The Look of Love

In honor of Black History Month, we proudly celebrate the life and contributions of Oprah Winfrey!

The Look of Love Niya ParksComment

"Through the power of media, Oprah Winfrey has created an unparalleled connection with people around the world... Her accomplishments as a global media leader and philanthropist have established her as one of the most respected and admired public figures today..."

In addition to her expansive work in media, "Oprah has long believed that education is the door to freedom, offering a chance at a brighter future. Through her private charity, The Oprah Winfrey Foundation, she has awarded hundreds of grants to organizations that support the education and empowerment of women, children and families in the United States and around the world. Amongst her various philanthropic contributions, she has donated millions of dollars toward providing a better education for students who have merit but no means. She also created 'The Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program,' which gives scholarships to students determined to use their education to give back to their communities in the United States and abroad."

In honor of Black History Month, we proudly celebrate the life and contributions of Oprah Winfrey!

Discover more here: https://bit.ly/-Oprah

Photo from Milwaukee Independent

Our Nation Must Fully Address Our History of Racial Terror

The Look of Love Niya ParksComment

"Our nation must fully address our history of racial terror and the legacy of racial inequality it has created... There is an urgent need to challenge the absence of recognition in the public space on the subject of lynching. Only when we concretize the experience through discourse, memorials, monuments, and other acts of reconciliation can we overcome the shadows cast by these grievous events."

https://bit.ly/The-Legacy-of-Racial-Terror

There is an astonishing absence of any effort to acknowledge, discuss, or address lynching.

The Look of Love Niya ParksComment

"In all of the subject states, we observed that there is an astonishing absence of any effort to acknowledge, discuss, or address lynching. Many of the communities where lynchings took place have gone to great lengths to erect markers and monuments that memorialize the Civil War, the Confederacy, and historical events during which local power was violently reclaimed by white Southerners. These communities celebrate and honor the architects of racial subordination and political leaders known for their belief in white supremacy. There are very few monuments or memorials that address the history and legacy of lynching in particular or the struggle for racial equality more generally. Most communities do not actively or visibly recognize how their race relations were shaped by terror lynching."

https://bit.ly/The-Legacy-of-Racial-Terror

Photo from EJI.org

Racial Terror Lynching Was a Tool Used To Enforce Jim Crow Laws and Segregation

The Look of Love Niya ParksComment

"Racial terror lynching was a tool used to enforce Jim Crow laws and racial segregation—a tactic for maintaining racial control by victimizing the entire African American community, not merely punishment of an alleged perpetrator for a crime. Our research confirms that many victims of terror lynchings were murdered without being accused of any crime; they were killed for minor social transgressions or for demanding basic rights and fair treatment." - EJI

https://bit.ly/The-Legacy-of-Racial-Terror

The Legacy of Racial Inequality

The Look of Love Niya ParksComment

"In America, there is a legacy of racial inequality shaped by the enslavement of millions of Black people. The era of slavery was followed by decades of terrorism and racial subordination most dramatically evidenced by lynching. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s challenged the legality of many of the most racist practices and structures that sustained racial subordination but the movement was not followed by a continued commitment to truth and reconciliation.

Consequently, this legacy of racial inequality has persisted, leaving us vulnerable to a range of problems that continue to reveal racial disparities and injustice. It is essential that we begin to discuss our history of racial injustice more soberly and to understand the implications of our past in addressing the challenges of the present." - EJI

https://bit.ly/The-Legacy-of-Racial-Terror

Photo from EJI.org

The History of Terror Lynching

The Look of Love Niya ParksComment

"The history of terror lynching complicates contemporary issues of race, punishment, crime, and justice. Mass incarceration, excessive penal punishment, disproportionate sentencing of racial minorities, and police abuse of people of color reveal problems in American society that were framed in the terror era. The narrative of racial difference that lynching dramatized continues to haunt us. Avoiding honest conversation about this history has undermined our ability to build a nation where racial justice can be achieved." - EJI

https://bit.ly/The-Legacy-of-Racial-Terror

Photo from PBS

The Lynching of Tyre Nichols

The Look of Love Niya ParksComment

Our world has so much potential for good, yet continued actions like these make me fear that the holocausts of our history can happen again.

