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‘There’s another important public space where blackness has been policed: the voting booth.’ Photograph: Shawn Thew/EPA

Voting while black: the racial injustice that harms our democracy

By Commentaries/Opinions

The routine suppression of black voters is far-reaching and has devastating consequences. We cannot be silent about it. By Carol Anderson, The Guardian — The recent spate of whites calling 911 on African Americans for barbecuing while black, waiting in Starbucks while black, sleeping at Yale while black ad nauseum has led to a much-needed discussion about the policing of public spaces. Yet, there’s another important public space where blackness has been policed and we have…

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Maj. Gen. Roger L. Cloutier Jr., the chief of staff for U.S. Africa Command, at the Pentagon on May 10. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

The future is African — and the United States is not prepared

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Salih Booker and Ari Rickman, The Washington Post — Salih Booker is the executive director of the Center for International Policy. Ari Rickman is a research fellow at the Center. Beginning in 2035, the number of young people reaching working age in Africa will exceed that of the rest of the world combined, and will continue every year for the rest of the century. By 2050, one in every…

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“Trump is a walking, talking permission slip for the white supremacist,” Charles Blow writes

On Race: The Moral High Ground

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Charles M. Blow, The New York Times — Racist comments don’t hurt my feelings. Not at all. However, I find that people assume that they are hurtful, both the persons spewing them and those empathic about the perceived pain. But I register no such pain. I’m from the Toni Morrison school of morality on the subject of race. As she once told Charlie Rose: “I always knew…

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Banking Black

By Commentaries/Opinions

Can divesting from America’s big financial institutions help fix racial inequality? By Kia Gregory — Musa Sega is a street vendor in Harlem, New York. He sells perfumed oils, soap, sage, and other products just outside the Carver Federal Savings Bank building on West 125th Street. About six months ago, frustrated by a string of police shootings and the tenor of politics nationally, Sega decided to pull his money from his…

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The Mormon church is still grappling with a racial past.

Mormons confront a history of Church racism

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Matthew Bowman, The Conversation — On June 1 of this year, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – or the Mormons – will celebrate the 40th anniversary of what they believe to be a revelation from God. This revelation to the then-President of the Church Spencer W. Kimball – which is known as “Official Declaration 2” – reversed longstanding restrictions placed on people of black African descent in the…

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