Featured
Why an Unremarkable Racist Enjoyed the Backing of Billionaires. By Jamelle Bouie / NYT – Image The Racket
A whole coterie of Silicon Valley billionaires and millionaires have lent their time and attention to Richard Hanania, as well as elevated his work.
Marc Andreessen, a powerful venture capitalist, appeared on his podcast. David Sacks, a close associate of Elon Musk, wrote a glowing endorsement of Hanania’s forthcoming book. So did Peter Thiel, the billionaire supporter of right-wing causes and organizations. “D.E.I. will never d-i-e from words alone,” wrote Thiel. “Hanania shows we need the sticks and stones of government violence to exorcise the diversity demon.” Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican presidential candidate, also praised the book as a “devastating kill shot to the intellectual foundations of identity politics in America.”
The question to ask here — the question that matters — is why an otherwise obscure racist has the ear and support of some of the most powerful people in Silicon Valley? What purpose, to a billionaire venture capitalist, do Hanania’s ideas serve? Read more
Related: Richard Hanania’s Fringe Views Have Found a Wide Audience. By Zak Cheney-Rice / New York Magazine
Political / Social
“Staggering levels of grift”: Experts say Clarence Thomas trips expose SCOTUS corruption “crisis.” By Tatyana Tandanpolie / Salon
“In my career I don’t remember ever seeing this degree of largesse given to anybody,” ex-federal judge says
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ acceptance of copious amounts of extravagant gifts and failure to disclose any of it, as reported by ProPublica Thursday, drew condemnation from legal experts and political pundits, further fueling the widespread distrust of the high court in the public eye, demands for the imposition of an ethics code on the court and calls for his removal from the bench. Read more
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspends another Democratic state attorney. By Lori Rozsa and Tim Craig / Wash Post
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) suspended the Orlando-area state attorney Wednesday, saying she was “clearly and fundamentally derelict” in her duty.
DeSantis removed Monique Worrell, a Democrat, from her job as the chief prosecutor for Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit Court at a brief news conference in Tallahassee. It’s the second time in a year that the governor, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, suspended an elected Democrat from office. Read more
Retired Black professor, 79, part of group that created Florida’s new curriculum. By The Grio Staff
Conservative William Barclay Allen slammed Vice President Kamala Harris for “following a script in the name of an ideological agenda” after she denounced the new directives.
William Barclay Allen, 79, has taken on the role of having the public face of the state’s initiatives to reform the way educators teach Black history. According to The Washington Post, the controversial guidelines, supported by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, also include discussions of how mob violence against Black people included “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.” Read more
Related: The man behind Florida’s new Black history standards. By Lori Rozsa / Wash Post
How Black People Won the Battle of Montgomery. By Elie Mystal / The Nation
The lesson of the events at the Montgomery Riverwalk is that when Black people see something, we do something. Aaron Rudolph, a 16-year-old deckhand on the Harriet II, swims to Damien Pickett’s rescue as a pack of white boaters kick and pummel him. (Screenshot/Storyful News and Weather)
White privilege met Black pride down by the Alabama River, and on this particular occasion, white privilege got its ass whupped. As seen all over social media, a melée broke out on the riverwalk in Montgomery over the weekend, after a group of white men and women attacked the Black first mate of a popular riverboat; he had been asking them to move their pontoon boat so the riverboat could dock. At least four of six white boaters delivered a number of punches to the first mate, before a more numerous group of Black people came to the his defense. Read more
Related: Montgomery riverfront brawl reflects racial tension, divide in America. By Dustin Jones / NPR
First Conservatives Came for Affirmative Action. Now They’re Gunning for DEI Programs. By Sheryll Cashin / Politico
Republicans could address changing demographics thoughtfully — instead they’re doubling down on the played-out culture war.
As with the Dobbs ruling a year ago — which set off a cascade of legislation restricting women’s access to abortion — conservatives are now wielding the Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action in higher education to advance another cultural goal: ending Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs. Read more
Alabama tries to disregard the Voting Right Act — and the courts. By the Editorial Board / Wash Post
A panel of three federal judges in Alabama will consider on Monday the state legislature’s latest attempt to draw a congressional district map. It should reject this one, too.
