DragonI

How many hills and mountains we had to climb? How many wings have we had to sacrifice just to survive? Slavery to segregation Freedom and the liberation No account of how much we paid And deep within this revolution There lives a Harlem institution Where many dreams were born and legends were made

So don't turn back now We've come too far not to make it Don't turn back now Don't turn back now It might be hard You can take it Don't turn back now

How many wings have we had to overcome And how many lives must we lose until we are one? Until we have won

Music is a revelation Sound of every generation Powerful enough to free us from chains Laughter after everything we've been through There is nothing that we can't do There is nothing to stand in our way

So don't turn back now ...

We can never give up We were born to win We can win when times get rough YES WE CAN

We're the builders of a nation We're the source on inspiration We're not backing down until we have won

So don't turn back now We've come too far not to make it Don't turn back now Don't turn back now It might be hard 

But we can never give up You can take it Don't turn back now 

Hold each other Hold each other Don’t give up Never give up

America is a place where a black man has a greater chance of being arrested for going to Starbucks than a white man who commits treason in front of the entire world.

—  Samuel Sinyangwe‏ @samswey

The NAACP announced it's boycotting Facebook and Instagram over Russia campaign targeting black voters

“NAACP has returned a monetary donation we recently received from Facebook, and we are calling on supporters to log out of Facebook and Instagram on Tuesday, December 18."

www.newsweek.com

A report commissioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee obtained by The New York Times on Monday read that a group known as the Internet Research Agency (IRA) sought to exploit racial divides during the 2016 election and make an impact on Facebook and Instagram.

The report stated that at least 30 pages created by the IRA targeting black voters gained 1.2 million followers, The New York Times reported. It also targeted Bernie Sanders supporters and those who were likely to vote for then–Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. “The most prolific IRA efforts on Facebook and Instagram specifically targeted black American communities and appear to have been focused on developing black audiences and recruiting black Americans as assets," the report obtained by the Times stated.

“Facebook’s engagement with partisan firms, its targeting of political opponents, the spread of misinformation and the utilization of Facebook for propaganda promoting disingenuous portrayals of the African-American community is reprehensible,” said Derrick Johnson, NAACP president and CEO, in a statement.

“The #LogOutFacebook is a protest—a way to signify to Facebook that the data and privacy of its users of color matter more than its corporate interests, and that as the largest social network in the world, it is Facebook’s corporate social responsibility to ensure that people of color are well represented in their workforce and recognize that users of color have a right to be protected propaganda and misinformation,” read the statement from the NAACP.

Conway struggles to name African-Americans in White House

Kellyanne Conway, a counselor to President Donald Trump, struggled on Sunday to name an African-American person in a prominent White House role.

www.cnn.com|Eli Watkins, CNN

Pressed again about the lack of African Americans in the West Wing, Conway protested Karl's contention, but did not go on to name a person.

From the Green Book to Facebook, how black people still need to outwit racists in rural America

A historical travel guide once listed safe pit stops for black motorists. When a family sought similar advice last year, they were deluged with replies

www.theguardian.com|Ed Pilkington

A white woman lamented that, in this day and age, her black friends still had to think twice about where they could go. “This knocks the breath out of me. Your beautiful family has to consider factors mine doesn’t. WTF, America?”

A third friend, a black playwright named Michelle Johnson, mentioned the Green Book, the historical travel guide for African American motorists that in the old days of Jim Crow had provided an invaluable roadmap. It listed locations where black drivers could fill up their tanks, get a bite to eat or stay the night, all without danger.

“Just saying,” Johnson remarked. “Unfortunately, it needs a comeback.”

The Negro Travelers’ Green Book, to give its full title, has in its original form already made something of a comeback. A Californian publisher has started releasing facsimiles of several of its editions, including the first from 1936 and the last, dated 1964 – the year the Civil Rights Act outlawed Jim Crow discrimination.

The guide was the brainchild of Victor Green, a Harlem postal worker who spotted a market for travel tips directed at the growing car-owning black middle class. He compiled a list of hospitable outlets to be sold through mail order. Tiny and slim, with a green cover in a riff on the writer’s name, the guide punched above its weight. Green defined its purpose demurely, saying it was intended to “make travelling better for the Negro”.

Wehmeyer was 13 years old. He didn’t know it then, but Sullivan for decades had held an open secret: it was a “sundown town”. Well into the 1990s, black people unlucky enough to find themselves within its limits after dark could expect a rude awakening.

These Women Couldn't Find a List of Black Women Running for Office—So They Made One

The list of over 100 candidates, spearheaded by writer Luvvie Ajayi, bodes well for those hoping to see more black women in office in the near future.

broadly.vice.com

On December 14—the day after 63 percent of white women in Alabama voted for pedophilia-accused republican Roy Moore while 98 percent of black women voted for democrat Doug Jones—popular blogger and author Luvvie Ajayi posted a link to her Facebook and Twitter accounts that led to a list containing the names and websites of over 100 black women running for office in the United States in 2018.

“Mainly, we just started doing it so that people could start doing some research and know who was out there,” Braxton tells Broadly. “It’s been good to hear some people say they actually had no idea that they had someone running in their district.”

I'm pledging to do that tonight, but I will tell you, tonight is a night for rejoicing because as Dr. King said, as Dr. King liked to quote, "The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice." Tonight, tonight, ladies and gentlemen, tonight, tonight in this time, in this place, you helped bend that moral arc a little closer to that justice and you did it, not only was it bent more, not only was its aim truer but you sent it right through the heart of the great state of Alabama in doing so.