D.Lafayette

Social/Political Occupational Therapist; Entrepreneur; Social justice crusader; Neurodiverse literature loving woman of colour and cat whisperer

[roger kline @rogerkline]

Investigation: Massive increase in racial abuse against NHS staff.
And too many employers not responding appropriately.
https://t.co/DUcjWIUfiN

[Melissa Sigodo @melissasigodo]

The Open University is offering to pay for the full tuition of 10 Black students to study with them under their special fund. The deadline is July 3rd 2024. If you know anyone who is interested 👇🏾 https://t.co/drTBFvODYf

[RCOT CYPF @RCOT_CYPF]

Calling Band 5-equivalent OTs with work experience in #CAMHS or #MentalHealth community organisations to participate in Research.
Contributing to increased LGBQ inclusion awareness in healthcare, in answer to an RCOT research priority on exploring the impact OTs have @theRCOT

[Melissa Sigodo @melissasigodo]

Morning!

The Thread newsletter for Black, Asian & Arab stories should now be in your inbox. 📧

Don’t forget to check your spam folder.

I’ve added a logo now & some images so we’re slowly getting there.

Hope you like it.

Subscribe if you haven’t 👇🏾
https://t.co/fbqd2mYthZ

[✨ Donna Hall ✨ @ProfDonnaHall]

Strategies are completely pointless. They take up all our time & energy preparing them, presenting them to boards & management but they just don’t make a difference. It’s STORIES that really make a difference. Develop a compelling story of place, of community & of relationships.

[Vijay Ramjattan @Vijay_Ramjattan]

Neoliberal anti-racism is like, "Find a Black friend to educate you about racism."

Critical anti-racism would instead say, "Examine the structural reasons why you have no Black friends in the first place."

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

In 1957, Nashville's all-white Hattie Cotton Elementary School was destroyed by dynamite blast when black kids integrated the school.

—On September 9, 1957, as 19 Black six-year-olds integrated all-white elementary schools in Nashville, Tennessee, white church members—including one local minister—organized a persistent and violent campaign to oppose the integration of Nashville public schools. Outside Fehr Elementary School, one person held a sign that read “God is the author of segregation” and pursued two Black children walking to the school. Outside three different elementary schools that same morning, Fred Stroud, a white minister, sought to dissuade white parents from allowing their children to be educated alongside Black children by preaching damnation for those who did not uphold segregation.

The next day, 100 sticks of dynamite were thrown into Hattie Cotton Elementary School and exploded. Patricia Watson, the one Black elementary student who had been in class the previous morning, did not return. No Black children returned to Hattie Cotton Elementary School the following year, and no one faced criminal charges for the bombing.

Though Brown v. Board of Education determined in 1954 that school segregation was unconstitutional, for three years white residents in Nashville relied on intimidation and organized political resistance to maintain segregation in the public schools. In 1957, Nashville finally developed a “stair step program” which permitted a few Black elementary school students to enroll in eight elementary schools in their zones.

Throughout the summer of 1957, white segregationists in Nashville held intimidation rallies to terrorize Black families. In the days leading up to the first day of school, as Black parents pre-registered their children for school, mobs of white church members gathered outside buildings with signs calling segregation the “will of God.” One leader declared that “integration can be reversed” and that “blood will run the streets” before Nashville’s schools were integrated.

By the morning of September 9, out of the 126 Black children eligible to attend all-white elementary schools in their zones, only 19 Black children matriculated. Reverend Stroud gathered crowds at Glenn Elementary to preach about the evils of integration, and white people in cars outside of Jones Elementary held signs emblazoned with KKK iconography and Biblical quotes. As opposition grew throughout the morning, white mobs crowded the sidewalks and threw rocks and bottles at Black children and their parents who attempted to pass through the crowd. By the end of the day, half of the white students at Glenn Elementary School—nearly 250 children—had not arrived, as white parents chose to deny their children education rather than permit them to learn alongside Black children.

That evening, 300 white people gathered downtown and continued to threaten Black families who sent their children to school. They strung an effigy in blackface from a stoplight with a note pinned to its chest that read “this could be you.” As the mob around Fehr Elementary grew to at least 400, white people burned two outbuildings located on the property of a Black family that had sent their daughter to the school. The mob also continued to burn crosses on lawns of Black families who had dared to enroll their students that morning.

🖊️As the only admin behind this page, I try to research to educate. If you appreciate this effort, you can support to help the page thrive on https://t.co/vf5SMSPu4z. Your support is deeply appreciated! (Or just the ko-fi page for articles/posts roundup)

[RCOT CYPF @RCOT_CYPF]

Calling Band 5-equivalent OTs with work experience in #CAMHS or #MentalHealth community organisations to participate in Research.
Contributing to increased LGBQ inclusion awareness in healthcare, in answer to an RCOT research priority on exploring the impact OTs have @theRCOT

[Melissa Sigodo @melissasigodo]

Stories from Black, Asian and Arab communities you shouldn’t have missed this week 🧵

[Dr Addy Adelaine @AddyAdelaine]

In 2020 we were told by so many individuals & organisations about their unwavering commitment to inclusion, equity & justice. 4 years later who is still standing? Who is standing with Palestine? Who is standing with Diane Abbott? Who has quietly taken a seat?

[Owen Jones @owenjonesjourno]

Keir Starmer approached Diane Abbott, conversation overhead went like this:

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do”

“You could restore the whip”

“I understand just let me know if there’s anything..”

“Restore the whip”

“I understand”

[Conor Gogarty @ConorGogarty]

This is one of the most appalling employment tribunals I've reported on.

Bosses at a baby scan clinic racially harassed a Nigerian sonographer. They threatened to end her immigration sponsorship if she didn't do as she was told.

It wasn't a case about just one bad clinic...

[Melissa Sigodo @melissasigodo]

Stories from Black, Asian and Arab communities you shouldn’t have missed this week 🧵

[The Voice Newspaper @TheVoiceNews]

NEW: Racism a key cause of poor mental health new research finds

The Centre for Mental says racial discrimination causes anxiety and depression and prevents victims from seeking out the right help

https://t.co/hfXlGgD1i8

[Melissa Sigodo @melissasigodo]

A mum whose baby died says she saw hospital staff mimicking her accent & laughing, while another said a bedsheet was thrown at her after she asked for it to be changed, a maternity report has revealed. Racism was experienced on ‘countless occasions’ at NUH https://t.co/0X1EtqqIhG

[D.Lafayette @DLafayette411]

@MsGLW Genuinely sorry to hear this. Your efforts have been greatly appreciated. I'm sure your new chapter will be as impressive as the last. Hope to work with you again.

[Melissa Sigodo @melissasigodo]

A 26yo woman was dragged down the stairs of a bus in West London while another 24yo woman was assaulted & left with facial injuries by two men who made advances to them. Police have released images of two males they want to speak to.
https://t.co/wZ7DZDu74U

[Melissa Sigodo @melissasigodo]

A 31yo Black woman & her 18 week baby died as a result of what a maternity report called ‘cultural bias’ at Liverpool Hospital. Staff failed to address the pain she was in earlier and medical notes stated she was being ‘difficult’. https://t.co/TNFOouBcxs

[Rightful Lives @RightfulLives]

This is never going to change until community care and support is in place to help people before they get into crisis.