Breaking News

The 150-Year Prosecution of White Supremacy

Merrick Garland's answers to quesitons about domestic right-wing extremism show that he understands the through-line connecting post-Reconstruction racist terrorism, the 1990s militia movement, and the groups present at the US Capitol on January 6. It remains to be seen if he will have the support he needs to follow through on his pledge to prosecute them.

Texas Failed Because It Did Not Plan

An analysis of three interrelated failures of planning, logistics, and markets that led to the Texas electrical disaster. 

Malcolm X's Family Releases Letter Alleging FBI, Police Role In His Death

The family of the late leader released a letter they claim shows the involvement of a NYPD detective in a conspiracy to assassinate Malcolm X. 

America's Churches are Now Polarized, Too

The Trump era has concentrated longstanding differences about the role of faith in American life and the obligations of the faithful to act in the world. During the McCarthy era, the Republican establishment pushed back against attacks on clergy by the far right. Will something similar happen today? 

Why Texas Republicans Fear the Green New Deal

by Naomi Klein

The Texas blackouts show the political and social dead ends of the market revolution and the fossil fuel economy, says Naomi Klein. Politicians and industries wedded to the status quo are attacking the idea of a "Green New Deal" because it's encouraging people to imagine alternatives. 

A Georgia Lawmaker Asked How Colleges Teach ‘Privilege’ and ‘Oppression.’ Here’s How They Responded

State legislative inquiries in Georgia about how public universities teach concepts like white privilege require a large burden of administrative work and internal review by the colleges, with the largest share of scrutiny falling on history classes. 

Lucky Luke, the Comic Book Cowboy, Discovers Race, Belatedly

While Emmanuel Macron decries American obsessions with race and prejudice, right-wing French comics readers have reacted with anger to an effort to update the longstanding cowboy-themed comic franchise with heroic Black characters. 

Historical Markers About Notable Black Georgians Shot, Vandalized

Markers in South Georgia paid tribute to Jackie Robinson and lynching victim Mary Turner.

The Supreme Court is About to Hear Two Cases that Could Destroy what Remains of the Voting Rights Act

Chief Justice John Roberts has a long record of hostility to the Voting Rights Act, and authored the decision that weakened it. The Supreme Court is preparing to hear cases that may allow him to destroy the VRA. 

‘There’s No Natural Dignity in Work’

by Ezra Klein

Is it time to revisit the basic premise of American welfare policies that encouraging or requiring paid labor is the best way to deal with poverty? 

Rush Limbaugh and the Nineties Roots of “Cancel Culture”

by Alex Pareene

Rush Limbaugh's career ended in a siloed media environment where the right occupied its own channels. But it began in a mainstream media that was eager to profit by marketing his brand of down-punching reactionary grievance. 

Forgotten Camps, Living History: Japanese Internment in the South

by Jason Christian

Camp Livingston, deep in the Louisiana pines, used to be the site of a World War II Japanese internment camp. Drawing from the memories of internees, the research of two Louisiana State University librarians and other historians, and the activism of survivors and their descendants, this story uncovers a buried piece of American history.

Apocalypse Averted

"Newly declassified documents reveal that in November 1983, at the height of Cold War tensions, the United States and the Soviet Union came closer to nuclear war than historians—and even many officials at the time—have known until now."

The 150-Year-Old Ku Klux Klan Act Being Used Against Trump In Capitol Attack

Ulysses S. Grant championed legislation to apply the power of the federal government against armed conspiracies to prevent the exercise of the vote. A Mississippi Congressman is now suing Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani under a provision of the law that allows victims to file civil lawsuits against conspirators.

Reparations Bill Tests Biden and Harris on Racial Justice

The President and Vice President have endorsed the establishment of a commission to study the issue of reparations for slavery and post-emancipation racism against African Americans. It is yet to be seen whether the White House can please proponents and opponents if the commission moves toward concrete findings and recommendations. 

The Way Out of America’s Zero-Sum Thinking on Race and Wealth

by Heather McGhee

White resentment is a key political factor in America's stingy public sector; post-WWII support for social welfare, government intervention in the economy, and public investment receded after the civil rights movement demanded "jobs and freedom" for all. It's time to replace zero-sum thinking with a concept of social solidarity. 

Group Fighting for Historic Landmark Recognition for Chicago Mansion with Deep History

“Black women were migrating from the South and they had nowhere to go because economically, there were no jobs here for them,” Tate said. “So this was a place that spiritually, intellectually, socially, economically, they will magnify, to the point that they could go out and get a job and be somebody.”

Veteran Journalist Donates Trove of Civil Rights-Era Research to University of South Carolina

“I think that’s what I find amazing. Even in terms of the curriculum in the state of South Carolina, that those kind of moments are not necessarily common knowledge, where you have an Orangeburg Massacre,” Crump said. “No pun intended, it’s almost like an educational blackout.”

Is This the Most Radical Film Ever Produced by Hollywood?

“Judas and the Black Messiah” is the rare Hollywood film to explore a vision of Blackness that has nothing to do with white audiences.

The Sinking of a Bust Surfaces a Debate Over Denmark’s Past

"An anonymous group of artists had unscrewed it from its plinth, popped a black garbage bag over its head and ferried it to the edge of the canal, before tipping it in."