Lester Craven
@goodtrouble64.bsky.social
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 🇹🇿
“Lynching is a clear example of one’s inhumanity toward another. It’s a uniquely American act of terrorism that is motivated by hatred, and, before today, was never punished by our legal system,” Rep. Bobby Rush, March 29, 2022. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/congress-t...
Congress Took 122 Years to Pass Anti-Lynching Law
Over 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in Congress before finally passing one into law.
lestercraven.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:26 AM
“Lynching is a clear example of one’s inhumanity toward another. It’s a uniquely American act of terrorism that is motivated by hatred, and, before today, was never punished by our legal system,” Rep. Bobby Rush, March 29, 2022. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/congress-t...
A memorial honoring defenders of White supremacy still stands today in Colfax, Louisiana, but it took 150 years to honor the Black victims of their violence. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/white-mob-...
White Mob Riots After Blacks Win Election
A mob of White men massacred Louisiana’s Black militia in the aftermath of the 1872 election.
lestercraven.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:33 AM
A memorial honoring defenders of White supremacy still stands today in Colfax, Louisiana, but it took 150 years to honor the Black victims of their violence. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/white-mob-...
DC and USVI have been denied statehood for over a century because their populations were majority Black. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/black-vote...
Black Voters in U.S. Territories Remain Unrepresented
The prospect of the addition of a large number of Black voters was a disincentive for Congress to allow certain territories to become states.
lestercraven.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:07 AM
DC and USVI have been denied statehood for over a century because their populations were majority Black. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/black-vote...
The Constitution guarantees rights but apparently not the ability to access those rights. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/poll-taxes...
Poll Taxes Used to Silence Black Voters
The 15th Amendment gave Blacks the right to vote, then they were made to pay a tax to exercise that right.
lestercraven.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:16 PM
The Constitution guarantees rights but apparently not the ability to access those rights. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/poll-taxes...
In 1890, future Mississippi governor and senator James Vardaman said, “In Mississippi we have in our constitution legislated against the racial peculiarities of the Negro…When that device fails, we will resort to something else.” #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/preventing...
Preventing Blacks From Voting Was Legal Until 1965
The 15th Amendment gave the formerly enslaved the right to vote, but it did not guarantee that this right could be exercised.
lestercraven.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 7:10 AM
In 1890, future Mississippi governor and senator James Vardaman said, “In Mississippi we have in our constitution legislated against the racial peculiarities of the Negro…When that device fails, we will resort to something else.” #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/preventing...
As of 2025, Mississippi and Louisiana are the states with the highest percentage of Black residents, yet neither state has any elected officials in statewide office who are Black. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/blacks-rem...
Blacks Remain Underrepresented in Mississippi and Louisiana
After Reconstruction, White efforts to deny Black political representation in the South were so thorough that their effects are still seen today.
lestercraven.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 9:46 AM
As of 2025, Mississippi and Louisiana are the states with the highest percentage of Black residents, yet neither state has any elected officials in statewide office who are Black. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/blacks-rem...
Perspective taking – the ability to understand and consider someone else’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences – occurs when we actively listen to another person’s point of view, and is key to cultivating empathy, meaningful relationships, and self-awareness. #BlackSky substack.com/home/post/p-...
A White Perspective of Bill Russell
Each of us has just one vantage point of our shared reality.
substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Perspective taking – the ability to understand and consider someone else’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences – occurs when we actively listen to another person’s point of view, and is key to cultivating empathy, meaningful relationships, and self-awareness. #BlackSky substack.com/home/post/p-...
Divide and conquer is an extraordinarily effective tool of oppression because the counterstrategy of unity isn’t achievable when people prefer individual rights. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/the-invent...
The Invention of Legalized Racism
When White servants and Black slaves joined forces against oppression, the government changed the law to give poor Whites power over Blacks.
lestercraven.substack.com
October 20, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Divide and conquer is an extraordinarily effective tool of oppression because the counterstrategy of unity isn’t achievable when people prefer individual rights. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/the-invent...
Equality isn’t achieved by the actions of a few celebrated figures, but rather by the collective efforts of the less celebrated and the unknown. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/before-ros...
Before Rosa Parks There Was Claudette Colvin
The courage of a 15-year-old paved the way for others to come after her.
lestercraven.substack.com
October 16, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Equality isn’t achieved by the actions of a few celebrated figures, but rather by the collective efforts of the less celebrated and the unknown. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/before-ros...
For 90 years, Black men working as Red Caps provided the first impression of St Paul, Minn. to travelers arriving by train. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/trains-bro...
Trains Brought Jobs to Former Slaves
The golden age of train travel created service sector jobs for the formerly enslaved.
lestercraven.substack.com
October 13, 2025 at 12:12 PM
For 90 years, Black men working as Red Caps provided the first impression of St Paul, Minn. to travelers arriving by train. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/trains-bro...
Americans hold inaccurate beliefs about welfare usage believing that programs disproportionately benefit minorities despite the actual demographic realities. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/public-sup...
Public Support for Welfare Depends on Who Benefits
Social programs that benefitted White Americans in the 1930s faced intense opposition in the 1960s when Black Americans became eligible.
lestercraven.substack.com
October 9, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Americans hold inaccurate beliefs about welfare usage believing that programs disproportionately benefit minorities despite the actual demographic realities. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/public-sup...
A California city demonstrated how to address an injustice committed by its government in 1924 when it seized the land of a Black couple because of their race. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/city-seize...
