By Prof. James Petras — The public denunciation by thousands of women and a few men that they had been victims of sexual abuse by their economic bosses raises fundamental…
By Prof. James Petras — The public denunciation by thousands of women and a few men that they had been victims of sexual abuse by their economic bosses raises fundamental…
By Brian T.Kagoro, Political analyst — I wanted to title this article ‘Cry My Beloved Country’. After all we recently had cholera outbreaks and our political parties are competing to demonstrate proximity to the West. It does not seem to matter under what terms and to what end Western support is secured. This flagrant courtship of the West defies logic of a liberation party and a social-democratic opposition formed by…
Speaking in Barcelona, South Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han argues social values have been eroded by consumerist culture. Philosopher Byung-Chul Hal is one of the most recognized critics of the problems caused by the hyper-consumerist and neoliberal society after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In books such as Fatigue Society, Psychopolitics and The Expulsion of Difference (published in Spain by Herder), the South Korean-born German author takes aim at this society and its effects on the individual.…
A new World Bank reports documents the continent’s impoverishment by rampant minerals, oil and gas extraction — but the bank enforces policies that feed it. By Patrick Bond — A…
Democrats need to do more to protect black Americans from institutionalized racism. By Ebony Slaughter-Johnson, AlterNet — At his State of the Union address last Tuesday, President Trump sent out a clarion…
By Janelle Harris — Surya Bonaly was art to watch. My mama, home on a rare half-day from work, was flipping through our local TV channels and, seeing a new black ice skater, hurried to record her on a VHS tape she reserved exclusively for classic movies and occasional Oprah Winfrey shows. After I got in from school, she slid it into the VCR. “Watch this little black girl,” she…
How much has really improved for black people in the U.S. since 1968? By Sharon Austin — On Apr. 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, while assisting striking sanitation workers. That was almost 50 years ago. Back then, the wholesale racial integration required by the 1964 Civil Rights Act was just beginning to chip away at discrimination in education, jobs and public facilities. Black voters had only obtained legal protections two years earlier, and the 1968 Fair Housing Act was about to become law. African-Americans were only beginning to move into neighborhoods, colleges and careers once reserved for whites only.
History class should be the last place where we stop talking about race. By Donald Earl Collins — It’s happened ever since I began teaching as a graduate student in 1991. Most semesters in which I have taught a course related to U.S. history, the complaint appears at least once on my students’ course evaluations: “too much time on race.”Whether at the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne, George Washington…
This week would’ve marked her 105th birthday — it’s time to move beyond the quiet seamstress narrative. By Urana McCauley as told to Liz Dwyer, Shondaland — This is how…
By Chris Lebron — As a black philosopher, I am constantly navigating a path through the traditions and categories that define my profession. Most often, that navigation takes place between the canonical Western philosophy stretching back to Ancient Greece and the more recent intellectual output and contributions of previously excluded groups, including women, L.G.B.T people and African-American thinkers. This last tradition — the history of black thought — is a…
By Natalie Hopkinson — I awoke each morning dead tired, and often parched. I was going to the restroom constantly. My doctor did some blood work and delivered the dreaded news: My A1C levels were in the danger zone. Like 1 in 3 Americans, up to 90 percent of whom don’t know it, I was what she called “prediabetic.” My body was struggling to process sugar. I had to eat less…
Afro-Colombian women. Photo by Aime Saldarriaga, Reuters. By Adolfo G. Cuevas — Public health research has documented racial disparities in health and health care for decades. When looking at the 10…