Featured
In Trump’s Federal Work Force Cuts, Black Women Are Among the Hardest Hit. Erica L. Green / NYT
While tens of thousands of employees have lost their jobs in Mr. Trump’s slash-and-burn approach to shrinking the federal work force, experts say the cuts disproportionately affect Black employees — and Black women in particular. Black women make up 12 percent of the federal work force, nearly double their share of the labor force overall.
For generations, the federal government has served as a ladder to the middle class for Black Americans who were shut out of jobs because of discrimination. The federal government has historically offered the population more job stability, pay equity and career advancement than the private sector. Following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal government aggressively enforced affirmative action in hiring and anti-discrimination rules that Mr. Trump has sought to roll back. Read more
Related: Lisa Cook court hearing: Fed governor fights firing by Trump. By
Trump’s Agenda Is a Direct Threat to the Black Middle Class. By William Roberts and Mariam Rashid / American Progress
Donald Trump returned to the presidency promising a policy agenda that would help the Black middle class succeed. However, his choices in office and his attacks on diversity and equal opportunity have represented a direct assault on their ability to maintain economic stability.
Some employers have pulled back on initiatives for underrepresented groups that have helped Black middle-class workers get ahead, such as training opportunities, mentoring, and affinity/resource groups. The results could be long-lasting for Black workers, as research suggests that, without strong diversity initiatives, Black professionals may face limited career development opportunities and less advancement toward leadership due to persistent workplace and hiring discrimination. Read more
Political / Social
Chicago mayor says city will stand up to Trump’s ‘tyranny.’ By Maureen Groppe / USA Today
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is taking a defiant stance against President Donald Trump’s promise to deploy the National Guard to the nation’s third-largest city.
Johnson on Aug. 30 signed an executive order he said lays out “how we can stand up against this tyranny.” Chicago police will not help the National Guard with immigration enforcement or related activities such as conducting traffic stops and manning checkpoints, according to the order. “This is about making a very clear distinction between what our law enforcement engages in versus what federal agents engage in,” Johnson said at a news conference. “This president is not going to come in and deputize our police department.” Read more
Obama Says Use Of Military On Domestic Soil ‘Puts The Liberties Of All Americans At Risk.’ By
Why Maryland’s governor leaned into a fight with Trump: ‘This one is personal.’ By Erin Cox and Katie Shepherd Wash Post
The first-term governor and potential presidential candidate initially sought to strike a conciliatory tone with the president, but National Guard deployment to D.C. and attacks on Baltimore have changed that.
Federal Judge Blocks Trump Effort To Expand Fast-Track Deportations Of Migrants. By Aamer Madhani / HuffPost
The move is a setback for the administration’s efforts to expand the use of the federal expedited removal statute.
“In defending this skimpy process, the Government makes a truly startling argument: that those who entered the country illegally are entitled to no process under the Fifth Amendment, but instead must accept whatever grace Congress affords them,” Cobb wrote in a 48-page opinion issued Friday night. “Were that right, not only noncitizens, but everyone would be at risk.” Read more
Sharpton leads march against Trump policies and for DEI. By John Bacon / USA Today
Hundreds of people joined the Rev. Al Sharpton in marching on Wall Street on Aug. 28, decrying Trump administration policies, demanding economic justice and rallying for the cause of diversity and inclusion.
Sharpton accused Wall Street of benefiting from government tax cuts at the expense of Medicaid, food assistance and other federal programs that provide a safety net for the needy. He urged corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Read more
Alabama town’s first Black mayor _ who had been locked out of office _ wins election. By AP
The first Black mayor of a tiny Alabama town overwhelmingly won election this week, four years after white residents locked him out of the town hall and refused to let him serve.
Incumbent Mayor Patrick Braxton was elected as the mayor of Newbern, winning 66 votes to his opponent’s 26, according to results posted by the town. His victory puts a punctuation mark in the dispute over control of the town government that drew national attention. “The people came out and spoke and voted. Now, there ain’t no doubt what they want for this town,” Braxton said in a telephone interview Wednesday night. Read more
Education
The Coming Collapse of Faculty Diversity.
