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A little more than a week has passed since current ESPN and former NESN anchor Elle Duncan detailed her personal encounters with racism during her two years in Boston.

In that short time, as the Black Lives Matter movement finally appears to be sparking genuine progress in the sports world, her perspective and candor have proven beyond valuable in the conversation about what Black people sometimes encounter in the city.

Duncan said during a conversation Friday that the response to her revelations has been overwhelmingly positive, with a few loud exceptions, and that it has only further confirmed that speaking up was the right thing to do.

The vocal minority of Bostonians that are the skeptics tend to dominate the headlines, said Duncan. They tend to be the loudest on Twitter.

But people should see what my DMs look like. Theyre so positive. My emails that Im getting from people that I knew briefly in Boston or the former colleagues that I really dont talk to anymore are like, Thank you, and either, A, Youre opening my eyes to some of these things in particular because of how vocal some of those detractors are. How theyre responding proves your point and how theyre trying to dismantle the message. Or, B, people telling me theyve never felt comfortable describing their time in Boston and saying, It was very difficult for me too. And that runs across color lines.

I dont want to focus on the people that were never going to listen or receive that message. Im more interested in focusing on the people right that I knew were good Bostonians who have remained quiet and who really want to reclaim the reputation of their city.

Duncan will bring that perspective to a special evening of programming Wednesday on ESPN, which will explore the issues of racism and social justice in sports. She will join fellow SportsCenter anchors Michael Eaves and Jay Harris and reporter Maria Taylor on Time for Change: We Wont Be Defeated, a one-hour program airing at 8 p.m. on ESPN and at 11 p.m. on ESPN2 that will examine Black athletes experiences with injustice and sports role in bridging the racial divides in America.

This is the centerpiece of 5 hours of programming that will air across ESPN and ESPN2 that night, beginning with the re-air of the 30 for 30 documentary The 16th Man, which features the South African Springbok national rugby team and its impact on South Africas transition from apartheid.

Time for a Change is broken up into four segments. Taylors focuses on why this time feels different, including a conversation with Chris Fowler on why white voices are speaking up more about issues Black people have been raising for a long time.

Duncans segment delves into white privilege, and includes a conversation with Ibram X. Kendi, director of the new Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, and anti-racist activist and writer Tim Wise.

Harriss segment digs into the expression stick to sports and includes a conversation with former major league outfielder Torii Hunter, who recently detailed his experiences with racism at Fenway Park, spurring the Red Sox to acknowledge the issue.

In his segment, Eaves drives a discussion on how to create legislation that can actually change policy and help eradicate racism.

I asked Duncan if she believes that there is genuine change happening now and that powerful people who have averted their eyes from racism in the past are authentic in wanting to make the country a better place for minorities.

I do. I am very hopeful, she said. I know that theres a lot of people that are skeptical. But heres what Im doing. Im leaning on my parents who are in their 60s, who marched in the civil rights protests, who integrated schools when they were young in Denver.

I lean on them because they have seen so much, and I have to be honest. When the George Floyd situation happened, the anxiety, the grief, the anger, the trauma was all there in their voices. The idea that 40 years later their children are still marching and battling and fighting for the same things they used to as teenagers was very disheartening.

But as this has continued, as the protests have gone on, I have seen their whole attitudes change. They are so hopeful, so inspired by these young people, theyre inspired at the makeup and the composition of the protests. Theyre inspired that it has become a global movement.

They are hopeful, and I am incredibly hopeful right now, too, because there are all these things happening that lead you to believe that this is different.

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Elle Duncan to be part of an ESPN night of examining racism and social justice - Boston.com

(BPRW) Court TV Announces Original News Special Exploring the Relationship Between the Criminal Justice System and African Americans

Black and Blue A Court TV Special Premieres Mon. June 22 at 8pm ET, To be Simulcast Across All Katz Networks

(Black PR Wire) ATLANTA Court TV, the multi-platform network devoted to live, gavel-to-gavel coverage, in-depth legal reporting and expert analysis of the nations most important and compelling trials, announced today an original news special that will take a deep dive into the criminal justice systems history and relationship with African Americans.

