Educate yourself, be an ally, take to the streets
It's time to get off the sidelines.
This newsletter is produced w/ Zach Peterson (@zachprague).
Scroll down for Read Something, Watch Something, Listen to Something, and my Sunday NYT Readalong today with Anya Schiffrin and Holly Lofton, M.D. Links below.
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Americans are taking to the streets across all 50 states (and even overseas) - 99.99% peacefully - and I’m beginning to feel hopeful. I see black people and other people of color standing and marching together, and I see a lot of white people right there with them.
My teenagers took us to a protest march today where everyone wore masks and we stayed 6ish feet apart. They got me to get off the sidelines to march, and I’m glad I did. The NYPD officers who cleared the way for traffic were respectful and everything was peaceful. But I am painfully aware that’s not always the case.
I was tempted to launch into a screed about the way Trump has handled the fallout from the murder of George Floyd - a tear-gas-laden photo op at a church, a wall around the White House, deploying active duty military to suppress protests, and so much more. But, I’m not going to do that.
Instead, I want you to keep reading, watching, and listening. Listen to the voices of people who grow up to fear the police. Listen to the parents who have to teach their children the “right way” to interact with the police. Listen to the people who, even though they are in influential positions, still go through the same sad institutional/organizational racism. Donate to organizations that support racial justice. And, if you can, take to the streets with the millions of other peaceful demonstrators and make your voice heard.
Some materials to get you started:
* Here’s an excellent episode of the 538 Politics podcast. Yohuru Williams (@YohuruWilliams) of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul discusses the history or protests in America and it’s really a must-listen. I wish the episode had been twice as long.
* Here’s a series of short profiles/interviews with eight black women working in journalism from Glamour.
* Here are 32 images - 16 from the “re-open” protests and 16 from the Black Lives Matter demonstrations. The differences are stark, and white privilege is real.
* Here’s a piece of reporting from Dana Goldstein (@danagoldstein) The New York Times about how the Covid19 pandemic will have a huge effect on educational outcomes for so many young people across America. And, of course, black, Latino, and other non-white children will feel the effects far more than their white classmates.
* Here’s a piece from a few weeks ago by Clint Smith (more from him below) on Breonna Taylor, “hero” culture, and why she should be alive right now. An excerpt:
Whether it intends to or not, the hero-worship mentality can be tunnel vision for ignorant people, enabling our racist and negligent law-enforcement apparatus to continue looking at black people as suspects first.
* Curious about what #AbolishThePolice really entails? You’ve no doubt seen calls to defund the police in metropolitan areas across America, here’s a good report on what that could actually look like in practice (and an update from Minneapolis). As the son-in-law of an Indian police chief, I am not calling for the end of police departments. They are essential to keeping people safe. But I am asking everyone, including officers across the country, to ask how they can change the system to be more accountable and less militaristic. And, can we take redirect some of the funds for community use?
* Here’s a thread from journalist Prachi Gupta (@prachigu) on what it was like being one of the only people of color at Cosmopolitan Magazine, covering the 2016 election, conducting what remains the toughest Ivanka Trump interview out there, and being told that she was “lucky to have a job at Cosmo”.
* On my daily, global show, we have been trying to understand three crises - the health, financial and racial justice crises:
Author Shomari Wills (@showills) taught me about financial inequality.
Amber Coleman-Mortley (@momofallcapes) and her three daughters taught me how to talk about race.
Marc Lee (@BluesMan62), Kausar Mohammed (@kausartheperson) and Bhavani Rao (@bhavanig) taught me how to be an ally. Also on the show: Rahul Dubey, who sheltered 70+ protesters being hunted by the police during a protest this week.
Keisha Senter (@keishasenter), Sunny Slaughter (@Sunny_Slaughter), and Adam Serwer (@AdamSerwer) explained the current crises through their experiences.
