By Marty Johnson, The Hill — Democratic presidential hopeful Marianne Williamson on Wednesday released her first television ad of her campaign. The ad is titled “Reparations — An Idea Whose Time Has Come.” As the 60-second spot’s name suggests, the commercial is centered around one of Williamson’s main issues of focus: reparations for American descendants of slavery. When asked in the commercial why she supports reparations, the Democratic longshot answers, “I’ve been talking…
A free forum on reparations for slavery at the Gaillard Center on Nov. 2 will be hosted by the National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC), the American Civil Liberties Union…
By Mark Muro and Jacob Whiton, Brookings — We’ve been harping for a while on the stark economic divides that define American life in the Donald Trump years. To be sure, racial and cultural resentment have…
It rhymes with ‘schneo-liberalism.’ It was an economic disaster and a political dead end. It was an economic disaster and a political dead end. In the early days of his presidency, Barack Obama had the power to overhaul the economy, but instead he focused on smaller, less effective fixes. By Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times — In 2009, Barack Obama was the most powerful newly elected American president in a generation. Democrats controlled the House and, for about five months in the second half of the year, they enjoyed a filibuster-proof, 60-vote majority in the Senate. For the first six months of his presidency, Obama had…
By Zachary R. Wood, The Washington Informer — “I think the Democratic Party could stand a liberal George Wallace — someone who’s not afraid to stand up and offend people,…
By Anthony DiMaggio, Counter Punch — President Donald Trump’s fit over China speaks to the rise of neofascism in American politics, at a time when neither Congress nor the courts are showing any interest in rolling back presidential power. Trump’s unique brand of neofascism first emerged in the form of his attempt to crack down on journalistic critics for “treason,” and via the onset of his white ethno-nationalist, which he declared via…
The idea of economic amends for past injustices and persistent disparities is getting renewed attention. Here are some formulas for achieving the aim. By Patricia Cohen, The New York Times…
By Max B. Sawicky, Jacobin Magazine — Cheer up. The Left is winning the battle of ideas. Ideas are the basis for organization, and organization is prior to change. The…
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson — A beaming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell drew raucous cheers from the throng at the 2016 Republican convention when he bragged that he torpedoed then…
By Julie Zauzmer, The Washington Post — CONCORD, N.H. — Over the past two years, a series of racist incidents has shaken New Hampshire, a state that’s nearly 95 percent white. A biracial 8-year-old was pushed off a picnic table with a rope around his neck in Claremont, an assault authorities are investigating as a hate crime. Teens sang “Let’s kill all the blacks” during a high school history class in Dover. A burned Confederate flag was…
By Tyrone Beason, Los Angeles Times — CHARLESTON, S.C. — Five years before the first shots of the Civil War rang out from the harbor here in 1861, alderman Thomas Ryan and a business partner opened Ryan’s Mart at No. 6 Chalmers St. Their merchandise was slaves: African men, women and children who were prodded, picked over and auctioned off to the highest bidders. The finest adult males could fetch…
The author, Burt Neuborne, is one of America’s top civil liberties lawyers, and questions whether federal government can contain Trump and GOP power grabs. By Steven Rosenfeld — A new…