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The scene of the murder of Jason Reuben Haynes, one of the 309 homicide victims in Baltimore last year.

The Tragedy of Baltimore

By Commentaries/Opinions

Since Freddie Gray’s death in 2015, violent crime has spiked to levels unseen for a quarter century. Inside the crackup of an American city. By Alec MacGillis, The New York Times — On April 27, 2015, Shantay Guy was driving her 13-year-old son home across Baltimore from a doctor’s appointment when something — a rock, a brick, she wasn’t sure what — hit her car. Her phone was turned off,…

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Black Lives Matter protesters march through the streets as they demonstrate the decision by Sacramento District Attorney to not charge the Sacramento police officers who shot and killed Stephon Clark last year, on March 4, 2019, in Sacramento, California.

We Need a New Declaration of Rights for Black Americans

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Taru Taylor, Truthout — Once upon a time, there was the lower-case “negro.” But in 1914, Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, and called its first convention in New York City in August 1920 to mobilize its membership. The International Convention of Negroes of the World adopted the “Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World,” demanding that “the word ‘Negro’ be…

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A detail from a display at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Ala.

The Case for Reparations

By Commentaries/Opinions, Reparations

By David Brooks, The New York Times — I’ve been traveling around the country for the past few years studying America’s divides — urban/rural, red/blue, rich/poor. There’s been a haunting sensation the whole time that is hard to define. It is that the racial divide doesn’t feel like the other divides. There is a dimension of depth to it that the other divides don’t have. It is more central to…

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks during a press conference to announce Green New Deal legislation to promote clean energy programs outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., February 7, 2019.

The Green New Deal Must Transform the Economy

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Ryan Gunderson & Diana Stuart, Truthout — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey introduced the Green New Deal on February 7, a resolution that deserves praise for putting forth the boldest climate change proposal in U.S. history. Considering two recent projections of catastrophic climate change — namely scientists’ warning of a runaway “hothouse Earth” scenario and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report detailing the impacts of a 1.5 degree Celsius (1.5°C) rise in global temperatures…

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Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota

The Fight Over Ilhan Omar Is a Fight Over the Identity of the Democratic Party

By Commentaries/Opinions

A House vote on bigotry underscored powerful changes in the party’s coalition, including among young Muslims. By Emma Green, The Atlantic — The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Thursday to condemn anti-Semitism, along with a litany of bigotries against Muslims, immigrants, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, LGBT people, and members of other religious minorities. The resolution followed a week of drama in the Democratic Party, with members clashing over…

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Gayle King interviews Ralph Northam

Slavery vs Indentured Servitude: Which aids racism?

By Commentaries/Opinions, Reparations

Perhaps the main reason so many people objected to Virginia Governor Ralph Northam calling the first 20 Africans to land in Virginia in 1619 indentured servants, and not slaves, is that they believe the conditions of slavery were so much harsher than those of indentured servitude, that calling these Africans indentured servants amounts to a cover-up of their reality. That is because the popular image that we have been sold…

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Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), a 2020 presidential candidate, poses for a photograph with attendees during a campaign stop in Des Moines.

Democratic candidates are backing reparations for African Americans. That could be politically risky.

By Commentaries/Opinions, Reparations

By Eugene Scott, The Washington Post — Over the past few days, several Democratic contenders for the 2020 presidential nomination have come out in favor of reparations for people descended from slaves. It is an idea that is popular among African Americans, but one that poses political risks. On Monday, former housing and urban development secretary Julián Castro spoke out in favor of reparations on MSNBC’s “Hardball.” “It is interesting…

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