By Donna M. Owens, Essence — Rhiana Gunn-Wright was always curious about policy, even before she fully understood the term. “Growing up I’d wonder about structures—in my neighborhood and schools,”…
By R. Drew Smith, RNS — American religion and politics have been stubbornly connected — except where we pretend they aren’t. Despite constitutional separations between church and state, religion has been more closely tied to politics and politics more closely tied to religion than most care to admit. And yet, advocates for international religious freedom often treat religious freedom and political freedom as totally separate and distinct domains. This separation…
By Dr. Keith Magee — America is experiencing the most perilous of times in recent history as the result of its president, Donald Trump. Even though Monday morning he stepped…
By Julianne Malveaux — The US House of Representatives passed the Securing America’s Fair Elections (SAFE) Act in June by a nearly totally partisan vote of 225-184 in late June….
By Eisa Nefertari Ulen, Truthout — “To create art amid sorrow or oppression is to insist on excavating meaning from the dull senselessness of pain. It is to be alive and speaking back. Art dives headfirst into the uncharted perils and delights of the human condition. For people whose humanity is often denied, taking that plunge with an audience is inherently rebellious.” —Hannah Giorgis My mother called to tell me…
This is Part 1 of a 4 part series on Reparations by Yes! By David Ragland — “If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we…
In theory, a president can offer comfort at times like these. But this one would prefer to hurl insults. By Richard Wolffe, The Guardian — In normal American mass murders – because such horrors have become so astonishingly normal – the president usually plays the role of some great but helpless comfort blanket. He may be unable to break the NRA’s cold, dead grip on the Republican party, but he…
By Tom Holland, NYR Daily — When Edward Gibbon embarked on his great history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, he began his narrative with the accession of Commodus. Marcus Aurelius, the father of the new emperor, was a man who, in the noblest traditions of the Roman people, had combined the attributes of a warrior, a statesman, and a philosopher; Commodus was none of these. “The…
By Paul LeBlanc, CNN — Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on Thursday said “systemic racism” in the US is a “white problem” in the wake of two mass shootings in the US last weekend — one of which involved a white supremacist suspect. Speaking at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Miami, Buttigieg said, “We are by no means even halfway done dealing with systemic racism in this country.…
WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43) released a statement in response to the escalation of Donald Trump’s trade war with China. Donald Trump announced last week that he will impose…
The catalyst for Black wealth also applauds Robert Smith’s gift to Morehouse Graduates. By Hazel Trice Edney — The short-term economic impact of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) is $15…
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson — Dylann S. Roof is an avowed white supremacist. He wantonly, brazenly, and unapologetically slaughtered nine African-Americans in a South Carolina church in 2015. He’s under…