By Teka Lark (October 3, 2019) White America believes in vengeance. It believes in an eye for an eye. The Botham Jean case was so very hard to watch, because here is a Black man who was perfect, as perfectly good as a human can be–because if he hadn’t been, the defense would have found out his imperfections and smeared…
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By Mark Naison (August 12, 2019) When I think of the ideology of white supremacy–which has affected everything in US History from immigration policy, to citizenship, access to voting rights, marriage laws, the ability to play in professional sports leagues, and much much more– what makes the largest impression, in the context of the El Paso shooting, is how it…
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By Octaviano Merecias (June 26, 2019) The responsibility of the writer Is to measure the rising poison into our soul by reminding us of our numbness of distraction into the apathy of oblivion as the dissolving heart of our neighbor lingers in our pupils Is to face evil with a piece of pen and ink as mighty weapons And biting…
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By Christian Matheis (June 21, 2019) “What do I tell my kids?” a student asked me last spring in an intro class on community problem solving. She, African-American and one of the few (4, she tells me) on the municipal police force of around 450 officers, caught my words. “What do I tell my kids???” she repeated as…
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By Christian Matheis (June 20, 2019) One of the things that happens to people from underrepresented backgrounds when they begin to advocate for themselves, including when they challenge patterns of institutional / systematic discrimination: attempts by people in positions of authority to get you to doubt your reality. We need to call this what it is: an attempt to get…
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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 Tommy J. Curry (December 14, 2018) Many, if not most, Black academics do not really want to solve domestic violence. Over the last few days, I have seen Black academics posting articles from Blavity, The Root, and blogs discussing domestic violence. You want to know why they post from these sources because very few Black people actually study intra-racial…
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By Chris Crass (December 4, 2018) We are up against the brutality and toxic culture of oppression, the sinister and devastating divisions of supremacy systems, and in our work of building and uniting a majority for racial, economic and gender justice, how we treat each other, and how we treat ourselves, is vital. We must build what we are for,…
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By Joe Lowndes (October 31, 2018) I’m unsure whether the question of whether Trump has the Constitutional authority to revoke birthright citizenship is the right one. Almost all legal scholars from left to right appear to agree that he doesn’t. But it also seems like whistling past the graveyard to say that this is merely a ploy to rally the…
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By S. Brian Willson (October 23, 2018) The massive forced flight of people from Honduras is not new; it is the legacy of US intervention in the country. Since the 2009 US-backed and Hillary-supported coup in Honduras, the post-coup regime has perpetuated a system based on disregard for human rights, impunity, corruption, repression and the influence of organized crime groups…
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By Matilda Bickers (October 10, 2018) I think the thing that drives me the most crazy–after the sheer helplessness of having to live through these times, that’s definitely the MOST crazy making–is listening to well off white people say “we’ll get there eventually. We have to,” and other platitudes about climate change. It’s not that I don’t believe them–although I…
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