However, after learning more about the growing Civil Rights Movement and the plight of Black Americans who were still being denied full citizenship in the U.S., the socially conscious college students independently volunteered for the Freedom Summer, a civil rights initiative to help Black residents of racially restrictive Mississippi exercise their right to vote.

Goodman, Schwerner and James Chaney, a Black volunteer from Mississippi, were brutally murdered for assisting Black Mississippians. Their main goal was getting eligible Blacks residents in the state registered and voting.

But even in death, Schwerner and Goodman were still at work — providing tangible comfort to Fannie Lee Chaney, the grieving mother of the 21-year-old Black volunteer who died with them. “If it had been my son alone, nothing would have been done. Two white boys were killed, so they did something about the killing of my child, who was with them,” Chaney said three years later.

These two white New Yorkers — in life and death — made memorable contributions to Black Americans’ ongoing struggle for justice and equality, and they are not alone.

Many of these white allies are well-known, but most remain unsung. Among them are fiery John Brown, who believed that he was on a divine mission, Quaker Levi Coffin of Underground Railroad fame, crusading newspaper editor William Lloyd Garrison, and American labor leader and activist Walter Reuther. Also among the allies are the countless, concerned whites who’ve peacefully protested in Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

They and other white Americans appear throughout the long and painful timeline of the Black struggle in America. The white activists came from all walks of life, including organized labor, the church, the press and schools. Some were radical; some were idealistic and others were simply emphatic. They were allies who advocated, marched and even died for Black causes. Importantly, the deaths of these white allies also allowed mainstream America to ponder the loss of countless Black Americans who were murdered while seeking the civil rights promised by the U.S. Constitution.

A century after President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in the South, a huge Washington, D.C. march attracted 250,000 people demanding jobs and freedom. Among them was Walter Reuther, the longtime president of the powerful United Auto Workers (UAW) union, who was a white national labor boss and civil rights activist. He was also a pivotal figure and speaker who spoke at the unprecedented March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963.

Reuther — a longtime friend and ally of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — had marched with the civil rights leader throughout the South and provided financial support for the civil rights struggle. In 1963, he helped plan and pay for the March on Washington.

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters union leader A. Philip Randolph and activist Bayard Rustin crafted a powerful alliance of civil rights, labor and religious organizations for the march. The result was organized labor turning out in force, with an estimated 40,000 unionized workers for the march.

According to the 199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East’s 2023 article, “March on Washington Was Led by Labor Unions,” an “army of 1,000 members boarded a New York City train to D.C. in the wee hours of Aug. 28. Members donned blue and white 1199 paper caps as they then made their way from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial.” One of their banners read: “America’s Fastest Growing Union Marches for Jobs and Freedom Now.”

It was a transformative moment in the Civil Rights movement. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. captivated the massive audience in Washington and millions more on television with his powerful “I Have a Dream” speech calling for an end to racism and racial segregation.

In the following years, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) provided critical lobbying support and testimony for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Reuther, who died in a plane crash in May 1970, was eulogized by King’s widow, Coretta Scott King. “Walter Reuther was to Black people the most widely known and respected white labor leader in the nation,” she said. “He was there when the storm clouds were thick. We remember him in Montgomery. He was in Birmingham. He marched with us in Selma, and Jackson, Mississippi and in Washington. … He was fighting the fight of the whole world.”

White support at the March on Washington was the response to more than a century of injustice suffered by Blacks. This white support has a long history. Let’s start with Levi Coffin, a Quaker.

Coffin, born in North Carolina in 1798, was convinced at an early age that slaveholding was incompatible with his faith. By age 15, Coffin was helping his family assist runaway slaves passing through their farm.

He moved to Indiana in 1826, where his house would become a key node in the Underground Railroad. Coffin helped more than 2,000 people escape slavery, and his home was called the “Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad.” As an adult, Coffin was nicknamed the “President of the Underground Railroad.”

Of course, there was also former slave Harriet Tubman, who broke free from her slave owners in 1849, and later began her famous work as a “conductor” for the Underground Railroad — a network of secret routes and safehouses used until the Emancipation Proclamation by enslaved Blacks to escape into free states and Canada.

Coffin lived to write his memoirs after the Civil War. John Brown, a fiery contemporary, did not.

Brown, the famously militant white abolitionist, believed in ending slavery by any means necessary. He led anti-slavery guerrillas in the pre-statehood Kansas Territory in 1855, a retaliatory raid on violent slavery sympathizers in the territory’s Pottawatomie Creek in 1856 and the attack on a federal armory in what was then Harpers Ferry, Va., in October 1859.

The Harper’s Ferry raid would end with his capture. Convicted of murder, slave insurrection and treason, he was hanged. Some experts credit Brown’s crusade  for hastening the Civil War that would end slavery.

Brown’s efforts also had notable support. His friends included two of the most famous Black abolitionists of the day — Tubman and slave-turned-abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass. Brown and Tubman even had a working relationship — she helped him recruit volunteers for the assault on Harper’s Ferry. Tubman, who planned to take part in the attack, fell ill and could not participate.

