Featured

Trump Wants You to Get Used to This. By Ruth Ben-Ghiat / NYT

Dr. Ben-Ghiat is a professor of history and the author of “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present.”

President Trump, a former reality television star whose administration includes several former Fox News personalities, knows a good image can go far.

In the space of a week, the American public has been treated to two highly unusual sights: first, federalized National Guard members and active-duty Marines dressed for combat on the streets of Los Angeles, ready to stand opposite civilians protesting ICE roundups; then an extravagant military parade in Washington on the 250th anniversary of the Army’s founding — and on Mr. Trump’s birthday — generating footage of tanks massed on the streets in numbers more often seen in countries where a coup is underway. Read more

Ban Trump? Top genocide scholar issues dire warning. By Charles R. Davis / Salon

“Negotiating with Nazis didn’t prove useful in 1939. It won’t now either,” says founder of Genocide Watch

He is deploying troops to occupy opposition-held cities, openly soliciting bribes from the world’s dictators and threatening to annex his democratic neighbors, all while sending people guilty of literally nothing to foreign prisons where they are expected to remain until the day they die. That’s it: that’s the case for treating President Donald Trump, the authoritarian head of an increasingly belligerent nation, like an international pariah. Read more

Political / Social

Americans disagree on much – but this week, we have found common ground. By Robert Reich / The Guardian

Trump’s crackdown in LA and his planned military parade have united people in opposition. As we resist, we gain courage. We are relearning the meaning of “solidarity”.

This week, across the US, people have been coming together. We may disagree on immigration policy, but we don’t want a president deploying federal troops in our cities when governors and mayors say they’re not needed. We may disagree on how laws should be enforced, but we don’t want federal agents to arbitrarily abduct people off our streets or at places of business or in courthouses and detain them without any process to determine if such detention is justified. Or target hardworking members of our community. Or arrest judges. Or ship people off to brutal prisons in foreign lands. We may disagree on questions of freedom of speech, but we don’t think people should be penalized for peacefully expressing their views. Read more

Inside Trump’s Extraordinary Turnaround on Immigration Raids. By Tyler Pager et al. / NYT

President Trump’s decision to pause most raids targeting farms and hospitality workers took many inside the White House by surprise. It came after intensive lobbying by his agriculture secretary.

On Wednesday morning, President Trump took a call from Brooke Rollins, his secretary of agriculture, who relayed a growing sense of alarm from the heartland. Farmers and agriculture groups, she said, were increasingly uneasy about his immigration crackdown. Federal agents had begun to aggressively target work sites in recent weeks, with the goal of sharply bolstering the number of arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants. Read more

Why Trump’s get-tough-on-immigrants strategy will be hard to sustain. Editorial Board / Wash Post

Assurances that the administration would focus on dangerous criminals never squared with Trump’s promise of mass deportations.

Shortly after the 2024 presidential election, incoming border czar Tom Homan signaled that President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign would target criminal wrongdoers. Even now, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem insists that federal agents are going after “the worst of the worst,” a tacit acknowledgment that many Americans might want bad guys gone but not peaceful, productive immigrants embedded in their communities. Read more

Expert: Forcible removal of Sen. Alex Padilla signals a dangerous shift in American democracy. By Charlie Hunt / Salon

Democratic leaders and a lone Republican senator, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, quickly decried the treatment of U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California and called for an investigation after he was removed from a press conference with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on June 12, 2025, in Los Angeles, handcuffed and forced to the ground.

Amy Lieberman, a politics and society editor at The Conversation, spoke with Boise State University political scientist Charlie Hunt, an expert on Congress, to understand how political polarization and a shift in American political decorum may have contributed to the shocking moment of an American senator being forcibly removed from a press conference. Read more

Why There are Barely Any Black Protesters in L.A. By Lawrence Ware / The Root

One question, though: Where are all the Black protestors?

Polling shows that 50% of Black folks support a route to citizenship for people who are in the country illegally. But make no mistake…more than a few of us think illegal immigration is getting out of hand. Some worry about the economic impact people entering the country illegally will have on Black workers. There is good reason for that. Read more

Education

Funding for Hispanic-Serving Institutions Is Discriminatory and Unconstitutional, Lawsuit Argues. By Jasper Smith / The Chronicle of Higher Ed.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday by the State of Tennessee and Students for Fair Admissions argues that a federal program that annually provides millions of dollars to Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) is discriminatory and unconstitutional.

