Moderates and progressives have a lot to lose by ignoring each other on this crucial question. By Thomas B. Edsall, NYT — Can Democrats diminish the bigotry that Donald Trump has unleashed in this country? Stung by the success of Trump’s anti-immigrant, racist campaign themes in 2016, left-of-center advocacy groups — think tanks, unions, progressive academics and Democratic consultants — are developing tools this year to counter the continuing Republican…
Managing race relations from above. By Adolph Reed Jr., The New Republic — On September 18, 1895, Booker T. Washington gave his famous address to the Atlanta Cotton States and…
By Ivana Kottasová, CNN — The Church of England has decided to apologize for racism experienced by “countless black, Asian and minority ethnic people” over the past 70 years. The Church said in a statement that the General Synod, its legislative body, voted on last Tuesday to issue an official apology and commission an outside expert to prepare a report on racism, race and ethnicity in the church. Speaking at the synod,…
By Dr. Julianne Malveaux — Andrew Johnson, a high school wrestler, was forced to submit to the humiliating act of having his dreadlocks shorn or have his New Jersey team forfeit their match to the opposing team. A gleeful white woman seemed too pleased to invade the young man’s person, and his team won, but at what price? When this happened in December of 2018, there was a national outcry,…
From mass incarceration to mass deportation, our nation remains in deep denial. By Michelle Alexander, NYT — Ten years have passed since my book, “The New Jim Crow,” was published. I wrote it to challenge our nation to reckon with the recurring cycles of racial reform, retrenchment and rebirth of caste-like systems that have defined our racial history since slavery. It has been an astonishing decade. Everything and nothing has…
By Chris Kromm, Facing South — Ten years ago, on a narrow 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision that has reshaped our country’s democracy. Citizens United v. FEC opened a new era in Big Money influence in politics, fueling a dramatic rise in election spending by super PACs and other shadowy outside groups: According to the Center for Responsive Politics, independent political organizations have poured $4.5…
By Ernest DiStefano — Ernest DiStefano has written a stirring appeal for reparations for Negro League ballplayers and their descendants. This appeal in the form of a letter to Major…
By Alan Singer, HNN — Author’s note: On January 9, 2020 I delivered the Martin Luther King, Jr. tribute lecture at the Uniondale Public Library in Uniondale, New York. The presentation…
It’s the racism. By Afua Hirsch, NYT — The British press has succeeded in its apparent project of hounding Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, out of Britain. The part it perhaps didn’t bargain for, however, is the loss of Prince Harry — a much loved royal and a key part of the family’s global brand — along with her. In a statement released this week, the couple said they want to “carve out…
By Opal Tometi, The Guardian Nigeria — The murder of Trayvon Benjamin Martin in 2012 and the acquittal of the ‘killer cop’ George Zimmerman revealed an already-established fact: the Black race’s…
“The white folks had sure brought their white to work with them that morning.” Chester Himes, If He Hollers Let Him Go. By Michael Mark Cohen — On Shouting White…
By David Barber, HNN — Just before the Thanksgiving break, flyers appeared on the University of Tennessee at Martin campus asking if students were “PROUD TO BE WHITE?” and suggesting…