The Weekend Edition of Race Inquiry Digest features the top stories from the two previous Digests published during the week. Click here for earlier Digests.
Editor’s Note: Ezra Klein’s August 1 podcast, “Behind Trump and Vance Is This Man’s Movement,” for The New York Times explores the National Conservative Movement led by Yoram Hazony, an Israeli theorist, whose book “The Virtue of Nationalism” gained influence among American conservatives. Read here for a summary of their conversation.
Hazony regularly hosts the NatCon conference, with speakers like JD Vance, both of whom argue that diversity and multiculturalism are weaknesses, advocating loyalty to family and tribe. Ethno-nationalism underpins the movement in America, intersecting with white supremacy and challenging liberal democracy.
National Conservatism is revealed not as a preservationist movement, but rather a revolutionary one, attempting to cultivate its particular brand of blood-and-soil nationalism.
The idea of “blood and soil” was introduced by the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s to justify the exclusion of Jews from society and the atrocities of the Holocaust.
Despite their rhetoric about identity purity, leaders such as Trump (descended from immigrants), Vance (whose children are multi-ethnic), and Hazony (an Israeli Holocaust descendant) exemplify complex backgrounds, exposing contradictions within their ideology. The movement’s nostalgic vision overlooks the diverse realities of modern society.
Political / Social
60 years later, Voting Rights Act protections for minority voters face new threats. By Hansi Lo Wang / NPR Read more
Texas Democrats Walk Out to Stop GOP’s New Congressional Map. By Brandon Tensley / Capital B Read more
Behind Trump and Vance Is This Man’s Movement. By Ezra Klein / NYT Podcast Read more or listen here. Read here for a summary of their conversation.
Black unemployment under Trump reaches its highest rate since the pandemic. Here’s what it could mean. By Gerren Keith Gaynor / The Grio Read more
Education
Under Pressure From Trump, the Accreditor Overseeing Harvard Proposes Nixing DEI Standards. By Eric Kelderman / The Chronicle of Higher Ed Read more
Elite New York High School Admits 8 Black Students in a Class of 781. Troy Closson / NYT Read more
Public schools are closing as Arizona’s school voucher program soars. By Laura Meckler / Wash Post Read more
World
The US is complicit in genocide. Let’s stop pretending otherwise. By Mehdi Hasan / The Guardian Read more
Trump’s tariffs are undermining the peaceful, prosperous world order. By Fareed Zakaria / Wash Post Read more
Rwanda Agrees to Accept 250 Migrants as Part of Trump Deportation Plan. By Eve Sampson / NYT Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
David Brooks on Moral Courage for a Soulless Age. The Russell Moore Show / Christianity Today Podcast Listen here
Aretha Franklin and the Apostle Paul agree: Sing! By Jason D. Thompson / RNS Read more
What the story of the Charleston church murders teaches. By Mark Silk / RNS Read more
Historical / Cultural
How Our History Became “Divisive.” By Stephen Kearse / Mother Jones Read more
1893: Racial Crisis and White Supremacy. By Philip Jenkins / Patheos Read more
Plans underway to put Robert E. Lee monument back on display. By Patrick Phillips / WCSC Read more
Sports
A former NBA star has a grand master plan to make chess cooler. By Ben Golliver / Wash Post Read more
Just one Black woman coaches a WNBA team. She shares ‘truth with love.’ By Jerry Brewer / Wash Post Read more
ESPN parts ways with Shannon Sharpe following settlement of rape lawsuit: Sources. By Andrew Marchand / The Athletic Read more
Victoria Mboko: The Canadian tennis talent who can’t stop winning arrives at her home event. By Matthew Futterman / The Athleltic Read more
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