Featured
Ken Burns on the Holocaust, FDR, and Anti-Semitism. Michael Tomasky / The New Republic Podcast
The new documentary, which debuts Sunday on PBS, digs deep into what FDR and the American public did—and did not do—to stop the genocide.
A good documentary about a well-known historical epoch reaffirms what we knew. A great one reaffirms what we knew but, through relentless and surprising detail, makes the history new and relevant. The U.S. and the Holocaust, the new three-part documentary from Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Sarah Botstein, makes the story of American reluctance to help the Jews bracingly new—and chillingly relevant.
And just in case you thought the filmmakers view all this as ancient history, the film concludes with a sound-bite from Donald J. Trump and a montage of footage from Charlottesville and the insurrection of January 6, 2021. “It’s been frightening … to be working [on] this film and be immersed in that time period while these things were happening around us,” said Novick. We will all find out soon enough just how much history we’ve learned. Listen here
Related: The ‘Great Replacement’ Delusion. By Joel Newman / The Bulwark
Political / Social
Biden Calls On Americans To Speak Out Against Hate-Fueled Violence. By Colleen Long and Darlene Superville / HuffPost
The president’s speech on Thursday focused on the violence directed at Black, Latino and LGBTQ Americans.
A grocery store in Buffalo. A nightclub in Orlando. A Walmart in El Paso: All sites of hate-fueled violence against Black, Hispanic or LGBTQ Americans over the past five years. And all somber symbols of a “through line” of hate that must be rooted out, President Joe Biden said Thursday. The administration gathered educators, faith leaders and others who have experienced violence firsthand for a discussion on how stop the violence, and promised action. Read more
Ron DeSantis’s Cruel Treatment of Migrants Is the Future of GOP Policymaking. By Alex Shephard / The New Republic
“States like Massachusetts, New York, and California will better facilitate the care of these individuals who they have invited into our country by incentivizing illegal immigration through their designation as ‘sanctuary states’ and support for the Biden Administration’s open border policies,” DeSantis’s communications director, Taryn Fenske, said in a statement. There is no actual point to DeSantis’s actions beyond weaponizing his own petulance—and the fervent hope that somewhere, even if it’s just online, some libs will be triggered. It’s a policy that accomplishes nothing beyond doing a grave indecency to some needful human beings for the sake of a live-action troll job. Read more
Related: A Lesson From the Past for Ron DeSantis. By Joshua Zeitz / Politico
Stacey Abrams Makes Big Push For Early In-Person Voter Turnout Amid New Election Laws. By Bill Barrow / HuffPost
Georgia’s Republican-backed voting laws make voting by mail tough to navigate.
“It’s self-evident we have to have a big early vote in-person,” said Abrams campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo, arguing the new mail ballot procedures make it risky for Democrats to rely too heavily on that option. “What’s not self-evident,” Groh-Wargo continued, “is how the hell you do that.” Read more
Herschel Walker Tests the Importance of ‘Candidate Quality.’ By Frank Bruni / NYT
The unbridgeable divide is between the two candidates’ credibility and coherence.
To read a deeply reported profile of Warnock by Shaila Dewan and Mike Baker that The Times published in January 2021 is to encounter a man with some minor messiness in his past, and with a history of blunt talk about racism in America that could be a political liability with some voters. But what comes across much more strongly is Warnock’s thoughtfulness and seriousness of purpose as he rose to the role of senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. worshiped and preached. Thoughtfulness isn’t one of Walker’s hallmarks. Read more
Are Latino Voters Actually Fleeing the Democratic Party? By Steve Phillips / The Nation
In Texas, unapologetically progressive Latinx candidates saw victories across the state, contradicting the claims of an exodus from the Democratic Party.
Last week’s results show that Latinos are ready for leadership that promises change. And when your day-to-day life is defined by economic challenges and racist obstacles, progressive change is the order of the day. Read more
Atlanta is the ‘Black Mecca.’ But It’s Become Unrecognizable. By Teresa Wiltz / Politico
Atlanta’s growth over the past half century has delivered great prosperity. But it’s also the capital of yawning racial disparities. Shown is a mural at Morehouse College, a historically Black men’s college, pays homage to some of its storied alumni, including Martin Luther King, Jr. | Patrick Cavan Brown for POLITICO
In 1973, the year I turned 12, in a reverse of the Great Migration, my family moved South, decamping from the virtually all-white environs of Staten Island, New York, for my mom’s hometown, Atlanta. To be a Black kid growing up in Atlanta in the 70s and 80s was to experience a version of America almost ripped from a counter history novel. This was Atlanta as in The ATL, Hotlanta, The A, Wakanda — pick your nomenclature here — post-Civil Rights, Black Power Atlanta. Atlanta is a paradox: It’s dynamic, ever-growing, the hip-hop capital, a far more prosperous metropolis than the one I grew up in. But it’s also the capital of yawning racial disparities. Black entertainment moguls live in gated suburban compounds, while others in impoverished pockets of Black Atlanta struggle to get by. Read more
Asian American women fall off by 80% at corporate leadership levels, a new report says. By Kimmy Yam / NBC News
Asian American women deal with being seen as overly compliant, as “tiger moms” and as hypersexualized in the workplace.
The model minority stereotype may depict Asian Americans as uniformly successful, but a new report exposes how the racial group continues to struggle with advancement in the workplace, particularly Asian American women. New analysis released by the management consulting company McKinsey found that while Asian Americans are heavily represented in corporate jobs, their presence drops off significantly at the board of director level, with Asian American women experiencing a particularly severe drop, at 80%. Read more
How the Big Lie poison continues to spread — and why it’s getting worse. By Chauncey Devega / Salon
Reason and truth will never defeat the Big Lie — its supporters are waging a religious war against democracy
The Big Lie is animated by one absurd but intractable assumption: America is not a “real” democracy unless the Republicans win. All other electoral and political outcomes are fraudulent, illegal or otherwise illegitimate. When Republicans “win,” even if through blatant illegality and fraud, democracy is “working.” When the Republican lose, they claim that democracy is critically damaged or broken and must be “protected” according to their suggestions and rules. Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
Let’s Talk, a new racial unity initiative, takes evangelical leaders on tour of Black history. By Adelle M. Banks / RNS
Most people did not realize the economic impact slavery had on the founding of the United States of America,’ said Let’s Talk founder.
These revelations, and many more, came out of an early morning tour Tuesday (Sept. 13) of an otherwise empty National Museum of African American History and Culture for 42 Black, white and Asian American evangelical Christian leaders, sponsored by an initiative called Let’s Talk, which aims to foster racial unity among evangelicals. Read more
Poll: Jewish voters are highly motivated and concerned about American democracy. By Yonat Shimron / RNS
Abortion is a driving issue, especially among younger Jews, but the threat to the future of democracy appears to be an even larger issue in the Jewish Electorate Institute poll.
But while abortion is a driving issue, especially among younger Jews, the threat to democracy appeared to be an even larger impetus to vote. The poll found 74% of Jewish voters watched the Jan. 6 committee hearings on TV, with 39% saying they watched them “very closely.” The hearings motivated 57% of them to vote, the poll said. Read more
How St. Louis churches are revealing the disparities in the air we breathe. By Britny Cordera / RNS
Congregations in St. Louis are working with local scientists to monitor the air quality in communities affected by industrial pollution.
MCU organizers say they see their efforts to collect and publish data on air quality as part of their spiritual commitment to racial and environmental justice. Since many religions believe that the Earth is sacred, created by a divine being, the effort to protect the environment brings congregations of varying backgrounds together to fight against climate change, according to Kentaro Kumanomido, an environmental justice organizer with United Congregations of the Metro East, another faith-based organization that worked closely with MCU on the air quality rally. Read more
A ‘born and bred racist’ recounts how he became a best-selling Christian author, and why White evangelical support for Trump is misunderstood. By John Blake / CNN
There is arguably no one better equipped to explain how racism infiltrates White churches — and how one can escape its pull — than Philip Yancey.