Black and Blue A Court TV Specialwill air at 8:00 p.m. (ET) on Monday, June 22, and will also be simulcast across the entire portfolio of Katz networks Bounce, Court TV Mystery, Laff,and Grit.

Topics the hour-long special will explore include: An encompassing look at our current justice system that has seemingly empowered civilians to weaponize the police against African Americans; the rise in deadly interactions with unarmed black men and women in custody and what may be ingrained in the police psyche from a legal perspective that often leads them to wrongly target specific groups; how past segregation-era thinking gave way to controversial present-day laws such as the Stand Your Ground concept and more. High-profile cases involving Ahmaud Arbery, Michael Drejka, George Floyd, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, and others will be discussed.

Black and Blue A Court TV Specialwill feature an insightful and thought-provoking discussion withLawyer and former professional WWE wrestler and personality David Otunga; Marissa Alexander, the Florida mother-turned-activist whose Stand Your Ground warning shot case became a rallying cry for anti-racism movements and survivors of domestic violence; former federal prosecutor and author of Chokehold: Policing of Black MenDavid Paul Butler, who recently testified at the House Judiciary Committee hearing along with George Floyds brother and others on issues of racial profiling, police brutality and lost trust; the Dean and Chancellors Professor of Law at the University of California, Irvine L. Song Richardson and Tim Wise, an activist, and writer on the topic of race who has trained law enforcement officers, teachers, corporate and non-profit organizations in methods for addressing and dismantling racism in their institutions.

Court TV Crime and Justice Reporter Julia Jenae will host Black and Blue A Court TV Special, with contributions by members of the networks diverse team of anchors and correspondents that are both seasoned journalists and lawyers.

About Court TV

Court TV is available to be seen on cable, over-the-air, and over-the-top. Court TV is also live-streamed on CourtTV.com, YouTube TV, and SiriusXM as well as the Court TV app for Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android and Apple devices. All feature robust and exclusive content from the massive Court TV library, including the nations most compelling, high-profile cases over the past 20 years available on demand. Court TV is part of Katz Networks, a division of The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP).

The content and opinions expressed within this press release are those of the author(s) and/or represented companies, and are not necessarily shared by Black PR Wire. The author(s) and/or represented companies are solely responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the content of this Press release. Black PR Wire reserves the right to reject a press release if, in the view of Black PR Wire, the content of the release is unsuitable for distribution.

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(BPRW) Court TV Announces Original News Special Exploring the Relationship Between the Criminal Justice System and African Americans | Press releases...

As nationwide observance of Juneteenth begins, Americans from all over the country may be looking for movies to stream that can help them better understand the many years of systemic racism that the Black community has faced in the years since.

Juneteenth is commemorated annually on June 19, in observance of the end of slavery. On this date in 1865, Union army general Gordon Granger spoke in Galveston, Texas and read the federal orders proclaiming that everyone who had been enslaved in Texas were now free. The Emancipation Proclamation had officially freed slaves nearly two and a half years prior to this after the Union States defeated the Confederate States in the Civil war. Texas, however, had a low presence of Union troops, which caused delayed enforcement of the proclamation.

Over the next 100 years, Black Americans had to fight for legal equal rights, which was achieved with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. However, even since these equal rights acts were made law, the black community has continued to face systemic racism. The first film that can offer a better understanding of how America reached this point is Selma, a historical drama that depicts the 1965 civil rights march that Martin Luther King Jr. led from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery. This movie is currently free to rent on Amazon Prime Video. Scroll down to see more suggestions.

13th is another project from DuVernayand is quite possibly the most detailed-yet-consolidated documentary on racial inequality in the United States. The main focus is the film is the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery, except in the case of those convicted of a crime and imprisoned.

With a number of historical facts and expert opinions, 13th offers incredible insight into what the black community has faced from law enforcement and the judicial system over the past 155 years since slavery was abolished, as well as the past 56 years since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was made law.

