Departments

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political violence

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    7/13/2021

    Bouie: America Punishes Only a Certain Kind of Rebel

    by Jamelle Bouie

    Impunity for the leaders of the Confederacy enabled the bloody overthrow of Reconstruction and the reestablishment of white supremacy. The mistake must not be repeated for the January 6 riots. 

  • SOURCE: CNN

    The Story of January 6 Will be Told

    by Julian Zelizer

    Republican obstructionism makes it likely that the full story of the January 6 attack on the Capitol and the election certification will be told in popular culture. 

  • SOURCE: The Atlantic
    2/26/2021

    America’s Political Roots Are in Eutaw, Alabama

    "The terror campaign of 1870 ended the promise of Alabama’s brief Reconstruction era, allowing the so-called Redeemers to pry Alabama from the hands of reform. This was the critical juncture that led to the way things are."

  • 2/21/2021

    Must the Capitol Riots be Included in the Legacy of American Dissent?

    by Ralph Young

    Teachers of history might feel a disconnect between praising American traditions of dissent and condemning the Capitol riots. They shouldn't. Historical evaluation of the grievances of dissenters, whatever their methods, finds real grievances, not lies, at the root of dissent.

  • 2/21/2021

    January 6, 2021: A Day of Populist Transgression

    by Robert A. Schneider

    The Capitol riot included a small core of actors bent on destruction, with many more along for the ride reveling in a moment of transgression. In this way, it was a microcosm of the Trumpian movement that, now unleashed, will be difficult to contain.

  • SOURCE: Washington Post
    2/18/2021

    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.

  • 2/14/2021

    Political Violence: Still as American as Cherry Pie

    by Alan J. Singer

    SNCC leader H. Rap Brown declared that violence was "American as cherry pie" in 1967. Though his remarks were scorned then, he was correct, and no movement for justice can succeed without acknowledging it.   

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    2/10/2021

    Will Insurrection Lead to Terrorism?

    by Martha Crenshaw

    An expert on terrorism and political violence looks to other examples of insurrection to ask what the hardcore extremists at the center of the Capitol riots are likely to do next. Such groups and the recruits they gained on January 6 are likely to become more isolated, but more extreme, and have access to guns unlike any other extremists in the world.

  • SOURCE: Just Security
    2/4/2021

    Movie at the Ellipse: A Study in Fascist Propaganda

    by Jason Stanley

    Not enough attention has been paid to the video shown to spectators at Donald Trump's January 6th "Save America" rally. A close look shows it to be a work of propaganda firmly in the tradition of fascism. 

  • SOURCE: New York Review of Books
    2/3/2021

    The Case for a Third Reconstruction

    by Manisha Sinha

    During their brief hold on power, so-called "Radical Republicans" used their power to build multiracial democracy in the South and punish white supremacist terrorism. We face the same challenges today and must learn from and complete the work begun in Reconstruction and renewed by the modern Civil Rights movement.

  • SOURCE: Keeping Democracy Alive
    2/1/2021

    January 6: Not Who We Are?

    Verena Erlenbusch-Anderson discusses the Capitol riots, arguing that violence has long been a part of the battle for political legitimacy and authority in America. 

  • SOURCE: The Atlantic
    1/30/2021

    Only Accountability Will Allow the U.S. to Move Forward

    by Mitch Landrieu

    Full accountability for the Capitol Riot is essential lest white supremacists and other extremists take the lesson that their actions are accepted and permitted. The white supremacist massacres of the post-Reconstruction period show that moving on without accountability is impossible.