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I’m Not Black, I’m Kanye — Article by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Image by Glenn Harvey

I’m Not Black, I’m Kanye

By Commentaries/Opinions

Kanye West wants freedom—white freedom. By Ta-Nehisi Coates — I could only have seen it there, on the waxed hardwood floor of my elementary-school auditorium, because I was young then, barely 7 years old, and cable had not yet come to the city, and if it had, my father would not have believed in it. Yes, it had to have happened like this, like folk wisdom, because when I think of that…

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Bill Otis, a Trump nominee to the U.S. Sentencing Commission

The Man Who Hates Criminal Justice Reform

By Commentaries/Opinions

Bill Otis believes America must maintain draconian policies to be tough on crime. No wonder Trump picked him for a key administration post. By Matt Ford — Bill Otis doesn’t think too highly of the criminal justice reform movement in America today. Last year, the Georgetown University law professor told NPR that mandatory-minimum sentences were a “big success,” citing the drop-off in crime since the 1980s. In blog posts, he’s even more blunt: “Q:…

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New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon speaks at the NYC Cannabis Parade at Union Square Park on May 5, 2018.

Cannabis Industry Could Be ‘A Form of Reparations’ Says Cynthia Nixon

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

By Mona Zhang — “I don’t know whether you heard this or not, but I want to legalize cannabis in New York state,” said Cynthia Nixon on Saturday at the NYC Cannabis Parade. The crowd cheered for the candidate who is challenging Governor Andrew Cuomo. Nixon made marijuana a central part of her campaign when she announced adult-use legalization as her first policy plank in early April. On Saturday, she was one of…

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Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States, by Howard Chandler Christy. (Image: Wikipedia)

Slavery, Democracy and the Racialized Roots of the Electoral College

By Reparations

By Christopher F. Petrella — At 11:45 p.m. on November 6, 2012, Donald Trump tweeted that “the electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.” Four years later, at 2:31 a.m. on November 9, 2016, the Associated Press projected that Donald Trump would win the state of Wisconsin and therefore surpass the required 270 Electoral College votes to become President-elect. The AP tweeted: “Donald Trump is elected President of the United States.” Though…

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A sculpture by artist Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, part of the Nkyinkyim Installation, of enslaved people in chains is shown after entering The National Memorial for Peace and Justice on April 20, 2018, in Montgomery, Al.

“Freedom” and “Liberty” Were Only for Whites in Settler Colonialism

By Editors' Choice

By Mark Karlin, Truthout — By detailing the growth of the slave trade in the 17th century, Gerald Horne reveals how white supremacy, capitalism and the original sin of slavery in the Western Hemisphere became intertwined. Current politics are so chaotic, staggering and fast-paced that we rarely hear of how we arrived at this moment of the resurgence of white supremacy in historical context. However, Professor Gerald Horne, author of The…

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Lezley McSpadden, mother of Michael Brown, prays with Benjamin Crump, attorney for the families of Brown, Trayvon Martin, and Stephon Clark, at the IOP's forum on the Black Lives Matter movement four years after Brown's slaying.

Black Lives Matter: A next chapter

By News & Current Affairs

Discussion of Michael Brown’s killing also reflects on how to improve conditions By Clea Simon (Harvard Correspondent) — Four years after Michael Brown was shot to death by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., young people of color are still dying. Still, as a panel discussion at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum noted on Monday, a movement has grown at the same time. With a new documentary shedding light…

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Maurice Mitchell, left, the new national director of the Working Families Party, with his predecessor, Dan Cantor, at the Working Families Party office in Brooklyn, New York. Rafael Shimunov / Working Families Party

Economic vs. Racial Justice Is a ‘False Choice,’ Says the New Working Families Party Director

By Commentaries/Opinions

Maurice Mitchell wants the WFP to be a political home for working-class people of every race. By Collier Meyerson — The Working Families Party, a progressive political political party that is active in 19 states, just announced that its longtime national director, Dan Cantor, has been succeeded in the role by Maurice Mitchell. The first black person to hold the post, Mitchell has two decades of experience in political and…

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Image: Ronald Reagan, with Nancy Reagan, signing the Anti Drug Abuse Act of 1988

The Untold Story of Mass Incarceration

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Vesla M. Weaver — Two new books, including National Book Award nominee ‘Locking Up Our Own,’ address major blind spots about the causes of America’s carceral failure. Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America by James Forman, Jr.; Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration and How to Achieve Real Reform by John F. Pfaff

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Brazilian president Michel Temer (L) and Argentine President Mauricio Macri arrive to pose for the official picture at the end of the Mercosur Summit in mendoza, 1080 km west of buenos Aires on July 21, 201

The Trumpification of the Latin American Right

By Commentaries/Opinions

South American conservatives have an unlikely new role model. By Omar G. Encarnación — Since Donald Trump became president, much has been said about the “Latin Americanization” of U.S. politics. The Washington Post, remarking on Trump’s nationalist demagoguery, referred to him as “the U.S.’s first Latin American president,” while an essay I wrote in Foreign Affairs shortly after the 2016 election termed Trump “A Caudillo in Washington,” a reference to the prototype of the Latin American strongman.…

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A sign outside Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California, during an April 5, 2018 demonstration staged by activist group 'Raging Grannies'

White Supremacy Is the Achilles’ Heel of American Democracy

By Editors' Choice

Even in a high-tech era, fears about minority political agency are the most reliable way to destabilize the U.S. political system. By Vann R. Newkirk — There are a million and one threads to the chaos currently unspooling about the Trump administration and the 2016 election. One might be forgiven for giving up on trying to navigate the intricacies of congressional Russia inquiries, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ever-widening probe, news…

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