Just Mercy is a 2019 biopic about the true story of Walter McMillian played by Jamie Foxx a black man convicted of the 1986 murder of a White woman, and placed on death row, based entirely on the witness testimony of a convicted felon. Attorney Bryan Stevenson played by Michael B. Jordan takes McMillian's case and files an appeal in 1989, hoping to get justice for this man who very clearly did not commit the crime he'd been convicted of.

Stevenson would later go on to found the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit organization that focuses on ending mass incarceration and racial inequality. Just Mercy is currently free to rent on Amazon Prime Video

If Just Mercy strikes a chord, then the next thing you check stream is True Justice: Bryan Stevenson's Fight for Equality. This is a 2015 HBO documentary about Stevenson's life and career.

Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, and "has advocated on behalf of the poor, the incarcerated and the condemned, seeking to eradicate racial discrimination in the criminal justice system." The documentary is available to stream through HBO or for free on YouTube.

I Am Not Your Negro is a 2016 documentary based on James Baldwin's unfinished manuscript Remember This House. It explores the history of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s, through the eyes of Baldwin, who lived it and worked alongside men like Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, and Malcolm X.

The film is directed by Raoul Peck, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, and was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2017 Academy Awards. Is it available for Amazon Prime subscribers to stream anytime.

In 1992, Spike Lee's Malcolm X biopic starring Denzel Washington as the late human rights activist opened in theaters, giving audiences a deeper look at the controversial figure. The film used Alex Haley's 1965 book The Autobiography of Malcolm X as the basis for its story, which was co-written by Lee with Arnold Perl. It is currently streaming on Netflix, along with a brilliant documentary titled Who Killed Malcolm X?

Whose Streets? is a 2017 documentary about the death of Michael Brown at the hands of Ferguson, Missouri police, and the subsequent uprising that followed. The film focuses on a handful of main characters including Hands Up United's co-founder Tory Russell and David Whitt, a recruiter for civilian organization Cop Watch. Whose Streets? is available to stream on Hulu, for subscribers.

In 2019, Netflix released Hello, Privilege. It's Me, Chelsea, a documentary from comedian and TV host Chelsea Handler. The film follows Handler exploring the reality of White privilege, and features her having a conversation with an ex-boyfriends who is Black.

Additionally, it also features Black comedians Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, and W. Kamau Bell, as well as activists and educators such as Tim Wise, Ruby Sales, Rashad Robinson, and Carol Anderson. It is currently streaming on Netflix.

16 Shots is a 2014 Showtime documentary about the shooting of Laquan McDonald. The 17-year-old was killed by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, and the film documents the incident, as well as the cover-up that ensued. It is streaming on Showtime Anytime, for subscribers. It is also currently available for free on YouTube.

Another Spike Lee project, BlacKkKlansman is based on the true story of Ron Stallworth, a Black police officer who infiltrated and exposed the Colorado Springs chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. The film stars John David Washington the son of Denzel Washington as well as Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, Ryan Eggold, Paul Walter Hauser, and Corey Hawkins. It is currently streaming on HBO.

The Last Black Man in San Francisco is not a story about police brutality, but rather one about the tragic reality of gentrification in major U.S. cities. The story is loosely based on the real-life experience of co-writer/star Jimmie Fails, and follows one man's struggle to retain the Bay Area home of his deceased father.

In addition to fails, it co-stars Jonathan Majors, Tichina Arnold, Rob Morgan, Mike Epps, Finn Wittrock, and Danny Glover. The Last Black Man in San Francisco is available for Amazon Prime subscribers to stream anytime.

The film project on our list is not a film, but a limited biopic series about the Central Park Five. Created by Ava DuVernay, When They See Us tells the story of Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise five teens who were coerced into giving false confessions about their involvement with the 1989 assault and rape of a jogger in Central Park.

The series is broken up into four parts and follows the boys from the night of the incident, all the way to their convictions being vacated, due to new evidence, more than a decade after their trial. When They See Us is now streaming on Netflix.

