Donna M.

Currently Reading: Backtalker by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw

[Ben Crump @AttorneyCrump]

A 1-year-old child is dead after police officers in Mississippi opened fire on a vehicle in a crowded Walmart parking lot in Senatobia. His mother, who has not been charged with any crime, says she was trying to communicate to officers that there was a baby in the car. They fired anyway, leading to the death of an innocent 1-year-old. We intend to seek justice for baby Kohen and the life that was stolen from him.

[Robbie Harvey @therobbieharvey]

TSA agents make a disabled man, who is generally wheelchair bound, stand for an extended period of time to be searched.

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

What an absolute disgrace. A FIFA-certified referee being denied entry to the United States purely because he is Somali.

The World Cup is meant to bring people together. This is racism, plain and simple. Shameful.

https://t.co/rpSgTmmPU4

[The Husky @Mr_Husky1]

A 24-year-old Polish tennis player arrived in Paris last week ranked 114th in the world, with no sponsors, no guaranteed income, and no certainty she could even pay for her hotel room.

She had to win three qualifying matches just to enter the French Open main draw. Prize money is only paid at the end of the tournament, so a Polish sports drink brand quietly stepped in and covered her hotel bill.

Her name is Maja Chwalinska. And today, she plays in the French Open final.

Before this tournament, she had won exactly one Grand Slam main draw match in her entire career. She had battled depression so severe that in 2021 she couldn't get out of bed. She underwent knee surgery in 2022. She spent years grinding through small tournaments across Europe just to stay afloat.

Then she arrived in Paris, won three qualifiers, and kept winning. Zheng Qinwen. Elise Mertens. Maria Sakkari. Diana Shnaider. Nine straight matches. One set dropped.

She is now the first qualifier in French Open history to reach the final. The last time a qualifier reached a Grand Slam final, it was Emma Raducanu at the 2021 US Open. Raducanu won.

By simply making the final, Chwalinska has earned more prize money than her entire career combined. The runner-up cheque alone is $1.6 million. If she wins today, she takes home $3.25 million.
One week ago she couldn't pay for her hotel room.

[Donna M. @ReadWriteWoman]

What Are You Reading?

#Books I finished in May.
#solvejballe #zoranealehurston #helengarner #jeangiono

[Qasim Rashid, Esq. @QasimRashid]

This is Timothy Hudson. He raped & killed his stepsister. A judge ruled because he’s 16 he gets to spend time at home with family awaiting trial.
He’s Not an immigrant. Not a Black or brown person. A US citizen with the complexion for protection.
16 year old Kalief Browder was tortured for 3 years in prison and solitary on the mere (false) accusation that he allegedly stole a backpack. He died by suicide from the trauma. Hudson gets to chill at home after raping & killing.
This is America.

[The Associated Press @AP]

BREAKING: Pope Leo XIV makes historic apology for Holy See's own role in legitimizing slavery and for failing to condemn it for centuries. https://t.co/cQz8oU5Wkh

[♡⃝ @wine_x13]

Her own father got her drunk… then raped her for four hours straight.
She couldn’t even walk afterward. Her uncle had to carry her into the hospital.
The rape kit proved his DNA.
She was left so broken she took her own life — because she couldn’t live with what her dad did to her.
And he’s only getting THREE YEARS?
This is not justice. This is a slap in the face to every survivor.
May he never know a single second of peace.
Say her name. Share this until they listen. 💔

[Ronke Lawal @ronkelawal]

Britain stole 25 million years of life and labour through slavery in Barbados.

The report concludes that Barbados’s population of African descent have suffered damages estimated at up to $2tn (£1.5tn) from 200 years of chattel slavery.

https://t.co/w3o3YejBH6

[Caribbean Girl Experiencing The World @BookOfCinz]

A reminder that I use my platform (45% for the time) to create awareness for Caribbean authors.

If you are looking to read, read more, read wildly and READ CARIBBEAN. Follow me and join my book club... its free.

[Donna M. @ReadWriteWoman]

#Books I finished in April.

#marysecondé #donnatartt #madelinemiller #fyodordostoyevsky

[NAACP @NAACP]

🚨 URGENT: Our democracy is under attack.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais threatens Black voters and decades of progress. But we’re not backing down.

Join our emergency virtual briefing tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET to understand what’s at stake and how we fight back.

Featuring:
• @DerrickNAACP, NAACP President & CEO
• @KristenClarkeJD, NAACP General Counsel

Register for tonight’s call. https://t.co/uqQNfkRDPn

[Stacey Abrams @staceyabrams]

The Voting Rights Act ended 150 years of Jim Crow and finally gave truth to the 15th Amendment. In a democracy, the faith of the people is born of a belief that they can participate in its processes and benefit from its success.

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

Today’s Supreme Court decision effectively guts a key pillar of the Voting Rights Act, freeing state legislatures to gerrymander legislative districts to systematically dilute and weaken the voting power of racial minorities - so long as they do it under the guise of “partisanship” rather than explicit “racial bias.” And it serves as just one more example of how a majority of the current Court seems intent on abandoning its vital role in ensuring equal participation in our democracy and protecting the rights of minority groups against majority overreach.

The good news is that such setbacks can be overcome. But that will only happen if citizens across the country who cherish our democratic ideals continue to mobilize and vote in record numbers - not just in the upcoming midterms or in high profile races, but in every election and every level.

[Wendell Pierce @WendellPierce]

Today’s Supreme Court decision in 𝘓𝘰𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘷𝘴. 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘴 gutted what remains of the Voting Rights Act. This ruling opens the door to racial gerrymandering that will take us back to Jim Crow. This is a betrayal of Black voters, America, and democracy. Another Bloody Sunday.

[NAACP @NAACP]

Today’s Supreme Court decision in Louisiana vs. Callais is a direct attack on Black voters and marks a shameful moment in our democracy. This ruling opens the door to racial gerrymandering that will take us back to Jim Crow. This ruling is a betrayal of Black voters and the promise of democracy. We will not stay silent.

https://t.co/4te7bRGtBn

[New York Magazine @NYMag]

The deadliest mass shooting our country has witnessed in two years was not an assault at a church or a school but an incident of domestic violence, according to police. Shamar Elkins, a resident of Shreveport, Louisiana, killed eight children, seven of whom were his, on Sunday morning. The only child who survived climbed to the roof and jumped. Elkins also shot two women, one of whom is his wife, Shaneiqua Pugh. She reportedly planned to leave him.

“Many women are not so lucky. I cannot look at my feed lately without seeing stories of Black women’s lives ending tragically,” writes Brittney Cooper, who grew up in Shreveport. Across these deaths, much of the public discourse has centered on the mental-health challenges of the alleged male perpetrators. Shamar Elkins had indicated struggling with suicidal ideation and “demons” to his mother and stepfather. “It is tempting to treat Elkins’s actions as the isolated incident of a madman,” Cooper continues. “But poor mental health is never a reasonable explanation for attempting to execute one’s wife and children. Patriarchy offers a better explanation for this violence.”

Cooper writes about how these killings are the natural outcome of a country enamored with patriarchy: https://t.co/6tWndJ66q2

[The Day Warrior @thedaywar90]

This was in 1999
She was a fucking Escort working for Epstein and Donald Trump was married to his 2nd wife Marla

[Be A King @BerniceKing]

I miss you, Daddy.

Remembering you today on the 58th anniversary of your assassination.

#MLK