Featured
‘I Have a Dream,’ Yesterday and Today. By Darren Sands / NYT
Sixty years after the March on Washington and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech galvanized supporters of the Civil Rights Movement with an anthemic call to action, several thousand people gathered on the National Mall on Saturday to remind the nation of its unfinished work on equality.
Hovering above all the proceedings, though, were the words delivered by Dr. King six decades ago in front of the Lincoln Memorial, when he took the measure of society a century after slavery was abolished and lamented how Black Americans were “still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” Several attendees who were interviewed — some of them commented on specific excerpts, while others expressed thoughts on Dr. King’s words in general — reflected on the echoes, and the nation, from today’s perspective. Read more
Political / Social
3 Dead in Racially Motivated Shooting at Florida Store, Officials Say. Orlando Mayorquin and
The shooting occurred at a Dollar General store near Edward Waters University in Jacksonville. The gunman also died, officials said.
A white gunman wearing a tactical vest barged into a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Fla., on Saturday and fatally shot three Black people in an attack that the authorities said they were investigating as a hate crime. The gunman, who has not been publicly identified and was described as being in his early 20s, died after shooting himself, Sheriff T.K. Waters of Jacksonville said at a news conference on Saturday evening. “This shooting was racially motivated, and he hated Black people,” Sheriff Waters said. Read more
Are We Going to Let Prisoner P01135809 Destroy Our 250-Year-Old Democracy? By Michael Tomasky / TNR
It’s frightening to imagine what Donald Trump might do next.
It’s not just unprecedented that we now have an ex-president with a mug shot. It’s insanely, amazingly, staggeringly, chillingly unprecedented. It makes me think about the past—about how we got to this insane, amazing, staggering, chilling point. And it makes me think about the future—about what grim precedent Trump will drag us into next. Read more
Related: Lawrence O’Donnell Has Bold Prediction About Trump’s ‘Greatest Humiliation.’ By Ed Mazza / HuffPost
You Can’t Talk About Trump’s Georgia Case Without Talking About Racism. By Janell Ross / Time
“They say there’s a young woman, a young racist in Atlanta, so racist,” Trump, 77, said in his characteristically elliptical way, with a bit of repetition for emphasis, referring to the 52-year-old prosecutor.
“I guess they say that she was after a certain gang and she ended up having an affair with the head of the gang or a gang member. And this is a person that wants to indict me.” He offered no evidence for his salacious allegation. The Trump way of doing politics has always included a combination of baseless allegations, ad hominem attacks, group-based suspicion, and racial fearmongering. Read more
Democracy’ was on the wall at the GOP debate. It was never in the conversation. By Dan Balz / Wash Post
The word “DEMOCRACY” was emblazoned in all-capital letters on the back wall of the stage at the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee on Wednesday, a seeming reminder of what is at stake in the 2024 election. Yet during two hours of bickering and disagreement among the eight participating candidates, the topic was never seriously addressed.
Perhaps it is no surprise that the party led by Trump and those allied with it are uneasy about discussing the issue. Neither the debate host, Fox News (which paid $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems after perpetuating lies about irregularities in the 2020 vote) nor most of the candidates on the stage, who are loath to offend Trump loyalists, had any appetite to dig into what had happened in 2020 and what it may mean for the future of the country. Read more
Will Hurd Is the Never Trump Movement’s Last, Best Hope. By Grace Segers / TNR
The former congressman is on a quixotic mission to save the Republican Party from itself.
Five years ago, Will Hurd was widely considered to be the future of the Republican Party. It made sense: Then the lone Black Republican in the House, Hurd was a youthful former CIA officer elected to a massive swing district with a majority-Hispanic population on Texas’s southern border. He was a frequent Trump critic who reached across the aisle. A 2017 Politicoarticle on Hurd called him a “bonafide superstar” among the Washington commentariat. When the GOP’s Trump-induced fever broke, Hurd would be there, ready to restore the party. Read more
‘I can’t get into people’s heads’: Kamala Harris tries to reshape her public image ahead of 2024. By Eugene Daniels / Politico
In a POLITICO interview, the vice president addressed how she views the growing scrutiny she’s under as Republicans use her as a “bogeyman” in 2024.