Years later, after Brown’s execution, Douglass addressed an audience about the failed Harper’s Ferry incident and the actions of his friend. “The true question is: Did John Brown draw his sword against slavery and thereby lose his life in vain? And to this I answer ten thousand times, ‘No! No man fails, or can fail, who so grandly gives himself and all he has to a righteous cause,” Douglass said.

Of course, there were other white abolitionists — men and women — who were not as radical as Brown but were no less passionate about their cause.

New York City-born Julia Ward Howe, the noted author and poet renowned for writing the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” was one. Crusading publisher William Lloyd Garrison was another abolition icon. Founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, Garrison’s newspaper, “The Liberator,” is credited for successfully leading the fight against slavery. Garrison was also a fierce critic of the U.S. Constitution for tolerating slavery. But he lived long enough to see the 14th Amendment attempt to remedy the situation in 1868 by granting citizenship to all persons “born or naturalized in the United States,” including formerly enslaved people, and providing all citizens with equal protection under the law.

Unfortunately, “Jim Crow” laws were passed in reaction to the benefits of citizenship that the 14th Amendment and the amenities the post-Civil War reconstruction era offered Blacks. Jim Crow laws disenfranchised Blacks, stripped them of political and economic gains they had been granted and reinforced racial segregation in the South. A new battle in the war against segregation, discrimination and injustice would ensue and carry on into the 20th century.

Among the white allies aiding those efforts was lone protestor William Lewis Moore, a white postal worker and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) member who staged solo protests against segregation — sometimes wearing a sandwich sign that read: “End segregation in America: Black or White, Eat at Joe’s.”

While walking alone along the highway in April 1963 to deliver a letter to Mississippi Gov. Ross Barnett, Moore was fatally shot. He would be immortalized by folk singer Pete Seeger in his song “William Moore, the Mailman.”

The following year, another violent crime captured the attention of the nation: the kidnappings and killings in Mississippi of young Civil Rights Movement volunteers Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner. Schwerner had just enrolled in Columbia University’s School of Social Work, and Goodman was a Queens College student. Independently, the two White students chose to get more actively involved by joining the frontline grassroots “Freedom Summer” initiative.

The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) — the Mississippi branches of CORE, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) — created the “Freedom Summer” initiative, manned by nonviolence-practicing volunteers from Mississippi and other states with the goal of educating and registering Black voters in Mississippi.

The prerequisite for Freedom Summer were training sessions that could have been called “Racism 101” or “Advanced Hatred.” At Ohio’s Western College for Women, the Freedom Summer volunteers were taught how to nonviolently cope with the verbal and physical abuse they would likely encounter in Mississippi. This is where Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner first met.

Once in Mississippi, Schwerner was immediately targeted by local Klu Klux Klan officials for his activities, which included organizing local boycotts of biased businesses, helping people register to vote, setting up a community center, organizing their headquarters, and “planning on using the Mt. Zion Methodist Church (in nearby Philadelphia, Miss.) as a Freedom School,” according to FBI and the U.S. Justice Department records. When the church was burned and churchgoers were beaten, the trio drove to investigate the incident — beginning their death spiral.

The three men were kidnapped and murdered on June 21 by Mississippi Klansmen, with help from a local police deputy sheriff. An anonymous tip led to their remains being found buried beneath an earthen dam. Their disappearance made national news, sparking a massive search involving the FBI and the National Guard. This tragic chapter of the Civil Rights Movement would inspire the Hollywood movie “Mississippi Burning.”

Mrs. Chaney’s profound quote — referring to lack of faith in local law enforcement — was proven accurate when Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price was among the 18 defendants found guilty of the crimes. Ultimately, public pressure spurred by the missing white college students led to massive investigations by the FBI, and other federal authorities. However, the killings continued.

The murder of a Black man, Jimmie Lee Jackson, in February of 1965 was the motivation for the now famous Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, march. After “Bloody Sunday,” when the first attempt to advance to the state Capitol, Montgomery, was met with brutal attacks by law enforcement, King issued a clarion call a clarion call to clergy for help. Thousands responded; James Reeb, a white Unitarian Universalist minister from Boston, and white Detroit housewife Viola Liuzzo were among those who answered King’s plea.

Both were killed: Reeb was fatally beaten on March 11, 1965, by a gang of white supremacists; Liuzzo, a mother of five who came to Alabama to ferry protestors between Selma and Montgomery, was fatally shot by Klansmen on March 25, 1965.

However, their deaths — and the murders of countless Black freedom seekers — were not in vain. The momentum from the March on Washington and pressures from Alabama events would lead to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. President Lyndon Johnson would invoke Reeb’s memory when presenting the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to Congress.

Unfortunately, legislation did not end the discrimination and inequality many African-Americans continued to experience. At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Black Americans’ frustrations were dramatically expressed by fist-clinched Black Power salutes by Black American athletes — 200-meter dash gold medalist Tommie Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos — on the podium during their medal ceremony as America’s National Anthem played.

On the podium, Smith and Carlos had an unlikely ally in White 200-meter silver medalist Peter Norman of Australia. In solidarity, Norman and the Black Olympians wore the badge of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, which organized the protest. Norman’s action was not entirely appreciated by his countrymen, and he was not allowed to compete in another Olympic Games for Australia despite qualifying. When Norman died in 2006, Smith and Carlos flew to Australia to be pallbearers at his funeral.

