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Politics

Voting

Pay Attention: They Are Trying to Keep You From Voting

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Monique Judge, The Root — Are you registered to vote? Have you confirmed that your voter registration is valid and ready to go for Election Day? Even if you think you are positively sure everything is OK with your registration, double-check it again—it’s imperative that you do. According to a report by Salon, voters in Georgia stand a 1 in 10 chance of having been purged from the voting rolls.…

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Democrats Didn’t Do Enough to Stop Kavanaugh — They Melted Before His White Rage

By Commentaries/Opinions

Yes, Democrats are preferable to this. But they’re still spineless. By Jim Sleeper, Salon — Although I’ll vote for any Democrat in November to keep Donald Trump’s Republican vassals from finishing off the American republic at his bidding, what I saw in the performance of most Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee last week reminded me that any victory by that terminally pusillanimous, corrupt, suppurating party, which is only a…

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The Supreme Court Is Headed Back to the 19th Century

By Editors' Choice

The justices again appear poised to pursue a purely theoretical liberty at the expense of the lives of people of color. By Adam Serwer, The Atlantic — When the Louisiana State Militia finally arrived at the Colfax courthouse on April 15, 1873, all it could do was bury the bodies. Two days earlier, a large force of white supremacists had taken control of the courthouse from the mostly black faction…

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Bolsonaro's supporters at a rally in Såo Paulo.

Bolsonaro Hopes to Win Brazil’s Election By Channeling Trump

By Commentaries/Opinions

At a moment when few Brazilians trust their government, the controversial, ultra-conservative Jair Bolsonaro looks poised to win. By Chayenne Polimédio, The Atlantic — Tomorrow, Brazilians head to the polls for the first round of presidential elections. Running on the Social Liberal Party slate is Jair Messias Bolsonaro, an ultra-conservative military officer-turned-politician and likely top finisher. If he’s one of the top two vote-getters, he’ll be the favorite in the…

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Black women in Brazil protest presidential frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro, who is known for his disparaging remarks about women, on Sept. 29, 2018.

Sexism, racism drive more black women to run for office in both Brazil and US

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Kia Lilly Caldwell, The Conversation — Motivated in part by President Donald Trump’s disparaging remarks about women and the numerous claims that he committed sexual assault, American women are running for state and national office in historic numbers. At least 255 women are on the ballot as major party congressional candidates in the November general election. The surge includes a record number of women of color, many of whom say their candidacies reflect a personal…

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People protest against leading presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro, at Cinelandia Square in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018. Bolsonaro has long been known for offensive comments about gays, women and black people, and he hasn't tempered his rhetoric during the campaign. He has also kept up his praise of Brazil's two-decade military dictatorship and promised to give police permission to shoot first and ask questions later.

Tens of Thousands Say ‘Not Him’ to Leading Brazil Candidate

By News & Current Affairs

Tens of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets Saturday in protest against the presidential front-runner, a far-right congressman whose campaign has exposed and deepened divisions in Latin America’s largest country. By Sarah Dilopenzo, Associated Press — SAO PAULO (AP) — Tens of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets Saturday in protest against the presidential front-runner, a far-right congressman whose campaign has exposed and deepened divisions in Latin America’s…

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This 1867 drawing by Alfred Waud, "The First Vote," depicts Black men waiting in line to cast ballots. In Southern states, Black men first gained the right to vote in state constitutions drafted during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era.,

Honoring Reconstruction’s Legacy: The Freedom to Vote

By Editors' Choice

During the 1870s, more than a half a million Black men voted for the first time in their lives. But this wave of progressive change did not last long. By Rebekah Barber and Billy Corriher, Facing South — One hundred and fifty years ago, a Congress dominated by “Radical Republicans” — mostly former abolitionists who represented Northern states — mandated that Southern states rewrite their constitutions, ratify the 14th amendment, and grant…

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Stacey Abrams is running in Georgia to become America’s first black female governor.

In Georgia governor’s race can a black woman make history?

By Editors' Choice

Progressive Democrat Stacey Abrams is taking on Trump-style Republican Brian Kemp in a state where all 82 of its governors have been white men. By David Smith, The Guardian — In “Sweet Auburn”, a short walk from the birthplace and stone tomb of Martin Luther King Jr, salon owner Terrica Jones is silking hair with a ceramic iron and contemplating an opportunity that once seemed unthinkable: to vote for a black woman…

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