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OP-ED: The Significance of the Civil Rights Movement

Published

11 years ago

January 4, 2014

By Rev. Willie A. Douglas, Civil Rights & Social Justice Advocate

The Civil Rights Movement was never intended to be a Black-only movement. It was burned from GOD’S heart, in calling a group of individuals led by Mary White Ovington, founder of the NAACP, to be a revival of humanitarian love, in fight of the evils targeting African Americans.

Most of the leadership within several groups and organizations, through various units, has for the most part lost its grounding in the humanitarian love through faith.

Although the Movement lost its way, there’s still hope in the future of leadership through various groups and organizations refocusing on prevalent issues of concerns impacting the less fortunate, poor, and deprived communities. The fight for those who don’t have a voice needs to be revived. There are many issues that require addressing.

The amount of crime, especially among the youth, has been to a point that demands for all community and city leaders to get on the same agenda to stop the violence. Sad to say, the problems of the youth, as in years past, continue to begin at home where many children grow up in one-parent family units. This problem is overflowing into the school system.

There exists a jail-to-school pipeline, in my opinion, violations of federal school desegregation orders, along with a high juvenile crime rate. We need men to step up and be real and true leaders for our youth.

The Biblical verse of Job 14:7-9 declares that “there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down that it will sprout again.”

The Civil Rights Movement forgot that they were a spiritually-led movement, but shifted and became a Black movement. The racial bitterness in the Black community overwhelmed the spirit of reconciliation.

At this time, the tree was cut down. Today, some of the groups are little more than glorified ambulance chasers, trying to stir up something instead of solving something. They’re trying to get on the evening news instead of the tablets of God’s Heaven.

Today’s political parties are dividing righteousness and justice, with the Democrats pursuing social justice and some Republicans holding the line for life and marriage. You cannot have justice without

righteousness.

If you stand on righteousness, then you can reach justice. Only justice based in righteousness is honoring to God, and healthy and beneficial to the creation of people. Righteousness has a vertical dimension, and justice has a horizontal dimension, and it forms the cross of Christ Jesus.

There is hope for the cut-down tree. I see the same spirit from the

early Civil Rights Movement in the transition of the younger generation of youth and young adults. You are on the verge of witnessing something resurrected today and in the future to come – revival, righteousness, and reconciliation in the higher authority of God, Christ Jesus.

When Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said he had “been to the mountaintop,” the civil rights leader was prophesying that, like Moses, he himself would not see God’s promise of reconciliation.

I hope that the leadership of civil rights groups and organizations will return to its original spirit of reconciliation. God is rising up a multicolored Joseph generation.

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

5 days ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 3, 2025

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1 week ago

May 30, 2025

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Black Feminist Movement Mobilizes in Response to National Threats

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — More than 500 Black feminists will convene in New Orleans from June 5 through 7 for what organizers are calling the largest Black feminist gathering in the United States.

Published

1 week ago

May 30, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

More than 500 Black feminists will convene in New Orleans from June 5 through 7 for what organizers are calling the largest Black feminist gathering in the United States. The event, led by the organization Black Feminist Future, is headlined by activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis. Paris Hatcher, executive director of Black Feminist Future, joined Black Press USA’s Let It Be Known to outline the mission and urgency behind the gathering, titled “Get Free.” “This is not just a conference to dress up and have a good time,” Hatcher said. “We’re building power to address the conditions that are putting our lives at risk—whether that’s policing, reproductive injustice, or economic inequality.” Hatcher pointed to issues such as rising evictions among Black families, the rollback of bodily autonomy laws, and the high cost of living as key drivers of the event’s agenda. “Our communities are facing premature death,” she said.

Workshops and plenaries will focus on direct action, policy advocacy, and practical organizing skills. Attendees will participate in training sessions that include how to resist evictions, organize around immigration enforcement, and disrupt systemic policies contributing to poverty and incarceration. “This is about fighting back,” Hatcher said. “We’re not conceding anything.” Hatcher addressed the persistent misconceptions about Black feminism, including the idea that it is a movement against men or families. “Black feminism is not a rejection of men,” she said. “It’s a rejection of patriarchy. Black men must be part of this struggle because patriarchy harms them too.” She also responded to claims that organizing around Black women’s issues weakens broader coalitions. “We don’t live single-issue lives,” Hatcher said. “Our blueprint is one that lifts all Black people.”

The conference will not be streamed virtually, but recaps and updates will be posted daily on Black Feminist Future’s YouTube channel and Instagram account. The event includes performances by Tank and the Bangas and honors longtime activists including Billy Avery, Erica Huggins, and Alexis Pauline Gumbs. When asked how Black feminism helps families, Hatcher said the real threat to family stability is systemic oppression. “If we want to talk about strong Black families, we have to talk about mass incarceration, the income gap, and the systems that tear our families apart,” Hatcher said. “Black feminism gives us the tools to build and sustain healthy families—not just survive but thrive.”