“He was a lone soldier in Australia,” Carlos told the Associated Press. “Many people in Australia didn’t particularly understand. Why would that young white fella go over and stand with those black individuals?” In August 2012, the Australian House of Representatives offered Norman a posthumous apology.

In April of 1968, before the Olympics Games and after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., white Iowa schoolteacher Jane Elliot devised an exercise to teach her third-grade class about racism. “You are not born racist. You are born into a racist society,” said the creator of the “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes” exercise on prejudice. “And like anything else, if you can learn it, you can unlearn it. But some people choose not to unlearn it, because they’re afraid they’ll lose power if they share it with other people. We are afraid of sharing power. That’s what it’s all about.”

Today, Elliot is a lecturer and diversity trainer. Aided by her daughter Mary Elliott Gasteiger, the pioneering educator hosts a website, janelliot.com, that provides invaluable information on prejudice, including “Commitment to Combat Racism” questions from Judith Katz, author of “White Awareness: Handbook for Anti-Racism Training.”

Even in the often disrespectful world of social media, there are some respectable outlets from white allies that provide direction and perspectives on race, such as RacialBeginners.com. On a website and several social media platforms, the outlet offers a free “Racial Beginners 101” course designed to “educate and encourage total beginners to start their racial journey and help them start building a practice of anti-racism.”

African Americans and the Arts is this year’s theme, and there is an unending array of events marking the contributions and expressions of Black artists from every discipline. Here is a sampling.

From the Victoria to the Village: A Visual History of Black Creative Spaces

Exhibit through April 30 

Explores Black artists and creativity from the 1950s through the early 2000s via the work of photographer and gallerist Alex Harsley. Free and open to the public.

The Apollo Stages at The Victoria Theater, 233 West 125 St., First Floor, New York, NY 10027

The Ways of Langston Hughes: Griff Davis and Black Artists in the Making

Exhibit through July 8

This New York Public Library exhibit of the Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes juxtaposes archival material with photographs by Griffith J. Davis, a longtime friend of Hughes. Free and open to the public.

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd., New York, NY 10037

Kwanzaa Film Festival presents “Celebrating Films That Heal” 

Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m.

A daylong symposium of screenings, panel discussions and an award ceremony. Admission is free but pre-registration is recommended.

The Forum at Columbia University Auditorium, 601 West 125th St., New York, NY 10027

Feb. 9, 7 p.m.

“An Unsung Symphony”

Harlem musical group The Unsung Collective, plus members of the New York Philharmonic and soprano Nia Drummond, perform William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony and Jessie Montgomery’s Five Freedom Songs at New York State’s oldest African American church. Tickets are $30.

Mother AME Zion Church, 140-6 West 137th St., Harlem, NY 10030

Drunk Black History

Feb. 10, 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:30)

Comedian Charles McBee will host a panel of “comedians who are skunked out of their mind trying to recap the biography of a historical black figure or event.” Watch in person for $30 ($20 early bird tickets available until Feb. 3) or via livestream for $10.

Caveat*, 21 A Clinton St., New York, NY 10002

The Harlem Chamber Players Black History Month Celebration

Feb. 15, 6:30-8 p.m.

Haitian flutist and singer Nathalie Joachim is joined by several musical artists. Free and open to the public but RSVP is required.

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Taking Care: Artists and Scholars Discussion

Feb. 15, 6:30-8:30 p.m. (doors open at 6)

Artists Elissa Blount Moorhead and Bradford Young will discuss the exhibit Taking Care: The “Black Angels” of Sea View Hospital with scholars Debbie-Ann Paige, Rita Reynolds and Lisa Holland. The exhibit explores the work, lives and legacy of the Black nurses “who broke racial barriers and risked their lives to care for tuberculosis patients and administer the clinical trials that forever changed the trajectory of this horrific disease,” sponsor JP Morgan Chase says in its description. Limited capacity, registration strongly recommended.
$15 adults/$10 members. Free for students

Staten Island Museum at Snug Harbor

Virtual Black History Month 5K

Feb. 17-24

The New York Road Runners Club invites runners to “celebrate the contributions of the Black community throughout history, including runners, pioneers, and trailblazers” by running a 5K anywhere between those dates. Worth checking out in tandem with the virtual run is the New York Historical Society exhibit through Feb. 25, Running for Civil Rights: The New York Pioneer Club, 1936-1976. Free.

New York Road Runners Club, Online

Brooklyn and the Abolitionist Movement

Feb. 18, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

New York City’s Urban Park Rangers will give a tour showcasing “Brooklyn’s significant history to the abolitionist movement in the United States,” the New York City Parks Department says. Free; registration begins on Feb. 7 and ends Feb. 16. NYC Parks has a host of events both online and off scattered throughout the month, and highlights Black history all around the city’s parks on its website.

Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Corner of Furman and Old Fulton Streets

African Diaspora Film Festival (ADFF)

Feb. 23-25

Films galore include documentaries, features and shorts showcasing Black artistry. Tickets for each screening are $13 general admission, 11 for students.

