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“Colfax Massacre” in Louisiana.

‘The War of Races’: How a hateful ideology echoes through American history

By Editors' Choice

From slavery to Reconstruction to Dylann Roof, the idea of “race war” has a long and bloody legacy in the United States. By Michael E. Miller, The Washington Post — It was high noon on Easter 1873 when the white mob came riding into Colfax. Five months earlier, Louisiana had held its second election since the end of the Civil War and the beginning of black male suffrage. But some…

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A drug seller's story: Corvain - Drug Policy Alliance

Rethinking the “Drug Dealer”

By Editors' Choice

By Alyssa Stryker, DPA — Policymakers in the United States increasingly recognize that drug use should be treated as a public health issue instead of a criminal issue. Most, however, continue to support harsh criminal sentences for people who are involved with drug selling or distribution. With more than 68,000 people in the United States dying from accidental drug overdoses in 2018 alone, many people are searching for someone to blame…

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‘Suggesting that whiteness has no meaning creates an alienating – even hostile – climate for people of color working and living in predominantly white environments.’

White people assume niceness is the answer to racial inequality. But it’s not.

By Commentaries/Opinions

While most of us see ourselves as ‘not racist’, we continue to reproduce racist outcomes and live segregated lives. By Robin diAngelo, The Guardian — I am white. As an academic, consultant and writer on white racial identity and race relations, I speak daily with other white people about the meaning of race in our lives. These conversations are critical because, by virtually every measure, racial inequality persists, and institutions…

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A chart accompanying Dec. 19 Evanston city press release on reparations.

City plans to restructure reparations panel

By Reparations

By Bill Smith, Evanston Now — After three months in which the Evanston City Council’s three-member reparations subcommittee held not a single public meeting, on Dec. 19, 2019 the city issued a press release announcing a schedule for a reformulated subcommittee to develop a reparations plan for submission to the City Council next year. At various times this fall members of the subcommittee that was appointed on Sept. 9 — Aldermen Robin Rue…

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