Roundup Top Ten for June 5, 2020
What Would Martin Luther King Jr. Say About The Current Civil Unrest?by Peniel JosephMany commentators who now invoke Martin Luther King Jr. to condemn angry protesters fail to grasp that King insisted peace and order could not be achieved without addressing deep racial and economic inequality in American society. |
Confederate Monuments Haunt American Democracyby Karen L. CoxConfederate monuments, most put in place as white supremacy regained control of the South, testify to continued injustice. |
When Police Treat Protesters Like Insurgents, Sending In Troops Seems Logicalby Stuart SchraderPolice have trapped themselves in a cycle of hostility by adapting military urban counterinsurgency tactics and weapons and treating protests as revolutions. Tom Cotton's call to deploy the military to American cities is fully consistent with this dangerous trend. |
The Damage Trump Has Done This Week Extends Far Beyond America’s Bordersby Mary L. DudziakConcern that Orval Faubus's defiant stand for school segregation in Arkansas would sully America's reputation abroad pushed Dwight Eisenower to deploy the National Guard in the interest of both racial justice and American leadership. Calls to deploy the military today must consider this context. |
The ‘Liberal World Order’ Was Built With Bloodby Vincent BevinsAmerican politicians, pundits and citizens need to understand that the history of American influence in the world has included violent subversion of democracy in the name of American interests. |
Organizing the Rich or the Poor?by Liz TheoharisInstead of looking to national leaders or the rich, a 1968 incident should remind us to recognize the need to organize the political power of the poor for self-determination. |
A 'Hamilton'-esque Scandal Helped Give Trump His Cudgelby Gautham RaoThe real impediment to Trump's use of the Insurrection Act is historical precedent and norms; If Trump doesn't have any regard for them, there is little to stop him from following through on his pledge to deploy the military in American cities. |
Women’s Household Labor Is Essential. Why Isn’t It Valued?by Alexandra FinleyCovid-19 has exposed enduring inequality in domestic divisions of labor. |
Secretary Lonnie Bunch: It Is Time for America to Confront Its Tortured Racial Pastby Lonnie G. Bunch IIIThis moment, says the Smithsonian secretary, should be the ‘impetus for our nation to address racism and social inequities in earnest.’ |
Remote Reflections: Learning in the Time of Coronaby Sarah ShurtsSometimes it is not a matter of making the past more engaging for students, it is a matter of engaging ourselves in the present lives of our students. |
Trump’s Grotesque Violation of the First Amendmentby Garrett EppsThe people own the streets—not the police, not the military, and not Donald Trump. |
The Double Standard of the American Riotby Kellie Carter JacksonMany people are asking if violence is a valid means of producing social change. The hard and historical answer is yes. Riots have a way of magnifying not merely the flaws in the system, but also the strength of those in power. |
The Police Chief Who Inspired Trump’s Tweet Glorifying Violenceby Julio Capó, Jr.Trump echoed a former Miami police chief’s anti-black words and animus. |