Evil has determined its place in history, but it is my everlasting prayer that those of us with a soft heart to fulfill justice in this lifetime, will hold our positions firm on the side of what's merciful, what's compassionate, what's kind, for it is OUR fervent stand that shines hope into the world. Without Good people continuing our good fight, all would be lost.

https://bit.ly/-TyreNichols

Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror by EJI.org

The Look of Love Niya ParksComment

"Lynching profoundly impacted race relations in this country and shaped the geographic, political, social, and economic conditions of African Americans in ways that are still evident today. Terror lynchings fueled the mass migration of millions of Black people from the South into urban ghettos in the North and West throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Lynching created a fearful environment where racial subordination and segregation was maintained with limited resistance for decades. Most critically, lynching reinforced a legacy of racial inequality that has never been adequately addressed in America. The administration of criminal justice in particular is tangled with the history of lynching in profound and important ways that continue to contaminate the integrity and fairness of the justice system." - Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror

Photo by EJI.org

It Was A Community Crime

The Look of Love Niya ParksComment

"It's a shocking and disturbing reality that lynchings were not isolated murders only carried out by men in white hoods in the middle of the night. Often they were public crimes, witnessed, even celebrated by thousands of people... It was a community crime. This wasn't done by the Klan, or people who had to wear a mask. This was done by teachers and clergy and law enforcement officers and people you had to deal with everyday..."

To learn more, watch here:

https://bit.ly/Thousands-Watched-And-Participated

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice

The Look of Love Niya ParksComment

Equal Justice Initiative's "The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which opened to the public on April 26, 2018, is the nation’s first memorial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved Black people, people terrorized by lynching, African Americans humiliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow, and people of color burdened with contemporary presumptions of guilt and police violence.

Work on the memorial began in 2010 when EJI staff began investigating thousands of racial terror lynchings in the American South, many of which had never been documented. EJI was interested not only in lynching incidents, but in understanding the terror and trauma this sanctioned violence against the Black community created. Six million Black people fled the South as refugees and exiles as a result of these 'racial terror lynchings.'

This research ultimately produced Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror in 2015 which documented thousands of racial terror lynchings in 12 states. Since the report’s release, EJI has supplemented its original research by documenting racial terror lynchings in states outside the Deep South. EJI staff have also embarked on a project to memorialize this history by visiting hundreds of lynching sites, collecting soil, and erecting public markers, in an effort to reshape the cultural landscape with monuments and memorials that more truthfully and accurately reflect our history."

To make a donation and learn more about Equal Justice Initiative, please visit: https://bit.ly/-EJI

#ItsTimeToEndTheSilence

The Innocence Project: Advocating For The Innocent!

The Look of Love Niya ParksComment

"The Innocence Project works to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone. Founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the organization is now an independent nonprofit. Our work is guided by science and grounded in anti-racism."

Donate TODAY!

Innocence Project: https://bit.ly/-InnocenceProject

CA Innocence Project: https://bit.ly/-CA-InnocenceProject

Thank you to Santa Claus Inc. of San Bernardino, CA!

The Look of Love Niya ParksComment

Santa Claus Inc. of San Bernardino, CA, you made Christmas possible!! Even after all of these years, I still remember the red-net Christmas stockings full of candy. You also gave shirts, toys, and food boxes, and what a tremendous difference that made for 6 poor children whose only hope for a Christmas was to take a branch from a tree outside and decorate it with paper ornaments that we made by hand. The gifts you gave were salvation to us and our Mother and made a magical difference in a world of desolation and poverty. Thank you for all that you did for us during our childhood and all that you continue to do for the children and youth of the Inland Empire and beyond.

If you are able, donate to Santa Claus Inc. today! https://bit.ly/-SantaClausInc

A Proclamation on Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 2023

The Look of Love Niya ParksComment

"Dr. King imagined a different future for America — an America he called the 'Beloved Community.' Building the Beloved Community required a key shift in human understanding. It meant looking beyond external differences to see the union of all humankind. It also meant finding a way to deal with our grievances without animosity, in a way that recognized the interconnectedness of all humanity and allowed us to move forward together.

From the pulpit to the podium to the streets, Dr. King devoted his life to the quest for this Beloved Community in our Nation. His activism and moral authority helped usher in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He gave a voice to the restless spirit of millions yearning for change. He gave us a roadmap to unify, to heal, and to sustain the blessings of the Nation to all of its people...

Dr. King preached that 'darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.' In his memory, we strive to challenge violence and bigotry with grace and goodness. We work to embed equity and opportunity into all of the Federal Government’s policies and programs. And we serve to bring together a Nation in our dedication to these ideals." - President Joseph R. Biden

Read more here: https://bit.ly/-MLK-Day-2023

MLK Day of Service: https://bit.ly/-MLK-Day-of-Service