Featured
The Echoes of America’s Revolutions. By Ronald J. Sheehy, Editor / Race Inquiry Digest
The American Revolution is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones.
Ken Burns’ The American Revolution reminds us that the struggles shaping the nation’s birth are not distant episodes but recurring chapters of the same unfinished story. Three forces—slavery, resistance to autocratic rule, and internal conflict among Americans—defined the revolution of the eighteenth century, reemerged in the Civil War of the nineteenth, and again animate the turbulence of our own age. What emerges is a powerful through line: the American people repeatedly rise against forms of domination, whether imposed by a distant monarch, a planter aristocracy, or a modern political movement committed to concentrating power. That tradition should inform and motivate our present resistance. Read more
Rethinking the Criteria for the Presidency. By Ronald J. Sheehy, Editor / Race Inquiry Digest
The Constitution sets only three requirements to run for President of the United States: a candidate must be 35 years old, a natural-born citizen, and a resident of the nation for 14 years.
These minimalist criteria reflected the founders’ desire for openness and accessibility in a young republic. But in the modern era—defined by mass media, technological manipulation, and global complexity—these standards are no longer adequate. Read more
The Week’s Top Stories
Political / Social
The Trump train — and its conductor — are losing steam. By Heather Digby Parton / Salon
Americans are growing weary of the president’s cruel policies and stagnant economy
Despite his extravagant campaign promises, Trump’s economy is still in the doldrums, largely because he choked off the crisp recovery that was underway when he took office with his tariff agenda. His anti-immigrant policies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and warmongering in the Caribbean are cruel; his corruption is flagrant and his obsession with renovating and decorating the White House is downright bizarre. His personal vengeance project is an embarrassment to all involved. Read more
Related: The President Is Losing Control of Himself. By Tom Nichols / The Atlantic
Anti-Blackness Is at the Heart of Trump’s Toxic Politics. By Perry Bacon / TNR
Legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw says anti-Blackness is an essential tool in Trump’s authoritarian playbook.
So, you all put out a report recently about the Trump administration: “Anti-Blackness is the Point: Racism, Misogyny, and Donald Trump’s Assault on Equal Opportunity.” So I want to go through that a little bit. And at the beginning, talk about why you used the phrase “anti-Blackness,” as opposed to racism? Read more
The mass deportation campaign is already backfiring. By Editorial Board / Wash Post
Approval for Trump’s immigration approach slipped following over-the-top raids in sanctuary cities.
The president’s over-the-top approach to deportations is almost certainly the reason why. While Homan has vowed to prioritize going after the “worst of the worst,” the administration has rounded up more than just hardened criminals. Americans can see the difference between carting off a rapist and deporting the neighborhood gardener who pays taxes. Read more
White nationalism fuels tolerance for political violence nationwide. By Murat Haner, Justin Pickett and Melissa Sloan / The Conversation
Political violence is certainly not new in American society, but current patterns differ in key ways. We found that, today, white nationalism is a key driver of support for political violence – a sign that white nationalism poses substantial danger to U.S. political stability.
In the 1970s, radical left-wing groups often targeted government property to send political messages. Today, however, much of the violence is aimed directly at individuals, often with the intent to harm or kill political opponents. Read more
Mississippi’s Black Voters Face New Threat in Supreme Court. By Brandon Tensley / Capital B (Image by AP)
Various historical barriers to casting ballots in person make having a mail-in option crucial.
Mississippi is, notably, the state with the greatest proportion of Black people: 38%. The court will decide whether mail-in ballots must be received by Election Day, or whether they must be postmarked by that date and can arrive within a specified grace period afterward. The case could have significant implications for Black voters not just in Mississippi but also in more than a dozen other states and Washington, D.C., that have grace periods for mail-in voting. Black voters have traditionally faced a variety of barriers to in-person voting — including longer wait times and polling location changes — that advocates say make having a mail-in voting option crucial. Read more
Black and Latino homeowners in Philly face discrimination when appraisers assess their properties. By Gregory Squires and Ira Goldstein / The Conversation
For most families, owning a home is the primary way to accumulate wealth and transfer that wealth to future generations.
But in Philadelphia and other U.S. cities, studies have shown that if you live in a Black or Hispanic neighborhood, your home is more likely to be appraised below its market value when compared to homes in non-Hispanic white neighborhoods. This is called home appraisal bias. Read more
Education
The full list of US universities at risk of losing state department funding over DEI support. By Joseph Gedeon / The Guardian
More than three dozen universities including Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Duke have their participation in a federal research partnership on the chopping block after the state department proposed to suspend them over their diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices.
Last week, the Guardian obtained an internal memo and spreadsheet showing that the state department is moving to exclude 38 institutions from the Diplomacy Lab program, which pairs university researchers with state department policy offices on foreign policy projects. The suspensions would take effect on 1 January, and because the list is not finalized, the schools have not yet been informed. Read more
New moves to dismantle the Education Department raise legal questions. By Cory Turner / NPR
The Trump administration unveiled a sweeping plan Tuesday to sidestep Congress and outsource large pieces of the U.S. Department of Education, telling lawmakers and staff that it would shift work dedicated to, among other things, elementary and secondary education, postsecondary education and Indian education to other federal agencies.
Opponents of the administration’s move say, given that Congress created these offices and explicitly located them inside the Education Department, the White House cannot legally move their work without Congress’ approval. Read more
Trump’s Anti-Affordability Agenda Has a New Target: College. By Perry Bacon / TNR
University of Iowa sociology professor Louise Seamster says that the administration’s changes to financial aid policies are going to make our colleges less racially and economically diverse.
If these changes continue, colleges will gradually start enrolling fewer students of color and fewer students from low-income families, Seamster says. That may be Trump’s intention. With college graduates increasingly voting for Democrats, the GOP fears universities and higher education. Read more
Jay-Z’s Foundation Transforms College Access Through Family Support. By Jamal Watson / The Eduledger
Founded by hip-hop icon Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and his mother, Gloria Carter, the Shawn Carter Foundation has spent years opening doors for students of color who face barriers to higher education. What sets the organization apart is its holistic approach—one that recognizes education as a family endeavor.
The foundation’s comprehensive support begins with intensive college preparation workshops that run from October through March each year. Students learn essential skills—from proper essay writing to understanding SAT and ACT strategies—but the programming goes deeper than test scores. Read more
World
Trump Says South Africa Is Not Invited to G20 Summit in U.S. in 2026. By John Eligon / NYT
President Trump said on Wednesday that South Africa would not be invited to next year’s Group of 20 summit in the United States, just days after South Africa finished hosting the annual gathering, in the latest of a series of attacks on Africa’s largest economy.
Mr. Trump did not attend the meeting, a gathering of the world’s largest economies, citing the false narrative that white South Africans are being indiscriminately killed and having their land seized. In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, the president repeated the claim. Read more
What Is Trump’s 28-Point Plan to End Russia’s War in Ukraine? Paul Sonne and Ivan Nechepurenko / NYT
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said a 28-point plan that President Trump is pressuring Ukraine to accept could “serve as a foundation for a final peace agreement.”
It would also be a big victory for the Russian leader, placing limits on Western power, forcing Ukraine to cede territory it hasn’t lost on the battlefield, restricting the size of its military and ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine. Read more
Related: The Murky Plan That Ensures a Future War. By Anne Applebaum / The Atlantic
Beware of ‘Regime Change’ in Venezuela. By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J S Davies / The Progressive Magazine
For decades, Washington has sold the world a deadly lie: that so-called regime change, in which the United States removes other countries’ governments by force, can somehow deliver freedom to these countries.
But those who have lived through this process know U.S. bombs and blockades cannot deliver democracy outside its borders, and that “regime change” only brings death, dismemberment, and despair. Now, President Donald Trump’s administration is dusting off that same playbook for Venezuela. Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
“Policy Violence”: ICE Raids & Shredding of Social Safety Net Are Linked, Says Bishop William Barber. By Amy Goodman / Democracy Now
On Monday, Bishop William Barber and other religious leaders gathered in Charlotte to demand an end to ICE raids. “What you have is a conglomerate of policy violence, and it’s deadly,” says Barber, who is organizing protests against ICE and Medicaid cuts across the country.
Barber notes that 51,000 people may die from preventable deaths because of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, according to research from the University of Pennsylvania and Yale. Read more
Related: They’re doing to America what they did to Christianity. By Bill Mckibben / The Guardian
Who can tame Trump? An unlikely candidate is emerging: the Catholic church. By Simon Tisdall / The Guardian
Inequality, immigration and civil rights are the battlegrounds on which the church, and some other Christian denominations, are fighting
Step forward Leo XIV, the “American pope”, backed by the US conference of Catholic bishops and the clergy and grassroots activists of the Catholic church – unexpected, newly emerging standard-bearers for country-wide resistance to the Trumpist scourge. The bishops threw down the gauntlet in a “special message” this month. Inequality, immigration and civil rights are the battlegrounds on which the church, and some other Christian denominations, have begun to fight. Read more
African Methodist Episcopal bishop, social justice advocate Reginald Jackson dies at 71. By Adelle M. Banks / RNS
Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, a leader of the African Methodist Episcopal Church who was known for his commitment to voting rights and other social justice issues, died on Tuesday (Nov. 25).
“With profound sorrow, the Jackson family announces the passing of Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, who transitioned unexpectedly,” his family said in a Wednesday statement. “We are heartbroken by this immeasurable loss and ask for your prayers, love, and respect for our privacy as we navigate this difficult time.” Read more
Historical / Cultural
Barn Where Emmett Till Was Killed Will Soon Be A Memorial. By Joe Jurado / Newsone
The barn where Emmett Till was tortured and brutally murdered will be turned into a memorial after being purchased by The Emmett Till Interpretive Center.
According to AP, the Emmett Till Interpretive Center announced on Sunday that it purchased the Mississippi barn with the assistance of writer/producer Shonda Rhimes, who donated $1.5 million to the center. In an open letter announcing the purchase, the center said it plans to have the memorial open to the public ahead of the 75th anniversary of Emmett Till’s lynching. Read more
The Right Wants to Write Indigenous People Out of US History. We Won’t Let Them. By Johnnie Jae / Truthout
The Trump administration is reviving the visual language of manifest destiny and weaponizing the US’s founding myths.
This revival is not about remembering the past or indulging in a trendy, nostalgic aesthetic. It’s about promoting and embracing a version of “America” built on authoritarianism and white supremacy. It’s a version that elevates conquest, cruelty, and dominance as virtue and heritage over liberty and justice. Read more
Related: Make Thanksgiving Radical Again. By Kali Holloway / The Nation
Allensworth: How Racism Destroyed A Black Town In California. By Bilal G. Morris / Newsone
Almost 70 miles south of Fresno, California, tucked away in the small county of Tulare is a tiny state park. Although it may not look like much, it was once a true testament to Black American resilience.
How do you get a whole race of people to uplift themselves after years of persecution? This was the very question Colonel Allen Allensworth asked himself before he embarked on one of the most important journeys in African American history–to build the first Black self-sufficient town in California. Sadly, that journey would never get to live up to its full potential. Like so many other symbols of Black excellence in the early 1900s, Allensworth’s dream would be poisoned by racism’s venomous sting. Read more
‘The First Eight’: Jim Clyburn reflects on Jim Crow, civil rights, and today. By Ken Makin / CSMonitor
George Washington Murray served as South Carolina’s eighth Black congressman. Jim Clyburn is the state’s ninth. The time between their elections? Just about a century. In “The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation,” Representative Clyburn gives voice to the ambivalence surrounding the almost-century in between.
“The First Eight” tells the story of Reconstruction – how Africans in America gained political power despite inconceivable odds and atrocities. The book also explores what’s happened in the years following – the rise of Jim Crow; the Civil Rights Movement, known as the Second Reconstruction; and how we’ve come to define our tenuous democracy over the past 60 years. Read more
Viola Fletcher, oldest survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre, dies at 111. By Emily Langer / Wash Post
Viola Fletcher, one of the last two known survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and a plaintiff in a symbolic lawsuit seeking reparations for the attack — one of the worst episodes of racial violence in American history — has died.
Her death was announced Monday by Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols, who did not share additional details. “Mother Fletcher,” as she was known, “endured more than anyone should, yet she spent her life lighting a path forward with purpose,” Nichols said in a statement. Read more
Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, Black Power Activist Known as H. Rap Brown, Dies at 82. By Paul Vitello / NYT
Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, who as H. Rap Brown defined Black militancy in the 1960s with a call to arms against white oppression, and who later lived quietly as a Muslim cleric and shopkeeper until his arrest in 2000 in the murder of a sheriff’s deputy, died on Sunday in a federal prison hospital in North Carolina.
His death, at the Federal Medical Center, Butner, was confirmed by Kristie Breshears, the director of communications for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which operates the hospital. She did not specify a cause. In February, The Washington Informer reported that Mr. Al-Amin had multiple myeloma and that his health was deteriorating. He had been serving a life sentence without parole. Read more
Sports
The NFL Pretends It’s Above Politics. It Never Was. By Tim Miller / The Bulwark
Tim Miller sits down with ESPN’s Seth Wickersham to talk football, politics, and Seth’s new book, American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback.
They get into how the NFL became a culture-war stage, the league’s bizarre “socialist” structure, owners who change politics to suit their stadium deals, why evaluating quarterbacks is still a coin flip, the Manning dynasty, race and the rise of black quarterbacks, and the chaos inside college football’s coaching carousel. Listen here
NBA Legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Announces Off-Court Move. By Angelo Guinhawa / Athlon Sports
Off the court, Abdul-Jabbar is a civil rights and political activist who uses his platform to inspire change. He’s an adult and children’s book author and public speaker, who often talks about topics in race and equality.
Abdul-Jabbar is also a philanthropist, who has supported children education and social justice. In fact, the mission of his “The Skyhook Foundation” is to “Give Kids a Shot that Can’t be Blocked” by promoting “educational STEAM opportunities to underserved communities.” Read more
Overhyped or underrated? What to make of Browns QB Shedeur Sanders’ first start. By Jeff Howe / The Athletic
Whether you were looking for reasons to love Shedeur Sanders or to doubt him, the rookie quarterback’s starting debut Sunday had something for everyone.
But here’s the fairest assessment: No one’s career trajectory should ever be judged by his first start. The Cleveland Browns’ fifth-round draft pick finished the day 11-of-20 passing for 209 yards, one touchdown and one interception during a 24-10 victory in Las Vegas. He did enough to help them beat the reeling Raiders, but the Browns also delivered a perfectly complementary game plan to lift their rookie, which is how it should be under the circumstances. Read more
Marquette King was one of the NFL’s best punters, then he was gone: ‘I’m definitely blackballed.’ By Michael-Shawn Dugar / The Athletic
A second-team All-Pro selection in 2016, King was one of football’s best punters for a half-decade, leading the league in punt average in 2013 and in punt yards in 2014. But at a position where many play into their mid-to-late 30s — six players 34 or older have punted for NFL teams in 2025 — King played his last game at 29. And he thinks he knows why.
“I’m not a punter,” he told NFL Films. “I’m an athlete who punts.” “I just had too much personality,” he said. “I got a lot of personality, and people just don’t know how to handle that, or people who are insecure with who they are — (if) they don’t feel like they can have some type of control over how you move or what you do, then it’s an issue.” Read more
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