Teachers College, Columbia University

Harlem Fine Arts Show 16th Black Art Expo NYC

Feb. 23-25

This Black art expo also includes celebrations of African Americans in medicine and in finance. Tickets start at $34.12.

The Glasshouse, 660 12th Ave., New York, NY 10019

Black History Month Concert at Brooklyn Public Library

Feb. 24, 4-5:30 p.m.

Ashley Horne and Claire Chan on violin, William Frampton on the viola and Wayne Smith, cello. Free and open to the public, RSVP required

10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11238

The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism

Feb. 25 (through July 28)

About 160 works of painting, sculpture, photography, film, and ephemera will explore Black artists’ portrayals of everyday modern life from the 1920s through 1940s and show the works’ central role in the development of international modern art. Free with museum admission.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

SEE ALSO: Daily News ‘Black History Month’ special section

The African Burial Ground hosts a decade-old visitors’ center and received National Historic Landmark status in 1993, two years after excavators discovered the 7-acre burial ground during work on a planned federal government office tower.

Goldman, a Tribeca Democrat, described the burial ground as a “stark and sobering reminder of the fact that New York and America was built by Black Americans and, to a great extent, on the back of Black Americans.”

The legislation will be introduced in the House on Tuesday, according to Goldman’s office. The bill calls for the appropriation of $15 million in 2024 for the creation of the museum.

Similar legislation to create the museum has languished in Washington for years.

“We just have to keep working at it,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, an Upper West Side Democrat who represented the site before his district was redrawn last year.

Nadler first introduced legislation aimed at creating the museum in 2005, according to his office.

At a news conference with Nadler, Goldman pledged to work hard to find GOP co-sponsors for the bill, saying that he believes “a lot” of Republicans agree that Americans need to face shameful elements of the nation’s history.

“It’s more clear than ever that we must not just protect but celebrate Black history,” Goldman said on the penultimate day of Black History Month.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is set to sponsor the bill in the Senate but did not attend the news conference.

In a statement, she described the burial ground as “an important part of New York City’s history, serving as a permanent tribute to the enslaved and free African men and women who lived in and helped build the foundations of New York.”

It was not clear what building would house the museum.

Islandia, L.I.: Long before Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took office, I had spoken up in Yonkers and Philadelphia about what communities can do to reduce police violence and other injustices. We know these things happen, but DeSantis is the “Don’t Say” governor.

I was getting close to a police sergeant in Yonkers who was involved with the youth there, which to me meant gangs as well. I wanted to help those youth earn the GED, which would help Yonkers to fight crime since education matters. I spoke up that the community there should make complaints that are “fair and accurate.” Communication with that office was cut off abruptly. That is what I spoke up about in Philadelphia’s Manayunk neighborhood.

Would DeSantis be willing to allow people in his state to say something if they see something about an officer who mishandles his role? Police everywhere are asking people to say something to help them, so why not advocate for the same thing in communities in Florida? Some police are racist and some police need better training, and police who act improperly have to be singled out immediately before things escalate.

I have a relationship with police outside of New York. I do not wish to defund them, nor do I wish any harm to come to them. I want them to go home safely to their families.

I would like my message to reach police all over our nation. Martin Danenberg

Solid scribe

Yonkers: Dear Kristie Ackert, you are definitely missed. I’m a Mets fan but I read your column for years. You are one of the best and fairest writers around. Whether you ever decide to come back to the Daily News, good luck on whatever you plan to do best. Warren Isaacs

Done deal

Whitestone: So if the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge got its name from an exchange with Republicans and now they want to change the name, what happens to the hodgepodge of concessions made and benefits doled out? I say change the name and rescind all the benefits that were given. Anyone who thinks this isn’t political must have been under a rock the past few years. Refer to the bridge however you like, but leave the name Mario Cuomo, he earned the tribute! Ursula Paciullo

Benevolent association

Campbell Hall, N.Y.: Re “Paying for those raises” (editorial, Feb. 21): The Medicare Advantage plan that the city wants to force on its retirees would require us to pay $191 per person to stay on our traditional Medicare. Most of us on fixed incomes could not afford that. I suggest that current workers start paying their fare share for their cost-free benefits. The Municipal Labor Committee does not represent the retirees and neither do the various unions, including the Police Benevolent Association, Sergeants Benevolent Association and Lieutenants Benevolent Association. When we retire we have no vote, so they could care less what happens to us. We worked long and hard for our benefits and they should not be allowed to force such a hardship on us. James C. McGovern

For a pittance

Bayside: There are a few facts that are necessary for your readers to understand. Union retirees are not greedy, nor do they wish to bankrupt the city. I can speak for United Federation of Teachers retirees only — all we want are the benefits we were promised when we took on the yeoman’s task of teaching (among all the other hats teachers wear, from psychologist to parent to educator). These benefits were factored into our decisions when we retired. If our health stabilization fund had not been raided by the unholy trio of Michael Mulgrew, Harry Nespoli and Henry Garrido — along with co-conspirator Bill de Blasio — to fund raises, we would not have to accept an inferior plan (none of my doctors will accept it). The mayor complains that we could save the city $600 million. Does anyone out there understand that our insurance is .6 of 1% of the NYC budget? Dale Herman

