Berry Craig: We are getting closer to that “more perfect union” the constitution was supposed to make us. Far more people enjoy “the blessings of liberty” cited in our national charter than they did in Washington’s day.
Rosa Parks: Angry, Not Tired
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Peter Dreier: Rosa Parks’ defiance of Montgomery’s segregation laws was not an isolated incident. It was part of a lifelong crusade to dismantle Jim Crow.
A Sea Change in the Firearms Debate
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Tina Dupuy: The NRA wants to advocate for the absolute unchecked rights of gun manufacturers as they march over to the fringe. Goliaths fall.
Being American Means Never Having to Say “I’m Sorry”
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JP Sotille: Never, ever does America apologize to other nations—no matter the cost of the carpet bombing, the toll taken by weapons of mass destruction, the suffering inflicted by propped-up dictators or the futures stolen by artfully-packaged adventurism. Never.
Independence Day, For Some
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In 1852, former slave and legendary abolitionist Frederick Douglass was invited to give a speech at a 4th of July event to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
These Low Information Voters Will Be Our Undoing
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David Love: Faced with hard times, people have clear choices. Either they join forces across racial and ethnic lines and fight their common adversary, or they double down on the dumbness, thrive on misinformation and assign scapegoats.
Reconsidering “Black Politics”
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Bill Fletcher: Does “Black politics” mean the politics of the mass of Black people or does it mean the politics of people who happen to be Black?
10 Most Read Articles — April 7 to 14, 2012
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This week, we welcome a new writer to the fold, lawyer and educator Sheria Reid, whose debut article, “The Problem with White Guilt,” landed in the second spot behind Julie Discoll’s discussion of reports of neo-Nazis showing their grotesque colors in Sanford,
Education Reformers and “The New Jim Crow”
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Mark Naison: Current school reform policies represent a brilliant tactic to avoid dealing with the real causes of poverty and inequality in society, while finding a convenient scapegoat in public school teachers and their unions.
Is California Reducing Prison Overcrowding Without Fixing Its Cause?
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Sharon Kyle: In a relatively short period of time, our nation has incarcerated enough people to create the second largest city in the United States. Releasing a few tens of thousand prisoners for overcrowding won’t change much or will it?
Keep Jazz & Shaka Free!
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Hayden’s arrest is of course just the latest example of both the out-of-control racial profiling and stop and frisk tactics of the NYPD and; its targeting of Anti-Police Terror Activists.
Old South vs. New South
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David Love: Haley’s policies, not unlike those of her predecessors, are the unjust laws that Martin Luther King discussed in Letter from Birmingham Jail.
Republicans to Veterans: No Thanks
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Hans Johnson: Provoking some of the growing anger against Tea Party Republicans is the tone of callousness toward people of color, women, and the sacrifice of veterans who voice frustration at the toll of cuts and barriers in the democratic process itself.
Bull Connor 2.0: The Police Response to #OccupyWallStreet
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David Love: The police response to the Occupy Movement flies in the face of the reputed tenets of American constitutional democracy, and contravenes the precepts of international human rights law.
The Rebirth of Social Darwinism
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Robert Reich: Today’s Republicans are not conservatives. They’re regressives. And the America they seek is the one we had in the Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century.
Useful Examples for Occupy from the Great Depression
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Mark Naison: The “grunt work” of organizing Depression Era protests — at least until 1936 — was done by radicals who for the most part eschewed, or de emphasized electoral politics.
Race and Anti-Obama ‘Hysteria’
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Berry Craig: The hysteria about Obama, although some of it may be related to philosophical objections to central authority, is largely rooted in race.
Won’t You Come Home, Jim Crow?
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Tom Degan: The Republican party is at this very moment mounting a campaign that, if successful, will disenfranchise the voting rights of African Americans – and everyone else who tends to vote left-of-center – all across America. Isn’t that sweet?
Prison-Based Gerrymandering
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Sharon Kyle: Prison-based gerrymandering may result in the loss of both federal dollars and political representation for struggling inner-city districts.
China Needs Martin Luther King
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David Love: As America awaits the August 28 opening of the King National Memorial in Washington, D.C., this is a perfect time to reflect on the leader’s accomplishments, legacy, and commitment to justice, equality and nonviolent social change.
From Jim Crow to Juan Crow
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Alvaro Huerta: If instilling fear onto innocent, Spanish-speaking children isn’t cruel and unusual punishment, I don’t know what is.
Our Fellow Felons
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Hannah Petrie: Even though the rates of drug-dealing and drug-using occurs equally among different races – (think weed here) whites deal to whites, blacks deal to blacks, Hispanics to Hispanics – it’s the people of color who get busted. And once you’re labeled a felon – and denied access to employment, housing, and other rights — your chances of returning to a straight and normal life are extremely low. It is a system designed to keep felons felons.
Let’s Stop Blaming Immigrants
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Alvaro Huerta: Whether it’s Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., blaming the wildfires in the Southwest on immigrants coming across the border or whether it’s the state of Alabama passing the harshest anti-immigrant law in the country, it’s clear that brown-skinned immigrants have become the targets of the day.
We’re All Black Now
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David Love: Corporate greed on the part of arms manufacturers has turned an obscure and anachronistic amendment dealing with militias into a license to kill, literally, on a massive scale. The result is a gun for every American, with no system of licensing, registration and background checks.
Voter ID: GOP’s Latest “Block the Vote” Effort
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David Love: In a normal world, when you want to win an election, it’s all about “Get Out The Vote” efforts. But when your goal is to snatch victory from the gutter, “Block The Vote” will do.
Jim Crow, Yankee Republican Style
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Berry Craig: With Wisconsin Governor Walker’s blessing, Republican lawmakers are ramming home a bill that requires voters to show photo ID at the polls. Of course, the idea is to decrease the Democratic vote.
The New Jim Crow: Our Role in Incarceration Nation
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Diane Lefer: Judge Gray referred to Senator Jim Webb of Virginia who, in looking at the entire criminal justice system in which we hold the world record for the number of people incarcerated, concluded either we are the most evil people in the world or we are doing something seriously wrong.
Saying ‘I’m Not a Racist’ — Honestly
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Steve Hochstadt: I was born into this American racist consensus and I have lived to see its demise. The greatest proof that we are nearing the end of this idea is the constantly repeated claim, “I am not a racist.”
More Black Men in Prison Than Were Enslaved II
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Prison Based Gerrymandering Vote ecently we ran a piece written by Dick Price entitled, “More Black Men Now in Prison System Than Were Enslaved“. Tens of thousands read it. Many left comments. The popularity of his article and the comments posted lead to this follow-up. The article Dick wrote was a recap of a talk [...]
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Confronting California’s In-Justice System with Michelle Alexander
Come Let Us Reason Together: Faith Communities Confronting California’s In-Justice System — with Author Michelle Alexander — Thursday, May 10 — New Philadelphia AME Church, Rancho Dominguez, California