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Juneteenth: 12 Films to Watch and Better Understand Systemic Racism in the US - PopCulture.com

AND..The Question Is?

We surely could cover the earth with the endless list of questions formed in a multitude of versions from White Americans regarding what African-Americans want in this society.

To anyone reading this article who ponder the same question my response is as follows. Will another explanation make any difference? Explanations have been given spanning hundreds of years.

The history of the African American experience is unique to any other experience in this country as documented by historians, activist, authors, poets, preachers, demonstrators, warriors, and advocates. There are hundreds whose work you may choose to study.

Here are a few for your consideration: Carter G. Woodson ( 1875-1950), Charles H. Wesley (1891-1987), Rayford W. Logan (1897-1982), Nathan Irvin Huggins (1927-1989) Dorothy Porter Wesley (1905-1995, John Hope Franklin (1915-2009) John W. Blassingame, Sr. (1940-2000).

The question has been sufficiently answered by organization such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), National Urban League , Rainbow Push Coalition, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) The Innocence Project, and Black Lives Matter.

By the time of the American Revolution (17751783), the status of enslaved people had been institutionalized as a racial caste system associated with African ancestry. The 13th Amendment, adopted on December 18, 1865, officially abolished slavery, but freed Black peoples status in the post-war remained precarious. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. said that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was nothing less than a second emancipation.

Present day White American activist Tim Wise explains it in a 2002 essay: n*gger was and is a term used by whites to dehumanize blacks, to imply their inferiority, to put them in their place if you will, the same cannot be said of honky: after all, you cant put white people in their place when they own the place to begin with. Power is like body armour, Tim continues. And while not all white folks have the same degree of power, there is a very real extent to which all of us have more than we need vis--vis people of colour: at least when it comes to racial position, privilege and perceptions. At the root of it all, is there really a question regarding what African-American want in this society or is the issue resistance, denial, solicitude, prevarication of information, and preserving of the status quo.

-- Willie Shaw

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Letter to the Editor: AND..The Question Is? - Evanston RoundTable

*One thing feels different about the current protests we are seeing following the recent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery: the composition of the crowds.In some parts of the country, white Americans are showing up. They are protesting, taking the knee, and flooding social media. There seems to be a renewed call for white accountability. But is posting and protesting enough? And will this energy last?

Trymaine Lee talks to Tim Wise, an anti-racist essayist, author and educator, about what white people can do to dismantle the systems of inequality in this country.

Hosted byPulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning journalistTrymaine Lee, Into America is an NBC News original podcast that elevates the voices of citizens and captures the impact of the pressing issues of our time.See below for select excerpts of the conversation and listennow wherever you get your podcasts.

SELECT EXCERPTS FROM THE PODCAST

SYSTEMIC RACISM

TRYMAINE LEE: What should white people do to dismantle a racist system erected for them? The thing thats creating so much of the stress and the anxiety that white folks, ironically, have about even sitting down and talking to black and brown folks about racism is racism.

TIM WISE: I think theyre white folks who actually would like to have those kinds of cross-racial, cross-cultural, cross-ethnic connections with people. But they dont and they dont understand why. And its not because theyre bad people and its not because the people they want to be friends with dont want to be friends with them. Its that we have a society that is divided as to such an extent that its incredibly hard. If I have a fundamentally different set of realities than you, how am I supposed to be able to sit down and talk with you about anything meaningful? And if I cant do that. How can I really have connection and friendship? Theres a deep irony, but its also sort of heartbreaking.

WHITE PRIVILEGE

TRYMAINE LEE: But can you explain for folks who dont understand how white privilege works and what it actually is? And white privilege sounds soft, but it still leads to the oppression of black folks, right? I mean, is there a real difference in the way it operates from white supremacy and white privilege? Is there any difference with one simply a soft sounding extension of the other?