Hold the line

Bellerose: Gov. Hochul better wake up and realize New York is more liberal with Democrats in charge. We’re not buying the line that Hector LaSalle would have been fair and not biased and partisan if he became chief judge. That’s the same line the last three conservative Supreme Court justices fed us at their confirmation hearings, then proceeded to do the exact opposite. Enough lies and alternate truths that the right wing (their former president and the sheep in Congress) swears by. Thank you, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins. Suck it up, Justice Thomas F. Whelan and Sen. Anthony Palumbo — we are not buying what the right wing is selling again. Kathleen Lucas

Punching down

Huntington Station, L.I.: On Wednesday night, Stephen Colbert thought it would be amusing to mock the grammar of a victim of the Ohio train derailment. Another time, Colbert brought his million-dollar team of comedy writers down on a guy who had the audacity to state that he was, in fact, a real person and not a figment of a Midwest Republican governor’s imagination. This is the worst way for progressives such as myself to present themselves. It feeds into the stereotype that we are elitist. I only watch the monologue but will give it up if Colbert continues to use his arch superiority against non-public figures who don’t have lawyers, agents and comedy writers to defend themselves. Ann Rita D’Arcy

Wish she was here

Brooklyn: For Black History Month, I just read the late Rep. Shirley Chisholm’s memoir “Unbought and Unbossed.” It’s an amazing and frank read in which she clearly explains her thoughts about being a Black woman in the U.S., an educator and a diplomatic rebel in politics. I wonder what this Brooklyn native and representative would think about the socio-political situation we grapple with today. I wish we had more people like her in the current House of Representatives. She could be tough and demanding but mature, caring and very intelligent. Ellen Levitt

Learned behavior

Spring Valley, N.Y.: To Voicer Ariana Solomon Girven Walker: You have to be taught. When we were young and on the bus, if a senior citizen, adult or pregnant woman got on, you had better get up and give them your seat. If a senior citizen dropped something, you picked it up for them. Manners need to be taught. Delores McDonald

Minimal dose

Morris Plains, N.J.: To Voicer Harvey Kaplan: I agree with all that you say and have tried hard to come off Suboxone, as I know it’s not good for you. When I started I was at 16 milligrams. I have gone all the way down to just 2 milligrams a day. I have tried to eliminate it but I still get sick and nauseous if I don’t take that small amount. It’s my doctor who prescribes it to me monthly and I’m following her instructions. Maybe each person has a different reaction but it was in no way a seven- to 10-day thing for me. I was sick for six months coming off opioids. I’m being honest. I’m fine with 2 milligrams per day. It keeps me from being sick. Joe Tierney

Take offense

Schenectady, N.Y.: To Voicer John Procida: I read your letter complaining about two national anthems sung at the Super Bowl, but did you also know there were two GI Bills? Meaning, white soldiers in WWll could come home from war and take advantage of the GI Bill to purchase a home. Those Black WWll soldiers you discussed who also proudly defended our country were denied the use of the GI Bill to purchase a home — look it up. That is what you should call a horrible insult, not two national anthems. Diane Hombach

Wishy-washy wishes

Uniondale, L.I.: To Voicer James Formato: You said the answer to SNAP is to “get a job.” A lot of people work and still go hungry. At the end, you say, “C’mon man. Wake up!” Remember, Republicans want you to stay asleep with the anti-woke laws! Can’t have it both ways! Ramon Cruz

AI is a branch of computer science in which machines are trained to perform tasks associated with human beings, whether it’s “hearing” in the case of Siri, “seeing” like the facial prompts used to unlock phones or “thinking” in the case of the growing automation industry where people are being replaced by robots. Systems perform tasks, and in the same way babies learn to walk and talk, they repeat the task millions of times.

The first sign Americans were concerned about the increasing use of AI technologies came in 2000, when activists first protested against cookies — the tools that monitor and track our activity on the internet. In 2013, the National Security Agency found that the Patriot Act had been used to wiretap millions of Americans and the surveillance state we live in today was beginning to take hold.

Today, we have tools like ChatGPT that generate conversation-like responses from identified patterns in how people respond to questions in open-source text data.

For Black people, these technologies can cause real harm. In 2020, the Detroit Police Department wrongfully arrested Robert Williams after using facial recognition to identify him. Additionally, software used to determine bails and predict “criminal behavior” used in jails and courts includes algorithms which often discriminate against Black men. In recent years, a ProPublica report found that body scanners at airports often flag Black women falsely for our hairstyles.

And technology that predicts what jobs we get, what loans we qualify for and other opportunities that can determine our future are also far too often biased against us from the performance review written with ChatGPT to not being allowed to take tests because the technology fails to recognize dark-skinned students, or faucets in public restrooms failing to turn on because they do not recognize the Black hands under them.

This is algorithmic bias — the process by which technical systems express the same biases found in real life. These seemingly cool innovations are promoted as ‘”neutral” — but we have evidence they are not.

For a healthy, prosperous future where these innovations can help and not harm us, technology must also consider racism and the intersection of sexism, ableism, classism, and homophobia.

