Wednesday evening, a 21-year-old white South Carolina man murdered 9 people at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina in an act of violence reminiscent of the September 15, 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. For generations, the confederate flag has represented the terror and violence perpetrated on Black communities. Today, the confederate flag is still flying outside the South Carolina State House. The killer, Dylann Storm Roof, grew up in a South Carolina that embraced the confederate flag — a flag that was born out of a government defending the enslavement of Black people and resurrected as an emblem for white people violently opposing racial integration. He attended high school in Columbia, just a few minutes from the state capitol grounds where that flag was waving today. That flag sends a message to white children growing up in South Carolina that their state cherishes a legacy of racial violence. Even more disturbing, the flag allows those kids who decide to act out this history to justify their actions. Roof is one of those kids. While committing his act of terror he said, “‘I have to do it. You rape our women and you’re taking over the country." It’s time now to take down this terrible symbol of racial violence once and for all.

Minority neighborhoods are less stable and more poor because of these discriminating actions

Because it's racist

UNCW students are having their first amendment rights violated by campus police officers that are unable to follow their own policies. The Black Lives Matter campaign was erased from our campus by officers who even our university Public Relations office refers to as "overzealous". There haven't been any consequences for the officer, and if our police aren't held responsible for this overstepping of boundaries, the university will continue policing the voice and opinions of its students.

SB 13 is problematic for several reasons: 1) It further criminalizes Black youth by targeting what they wear 2) It intensifies a culture of hostility between law enforcement and Black communities, whereby Black folks are disproportionately targeted, harmed, and killed by police violence 3) It curtails constitutionally-protected free expression rights 4) Lastly, it doesn't include political protest as one of its exceptions At Million Hoodies, we use hoodies strategically for protest around the country. This #HoodieBanBill would not only make it more difficult for us to carry out such protests in the future, but it also reinforces a culture of hostility and discrimination by unjustly targeting harmless fashions associated with Black folks. Join us in demanding that the Oklahoma Senate reject this harmful and unjust #HoodieBanBill!