Backstage, as she prepares for a not-so-intimate “fireside chat” about gun safety in front of hundreds of people, Kamala Harris is unscripted and seemingly at ease, no notes or teleprompter in sight. She’s comfortable offering condolences and counsel to those who’ve lost loved ones to gun violence — who stream in wearing red shirts emblazoned with “Moms Demand Action” or “Students Demand Action.” She holds their hands and looks into their eyes. “We speak their names,” she whispers to one woman. She gently reassures a man clearly anxious about where to stand in the photo line. All eyes are on her. But that’s been true of Harris for a while now. And the view has not often been kind. Read more
What Affirmative Action Taught Me. By Errol Lewis / New York Magazine
See the list of African Americans who were recruited to Harvard in the 70s who went on to great fame, fortune and public service
Further, It should be a matter of embarrassment, if not outright shame, that half of all Black doctors and lawyers — as well as 40 percent of engineers and 80 percent of Black judges — graduate from historically Black colleges and universities (the stats were cited, approvingly, in Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurrence). The Court’s conservative majority never explain how thinning the already sparse number of Black students from attending elite colleges and universities will make the country freer, more fair, or better led. It seems that never mattered to them at all. Read more
Florida principal and teacher are placed on leave after Black students are singled out at an assembly. By Raja Razek amd Amy Simonson / CNN
The principal and a teacher at a Flagler County, Florida, elementary school are on paid administrative leave after an assembly was held only for fourth and fifth-grade Black students, who were collectively told to improve their school performance, according to the school district – regardless of how each student was doing individually.
During the assembly, a 2023-2024 school year Goals and Objectives PowerPoint presentation was used that read in part, “AA have underperform (sic) on standardized assessment for the last past 3 years,” Flagler County School Board chair Cheryl Massaro told CNN in an email. “AA is African American, and that is one subgroup the FDOE requires annual reporting on from all Florida schools. The power point, created by one of the presenters shows the data results,” Massaro said in the email. Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
Harvard Divinity School selects first Black woman as dean. By Yonat Shimron / RNS
A cultural anthropologist of the Black religious experience has been named dean of the Harvard Divinity School beginning Jan. 1.
Marla Frederick, a professor of religion and culture at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, will succeed David Hempton, who has served as dean of the divinity school since 2012. Frederick will become the first woman and the first Black woman to lead the school in its 207-year history. (Preston N. Williams, acting dean from 1974-75, was the first African American to lead the school.) Read more
Why Americans Are So Awful to One Another. By David Brooks / The Atlantic
In a culture devoid of moral education, generations are growing up in a morally inarticulate, self-referential world.
Over the past eight years or so, I’ve been obsessed with two questions. The first is: Why have Americans become so sad? The rising rates of depression have been well publicized, as have the rising deaths of despair from drugs, alcohol, and suicide. My second, related question is: Why have Americans become so mean? I was recently talking with a restaurant owner who said that he has to eject a customer from his restaurant for rude or cruel behavior once a week—something that never used to happen. Read more
Esau McCaulley remembers his past, dreams of the Promised Land in new book. By Bob Smietana / RNS
In a vulnerable and inspiring new book due out in September, the New Testament scholar and writer recounts the story of his father’s fall from grace and his long journey home.
As a teenager in Huntsville, Alabama, he was sitting at home watching television when a drive-by shooter opened fire on his family’s house. One of the bullets passed a few inches from his head. Had he moved a muscle, his life might have been over. In his new book “How Far to the Promised Land,” due out in early September, McCaulley imagines what the headlines in the newspapers might have said if he had died that day: “Black Youth Killed in Drive-by Shooting: Crime Out of Control in Northwest Huntsville.” He would have just been another nameless Black victim of gun violence. Read more
White Evangelicals Aren’t Sure About Ramaswamy. But for Indian American Christians, He’s a No-Go. By Surinder Kaur / Christianity Today
The former like the young billionaire’s conservative politics. The latter worry about his connections to radical Hinduism.
