the sustained and increasingly visible violence against Black communities in the U.S. and globally, a collective of organizations representing thousands of Black people from across the country have come together with renewed energy and purpose to articulate a common vision and agenda. Our resistance and rebellion are not new, but like other times in history have come to a critical mass, and the bravery of those in Ferguson and across the country captured the attention of the world. A year ago, over 2,000 of us gathered in Cleveland to reflect on the state of our movement for liberation and celebrate our people, both those who have fallen and those who have survived. It was there that we began the process of uniting to articulate a shared vision of the world we want to live in.”

This link is to the organization’s website. It is in the public domain.

Posted in: 2011 - Present, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , ,

“The Prison-Industrial Complex,” Death Row Interview, Mumia Abu-Jamal, 1996

September 20, 2019 7:46 pm /

Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College

To view video click here: Mumia Abu-Jamal “The Prison-Industrial Complex,” 

Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook on April 24, 1954) is an American convicted murderer, sentenced to death for the December 9, 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. He has been described as “perhaps the best known Death-Row prisoner in the world”, and his sentence is one of the most debated today. Before his arrest he was a member of the Black Panther Party, an activist, part-time cab driver, journalist, radio personality, news commentator and broadcaster. Since his conviction, his case has received international attention and he has become a controversial cultural icon. Supporters and opponents disagree on the appropriateness of the death penalty, whether he is guilty, or whether he received a fair trial. During his imprisonment he has published several books and other commentaries, notably Live from Death Row.

The YouTube video was posted by Esoteric Word Views.  Can be used for educational purposes under the Fair Use provision.

Posted in: 1990-1999, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

“Five Questions” from the book UNAPOLOGETIC: A Black Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements by Charlene Carruthers, 2018

August 20, 2019 4:47 pm /

Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept. of Africana Studies at John Jay College

This chapter is from the book: Carruthers, Charlene. 2018. Chapter 5 “Five Questions,” pp. 87-110. In UNAPOLOGETIC: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements. Beacon Press.

However, this book is not available in the John Jay Library. To read an interview with the author outlining the five questions click here: “Unapologetic”: Charlene Carruthers on Her Black, Queer and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements

“And so, the five questions begin with the question of “Who am I?” because if you don’t know who you are, what your self-interest is and what your best position to do, you can’t be as effective of an organizer as you could be.

The second question is Ella Baker’s question. Prolific organizer, Ella Baker would ask people the question, when she met them, “Who are your people?” And the answer to that question has so much to do with the work that you do, why you do it and why you show up.

The third is “What do we want?” We have to be clear about what we’re actually fighting for. Are we fighting for healthcare reform, or are we fighting for universal access to healthcare? And I believe that we have to actually make transformational demands, right? And universal healthcare just run by the state, in and of itself, isn’t transformational. I want to live in a world where people actually have, and communities have, self-determination over their lives.

The fourth question is “What are we building?” Are we building a 40-year strategy? Which we need. Are we building a year-long strategy? Are we engaged in electoral politics? Are we doing not—are we doing direct action, civil disobedience? All those things are necessary, but are we clear about what we’re building towards.

And the last question is “Are we ready to win?” And that question, to me, is one of the toughest ones, because what happens when we live in a world, which I believe is possible, without prisons and police, where safety goes beyond prisons and policing, and it’s in the hands, the hearts and the work of everyday people? Are we ready to win that? Are we doing the work that when we actually are able to govern ourselves and our communities, to provide healthcare, mental healthcare, deliver basic needs like food? And so, when I think about the work that we need to do—and I talk about it in the book—I’m really interested in how are we getting down on a 40-, 50-, 75-year strategy, and what are the things that we’re going to do along the way.”

The interview is open access. The book is copyrighted and available to purchase.

Posted in: 2011 - Present, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , , , ,

“Community Policing and Community Justice” The 27th Annual Lloyd George Sealy Lecture, keynote address”, by Kenton Buckner, 2018

August 20, 2019 3:46 pm /

Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College

To view and listen online:  “Community Policing and Community Justice”

This keynote speech was presented by: The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and the Department of Africana Studies, in partnership with the Lloyd George Sealy Library, John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Moving Toward Community Justice in the 21st Century, The 27th Annual Lloyd George Sealy Lecture, Speaker: Kenton Buckner, Chief of Police, Little Rock Police Department. Chief Buckner is a “student of the law profession” who took the time to learn all areas of policing.

This MP3 speech was obtained from a John Jay faculty Dropbox and is open access.

Posted in: 2011 - Present, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , , ,

“Critical Resistance-Incite! Statement on Gender Violence and the Prison-Industrial Complex”, 2003

August 19, 2019 10:10 pm /

Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept. of Africana Studies at John Jay College

To read online: “Critical Resistance-Incite! Statement on Gender Violence and the Prison-Industrial Complex.” 

