Dear Black America. Let’s close ranks for democracy, as it is on the ballot in November. In July of 1918, W.E.B. DuBois made a plea for black Americans to close ranks for democracy. He wrote in the NAACP Crisis magazine, We of the colored race have no ordinary interest in the outcome. That which the … [Read more…]
Donald Trump continues to do what seems impossible—doing or saying something worse than before. Many of us are reeling from his statement this week that he would not commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he should lose the election and further saying we should “get rid of the ballots and …there won’t be … [Read more…]
While we are considering the Negro League and Major League Baseball integration, we should also notice that this phenomenon obeyed physics laws as we say in popular discourse, “for every action that is an equal and opposite reaction.” I summarize this point by arguing that when Jackie Robinson went to the Brooklyn Dodgers and began … [Read more…]
Chris Wallace of Fox News, sometimes known as Trump TV, will be the moderator of the first presidential debate, and as such he picked the topics to be addressed by the candidates. One of his topics is “Race and Violence in American Cities.” What could he possibly mean by that? What race and violence? I … [Read more…]
This year, 2020, marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of Negro League Baseball. Led by the impressive Rube Foster, the Negro National League (NLL) organized itself in February of 1920. The third decade of the 20th century was the beginning of the era I call “building alternative institutions.” Early in American sports history, African … [Read more…]
As you may know, barely literate white registrars could test the literacy of blacks applying to vote. Here is a joke about voting I used to hear in my youth. Remember, this was partially true in many cases. A black man in some small town in Georgia goes to register to vote, and the registrar … [Read more…]
Sometimes Democrats lose big elections through their fault. Observers have noted that the Democratic elite managed to do just enough wrong in 2016 to help swing the election to Trump, and they are fearful that they might do it again. In 2016 they alienated progressives and reduced voter turnout. If the Democratic elite’s moves weaken … [Read more…]