By Robert Greene II, The Nation — Gone was the optimism of 1963. It had been replaced by a sense of disillusionment, a sense of urgency that America was about to lose the last chance to have its soul.” This was how Jet magazine described the climax of the Poor People’s Campaign, which reached Washington, DC, in the tumultuous summer of 1968. For Jet and for many early civil-rights activists, the Poor People’s Campaign…
Ben Carson Humiliates Himself At Hearing As Member Of Congress Has To Explain How HUD Works By Jason Easley, PoliticusUSA — Rep. Porter made the mistake of asking Carson about the interest rate curtailment schedule at FHA, and Ben Carson had no idea what she was talking about. Carson asked the House member who was supposed to be conducting oversight to explain how his agency works to him. Video Rep.…
Part. 2. By Dr. Maulana Karenga — The insistence on calling our righteous and relentless struggle by its rightful name, The Black Freedom Movement, instead of the Civil Rights Movement,…
A new insider account reveals how the Obama administration’s botched bailout deal not only reinforced neoliberal Clintonism, but also foreshadowed an ongoing failure to fulfill campaign promises. By Eric Rauchway,…
By Red Heartland — Nancy Pelosi burned newcomer Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) once again on Monday. This time in hopes of bursting AOC’s “special” ego, Pelosi dropped a condescending remark…
By Tim Libretti, PoliticusUSA — We might as well crown Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez the Don Draper of the beltway—because there’s no mistaking that she has fundamentally re-shaped political conversation in…
By Jordain Carney, The Hill — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said on Monday that he will introduce legislation creating a commission to study the issue of granting reparations to African-Americans….
The Democratic Party is talking about both issues separately. They make more sense in tandem. By Emily Atkin, The New Republic — Environmental justice activist Anthony Rogers-Wright lives full-time in Seattle, Washington, but just happened to be in Massachusetts last weekend when he heard that Senator Ed Markey was holding a town hall about the Green New Deal in Northampton, a crunchy college town in the heart of the state.…
By Wyatt Massey, Frederick News Post — The Rev. Dr. Ernest Campbell said no, James Forman could not speak at his church service the next day. Campbell was the senior pastor at Riverside Church, a predominantly white church on the west side of Manhattan. Forman, a black civil rights leader, wanted to read something to the congregation at the next day’s service on May 4, 1969, according to a history…
Openly talking about reparations for the descendants of enslaved men and women is a notable shift for Democrats. But the conversation still lacks substance. By P.R. Lockhart, VOX — A…
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…
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…