From Diane Ravitch Stop the Lies About Dr. Martin Luther King’s Legacy Donna Ladd, editor and CEO of the Mississippi Free Press, writes here about the sustained rightwing effort to co-opt Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy of militant resistance to racism and his dedication to telling the truth about our tarnished history. This is an … [Read more…]
I have not visited the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in D.C. Although I have been to Washington, D.C., many times since its installation, I have not been to the monument. I will go eventually; however, I have yet to reach that point. My hesitancy is because I was in Ebenezer Baptist Church on Sunday … [Read more…]
James Farmer, a co-founder of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), claims that he proposed the idea of Affirmative Action to Lyndon Johnson when Johnson was Vice-President. When he reported that fact to the Council on United Civil Rights Leadership, which the media dubbed the “Big Four” or the “Big Six,” Whitney Young, Executive Director … [Read more…]
Affirmative Action is on its last legs. By the end of this term, the U.S. Supreme Court will almost certainly declare it unconstitutional. In October, the Supreme Court heard arguments on Affirmative Action in two cases, one concerning Harvard University and the other involving the University of North Carolina. At the hearing, the conservative super … [Read more…]
Everyone knows that Brittany Griner is a superstar WNBA basketball player who played in Russia. And many know that she made a lot of money there. But why was this the case? NBA superstars do not play abroad. One reason WNBA stars’ treatment differs from the treatment of NBA stars is the rampant sexism that … [Read more…]
Mass shootings are occurring with increasing frequency, as are gun homicides. Among the reasons for this horrific trend are “too many guns.” Another reason, of course, is the problematic lax rules about the sales and purchasing of these weapons.” But there is another significant factor. Gun control advocates have lost the contest to control guns … [Read more…]
Virginia Republican Governor Youngkin is using ham-handed sleight-of-hand methods to return the State to the Byrd machine days of the 1950s and 1960s massive resistance to integration. And he is doing so by using Byrd’s way of manipulating the education curriculum. During Governor Northam’s administration, many leaders admitted that the miseducation of Virginians needed to … [Read more…]
Democrats did better than expected in the past election, but they could have done better. On Wednesday, November 9, the day after the elections, I listened to many post-mortem commentaries and analyses. I was struck by the comments of a Black caller from Georgia who had volunteered for Senator Warnock’s campaign. He had volunteered to … [Read more…]
Governor Youngkin is pushing to institute the MAGA-Republican doctrine in Virginia. Last week the Montgomery County Dialogue on Race held a community briefing on our response to the Governor’s problematic education plan. In May 2022, the Youngkin administration released a report, “Our Commitment to Virginians: High Expectations and Excellence for All Students.” And on August … [Read more…]