Featured

Man on a mission: NFL great Alan Page’s quest for justice in football and beyond. By Dan Pompei / The Athletic

A few times each month, Alan Page visits Justice Page Middle School, one of two schools named in his honor.

As the first African American to become a Minnesota Supreme Court justice and the first African American elected to a statewide office, Page goes to inspire students. In their upturned faces and wide eyes, he sees opportunity. He is there to show them possibilities that might have never occurred to them and to encourage hopes and dreams. At Page’s induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988, he didn’t talk about football. He spoke of education and explained his commitment to improving the educational system.

In 2018, Page was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Trump. Page thought about turning down the award, considered the highest honor that can be given to a civilian. Page had been publicly critical of the Trump administration for “playing to people’s racial insecurities” by failing to reject the support of white supremacy groups and using racially coded language. Ultimately, though, he saw the honor as recognition for the impact he and Diane tried to make, so he accepted the medal in a ceremony that also honored Elvis Presley, Babe Ruth and Antonin Scalia. Read more

Political / Social

Biden vs. Trump Polls: Race Is Dead Heat, Despite Dem Panic. By Ed Kilgore / New York Intelligencer

In head-to-head national matchups with Donald Trump, the RealClearPolitics polling average shows the Republican leading Biden by 1.9 percent (46.1 percent to 44.2 percent). Image by The Hill

Trump’s lead is actually down from 4.3 percent on January 26. The limited number of polls testing the two men in battleground states also show a close and stable contest, though Trump holds the advantage in most of them (according to the RCP averages, Trump is up modestly in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and North Carolina, while the two are basically tied in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin). Read more

It’s Not as Easy as Just Getting Biden to Drop Out. By Jamelle Bouie / NYT

In a recent episode of his podcast, my colleague Ezra Klein made the strongest case yet for replacing President Biden on the ticket with a new Democratic nominee. After listening to it, I disagreed with a few key points, and after discussing our differences, Ezra and I agreed that it would make sense to take this to the page, as it were.

He went on to add that while one of the most infamous contested conventions ended in disaster — the 1968 Democratic convention, which was also held in Chicago — conventions have picked some of our greatest presidents, including Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. I should say that I am a strong skeptic of the idea that there is a viable path to replacing Biden as the nominee as long as he is capable and competent. Read more

Trump suggests his mug shot and indictments appeal to Black voters. By Kate Sullivan / CNN

Former President Donald Trump suggested Friday that his criminal indictments and mug shot appeal to Black voters and claimed that “what’s happening to (him) happens to them.”

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Trump’s last remaining major rival for the GOP nomination, told reporters Saturday that she found the former president’s remarks “disgusting.” Read more

Nikki Haley says ‘I have a duty’ to stay in race despite latest loss to Trump. By John E. Greve / The Guardian

Republican hopeful frames candidacy as moral imperative but defeat in home state of South Carolina raises critical questions

Nikki Haley will travel to Michigan on Sunday after suffering a decisive loss in her home state of South Carolina, marking her fourth straight defeat in the Republican presidential primary. Donald Trump continued his undefeated streak with a double-digit win in South Carolina, further cementing his hold on the Republican party and raising more questions about Haley’s decision to remain in the primary. As she addressed supporters at an election night party in Charleston on Saturday, Haley deftly framed her candidacy as a moral imperative for the many voters who express dissatisfaction with a potential rematch between Trump and Joe Biden in November. Read more

Kamala Harris is an underrated asset. By Jennifer Rubin / Wash Post

Vice President Harris at a Feb. 6 event in honor of Black History Month at the White House. (Haiyun Jiang for The Washington Post)

Vice President Harris was never as flawed as her critics made her out to be. From the onset of her term, she maintained a rigorous and effective diplomatic travel schedule and bolstered President Biden’s fight for voting rights. Unlike Biden, she never got ahead of the president on policy. Unlike former vice president Dan Quayle, she never made a late-night-comedy–worthy gaffe. And she has avoided her predecessor’s cringeworthy fawning. Read more

