Roundup Top Ten for June 19, 2020
The GOP Missed Its Chance To Embrace Martin Luther King Jr.by Tim GalsworthyInvoking a sanitized and selective memory of Dr. King enables politicians and voters to trumpet order and exhibit faux outrage at disorder, rather than face up to endemic racial inequalities. |
The History of the “Riot” Reportby Jill LeporeHow government commissions became alibis for inaction. |
The End of Black Politicsby Keeanga-Yamahtta TaylorThe 1960s generation of Black protest demanded a stronger presence in local government. The current protest movement recognizes that presence isn't enough; leaders must advance an agenda that serves their least advantaged constituents. |
Bail Funds are Having a Moment in 2020by Melanie NewportActivists have supported protestors by contributing to bail funds, but it's time to follow through on the longstanding call of social movement leaders to abolish cash bail as a symbol and symptom of unequal justice. |
After World War II, Most ‘Ordinary Nazis’ Returned to Lives of Obscurity. The World Must Recover Their Stories Before It’s Too Lateby Daniel LeeThe act of recovering perpetrators’ voices sheds light on consent and conformity under the swastika, enabling us to ask new questions about responsibility, blame and manipulation. |
A Statue Was Toppled. Can We Finally Talk About the British Empire?by Gurminder K. BhambraProtesters who dumped Edward Colston's statue into Bristol harbor have forced a long-overdue discussion of how the British Empire conquered and governed in the past and set the stage for racial divisions in contemporary Britain. |
A Silver Lining for the Golden Arches in Black Americaby Marcia ChatelainMcDonald’s has profited handily from its Black customers, while its presence in Black communities has led to a vexing set of circumstances for Black wealth and health. |
A Short History of Black Women and Police Violenceby Keisha N. BlainDespite, or perhaps because of, their own vulnerability to state-sanctioned violence, black women have been key voices in the struggle to end it. |
The Disgrace of Donald Trumpby Sean WilentzTrump wants to copy Richard Nixon's "law and order" appeals, but may end up echoing Herber Hoover's violent crushing of the Bonus March movement. |
Appalachian Hillsides as Black Ecologies: Housing, Memory, and The Sanctified Hill Disaster of 1972by Jillean McCommonsThe Sanctified Hill disaster exposed the vulnerability of Black people to climate events due to a combination of placement and neglect. |