Featured
Democracy in America is a rigged game. By Ian Millhiser / Vox
The Constitution was written to thwart Black freedom. But we can change the rules.
For six years, at the height of Southern leaders’ massive resistance to desegregation, Derrick Bell held one of the most harrowing jobs in the legal profession. From 1960 to 1966, as an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Bell oversaw desegregation lawsuits in the South, trying to make real the integration promised by Brown v. Board of Education.
Bell, who died in 2011, eventually left behind his career as a full-time civil rights lawyer. But the experience of watching the promise of equality beat down by violent white supremacists informed his work as a critical race scholar.
“Racial equality is, in fact, not a realistic goal,” he wrote in 1992, warning that “by constantly aiming for a status that is unobtainable in a perilously racist America, black Americans face frustration and despair.” Bell understood something profound about the United States: The American political system is a rigged game. It was originally meant to advantage enslavers and today benefits anti-egalitarian actors with little interest in true racial equality. Read more
Related: Beware the Ruinous Optimism of Democratic Leaders. By Jamelle Bouie / NYT
Political / Social
The Land of the Free Leads the World in Incarceration. Why? By Christina Carrega / Capital B
Reform advocates say there are other ways to respond to crimes, from rehabilitation to trauma treatment.
The US incarceration rate has been declining for more than a decade, but the land of the free continues to lead the world in putting its residents behind bars. Black Americans are most affected, funneled into state prisons at five times the rate of white Americans. Near the nation’s peak level of incarceration in 2008, one in every nine young Black men was locked up. Incarceration is one of the most glaring examples of how fragile freedom can be for Black Americans. The 13th Amendment made America’s brand of mass incarceration possible by abolishing slavery “except as a punishment for crime.” That loophole has allowed correctional institutions to dehumanize those in their custody, often crowding them into heavily guarded facilities where they live in 6-by-8-foot cell blocks and work for pennies. Read more
Hiding Buffalo’s History of Racism Behind a Cloak of Unity. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor / The New Yorker
Officials have described the recent shooting as an aberration in the “City of Good Neighbors.” But this conceals the city’s long-standing racial divisions.
In 1993, a writer in the local daily, the Buffalo News, compared Main Street, the central dividing line of the city, to the Berlin Wall, “dividing rich from poor, the haves from the have-nots.” Buffalo is one of the poorest cities in the country, and nearly half of children living in the city are poor. But the hardship that defines the city is not evenly shared. A disproportionate number of the have-nots live on the East Side of Buffalo, where more than three-quarters of the city’s African American residents live. Read more
Herschel Walker Lied About Being a Cop and It Won’t Matter. By Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark
The realities of our political moment.
My friends often tell me that you can’t expect voters to care about stuff like candidates impersonating law enforcement, or playing Russian Roulette, or assaulting women, because gas is $5 a gallon and what voters really care about are kitchen-table issues. And I guess that electing Herschel Walker to the United States Senate will. This is the point where I wave my hands in the air and shout something like, “How could any group of voters, anywhere in America, send this guy to the U.S. Senate?” Read more
Related: Herschel Walker Says He’s a Model Dad. He Has a Secret Son. By Roger Sollenberger / Daily Beast
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to join White House as top aide. By and
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is joining the Biden administration as a top White House aide, NBC News confirmed Tuesday. A White House official told NBC News that the hire will be formally announced Wednesday. Bottoms will fill a vacancy created by Cedric Richmond, who recently moved to a senior role at the Democratic National Committee after serving as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. Read more
In South Carolina, race and gender animate Democratic gubernatorial primary. By Stratton Lawrence / Wash Post
The race between Cunningham and McLeod, the top contenders in a primary that includes three other candidates, contrasts differing general election strategies in a state that has not sent a Democrat to statewide office since 2006: appeal to crossover voters in the purple urban areas or mobilize the Democratic base behind the first female, African American nominee for governor. McLeod is the first Black woman to run for governor in South Carolina, a fact that has been central to her late push. Early this month, her campaign manager, Heidi Young, tweeted, presumably in reference to Cunningham, that “White Savior complex is on the ballot.” Read more
Study: Black elders die from air pollution three times more than whites. By Nada Hassanein / USA Today
A new study ‘shines a light on the cumulative impact of historic discriminatory policies,’ that disproportionally impact communities of color.
