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Race

Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, 1968

The Language of the Unheard: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Social Democracy

By Editors' Choice, Reparations

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 It had been replaced by a sense of disillusionment, a sense of urgency that America was about to lose the last chance to have its soul.”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…

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Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates Is an Optimist Now A conversation about race and 2020

By Editors' Choice

By Eric Levitz, New York Magazine — In recent days, as Democrats debated the definition of “reparations,”Joe Biden rationalized his opposition to integration, and socialist congresswomen started demanding the rebirth of a nation, inquiring minds wanted to know: What would Ta-Nehisi say? Throughout the Obama years, Ta-Nehisi Coates provided politics-watchers with a regular source of historically grounded, bracingly well-written punditry and reporting. But since 2016, the writer’s ambitions have led him off of…

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren

What Americans Think About Reparations And Other Race-Related Questions

By Commentaries/Opinions, Reparations

By Perry Bacon Jr., FiveThirtyEight — The New York Times published a story last week about how some Democratic presidential candidates — notably Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris — had said that they are open to the idea of the government paying reparations to black Americans as a restitution for slavery. The two candidates were cautious in their statements on the issue — both to the Times and in a subsequent Washington…

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Mark Meadows

Mark Meadows and America’s Problem with Racist Denialism

By Commentaries/Opinions

The first step is admitting we have a problem. By Mari Uyehara, GQ — On Wednesday, during Michael Cohen’s hearing in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Republicans attempted a number of stunts to distract from the testimony of Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer on a great many questionable, possibly illicit, deeds. Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, who is 60 years old, lobbed the familiar schoolyard taunt “Liar, Liar,…

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Liam Neeson appeared on "Good Morning America" on Tuesday in the wake of controversy over his saying he contemplated carrying out a racist revenge attack after someone close to him was raped.Source: hln

Stop ‘whitesplaining’ racism to me

By Commentaries/Opinions, Video/Audio

 By John Blake, CNN — Health officials issue public warnings about spikes in everything from the flu to the measles. But there is one contagion authorities are ignoring: We’re facing another outbreak of “whitesplaining.” “Whitesplaining” is an affliction that’s triggered when some white people hear a person of color complain about racism. They will immediately explain in a condescending tone why the person is wrong, “getting too emotional” or…

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Donata Meirelles

Vogue Brazil director resigns over birthday photos evoking slavery

By Commentaries/Opinions

Images show Donata Meirelles, who is white, sitting on a throne-like seat flanked by four black women dressed in white. By Anna Jean Kaiser, The Guardian — The fashion director of the Brazilian edition of Vogue has resigned after photos from her 50th birthday party drew criticism for evoking colonial depictions of slavery. Images from the party showed Donata Meirelles, who is white, sitting on a throne-like seat flanked by four black…

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Donna Brazile speaks at the inauguration of New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell in New Orleans on May 7, 2018.

Brazile: We Need ‘Some Reconciliation’ for African-Americans in U.S.; Follow South Africa Model

By Editors' Choice, Reparations

By Nicholas Ballasy, PJ Media — WASHINGTON – CNN political analyst April Ryan, Washington bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks, said past U.S. presidents like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush refused to formally “apologize for slavery” because it would lead to some form of reparations for descendants of slaves. “In my first book, I tackled the issue of reparations as a healing, as a possible healing, asking people……

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‘Housing is central to the ‘good life’ in the United States.’

Housing market racism persists despite ‘fair housing’ laws

By Commentaries/Opinions

In the US, where homeownership speaks to class, African Americans are being denied mortgages at rates much higher than their white peers By Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, The Guardian — As a new year begins and the 2020 presidential election looms closer, our political focus will start to narrow around the issues thought to be most urgent and likely to mobilize voters. One issue surely to be glossed over, if not completely…

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Get Out: Toward an Honest Commitment to Racial Justice

By Commentaries/Opinions, Gentrification

By David J. Harris, Houston Institute Executive Director — Several weeks ago the Boston Globe published an opinion piece by editorial and staff writer David Scharfenberg in which he called for an “honest” commitment to racial integration. He dismissed the “gauzy 1963 version” of integration, insisted that “harping too much” on its virtues “can feel paternalistic,” and lamented the “disastrous busing experiment of the 1970s” which proved that “forced integration…simply doesn’t work.” Even so,…

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