Roots Seeds and Branches

Will you help us #FreeBlackMamas this Mothers' Day with National Bail Out? More info and link below! https://secure.actblue.com/donate/freeblackmamas "Today, wh...ile the country is slowly opening back up and many have access to the COVID-19 vaccine, there are Black mamas and caregivers suffering in jail simply because they can’t afford to pay bail. We know that people who are incarcerated cannot practice social distancing inside a cage. Even in the midst of the global pandemic, people are still being criminalized, punished, and denied their freedom. As we enter the fifth year of our Black Mama’s Day Bail Outs, and the second year of the Coronavirus pandemic, we are committed more than ever to freeing Black mamas and caregivers from cages. So this Mother’s Day, we’re bailing our people out in Atlanta, Georgia; Memphis, Tennessee; Kansas City, Missouri; Durham, North Carolina; New Orleans, Louisiana; Dothan, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Los Angeles, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Camp Springs, Maryland. Since 2017, NBO has freed more than 500 people from cages and provided them with supportive services including long-term housing and trauma counseling." . . [image description: digital flyer featuring a Black mama hugging her baby close to her chest with a loving, determined expression on her face. Around her in red, white, and black is the National Bail Out logo and the following text: "Being locked up is a death sentence. Give and help us get more people free today!"] . . #NationalBailOut #EndMassIncarceration #EndPreTrialDetention

Now that they’re home, we feel safer.

"Linda Reynolds and Kyle Ainsworth are digging deep into the archives at Stephen F. Austin State University. They found that there were 182,576 slaves in Texas in the 1860 Census. The pair are digitizing the records for each enslaved person registered as property in Texas. They call it the Lone Star Slavery Project. As part of the project Ainsworth and Reynolds, were able to find a bill of sale from 1842. The document stated that the cost was $5,900 for 14 slaves, including Hawkins' great-great-great-grandfather."

"This respect, this care, this tenderness putting a child lying in an almost sleeping position: I really think it's one of most important the earliest evidence in Africa of humans living in the physical and the symbolic world," Martinón-Torres said in a news briefing.

"Mexico’s government has offered an official apology to the Maya Indigenous people for the terrible abuses committed against them in the centuries since the Spanish conquest. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador presented the apology as part of a series of events this year marking the 500th anniversary of the conquest and the bicentennial of Mexico’s 1821 independence from Spain."

Two Alabama state senators say they want to divert part of a statewide property tax tied to the legacy of the Confederacy to preserve and promote Black history in the state.

Of the more than 180,000 Black Americans who served in the Civil War, 13 are known to have been surgeons.

A memorial to enslaved workers who built the University of Virginia was officially dedicated Saturday. "We came together to acknowledge the very real lives of those honored women and men often erased from common narrative, one student said.

"The key factor here is if the other person is willing to make a change. If so... Here’s a look at some signs of emotional immaturity that can show up in a relationship and steps you can take if you recognize them in your own."

Here at Roots Seeds and Branches, we encourage you to look within yourself for answers. Contact us at (404) 626-2976 or visit our website at https://buff.ly/36pKR2i

When Chris Kennedy and his family put up a Black Santa Claus decoration in their front yard, he got an anonymous letter from a racist neighbor saying Santa was white and should remain that way. Well, his neighbors showed up and responded as allies should- by buying Black Santa’s for their yards, too. Racists don’t take a breaks, and neither should true ally-ship. #ShowUp

The 25-year-old "Pose" actor launched TransSanta, an initiative that lets users anonymously gift presents to trans kids and young adults in need. On TransSanta's accompanying Instagram page, users can read letters submitted by almost 200 children. Users can then select a child to be taken to a Target registry with their wish list.

Twenty-five years ago, John DiIulio, a political science professor, created and disseminated one of the most dangerous and lethal lies in our history. He coined the term superpredator, depicting Black children as remorseless animals who would prey on victims. Today, virtually every state still permits middle schoolers to be prosecuted as adults, exposing them to adult punishment. The overwhelming majority of those kids are Black.

"A study released by the COVID Collaborative, the NAACP and UnidosUS found that only 14% of Black Americans trust that a vaccine will be safe and 18% trust it will be effective. Their concerns stem largely from a history of racism in medical research and healthcare that includes incidents like the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, the study found."

Argentina’s Senate has approved what’s being called a millionaire’s tax a one-off levy on around 12,000 of the richest citizens that will raise $3.7 billion to help the government respond to the coronavirus crisis and buoy the country’s economy.