The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and creator of the “1619 Project” referred to as out Republican-backed efforts throughout the U.S. to ban critical race theory, whereas accepting the honour on the 53rd award present, which was hosted by “Black-ish” star Anthony Anderson.
“As I receive this award tonight, our history is being attacked,” she stated on the occasion, which featured quite a few digital appearances on BET. “In state after state, as of now, some 36 states have passed or are considering bills to make it harder to teach about racism and inequality.”
“Politicians are using the power of the state to whitewash an already whitewashed history,” she continued. “Books and ideas about the Black experience, about the LGBTQ community, are being banned. These anti-history laws go hand-in-hand with regressive policies that aim to restrict our civil and voting rights.”
Hannah-Jones added {that a} “healthy society does not ban ideas” and that “attacks on books are an attack on democracy.”
The journalist joins an inventory of different honorees who have been chosen to obtain particular honors on the NAACP Picture Awards this 12 months. Samuel L. Jackson was given the Chairman’s Award and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are recipients of the President’s Award.
The NAACP established the Social Justice Influence Award to acknowledge somebody who’s “on the frontlines impacting civil and social justice change.”
Jason Armond by way of Getty Pictures
Hannah-Jones notably helmed The New York Instances Journal’s “1619 Project,” which explored anti-Black racism and sought to recenter the historic narrative round slavery to underline how its legacy nonetheless plagues America at present.
Her commentary in her introductory essay for the undertaking earned her the 2020 Pulitzer Prize.
Hannah-Jones introduced that she was accepting a tenured teaching position at Howard College in July. She had publicly turned down an offer for a tenured place on the College of North Carolina after the varsity withheld tenure from her preliminary appointment to the school.
In November 2021, she printed two books: “The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story,” and a kids’s e-book she co-authored with Renée Watson, “The 1619 Project: Born on the Water.”
Hannah-Jones’ work has incensed many conservative legislators and pundits, who have sought to censor and ban teachings derived from “The 1619 Project” in faculties.
The Social Justice Influence award recipient addressed the ongoing efforts to ban “critical race theory” in faculties throughout the U.S. in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter printed on Friday.
“These anti-CRT laws are anti-history laws. They’re memory laws,” she stated. She later added, “Critical race theory is about trying to understand why, 60 years outside of the civil rights movement, Black Americans still fall at the bottom of every indicator of well-being in our society.”
“It has nothing to do with making white children feel like victims,” she continued. “It’s actually not concerned with individuals. It’s about systems.”
Elsewhere in her speech on Saturday evening, Hannah-Jones shared a name to motion, encouraging viewers to “fight for the country that we think we deserve.”
!perform(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=perform(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;
n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.model=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,doc,’script’,’https://join.fb.web/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1621685564716533’);
fbq(‘monitor’, “PageView”);
var _fbPartnerID = null;
if (_fbPartnerID !== null) {
fbq(‘init’, _fbPartnerID + ”);
fbq(‘monitor’, “PageView”);
}
(perform () {
‘use strict’;
doc.addEventListener(‘DOMContentLoaded’, perform () {
doc.physique.addEventListener(‘click on’, perform(occasion) {
fbq(‘monitor’, “Click”);
});
});
})();
