Featured
‘Project 2025’ and the Movement That Could Erode Black Equality. By Brandon Tensley / Capital B
Spearheaded by a right-wing think tank, the agenda would roll back policies that have aided Black economic and social gains.
Reporting from Axios this month revealed that one of the main goals of a second Trump administration would be to redirect the federal government’s focus to what the former president and his supplicants believe is the actual problem afflicting our country: “anti-white racism.” In particular, they would erode 1960s-era policies that have nourished economic opportunities for Black Americans, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that have flowered since the 2020 murder of George Floyd.
This assault on civil rights is one plank of Project 2025, a transition plan spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation — a right-wing think tank — for the next Republican president. Trump hasn’t officially co-signed, but many of his associates are authors. The policy agenda is expansive, detailing how to use the federal apparatus to repeal gains made in a variety of arenas, from education and infrastructure to health care and LGBTQ issues. These rollbacks would, to no one’s surprise, disproportionately harm Black Americans. Read more
Related: A conservative quest to limit diversity programs gains momentum in states. By AP and NBC News
Political / Social
We have a radical democracy. Will Trump voters destroy it? By Robert Kagan / Wash Post
For some time, it was possible to believe that many voters could not see the threat Donald Trump poses to America’s liberal democracy, and many still profess not to see it. But now, a little more than six months from Election Day, it’s hard to believe they don’t. The warning signs are clear enough.
How to explain their willingness to support Trump despite the risk he poses to our system of government? The answer is not rapidly changing technology, widening inequality, unsuccessful foreign policies or unrest on university campuses but something much deeper and more fundamental. Americans are going down this route today because too many no longer care enough whether the system the Founders created survives and are ceding the ground to those, led by Trump, who actively seek to overthrow what so many of them call “the regime. Read more
The Trumpification of the Supreme Court. By Adam Serwer / The Atlantic
The conservative justices have shown they are ready to sacrifice any law or principle to save the former president.
The notion that Donald Trump’s supporters believe that he should be able to overthrow the government and get away with it sounds like hyperbole, an absurd and uncharitable caricature of conservative thought. Except that is exactly what Trump’s attorney D. John Sauer argued before the Supreme Court yesterday, taking the position that former presidents have “absolute immunity” for so-called official acts they take in office. Read more
Related: This Whole King Trump Thing Is Getting Awfully Literal. By Jamelle Bouie / NYT
Related: Clarence Thomas Is The Black Person Clarence Thomas Warned You About. By
A $1 million wealth gap now divides white families from Black and Hispanic ones, research shows. By
New research from the Urban Institute shows the persistence of a wealth gap that has plagued American workers and families for generations.
New research by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank focused on economic and social policy research, found that the average wealth of white families in 2022 reached a record high of over $1.3 million, compared to about $227,000 for Hispanic families and $211,000 for Black families. This report marks the first time the institute has recorded a seven-figure disparity in average wealth for both Black and Hispanic households. The median wealth for white families was $284,000, compared to $62,000 for Hispanic families and $44,000 for Black families. Read more
The culture war in North Carolina is playing out in the race for governor. By George Chidi / The Guardian
With abortion on the line, a Black conservative provocateur is pitted against the state’s center-left Jewish attorney general
At a rally in Greensboro in March before the state’s primary election this year, Trump endorsed Robinson, referring to Robinson as “Martin Luther King on steroids”. But try to imagine King saying something like: “Racism is a tool used by the evil, to build up the ignorant, to try and tear down the strong,” as Robinson wrote in 2017. The two present a sharp contrast in policy, temperament and experience. After graduating from both Harvard Law and the Harvard Kennedy school of government, Stein managed John Edwards’ successful Senate campaign. Stein then served in the statehouse before winning the attorney general’s race in 2016, becoming the first Jewish person elected to statewide office in North Carolina. Read more
Black college president says it’s time to fix Black-Jewish relations. By Emmanuel Felton / Wash Post
Rochelle Ford, president of Dillard University in New Orleans, has found herself in the middle of America’s intense national debate on U.S. support for Israel. (Kathleen Flynn for the Washington Post)
Genetics studies have a diversity problem that researchers struggle to fix. By Lauren Sausser / Salon
Lack of diversity in genetics research has real health care implications
Since the completion more than 20 years ago of the Human Genome Project, which mapped most human genes for the first time, close to 90% of genomics studies have been conducted using DNA from participants of European descent, research shows. And while human beings of all races and ancestries are more than 99% genetically identical, even small differences in genes can spell big differences in health outcomes. Read more
World News
The Church of England’s legacy of slavery. By The Week UK
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has described ‘social impact investment fund’ plans as an expression of Christian values
Who is proposing compensation? The Church of England itself. The Church’s interest in the issue dates back many years. In 2006, it apologised for the role that clergymen had played in the transatlantic slave trade. In 2019, the Audit and Risk Committee of the Church Commissioners (the body that administers its assets) raised questions about possible reputational damage arising from its past links to slavery, and commissioned a report by historians and forensic accountants. Read more
Has South Africa Truly Defeated Apartheid? By John Eligon and Lynsey Chute / NYT
As South Africans celebrate 30 years of freedom and prepare to vote in a pivotal national election, we looked at how far the country has come in meeting the Freedom Charter’s goals.
When the apartheid government was toppled in South Africa, ending white minority rule, people around the world shared in the excitement and optimism that a more just society would emerge. A generation later, the country’s journey provides a broader lesson: It is far easier to rally for an end to racism than it is to undo entrenched inequities and to govern a complicated country. The African National Congress won the 1994 election on the promise of “a better life for all.” But for many that promise has fallen short. Polls now suggest that in the election scheduled for May 29, the party risks losing its absolute majority in the national government for the first time. Read more
Related: South Africa’s democracy is turning 30 – but a silent crisis threatens its hard-fought gains. By and
Related: South Africa remembers an historic election every April 27, Freedom Day. By AP and NPR
Haiti’s transitional government weighs future after ‘collapse’ of institutions. By Reuters
The council says it will focus on security, a national consultation on constitutional reform, preparing for elections, rebuilding the judiciary system and the economy.
Haiti’s transition council took power in a ceremony on Thursday, formalizing the resignation of former Prime Minster Ariel Henry as the Caribbean country seeks to establish security after years of gang violence wreaking chaos and misery. Henry’s finance minister, Michel Patrick Boisvert, will be interim prime minister until the transition council appoints a new head of government, a cabinet and a provisional electoral council set to pave the way for an eventual vote. “Today is an important day in the life of our dear republic, this day in effect opens a view to a solution,” Boisvert said after the nine-person transition council were sworn in on Thursday morning. Read more
Why Does the U.S. Arm Ukraine With Fanfare and Israel in Secret? By Nicholas Kristof / NYT
President Biden flanked by Javelin antitank systems in 2022 as he discussed arming Ukraine. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
When the Biden administration ships arms to Ukraine, it pulls out the megaphones. It announces its shipments and hails its own efforts “to support the brave Ukrainian people as they defend their country,” as Secretary of State Antony Blinken put it last month. The White House emphasizes transparency about aid provided to Ukraine, saying it wants to be clear how “that money has been spent.” It’s a different story when the destination is Israel. A few details leak in the American or Israeli press, but overall, when sending arms to the Israel Defense Forces, the Biden administration seems to prefer the sound of silence. Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
How evangelical leader Jim Wallis uses the Bible to expose the ‘False White Gospel.’ By John Blake / CNN
Jim Wallis, an evangelical leader and author of “The False White Gospel,” says White Christian nationalism is not new but a heretical form of faith that has been in the US since its founding.
Jim Wallis was a long-haired student activist in the early 1970s who read Marx, marched against the Vietnam War and had little use for evangelical Christianity. But one day he conducted an unusual theological experiment that would change his life. Wallis and several friends wanted to know how many scriptures in the Bible dealt with issues such as poverty, oppression and justice. So they took a pair of scissors and cut out every biblical verse mentioning the poor. “When we were done, all of those verses had fallen to the floor — about two thousand verses in total,” Wallis recalled. “We were left with a Bible full of holes.” Read more
Meet The Never-Christian-Nationalist Evangelicals. By Josh Kovensky / TPM
Within the world of conservative Christians, there are some who survey what the Christian nationalists want and recoil.
Some of Christian nationalism’s opponents within the Christian right are pastors, some of them are writers. Others describe themselves as theologians; others are media figures. Many refuse to speak out publicly for fear of harassment; others who do speak out do so in muted, measured tones, as if quietly chiding a prodigal son. Read more
As many HBCUs thrive, faith-based Black schools fight financial and accreditation woes. By
Several faith-based historically Black colleges and universities have faced governance and financial concerns, even as other HBCUs are seeing increases in enrollment and financial donations.
ITC, a consortium of seminaries in Atlanta known for its decades of educating Black ministers, is one of several faith-based historically Black colleges and universities that have been struggling with accreditation and other challenges, even as other HBCUs are seeing increases in enrollment and infusions of donations. Read more
Historical / Cultural
An Unholy Traffic: how the slave trade continued through the US civil war. By Rich Tenorio / The Guardian
In a new book, Robert KD Colby of the University of Mississippi shows how the Confederacy remained committed to slavery
While the civil war is associated with the end of slavery in the US, the so-called peculiar institution survived throughout much of the Confederacy right to the end of the conflict. That’s the thought-provoking narrative of a comprehensive new book by Robert KD Colby, a history professor at the University of Mississippi. Read more
Mississippi one of only four states that still celebrates Confederate Memorial Day. Why? By Grant McLaughlin / Clarion Ledger
Black lawmakers think Republicans should just throw out the holiday
State offices throughout Mississippi will be closed Monday in recognition of Confederate Memorial Day, and state employees will receive a paid day off. Mississippi is one of four states to still celebrate the holiday, which was established in 1886 following the end of the American Civil War. Other states including Alabama, South Carolina and Texas also still celebrate the day in some fashion. Confederate Memorial Day is also part of Confederate Heritage Month, which is traditionally celebrated in April. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves even signed a proclamation on April 12 to recognize both the month and the day in honor of the fallen confederate soldiers and the nation’s past. Read more
Black Music Sunday: A month of Duke Ellington tributes comes to an end. By Denise Oliver Velez / Daily Kos
As Duke Ellington wrote in his memoir, published the year before he died: “What is music to you? What would you be without music? Music is everything.”
I read his words and wonder: What would music be without Ellington’s gifts to us all? This story wraps up our 2024 Jazz Appreciation Month series, which we kicked off with a tribute to The Duke. We’ll finish the month similarly—April 29 is Ellington’s 125th birthday! Read more and listen here.
Related: What made Duke Ellington a true genius. By Sammy Miller / CNN
How the Black Opry is helping elevate artists of color in country music. By
Members of Black Opry (Left to right) Grace Givertz, Roberta Lea, Rachel Maxan, Danielle Johnson, and Tylar Bryant perform at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia on March 29, 2024.
Before there was conversation over whether Beyoncé is country enough for country music, there was the Black Opry, holding space for music lovers and artists of color in the genre. The organization billed as the “home for Black artists, fans and industry professionals working in country, Americana, blues, and folk music” is getting more attention these days since Beyoncé dropped her country-inspired “Act II: Cowboy Carter.” Read more
Langston Hughes wrote a poem about Black voters in Miami. Why don’t more of us know? By Nadege Green / Miami Herald
Beyoncé Showed Her Hair Being Washed. Here’s Why It Matters.
Beyoncé posted a video on her Instagram profile featuring a rare close-up of her long, curly hair being washed, conditioned, straightened and styled using her Cécred products.
Beyoncé’s hair has been scrutinized for years. Usually spotted in wigs and braids, the pop star has mostly styled her hair with extensions, as many celebrities do. But her longtime use of weaves has made it hard for some to believe that her hair is as long as it appears in the video. There’s a longstanding stereotype that Black women’s natural hair can grow only so long, leading some to believe that Black women wear weaves because they are pretending to have long hair or are assimilating to white beauty standards. In reality, many Black women can grow long and healthy hair just fine, but the stigma persists. Read more
Sports
The Caitlin Clark Effect and the uncomfortable truth behind it. By Jim Trotter / The Athletic
It’s not surprising that corporations are lining up like fans along arena railings to get Caitlin Clark’s autograph.
That being said, we should not delude ourselves into believing her appeal as an influencer is based solely on basketball, because it’s not. Arguing otherwise is an affront to history and reality. Clark’s attractiveness to local companies and national corporations is heightened by the fact that she is a White woman who has dominated a sport that’s viewed as predominately Black; a straight woman who is joining a league with a sizable LGBTQ+ player population; and a person who comes from America’s heartland, where residents often feel their beliefs and values are ignored or disrespected by the geographical edges of the country. Read more
Reggie Bush finally gets back the Heisman Trophy he never should have lost. By Justin Tinsley / Andscape
Reinstatement is small step forward in debate over NIL and NCAA
Bush, who went on to become an NFL star and TV broadcaster, forfeited his award in 2010 after an NCAA investigation found that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars while in college. The NCAA hit USC with sanctions, including stripping the Trojans of the 2004 national championship and 14 wins that Bush played in. Bush giving back the Heisman, in hindsight, was a response to unjust and harsh treatment by the NCAA, which robbed him of well-deserved recognition that bookmarked one of the genuinely iconic college football portfolios. Read more
No HBCU players picked in 2024 NFL draft in second shutout in 4 years. By Chris Bumbaca / USA Today
For the second time in four years, no prospects from a Historically Black College or University heard his name during the NFL draft as the 2024 edition of the event wrapped up Saturday.
The shutout also happened in 2021, and the overall lack of HBCU draftees in recent years prompted the creation of initiatives such as the creation of the HBCU Legacy Bowl (2021) – sponsored by the Black College Hall of Fame – for draft-eligible prospects and the NFL-backed HBCU Combine (2022). Read more
Coming into her own at 20, Coco Gauff is blazing a new path. By The Grio
As Coco Gauff continues to compete in international tournaments, the tennis star looked back at her accomplishments as part of this year’s Time100.
This week, Coco Gauff dominated the Mutua Madrid Open as she moved on to the third round, beating the Netherlands’ Arantxa Rus 6-0 in both sets — the first “double bagel” of her career to date. After becoming the youngest person since Serena Williams’ 1999 win to score a Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open, Gauff was not only flagged as the next major tennis phenom but also caught the attention and hearts of social media users and celebs worldwide. However, as she recently told Time magazine, she is just getting started. Read more
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