- Sree
A Note from Muck Rack
My friends Greg Galant (@Gregory) and Lee Semel (@semel) do cool things - founding Muck Rack and the Shorty Awards, eg. And we’ve done cool things together for more than a decade, including judging the Shorty Awards w/ MC Hammer and Alyssa Milano; revealing the most Twittery journalists as of 2012; interviewing DJ Khaled and then walking through Times Square w/ FB Live; interviewing Jerry Stiller (aka Frank Costanza) and his wife Anne Meara in 2011 (so sad to see both have now passed).
I am pleased to announce that I have joined Muck Rack as an adviser to help their mission of building better tools for all comms professionals. And one of the first things we are doing is meant to help thousands of folks around the world raise their social media skills: launching a FREE certification course in social media. My colleague Linda Bernstein (@wordwhacker) and I are prepping it now and launching in mid-June. But you can sign up now at mrack.co/sreesocial. Please share with your friends and family - all ages, professions, experience, etc, welcome. More than 3,500 folks have already signed up and we have room for plenty more. #MRAsocial
Global Entrepreneurship Experience @Rutgers
With IRL summer teen camps canceled, take advantage of this new virtual entrepreneurship one-week camp for teens at which I am honored to be a lecturer. An entrepreneurial mindset and business/life skills are going to be even more important post-pandemic. Get a 20% discount if you register by Wednesday, June 10. Use code: SREE at Global Entrepreneurship Experience (Rutgers).
Read Something
✊🏿 Quarterback Colin Kaepernick hasn’t taken a snap in the NFL since he took a knee to protest police violence. Three years later, the NFL is saying it stands with the Black Lives Matter movement. Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) was fired from ESPN for standing up against racism. Now ESPN and so many other brands and organizations say they support the movement. Sure, everyone needs to grow, but Jemele calls bullshit when she sees it, and she sees it here. Read it @ The Atlantic.
🦠 More than 5,000 people on J-1 visas have been stranded in America since the onset of the Covid19 pandemic. Most have been laid off or furloughed from their jobs - jobs that are the only vehicle by which these visa-holders can be in America in the first place. By Bernice Yeung (@bmyeung). Read it @ ProPublica.
Watch Something
Here’s a lesson for editorial decision-makers in newsrooms everywhere, courtesy of ABC 7 in Chicago. There is no compelling reason to blur the faces of the people - white people, all of them - standing on the side of the street with guns. They are there for one reason and one reason only - to intimidate the people marching peacefully for racial equality. Would black people or other people of color have their faces blurred if the roles were reversed?
Listen to Something
Professor Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) is so cohesive and thoughtful on race in America. In this episode of the TED Radio Hour, Clint takes stock of…everything…and just puts it all in perspective - with some of his poetry mixed in. Listen here or on any major podcast platform.
Odds & Ends
🗞 My Sunday #NYTReadalong, executive produced by Neil Parekh (@neilparekh): Every Sunday I read the print edition of the NYT live. Our guests this week were Anya Schiffrin (author and former journalist) and Holly Lofton, MD, from NYU Langone. One of the topics we talked about was The New York Times' decision to publish an op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton, “Send in the Troops” and the backlash that followed.
Watch the full episode:
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The Sunday #NYTReadalong is sponsored by Muck Rack, Magic Bus USA and Strategy Focused Group. Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Email sree@sree.net and neil@neilparekh.org.
🎧 NEW! Every Saturday, I host a call-in show on WBAI 99.5FM (@wbai) - "Coping with Covid19" - focused on being helpful, hopeful, and focusing on the pandemic's effects on society’s most vulnerable - the workers, the poor, the marginalized - and talk to ordinary citizens & experts on how we can emerge stronger.
Listen live Saturdays from 12-2pm EST, or later. And, of course, call in or tweet questions for us using the #wbaisree hashtag! Listen to an early episode here!
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Recent highlights:
Sapphire, whose novel became Oscar-winning “Precious” (she’s newly on Twitter!)
Dr. Keiji Fukuda of HKU, former pandemics expert at WHO & CDC
👀 Did we miss anything? Make a mistake? Do you have an idea for anything we’re up to? Let us know! Let’s collaborate