For Black people in America and across the diaspora, we deserve a future in which tech companies are questioned and held accountable for how the design, deployment and governance of advanced technical systems impact Black consumers. We deserve a future in which we only commercialize justice-oriented tech products that respect civil and human rights and are not used for policing. Black people also must realize the promise of living in a technologically advanced society and benefit from the wealth created through innovation.

A racially-inclusive tech sector would elevate Black leaders on content moderation teams, and empower them to stop the spread of videos like the horrific murder of Tyre Nichols because of the psychological impact on social media users. A Black feminist tech sector would make sure the necessary protections were in place to avoid sexual assault in the metaverse. And a justice-centered tech sector would ensure our data is kept from third-party data brokers who can develop products that track and surveil us.

Corporations, developers and policymakers need to act with urgency to make Black voices heard in the advanced tech sector, whether discussing crypto, virtual reality or quantum computing.

Black people have fought for our civil and human rights throughout time; the virtual realm is no different. We are substantially underrepresented in the field and consistently pushed out by bias and structural racism. But let’s be clear: There is no future without Black innovation, power and agency.

It is overdue for so-called allies to do more than produce empty promises during Black History Month. We need disruption of systemic bias everywhere. We are still wondering what happened to the $50 billion corporations pledged to protect and support us. Some of this funding could indeed go toward a better, more inclusive technological future for all of us. We are all still grieving the policing of Black bodies now enhanced by AI.

When people see our humanity and when we all more deeply understand our collective responsibility and the larger assignment at play, there is no limit to the equitable innovations we can create together.

Nkonde is a leader in racial justice in tech, a UN advisor, and the founder and CEO of Emmy-winning communications firm AI for the People — an organization that works to increase public understanding about how AI, web3 and quantum computing impact Black lives.

As Haley launches a 2024 presidential run, the former South Carolina governor was shown falsely telling a pro-Confederacy group that the constitution permits states to quit the U.S.

“I think that they do,” Haley said when asked if states have the right to secede. “I mean, the Constitution says that.”

She also told the Sons of the Confederacy that the Civil War was a battle of “tradition” versus “change,” not racism and slavery.

“I think you had one side of the Civil War that was fighting for tradition and one side of the Civil War that was fighting for change,” Haley said.

In fact, the Supreme Court ruled in a post-Civil War case that states do not have the right to secede.

Haley also said she had no objection to a potential month of celebrating Confederate heritage, comparing it to Black History Month.

The Confederacy was rooted in racism and the southern states seceded from the Union in a failed effort to keep slavery legal indefinitely.

As governor of South Carolina, Haley raised hackles among some far right wing supporters by moving to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol in 2015.

The shocking 13-year-old video surfaced at an awkward time just hours before Haley delivered a speech in Charleston to formally launch her 2024 Republican presidential bid.

Haley, 51, says she is the voice of a new generation of GOP leadership. She is the first of several expected challengers to former President Donald Trump, who announced his comeback White House campaign last November.

“We’re ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past,” Haley said in her speech Wednesday to scores of cheering supporters.

“America is not past its prime it’s just that our politicians are past theirs,” she added.

While barely mentioning Trump, Haley took pot shots at President Biden for presiding over inflation, crimes and illegal immigration.

“Our future is slipping. Our leaders are failing,” she told a cheering crowd. “No one embodies that failure more than Joe Biden.”

Haley is polling in the low single digits, far behind Trump and potential contenders Gov. Ron DeSantis and ex-Vice President Mike Pence.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had already crossed way over the line with his racist “war on woke,” attacking any and all programs ensuring diversity, equity and inclusion.

And don’t get us started again on his homophobic “don’t say gay” bill from last year outlawing some classroom instruction on LGBTQ issues.

Now, DeSantis has deemed it a threat to Florida’s future for school-aged children to read about two of baseball’s biggest icons — Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente.

Children’s books about the game-and society-changing Hall of Famers are on a list of titles banned in Florida’s Duval County, which includes the city of Jacksonville.

The books — “Henry Aaron’s Dream” by Matt Tavares and “Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates” by Jonah Winter — are among 176 flagged titles, according to Pen America, a non-profit organization that champions literary freedom.

According to Pen America, books about Rosa Parks, Japanese internment camps and Hurricane Katrina have also been put on ice.

“No specific reason has been given, but they seem to be removing any books that acknowledge that racism exists,” tweeted Tavares. “They probably also don’t like the fact that it mentions the racism that Henry Aaron encountered when he played for Jacksonville in 1953.”

DeSantis in April signed the “Stop WOKE” act, which restricts lessons and training on race and diversity in schools and in the workplace, particularly anything that discusses privilege or oppression based on race.

The law also prohibits anything that considers whether someone “bears personal responsibility for and must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress” due to U.S. racial history.

WOKE in the bill stands for “Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees.”

Catchy.

Under DeSantis’ Stop Woke Act, books that have not been officially vetted and approved must be hidden or covered, and teachers or librarians who don’t comply could face third-degree felony charges for sharing titles considered pornographic or obscene under Florida law.

DeSantis kicked off Black History Month by announcing plans to ban funding for diversity programs at state colleges.