Researchers analyzed Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. census data, health and mortality statistics of Medicare recipients, as well as findings from peer-reviewed studies on older adults’ exposure to air pollutants, to determine who is most at risk and by how much. They found rates among people of color disproportionate to their share of the U.S. elder population, 65 and older. Experts said the findings underscore the inequitable, life-threatening effects of air pollution and industry placement, as well as disproportionate, widely documented long-term public health dangers of pollutants. Read more
Related: There’s Still No Justice for Flint. By Bishop Bernadel Jefferson / The Progressive
A Black Army vet spent 16 months in solitary. Then a jury heard the evidence against him. By Sydney Trent / Wash Post
Andrew Johnson refused to plead guilty to attempted murder charges, insisting he’d been defending himself during a confrontation in California.
The Evolution of Union-Busting. By Lee Fang / The Intercept
Breaking Unions With the Language of Diversity and Social Justice
In the “heyday” for union organizing, “we just thought of them as seeking better wages and working conditions for their workers.” Now, workers were agitating for respect and in opposition to “harassment, bigotry, discrimination and retaliation,” said Merrell, quoting a mission statement from the Alphabet Workers Union, which secured bargaining rights for a small group of Google Fiber workers in Kansas City, Missouri, in March. Corporations, advised Merrell, should be ready to pivot and respond quickly to these “social justice-driven” campaigns. Read more
How San Francisco’s D.A. recall election shows a rift in the Asian American community. By Claire Wang / NBC News
Two-thirds of registered Asian American voters favored the recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin, the highest level of support of all racial groups, one poll showed.
Asian Americans, galvanized by rising crime rates and violent attacks against elders, appeared to be a driving force in Tuesday’s recall election that ousted San Francisco’s reformist District Attorney Chesa Boudin. Community organizers say the result reflects the group’s simmering frustrations with progressive leaders for not taking seriously the trauma they’ve faced over the past two years. They themselves are split on the matter, with some campaigning for the recall while others opposed it, highlighting a widening divide in the group’s outlook on policing and crime. Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
Raphael Warnock: I Can Still Hear My Father’s Voice. By Raphael Warnock / NYT
Jonathan Warnock was 52 years old when I was born, the same age I am now. As a young man, Dad was drafted in the U.S. Army during World War II and served about a year, all stateside. He experienced firsthand the indignities of that era’s Black military men, who served their country dutifully at a defining time in its history yet were treated as second-class citizens, particularly in the segregated South. My dad died in 2010 at the age of 93. I sometimes wonder what he would think about the fact that on Jan. 5, 2021, his youngest son was elected Georgia’s first Black United States senator and only the 11th in the nation’s history. What would he think about the attack on the Capitol the very next day?
My father represents the salt of the earth, blue-collar brother, brilliant despite not having a college degree or prestigious credentials, innovative enough to create miracles with his hands, the kind of Black man whose life doesn’t make the headlines for either shooting hoops or shooting bullets, for breaking out or breaking in. Read more
“Jesus, guns, babies”: Religious violence is now at the core of the Republican Party. By Thomas Lecaque / Salon
Lauren Boebert prayed for Biden’s death — and that’s not even close to the craziest item on the GOP wish list
Religious violence is the bedrock of Christian nationalism, and Christian Nationalism is becoming the bedrock of the contemporary Republican Party. Forced birth laws, anti-LGBTQ legislation and the “great replacement” theory are all forms of violence, and all but certain to fuel the spread of more lethal violence. is violence. “Jesus, Guns and Babies” may seem like a laughable slogan, stripped of context. But it isn’t funny at all. Read more
Southern Baptist battle goes full MAGA: Far right seeks to purge CRT and “Race Marxism.” By Kathryn Joyce / Salon
America’s largest Protestant denomination is dominated by the right — but still fears creeping “wokeism”
Just weeks after the Southern Baptist Convention was rocked by a report documenting sweeping mishandling of sexual abuse, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination gathered this week in Southern California for its annual meeting, where delegates known as “messengers” elected a new SBC president: Texas pastor Bart Barber, who defeated right-wing Florida pastor Tom Ascol in a runoff late Tuesday night. What happens in the SBC, with its deep connections to the Republican Party and the anti-aborion movement, inevitably affects U.S. politics more broadly. But this year, the reverse was true as well: The fight for the SBC presidency didn’t just track the nation’s wider political divides but seemed largely driven by them. Read more
Related: As Southern Baptists gather, right-wing faction sounds alarms. By Michelle Boorstein / Wash Post
How the Christian Home-Schooling Lobby Feeds on Fear Of Public Schools. By Molly Olmstead / Slate
The morning after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the Federalist published an op-ed with the headline “Tragedies Like the Texas Shooting Make a Somber Case for Homeschooling.”In the essay, the author immediately dismissed calls for gun control as petty and insincere, offering home-schooling as the true solution to keep children safe. “It is clear now from the long list of school shootings in recent years that families can’t trust government schools, in particular, to bring their children or teachers home safely at the end of the day,” the author wrote. Many politically powerful conservatives promote home-schooling as a way to undercut or weaken the influence of public schools, and to shield their children from the liberalism they believe public schools foster. Read more
Historical / Cultural
Alabama slave ship, Clotilda, receives renewed importance during Juneteenth. By Debbie Elliott and Marisa Penaloza / NPR
Descendant Vernetta Henson sits outside Union Baptist Church in Africatown. The church was started by Clotilda survivors in 1869. To her left is the bust of Cudjoe Lewis, one of Africatown’s founders.
