Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

City Seized Property Because Owners Were Black

1 2

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · 5d

A California city demonstrated how to address an injustice committed by its government in 1924 when it seized the land of a Black couple because of their race. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/city-seize...

In a city where fewer than one percent of residents were Black, the all-White government seized the only beachfront property owned by a Black person.

Black Americans Are Disadvantaged Just for Being Black

2

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · 9d

Because institutions provided remedies to address disadvantages created because of race, my life started better than my father’s. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/black-amer...

From birth, Black Americans experience reduced opportunities in every aspect of life simply because of their skin color.

US History Textbooks Erase Truth of Slavery

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · 12d

Generations of American students have learned from textbooks that taught that slaveowners were benevolent, Negros were inferior, and slavery wasn’t that bad. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/us-history...

Until 1860, no US history textbook ever even mentioned the existence of an antislavery movement.

President’s Dinner With Negro Provokes White Backlash

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · 16d

Theodore Roosevelt’s relationships with Black people became socially and politically problematic after he became president. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/presidents...

President Theodore Roosevelt’s dinner with Booker T. Washington elicited ferocious criticism from Whites.

Guns Are the Manifestation of Racial Power

1 1

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · 19d

The 2nd Amendment was added to the US Constitution to address slaveowners’ fears of slave insurrections. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/guns-are-t...

Fear of slave insurrections fueled the founding fathers’ determination to ensure that the Constitution protect their right to the guns they needed to stop them from occurring.

Lies, Racism Ruin Lives of Nine Black Teenagers

1 3

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · 23d

The improper convictions of nine Black teenagers in 1931 resulted in two landmark Supreme Court decisions establishing the right to competent counsel and the prohibition of excluding Blacks from juries. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/lies-racis...

Falsely accused of rape, nine Black teenagers were repeatedly unjustly tried and convicted by all-White juries.

Dorothy Counts Fought School Segregation Since Age 15

1 2

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · 26d

Brown vs. Board didn’t result in schools desegregating overnight, nor did its effects endure. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/dorothy-co...

She fought to be the first Black student in Charlotte’s all-White schools and continued to fight school segregation for the rest of her life.

HBCUs Succeed Despite Rabid Opposition

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · 28d

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) embody the pursuit of equal opportunity in America, and as a result have always been opposed by those who prefer that Blacks remain unequal. #BlackSky substack.com/home/post/p-...

HBCUs have accomplished their mission despite physical and fiscal assaults.

American Race Laws Inspired Nazi Race Laws

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · Sep 11

With segregation established despite a Constitution mandating equality, America showed that segregation was natural and allowed the Nazis to think of their own practices as normal. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/american-r...

After a foreign student attended a university in the US, he returned home to help implement America’s system of racial segregation in Germany.

substack.com/home/post/p-...

2

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · Sep 10

Julia Roberts' birth was paid for by MLK. Her reaction to the racist interview makes a lot of sense.

A tone-deaf Venice Film Festival interview exposed ongoing racism, but Julia Roberts' perfect response makes sense when you know she grew up with civil rights legends.

USDA Systematically Discriminated Against Black Farmers

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · Sep 8

For decades, the US government intentionally worked against the financial interests of Black farmers. #BlackSky substack.com/@lestercrave...

For most of the 20th century, the USDA prevented Black farmers from accessing government programs.

substack.com/@michaelharr...

21 31

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · Sep 6

A History of Deploying the US National Guard to Make White People Feel Safe

Since its humble beginnings as a colonial militia, the National Guard has served as slave catchers, civil rights suppressors and a historically anti-Black police force.

Slavery by Another Name: Debt Peonage

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · Sep 5

Following the Civil War, Congress failed to abolish slavery, leading to an era of neoslavery that persisted for over 80 years. #BlackSky substack.com/home/post/p-...

The Civil War did not bring an end to the race-based systems of forced, unpaid labor.

Racial Wealth Gap Begins With Banking Scam

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · Sep 4

Less than ten years after the formerly enslaved began earning their own money following the Civil War, a bank fraud stole their savings and destroyed Black trust in banks for generations. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/racial-wea...

The federal government created the Freedman’s Bank to protect the newly earned money of the formerly enslaved, instead it stole it.

Slavery by Another Name: Chain Gangs

1 3

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · Sep 3

Around the year 1900, as public opinion shifted against private individuals and corporations profiting from forced labor, the government intervened not to abolish forced labor but to redirect its benefits for its own purposes. #BlackSky substack.com/home/post/p-...

The Civil War did not bring an end to the race-based systems of forced, unpaid labor.

Slavery by Another Name: Convict Leasing

2

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · Sep 2

The Civil War abolished the legal notion that a person could be owned as property, but it did not eradicate the practice of unpaid forced labor through violent means. #BlackSky substack.com/home/post/p-...

The Civil War did not bring an end to the race-based systems of forced, unpaid labor.

Colonial Obsession With Hard Work Propelled Slavery

1 7 13

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · Sep 1

The colonists’ wealth wasn’t a result of their own hard work, but rather the hard work of others. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/colonial-o...

The greed of English aristocrats fueled their obsession with extracting ever greater work production from their laborers.

State Militia Fights KKK When Feds Refuse

4

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · Aug 30

In 1868, the Arkansas governor deployed the national guard (then called state militia) to stop KKK-led violence because the federal government refused to intervene. #BlackSky substack.com/home/post/p-...

In the aftermath of the Civil War, Arkansas’ governor deployed the state militia to stop anti-Black terrorism by the KKK.

Predatory Lending Targeting Blacks Fueled the Financial Meltdown

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · Aug 28

I really appreciate Dr Nunn's research in this area and yet it seems super obvious that a precipitous decline in available labor would yield reduced economic output.

1 1

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · Aug 28

Wall Street’s greed that used race as a tool for making money brought economic ruin to Black families and nearly destroyed the global financial system. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/predatory-...

Predatory lending that targeted African Americans precipitated the global financial crisis in 2008.

The Slave Trade's Effects on African Economies Today

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · Aug 27

Despite general acceptance of the magnitude of slavery's atrocities, the enduring effect on African economies today is underappreciated. #BlackSky substack.com/home/post/p-...

Nearly four centuries of transatlantic slave trade, ending only 160 years ago, had concentrated demographic destructiveness that largely explains Africa's poor economies today.

I-20 Built to Permanently Segregate Atlanta

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · Aug 26

Even something as seemingly race neutral as Atlanta's traffic congestion has been made worse because people who believed in racial segregation designed the interstate highways. #BlackSky substack.com/home/post/p-...

After Jim Crow laws were ruled unconstitutional, Atlanta perpetuated segregation through highway planning.

Predatory Loans Were Developed for Black Borrowers

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · Aug 25

A failed 1970s homeownership program for Black Americans cemented White perceptions that they were incapable of being responsible with wealth. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/predatory-...

Suburban housing appreciation and urban neighborhood deterioration were a direct result of US housing policy.

Federal Government Buries Black Town Under Lake

6 8

Lester Craven @goodtrouble64.bsky.social · Aug 23

Georgia’s Lake Lanier is the enduring symbol of one of the most egregious ethnic cleansings in American history. #BlackSky substack.com/home/post/p-...

Ethnic cleansing north of Atlanta leads to total destruction of a flourishing African American community.