By Joseph Orosco (March 18, 2019) In 1920, one of the big controversies in racial justice issues was the tension between Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois. Garvey believed that Black folk in the US would never be treated with justice and the best plan was to return to Africa to build new states in which they could be…
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By Lara Messersmith-Glavin (February 7, 2019) Unless you are deliberately teaching your kids about race and gender and class and ability, unless you are actively countering the narratives they receive from every direction in this culture, then what you are really telling them is that racism, misogyny, heterosexism, class shaming, body shaming, and ableism are ok. Straight parents—it isn’t enough…
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By Teka Lark (January 31, 2019) I think one of the most important things to know is who you are and the second most important thing to know is who others think you are. I like to think of the world and my life as a journey, but I am aware that many people, entities, systems, view each individual as…
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By Irami Osei-Frimpong (January 30, 2019) Heather Heyer died for going to a rally against White supremacists. She didn’t wake up that day to die. She woke up that day to go to a rally against White supremacy. But she paid the price. That’s simply what justice costs. Our unwillingness to pay that price is why we ended Reconstruction. I…
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By Elle Stanger (January 23, 2019) I asked a man to stop bothering the three women at the table across from him while they were trying to eat; he was asking about their work, clothing, and the final straw was when he asked if they wanted to date his friend or him, They were giggling and trying to shut down…
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By Joseph Orosco (January 22, 2019) By now, a lot of people have heard the story of how Star Trek was Martin Luther King, Jr.’s favorite TV show. It was, according to Nichelle Nichols, the only program he allowed his children to watch because it portrayed African Americans living in a future where they were treated equally and with dignity…
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By Rachel Wagner (January 15, 2019) In one of my groups, there’s a discussion going on about whether or not it’s “exclusionary” to ban TERF and SWERF views (presumed “feminist” views that exclude trans-women and women who engage in sex work). Those “radical feminists” who wish to exclude trans women and sex workers from feminist spaces are upset that they’ve…
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By Paul Messersmith-Glavin (January 14, 2019) Murray Bookchin would be 98 today. Calling himself at times both a “Pleistocene Bear” and a “relic from a different age,” Murray was in many ways ahead of his time. He introduced ecology to the Left in the early sixties–before even Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring he would tireless point out–even raising climate change as…
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By Rachel Wagner (January 8, 2019) Has anyone else noticed that Trump only talks about one issue at a time, like for months? For a while it was Hillary. For a while North Korea. Healthcare for a while. There were others. Now it’s nothing but wall wall wall. This successive “single issue” approach is likely intended to just keep us…
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By Teka Lark (January 8, 2019) When I have events I never have music. I don’t like music. I came of age in the 80s and 90s. I came of age when music was getting pretty mean and I knew immediately that I did not like hiphop. I didn’t like hiphop, because it seemed to specifically be talking about how…
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