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Cardrian Massey, left, and Kate Chandler hold hands in a circle with others from Atlanta, Ga., before joining demonstrators for reparations for slavery on the National Mall in Washington.

Reparations will pave the way to justice for all

By Editors' Choice, Reparations

By Cepeda, Roanoke Times — CHICAGO — In the spring of 1995, I sat in a stuffy classroom studying “Literary History of England, from Beowulf to 1800,” while overlooking Southern Illinois University’s iconic Pulliam Clock Tower. I was on the verge of boiling over. Somehow, the lone Hispanic (me and the lone black person in the tiny class were engaged in a shouting match over reparations for slavery. Rep. John…

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Presidential hopeful Cory Booker speaking at a campaign event in New Hampshire.

Why Cory Booker Is Focusing on Affordable Housing

By News & Current Affairs

A monthly tax credit for low-income renters and a “baby bond” program to help first-time homebuyers are part of the presidential hopeful’s list of proposals. By Kriston Capps, City Lab — Pledging to make housing a priority in his 2020 presidential candidacy, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker unveiled a plan on Wednesday with features that would ease affordability, homelessness, and first-time homeownership pressure for millions of families. At the core…

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Kamala Harris

What Do 2020 Candidates Mean When They Say ‘Reparations’?

By Commentaries/Opinions, Reparations

Even highly informed commentators lack a shared understanding of what the word means. By Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic — Earlier this year, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, and other Democratic presidential aspirants began speaking positively about reparations, in contrast to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, who opposed the policy. Just 26 percent of voters favor reparations in polls. In the telling of The New York Times, this shift is due to the fact…

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Wind Farm

Renewables to Become the Norm for the Caribbean

By News & Current Affairs

By Desmond Brown, IPS — Jamaica and other Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are embracing renewable energy as part of their plans to become decarbonised in the coming decades. The Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, has committed the island nation to transitioning to 50 percent renewable energy by 2030. “I believe that we can do better. Jamaica has sunshine all year round and strong winds in certain parts of…

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The Trump baby blimp is set to fly over London as part of mass protests against the U.S. president's state visit.

A Demagogue, Fascist, and Serious Threat: UK Mobilizes to Make Sure Trump Knows He ‘Is Not Welcome’

By News & Current Affairs

“Donald Trump is just one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat. The far-right is on the rise around the world, threatening our hard-won rights and freedoms.” By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams — With the city of London effectively on “lockdown” in anticipation of the protests—complete with the now-famous Trump Baby Blimp—that are expected to flood the city’s streets on Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump touched down in…

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Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates Revisits the Case for Reparations

By Editors' Choice, Reparations, Video/Audio

By Dorothy Wickenden, The New Yorker — When Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote “The Case for Reparations” for The Atlantic, in 2014, he didn’t expect the government to make reparations anytime soon. He told David Remnick that he had a more modest goal. “My notion,” Coates says, “was you could get people to stop laughing.” For Coates, to treat reparations as a punch line is to misunderstand their purpose. He argues that reparations…

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