Many bigots in America are enraged about the possibility that the history and nature of racism might be taught in high schools and colleges. At the same time, the United Nations is accusing the United States of racism against people of African descent and calling on the United States and several other countries to “stop … [Read more…]
The bigots are winning—and they have enlisted the U.S. Supreme Court. As Eli Mystal of the Nation puts it, Bigots have finally accomplished their goal of gutting the Voting Rights Act with its recent decision upholding two voter suppression laws in Arizona in Brnovich v Democratic National Committee. Mystal explains that this has been the … [Read more…]
I yield! I will start uppercasing “Black.” I know when I have lost the battle. A year ago, the New York Times made a change to its style guide and began using the uppercase for “Black” “to describe people and cultures of African origin, both in the U.S. and elsewhere.” And strangely, they decided to … [Read more…]
In 2018 a student newspaper at the University of Manitoba in Canada summarized the state of affairs of our two major political parties. They argued that weak Democratic leadership helps the Republican party to hold back positive progress. They note that the Democratic leadership in the Senate caved to Republicans on the Deferred Action for … [Read more…]
Earlier this year, in praise of President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda, some people suggested that he was like the second coming of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Congressman James Clyburn demurred. He said that Biden should not be like FDR. Perhaps he should be more like President Truman. Many people were surprised at Clyburn’s statement. After … [Read more…]
What is Critical Race Theory, and why is it under attack? First, what is it? In the 1ate 1980s, debates around race and legal theories and the permanence of racism led to critical race theory. Derrick Bell, the first African American tenured law professor at Harvard and legal scholar Kimberle Crenshaw, led these discussions. At … [Read more…]
Police are still killing people at the same rate as before they killed George Floyd. And many of us are not surprised. We have seen this movie before, where the monster lives on to keep attacking innocent people. True to form, the beast that is way too many police officers using deadly force marches on. … [Read more…]
There are reasons it is hard to discipline police officers when they use excessive force, even killing unarmed citizens. One of these reasons is the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights (LEOBR) LEOBRs grant police officers special protections from prosecution and discipline. This abomination started in Maryland in 1973 when Maryland enacted the first LEOBR … [Read more…]
The police killing of Americans appears to be increasing. In 2020, there were 1,021 fatal police shootings, and in 2019 there were 999 fatal shootings. By May 3rd of this year, 292 civilians were shot and killed by police; 62 were black. Police killed blacks at a higher rate than any other ethnicity. Aside from … [Read more…]
The U.S. Supreme Court plus Trump equals Jim Crow. I propose that idea as one way of understanding what is happening with this horrendous national voter suppression movement. Charles Hamilton Houston, the architect of the civil rights attack on Jim Crow laws, pushed for legal arguments that would make their way to the Supreme Court, … [Read more…]