‘Forcefully pushing back’: Fani Willis questions if Trump legally obtained cell phone data. By Matthew Chapman / Raw Story

Lawyers for the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office are pushing back on claims from Trump and associates that cell phone data they have obtained indicates prosecutors Fani Willis and Nathan Wade lied about when their romantic relationship began, in a filing obtained by CNN’s Zachary Cohen. Image by AP

“The phone records simply do not prove anything relevant,” said the filing. “The records do nothing more than demonstrate that Special Prosecutor Wade’s telephone was located somewhere within a densely populated multiple-mile radius where various residences, restaurants, bars, and other businesses were located. The records do not prove, in any way, the content of the communications between Special Prosecutor Wade and District Attorney Willis; they do not prove that Special Prosecutor Wade was ever at any particular location or address. Read more

Letitia James wins against the NRA and Trump in NY court. By Brian Mann / NPR

It was another day of eye-popping courtroom victories for New York state Attorney General Letitia James on Friday.

A jury in Manhattan found top executives of the National Rifle Association liable after a six-week corruption lawsuit that she brought against the men. Two of the NRA’s leaders, Wayne LaPierre and Wilson Phillips, have been ordered to repay roughly $6.4 million dollars between them. Their attorneys say they will appeal. “This verdict is a major victory for the people of New York and our efforts to stop the corruption and greed at the NRA,” James said in a statement. Read more

The case of Clarence Thomas’s new clerk taints the entire judiciary. By Ruth Marcus / Wash Post

We knew this was coming — and still, it shocks. Justice Clarence Thomas has hired Crystal Clanton to be one of his law clerks, the most elite assignment a young law school graduate can secure.

The shock is this: In 2015, when Clanton was 20 and working for a conservative group allied with the justice’s wife, Ginni Thomas, Clanton apparently sent racist texts to a fellow employee. “I HATE BLACK PEOPLE,” one text read. “Like f— them all … I hate blacks. End of story.” (In Clanton’s text, the expletive was spelled out.) Read more

Jim Clyburn steps down and talks Democrats’ future and his legacy. By Michel Martin / NPR

Rep. Jim Clyburn has been a commanding voice in Congress for more than 30 years. But after a little more than a year serving as assistant Democratic leader, he’s chosen to step down from his role in the House Democratic leadership.

He leaves the role of the assistant Democratic leader vacant and is already proposing a successor, though he will continue to run for reelection in his 6th district of Charleston. In stepping down from his House Democratic leadership role, Rep. Clyburn wishes to make way for a younger generation and to shift his focus on other efforts. Read more

DEI supporters see echoes of America’s fraught racial history in attacks on diversity efforts. By Athena Jones / CNN

Dr. Franklin Tuitt has 25 years of experience as an academic and an administrator in higher education, with many of those years spent fostering diversity, equity and inclusion – commonly known as DEI.

Tuitt, now the University of Connecticut’s vice president and chief diversity officer, told CNN he sees historic parallels between the growing outrage over DEI and the backlash to previous efforts to integrate education and expand civil rights. “Some of the tactics that are being used, whether it’s through legislation or through intimidation, are tactics that have been used previously,” Tuitt said. Read more

Yale to Require Standardized Test Scores for Admissions. By Stephanie Saul / NYT

Yale University will require standardized test scores for students applying for the class entering in the fall of 2025, becoming the second Ivy League university to abandon test-optional policies that had been widely embraced during the Covid pandemic.

The anti-testing movement has long said that standardized tests help fuel inequality, because many students from affluent families use tutors and coaches to bolster their scores. But recent research has questioned whether test-optional policies may actually hurt the very students they were meant to help. Read more

Health Care Workers Are Speaking Up About the Racism in Facilities Nationwide. By Margo Snipe / Capital B

A new survey of 3,000 employees shows just how pervasive discrimination is.