For young scholars of color, the dream of an academic career is slipping away.
Trump’s war on university diversity programs is often seen as a distinct initiative, but it is part and parcel of his effort to delegitimize academic institutions by suggesting that they are not hiring the best and brightest. And by targeting university budgets, our research suggests, he is assuring that faculties will become less diverse. Studies also suggest that students of color will suffer. Read more
Higher Ed Joins March on Wall Street to Defend DEI Programs. By Jamal Watson / Diverse Issues In Higher Ed.
The early morning mist hung over Lower Manhattan as buses began arriving from campuses across America.
From Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the South to state flagships in the Midwest, from community colleges in New Jersey to Ivy League institutions in New England, students and faculty poured into New York City with a singular purpose: to stand with the Rev. Al Sharpton in defending diversity, equity and inclusion programs under siege. Read more
Pentagon Is Reinstalling Portrait of Confederate General at West Point Library. By Greg Jaffe / NYT
The Pentagon is putting back up a portrait of Gen. Robert E. Lee at the military academy, as the Trump administration seeks to restore honors for American figures who fought to preserve slavery.
The Pentagon is restoring a portrait of Gen. Robert E. Lee, which includes a slave guiding the Confederate general’s horse in the background, to the West Point library three years after a congressionally mandated commission ordered it removed, officials said. The 20-foot-tall painting, which hung at the United States Military Academy for 70 years, was taken down in response to a 2020 law that stripped the names of Confederate leaders from military bases. Read more
Related: Trump team promises to ‘honor’ another notorious Confederate leader. By Olliver Willis / Daily Kos
World
Gaza postwar plan envisions ‘voluntary’ relocation of entire population. By Karen DeYoung and Cate Brown / Wash Post
The Trump administration and international partners are discussing proposals to build a “Riviera of the Middle East” on the rubble of Gaza. One would establish U.S. control and pay Palestinians to leave.
A postwar plan for Gaza circulating within the Trump administration, modeled on President Donald Trump’s vow to “take over” the enclave, would turn it into a trusteeship administered by the United States for at least 10 years while it is transformed into a gleaming tourism resort and high-tech manufacturing and technology hub. The 38-page prospectus seen by The Washington Post envisions at least a temporary relocation of all of Gaza’s more than 2 million population, either through what it calls “voluntary” departures to another country or into restricted, secured zones inside the enclave during reconstruction. Read more
Related: Gazans are starving. How did it get this bad? By Consider This / NPR
Where There’s No Debate About Genocide — and No Response Either. By Nicholas Kristof / NYT
As debate boils over allegations of genocide in Gaza, there’s another place where all sides in the United States seem to agree a genocide is underway — yet largely ignore it. That’s Sudan, probably the site of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis today.
There is bipartisan agreement in the United States that Sudan is suffering both genocide and famine — and also, apparently, a bipartisan consensus to do little about it. The Biden administration was too passive, and now so too is the Trump administration. President Trump is actually slashing assistance this year to Sudan, increasing the number of children who will starve. Read more
Kari Lake announces 532 positions nixed at Voice of America, parent company. By Sarah Polus / The Hill
Kari Lake, President Trump’s top adviser to the U.S Agency for Global Media (USAGM), announced Friday night that 532 positions were nixed at USAGM and Voice of America.
In a post on X, Lake said the layoffs were conducted at President Trump’s direction “to help reduce the federal bureaucracy, improve agency service, and save the American people more of their hard-earned money.” Read more
U.S. Proposes a More Lethal ‘Gang-Suppression Force’ for Haiti. Frances Robles / NYT
The Trump administration on Thursday proposed a significantly larger force to wrest control of Haiti from the clutches of brutal gangs that have set off a major humanitarian crisis. Kenyan police officers.