“The State of Tennessee operates many colleges and universities. Every one of them serves Hispanic students,” lawyers said. “Every one of them serves low-income students. But not one of them qualifies to receive grants under the HSI program. Why? Because they don’t have the right mix of ethnicities on campus.” In order to qualify for the HSI program, a college must serve a student body made up of at least 25 percent Hispanic students. A majority of its enrollment must also be low-income. Read more

Harvard Medical School Faces Backlash Over Latest DEI Office Renaming. By Walter Hudson / Diverse Issues in Higher Ed.

Harvard Medical School’s decision to rename its Diversity, Inclusion and Community Partnership office has sparked significant reaction from students and observers, marking Harvard’s latest move to reshape its diversity infrastructure amid shifting political pressures.

The medical school will now call the unit the Office for Culture and Community Engagement, according to a letter from Dr. George Daley, dean of Harvard Medical School. The announcement comes as Harvard continues to navigate criticism over its earlier decision to rename its main “Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging” to “Community and Campus Life” — a move that drew considerable backlash when the university also eliminated funding and support for affinity graduations. Read more

Strategic Revival, The Numbers Behind Dr. David Thomas’s Morehouse College Success Story. By Jamaal Abdul-Alim / Diverse Issues in Higher Ed.

If you were to ask Dr. David A. Thomas what accomplishments he’s most proud of from his seven- year tenure as the 12th president of Morehouse College, he’ll have no shortage of answers

“We had little to no unrestricted reserves, which meant we didn’t have enough money to run the college for a year if the economy fell apart on us,” Thomas says during a recent phone interview with Diverse. “Today, that’s reversed,” he says. “Our liquidity is great. We could run the college for almost two years just on our unrestricted reserves and quasi endowment. We’ve doubled our endowment,” he says, adding that the endowment grew from $127 million in 2018 to $285 million today. Read more

World

Israel Launches Major Unprovoked Attack on Iran, Stoking Fears of All-Out War. By Amy Goodman / Democracy Now

Israel’s military launched a barrage of strikes on Iran overnight, including on the capital Tehran. Reuters is reporting at least 20 senior Iranian commanders were killed, including Hossein Salami, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief, and the head of the Revolutionary Guards Air Force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh. Six nuclear scientists were also reportedly killed.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed the U.S. was “not involved” in the strikes, while Trump posted on social media, “I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal.” The Israeli attacks came as the U.S. and Iran have been engaged in talks over a possible new nuclear agreement. Read more

Fearing Trump, academics worldwide issue anti-fascist manifesto. By Steve Hendrix / Wash Post

Hundreds of professors and other intellectuals signed a declaration — modeled after a statement issued 100 years ago in Italy — decrying the rise of authoritarianism.

But exactly a century later, a modern group of academics, researchers and writers around the world is giving it another go — fearing that the world is once again sleepwalking into dictatorship and violence. More than 400 scholars from dozens of countries, including at least 30 Nobel laureates, are reprising the 1925 Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals to warn that “the threat of fascism is back.” Read more

Trump’s top diplomat in Africa leaving State Department. By Filip Timotija / The Hill

Fitrell, a foreign service official, previously worked as the United States ambassador to Guinea. He has served in various State Department posts across Africa, including serving as the director of the Office of Western African Affairs and Southern African Affairs. He was also the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassies in Ethiopia and Mauritius.

Fitrell, who has been a diplomat for more than three decades, previously said that the Trump administration is changing the U.S. approach to Africa from “one rooted primarily in development assistance to a strategy that prioritizes robust commercial engagement.” The administration sees trade as a way to counter Chinese and Russian influence on the continent. Read more

Ethics / Morality / Religion

Rage and Prayer in Los Angeles. By Manuel Pastor / Dissent

The task of this moment is to build a broad front that can resist authoritarianism. The recent protests are early skirmishes in the fight that will be needed. Faith leaders pray in front of National Guard officers at a protest in Los Angeles on June 10, 2025.