Headlines hit last summer about Black nursing home residents being neglected and left unbathed, without clothing, and sometimes without the medications they needed at an Alabama nursing home after a lawsuit was filed. What it outlined was an allegedly discriminatory environment at a facility toward both patients and staff, who were called “n****,” “slave girls” and “little Black girls.”A new report released this month by the Commonwealth Fund reveals that nearly half of health care workers witness racial disparities against patients, and even more say racism is a crisis or major problem. Read more

Black small businesses in LA are closing. That means fewer safe spaces for Black people. By Tracey Onyenacho / The Guardian

Salena Pryor, the president of Black Small Business Association of California, believes that Black community spaces were especially affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, as shutdowns led to many spaces being unable to keep up with the commercial rent. “When [businesses] were able to get qualified for the PPP [Paycheck Protection Program] and EIDL [Economic Injury Disaster Loan], they were so far gone with the rent that … it was almost impossible for them to catch up,” said Pryor.

During the pandemic, small businesses owned by people of color suffered more closures than businesses owned by white people. According to a 2021 study conducted by researcher Robert Fairlie and published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, 2020 saw a 41% decrease in active Black small-business owners. A Yelp economic report found that Los Angeles suffered the most permanent business closures in the United States in 2020. Read more

Ethics / Morality / Religion

Trump tells religious broadcasters he’ll defend Christianity against perceived threats from the left. By Will Weissert / NCR

Former President Donald Trump promised to use a second term in the White House to defend Christian values and even suggested he’d shield the faith’s central iconography, warning a convention of religious broadcasters on Thursday night that the left wants “to tear down crosses.”

“Remember, every communist regime throughout history has tried to stamp out the churches, just like every fascist regime has tried to co-opt them and control them,” Trump told hundreds of cheering attendees at the National Religious Broadcasters International Christian Media Convention in Nashville. “And, in America, the radical left is trying to do both.” Read more

Alito’s cries of religious persecution are a chilling preview of Supreme Court in another Trump term. By Austin Sarat / Salon

A scary look at Justice Samuel Alito’s extreme version of religious freedom

On Tuesday, Justice Samuel Alito gave another startling indication of how troubled he is by recent changes in American society and law. In an unusual “statement” about a case from Missouri, the justice was clear that, in his view, those changes have advanced an egalitarian and secular agenda at the expense of religious beliefs and practices. The same day that Alito made his statement, Politico broke a story about what it called “an influential think tank close to Donald Trump” that is “developing plans to infuse Christian nationalist ideas in his administration should the former president return to power.” Politico suggested that “Christian nationalists in America believe that the country was founded as a Christian nation and that Christian values should be prioritized throughout government and public life.” Read more

Dr. Martin Luther King’s Life in Christianity Today Magazine. By Patheos

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Christianity Today have a history together. Image by Getty

Founded in 1956, Christianity Today established its footing in the same years as King, who became a public figure following the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955. Both inhabited the broad world of American Christianity. Both sought to shape their constituencies through words formed by faith. Throughout his lifetime and in the months following his death, Christianity Today published fifty-two pieces referencing King. Reviewing these pieces fifty-five years after King’s assassination is sobering. Undoubtedly, any of us appraising words we wrote decades prior would wish for revision. The words of Christianity Today are no different. Read more

Faith leaders renew push for ‘accurate’ Black history education in Florida. By Adelle M. Banks / RNS

Training sessions in Tallahassee and in Orlando will feature curriculum companies whose products could enhance those wishing to teach Black history in schools and churches.