TIM WISE: Yeah, I think that white privilege is really a symptom of white supremacy. Right. In other words, if you have a system of domination and subordination that makes one group, whatever, that group is supreme in terms of power and access and opportunity, then by definition that group is going to experience certain relative advantages and privileges over all other groups. But its important that we think of it almost like, you know, a taxonomy and a hierarchy where white supremacy is the overarching concept. And within that umbrella of white supremacy, you have a sense of like white privilege. Right. You have a symptom like discrimination, like discrimination is also a symptom of white supremacy. Its not the problem in and of itself, but its a symptom.

MORE NEWS: Dream Hampton Tapped to Direct Docuseries on Tulsa Race Massacre

WHITE ACCOUNTABILITY

TRYMAINE LEE: Ive been hearing this term white accountability more and more over the last several days. This idea of white people looking at each other, look at themselves in the mirror and holding themselves accountable for the state of things. What is white accountably look like? Join the protests. What is it?

TIM WISE: Accountability means taking your cue from the community that has the most to lose. Accountability means following the lead of people of color. And what people of color need from us right now is for us to do nothing in these protests thats going to hurt them. Thats going to blow back on them. So thats number one. The second thing for accountability is we have to operate outside the realm of the individual act. Theres gonna come a point when were going to need to get back in community and meeting with people and really talking with people and sharing ideas in a collective sense, because the thing about activism and fighting injustice, it can be very, very isolating and it can be very exhausting. And God knows for people who have that privilege, any level of discomfort. Right, folks, Ill throw in the towel. Black folks dont have the luxury of getting time and they do get tired. Right. People of color get tired, but you cant throw in the towel because your life is at stake. But white folks, man, if were doing this and we feel isolated and it gets too hard, I know what were going to do.

TRYMAINE LEE: When folks see white privilege in action or ignorance in action, or racism in action, should white people confront other white people about whats happening? Should they have to be intentional about confronting racism wherever it lies?

TIM WISE: Oh, I certainly think we should confront racism when we see it. But I think the problem is that a lot of times the racism that is confronting all in that terminology is only the most obvious and blatant. Now, certainly we ought to do it. I mean, its very important that if you have friends or colleagues or family that are making racist comments, telling racist jokes, engaged in obviously discriminatory behavior, you should try to interrupt that. You should practice in your own head ahead of time how you might do it. But I think the bigger problem is so much of the racism that exists and stuff that really perpetuates inequality in this country, is the kind of stuff that is oftentimes much more subtle and institutional.

THE TALK

TRYMAINE LEE: There are a lot of people, journalists included, who ask and have been asking black folks about the talk they have with the children, you know, capital letters, the talk about police and how to respond. And more broadly, just how to engage with white society, white people, period. But my question is always, Do white people have a talk with their children about race and race relations and how to move and engage with other people? Should white people right now be right parents be talking to their kids about race and white privilege? And what should that sound like?

TIM WISE: Well, the first part of the question, the answer, sadly, is no. Most white folks dont have that talk with their children. I know that for me, of course, that was never going to be an option for my children. I didnt want to hit them over the head with it all the time, because I do think one of the things that helped me was not just a parent that talked, but a parent that acted. And sometimes the actions are more important than the words

So the talks are important and we should certainly have them. And there were resources out there for white folks who want to figure out how to talk to their kids. Theres a great book called Raising White Kids that talks about how to have this conversation with white children in a way thats really meaningful. But, but we must do it. And in our home, you know, I remember those talks. I started having those talks with my children when they were really young.

CHANGE

TRYMAINE LEE: In this moment were in right now. Do you think George Floyd protest included or not, that white America wants the change that black folks are calling for?

TIM WISE: Are there enough white folks that are prepared to join in solidarity with peoples of color, particularly with black folks, to push for a different way of living? And are there enough white folks that are prepared to find a different way of living in the skin that were in and fighting for pluralism and multiracial democracy? I happen to believe that thats possible, but I have to also remain agnostic about it because I havent ever seen it.

CREDIT: INTO AMERICA // NBC NEWShttps://www.nbcnews.com/intoamerica

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New on the 'Into America' Podcast: Into an American Uprising: White Accountability - Eurweb.com