The move is an acknowledgment that a Kenyan-led international security mission on the ground for more than a year has largely failed to crush the explosion of gang violence in the Caribbean nation. Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
The degeneracy of Christian nationalism and the demolition of culture. By Phillis Zagano / RNS
Trump’s assault on art and culture is only outdone by his debasement of his fellow humans. National Portrait Gallery which houses Rigoberto Gonzalez’s “Refugees Crossing the Border Wall into South Texas.”
As several mainline faith leaders and the U.S. Catholic bishops have pointed out, the derisive oppression of poor immigrants by members of the current administration is sickening. That some administration officials continue to publicly espouse Christian ethics is mind-boggling. Read more
AME Clergy Recoup $60 Million of Mishandled Retirement Funds. By Adelle M. Banks / Christianity Today
A district court judge granted final approval last week to a partial settlement for clergy and staffers of the African Methodist Episcopal Church after a substantial percentage of funds from their retirement plan were discovered to be missing.
The historically Black denomination has been accused of mishandling the retirement funds, leaving many plan participants with about 30 percent of what they had hoped to use for retirement. The denomination accused its former retirement department head of embezzlement after discovering in 2021 that he provided “deceptive, false and grossly inflated financial statements” about the retirement plan. Read more
DHS is using the Bible to promote ICE, claiming ‘righteous’ fight against immigrants. By Fiona Andre’ / RNS
The agency refers to Scripture as it seeks to recruit agents who are pivotal in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The video, using an intimidating tone typical of DHS promotional videos on immigration enforcement, also quoted an unexpected religious reference — the Bible. The 40-second clip shows Border Patrol agents in tactical gear seemingly preparing for an operation as a verse from the Book of Proverbs fades into the screen. “The wicked flee when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a lion,” reads the text, attributed to Proverbs 28:1. Read more
Historical / Cultural
Escaped slaves on St. Croix hid their settlements so well, they still haven’t been found – archaeologists using new mapping technology are on the hunt. By Justin Dunnavant / The Conversation
“For a long time now, a large number of [escaped slaves] have established themselves on lofty Maroon Hill in the mountains toward the west end of the island [of St. Croix]. … They are there protected by the impenetrable bush and by their own wariness.” Those are the words of Christian Oldendorp, a Danish missionary who visited the Caribbean island of St. Croix in 1767. His account is one of the few Danish historical records of Maronberg, a community of escaped slaves, known as Maroons, in the northwest mountain ranges of the island.
As an archaeologist specializing in slavery and resistance, I’ve excavated plantations in the Americas and used geographic information systems to model Maroon escape routes by sea. Recently, I turned my attention to Maroon settlements on land, working with a team of archaeologists to locate Maronberg. Read more
What’s Really in the Blacksonian. It’s Not How Trump Framed It. Trump Attacks Blacksonian Museum. The Exhibits Tell Another Story. By Brandon Tensley / Capital B
The president has suggested that the museum focuses only on the painful chapters of U.S. history. But he’s not telling the full story.
Though the Blacksonian explores the brutal chapters of U.S. history, including the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the terror of lynching, it also offers many galleries that underscore Black excellence and joy. One exhibit, for instance, celebrates Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress and the first Black candidate to seek a major political party’s presidential nomination. And another exhibit spotlights the iconic red Cadillac of Chuck Berry, the pioneering Black musician who was beloved as the Father of Rock and Roll. Read more
Mississippi Museum Acquires Gun Linked to Emmett Till’s Murder. Emily Cochrane and Audra D. S. Burch / NYT
The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum put the gun on display Thursday, soon after the federal government released thousands of pages of records on the Till case.
It was the image of Emmett Till’s disfigured body, lying in an open casket for the world to see, that helped galvanize a movement. He had been beaten, but bullets also played a role in his death in 1955, fired from a weapon that was widely thought to be lost. Now, the gun that is believed to have been used in 14-year-old Emmett’s murder — an Ithaca .45 caliber pistol — is on display at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, mounted in a display case. Read more
‘Katrina babies’ describe their ongoing recovery 20 years after deadly storm. By Katie Kindelan / ABC News
Jasmine Batiste celebrated her 9th birthday in 2005, exactly one week before Hurricane Katrina swept through her hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana, leaving her and her family stranded for three days and fearing for their lives.
