Sunday Digest

As I shared on my personal social media, the abolishment of race-based affirmative action is one that Black educators and activists have long seen coming in the wake of a Supreme Court that seeks to undermine the already too few protections for marginalized peoples.

Between a rise in anti-blackness and anti-indigeneity, the further propagation of rifts that exist between various groups of color is continually exploited and deepened by white supremacists who seek to undermine the value in intersectionality.

While these rifts are deadly and dangerous for creating more internalized white supremacy in marginalized groups, I am reminded that joy, while not replacing valid anger and work, is an essential in this fight. Joy and rage both serve purpose as we hold ourselves up against the institutions that seek to make us invisible. And while I know I’m angry, upset, but also unsurprised I also know that there is no better group of people to help me and the rest of us fight back. And for that, my hope shines on.

Please enjoy the stories we have cultivated below.

- Abiola Agoro, Executive Director

Disruptor Institute:

As we further develop our institute, we are now calling for educators, speakers, or otherwise that are interested in collaboration in any capacity to reach out! Whether it be an instagram post or a lecture we would love to have our community members a part of our project. Please drop us an email of interest at learn@disturbinginequity.com!

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Disruptor of the Week

Highlighting the People Making a Change

Every Monday, we will be highlighting disruptors in or communities across various disciplines.

This week we recognize Madison Trice, who is an activist and Harvard Graduate who has worked on affirmative action advocacy since she was only a teen. Her most recent work appearing on CNN can be viewed here.

Submit a nomination now.

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Standout Pieces from the Week

The Supreme Court Just Proved the American Dream Isn't for Black People | Opinion

In a country founded on the dehumanization of Black people, I've become completely unsurprised by every new report and statistic that details how Black Americans have been left behind—in education, in politics, and, in particular, in financial security and prosperity. Hopefully, by now, we all know about the extreme racial wealth gap in this country, where white households have, on average, four times as much wealth as Black households. Combine that long-standing reality with the fact that Black, young adults take on 85 percent more student loan debt than our white counterparts and, four years after graduation, nearly half of Black students owe an average of 6 percent more than they borrowed.

Read More.

Federal commission asks Indigenous communities to share stories on missing and murdered relatives

This is the work the Not Invisible Act Commission is doing, a group established with a corresponding federal law passed in 2020. The commission’s purpose is to deliver recommendations to Congress on how to best address and fight missing and murdered Native people or those who have been victims of human trafficking.

On Thursday and Friday, commissioners are set up in Albuquerque, New Mexico to hear from survivors, families, law enforcement, task forces and others who want to speak about issues regarding the disappearance and violence facing Indigenous people for decades.

People can share experiences in person until Friday, by email until August to help survivors, families, law enforcement, tribal and federal leaders draft recommendations for Congress on how to address crisis

Read More.

Are Black Women Allowed Self-Defense?

“Black women have always been vulnerable to violence in this country and have long been judged as having ‘no selves to defend’” writes abolitionist Mariame Kaba

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in a 2019 op-ed.

In the op-ed, Kaba mentions Celia, an enslaved woman who killed her rapist enslaver in 1855, who Missouri law determined could not claim self-defense because she was his property. Indeed, this history looms over the recent incident involving Carlisha Hood, a 35-year-old mother who was assaulted by 32-year-old Jeremy Brown in a Chicago restaurant.

It is deeply troubling that Hood and her courageous 14-year-old son were initially charged with murder following their act of self-defense, and it serves as a stark reminder of the immense hurdles that Black women encounter in the aftermath of gender-based violence.

Read More

Supreme Court lets stand ruling that protects people with gender dysphoria under disability law

In a win for transgender rights, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday declined to review a first-of-its-kind ruling from a federal appeals court that found people with gender dysphoria are entitled to the protections of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Advocates praised the decision to leave a ruling from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in place.

“By declining to hear this case, the Supreme Court implicitly acknowledges what those who have seriously examined the issue have concluded: the ADA protects people who experience gender dysphoria, including transgender and nonbinary people, from being discriminated against on that basis,” said Olivia Hunt, policy director for the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Read More

Additional Stories

ICYMI: Native News Weekly (June 25, 2023): D.C. Briefs

Peg Yorkin, Who Helped Bring the Abortion Pill to the U.S., Dies at 96

ICYMI: SNAP Cuts Affecting Latinx and Black Communities

ICYMI: Native News Weekly (June 25, 2023): D.C. Briefs

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Peg Yorkin, Who Helped Bring the Abortion Pill to the U.S., Dies at 96

In 370 days, Supreme Court conservatives dash decades of abortion and affirmative action precedents

France is roiled by protests after police killed a teenager. Here's why Mississippi farms pay $850,000 in back wages and fines for paying local Black workers less than immigrants

Events and Updates From our Community Partners

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