By R. Drew Smith, RNS — American religion and politics have been stubbornly connected — except where we pretend they aren’t. Despite constitutional separations between church and state, religion has been more closely tied to politics and politics more closely tied to religion than most care to admit. And yet, advocates for international religious freedom often treat religious freedom and political freedom as totally separate and distinct domains. This separation…
By Julianne Malveaux — The US House of Representatives passed the Securing America’s Fair Elections (SAFE) Act in June by a nearly totally partisan vote of 225-184 in late June….
In theory, a president can offer comfort at times like these. But this one would prefer to hurl insults. By Richard Wolffe, The Guardian — In normal American mass murders – because such horrors have become so astonishingly normal – the president usually plays the role of some great but helpless comfort blanket. He may be unable to break the NRA’s cold, dead grip on the Republican party, but he…
By Paul LeBlanc, CNN — Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on Thursday said “systemic racism” in the US is a “white problem” in the wake of two mass shootings in the US last weekend — one of which involved a white supremacist suspect. Speaking at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Miami, Buttigieg said, “We are by no means even halfway done dealing with systemic racism in this country.…
WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43) released a statement in response to the escalation of Donald Trump’s trade war with China. Donald Trump announced last week that he will impose…
By Clyde Hughes, UPI — Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson announced her plan for reparations to African Americans for slavery Wednesday, calling for $200 billion to $500 billion over 20 years….
By Benjamin Barber, Facing South — This year has seen the continuation of an alarming epidemic of violence against transgender people in the United States. At least a dozen transgender people have been killed already this year, most of them women of color, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Nine of these murders have occurred in the South — yet lawmakers in Southern states have continued to target the transgender community…
By Domenica Ghanem, Newsweek — Over the last month I have watched in awe as Rep. Ilhan Omar has responded to hate with not just grace, but policy. As a Muslim American woman myself, it’s hard to imagine being in her position, with the president of the United States leading a mob chanting “send her back.” Yet Omar is continuing not only to do her job but to overperform at…
Areas with discriminatory history purging at higher rates Purges accelerated following 2013 supreme court decision By Tom McCarthy, The Guardian — US election jurisdictions with histories of egregious voter discrimination have been purging voter rolls at a rate 40% beyond the national average, according to a watchdog report released on Thursday. At least 17 million voters were purged nationwide between 2016 and 2018, according to a study by the Brennan Center for…
By John Gage, Washington Examiner — Sen. Bernie Sanders received applause from the NAACP convention after explaining to the audience why he was against slave reparations. Moderator April Ryan asked…
By Madina Touré — Mayor Bill de Blasio won’t say if he supports reparations for black Americans affected by slavery, but he does support a commission to study the issue. As part of his longshot presidential campaign, the mayor this week attended the 2019 Muslim Collective for Equitable Democracy Conference in Washington, D.C., and was asked about reparations for the descendants of black slaves — a long-debated concept that has…
By Walter G. Moss — One version of America is that of President Trump, whose recent tweets led the U. S. House of Representatives to condemn his “comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans.” His slogan “Make America Great Again,” his attempts to limit voting, and his pandering to Christian evangelicals are not-so-subtle signals that he perceives himself as defending the fortress of white, primarily male and Christian, dominance…