Featured
Democrats are on the verge of repeating a historic blunder on voting rights. By John Blake / CNN
Related: Why You Can’t Out-Organize Voter Suppression. By Paul Blumenthal / HuffPost
Related: Biden needs to take to heart the lessons of Texas. By Beto O’Rourke / CNN
Political / Social
What’s Really Behind the 1619 Backlash? An Interview With Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates. By Ezra Klein / NYT Podcast
You’ve heard plenty by now about the fights over teaching critical race theory and the 1619 Project. But behind those skirmishes is something deeper: A fight over the story we tell about America. Why that fight has so gripped our national discourse is the question of this podcast: What changes when a country’s sense of its own history changes? What changes when who gets to tell that story changes? What are the stakes here, and why now?
My guests for this conversation need little introduction. Nikole Hannah-Jones is an investigative journalist for the New York Times Magazine where she led the 1619 Project, and, before that, did incredible work on racial inequality in the American education system. Ta-Nehisi Coates is the author of books including “Between the World and Me” and “The Water Dancer,” essays including “The Case for Reparations,” and, for Marvel Comics, “Captain America” and “Black Panther.” They have won more prestigious awards for their work than I could possibly list here, and both will be taking faculty positions at Howard University. Listen here
Narrowing the U.S. wealth gap is important. Narrowing the racial wealth gap is urgent. The Editorial Board / Wash Post
The Federal Housing Act. The Social Security Act. The G.I. Bill. To list these landmark 20th-century laws is to understand how important government support was to building a broad middle class, endowed with a modest but meaningful “piece of the rock,” in the United States. It is also to acknowledge that this historic effort mostly bypassed people of African descent — who were deliberately, if often implicitly, denied the benefits. Read more
Our Families Fought for Civil Rights. Don’t Let Jim Crow Stand. Myrlie Evers and
I’m Myrlie Evers. Right before he was murdered, my husband, Medgar Evers, told me, “Don’t ever give up on those things that you believe in.” Medgar and I had a transcendent connection, and these words have lifted my spirits throughout the decades-long fight for justice against Medgar’s assassin, my time at the N.A.A.C.P. and my run for Congress against a far-right extremist. Now, those words guide me whenever I see things Medgar fought and died for being erased by misguided politicians.
I’m Scott Wallace. Nothing inspires me more than the courage of my grandfather, Henry A. Wallace, campaigning for president in the Deep South on a platform to end Jim Crow in 1948, undaunted by death threats. In my career in law and philanthropy, I have been guided every day by his fearless commitment to robust and inclusive democracy, and to an activist role for government on behalf of ordinary Americans. Read more
Related: This isn’t only a fight about Black voters. By Keith Magee / CNN
Related: The Resurgence of Policy Protests. By Charles Blow / NYT
Jim Crow Republicans seek to repeat America’s dark history. By Chauncey Devega / Salon
A work of art can be extremely important, even groundbreaking, while also embodying — and seeking to legitimize — thoroughly reprehensible social and political values. “Birth of a Nation” is one such example. The film is a white supremacist fantasy, and fable about the aftermath of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Instead of depicting the truth about how Black people created during Reconstruction “a nation under their feet” by fighting for their freedom, participating in democracy — as elected officials, voters, and organizers — creating civil society organizations and developing government programs that uplifted both Black people and poor whites, “Birth of a Nation” shows Black freedom, multiracial democracy and equality across the color line as something grotesque. Read more
Related: ‘The Lost Cause’ Is Back. By Charles M. Blow / NYT
Instead of ‘Defund the Police,’ Solve All Murders. By Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic
After George Floyd’s murder, when sweeping criminal-justice reforms seemed more possible than ever, many Black Lives Matter activists and their allies settled on a rallying cry: “Defund the Police.” That choice was a disaster. The slogan—shorthand for cutting spending on law enforcement and redirecting it toward social services, or, for more radical proponents, moving toward eventual police abolition—is a political liability, largely due to justified fears that, if implemented, it would lead to many more murders, assaults, and other violent crimes, disproportionately harming victims in America’s most marginalized communities. Yet even as the Democratic Party abandons the slogan, the activist left still clings to it, as if oblivious to its opportunity cost: Namely, the public is open to any number of potential improvements to American policing, but no politically viable reform is getting anywhere near the attention of “defunding.” Read more
