Featured
Alligator Alcatraz: American history from the dark side. By Andrew O’Hehir / Salon
Yeah, it’s a concentration camp. It’s also a meme, a troll and an especially ugly distillation of American history. President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem tour the migrant detention center state officials have called “Alligator Alcatraz,” in Ochopee, Fla., on July 1. Getty Images
So it is with the Florida concentration camp for migrant detainees known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” which was at first a gleeful MAGAsphere nickname and is now what this jury-rigged assemblage of cages under tents is actually called. To describe this evil little zone of exclusion as sadistic, despicable and insulting, or as a symptom of incipient or actual fascism, is accurate enough. But it’s most definitely who “we” are in 2025. If we claim that such a thing is “un-American,” then we’re the ones who haven’t paid attention to history — and as profoundly ignorant about everything as Donald Trump and his supporters may be, they know that much. Read more
Related: Families and immigrant detainees allege ‘horrible’ conditions at ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ By
The Ruthless Ambition of Stephen Miller.
The crisis, from the immigration raids that sparked the protests to the militarized response that tried to put the protests down, was almost entirely of Mr. Miller’s making. And it served as a testament to the remarkable position he now occupies in Mr. Trump’s Washington.
With the passage of the big policy bill, ICE will have an even bigger budget to execute Mr. Miller’s vision and, in effect, serve as his own private army. Moreover, his influence extends beyond immigration to the battles the Trump administration is fighting on higher education, transgender rights, discrimination law and foreign policy. Read more
Political / Social
How Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Hurts Black Communities. By Brandon Tensley / Capital B
President Donald Trump’s nearly 900-page piece of legislation that he calls his “big, beautiful bill” will likely have major ramifications for Black Americans and other marginalized communities.
Here’s what Trump’s domestic policy agenda could mean for Black Americans, when key provisions of the legislation are expected to go into effect, and how Black political leaders have responded. Read more
Related: This Law Made Me Ashamed of My Country. By Lawrence Summers / NYT
Cornel West: ‘We are witnessing the collapse and implosion of the American empire.’ By John Dear / NCR
On this episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks with Cornel West about the challenges of love and nonviolence.
“The country is in deep trouble,” West has said. “We’ve forgotten that a rich life consists fundamentally of serving others, trying to leave the world a little better than you found it. We need the courage to question the powers that be, the courage to be impatient with evil and patient with people, the courage to fight for social justice. In many instances we will be stepping out on nothing, and just hoping to land on something. But that’s the struggle. To live is to wrestle with despair, yet never allow despair to have the last word.” Read more
Trump slipping with Black voters after 2024 gains. By Jaared Gains and Julia Mueller / The Hill
President Trump is seeing signs that his approval is slipping with Black voters after notable gains with the demographic in last year’s election.
Recent polling suggests African American voters, already more disapproving of Trump than other demographic groups, have been souring on the president. Decision Desk HQ aggregates find more than70 percent disapprove of his job performance, while around a quarter approve, putting him in one of the weakest positions with the group since returning to the White House. Read more
Black Women Are The Only Demographic To See Rise In Unemployment In Recent Months. By Kyra Allessandrini / Blavity
The unemployment rate for Black women has been on the rise this year. They are the only demographic to see an increase this year, according to data published Thursday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some experts say these statistics may indicate similar challenges to come for other groups.
They are the only demographic whose unemployment rate has been rising in recent months. It was at 5.1%, 6.2% in May and 5.8% in June, according to 19th News. To compare, the unemployment rate for white women and Asian women has been plateauing at around 3% over the same period, while Latinx women have been at 5%. Read more
Education
How Diverse Are the Faculty at the Largest Colleges? Chronicle of Higher Ed.
Explore the share of minority instructors — and how it’s changed over the years.
Here’s a look at changes in average annual percentages of full-time faculty members who were members of specific racial and ethnic groups in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. The percentages of minority faculty members at the colleges in each degree-granting group (associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and special focus) are ordered by the largest number of total full-time faculty members for the most recent year, which is noted in parentheses. The total of minority faculty members includes those who are American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and two or more races. Read more
Related: Larger fights rage on, but Trump racking up wins against colleges. By Lexi Lonas Cochran / The Hill
Boston Politicians Want To Bring An HBCU To City. By Kyra Alessandrini / Blavity
Boston city councilors are campaigning to open an HBCU. Although the city is a hub for education, with Boston counting two dozen colleges and universities, it has never had an HBCU.
Council Vice President Brian Worrell said he wants to open an HBCU satellite campus in Boston during a meeting last week. He called for a hearing, which he hopes to be scheduled in the fall. Read more
The Grip Race and Identity Has on My Students.
My students’ inability to recognize the country I’d assumed was our mutual inheritance is proof that we cannot return to the innocence of the Obama era now even if that is what we want. The self-righteous assumptions of the progressive left and the xenophobic fearmongering of the reactionary right have changed us.
In Mr. Trump’s self-defeating game of all against all, full of confusing alliances but wholly devoid of anything like a pluralism of mutual uplift, what I can say with absolute certainty is that no one wins when we simply lose together in a more equitable fashion. Read more
UNCF Launches Parent Advocacy Initiative to Address Teacher Diversity Crisis. By Walter Hudson / HBCU News
The United Negro College Fund announced a comprehensive initiative Tuesday designed to empower Black parents as advocates for increasing the number of Black teachers in America’s classrooms, addressing a critical shortage that has far-reaching implications for student success and educational equity.
The initiative, launched in partnership with the Center for Black Educator Development, includes a detailed toolkit titled “Hear Us, Believe Us, Invest In Us: Helping Parents Advocate for Black Teachers,” which provides parents with concrete strategies for engaging with school boards, elected officials, and educational institutions to drive systemic change. Read more
World
It’s Not Antisemitic to Say That Israel Is Responsible for the Unfolding Genocide in Gaza. By Dave Zirin / The Nation
The contention that the US is in the driver’s seat with Israel the “cop on the beat” is an old and musty one from the 1990s that has not aged well.
Of course, we need to challenge antisemitism wherever we see it. But I’m Jewish, and fielding bad-faith accusations of antisemitism is far from the priority in my mind. A genocide is happening. There is nothing antisemitic about pointing out the global influence of Christian Zionism and the open thirst for ethnic cleansing among this generation of Israeli leadership. They are driving this train, though we are certainly paying for the engine and the tracks. We are not ordering them to commit war crimes, though we are giving them the thumbs up to do it. Read more
Related: Netanyahu and Trump Promote Plan to Expel Palestinians from Gaza. Democracy Now
Related: Israel now faces adversaries that it cannot defeat. By Jasim Al-Azzawi / Aljazeera
Related: Democrats Need to Understand That Opinions on Israel Are Changing Fast. Peter Beinart / NYT
Ghana’s Gentrification: Black Americans Have Come to Stay. “We Want That African Euphoria.’ By
An Apartheid-Era Torture Method Endures Among South African Police. Daneel Knoetze and John Eligon / NYT
A government led by freedom fighters who helped to liberate the country more than 30 years ago is now overseeing a police force accused of staggering abuses.
During the worst days of apartheid, South Africa’s white-led police force terrorized Black people with a brutal interrogation tactic that involved suffocating them, often with plastic bags. After apartheid, South Africa adopted a constitution that explicitly outlawed such torture methods and signed international treaties committed to prevent it. But a New York Times analysis of government data has found that, three decades after apartheid, the police in South Africa continue to use the same suffocation method — known as tubing — when interrogating suspects. Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
T.D. Jakes steps down as Dallas megachurch senior pastor, installs son-in-law, daughter. By S.E. Jenkins / CBS News
It’s the end of one era, and the start of another at the Potter’s House in Dallas. Sunday, Bishop T.D. Jakes officially installed his son-in-law, Toure Roberts and his daughter, Sarah Jakes Roberts, as co-senior pastors.
Earlier this year, T.D. Jakes announced he is stepping down from his role as senior pastor of the Dallas megachurch, a position he’s held for 30 years. T.D. Jakes will continue in his role as chairman of the T.D. Jakes Foundation. Read more
The Christian mandate that’s fueling American political extremism. By Art Jipson / The Conversation
Vance Boelter, who allegedly shot Melissa Hortman, a Democratic Minnesota state representative, and her husband, Mark Hortman, on June 14, 2025, studied at Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas. The group is a Bible school linked to the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR.
The NAR is a loosely organized but influential charismatic Christian movement that shares similarities with Pentecostalism, especially in its belief that God actively communicates with believers through the Holy Spirit. Unlike traditional Pentecostalism, however, the organization emphasizes modern-day apostles and prophets as authoritative leaders tasked with transforming society and ushering in God’s kingdom on Earth. Prayer, prophecy and worship are defined not only as acts of devotion but as strategic tools for advancing believers’ vision of government and society. Read more
Christian Pop on the Rise: Shifting Culture Brings Faith and Values to Mainstream Music. Christianity Daily
Recent reports indicate a noticeable rise in Christian and “traditional” pop songs on U.S. music charts, a trend some analysts attribute to a broader cultural shift toward conservative values in entertainment.
Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” currently holds the No. 1 spot in the country and has spent 20 consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. Warren, who openly practices Catholicism, also recently released the worship song “Bloodline” alongside Jelly Roll. Read more
Historical / Cultural
Racism by law: A review of Rebirth of a Nation. By Jeannine Hill Fletcher / The Christian Century
Joel Edward Goza shows how White supremacy has used legislation to structure the social reality of the United States.
Joel Edward Goza’s new book is an exceptional contribution to the growing genre of anti-racist histories. While it necessarily traverses some familiar pathways, the level of depth achieved in this concentrated detailing of key figures demonstrates undeniably how the ideology of White supremacy has been baked into our national culture. Read more
Sabrina Evans on Mary Church Terrell’s Situational Resistance. By Ashley Everson / AAIHS
Mary Church Terrell between 1880 and 1900 (Library of Congress)
In today’s post, Ashley Everson, a managing editor of Global Black Thought, interviews Sabrina Evans, Assistant Professor of English at Howard University, about her most recent journal article, “Exposing the Racial Illogics of Jim Crow Segregation: Mary Church Terrell’s Situational Resistance.” The article won the 2025 Maria Stewart Prize for the best journal article in Black intellectual history published in Global Black Thought. Read more
‘Report Negativity’ Signs Threaten Black History at National Parks. By Brandon Tensley / Capital B
As the U.S. prepares to celebrate the Fourth of July visitors might see a new sign prompting them to use a QR code to report information they come across that could be considered “negative about either past or living Americans.”
This signage has been posted at National Park Service sites — in compliance with directions from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. His intent is to help carry out President Donald Trump’s “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion. Many fear that this move could have a chilling effect on rangers who simply want to do their job — and also undermine the vital public education role of these sites. Read more
New documentary honors trailblazing Black actress Juanita Moore’s overlooked legacy. By Jordan Owens / The Grio
A new documentary, A Star Without a Star, tells the story of the legendary actress whose groundbreaking career in Hollywood helped pave the way for generations of Black performers, despite never receiving the full recognition she deserved.
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