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Paul Jennings, an enslaved man who served President James Madison and his family. Sylvia Jennings Alexander Estate, The Atlantic

When Slavery Is Erased From Plantations

By Commentaries/Opinions, Reparations

Some presidential estates and other historical sites have struggled to reconcile founding-era exceptionalism with the true story of America’s original sin. By Talitha LeFlouria, The Atlantic — The story of Sally Hemings—the enslaved woman who bore six of Thomas Jefferson’s children—is told from the basement of Jefferson’s mansion at his Monticello plantation in Charlottesville, Virginia. The third American president’s legacy barely touches the brick floors and plastered walls of Hemings’s windowless…

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Criminal Justice Reform Is on the Midterm Ballot

By Commentaries/Opinions

Andrew Gillum wants to fix his state’s broken carceral system. He’s not alone among Democratic nominees for governor. By Matt Ford, The New Republic — Andrew Gillum wasn’t expected to win Tuesday night’s Democratic primary for the Florida governor’s race, even after he won Senator Bernie Sanders’s endorsement weeks ago. The 39-year-old Tallahassee mayor was outspent five-to-one by the frontrunner, and even more so by the two billionaires in the race, but…

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Germany returns remains from 1904-1908 genocide to Namibia.

Germany Returns Remains Of Namibian Genocide Victims

By News & Current Affairs

A Namibian delegation has received the remains of Indigenous Herero and Nama peoples killed during the Namibia Genocide. By teleSUR — A Namibian Government delegation, in Berlin, has received bones and skulls of Indigenous Namibian peoples killed during the “first genocide in the 20th century,” on Wednesday. The bones were in Germany for “scientific” experiments in order to prove the racial superiority of white Europeans during the German colonial and…

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Trump in the Oval Office in January 2017.

The President Is a White-Nationalist Mob Boss—and His Base Doesn’t Care

By Editors' Choice

Diehard Trump supporters represent at most a quarter of the electorate, but dominate media discussions of the president’s standing. They shouldn’t. By Joan Walsh, The Nation — Most of us try to live our lives following the best advice of Maya Angelou: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.” Most of us voted that way in 2016—against Donald Trump. Since then, sadly, we’ve had to watch as the…

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State of Black Labor, the Cherokee Black Freedman, Aretha’s Legacy – August 27th Vantage Point

By Vantage Point Radio, Video/Audio

Topics: The Case of the Cherokee Black Freedman • Perspectives of Aretha’s Legacy and Spike Lee’s Black Klansman • The State of Black Labor in the Age of Trump. Guests: Marilyn K. Vann (President, Descendants of Freedmen, Five Civilized Tribes Association, Oklahoma City, OK), Herb Boyd (Author, Commentator, Columnist, Harlem, NY) and Bill Fletcher (Labor and Social Justice Activist, Commentator, Washington, D.C.)

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Race is still the central dividing line in the Democratic Party

By Commentaries/Opinions

The recent DNC vote over superdelegates revealed longstanding divisions within the party. By Seth Masket, Vox — What do Democrats fight about when they’re just fighting among themselves? The same thing the country fights about: race. I’m just back from attending the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting in Chicago, where I observed as the party passed a number of reform measures, including a controversial proposal to reduce the power of…

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