If DeSantis had his way, we wouldn’t be celebrating Black History Month at all, which would be a shame considering all the generations that we’ve endured White History Month.

Yes, there is such a thing as White History Month. Always has been. They just called it something different:

March, April, May…

DeSantis is part of a scary wave of Republican conservatives doing their best to out-Trump Donald Trump.

That includes Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who, during President Biden’s State of the Union speech last week, crassly broke decorum and loudly called Biden a liar.

Greene was in a room where Republican George Santos — Congressman Pants on Fire — was holding court, and she called Joe Biden a liar.

DeSantis and his ilk need to wake up. Black people, as far as I can tell, don’t even say “woke” anymore. The word has been stolen, manipulated and used against us, like so many other parts of our culture.

Now, if we could just get Black people to stop using the N-word …

But nearly a quarter into the 21st century, technology and social media are providing alternative sources of knowledge so that Black history remains unaltered and accessible to all.

The book-banning trend and attendant crackdown on what is taught in schools — particularly public schools — are part of an active Conservative-led movement in America’s culture wars.

In Texas, for example, residents sued a library after a library official took books off the shelves based on a list from an elected official, noted journalist Alexandra Alter, who covered the publishing industry for the New York Times.

“They weren’t all children’s books; the list included Ta-Nehisi Coates’ award-winning ‘Between the World and Me’ and ‘How to Be an Antiracist’ by Ibram X. Kendi,’ ” a best-seller in the U.S., said Alter, noting that, “For some parents, it’s about preventing kids from reading certain things. Others want to introduce certain topics — like LGBT rights or race — to their children themselves.”

Even school librarians “have been thrown into the forefront of the cultural wars,” according to Jeffery Fleishman’s L.A. Times’ article. “School librarians vilified as the ‘arm of Satan in book-banning wars,” which says the workers nationwide are being pressured and harassed for refusing to ban books with inclusive themes.

The pushback against Critical Race Theory (CRT) is also part of the attempt to censor the teaching of Black history and race. CRT suggests that racism is part of a broader pattern in America, and that it’s a systemic problem, not only a matter of individual bigotry. Opponents reinterpreting CRT have turned it into a lightning rod to change how history, race and inequality are taught.

Last month, the Florida Department of Education rejected a new Advanced Placement course on African American studies, saying it violated state law and “significantly lacks educational value,” without detailing the state’s legal objections or what was inaccurate about the course. The College Board, which created the African American AP course, said the curriculum covers a wide range of subjects — from literature and arts to science and geography — and has been worked on for more than 10 years.

In 2022, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a CRT opponent, signed into law the so-called Stop WOKE Act, which governs how race can be discussed in the state’s workplace and schools.

In addition to banning books and forbidding CRT, as Florida’ has done, there have been attempts to rewrite Black history. Some are laughable, like the debunking of slavery with claims that “the first African workers were given rides to the Americas in exchange for their labor. The people that they worked for treated them like family and they were very happy.”

Enter social media. Among its numerous functions, social media has become an easily accessible alternative source of information about race, Black history, and other “banned” topics. And the information available on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram is diverse.

Take TikToker @chantemonique1’s highly detailed and pictorial 3:37 minute post on slavery — a major rebuttal to slavery skeptics anywhere.

Then there’s comedian Amber Ruffin, who intersperses facts about Black history with fun facts about her late-night shows that are excerpted on TikTok. A serious fact presented is the 1968 shooting at South Carolina State University that killed three and wounded 28. One of the most violent events of the Civil Rights Movement, the Orangeburg Massacre in 1968, remains one of the least known chapters of history.

Vanessa K. Valdés, associate provost for community engagement at The City College of New York, and author of “Diasporic Blackness: The Life and Times of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg,” hailed social media’s “tremendous role in the expansion of Black history over the last decade.”

“We are witnessing a democratization of knowledge, which goes back to the initial appeal of social media,” said Valdés. “We know of the dangers of social media — yet we also know the development of communities of support have happened and continue to happen there. In this way, social media is a reflection of humanity itself: it is a tool that is dependent upon our use of it.”

She noted that as a specialist in Afro-Latin American and Afro-Latinx studies, she has witnessed how interest in these areas of study has grown. “Histories of the African diaspora outside of the United States are often not taught, even within Black Studies departments. And this critical information about global Black populations — including Black peoples throughout this hemisphere — is now being shared outside of a college audience to adults and young people alike,” she said.

Yet amidst this, the cardinal questions remain. How does one determine whether the information provided is factually correct, and are reputable sources being used to learn the history?

“On the face of it, one may not be able to determine if any information presented on the internet is accurate, which is why it’s important to continue looking into the facts presented. Hopefully the information presented inspires that kind of curiosity,” said Valdés.

“Now, a one-minute Tik Tok video hopefully isn’t all someone sees — hopefully viewers are inspired to learn more, be it on YouTube and other sources. Still, I am inspired by the spread of knowledge: we know learning is a continual pursuit, not only something that happens in the classroom. In ‘The Negro Digs Up His Past,’ Arturo Schomburg wrote: ‘the American Negro must remake his past in order to make his future.’ [And] this is Sankofa, from the Akan peoples of Ghana: we must know where we have been in order to know where we are going. Social media is assisting with this.”