Juneteenth has long had special meaning for the descendants of the last slave ship known to come to the United States, the Clotilda. People like Vernetta Henson and Darron Patterson of Mobile, Ala. They’re descendants of Polee and Rose Allen, who were among the more than 100 kidnapped Africans a wealthy Alabama plantation owner smuggled into Mobile aboard the Clotilda 50 years after the Atlantic slave trade was abolished, and then sunk the ship to bury evidence of the crime. Since the shipwreck was found three years ago, there’s been new focus on the Clotilda survivors and the community they founded after emancipation. Read more
Related: Juneteenth, reparations, and the unmet promise of “40 acres and a mule.” By
Related: 1619 Project and 1776 curriculum: One country, two histories. Chelsea Sheasley / CSM
City honors man who fought to integrate U of Fla. law school, then gave up his fight so Black people could earn master’s degrees. By The Grio Staff
A new plaque honoring the legacy of Virgil D. Hawkins was mounted at the site of his former law office in Leesburg, Florida.
The story of Virgil D. Hawkins life is one of great personal sacrifice. Hawkins was a “civil rights advocate who fought to end segregation at the University of Florida College of Law,” according to a new plaque in Leesburg, Florida, that honors his life and legacy, mounted last week at the site of his former law office downtown, The Orlando Sentinel reported. “Today, the family of Virgil Darnell Hawkins says to the beautiful lakefront city of Leesburg — our home and yours — ‘Thank you,’” said Harriet Livingston, a niece of the now-deceased Hawkins, at Thursday’s plaque dedication service, “for recognizing the office space once occupied by the South’s most patient man and the South’s first civil rights pioneer.” Read more
The Road to Turning 500 Acres Into a Black City. By Jewel Wicker / Capital B
Two years ago, three Georgia women created the Freedom settlement with the hopes of making a safe haven for Black people. Living on the land is still years away.
Nineteen families in total agreed to join their effort. The planned settlement grew to 502 acres. And Scott came up with a name for the community: Freedom. The founding group of families has financed the purchase of the original 97 acres and have secured a “substantial” hard money loan for the additional acres, Scott said. Hard money loans typically are very high-interest loans used to purchase investment properties. Lenders generally use the property as collateral instead of relying on the borrower’s creditworthiness. Freedom’s founders plan to develop and sell the land to residents in phases, Riley-Cooper said. The first phase includes 13 parcels of 6 acres each, which the founders hope to sell at $55,000 per plot to residents who will build homes or businesses on the settlement. Once they’ve paid down their loan, the women hope to secure a construction loan to build out 10 acres for a mixed-use development. Read more
Angela Davis, Charlene Mitchell, and the NAARPR. By Tony Pecinovsky /
Angela Davis meeting with Communist Party leader Valentina Tereshkova, Moscow, August 11, 1972 (Yuriy Ivanov – Wikimedia Commons)AAIHS
The Davis frame-up, trial, and acquittal is well known and does not warrant a detailed examination. However, what came after – the birth of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) in May 1973 – is less well known. In fact, it has been largely ignored by historians. For months after the acquittal Davis, Charlene Mitchell – a fellow Communist, and executive director of the National United Committee to Free Angela Davis – and other CPUSA members, discussed Davis’ frame-up, defense, trial, acquittal, and its impact. Read more
‘They Conflated “The Wire” With Reality.’ BNYT
A Baltimore photographer considers the HBO drama’s impact on the city where he was raised, 20 years after the show’s debut.