Faith leaders in Florida and their supporters are redoubling efforts to ensure Black history is taught widely and truthfully in reaction to the state’s rejection of an Advanced Placement course on African American studies and changes to state academic standards about public school history instruction about slavery. Starting Thursday (Feb. 29), leaders of Faith in Florida, who last year created an online toolkit for churches wanting to teach Black history, will meet in Orlando for a training session with Florida educators and others to share how they have used it. Read more

Leaving the Church Isn’t So Simple for LGBTQ+ Black Christians. By Orion Rummler / The 19th and Capital B

A study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law and Utah State University found that of the 87% of Black LGBTQ+ people who were raised Christian, over half — 53% — stayed Christian. (Rena Li for the 19th)

From the outside, leaving Christianity or the church might seem like an easy solution for LGBTQ+ people who are discriminated against within the faith. But for many queer people, especially for Black Americans, leaving the church means leaving more than just a particular way to worship. New data suggests that queer Black Americans are sticking with the church more than other LGBTQ+ people. Read more

Historical / Cultural

Harriet Tubman and the Most Important, Understudied Battle of the Civil War.

Edda L. Fields-Black sets out to restore the Combahee River Raid to its proper place in Tubman’s life and in the war on slavery.

On June 2, 1863, not long after midnight, 300 recently escaped slaves, all armed and with at least one woman among them, invaded a stretch of rice plantations along the Combahee River in South Carolina. When the armed Black rebels arrived, the slaveholders fled, but their enslaved workers refused to follow them. Instead, at least 727 of them followed the rebels to nearby boats, which ushered them to a military camp, declared them free, and armed those able to fight. Read more

A Century Later, 17 Wrongly Executed Black Soldiers Are Honored at Gravesites. By Michael Levenson / NYT

New headstones show each soldier’s rank, unit and home state — a simple honor accorded to every other veteran buried in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

More than a century ago, 110 Black soldiers were convicted of murder, mutiny and other crimes at three military trials held at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. Nineteen were hanged, including 13 on a single day, Dec. 11, 1917, in the largest mass execution of American soldiers by the Army. The soldiers’ families spent decades fighting to show that the men had been betrayed by the military. In November, they won a measure of justice when the Army secretary, Christine E. Wormuth, overturned the convictions and acknowledged that the soldiers “were wrongly treated because of their race and were not given fair trials.” Read more

The legacy of Charles v. Hamilton and Black Power. By Vann R. Newkirk II / The Atlantic

This week, The New York Times published news of the death of Charles V. Hamilton, the political scientist who co-wrote the book Black Power in 1967 with his much more famous colleague and comrade, Kwame Ture, once known as Stokely Carmichael.

Hamilton died months ago, and the news was apparently made public only after a close friend of Hamilton’s was notified by his bank. During his life, Hamilton took great care to deflect attention and recognition for his work away from himself and toward the Black activists who learned from him. It would seem that he departed this Earth in the same way. Read more

Malcolm X Assassination: Former Security Guards Reveal New Details Pointing to FBI, NYPD Conspiracy. By Amy Goodman / Democracy Now

On the 59th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, two former security guards are speaking out for the first time about how they were falsely arrested by the New York Police Department as part of a conspiracy to remove his protection before he was killed.

We speak with Ben Crump and Flint Taylor, two civil rights attorneys who are working with the family. They are calling on New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former police officer, to support the release of key evidence in the case. We are “trying to peel back the layers to finally, after 59 years, get some measure of justice for Malcolm X’s family,” says Crump. Read more

Watch: New film tells the story of criminal justice advocate Kemba Smith. By The Grio

A new drama tells the true story of inmate-turned-activist Kemba Smith, a Black woman who was a victim of the war on drugs. Kemba Smith is pictured in a promotional photo. (Credit: Kemba Smith)

Kemba Smith, a student at Hampton University, received a nearly 25-year prison sentence in 1994 for the drug dealing crimes of her boyfriend. She gave birth to her son while incarcerated and after serving six and a half years, she received presidential clemency from President Bill Clinton. Decades later, a film is finally telling the story of Smith. The film’s director, Kelley Kali, and advocate, survivor, and author Kemba Smith join “theGrio with Marc Lamont Hill” to talk about the journey it took to get this story on screen. “Kemba” premieres Feb. 22 on BET+. Read more

Ray Francis, Celebrating Blackness. By Blake Gopnik / NYT

Ray Francis (1937-2006), “Genie,” 1971. “His shadows are as subtle as could be,” says the critic.Credit…via Bruce Silverstein Gallery. A founder of the Kamoinge Workshop, he made lush, powerful photos that document and honor members of the African diaspora.