These last few days in Los Angeles are early skirmishes in the fight that will be needed to build that front: one that challenges Trump but also figures out how to link those who are immigrant and those who are native-born, those who are faithful and those who are furious, those who are woke and those to be awakened, into a single struggle for multiracial democracy. Read more

Faith leaders, lawmakers argue GOP bill benefits the ultra-wealthy by hurting the poor. By Jack Jenkins / RNS

Religious leaders are ramping up pressure on lawmakers to reject the Republican-led budget bill currently before the U.S. Senate, arguing proposed cuts to health care benefits and food assistance programs as well as provisions involving public education will disproportionately hurt low-income Americans.

Part of an effort that has built momentum over the past two months, on Tuesday (June 10), hundreds of clergy and religious leaders from mainline Christian, Black Protestant, evangelical and Catholic traditions rallied on the steps of the U.S. Capitol against the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that passed the House and is set to be voted on by the Senate. “This bill chooses to take from the poor and give to those who already have enough,” said the Rev. Teresa Hord Owens, general minister and president of the Disciples of Christ. Read more

Christian right: Trump’s building a new MAGA religious movement. By Katherine Kelaidis / Vox

The old “religious right” is gone. The new one is weirder — and harder to fight.

For over six decades, the “religious right” in America was boomer “Christian nationalism,” straight out of The Handmaid’s Tale. It was about “keeping God in the schools” and the National Prayer Breakfast. It was traditionalist, mindful of theology, and, well, theocratic, which is to say it wanted to take the standards of a religious tradition and apply them to the secular law. They wanted the books of Scripture to replace the statute books. But President Donald Trump is trying to create a new religious right, one that is not just illiberal but fundamentally different and opposed to traditional religion as we’ve known it. Read more

Peter Hegseth’s Religious Beliefs Harm Americans. By Christine Schmertz Navarro / Patheos

When a person learns more about his church’s beliefs, Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth’s controversial decisions make more sense but raise questions about a conflict between church and state. Image Black Star News

Hegseth’s Tennessee Church, Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship, a member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), has strict teachings on secular law, the LGBTQ+ community, women, non-Christians, and racial diversity. Read more

Historical / Cultural

You Know Of The Tuskegee Airmen, But You Don’t Know What ‘The Harlem ‘Hellfighters’ Did to Win The War. By Lawrence Ware / The Root

Not many know who they are. But they were instrumental to the Allies (France, the United Kingdom, Russia, and Italy) winning this war against The Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire). circa 1918: American Buffalo soliders, 367th Infantry, 77th Division, pose with a young French girl during the WW I campaign in France.

These men fought under French command and earned innumerable medals for their bravery and skill. Keep in mind that this was the early 1900s. So the fact that they fought so valiantly challenged stereotypes and opened doors for future Black soldiers to walk through. Read more

DEFIANT The Story of Robert Smalls – written by Rob Edwards / Kickstarter

The incredible story of Robert Smalls is one that deserves to be told – and remembered. During the height of the Civil War, Smalls, an enslaved harbor pilot in Charleston, pulled off one of the most daring heists in history – stealing a Confederate warship and sailing it past the naval blockade to freedom!

Not only did his actions help convince President Abraham Lincoln to accept African American soldiers into the Union Army, but Smalls eventually served as a captain in the Navy – of the very ship he had stolen! After the war, Smalls was elected to the House of Representatives, becoming one of the first African Americans in Congress. While there, he wrote legislation for the first free and compulsory public school system in the US and so much more. Read more

You Can’t Understand Black Music Without Sly Stone. By Marcus J. Moore / The Nation

His songs, for generations of listeners, provided community, solace, and a sense of understanding.

For a certain generation of Black people, Sly was everything: a fearless free-thinking creator at a time when such courage wasn’t prevalent. Sure, you had the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Little Richard in traditional rock, but Sly’s music catered to more listeners—he bridged the mainstream and the esoteric. Sly felt like one of us—wholly and unabashedly—and despite his stature as a beacon of equality, thanks to his integrated band of men and women both Black and white, he never seemed so hung up on arbitrary accolades given to his music. Read more

Top 5 All-Time Greatest Motown Groups. By So Much Great Music

There are, of course, many different genres of music. As well as many famous record labels on which said music has been released. As best I can tell, though, only one has ever been both. A label that became a genre.

