“Finance is the gun. Politics is knowing when to pull the trigger.” Don Lucchesi, The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Don Corleon In response to the rescinding of Target’s DEI programs, Atlanta-based pastor Reverend Jamal Bryant has organized a 40-day fast on buying at Tar-jay that began on March 5, 2025 (Ash Wednesday) to continue through Lent. Many folks support the blackout as part of a broader commitment to steer spending away from corporations that have retreated from thei

Have you seen the slogan This Ain’t Yo Mama’s Civil Rights Movement? It is decidedly not one of my favorites, as it suggests that the movement for nonviolent resistance of the 1950s and ‘60s was old- fashioned and weak compared to activism today. It's time to revisit just what made the Civil Rights Movement the national political watershed of the 20th century. How did they do it? Through comprehensive strategies fueled by creative and effective tactics. A strategy is a plan

Isisara Bey reads Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's necklace at Trump's inauguration as a powerful act of silent, adornment-based political resistance.

Isisara Bey reflects on the Apollo Theater's MLK commemoration — and what it means to live in a burning house, as King warned, and still choose love.

L to r: Vergie Hamer, Robin Hamilton, Rev. Ed King, Dorie Ladner, Dr. Leslie McLemore. Photo courtesy of Robin Hamilton The first time I met Dorie Ladner was at the March on Washington Film Festival in 2017 in the Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C. She was part of a panel of movement stalwarts I’d produced commemorating their leader and comrade, the late Fannie Lou Hamer. On either side of her onstage were Rev. Ed King and Dr. Leslie McLemore, original members o

That’s how Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz describes her upbringing with her siblings by their mother, Dr. Betty Shabazz, after the death of their father, Malcolm X. I had the privilege of interviewing her recently at the Shabazz Center, created as a memorial to his legacy in 2005, resurrected from the bones of the old Audubon Ballroom where he was killed. Sister Betty was not yet 30 years old, with four young daughters and twins on the way when her husband was assassinated. She carri

It was the 1960s, and AM radio provided the soundtrack that got the party started in parks, beaches, front stoops and backyards across the country. African American DJs, with their melodic voices and big personalities were the griots, broadcasting critical cultural and political messages to the masses. Their importance was never more evident than in the spring of 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama. After the murder of Emmett Till in 1955, the Civil Rights Movement grew steadily.

The recent documentary, Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, chronicled the riveting grassroots effort by the people of Lowndes to organize, register, and vote African Americans into key local offices in the late 1960s. While they were eventually successful at the ballot box, they soon learned that the vote was just the beginning. Being elected sheriff, tax assessor, coroner and to the school board was still paper without power. There was a bigger game afoot that th

The Bus She is nationally famous for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Alabama bus and sparking the yearlong Montgomery Bus Boycott. A seamstress returning home from a hard day’s work, the reason given was that she was tired. In the last decade, we have discovered that it was much more than that. Rosa Parks was a trained activist and secretary of the local NAACP chapter, whose arrest was deemed the best candidate to challenge the issue in court. Her case was the

She was crazy . Until very recently, that was all most of us knew about Louise Little, mother of Malcolm Little, aka Malcolm X and later, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. In The Autobiography of Malcolm X , written with Alex Haley, we learned that she suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to a mental institution after her husband, Earl, was killed in Omaha, leaving her to care for eight children. Malcolm, a teen at the time, was sent to live with an older sister in Bosto

They met in 1962, in the Albany, GA jail, two of the hundreds of marchers, including the largest mass arrest of religious leaders, all protesting segregation. When Rabbi Seymour “Si” Dresner reached through the bars of the adjoining cells to shake hands with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. a lifelong camaraderie was born. (Dresner recalled that before they started talking, King tapped on the cell wall, signaling to the young men in the next cell to sing so that their conversati

From Sarah to A'Lelia - A Family Legacy In honor of Women's History Month, we're celebrating a woman who has lovingly carried and promoted her family's legacy for the benefit of the Culture. A'Lelia Bundles is a journalist, producer, and the biographer of Madam C.J. (Sarah) Walker, America's first self-made female millionaire. Bundles is also the maternal great great granddaughter of Madam Walker. Her Walker biography, On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Wal

In her new book, , author and founder of Move the Crowd, Rha Goddess, proclaims this the Age of the Citizen, and discusses what it means to be an empowered citizen. It served as a cross-reference as I read the names of some of the nominees for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. Nominations for the Peace Prize are accepted by the Norwegian Nobel Committee from a fairly wide field of lawmakers, past winners, heads of state, and university chancellors among others. The names of those

The world’s attention is on Washington, D.C. this week to witness this hallmark of democracy – the peaceful transition of power. With the words “I solemnly swear,” the 46th president will be sworn in to lead the United States of America. This particular inauguration is fraught with conflicting intentions, heightened emotions and intensified preparations, placing it under a glaring spotlight. But oaths, vows and pledges are made every day, by all of us, for many different rea

The souls of history are rampant in our country right now. Can you feel them? They are stalking our every step. Although relegated to the annals of the past, their spectral presence reminds us that every good-bye ain’t gone, and while lifetimes are short, Life is long. African-ancestored people hold the circle of life as our philosophical foundation - those who have gone on before (our ancestors) stand with those living (us), and quicken the promise of those yet to be bor

Last week I had the great and familiar pleasure of speaking once again to the brave and wonderful women of Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence. It was a revival for their women’s business pitch competition, and a partnership with the brands Smart & Sexy and Curvy Couture, dispensing $250K in prize money to 19 winners. More than 400 women applied, out of the 2000 plus who clicked on the application, which says a lot about how those who are chosen start by choosing t

It was only after a few years of working with a colleague at a D.C. museum that I learned that she is a descendant of Frederick Douglass. It is not something she readily reveals. She shared the fact during her welcome remarks at an event presented by the March on Washington Film Festival (for which I am Artistic Director) and hosted at her venue that featured Daughters of the Movement . The Daughters are the offspring of Harry Belafonte, Diahann Carroll, Malcolm X, Ossie D

Adultism - ever heard of it? I hadn’t until a few years ago, when I attended a program by the brilliant facilitator, coach and trainer, Nanci Luna Jimenez of The Luna Jimenez Institute for Social Transformation. Nanci is a distinctive voice on transformational social justice for individuals and organizations. Over three days of training I got to confront my own biases on racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, and adultism. Now I know about the first two, racism and sexism, f

George Floyd is dead. After gasping, multiple times, those words we’ve heard before, “I can’t breathe,” he passed out, his neck mashed under the knee of a peace officer sworn to protect and serve. I can barely breathe myself. And I have few words to add to the many being written in articles and blogs nationwide. Many of them are more eloquent than I. So in lieu of my pontificating, this week I am sharing the writings of two people. Tim Wise, antiracism educator/author (who

This week I am participating in a three-week Facebook Group event called Impact Giveaway. Produced by the dynamic duo, Iman and Afrin Khan of Red Elephant, it features expert high performers in Business, Personal and Impact Development, speaking three times a day. Each expert has also provided giveaways of white papers, consultations, videos and trainings in their areas of expertise. I’m speaking on Leadership on Wednesday and so have been giving much thought to the subject