I was born and raised in Baltimore. I was in middle school when “The Wire” was made — it filmed near McCulloh Homes and also sometimes near Harlem Park, where my school was located. Back then everybody thought, wow, this is Baltimore’s moment. It was a very exciting experience for the city. Read more
Jennifer Hudson Lands Historic EGOT Status At The 2022 Tony Awards. By Jazmin Tolliver / HuffPost
The soon-to-be talk show host made history as the third Black EGOT winner to achieve the honor.
Jennifer Hudson joined the ranks of the exclusive group of EGOT winners on Sunday at the Tony Awards. To reach EGOT level, one must win all four of the major American entertainment awards (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and a Tony). The songstress and producer, who has an Emmy, Grammy and Oscar, became the 17th member of the esteemed EGOT titleholders after “A Strange Loop” won Best New Musical. Hudson also made history as the third Black EGOT winner to take the crown, and the fifth woman to receive the distinction. Read more
‘A Strange Loop’ wins big with Tony for best musical. By Soraya Nadia McDonald / Andscape
From left to right (front row): Barbara Whitman, Michael R. Jackson, Jaquel Spivey, and the cast and crew accept the award for best musical for A Strange Loop at the 75th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 12 in New York City.
The big winner Sunday night was A Strange Loop. The show won the Tony for best musical and book writer Michael R. Jackson won the award for best book of a musical. “My thoughts are telling me to write some more musicals and to widen the lane even more for what kind of musicals can be seen by large audiences,” Jackson said. Read more
Related: How ‘A Strange Loop’ fits into Black theater legacies. By Nathan Pugh / NPR
R. Kelly should get at least 25 years in prison, prosecutors say. By Tom Hays / AP and USA Today
R. Kelly, the R&B superstar known for his anthem “I Believe I Can Fly,” deserves at least 25 years behind bars for sexually abusing women and girls, prosecutors said in a memo filed Wednesday in advance of his sentencing later this month. A New York City jury found Kelly guilty of racketeering and multiple other counts last year at a sex-trafficking trial that was seen as a signature moment in the #MeToo movement. Prosecutors alleged that the entourage of managers and aides who helped Kelly meet girls — and keep them obedient — amounted to a criminal enterprise. Read more
Sports
Jack Del Rio’s comments the latest symptom of the NFL’s ongoing culture problem. By Jason Reid / Andscape
The Washington Commanders’ defensive coordinator isn’t the only figure of power who continues to counteract the league’s attempts at progress on race
With Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio apologizing in front of the team on Tuesday in the wake of his Jan. 6 and George Floyd comments, the NFL has yet another example of its struggle to achieve a more inclusive league. On its face, it would appear that Washington took significant action against Del Rio in levying a six-figure fine against him and likely strongly suggesting it would be a good idea for him to get off Twitter (he deleted his account). Commanders head coach Ron Rivera said Tuesday that Del Rio’s apology was “well-received.” Read more
Serena Williams to play at Wimbledon as wild-card entry. By Nancy Armour / USA Today
We have not seen the last of Serena Williams.
Wimbledon said Tuesday that it has awarded the 23-time major champion a wild card for this year’s tournament, and the Lawn Tennis Association said she will play doubles with world No. 4 Ons Jabeur at the Eastbourne International next week. The announcements followed Williams’ Instagram post in which she teased that she would play Wimbledon, ending a yearlong absence from tennis. Read more
Full Circle Everest team talks about historic Mount Everest summit. By Felecia Wellington Radel / USA Today
Four members of the Full Circle Everest team spoke with USA TODAY Sports about their expedition, what happened on Mount Everest and what’s next. They became the first all-Black team to make the climb.
The team made it safely down the mountain and back home, but the impact of that historic achievement is still taking shape. “I don’t think it has really set in that we actually accomplished this,” says team leader Philip Henderson. “It was a three-year process of us starting this project and then completing it. I’m just proud of the team and the time and commitment and sacrifices by everybody on the team.” Read more
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