“The water is at our feet. It’s at the bottom of the first step. It’s coming in, and I’m just asking my momma, ‘Are we going to be OK?’ I’m a 9-year-old child. ‘Are we going to be OK?'” Batiste recalled of the terrifying moments on Aug. 29, 2005, when Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 hurricane, becoming one of the five deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history. Read more
The Corporate Logo That Broke the Internet. By David French / NYT
Cracker Barrel had the audacity to change its logo, replacing the older version that featured a man (Uncle Herschel, in Cracker Barrel lore) leaning against a barrel with a new logo that simply featured the words “Cracker Barrel” in a plain font.
The assault on Cracker Barrel spread across the length and breadth of right-wing media. Those voices never really explained how a plain logo with the restaurant’s name was woke, but the accusation was made, the online mob was mobilized and word went out: “The Barrel must be broken.” Read more
Gloria Gaynor Outed As MAGA Donor Following Trump Kennedy Center Honor. By Tiffany Hamilton / Newsone
Disco icon Gloria Gaynor has been outed as a major MAGA donor following her surprise selection to receive a prestigious Kennedy Center honor by Donald Trump.
According to FEC records first reported by Meidas Touch and reviewed by the Independent, Gaynor — whose legal name is Gloria Fowles — has contributed nearly $22,000 to Republican politicians and conservative groups since 2023. In 2016, Gaynor reportedly donated $235.00 in support of Ben Carson, but, according to FEC donation records, didn’t donate politically for years afterwards until the 2023-2024 political season; that’s when it was uncovered that Gaynor had donated multiple times to right-wing candidates and groups reaching more than $20,000. Read more
Sports
Active Clubs are white supremacy’s new, dangerous frontier. By Art Jipson / The Conversation
Small local organizations called Active Clubs have spread widely across the U.S. and internationally, using fitness as a cover for a much more alarming mission. These groups are a new and harder-to-detect form of white supremacist organizing that merges extremist ideology with fitness and combat sports culture.
Active Clubs frame themselves as innocuous workout groups on digital platforms and decentralized networks to recruit, radicalize and prepare members for racist violence. The clubs commonly use encrypted messaging apps such as Telegram, Wire and Matrix to coordinate internally. Read more
A Truly Great Statue of a Sports Hero. By Sally Jenkins / The Atlantic
A sculpture honoring the tennis legend Arthur Ashe highlights how disappointing tributes to Dwyane Wade and others have been.
Only one truly great bronze rendering of a renowned athlete has been produced in recent decades, and viewers of the U.S. Open tennis tournament—happening now until September 7—can see it daily. Just outside the stadium that bears his name, an abstract Arthur Ashe surges from the earth like a lightning bolt striking upward instead of down. Read more. Read more
Taylor Townsend’s U.S. Open and a tennis career of confounding expectations. By Matthew Futterman / The Athletic
To adapt the old saw about people going broke, Taylor Townsend’s rise to fame was fast, and then it was slow. At this summer’s U.S. Open, it has happened all at once.
At 29, Townsend has become what a lot of people in tennis thought she would be when she was a teenager: A big-time figure in her sport and one of the most talked-about athletes in America. Far fewer people thought it would happen like this for the American, a lefty with a dangerous combination of touch and power when she has both working at the same time. Read more
Related: Jelena Ostapenko apologizes for words used toward Taylor Townsend. By Simon Cambers / ESPN
The HBCU football weekend that’s ‘like a family reunion’ in New Orleans. By Megan Braden-Perry / Wash Post
The results of the Bayou Classic matter to Southern and Grambling alumni. But the Battle of the Bands might be a bigger deal.
The college football game between two historically Black universities, Southern University and A&M College and Grambling State, is an annual rivalry held on Thanksgiving weekend. Every year, the Bayou Classic feels like an HBCU family reunion, where Southern and Grambling compete in a Battle of the Bands, a Black Greek letter organization step show, and a football game with a halftime show and royal court presentation. Read more
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