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Commentaries/Opinions

Representative Hakeem Jeffries on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on April 9, 2019.

Hakeem Jeffries Moves to Center Stage as Impeachment Manager

By Commentaries/Opinions

The 49-year-old will serve as an impeachment manager during Donald Trump’s Senate trial, a role that carries potential rewards and risks. By Alana Abramson, TIME — Rep. Hakeem Jeffries is getting his turn in the spotlight. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Wednesday that the 49-year-old former corporate lawyer and self-proclaimed hip-hop afficionado would serve as one of the impeachment managers in the Senate trial of President Donald Trump, catapulting him into the…

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Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar

Will a Woman Be President in 2020?

By Dr. Julianne Malveaux

By Dr. Julianne Malveaux — In a most unusual endorsement, the New York Times has endorsed both Senators Elizabeth Warren (MA) and Amy Klobuchar (MN) for the Democratic nomination for President. Apparently, the Editorial Board of the Times disagrees with Senator Bernie Sanders (VT), who allegedly told Warren that a woman could not win the Presidency. I’d love to see the right woman in the White House, but I’ve been…

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Military Recruitment

The student debt crisis is fueling the poverty draft

By Commentaries/Opinions

With the cost of higher education skyrocketing, many young Americans from economically struggling communities across the South and elsewhere have turned to the military as a solution for student debt. By Benjamin Barber, Facing South — Earlier this month, after a United States drone strike in Iraq killed 10 Iranian military leaders including the country’s top security and intelligence commander, elevated tensions between the U.S. and Iran raised alarms about…

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Map from the "The Politics of Judicial Elections"

Big money will dominate high court elections in 2020

By Commentaries/Opinions

Since the U.S Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United 10 years ago, corporate campaign cash has poured into supreme court races across the South. With seats up for grabs this year in Arkansas, North Carolina, and West Virginia, that trend is likely to continue. By Billy Corriher, Facing South — Ten years ago, Justice John Paul Stevens warned that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United had “unleashed the floodgates” of corporate and labor…

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Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy in St. Augustine, Florida. June 1964.

‘Until We Are All Free’: Learning from Tubman, King, and Stevenson

By Commentaries/Opinions

All of them returned to the South’s frontline struggle for racial justice. By R. Drew Smith — In 2020, January remembrances of Martin Luther King Jr. are occurring against the backdrop of two high-profile films emphasizing sacrificial servant leadership. First, the film Harriet provided a renewed focus on celebrated abolitionist Harriet Tubman. This biopic chronicles her mid-19th century enslavement in Maryland, her daring escape to a hard-won freedom in Philadelphia, and her…

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Meghan Markle

Black Britons Know Why Meghan Markle Wants Out

By Commentaries/Opinions

It’s the racism. By Afua Hirsch, NYT — The British press has succeeded in its apparent project of hounding Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, out of Britain. The part it perhaps didn’t bargain for, however, is the loss of Prince Harry — a much loved royal and a key part of the family’s global brand — along with her. In a statement released this week, the couple said they want to “carve out…

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