Reproduces the mission statements of the US-based organizations Critical Resistance & its offshoot, Women of Color against Violence, both movements formed 1998-2000 to combat violence against women & people of color. It is argued that women of color suffer disproportionately from both state & interpersonal violence, but have been marginalized from more mainstream anti-violence movements organized by feminists or minority males. Problems with the focus of such movements on the criminal justice system & law enforcement are identified. The negative impacts of the increased criminalization of women of color, including sex workers, lesbians, & the poor & disabled, are addressed, & a call is made for greater activist efforts to improve police accountability & decrease the use of imprisonment for such disadvantaged women. Specific strategies that social justice movements must take to end violence against women & children are suggested. Signatories to these statements, including both individuals & organizations, are listed.

Accessed via the Internet at the organization’s website. The statement was published in the following: Critical Resistance and Insight! 2003.  “Critical Resistance-Incite! Statement on Gender Violence and the Prison-Industrial Complex.”  Social Justice Vol. 30, No. 3; Criminal Justice Periodicals, pp. 141 – 150.

 

Posted in: 2000 - 2010, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , , ,

“Race and Criminalization: Black Americans and the Punishment Industry” by Angela Y. Davis, 1997

August 16, 2019 5:09 pm /

Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College

The citation for where this reading is found: Davis, Angela Y. 1997. “Race and Criminalization: Black Americans and the Punishment Industry.” In The House that Race Built, edited by Wahneema Lubiano, pp. 264-279. New York: Pantheon Books. This book is not available digitally. To check out the book, go to the John Jay Library at Stacks E 185.615 .H68 1997 

“The House That Race Built is the response by some of this country’s most admired intellectuals to the crisis of democracy represented by the recent, ominous shift toward a renewed white racial nationalism. It is unified by a central argument that deserves to be at the heart of the national debate: that “race” and “racism” must be understood not just as referring to the relations between black and white Americans, but as constituting the central American dynamic by which a pervasive, antidemocratic social inequality is re-created, maintained, and justified to the detriment of all. In a post-civil rights era of rapidly increasing economic and social apartheid, The House That Race Built makes us see how Americans’ continuing delusory investments in the privileges of whiteness and the pathology of blackness uphold a social hierarchy that is destructive of democratic possibility. This book’s analysis of race and racism extends to the complexities of within-the-group dynamics of black Americans. How race is defined, and who gets to talk about it, determine how race and American whiteness will be understood and used: either to reconsolidate racial domination or to establish racial democracy.”
This is a library resource available with John Jay credentials.
Posted in: 1990-1999, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , , ,

“Where Do We Go from Here? Chaos or Community”, Essay by Martin Luther King, Jr., 1986

August 16, 2019 3:51 pm /

Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College

King, Jr., Martin Luther. 1986. “Where Do We Go from Here? Chaos or Community” [essay not speech] (1967), In A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. edited by James M. Washington, pp. 555-633. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

The above suggested resource is not available online at John Jay, but is available to be checked out of the library at “Stacks E 185.97 .K5 A25 1991″
Martin Luther King’s 1967 essay “Where Do We Go from Here?” refers to the turmoil in the late 1960s around intense poverty, racism, the War in Vietnam, inflation, violence, and urban decay. The urban rebellions in Black communities forced the nation to confront the problems of racism and poverty, and attempt to resolve them.  Dr. King was optimistic about the future, if we were willing to make changes.  A sharing of power was required, but mostly we need a “transformation of values” and economic justice. MLK’s essay is extremely persuasive about the kinds of transformation we need to become a caring society and develop a beloved community. He also gave a speech with the same title that is not as focused on economic justice.  He based his book “Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community”: on that essay.
This is a library resource.
Posted in: 1970-1989, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

I Am Your Sister : Collected and Unpublished Writings of Audre Lorde, 2011

August 13, 2019 6:15 pm /

Submitted by:  Crystal Endsley, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Africana Studies, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

To view online:  I Am Your Sister : Collected and Unpublished Writings of Audre Lorde.

“Audre Lorde was an American writer, feminist, womanist, librarian, and civil rights activist. As a poet, she is best known for technical mastery and emotional expression, as well as her poems that express anger and outrage at civil and social injustices she observed throughout her life.  Her poems and prose largely deal with issues related to civil rights, feminism, lesbianism, and the exploration of black female identity.

In relation to non-intersectional feminism in the United States, Lorde famously said, “those of us who stand outside the circle of this society’s definition of acceptable women; those of us who have been forged in the crucibles of difference – those of us who are poor, who are lesbians, who are Black, who are older – know that survival is not an academic skill. It is learning how to take our differences and make them strengths. For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those women who still define the master’s house as their only source of support.”

Not available in the Library. It is unpublished. Found on Internet at the MWASI website. MWASI is an afro-feminist collective that falls within the revolutionary liberation struggle movement. From site: “Our group is open only to black women and people assigned female at birth.”

Use for educational purposes under the Fair Use provision. 

Posted in: 2011 - Present, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , , ,
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