Jim Crow-era lifetime ban on felons voting is unconstitutional, court rules. By Shera Avi-Yonah / Wash Post
Mississippi’s lifetime ban on certain felons voting constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and violates the Eighth Amendment, a federal appeals court ruled Friday, potentially paving the way for tens of thousands to regain their voting rights.
A panel of 5th Circuit judges ruled 2-1 in favor of the plaintiffs, writing that the section at issue in Mississippi’s state constitution “ensures that they will never be fully rehabilitated, continues to punish them beyond the term their culpability requires, and serves no protective function to society.” Read more
Black Atlanta venture capital firm hits back at conservative group’s suit. By Mirtha Donastorg / AJC
The VC firm founded by Black women was sued by a group alleging one of its programs is racially discriminatory
Fearless Fund, the venture capital firm started by Black women to invest in women of color that a conservative group sued alleging racial discrimination, announced their legal team Thursday and hit back at the court challenge. The lawsuit was filed earlier this month by a nonprofit affiliated with a conservative activist, Edward Blum, at the center of litigation that led in June to the U.S. Supreme Court striking down affirmative action in college admissions. The latest lawsuit has been seen as a potential vehicle to attack affirmative action programs in business. Read more
Related: Here’s what the Fearless Fund lawsuit could mean for venture. By Dominic-Madori Davis / TechCrunch
Ethics / Morality / Religion
Christian nationalism’s opponents are getting organized. By Jack Jenkins / RNS
Poor People’s Campaign co-chair the Rev. Liz Theoharis speaks during the announcement of a new resolution titled “Third Reconstruction: Fully Addressing Poverty and Low Wages From the Bottom Up,” May 20, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. RNS photo by Jack Jenkins
Faith groups are teaming up with liberal secular organizations to combat the ideology, which they say is a threat to democracy — and, for many, their religion. Read more
Despite Trump’s Indictments, Evangelicals Continue to Back His 2024 Run. By Jonny Williams / CT
Many evangelicals have stuck with the former president through his legal troubles, moral failings, and public indiscretions.
On the eve of former president Donald Trump’s indictment on charges that he attempted to overturn the presidential election of 2020, Franklin Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, appeared on Greta Van Susteren’s show on Newsmax to share his take. “It’s a sad day for America,” Graham said. Read more
Related: Losing Our Religion review: Trump and the crisis of US Christianity. By Lloyd Green / The Guardian
Compassionate Christian authoritarianism: The leftist utopia the right thinks will save the church. By John Skiles Skinner / Salon
Trump supporters pray as they await the arrival of President Donald Trump at Latrobe Airport on September 3, 2020 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
Last week, The Atlantic published a plan to reverse Christianity’s decline in popularity. But there is a problem with what Christian author Jake Meador proposes: is that it is the same old conservative Christian patriarchy that caused the decline — only in disguise. Meador starts by observing: “Nearly everyone I grew up with in my childhood church in Lincoln, Nebraska, is no longer Christian.” Read more
Historical / Cultural
Documentary traces history of policing the Black community – from slavery through present day. By Stanley Nelson, Valerie Scoon and Allie Weintraub / ABC News
“Sound of the Police” begins streaming Aug. 11 on Hulu. A police officer mounted on horseback is shown in Northern U.S. city, circa 1900-1910. Library of Congress
Amir Locke, 22, was shot and killed by Minneapolis police officers as they executed a “no-knock” warrant – the controversial practice that allows officers to enter a private home without knocking or making their presence known. In “Sound of the Police,” a new Hulu original documentary produced by Firelight Films for ABC News Studios, Locke’s death is framed as just one example that illustrates the fraught relationship between police and the African American community. The film traces the country’s complex racial history that set the path for policing in Black communities – from the formation of slave patrols in the early 1700s, to the advent of Jim Crow, to the uprisings against police brutality in the latter half of the 20th century and recent acts of police violence against African Americans that has garnered widespread media attention. Read more
Latino Republicans voting to defund a national Latino museum feels like betrayal. By Julio Ricardo Varela / MSNBC
A Latino museum that gets things right is going to have exhibits that conservatives don’t like. The Latino Museum will open the gallery at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, offering exhibitions and programs over the course of 10 years, a preview to the opening of the actual building. But the abrupt cut in funding makes it difficult to meet the deadline for choosing a site for the museum. Tony Powell / Smithsonian
Latino Republicans who should be eager to get to the opening of the National Museum of the American Latino chose a DeSantis-style “anti-woke” strategy that has only served to put that museum’s construction in peril. Read more
Hip-hop was born 50 years ago. Nelson George discusses its evolution and legacy. By Amna Nawaz , Anne Azzi Davenport , Karina Cuevas and Courtney Norris / PBS
Hip-hop is celebrating its 50th birthday. It started with a back-to-school party on August 11, 1973, in The Bronx.