City Seized Property Because Owners Were Black
In a city where fewer than one percent of residents were Black, the all-White government seized the only beachfront property owned by a Black person.
lestercraven.substack.com
October 6, 2025 at 7:15 AM
A California city demonstrated how to address an injustice committed by its government in 1924 when it seized the land of a Black couple because of their race. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/city-seize...
Because institutions provided remedies to address disadvantages created because of race, my life started better than my father’s. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/black-amer...
Black Americans Are Disadvantaged Just for Being Black
From birth, Black Americans experience reduced opportunities in every aspect of life simply because of their skin color.
lestercraven.substack.com
October 2, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Because institutions provided remedies to address disadvantages created because of race, my life started better than my father’s. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/black-amer...
Generations of American students have learned from textbooks that taught that slaveowners were benevolent, Negros were inferior, and slavery wasn’t that bad. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/us-history...
US History Textbooks Erase Truth of Slavery
Until 1860, no US history textbook ever even mentioned the existence of an antislavery movement.
lestercraven.substack.com
September 29, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Generations of American students have learned from textbooks that taught that slaveowners were benevolent, Negros were inferior, and slavery wasn’t that bad. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/us-history...
Theodore Roosevelt’s relationships with Black people became socially and politically problematic after he became president. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/presidents...
President’s Dinner With Negro Provokes White Backlash
President Theodore Roosevelt’s dinner with Booker T. Washington elicited ferocious criticism from Whites.
lestercraven.substack.com
September 25, 2025 at 7:17 AM
Theodore Roosevelt’s relationships with Black people became socially and politically problematic after he became president. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/presidents...
The 2nd Amendment was added to the US Constitution to address slaveowners’ fears of slave insurrections. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/guns-are-t...
Guns Are the Manifestation of Racial Power
Fear of slave insurrections fueled the founding fathers’ determination to ensure that the Constitution protect their right to the guns they needed to stop them from occurring.
lestercraven.substack.com
September 22, 2025 at 8:11 AM
The 2nd Amendment was added to the US Constitution to address slaveowners’ fears of slave insurrections. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/guns-are-t...
The improper convictions of nine Black teenagers in 1931 resulted in two landmark Supreme Court decisions establishing the right to competent counsel and the prohibition of excluding Blacks from juries. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/lies-racis...
Lies, Racism Ruin Lives of Nine Black Teenagers
Falsely accused of rape, nine Black teenagers were repeatedly unjustly tried and convicted by all-White juries.
lestercraven.substack.com
September 18, 2025 at 7:12 AM
The improper convictions of nine Black teenagers in 1931 resulted in two landmark Supreme Court decisions establishing the right to competent counsel and the prohibition of excluding Blacks from juries. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/lies-racis...
Brown vs. Board didn’t result in schools desegregating overnight, nor did its effects endure. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/dorothy-co...
Dorothy Counts Fought School Segregation Since Age 15
She fought to be the first Black student in Charlotte’s all-White schools and continued to fight school segregation for the rest of her life.
lestercraven.substack.com
September 15, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Brown vs. Board didn’t result in schools desegregating overnight, nor did its effects endure. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/dorothy-co...
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) embody the pursuit of equal opportunity in America, and as a result have always been opposed by those who prefer that Blacks remain unequal. #BlackSky substack.com/home/post/p-...
HBCUs Succeed Despite Rabid Opposition
HBCUs have accomplished their mission despite physical and fiscal assaults.
substack.com
September 13, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) embody the pursuit of equal opportunity in America, and as a result have always been opposed by those who prefer that Blacks remain unequal. #BlackSky substack.com/home/post/p-...
With segregation established despite a Constitution mandating equality, America showed that segregation was natural and allowed the Nazis to think of their own practices as normal. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/american-r...
American Race Laws Inspired Nazi Race Laws
After a foreign student attended a university in the US, he returned home to help implement America’s system of racial segregation in Germany.
lestercraven.substack.com
September 11, 2025 at 7:13 AM
With segregation established despite a Constitution mandating equality, America showed that segregation was natural and allowed the Nazis to think of their own practices as normal. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/american-r...
For decades, the US government intentionally worked against the financial interests of Black farmers. #BlackSky substack.com/@lestercrave...
USDA Systematically Discriminated Against Black Farmers
For most of the 20th century, the USDA prevented Black farmers from accessing government programs.
substack.com
September 8, 2025 at 7:09 AM
For decades, the US government intentionally worked against the financial interests of Black farmers. #BlackSky substack.com/@lestercrave...
Following the Civil War, Congress failed to abolish slavery, leading to an era of neoslavery that persisted for over 80 years. #BlackSky substack.com/home/post/p-...
Slavery by Another Name: Debt Peonage
The Civil War did not bring an end to the race-based systems of forced, unpaid labor.
substack.com
September 5, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Following the Civil War, Congress failed to abolish slavery, leading to an era of neoslavery that persisted for over 80 years. #BlackSky substack.com/home/post/p-...
Less than ten years after the formerly enslaved began earning their own money following the Civil War, a bank fraud stole their savings and destroyed Black trust in banks for generations. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/racial-wea...
Racial Wealth Gap Begins With Banking Scam
The federal government created the Freedman’s Bank to protect the newly earned money of the formerly enslaved, instead it stole it.
lestercraven.substack.com
September 4, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Less than ten years after the formerly enslaved began earning their own money following the Civil War, a bank fraud stole their savings and destroyed Black trust in banks for generations. #BlackSky lestercraven.substack.com/p/racial-wea...