Featured
Trump is terrified of Black culture. But not for the reasons you think. By Saida Gundy / The Guardian (Image Rosemary Works School)
A look back at 1960s Black Arts Movement (BAM) explains why Trump is obsessed with eliminating Black artistry and the museums and institutions that support it
The ideological through-line from the overt white supremacy of the past to today is crystal clear. BAM’s legacy can be found in the threat that Black culture and cultural institutions pose to new versions of old authoritarianism. In recent months, the Trump administration has advanced its culture wars to defund, demolish and demote the institutionalization of Black arts and culture, notably through very public takeovers of the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, and Smithsonian Institution, along with several high-profile firings of Black experts and leadership in these and many other institutions reliant on federal funding. Read more
Political / Social
Mamdani Topples Cuomo in NYC Democratic Mayoral Primary Race. By Solcyré Burga / Time
“My friends, we have done it,” Zohran Mamdani told his supporters at a victory party in Queens. “I will be your Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City.”
Mamdani is set to become the Democratic candidate in New York City’s upcoming mayoral election, after delivering a shocking upset against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who long led polls in the primary race but conceded Tuesday night before the votes were even finished being counted as it became clear that Mamdani possessed a commanding and seemingly insurmountable lead. Read more
Related: Who is New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani? By Maeve Reston / Wash Post
Supreme Court lets Trump administration resume deportations to third countries without notice for now. By Melissa Quinn / CBS News
The Supreme Court on Monday lifted a lower court order that prevented the Trump administration from deporting migrants to countries that are not their places of origin without first giving them the chance to raise fears of torture, persecution or death.
The order from the high court is a victory for the Trump administration, which has faced recent setbacks from the justices in its efforts to swiftly deport migrants as part of its crackdown on immigration. The Supreme Court’s order clears the way for the Trump administration to resume deportations to third countries while legal proceedings continue. Read more
Related: ICE Will See You Now. By Jamelle Bouie / NYT
Related: Be prepared for “further escalation.” By Chauncey Devega / Salon
Related: The profound hypocrisy underlying America’s immigration policy. By Eduardo Porter / Wash Post
How ‘Unwoke’ Black America Thought They Had it Made But Played Into the Far Right’s Decades-Long Masterplan to Elevate a Figure Like Trump. By Lawrence Ware / The Root
Were we ever really woke? The current state of the country says otherwise.
It’s been one thing after another under the Trump administration. DOGE eliminated an untold number of federal jobs, sending thousands of workers, many of them Black, looking for employment. Virtually all Diversity Equity and Inclusion initiatives have been halted in the government. And this President is doing his best to reshape the way America remembers the past…especially as it relates to Black people.
Related: Joy Reid: I’m ‘Barely Hanging On’ to Being a Democrat. By Eboni Boykin-Patterson / Daily Beast
Related: House rejects Rep. Al Green’s impeachment bid against Trump. By Mychael Schnell / The Hill
Ketanji Brown Jackson is done playing nice with Neil Gorsuch. By Mark Joseph Stern / Slate
Not long ago, it seemed that Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Neil Gorsuch were forming a part-time alliance. The two still disagreed in countless cases, but they occasionally joined forces over shared passions that drew each away from their usual allies.
That burgeoning partnership may now be grinding to a halt. In his decision on Friday in Stanley v. Sanford—upholding a blatant act of disability discrimination—Gorsuch pointedly criticized Jackson’s dissent. Jackson, in response, condemned Gorsuch’s “narrow-minded” judicial philosophy as results-driven hackery, a criticism so acerbic that even Justice Sonia Sotomayor declined to endorse it. Read more
McDonald’s responds to nationwide boycott. By Hugh Cameron / Newsweek
McDonald’s has issued a response to the nationwide boycott that has been targeting its restaurants this week, fueled in part by the company’s decision to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. “As a brand that serves millions of people every day, McDonald’s opens our doors to everyone, and our commitment to inclusion remains steadfast,” the company told Newsweek.
Since Tuesday, the company has been subject to a boycott led by The People’s Union USA, a grassroots movement that has accused McDonald’s of price gouging, exploiting tax loopholes, “corporate greed” and of reneging on commitments to DEI. The group, which has also orchestrated boycotts of Walmart, Amazon and Target, plans further action against McDonald’s unless the company commits to major changes in corporate policy. Read more
Florida Republicans racially gerrymandered two state senate districts, court hears. By Richard Luscombe / The Guardian
GOP officials had previously manipulated districts as well to wrest voting power from Black electorate
In one district, they took a small chunk of St Petersburg heavy with minority voters and added it to an area of Tampa in a different county, and across a 10-mile waterway, leaving the remainder of its electorate “artificially white”, the court was told. Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, representing voters at a four-day trial in Tampa last week, said the state’s defense that the waters of Tampa Bay made the new district contiguous was ridiculous, pointing out in the lawsuit that “manatees don’t vote”. Read more
‘Oh No, We Don’t Like Black People!’ Elie Mystal Torches Companies Backing Off DEI For Trump. By Tommy Christopher / Mediaite
Some Juneteenth celebrations had to be scaled back this year over lost sponsorships in what is widely seen as a reaction to Trump’s anti-DEI push.
Elie Mystal torched companies backing away from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies, telling SiriusXM radio host Dean Obeidallah that President Donald Trump “breathes on them” and they’re like “Oh no! We don’t like Black people!” Listen here
Education
‘The Principal Farmer’ Is Teaching Black Families How to Build Sustainable Lives. By Aria Bell / Blavity
Patrick Muhammad, known as “The Principal Farmer,” is a rising educator and farmer who has gained recognition for his expertise and contributions within the agriculture industry.
The Atlanta-based entrepreneur has built a name for himself by trusting his inner voice and taking a leap of faith in uncharted territory 10 years ago. Having once sought a more sustainable lifestyle, Muhammad left suburban life to establish a homesteading lifestyle that provided resources to his family and others. Since then, he’s been featured on the competition TV show Home Free, appeared in a John Deere commercial and made a cameo in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Being Dad. Read more
How HBCUs fight for survival in Trump’s America. By Theodore R. Johnson / Wash Post
Despite attacks on DEI and colleges, HBCUs endure through bipartisan support. Students walk through the campus of Howard University on April 17 in Washington.
We are proud of the work that is done on those campuses.” Education Secretary Linda McMahon assured that academic and budgetary support for the schools would continue — “it’s one of the promises that the president made.” Walter Kimbrough, who is concluding his interim presidency at Talladega College in Alabama, told me recently, “Republicans and Democrats might not agree on a whole lot of things, but historically they have agreed on HBCUs.” Read more
The Republican Plot to Un-Educate America. By
Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” is an extinction-level event for higher education that would annihilate the country’s intellectual potential.
The Trump administration’s bombastic attacks on the nation’s most prestigious universities have commanded the public’s attention all year long. Now congressional Republicans are poised to dramatically expand that onslaught. If you think the last few months have been bad for Harvard, brace yourself—the “big, beautiful bill” is coming, and with it, a new dimension of destruction. The bill weaponizes working-class families’ reliance on debt to finance their college dreams with such intensity that not only will it push millions to the financial brink, it will push them out of higher education altogether. (See above article on HBCUs) Read more
Behind Closed Doors, Harvard Officials Debate a Risky Truce With Trump. Michael S. Schmidt and Alan Blinder / NYT
The university is trying to avoid the appearance of appeasement, something other powerful institutions that made deals with President Trump found impossible.
Harvard University, battered by a devastating conflict with the Trump administration that has jeopardized its elite standing, is facing a problem as it weighs a possible truce with President Trump: how to strike a deal without compromising its values or appearing to have capitulated. Read more
World
How the Attacks on Iran Are Part of a Much Bigger Global Struggle. By Thomas L. Friedman / NYT
There are so many things to say in the wake of the U.S. bombing of three key Iranian nuclear facilities that it is easy to get lost in the gripping details. So for now, let me try to step back and explore the global, regional and local forces shaping this story. What’s really going on here?
It is a very, very big drama, and it is not confined to the Middle East. Read more
Related: Mission Not Accomplished. By Michelle Goldberg / NYT
Related: Editorial: Trump’s bombing of Iran is dangerous and immoral. By NCR Editorial Staff / NCR
Gazans struggling in Israel’s other war fear being forgotten. Ghada Abdulfattah / CS Monitor
Against the background of Israeli airstrikes on Iran, Iranian missile barrages against Israel, residents of the Gaza Strip fear they are being forgotten, as Israel’s other war rages on in the background.
Starvation in the enclave is worsening, residents say. Communication networks and humanitarian services are being cut due to dwindling fuel. Reports continue of Israeli forces firing on crowds gathering near food distribution sites. Dozens of Palestinians are being killed daily, eyewitnesses and United Nations and Gaza health officials say. Read more
Elon Musk Is Playing God. By Charlie Warzel and Hana Kiros / The Atlantic
The tech billionaire wants to shape humanity’s future. Not everyone has a place there.
In April, Ezibon Khamis was dispatched to Akobo, South Sudan, to document the horrors as humanitarian services collapsed in the middle of a cholera outbreak. As a representative of the NGO Save the Children, Khamis would be able to show the consequences of massive cuts to U.S. foreign assistance made by the Department of Government Efficiency and the State Department. Seven of the health facilities that Save the Children had supported in the region have fully closed, and 20 more have partly ceased operations. Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
Evangelicals push Trump into conflict with Iran. By Amanda Marcotte / Salon
“As a Christian growing up in Sunday school,” Cruz said, “I was taught from the Bible that those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed.” He added, “I want to be on the blessing side of things.”
Carlson, despite being a war skeptic, moved on without challenging Cruz’s assumption that the U.S. should behave as a Christian theocracy instead of a secular democracy. But Cruz’s statement is noteworthy, because it’s a head nod to a factor in Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran, one which most of the press is underplaying: The role of right-wing Christian fanaticism. Read more
Acknowledging racism offers healing grace, Fordham theologian’s book says. By Mike Mastromatteo / NCR
Fordham University theology professor Jeannine Hill Fletcher has come up with a compelling metaphor to capture the essence of her new book, Grace of the Ghosts: A Theology of Institutional Reparation.
The “ghosts” Hill Fletcher speaks of are the near forgotten non-white actors in mid-19th and early 20th century America who struggled to keep their faith alive while coping with the racism and white supremacist attitudes of political, social and clerical leaders. The “grace” the author refers to are the opportunities for healing and reconciliation inherent in unearthing the stories of Black, Indigenous, Asian and Latinx peoples who in their own way resisted the dehumanizing impact of white supremacy. Read more
Why Pro-Life Black Christians Rejected Pro-Life Politics. By Daniel K. Williams / Christianity Today
Black and white Christians in America could have been allies in the fight for life across racial and partisan lines. Post-Dobbs, can we learn from recent history?
Cynics might argue that Jessie Jackson’s shift on abortion was an act of political opportunism—an attempt to win the nomination even at the cost of his convictions. But they would probably be wrong, for Jackson’s shift was part of a much larger pattern among African Americans: In the 1970s, Black Protestants were more likely than any other group of American Christians to oppose abortion. Today they are more likely than any other group of American Christians to support abortion rights. Read more
The Pulpit Is on the Precipice of the Schoolhouse Steps, and People Are Fighting Back. By Danny Cherry / Progressive Magazine
Local resistance is blocking state legislation to bring Christian nationalism into public schools.
This push for more religion in school comes on the heels of the “parents rights movement,” which makes transgender people, “wokeness,” and teachers deemed liberal scapegoats for all societal ills. This was intentional on the part of a handful of conservative and religious organizations. That’s why places such as Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana have seen a rise in bills meant to tear down the wall between church and state. Read more
Historical / Cultural
Guess Who Else Sent Troops to Quell Protests in American Streets. Schiff / NYT
A decade before America’s original No Kings movement, Ben Franklin stood in London before the House of Commons and — while attempting to explain in some small way the American mind — warned against sending troops to America to quell unrest. “I do not see how a military force can be applied to that purpose,” Franklin declared, adding, prophetically: “They will not find a rebellion. They may indeed make one.” His words fell on deaf ears. In October 1768 nearly a thousand redcoats marched into Boston, a trail of artillery behind them.
As we limp our broken way toward the Fourth of July, it helps to remember the political lessons forged on those Boston streets. Protests are as much a part of the American experiment as baseball and barbecue. And nothing more effectively powers a low-simmering resistance than disproportionate force. Read more
My Grandfather’s Greatest Legacy. By Justin Giboney / Christianity Today
His life as a pastor in rust-belt Illinois was rich in service, dignity, and the imitation of Christ. I want to follow in his steps.
I was in town for a street-naming ceremony in honor of my late grandfather, Bishop Thomas Lee Cooper, a cleric in the Black Pentecostal denomination Church of the Living God, Pillar and Ground of Truth (PGT Nation). He served that community as a pastor and civic advocate for decades. He sought voter rights and equality in education and often worked with local sheriffs and courts to get people out of jail. Once they were out, he’d help them find jobs to rejoin society. In fact, he was called to help secure the release of Rev. Jesse Jackson from a Decatur jail in 1999. Read more
National Urban League Report Examines Five Years After George Floyd: “A Movement, Not a Moment.” By Walter Hudson / Diverse Issues In Higher Ed.
The National Urban League has released a new report examining the progress and setbacks in the fight for racial justice in the five years since George
The report, titled “George Floyd Five Years Later: Was it a Moment or a Movement?” traces the trajectory of racial justice initiatives since May 25, 2020, when Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. It details how initial outrage and corporate pledges of more than $66 billion for racial justice programs have faced increasing backlash, culminating in recent executive orders eliminating federal diversity programs. Read more
‘We’re going to honor James Brown’: Fight continues to keep JBA legacy alive. By
As progress continues on the replacement of the old James Brown Arena, Brown’s family has been fighting to keep his name above the door.
This comes as the Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority says it’s looking to sell the rights to the name. The agency claimed it has always intended to, despite early drawings of the new building that featured the name of the Godfather of Soul as well as a URL on an authority’s website referring to it as the new James Brown Arena. This has left a bad taste in many people’s mouths, including Augusta’s commissioners, who say a “new James Brown Arena” was part of the promise when voters approved a special sales tax. Read more
Kevin Durant’s lonely basketball journey trudges on to the next stop. By Candace Buckner / Wash Post
Oklahoma City Thunder players, fans celebrate NBA title with parade. By ABC News
Oklahoma City turned out Tuesday to celebrate the hometown Thunder’s first NBA title.
The celebration began inside the Paycom Center, where Thunder players and fans gathered for the Champions Opening Ceremony. In addition to the players, the star of the opening ceremony was the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, which the Thunder earned Sunday night with a 103-91 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals. Read more
A woman has never run a sub-4-minute mile. Will Faith Kipyegon be the first? By Cindy Boren / Wash Post
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