Category: Henry Louis Taylor, Jr.

Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. / Selected Media

Trapped: Racism, Health Inequities, Black Neighborhoods, and Reimagining the Legal System

By Henry-Louis Taylor Jr.

Read the full article here.

The We Charge Genocide petition poses a troubling question, “are African Americans forced to live under conditions that breed unnecessary hardship, suffering, disease, dying, and premature death?” In my presentation today, I argue that the city-building process produces racially segregated, marginalized, and under-developed neighborhoods that breed low-incomes, disease, dying, and premature death among African Americans. These unhealthy housing and neighborhood conditions, I maintain, are made possible by a legal framework consisting of vague housing laws and a lax building code enforcement system. Moreover, this legal framework and enforcement system allow predatory landlords to operate with impunity in underdeveloped Black communities. Market-driven residential segregation is the culprit that creates the context that enables predatory business activities to thrive.

Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. / Selected Media

Buffalo-made ‘The Blackness Project,’ now on Amazon Prime, keeps dialogue open on race relations

By Randy Schiff

Read the full article from Buffalo News here.

“University at Buffalo professor Henry Louis Taylor Jr., who narrates the film, contributes considerably to the documentary. Taylor rivetingly condemns Americans’ fateful choice after the Civil War to support ex-Confederates’ interests rather than build up Black Americans’ opportunities, and provides a poignant concluding call to pursue social justice.”

Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. / Selected Media

Breonna Taylor’s violent death highlights the dangers of racist gentrification

By Henry-Louis Taylor, Jr.

“The callous killing of George Floyd triggered a massive revolt against police violence and brutality against Blacks. Hostile and dangerous action against Black folk by white police has a long history. But African Americans have been demonstrating against violent police since at least the Chicago riots of 1919. In 1951, a group of Black activists, including the scholar W.E.B. DuBois and the singer-activist Paul Robeson, took a petition to the United Nations titled ‘We Charge Genocide,’ arguing, among other things, that ‘the killing of Negroes has become police policy in the United States.'”

Beth Kwiatek / Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. / Selected Media

THEY KNEW AND DID NOTHING

By Henry-Louis Taylor, Jr., Beth Kwiatek, and Ian Stern

“Pundits might need to educate the public about the issues, but it is old news to elected officials, public health experts, and urban planners. Yet, this knowledge was never translated into action, down on the ground, in Black communities to blunt the devastation.”

Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. / Selected Media

Reflections of an Activist Scholar: Henry Louis Taylor, Jr.

Remarks by Henry-Louis Taylor, Jr.

“I am an activist turned scholar, not a scholar turned activist. I started my professional career as a clinical audiologist. My father, who received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1954, always challenged me to use my skills and talents in service of black people and to help build a better, more just and humane world. So, I obtained a Master’s Degree in clinical audiology, and became director of audiology at a small Speech and Hearing Clinic in Newport News, Virginia. In the late 60s, like many of my peers, I was radicalized, moved my clinical operations to near-by Hampton Institute, a historically black college, and joined a militant organization modeled after the Black Panther Party.”

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