At 38 years old, Vivek Ramaswamy stands out among his fellow Republican presidential candidates for his age alone. The self-made billionaire has further set himself apart by saying he would ban social media for children, proposing to raise the voting age to 25, and espousing controversial views on 9/11. But when running in a party with a strong evangelical Christian wing, perhaps his most unique characteristic is his Hindu faith, which Ramaswamy has proudly discussed. Read more
Historical / Cultural
‘A Fever in the Heartland’ links Klan history to MAGA movement. By Timothy Kelly / NCR
The Ku Klux Klan parades through the streets of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Sept. 21, 1923. (AP)
As the right-wing movements of intolerance gain greater and greater hold over the levers of American political and judicial power today, historians have begun to examine their roots in earlier periods of American history. Timothy Egan’s A Fever in the Heartland draws powerful and uncomfortable parallels between the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s and the rise of the MAGA movement in the past decade. Read more
The 1963 March on Washington Changed America. Its Roots Were in Harlem. By John Leland / NYT
Before Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech to 250,000 people, a group of civil rights activists spent a summer planning an event many didn’t want to happen.
Sixty years ago, in the summer of 1963, a four-story townhouse on West 130th Street in Harlem became the headquarters for what was then the largest civil rights event in American history, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. For one summer the house, a former home for “delinquent colored girls,” was a hive of activity — so frenetic that the receptionist twice hung up on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by mistake. Read more
Savannah picks emancipated Black woman to replace name of slavery advocate on historic square. By AP and Andscape
Georgia’s oldest city, steeped in history predating the American Revolution, made a historic break with its slavery-era past Thursday as Savannah’s city council voted to rename a downtown square in honor of a Black woman who taught formerly enslaved people to read and write.
Susie King Taylor is the first person of color whose name will adorn one of Savannah’s 23 squares. It’s the first time in 140 years that Savannah has approved a name change for one of the picturesque, park-like squares that are treasured features of the original plan for the city founded in 1733. Read more
Betty Tyson, Who Was Wrongfully Imprisoned for Murder, Dies at 75. By Sam Roberts / NYT
Betty Tyson, center, celebrating her release from prison in 1998 after 25 years. She was New York’s longest-serving female inmate when her conviction was overturned in 1998. She left prison 25 years to the day after her arrest.
Betty Tyson, who spent half her life in prison for the brutal murder of a businessman in a gloomy alleyway in Rochester, N.Y., before a judge ruled that she had been wrongfully convicted, died on Thursday in Rochester. She was 75. Read more
The Enduring Meaning Behind Marvin Gaye’s Signature Hit “What’s Going On?.” By Melody Russell / American Song Writer
In the heart of 1971, the airwaves were graced by the profound melodies of what many regard as Marvin Gaye’s crowning achievement. Remarkably crafted in just 10 days, “What’s Going On” wasn’t just another song on the charts.
Upon its release, it soared, capturing the top spots on both the R&B and pop charts and ensuring the album became a commercial titan, selling over two million copies and steadfastly gracing the charts for over a year. This work stands as the best-selling album of Gaye’s illustrious career. Beyond its commercial success, the song carries a profound meaning, delving into Gaye’s fervent social and environmental apprehensions. Read more
Asian characters with speaking roles in Hollywood jumped dramatically over the last 15 years. By
Asian American representation in Hollywood increased significantly over the last 15 years, a new study by the University of Southern California shows. At the same time, progress has been stagnant for other underrepresented groups on screen. The study, which analyzed 1,600 top box office films and 69,858 characters portrayed on films from 2007 to 2022, found that the percentage of Asian characters with speaking roles leaped from around 3% to nearly 16%. The number of white characters with speaking roles decreased, and all other underrepresented groups’ numbers remained unchanged. Read more
Sports
Basketball Hall of Fame a place of consensus and common purpose. By William C. Rhoden / Andscape
From left to right: Former NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway and former Miami Heat players Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh attend the 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony on Aug. 12 at Symphony Hall in Springfield, Massachusetts. David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images
The phenomena of sports is that the games often offer a consensus among strangers, especially at stadiums and arenas. These stadiums and arenas become places where, for three hours, fans put political differences aside to gather and cheer for the home team. There is consensus. On Saturday night, there was consensus about the newest Hall of Fame team: Nowitzki belonged. Parker belonged. Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon belonged. Gasol, Wade and Popovich belonged. Read more
Chris Eubanks: ‘We haven’t had the luxury of a Black male like Serena who just dominated.’ By Kristen Doerer / The Guardian
As he entered the spring hardcourt season this year, he figured out that he needed to have fun on the court; if he treated it like a job, the results wouldn’t flow. He reached the quarterfinals of the Miami Open. He was smiling on court, laughing at both his mistakes and unbelievable winners. He stopped looking deep into the draw, and by the time of his second round win at Wimbledon, he had to be told his next opponent. “One match at a time” became his mantra.
