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Christen Smith

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As seen in: The Center Square, Apple Podcasts, MSN, MSN Canada, Color Research & Application, HuffPost, Wiley Online Library, Yahoo Canada, Yahoo News, Aol, New York Post and
Northeast Regional Editor for @thecentersquare. Always reluctant Twitter user. Tips: csmith@thecentersquare.com
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The Dangerous Game of Mourning the Dead: Police Violence and the Black Community in Brazil

The Dangerous Game of Mourning the Dead: Police Violence and the Black Community in Brazil

truth-out.org — Police violence does not end when someone dies in a confrontation. The kindred of the dead suffer for years to come - a lingering, constituent facet of this terror. We need only recall Ferguson, Missouri. In Brazil, police violence haunts as well; especially in working-class Black neighborhoods where the affective communities of the dead mourn under the threat of reprisal from the police. On February 27, 2016, residents of Vila Moises in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, gathered to pay tribute to12 young Black men killed by the police one year earlier.
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The Crisis of Citizenship in the Dominican Republic - JetMag.com

The Crisis of Citizenship in the Dominican Republic - JetMag.com

jetmag.com — An uncertain future for many Haitian-born Dominicans lies ahead...By Christen A. Smith & Jheison V. Romain JET wants you to Talk Back. This is one of the reader submissions that we received and opted to publish. Want to make your voice heard? Submit your commentary, TV show recap, poem, or essay HERE. Read all the rules so you know how it works. We are still reeling over the massacre of nine worshippers at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. This act of terror was another reminder we are living in dark times in Black America - the new nadir.
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Mayweather Blues: Why #BlackWomensLivesMatter

Mayweather Blues: Why #BlackWomensLivesMatter

womensenews.org — (WOMENSENEWS)-- Saturday was by many accounts a good day for the movement. On Friday last week, chief prosecutor Marilyn Mosby announced her office would "throw the book" at six police officers charged with the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in Baltimore. The news electrified protestors and progressives across the nation. In a heartbeat, Baltimore shifted from a city gripped by fear to a city filled with hope. But late Saturday evening something strange happened: Everyone stopped to watch the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight, and our politics flew out of the window. Let's sum it up in a hashtag: #BlackWomensLivesMatter .
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America's Willful Ignorance of Our History of Lynching Feeds Racial Hatred

America's Willful Ignorance of Our History of Lynching Feeds Racial Hatred

The American Prospect — National condemnation of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter at the University of Oklahoma has a cruel irony that highlights a painful truth: By singly condemning individual racist acts and refusing to talk openly about our country's complex relationship to anti-black violence, we allow racial hatred to fester under our noses. As a nation, we need to do two things in response to the SAE scandal: Take a long hard look at the history of state-sanctioned, anti-black violence, and recognize that this violence has been an integral part of our nation's culture for quite some time.
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thefeministwire.com —
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Charlie Hebdo: We Must Grieve the Dead Without Misconstruing Racism as Democratic Ideal

Charlie Hebdo: We Must Grieve the Dead Without Misconstruing Racism as Democratic Ideal

truth-out.org — The recent attack on the headquarters of the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo was devastating, underscoring violent times under the treacherous shadow of terrorism. We must take care not to lace our grief with hate, vengeance and more violence by misconstruing our racism as our democracy. Simply put: Political cartoons are free speech, but they are not always innocent and inherently democratic. Although Charlie Hebdo's satirical cartoons are directed at a broad swath of people and political issues, we cannot dismiss the historical relationship between racist caricature and racist violence.
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Scalise Scandal Rooted in Secret Societies' Hold on Paths to Power -- Through Violence

Scalise Scandal Rooted in Secret Societies' Hold on Paths to Power -- Through Violence

prospect.org — In this November 18, 2014, file photo, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, right, with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, left, and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Republican of Washington, speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, following a House GOP caucus meeting. Scalise acknowledged that he once addressed a gathering of white supremacists. Scalise served in the Louisiana Legislature when he appeared at a 2002 convention of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO), which was founded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Scalise is the third-highest ranked House Republican.
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Beyond Drinking From Water Fountains and Riding Buses, Black People Have a Right to Survive

Beyond Drinking From Water Fountains and Riding Buses, Black People Have a Right to Survive

Huffington Post — The grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson in theAug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown was not a failure of the U.S. justice system. To the contrary, the system is working just fine. In fact, it has worked exactly how it is supposed to work for generations (Emmett Till, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair, Trayvon Martin, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Marissa Alexander). The system is not broken. This nation's morals are broken. Our children do not matter because they do not humanly exist. Like many of us, I was pained to numb after the Ferguson verdict was announced on Nov.
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Black Community Crisis: Police Violence in Brazil

Black Community Crisis: Police Violence in Brazil

truth-out.org — Will Truthout's mission continue in 2015 and beyond? That depends on readers like you. Make a tax-deductible donation now to sustain our work! November 20 is Brazil's Black Consciousness Day. However, for a group of black mothers in the city of Salvador, Bahia, this year's action will not be about traditional black political questions like affirmative action or identity politics. Instead, they will host a silent protest in front of the Bahian governor's office in honor of their children who have been killed or "disappeared" by the police. They will demand justice during a day of mourning and struggle.
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