There’s the increased deployment of officers that brought a welcome decrease in subway crime, but violent incidents on city streets remain the talk of the town, partly due to some hardcore criminals using and abusing reforms in the city’s criminal justice system, the commissioner and Mayor Adams agree.

And there’s more. The videotaped fatal beating of Tyre Nicholas in Memphis has once again sparked a national discussion on police reform, once again highlighting the generations-old apprehension about police experienced by people of color.

But despite the challenges, Sewell — a Queens native who returned to New York after an impressive and comprehensive career with the Nassau County Police Department — is well-equipped to handle the day-to-day matters, the major concerns, and even the annoying minutia of naysayers and the outright haters, who spout off on social media and in other arenas.

She has loads of support. Last December, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association named Sewell the police union’s Person of the Year — the first time a current police commissioner has received the honor. And in November 2022, the NYPD Policewomen’s Endowment Association recognized Sewell, who spoke at its 101st Annual Awards and Scholarship Dinner Dance. She addressed the gathering with an inspiring speech in the form of an advisory letter to the next woman at the helm of the NYPD. Sewell is aware that everyone is not going to be welcoming and helpful to a woman in her position.

Her advice included:

“Don’t be offended when people who don’t know you tell others who you are.”

“Try not to take it personally when people you have never met tell others what you think.”

“Understand that you will be second-guessed, told what you should say, told what you should write by some with half your experience. They don’t know any better.”

“Your hairstyle is wrong. You look tired; already worn out in less than a year. You should wear different clothes. You’re not qualified; you are in over your head. None of this is true,” she said confidently.

Sewell’s confidence comes from experience. In mid-December 2021, then Mayor-elect Adams announced she was his choice for commissioner — to fill the post about to be vacated by NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, who was retiring on Dec. 31.

Born in Queens, she grew up in the city’s Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, and the mayor-elect thought it fitting to unveil his pick for police commissioner at her old housing project.

“To lead this department into the next chapter of our shared history, I conducted a nationwide search of some of this country’s brightest talents. I am thankful to every candidate who was interested in this important assignment, but I am particularly proud of the historic choice we have made,” said Mayor-elect Adams, adding, “Chief Keechant Sewell is the right woman to lead New York’s Finest at this critical moment in our city’s history. She not only has the experience to step into the role of commissioner; she also has the emotional intelligence that is necessary for healing the divides between police and communities.”

Her appointment was historic on two levels. First, Sewell is only the third Black commissioner the department has had in its 176-year history. There was Benjamin Ward (who served under Mayor Koch from 1984 to 1989) and Lee Brown (who was commissioner under Mayor Dinkins, from 1990 to 1991). But beyond making Black history, Mayor Adams was also introducing the first woman to head the 33,000-plus police force in city history.

“For the past 25 years, I have immersed myself in the work of policing. My wide breadth of experience has shown me what works in law enforcement and what doesn’t,” said Chief Sewell in 2021. “We are at a pivotal moment for New York, as our city faces the twin challenges of public safety and police accountability.”

She also made it a point that inclusion will be part of her game plan for the NYPD. “I am firmly committed to making sure the department looks more like the city it serves, and elevating women and Black and Brown officers into leadership roles. The NYPD is the best of the best — and it’s about to get better.”

BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2023: Black Barbie dolls proudly take their place among Mattel classic toys

And given her law enforcement history, Sewell is well equipped for the post. At the announcement, Mayor-elect Adams referred to Sewell as “Chief,” because she was leaving Nassau County as its chief of detectives. And her new beginning with the NYPD marked the end of an impressive career across the Queens border in Nassau County.

She joined the Nassau County Police Department in 1997, excelled in the academy, and was class speaker at the graduation. After patrol assignments, she had undercover duties before being promoted to detective, sergeant and then detective sergeant, overseeing narcotics and vice units. After a few more supervisory posts, including heading a Major Case Bureau, she was promoted to chief of detectives. She also launched and headed Nassau’s Department of Professional Standards Bureau.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2023: It’s ‘social’ studies when history lives on Internet media platforms

A longtime FBI trained hostage negotiator, Sewell was elected class spokesperson in the 235th Session of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and was named the Nassau County Detectives Association’s 2021 Person of the Year.

In 2021, as she accepted Mayor-elect Adams’ assignment to head the NYPD, Sewell proclaimed she understood the difficulties and was willing to accept the challenges. Affirming her commitment to Adams’ vision for the city, she said, “The NYPD has an important role to play in making our communities safer, but we cannot do it alone,” Sewell said. It was her first public plea to New York residents to get involved with the policing of the city.

Last month, with the release of the NYPD Strategic Plan 2023, her appeal for New Yorkers to get actively involved in policing was reinforced. Half of the main goals laid out in the NYPD plan are community related.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2023: Former Homeland Secretary has a music and talk show on WBGO-FM radio

According to the plan, the NYPD wants what most New Yorkers do — to “fight crime and improve the quality of life.” The NYPD wants to achieve this by “working in partnership with the community.” And pathways for New Yorkers to get involved include participation in Precinct Community Councils, which each neighborhood precinct has.