Clive Campbell, known as DJ Kool Herc, improvised and played snippets in a loop on two turntables to keep the music and dancing going. Amna Nawaz discussed hip-hop’s evolution with Nelson George, author of “Hip-Hop America,” for our arts and culture series, CANVAS. Read and listen here
Related: What is hip-hop? Your burning questions ahead of the 50th anniversary. By Morgan Hines / USA Today
Related: The Healing Power Of Cocky Black Women In Hip-Hop. By Taryn Finley / HuffPost
Why are Black rappers aligning themselves with the right? By Tayo Bero / The Guardian
Ice Cube has joined a long list of rappers who have cuddled up with conservative pundits and politicians
Scrolling through Twitter a couple of weeks ago, I came across a clip of rightwing commentator Tucker Carlson interviewing a face I never thought I’d see on his platform: Ice Cube. As in Fuck Tha Police Ice Cube. “What planet am I on right now?” I found myself thinking. Read more
A dancer’s killing — over voguing — highlights the dangers Black LGBTQ Americans face. By Rachel Treisman / NPR
Friends, family members and activists are mourning the death of O’Shae Sibley, a Black gay man who was stabbed late last month while dancing with friends at a New York City gas station.
The 28-year-old professional dancer and choreographer was killed while voguing to Beyoncé’s music as his friends filled up their car on the way home from the Jersey Shore on July 29. Officials say a group of men approached and demanded they stop dancing, using “derogatory names,” “homophobic slurs” and “anti-Black statements.” As the confrontation escalated, one of them fatally stabbed Sibley in the rib cage. Read more
Sports
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Is Feuding with The NBA. By Jessica Washington / The Root
The Florida Governor took aim at the NBA after the players union denounced the Orlando Magic’s donation to his campaign.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took time away from his busy scheduling of extolling the virtues of slavery and gerrymandering the state into oblivion to feud with the NBA. “It appears the NBA took a break from protesting our anthem and bending the knee to Communist China to chirp about my policies,” wrote DeSantis on X (formerly known as Twitter). Read more
Dwyane Wade Was Destined for the Hall of Fame — and Politics? By Sopan Deb / NYT
Wade, the former Miami Heat guard, will cap his basketball career with a Hall of Fame induction this weekend. Some are hoping his next phase is as a political star.
Since retiring in 2019, Wade has acquired an ownership stake in the Utah Jazz and the W.N.B.A. team in his hometown Chicago, the Sky. In the spring, Wade revealed that he had moved his family out of Florida to California because of state laws that negatively affect the L.G.B.T.Q. community. Wade’s teenage daughter, Zaya, is transgender, and Wade has been outspoken on her behalf. Wade recently spoke to The New York Times about his basketball career and potentially running for political office. Read more
Related: Basketball Hall of Fame: Dwyane Wade renaissance man in post-NBA life. By Jeff Zillgitt / USA Today
Titans’ Terrell Williams will be head coach for preseason game vs. Bears. By Jonathan Franklin / NPR
Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel says the team’s defensive line coach and assistant head coach Terrell Williams will serve as head coach for the first NFL preseason game of 2023 against the Chicago Bears — making Williams the fourth Black head coach in the league.
During a press conference Monday, Vrabel told reporters he’s stepping aside for the Titans pre-season game Saturday to let Williams serve as the head coach, emphasizing that it’s a great opportunity for both Williams and the franchise. “I think this is a great opportunity for him and for us and for everybody involved. Big T [Williams] will handle that and Clint [McMillan, Titans’ defensive assistant] will handle the defensive line,” Vrabel said. Read more
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