Here we’re going to explore a few conspicuous things you might not have been aware of about the distinctive label/genre of Motown, illuminate a few semi-related items, and then coinciding with all that, we’ll take on the seemingly impossible task of reviewing the incredible performers roster and naming Motown’s 5 All-Time Greatest Groups. Yes, just five! So let’s hit a six stroke roll – the intro and drum fill for seemingly all Motown tunes – and get it going. Read more

Byron Allen, McDonald’s Reach Settlement in $10 Billion Lawsuit. By Cynthia Littleton / Variety

Allen Media Group chief Byron Allen has reached a settlement in the $10 billion lawsuit that he filed in 2021 alleging the fast food giant discriminated against Black-owned media companies in its TV advertising expenditures.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. The deal averts a trial that had been scheduled to begin in federal court in Los Angeles next month. The sides announced the agreement in a joint statement issued late Friday. Read more

Sports

Kobe Bryant’s coming-out party in Indiana dashed the Pacers’ title hopes 25 years ago. By David Aldridge and Marcus Thompson II / The Athletic

Kobe Bryant held each hand out in front of him near his waist, palms pointed to the hardwood as he jogged to the defensive end. His head tilted, confusion painted on his face, the Lakers guard gently pushed down, as if he were testing the softness of a mattress.

He’d been declaring it for four seasons, in word and deed, through playoff air balls and All-Star Games. So when Shaquille O’Neal fouled out in overtime of Game 4 in the 2000 NBA Finals, on the road in raucous Hoosierland, he didn’t believe panic was necessary. Worry wasn’t welcomed. Read more

Bo Jackson tells a classic story about the violent 1980s NFL. By Mike Freeman / USA Today

Bo Jackson, one of the most powerful running backs in the history of the NFL, a man who once ran over Brian Bosworth with such impunity, it became legend, was asked a simple question: Have you, Mr. Jackson, ever got, got?

The answer Jackson provided is one of the most entertaining NFL stories you will ever hear. It’s one of those tales that takes you inside the sport, and illustrates how violent it can be. Jackson actually told this story some months ago on the “Get Got” podcast with former NFL players Marshawn Lynch (who is a legend in his own right) and Mike Robinson. But for whatever reason this part of the podcast didn’t get much attention. Boy, it should have. Read more

Fisk University to End Historic Women’s Gymnastics Program After 2026 Season. By Walter Hudson / Diverse Issues in Higher Ed.

Fisk University will close its groundbreaking women’s gymnastics program following the 2026 season, marking the end of a pioneering chapter in HBCU athletics.

The Nashville institution made collegiate sports history in 2023 as the first historically Black college or university to establish a women’s artistic gymnastics team. However, the same pioneering status that brought national attention ultimately contributed to operational challenges that led to the program’s discontinuation. Read more

Shedeur Sanders Urged to Fix Deion-Era Flaw as Browns QB Labeled ‘Loser’ at Minicamp. By Namish Monga / Essentially Sports

Into this crucible steps Shedeur Sanders, a name dripping with swagger, yet carrying a specific, inherited challenge whispered across OTAs: mastering the pre-snap chess match his legendary father, Coach Prime, rarely had to play.

“Mary Kay Cabot was impressed by the improvement she’s already seen from Shedeur over a short period of time”, buzzed The DawgPodcast recently. The Plain Dealer stalwart observed a rookie transforming before her eyes: “If Shedeur Sanders continues to progress in training camp like he has over the past two weeks, he’ll narrow the gap on the other three Browns quarterbacks in the competition.” Read more

Site Information

Articles appearing in the Digest are archived on our home page. A collection of “Books/Podcast and Video Favorites ” is also found 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. The Week’s “Top Stories” are published on Saturday.

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 (Jun 16) – Important Current Stories On Race In America

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Featured

Political / Social

Education

World

Ethics / Morality / Religion

Historical / Cultural

Sports

Site Information

Like this:

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Featured

Political / Social

Education

World

Ethics / Morality / Religion

Historical / Cultural

Sports

Site Information

Share this:

Like this: