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Sen. Elizabeth Warren

2020 will be a litmus test for capitalism

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Rana Foroohar, The Washington Post — The two most interesting questions in politics at the moment are whether Elizabeth Warren will be the Democratic candidate in 2020 and whether President Trump will still be around to duke it out with her. Neither is certain, of course, but Warren’s ascendance already guarantees that the 2020 election will come down, as elections often do, to a fight between old and new. Or, in this case,…

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Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism.

Jewish Reform movement votes to back reparations for African-Americans

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

Union for Reform Judaism declares its support for reparations for the descendants of slaves in the US. By Ben Sales, TGA — The Reform movement declared its support for reparations for African-Americans at its biennial conference. The resolution, which was approved Friday by voice vote at the 5,000-person gathering of the Union for Reform Judaism, calls for “a federal commission to study and develop proposals for reparations to redress the…

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President Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson Was Impeached for Being a Racist Demagogue

By Commentaries/Opinions

America’s first impeachment proved it’s hard to impeach for behavior alone. By Dahlia Lithwick, Slate — On this week’s Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick spoke with Kate Shaw, a professor of law at Cardozo Law School and co-director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy. The two discussed impeachment (what else) and assessed what impeachment inquiry is the best comparison for the current investigation—along with what the founders meant when they decided to…

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John Harvard Statue

Harvard benefited from Antigua slavery. The two are talking about an education partnership.

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

By Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald — Harvard University and the island of Antigua and Barbuda are talking about an educational partnership following a letter the Caribbean island’s prime minister sent to the university requesting slavery reparations. A Harvard University spokesman confirmed to the Miami Herald that the school’s president, Lawrence Bacow, recently reached out to Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders, to discuss how the prestigious university…

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Jesuit statue - Georgetown University campus in Washington.

Reparations mark new front for US colleges tied to slavery

By Reparations

By Carolyn Thompson, AP News — BUFFALO, N.Y. — The promise of reparations to atone for historical ties to slavery has opened new territory in a reckoning at U.S. colleges, which until now have responded with monuments, building name changes and public apologies. Georgetown University and two theological seminaries have announced funding commitments to benefit descendants of the enslaved people who were sold or toiled to benefit the institutions. While…

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