SEC boycott call bigger than NAACP
The NAACP’s call for Black athletes to boycott SEC schools carries a profound historical weight. In the 1960s, K-12 students and Freedom Riders didn’t just risk life-changing money—they risked their literal lives, inspiring global resistance from Birmingham to South Africa.
Today’s Black athletes aren’t being asked to make the ultimate sacrifice. Elite talent can secure NIL deals at other universities. While a unified shift to HBCUs would beautifully redirect TV revenue, the immediate goal is to stop enriching politicians in gerrymandered, former Confederate states (Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia) that actively strip away Black voting power.
The idea of “changing the system from within” is a myth. Though groomed from middle school to “shut up and dribble,” Black athletes hold immense leverage. Martin Luther King Jr. championed “redistributing the pain” by hitting oppressors in the wallet—a strategy that built the very platform today’s players profit from.
We still harvest the spiritual residue of the 1960s sacrifices. To endorse silence in 2026 by using the same justifications used by folks in the 60s who stood on the sidelines during the civil rights era, yet profited from other people’s sacrifices all the same, is hypocritical. And on brand. Ultimately, how much is NIL money worth if you and your family lose voting rights and legal protections? We must stop financing our own demise.
Red states bloodiest, most dangerous by far
Every election cycle, Republicans champion “law and order,” painting Blue cities as hotbeds of crime—rhetoric often used to justify mass incarceration. However, actual data completely flips this narrative: America’s Red states are statistically the most dangerous places to live.
Political analyst @doss.discourse notes, “There is no place in the United States of America more dangerous than a state that has been historically run by Republican policies and Republican leadership.” In fact, Blue state residents live an average of 9.6 years longer than those in Red states. This life expectancy gap is fueled by Republican governors denying healthcare access, leading to severe disparities; Red states encompass 9 of the 10 worst states for maternal mortality and lead the nation in infant mortality.
Furthermore, the 10 poorest U.S. states are all Republican-led. This systemic poverty directly drives violence, resulting in a homicide rate that is 23% higher in Red states than Blue ones. Meanwhile, progressive initiatives in Blue cities like Baltimore and Chicago have successfully achieved record crime reductions—even after the Trump administration cut vital community violence intervention funds. Red states remain America’s least safe realities, regardless of Republicans running every election campaign since the 60s on the issue of safety, and law and order.
America 250 is so American
Planned as a grand celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary, the “America 250” blowout is quintessentially American—a propaganda initiative birthed to celebrate a whitewashed history on stolen land. Mirroring historical exploitation, organizers sought to profit off Black talent (singers and musicians) without disclosing the event’s true purpose: exalting Donald Trump’s ego and a political legacy marked by voter suppression, eroded civil rights, and billionaire-fattening policies.
Once entertainers discovered these ugly foundations, they escaped to freedom by refusing to participate. True to the American playbook, Trump attempted to rewrite the historical narrative. He launched social media rampages, labeling the departing musicians “ungrateful lowlifes” while claiming his own star power would suffice to make America 250 great again. It hasn’t.
Now, Trump wants to “cancel” the event entirely. Yet, claiming the power to cancel oppressive systems is straight cultural appropriation (which is quintessentially American). Because canceling white nationalism has been the history of Blackfolk. We’ve worked to cancel slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, redlining, mass incarceration, and now Trump Crow. Canceling oppressive systems is what we do, not Trump, and definitely not America.
On the web
- Signs you’re surviving, not thriving, in the Houston heat.
- America-first policy deadly for Houston, globe.
- Five Black travel safety tips.
