August 19, 2017

Advocates for Racial Justice Are Marching in More than 30 Cities Today

The national effort is dubbed #FightSupremacy.

Hundreds of people rally on the waterfront in Portland, Ore., on August 18, 2017, to show solidarity against hate with Charlottesville Va., a week after white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and Ku Klux Klan members descended on the city to protest the removal of the statue of confederate general Robert E. Lee.Alex Milan Tracy/SIPPL Sipa USA

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Update 8/19, 4:11 p.m. ET: President Trump weighed in on the Boston protests via Twitter:

Update 8/19, 2:00 p.m. ET: Boston police estimate around 15,000 people attended the counter-protest in that city, ABC reported. It’s unclear how many people participated the “free speech” rally, but pictures show the counter-protest crowd dwarfed the number of attendees at that rally. At least one “free speech” demonstrator was arrested after an altercation between the man and counter-protesters, according to Boston Globe reporter Evan Allen.

Activists advocating for racial justice are planning to hold rallies, marches, and protests in more than 30 cities on Saturday, including in Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., in response to the racially charged violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend.

The national effort, dubbed #FightSupremacy on social media, is led by The Majority, a broad coalition of groups affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as those focused on immigrants’ rights, Muslim equality, and climate justice, among other causes. In total, the events are expected to draw thousands of attendees. An email promoting the initiative encouraged supporters to hold demonstrations at Confederate monuments but also at other “symbols and institutions of white supremacy,” including corporate headquarters, police departments, university campus buildings, and streets named after Confederate figures. Those in D.C. are going to demonstrate at the White House.

“We call on all those who choose to stand on the side of justice, the side in opposition to white supremacy and state violence,” a site promoting the initiative says, “to take creative and courageous action where they live and challenge how white supremacy shows up in our communities.”

The protest in Boston is in direct response to a “free speech” rally being held by far-right groups in the city. Police in the city have tried to prepare throughout the week to avoid direct confrontations between the two groups. 

It’s unclear if the demonstrations in other cities will draw counter-protests from white nationalist or other far-right groups. We will update this post as more details become available.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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