Confederacy seeks to rule the South
Ahead of the 2026 midterms, several Southern Republican candidates who still “question” the 2020 election results are running for offices that oversee future voting procedures. While mainstream media often labels them “election deniers,” a more accurate label might be confederates, or even white nationalists.
The original Confederacy was built explicitly on anti-Blackness and the preservation of slavery. And even though apologists claim those Confederates were all about states’ rights, the number one state right they fought for (and listed in their traitorous constitutions) was the right to enslave Black people.
Today’s movement echoes that of the past by attempting to delegitimize Black voters. By targeting high-turnout Black cities like Atlanta, Detroit, and Philadelphia with claims of fraud (which is central to the election denier position), these politicians code anti-Blackness as electoral integrity.
Their platform centers on aggressive voter suppression—a modern iteration of the Confederate stance that Black people should hold no political power. In essence, they’re fighting for white nationalism.
As activist Lurie Daniel Favors notes, communities must “vote for the candidates who will either do our communities the most good or the least harm.” With one political faction operating with a lack of urgency and the other championing the founding of a Confederate States of America, the stakes remain incredibly high for protecting Black people’s voting rights.
Advocate for our brilliance
At a recent Windsor Board of Education meeting in Connecticut, Naomi Champlain, a sixth-grade Black girl at Sage Prep Middle School, delivered a powerful message about systemic gaps in gifted-and-talented programs.
Despite an impressive academic and civic resume, Naomi was only identified as gifted at the end of sixth grade. “I wasn’t identified in kindergarten or first grade, or second grade, or third, or fourth, or even fifth,” she said. “I was identified at the end of sixth grade due to my parents advocating for me. The identification was new. My abilities were not. That makes me wonder: How many years of evidence should it take before a child’s gifts are recognized?”
Her father, Malik Champlain, noted that this achievement was the result of years of parental advocacy, praising his daughter for speaking truth to power. Naomi’s experience highlights a larger systemic issue: Black girls remain the least represented group in the district’s gifted program.
While Naomi’s parents successfully fought for her, many Black families face structural barriers—such as inflexible work schedules or economic realities—that prevent them from attending board meetings.
This story underscores the urgent need for parents to advocate within existing institutions while building independent spaces where the brilliance of Black children is recognized from jump.
Texas ‘Christian education’ an oxymoron
The Texas State Board of Education is voting this week on a new curriculum that incorporates Christian texts and emphasizes a specific interpretation of Texas and U.S. history. While advocates claim these changes appropriately highlight Christianity’s role in promoting freedom and capitalism, critics argue that the curriculum promotes religious favoritism and contains factual inaccuracies.
Beyond the curriculum itself, a stark contradiction exists between the state’s legislative actions and the biblical values it seeks to teach. Texas policymakers and the “Christians” behind this push have routinely opposed civil rights, women’s rights, and assistance for vulnerable groups like immigrants and orphans—all tenets central to Christian teachings.
Furthermore, historical “Christian contributions” to American history often obscure how the dominant white Christian church historically weaponized faith to justify slavery, voter suppression, misogyny, and systemic inequality. While true adherents of Jesus’s message champion justice and human rights, they are frequently targeted by the very white Christian nationalists driving these educational mandates. Ultimately, the version of Christianity being pushed into public schools stands in direct opposition to the compassionate, equitable teachings of the faith it claims to represent.
On the web:
- Tim Godfrey brings AFROVIVAL Gospel experience to Houston.
- America at 250: Time for white History Month.
- Manvel’s Esmeralda Salazar shifts from softball dreams to pediatric nursing.