Biden Said He’d Cut Incarceration in Half. So Far, the Federal Prison Population Is Growing. By Samantha Michaels / Mother Jones
During his campaign, President Joe Biden pledged repeatedly to reduce the country’s prison population, which, because of racist policing and sentencing laws, is disproportionately composed of people of color. At one point, he said his administration could cut the number of incarcerated people by more than half, largely by investing in alternatives to prisons. Later he said he didn’t want to be bound by a percentage, but he reiterated that he hoped to drastically lower the number of people locked up. But six months into his term, those promises are ringing hollow. The number of people in federal prisons is growing. Read more
What Philadelphia Reveals About America’s Homicide Surge. By Alec MacGillis / Propublica
The nationwide homicide rate jumped 25% in 2020, taking it back to where it was in the late 1990s, wiping out two decades’ worth of progress. The nationwide rate is still below its highs in the early 1990s, but many cities, including Philadelphia, are near or past their all-time highs. And in many cities, including Philadelphia, this year is on track to be even worse than last year. Read more
Nina Turner defeated by Democratic establishment — her loss is the oligarchy’s gain. By Norman Solomon / Salon
The Democratic primary race for a vacant congressional seat in northeast Ohio was a fierce battle between status quo politics and calls for social transformation. In the end, when votes were counted Tuesday night, transactional business-as-usual had won by almost 6 percent. But the victory of a corporate Democrat over a progressive firebrand did nothing to resolve the wide and deep disparity of visions at the Democratic Party’s base nationwide. Read more
How Flint Closed the Gap Between Black and White Suffering Under COVID. By Edwin Rios / Mother Jones
From the start, Furr-Holden was central to Flint’s efforts to fight the coronavirus. In April 2020, the state created a task force targeting racial inequities in the pandemic, and a local group was formed soon after; Furr-Holden was a member of both. At that time, Black residents were dying of COVID-19 at a staggering rate of 90 per 100,000 people—making Black residents 73 times more likely to die than white residents from the virus. Shown is Dr. Debra Furr-Holden, an epidemiologist at Michigan State, sits on the state’s task force on COVID racial disparities. Read more
New Black female editors at newspapers shatter journalism’s glass ceiling. By Rodney Brooks / The Undefeated
It was big news when Reeve was promoted to executive editor of the Houston Chronicle and Katrice Hardy was named executive editor of the Dallas Morning News within a day of each other. For two Black women to be named to top editor positions at the two largest newspapers in Texas in the same week was both historic and groundbreaking. It’s the first time that either of the big-city metros has been led by an African American. A 2018 survey by the American Society of News Editors, the most recent data available, found only 7.19% of full-time newsroom employees were Black. Only about 20% of those Black employees were in leadership positions. Shown is Maria Douglas Reeve (left) who celebrates as she is named the executive editor of the Houston Chronicle on July 20. She became the first Black person named editor of the 120-year-old Houston daily newspape. Read more
Gretchen Whitmer Says Kamala Harris Is Unfairly Treated Because of Race and Gender. By Steve Friess / Newsweek
A one-time short-lister for vice president on the 2020 Democratic ticket, she’s especially sensitive to the intense, angry and personal attacks visited every day upon the actual person who became the first female veep, Kamala Harris. “This is the horrible, destructive climate we find ourselves in,” Whitmer tells Newsweek. “Certainly, the vice president is treated differently because of racial politics and gender politics—and it’s just not fair.” Read more
GOP to Herschel Walker: Consider staying on the bench. By Marianne Levine and Burgess Everett / Politico
Republicans loved seeing Herschel Walker score touchdown after touchdown. They doubt he can carry them to the Senate majority. Walker is a former NFL star and Donald Trump’s favorite to take on Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in the Georgia Senate race next fall. But as years-old allegations about Walker’s marriage and business dealings weigh on his potential bid, Senate Republicans are raising concerns about his past in a state widely viewed as their best pickup opportunity next year. Read more
Military data reveals dangerous reality for black service members and veterans. By Zachary Cohen / CNN
Top US military officials are seeking to reassure the nation’s roughly two million active duty and reserve personnel that they are committed to addressing issues of racial inequality across the branches following George Floyd’s death and protests across the country. But the challenges they face are huge. A CNN review of data provided by the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs reveals the stark reality that black service members are less likely to become officers and, as a result, are more likely to be seriously injured serving their country than their white colleagues. Read more
