This essay is an adaptation of the fourth annual Philip Roth Lecture, delivered at the Newark Public Library on November 4, 2019. The lecture began with an appreciation of Roth’s merging of fiction and history. An admirer of great historical writing, Roth understood that, to be truly great, it had to grapple with what he called, in The Plot Against America, “the relentless unfolding of the unforeseen.” Flipped on its…
By Terri L. Crawford, JD, The Omaha Star — “Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you …” — Exodus 4:16 As the voice of the people, the Nebraska Democratic Party Black Caucus’ mission is to promote the involvement of Blacks in the political process and the activities of the party at the local, state, and national level. The Caucus…
Keynote speech by Prof. Verene Shepherd during symposium on reparations in Trinidad and Tobago on November 13, 2019. By Prof. Verene A. Shepherd Director, Centre for Reparation Research, The UWI Thank you Dr. Pemberton and good afternoon to everyone in this distinguished audience. Of course I must pay my respects to Prime Ms Erica Williams-Connell; Dean Cateau and her team of organizers; fellow presenters, reparation advocates, students, members of…
By Michael McLean, HNN — There’s a fabled moment from the Battle of Fredericksburg, a gruesome Civil War battle that extinguished several thousand lives, when the commander of a rebel…
More than two centuries after it was designed to empower southern white voters, the system continues to do just that. By Wilfred Codrington III, The Atlantic — s a color-blind…
In 1870, Henrietta Wood Sued for Reparations—and Won. The $2,500 verdict, the largest ever of its kind, offers evidence of the generational impact such awards can have. By W. Caleb McDaniel, Smithsonian Magazine— On April 17, 1878, 12 white jurors entered a federal courtroom in Cincinnati to deliver the verdict in a now-forgotten lawsuit about American slavery. The plaintiff was Henrietta Wood, described by a reporter at the time as…
The law is sometimes characterized as a clear set of rules, but it isn’t always so straightforward. By Jamal Greene and Elora Mukherjee, Los Angeles Times — The Morgan children were in their pajamas, probably dreaming, when four men broke into their home before daylight, loaded them into the back of an open wagon and forcibly took them across Pennsylvania’s southern border. The year was 1837. “DREAMERS” attend a news…
Consider the physical, financial, mental, even spiritual deaths inflicted on black Americans. By Ben Crump, The Guardian — In the weeks since the release of my book, Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People, the question I’ve been asked most often is whether my use of the word genocide in the title was meant to be intentionally provocative, rather than reflective of reality. Surely, genocide is too strong a word…
Republican voters made Trump the white-supremacist-in-chief. That’s why a resignation from Miller wouldn’t change much. By Cas Mudde, The Guardian — This week, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) published a bombshell article revealing troubling emails that White House senior policy advisor Stephen Miller sent to editors at Breitbart News, the far-right media outlet previously led by Steve Bannon. The emails, which were leaked by former Breitbart editor Katie McHugh and predate Miller’s period…
By Clyde W. Ford, The Los Angeles Times — In one of his first presidential speeches, Donald Trump said to a mostly white crowd in Hershey, Pa., “They didn’t come out to vote for Hillary. They didn’t come out. And that was big — so thank you to the African American community.” Had blacks voted in the numbers they did in 2012, Trump would probably not be president. So, his newly announced…
A plan to desegregate schools in a liberal Maryland suburb founded on values of tolerance has met with stiff resistance. By Dana Goldstein, New York Times. Columbia, Md. — The planned community of Columbia, southwest of Baltimore, has prided itself on its ethos of inclusion ever since it was founded more than half a century ago. Racially integrated. Affordable apartments near big homes. “The Next America” was its optimistic,…
On Friday, November 15, 2019, Ghana and Barbados signed an agreement to establish a sister-port relationship between the Tema and Bridgetown, to facilitate the expansion of trade between the two…
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