Four hundred miles south of us, in New York, Ray Francis was printing shots that had the bold shadows we were striving for. Thirty-two of his prints are on view now in “Waiting to Be Seen: Illuminating the Photographs of Ray Francis,” at the Bruce Silverstein gallery in Chelsea, a posthumous show that is Francis’s first solo presentation. He died in 2006, at 69. Read more

Judge rules Texas school’s hair length policies do not violate CROWN Act. By Char Adams / NBC News

Darryl George, 18, has been disciplined for much of the school year after refusing to cut his hair to comply with the school dress code. Image by Bayou Beat News

State District Judge Chap Cain III said the Barbers Hill Independent School District’s dress and grooming policies do not violate the CROWN Act, which prohibits race-based hair discrimination at work, school and in housing facilities in the state. The decision was met with sighs and gasps by many of those gathered in the courthouse, which included student Darryl George’s supporters and natural-hair advocates. Cain said the district’s policy “does not prohibit nor does it discriminate against male students who wear braids, locs, or twists.” Read more

Sports

Mayor of Birmingham advises Black athletes to avoid Alabama colleges if anti-DEI bill passes. By Curtis Bunn / NBC News

Randall Woodfin said he would encourage Black athletes to avoid the state’s public colleges if a law passes ending DEI. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, at Morehouse College’s “A Candle in the Dark” Gala in Atlanta on Feb, 19, 2022. Paras Griffin / Getty Images

Woodfin was reacting to the state Senate’s approval this week of a bill that would also bar public schools from affirming “a divisive concept,” such as teaching that “slavery and racism are aligned with the founding principles of the United States” and that “fault, blame, or bias should be assigned to members of a race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin, on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin.” Read more

Victor Wembanyama posts rare ‘5×5’ stat line, making NBA history. By Ben Morse / CNN

The French rookie filled up the box score during his San Antonio Spurs’ 123-118 defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers, finishing with 27 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 steals and 5 blocks in just 31 minutes.

He became the 15th player to log a ‘5×5’ stat line – where players record at least five points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks in a single game – and Wembanyama became the youngest to achieve the feat. According to the NBA, the star rookie, at 20 years and 50 days old, broke the previous record of 22 years and 288 days set by Andrei Kirilenko since the league began tracking steals and blocks in 1973-74. Read more

The PGA Tour’s next commissioner should be Tiger Woods. By John Feinstein / Wash Post

Golf is in trouble.

The PGA Tour and Saudi-funded LIV Golf continue to throw money around to try to ensure the presence of top players in their events. PGA Tour sponsors are not at all happy with the watered-down fields they are paying for each week. The television networks are equally unhappy. Other than the four major championships, there’s no Phil Mickelson or Dustin Johnson, no Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia or Bryson DeChambeau playing in any week-to-week PGA Tour events. The tour must think out of the box — way out of the box — and hire someone who really knows golf, who has been a successful businessman and who has the clout to look the Saudis in the eye across the negotiating table. There is one person who fits that description: Eldrick “Tiger” Woods. Read more

Site Information

Articles appearing in the Digest are archived on our home page. And at the top of this page register your email to receive notification of new editions of Race Inquiry Digest.

Click here for earlier Digests. The site is searchable by name or topic. See “search” at the top of this page.

About Race Inquiry and Race Inquiry Digest. The Digest is published on Mondays and Thursdays.

Use the customized buttons below to share the Digest in an email, or post to your Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter accounts.

Race Inquiry

Important Current Stories On Race In America

Race Inquiry Digest (Feb 26) – Important Current Stories On Race In America

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Featured

Political / Social

Ethics / Morality / Religion

Historical / Cultural

Sports

Site Information

Like this:

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Featured

Political / Social

Ethics / Morality / Religion

Historical / Cultural

Sports

Site Information

Share this:

Like this: