Featured
Harvard’s Board Unanimously Backs President Claudine Gay. By Nia T. Evans / Mother Jones
Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing.”
Harvard’s embattled President Claudine Gay isn’t going anywhere. On Tuesday morning, the Harvard Corporation, the university’s highest governing body, expressed its full support for Gay following a week of outrage over her congressional testimony on campus antisemitism.
“As members of the Harvard Corporation, we today reaffirm our support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University,” a statement from the board read. “Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing.” Read more
Related:Why the Presidents Couldn’t Answer Yes or No. By Rafael Walker / Chronicle of Higher Ed.
Related: How Bill Ackman’s Plan to Oust Harvard’s President Failed. By Jen Wieczner / New York Intelligencer
Related: SNL spoofs college presidents at antisemitism hearing. By Allie Caren / Wash Post
Political / Social
Constitution in the Crosshairs: The Far Right’s Plan for a New Confederacy. By Nancy MaClean and Arn Pearson / The Progressive Magazine
The rightwing subversion of U.S. democracy is closer than you think.
Frustrated by the surprise defeat of Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race, a group of breathtakingly rich and highly strategic actors on the radical right, including the Koch brothers, quietly launched an ambitious new campaign to lock in their political control once and for all. They had used their immense wealth and institution-building savvy to capture a majority of state legislatures in 2010, so the groundwork was already in place. Read more
Related: Red States and Blue States Are Becoming Different Countries. By Jamelle Bouie / NYT
Top Court Clears Path for Democrats to Redraw House Map in New York. By Nicholas Fandos / NYT
The state’s top judge, Rowan WilsonCredit…Hans Pennink/Associated Press
New York’s highest court ordered the state to redraw its congressional map on Tuesday, delivering a ruling that offers Democrats a new weapon to wrest control of the House from Republicans in 2024. The decision could have far-reaching implications in reshaping the House battlefield in a key state. New York Democrats are widely expected to use the opening to try to shift two to six Republican-held swing districts that President Biden won, from Long Island to Syracuse. Read more
Trump Allies Attack Corporate ‘Bigotry’ Against White Men. By Emily Birnbaum / Bloomberg
‘This DEI bigotry is sinister, wrong, immoral,’ Stephen Miller says, as he targets companies from Macy’s to BlackRock.
One complaint accuses Macy’s Inc. of discriminating against White men. Another levels that allegation against BlackRock Inc. A third points a finger at, of all things, NASCAR – a largely White sport where Confederate flags were prevalent until they were banned in 2020. Those three legal actions, and some 20 more like them, have one person in common: Stephen Miller. Miller, the architect of anti-immigration policies under former President Donald Trump, is emerging as a key figure in preparing a hardline conservative agenda in the event Trump returns to the White House. Read more
Giuliani defamation trial: election worker testifies ex-Trump lawyer’s 2020 lies ruined her life – as it happened. By Lauren Gambino and Rachel Leingang / The Guardian
It was a day of emotional testimony in a Washington courtroom, where Shaye Moss took the stand in the defamation trial against Rudy Giuliani.
She recounted in devastating detail the ways the former New York City mayor’s lies and the ensuing harassment upended her life, destroyed her sense of security and self-worth and hurt her family. Under cross-examination, Moss pointedly noted that the harm caused by Giuliani continues to this day as the former mayor repeated his lies about her to reporters as recently as Monday. Giuliani’s comments to reporters drew a sharp rebuke from the judge. Read more
Climate Change and Southern Black Migration. By /Capital B
The desire for a better quality of life is pushing Black people toward the epicenter of climate disasters and racism.
Initially, Tiara Dawson”s mind went to Atlanta or Charlotte, North Carolina, two of the 10 fastest-growing cities for Black folks. But she kept returning to the same dream: waking up on a random weekend to the sun’s hugging warmth and ending it with the softened gold hues of a beach sunset. So, in 2019, after a few years of saving and meandering through the job transfer process, the Robersons and their 10-year-old daughter found themselves in Florida looking for a new home. Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
The Theological Truth We Must Press During War. By Esau McCaulley / NYT
History unfolds before us, giving properly humbled churches chances to begin again. We are at such a moment with the war in Gaza. So if our congregants want to know what we think about the war that began with Hamas’s terrorist attacks, what is the appropriate response? How might churches engage with a complex history that has so many competing claims?
A central teaching of Christianity arising from Genesis, a text it shares with its Jewish neighbors, maintains that every person, regardless of country of origin, is made in the image of God and deserving of respect. We are not alone in this belief. Other religious and secular traditions have articulated a similar idea. This provides an opportunity for cooperation. The belief in the inestimable worth of human beings can be a moral anchor in the turbulent seas of conflicting concerns. Read more
Is Anti-Zionism Always Antisemitic? A Fraught Question for the Moment. By Jonathan Weisman / NYT
The brutal shedding of Jewish blood on Oct. 7, followed by Israel’s relentless military assault on Gaza, has brought a fraught question to the fore in a moment of surging bigotry and domestic political gamesmanship: Is anti-Zionism by definition antisemitism?
The question deeply divided congressional Democrats last week when Republican leaders, seeking to drive a wedge between American Jews and the political party that three-quarters of them call their own, put it to a vote in the House. It has shaken the country’s campuses and reverberated in its city streets, where pro-Palestinian protesters bellow chants calling for Palestine to be free from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Read more
How Republicans convinced themselves America was meant to be a “Christian nation.” By Amanda Marcotte / Salon
Most Republicans now support Christian nationalism. This was not the case during the Obama years
Despite the obviously fake Christianity of Trump, this has been an era where most Republicans have abandoned their secular impulses. Instead, being a performative Christian has become an increasingly mandatory part of having a Republican identity. Even for those who never actually go to church. Read more
A Vision for Healing the Divided American Church. By Christianity Today
Fifty-nine. That’s the number of times the New Testament instructs Christians on how to treat one another.
Be at peace with each other.
Be kind and compassionate.
Live in harmony.
Accept one another just as Christ accepted you.
Love is the bedrock of Christian faith, and kindness is a concept we teach our kids from their first moments of understanding. But these ideas are more easily envisioned than put into practice. Both local congregations and online spaces highlight how many of us have lost touch with caring for one another—especially when we disagree. Over the past few years, politicians and pundits have fostered growing polarization and racial division, a trend amplified by the American church. Rather than faithfully embodying the “one another” verses, too often the church has embraced, and even fueled, needless divides. Read more
Related: Can Buddhism Save The World? By Alex Koritz / Patheos
Related: 8 mindful practices to celebrate during Hanukkah. By Tara-Pope / Wash Post
Historical / Cultural
The Best Black History Books of 2023. By AAIHS Editors
We asked editors and bloggers of Black Perspectives to select the best books published in 2023 on Black History, and they delivered!
Check out this extraordinary list of great books from 2023 that offer varied historical perspectives on the Black experience in the United States and across the globe. From books on the Black working class and the Haitian Revolution to works on Black women writers, socialites, and laborers, the diverse selections included in this list will enhance your reading list for the new year and deepen your understanding of Black people’s ideas and experiences in every part of the globe. Read more
John “Jack Green Trice (1902-1923). By Otis Alexander / Black Past
After high school, Trice enrolled in Iowa State College (now Iowa State University) in Ames, Iowa, where his major was animal husbandry. Trice, a defensive lineman, became the first Black football player at Iowa State, which immediately created controversy in the Big Six Conference. The University of Missouri’s athletic director, Chester Brewer, for example, warned Iowa State they would forfeit an upcoming game that season if Trice played. He did not but Iowa State won the game, 3 to 0. Read more
Wisconsin Indigenous students could graduate in tribal wear under bill. By Frank Vaisvilas / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Indigenous students would be allowed to wear tribal regalia at graduation ceremonies under a bill introduced in the state Legislature.
While state law provides some protections for a student’s religious beliefs, ancestry, creed, race and national origin, it doesn’t explicitly address an American Indian student’s right to wear traditional tribal regalia at a graduation ceremony or school-sponsored event. Read more
I’m Black But Look White. Here Are The Horrible Things White People Feel Safe Telling Me. By Miriam Zinter / HuffPost
“Many of these people are educated, and hold jobs or positions that give them some form of power or influence over Black people.”
I was outside my house gardening a few weekends ago when a neighbor, whom I had known for almost 30 years, stopped by so I could pet his large, fluffy dogs. I took my gloves off, squatted down to give the dogs a really good scratching around their ears and felt the sun on my back. What could be better? And then my neighbor said: “Why do you have a ‘Black Lives Matter’ sign on your front lawn when all those people do is kill each other?” “You know I’m Black, right?” I said, standing up as tall as my 5’4” frame would allow, the sun shining on my blond hair. Read more
Nicki Minaj Faces Hip-Hop’s Middle-Age Conundrum. By Spencer Kornhaber / The Atlantic
Nicki Minaj, 41, is the latest rapper to release a midlife manifesto that’s heavy with ambivalence.
When she rose to prominence about a decade and a half ago, she was the consummate young gun, stomping all over her elders on their own tracks. Her power lay in her skillful theatricality, which allowed her to dart among accents and cadences while maintaining wit and vigor. Her killer-Barbie persona, girlish and monstrous, did seem like it would eventually lose its novelty. But the possibilities for her future were endless. Minaj was clearly a talent who could rap about anything and make it interesting—even, perhaps, her eye-exam results. Read more
Beyoncé Net Worth: How She Makes and Spends Her Fortune. By Polly Thompson / Business Insider
Beyoncé is bringing her latest world tour to the big screen.
Hitting theaters Friday, “Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé” comes a month after Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” movie broke the box office record for a concert film on its opening weekend, pulling in close to $100 million in North America. Beyoncé, like Swift, has struck a deal with AMC to self-finance the movie but receive more than half the ticket sales. That means the movie will add tens of millions to the $461 million the Renaissance tour has already grossed, according to Billboard. Combined with Jay-Z’s fortune, the Knowles-Carter family’s net worth now stands at about $1.6 billion. Read more
Related: Memoir by Beyoncé’s father Mathew Knowles to become feature film. By Andrew Pulver / The Guardian
‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Star André Braugher Dies at 61. By Emell Adolphus / The Root
We’ve lost another iconic Black actor whose award-winning roles have helped increase Black representation in film. According to a Deadline report, two-time Emmy-winner André Braugher died Monday at age 61 after a brief illness.
Braugher — whose career began starring opposite Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman in the Civil War-focused film “Glory” — recently had a career resurgence playing the cantankerous, yet cuddly, Captain Ray Holt in the hit comedy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” with “SNL” alumnus Andy Samberg. However, most Black folks might know Braugher’s work from his roles in hard-hitting TV police dramas. Read more
Tunisians take issue with Denzel Washington playing historic general in new film. By Variety and NBC News
Tunisian media and members of Parliament have made public complaints about the famed Black American actor’s playing the ancient Carthaginian general Hannibal.
According to French newspaper Courrier International, there are complaints about depicting the Carthaginian general as a Black African being made in the media and the Tunisian parliament. Member of Parliament Yassine Mami has pointed out that Hannibal, who was born in 247 BC in Carthage — now known as Tunis, the Tunisian capital — was of West Asian Semitic origin. “There is a risk of falsifying history: we need to take position on this subject,” the Tunisian politician reportedly stated. Read more
Sports
Stephen A. Smith and ‘First Take’ are beating Skip Bayless and ‘Undisputed’ and it’s not even close. By Colin Salao / The Street
The move of Shannon Sharpe has done wonders for the ESPN debate show.
Sharpe, who topped Complex’s list of most entertaining sports media personalities for 2023, left FS1 (FOXA) – Get Free Report and the show ‘Undisputed’ in June. He had been on the show alongside Skip Bayless since 2016. ESPN brought in Sharpe to join Stephen A. Smith twice a week on its flagship debate show, “First Take.” On the other side, Bayless and “Undisputed” made major adjustments themselves, bringing in a crew that included former ESPN hosts Michael Irvin and Keyshawn Johnson alongside another NFL great, Richard Sherman. The shows have now been on air with their new teams for about three months, and the ratings results show that ESPN and “First Take” have increased their gap over their FS1 rivals. Read more
Shohei Ohtani: What it means that the new face of MLB is Asian. By David K. Li / NBC News
Shohei Ohtani, once talked about as being unmarketable, crossed the line from MLB star to “transcendental” athlete, landing in spaces not often occupied by baseball players, much less athletes from Japan.
Ohtani announced he has signed an eye-popping $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, ending one of the most publicized baseball free agent courtships in decades. And in the process, he became the face of a sport that has been fading into a regional interest for years and was in desperate need of a 21st century jolt. Read more
Black coaches an untapped talent in MLS. By Allen Hopkins / Andscape
Wilfried Nancy of the Columbus Crew is only Black head coach out of 29 teams
Only two generations removed from being a niche sport in the United States, soccer has undergone a remarkable transformation. While the soccer pitch showcases — and demands — a diversity of players, the underrepresentation of Black coaches on teams remains a stark reality. Black coaches, despite their wealth of knowledge and experience, find limited access to head coaching roles. Read more
Warriors’ Draymond Green ejected for flagrant blow to Jusuf Nurkic’s face. By Ben Golliver / Wash Post
“What’s going on with him? I don’t know,” Nurkic said of Green. “Personally, I feel like that brother needs help.
Draymond Green was ejected from the Golden State Warriors’ 119-116 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night for delivering a flagrant blow to Jusuf Nurkic’s head, an incident that could garner additional punishment from the NBA league office given his recent track record of unsportsmanlike incidents. Read more
Related: NBA suspends Warriors’ Draymond Green indefinitely. By Kendra Andrews / ESPN
Despite Steelers’ struggles, Mike Tomlin isn’t going anywhere. By Jason La Canfora / Wash Post
Mike Tomlin’s job security has become a topic of conjecture in media circles these days, at least among the ranks of those paid to opine and yammer on television and the internet.
Despite a résumé that has him on a path to Canton and a record that puts him among Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher in the pantheon of great Pittsburgh Steelers coaches, last week’s results have apparently prompted a bit of a national referendum on the merits of Tomlin’s stewardship. Read more
HBCU Celebration Swim Meet honors Black history in aquatics with eyes on the future. By David Steele / Andscape
Event at Morehouse College will showcase past and present swimmers and spotlight programs being launched and revived at historically Black colleges.
Football isn’t the only sport that will be celebrated in Atlanta this weekend. The long but often interrupted legacy of swimming and other water sports at historically Black colleges and universities will be on display Friday and Saturday at Morehouse College during Diversity in Aquatics’ HBCU Celebration Swim Meet and Water Safety Festival. Read more
The Tyrese Haliburton show is bringing a smile to Pacers’ faces: ‘He’s special.’ By Sam Amick / The Athletic
Remember when it seemed as if everybody wanted off the Indiana Pacers?
To make your way around their locker room these days is to truly understand the Tyrese Haliburton effect. It’s like being at a house party that none of the Pacers want to end, with the 23-year-old point guard working the turntables so masterfully that everyone wants to get up off the couch and jam. Read more
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