Race Inquiry Digest (May 31) – The Week’s Top Stories

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:  One of the great experiences we have had, recently, was to visit South Africa. Moreover, my wife and I were guest of then US Ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety. Admittedly, our observations on race relations are not scientific, but we did not see or hear of any evidence of traumatized “white people.” In fact, in all the restaurants and wineries we visited the overwhelming majority of the patrons were “white,” and the help was exclusively “black” African. Cape Town, we were told, is a favorite tourist destination of Europeans. The South African government has denied there is any evidence of “white genocide,” or disproportionate murders of white farmers. Clearly the Trump administration sees a domestic political advantage in spreading lies of white victimization in South Africa. For more on this subject listen to Ambassador Reuben Brigety’s interview at the Council on Foreign Relations (below). 

Political / Social

Reimagining Racial Categories: Moving Beyond “White People” in Our Lexicon. By Chat GPT (AI generated)  Read more 

The world witnessed George Floyd’s murder. 5 years later, what has changed?  By Michel Martin / NPR  Read more 

Trump’s Lie About Dead “White Farmers” Just Got Even More Grotesque. By Greg Sargent / TNR  Read more

Trump’s Week: Rob From the Poor, Give to the Rich, Steal Like Crazy. By Michael Tomasky / TNR  Read more 

Education

The New Dark Age. By Adam Serwer / The Atlantic  Read more 

Trump Is Holding International Students at Harvard Hostage. By  Elie Mystal / The Nation  Read more 

World

The United States and South Africa, With Reuben Brigety / Council on Foreign Relations Podcast Read more and listen here 

Netanyahu is turning Israel into a global pariah – the world has finally run out of patience. By Bel Trew / Independent   Read more

Ethics / Morality / Religion

Meet the Evangelical Abolitionists Who Can Guide Today’s Church. By Obie Tyler Todd / Christianity Today  Read more 

Christian nationalists decided empathy is a sin. Now it’s gone mainstream. ByAja Romano / Vox   Read more 

Historical / Cultural

We Are Not Being Asked to Run Into Cannon Fire. We Just Need to Speak Up. 

The Battle for Our Memory Is the Battle for Our Country. By Kimberlé W. Crenshaw  / Time  Read more 

Sports

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wins MVP award after leading Thunder to NBA’s best record. By Joe Vardon / The Athletic  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.

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