‘We Wish to Give You a Fresh Start’: Historically Black Colleges and Universities Cancel Millions In School Debt for Nation’s Students. By ABS Contributor / Atlanta Black Star
Countless students around the nation are breathing a sigh of relief — with many of them starting life post-college less burdened by debt. That’s thanks to news from the U.S. Department of Education, which announced in April that between the Cares Act and the American Rescue Plan, Historically Black Colleges and Universities would receive $5 billion from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund. Read more
Historical / Cultural
Allegiance, Birthright, and Race in America. By William Darity Jr. and Charles Ali Bey /AAIHS
In the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford case, the nation’s Supreme Court declared that “the negro,” could not be a member of the political community brought into existence by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Roger Taney distinguished between “people of the United States” and “citizens of the United States.” For Taney, persons of African descent, whether slave or free, were assigned peoplehood status, but excluded, altogether, from citizenship. Read more
George Washington Feared for America and Other Truths About the Founders We’ve Frozen in Time. By Jamelle Bouie / NYT
It is old hat to note that Americans have deified their “founding fathers” as saints — secular or otherwise. What is a little less obvious is how that deification has frozen them in time. We hail the Thomas Jefferson of 1776, not the one of 1806; the James Madison of 1787 rather than the one of 1827. We remember George Washington the triumphant military leader of 1783 more than George Washington the reluctant president of 1793. The extent to which the founders are frozen in time is most apparent in how they’re used for present-day political purposes. Truth of the matter aside, when speakers say, “This is what the founders intended,” they tend to mean, “This is what the founders intended at the Philadelphia Convention.” Read more
American Education Is Founded on White Race Theory. By Anthony Conwright / The New Republic
The conservative hysteria over critical race theory is ultimately a refusal to acknowledge that the country’s classrooms have always taught a white-centric view of U.S. history. Shown is a group of American schoolboys in the 1890s. Read more
LBJ’s daughter takes up her father’s cause: voting rights. By Nikole Killion / CBS News
President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law this weekend, 56 years ago. As the landmark legislation is again being debated, Johnson’s daughter is taking up the cause. Luci Baines Johnson was 18 when her father signed the act. “I stood behind my father on August 6, 1965, when he signed the Voting Rights Act into the law,” she said. Now, at 74, she’s still standing behind her dad. Read more
South Carolina must replace a Confederate statue in the U.S. Capitol with this total badass. SemDem for Community Contributors Team / DailyKos
The House passed legislation in June, on a vote of 285-120, to remove all Confederate statues from public display in the U.S. Capitol. Feeling it was long past time to remove statues that overtly supported slavery, segregation, and sedition, all Democrats supported the legislation. All “no” votes came exclusively from Republicans. South Carolina has the dubious honor of picking the worst of the bunch to represent them. One was such an ardent defender of slavery that the bill specifically mentions him by name for removal, and the other was a Confederate officer who led a violent, racist political faction to “restore white rule.” To me, it’s particularly galling that with all of the accomplishments and contributions of African Americans, there is not one statue representing them in the U.S. Capitol building. There seems to be plenty of statues honoring traitors to our nation, however. South Carolina could be the first state to have a statue honoring a true Civil War hero who happens to be Black. That person is Robert Smalls. Read more
The Revolution That Wasn’t: A Review of “By the Light of Burning Dreams.” By Michael Abramson / The New Republic
Did the actions of radicals transform the nation in any fundamental way? Or did they blaze too quickly across the landscape, drawing more than their share of media attention while provoking the anger of “Middle Americans” who responded by electing the likes of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to run the country? How should we balance the accomplishments of the New Left with its failure to build a sturdy rival to the cautious liberals and confident neoliberals who have dominated the past half-century of U.S. politics and governance? Read more
Rihanna officially a billionaire at 33 years old, according to Forbes. By Caitlin O’Kane / CBS News
Singer-turned-beauty and fashion mogul Rihanna is officially a billionaire, Forbes announced on Wednesday. Her net worth is now an estimated $1.7 billion — about four years after launching her successful beauty line, Fenty Beauty, making her the richest female musician in the world. Read more
What the Harlem Cultural Festival Represented. By David Hajdu / The Nation
The Harlem Cultural Festival—a brainchild of the singer and entrepreneur Tony Lawrence, who organized and hosted every show with evangelical flair—was not merely stilled; it was killed. After three years of progressively ambitious events in Harlem, growing from block parties to a star-packed extravaganza that drew some 300,000 people to the festival’s site at Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) in 1969, the Harlem-based celebration of Black music and performance moved to a new location five miles south of Harlem… and died there. Read more
New film revisits mysterious death of Black high school athlete in rural Georgia. By Curtis Bunn / NBC News
The mysterious death of a Black high school wrestler in 2013 is the subject of “Finding Kendrick Johnson” — a new documentary out Friday — and the boy’s family is hoping its release could lead to people with information coming forward. The body of Kendrick Johnson, 17, was found wrapped in a wrestling mat in the Lowndes High School gym in Valdosta, Georgia. His death was ruled an accidental asphyxiation by state and local law officials, including the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, who said the teen inadvertently caused his own demise by diving into a rolled-up mat to retrieve his sneakers. Read more
Jungle Cruise: Disney’s movie confronts the racist legacy of Trader Sam. By Joseph Spiegel / Slate
With the release of Disney’s latest theme-park-inspired blockbuster, Jungle Cruise, the spotlight has fallen on the Jungle Cruise itself, and especially the character of Trader Sam, the cheery cannibal who offers shrunken heads to the ride’s jungle visitors. The character vanished from the Jungle Cruise attraction in April, but he appears in the movie in a transfigured capacity, one that speaks volumes about Disney’s delicate balancing of outward progressivism and backwards-looking nostalgia, and the times when it’s simply not possible to reconcile the two. Read more
Exploring astrology and the zodiac in Black music. By Denise Oliver Velez / Daily Kos
Watching The 5th Dimension perform their rousing and soulful rendition of “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” in Questlove’s Summer of Soul documentary, which I wrote about in July, got me thinking about astrological symbolism in Black music. Whether or not someone seriously believes in astrology, the average person can probably tell you their sun sign if asked. Though viewed by most social scientists as a pseudoscience—though from an anthropological perspective it is a key element in many global cultures—references to astrology, the zodiac, planetary configurations, and cosmology have worked their way into all the Black music genres we celebrate here on #BlackMusicSunday each week. Read more
Sports
Olympics Live Updates: Allyson Felix Wins 11th Olympic Medal as U.S. Takes Gold in 4×400 Relay. By NYT
Allyson Felix has won her 11th Olympic medal, making her the most decorated American Olympian in track and field, surpassing the 10 medals won by Carl Lewis. A stacked team of Sydney McLaughlin, Felix, Dalilah Muhammad and Athing Mu won the gold medal on Saturday night in the 4×400-meter relay, continuing an American winning streak in the event that has been unbroken since 1996. Read more
Related: Behind Durant, U.S. Men’s Basketball Finds Path to Olympic Gold. By Andrew Keh / NYT
As 400-meter hurdles grab the Olympic spotlight in Tokyo, don’t forget Edwin Moses. By Jesse Washington / The Undefeated
The Morehouse graduate remains one of the biggest legends of track and field.The 400-meter hurdles event is having a moment at the Tokyo Olympics, with star power in both the women’s and men’s competitions. But they all are chasing the legacy of one of the most dominant athletes ever to lace up spikes: Edwin Moses, who didn’t lose a race for almost a decade. From August 1977 to June 1987, Moses won 122 races, captured two Olympic gold medals, lowered the world record four times and elevated the profile of track and field with his streak of invincibility. A Morehouse graduate with a degree in physics, he also helped modernize rules for drug testing and financial support of athletes. Read more
Bill Nunn’s Scouting Opened an N.F.L. Pipeline. By Ken Belson / NYT
Nunn, who died in 2014 at 89, became the first Black scout and front office executive in the N.F.L. when the Pittsburgh Steelers hired him in 1967 to help recruit players from historically Black colleges and universities. Having covered these schools for years as a sportswriter, Nunn helped turn a moribund Steelers franchise into a dynasty in the 1970s, when they won four Super Bowls, and ushered in an era during which players from H.B.C.U.s dominated the N.F.L. draft. Read more
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