“I would have loved to have had this type of success earlier in my career, but I don’t think I would have appreciated it nearly as much. The wait makes it a little bit sweeter,” he says. “I think it just reinforces the fact that if you have a process or a progression and you trust it, you just have faith that it’s going to happen. Just trust that it’s going to happen in its own time. And I just feel like I’m maybe more of a product of that than anything else.” Read more
Clervie Ngounoue, tennis’s second-ranked junior, is ready to level up. By Ava Wallace / Wash Post
Washington native Clervie Ngounoue earned a wild-card entry into her first major tournament main draw by winning the USTA 18-and-under national championship this month. (U.S. Tennis Association) (United States Tennis Association)
When Clervie Ngounoue heard her family and friends cheering from the stands, she did not stop to absorb the significance of the moment. She was trying to win a tennis match in blistering, late-July heat in her native Washington, not bask in unearned glory. Besides, Ngounoue had only recently turned 17. Teenagers aren’t always inclined toward retrospection. Yet the match was one worth celebrating, and tears eventually did flow after she upset then-world No. 37 Anna Blinkova, 6-3, 6-2, in the first round of the qualifying draw at the DC Open. Read more
Caleb Williams is ready for his encore. By Michael Lee / Wash Post
The expectations couldn’t be higher for college football’s reigning Heisman winner. He swears he likes it that way.
Williams is the first Heisman winner to have his entire career play out in the name, image and likeness era of collegiate sports, with players allowed to profit off their personal brands. He signed his first NIL deal, with Beats by Dre, as a true freshman, before he replaced Spencer Rattler as the starting quarterback at Oklahoma. He has continued to build a seven-figure portfolio since, with brands, including AC+ION Water, Neutrogena and PlayStation, that align with both his image and his interests. His pinned post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, is a Jay-Z lyric: “I’m Not A Businessman. I’m A Business, Man.” Read more
Giannis Antetokounmpo Wants It All. Even if It’s Not in Milwaukee. By Tania Ganguli / NYT
The N.B.A. superstar has grand ambitions, as a businessman and basketball player. “I don’t want to be 20 years on the same team and don’t win another championship,” he said.
As Giannis ascended to N.B.A. superstardom — he’s won the Most Valuable Player Award twice and is the best player on a championship team — he strove to bring his family along for his journey. Three of his four brothers have played professionally in the United States. But over the past three years, he has brought them along for what he hopes can be a more lasting endeavor: taking ownership of their money and his future. A few months ago, Antetokounmpo launched Ante, Inc. to house the brothers’ projects and investments. It’s about Giannis’s life beyond basketball, though basketball still matters to him — a lot. In a few weeks, he will be eligible for a three-year extension worth about $173 million, but he doesn’t plan to sign one just yet. Read more
Bronny James’ cardiac arrest caused by congenital heart defect, expected to ‘return to basketball in very near future.’ By Shams Charania and The Athletic Staff / The Athletic
Bronny James’ cardiac arrest on July 24 was caused by a congenital heart defect, a James family spokesperson said in a statement Friday. There is confidence he will make a full recovery.
“After a comprehensive initial evaluation at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center led by Dr. Merije Chukumerije and follow-up evaluations at the Mayo Clinic led by Dr. Michael J. Ackerman and Atlantic Health/Morristown Medical Center led by Dr. Matthew W. Martinez, the probable cause of Mr. James’ sudden cardiac arrest has been identified,” the statement read. “It is an anatomically and functionally significant congenital heart defect which can and will be treated. Read more
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