Yancey went from being a self-described “born and bred racist” to becoming one of the most popular authors and speakers in contemporary America. His books have sold an estimated 17 million copies and been translated into 50 languages. Several, such as “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” and “Where Is God When It Hurts?” have become contemporary Christian classics. Yancey, 72, says he wanted to tell a story about what it takes to change the “calloused conscience” of someone who was raised to view Black people as inferior. Read more
America’s Christian majority is on track to end as more leave religion. By Michael Levitt / NPR
Christianity remains the majority religion in the United States, as it has been since the country’s founding, but it’s on the decline.
A new study from the Pew Research Center shows that America’s Christian majority has been shrinking for years, and if recent trends continue, Christians could make up less than half the U.S. population within a few decades. The study found that Christians accounted for about 90% of the population 50 years ago, but as of 2020 that figure had slumped to about 64%. “If recent trends in switching [changing one’s religious affiliation] hold, we projected that Christians could make up between 35% and 46% of the U.S. population in 2070,” said Stephanie Kramer, the senior researcher who led the study. Read more
Historical / Cultural
Texas officials approve Texas 1836 Project to counter the 1619 Project. By Claretta Bellamy / NBC News
The 15-page draft brochure will outline Texas’ history and contributions.
Some critics of the Texas 1836 Project have pointed out their concerns with the pamphlet — including its title, which highlights the year of Texas’ independence from Mexico but does not include the emancipation date of enslaved Black and Indigenous people. Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of the 1619 Project, said the Texas project was a tactic to limit the discussion of slavery. Read more
Alabama Sidesteps Compensation For Survivor Of ’63 KKK Blast. By Jay Reeves / HuffPost
Sarah Collins Rudolph lost an eye and has pieces of glass inside her body from a Ku Klux Klan bombing that killed her sister and three other Black girls inside an Alabama church 59 years ago.
Gov. Kay Ivey sidestepped the question of financial compensation two years ago in apologizing to Rudolph for her “untold pain and suffering,” saying legislative involvement was needed. But nothing has been done despite the efforts of attorneys representing Rudolph, leaving unresolved the question of payment even though victims of other attacks, including 9/11, were compensated. Read more
More DNA sought from remains of possible Tulsa race massacre victims. CBS News
Scientists consulting with a public oversight committee investigating the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre are seeking to identify additional victims of the attacks as part of an ongoing effort to connect them to living descendants. They shared updated recommendations and plans this week to extract more DNA from recently reburied remains and search new sites for additional bodies. Read more
Gun violence has killed at least 1 rapper every year since 2018. By Amir Vera / CNN
(Top, from left to right): PnB Rock, King Von, Young Dolph. (Bottom, from left to right): Pop Smoke, Nipsey Hussle, and XXXTentacion
The death of rapper PnB Rock in Los Angeles this week stunned the hip-hop community, but brought up familiar conversations that have been taking place for years. PnB Rock isn’t the first rapper to die by gun violence, but his death is another addition to a trend that dates back to at least 2018. Each year since then, gun violence — whether through robbery or disagreement — has killed at least one rapper who was either already famous or on the cusp of crossover fame. Read more
The Woman King’ Review: She Slays. By Manohla Dargis / NYT
Viola Davis leads a strong cast into battle in an epic from Gina Prince-Bythewood, inspired by real women warriors.
“The Woman King,” a drama about the real women soldiers of the precolonial Kingdom of Dahomey in West Africa. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, the movie is filled with palace intrigues, sumptuous ceremonies and stirring battles, and features, as golden-age Hollywood liked to brag, a cast of thousands (or thereabouts!). Yet while it evokes the old-fashioned spectacles the studios habitually turned out long before Marvel, there is no precedent for this one. Rated PG-13 for human trafficking and battleground violence. Running time: 2 hours 6 minutes. In theaters. Read more
R. Kelly Convicted On Multiple Counts In Child Pornography Trial. By Michael Tarm and Joey Cappelletti / HuffPost
A federal jury has convicted the R&B star of child pornography and enticement charges in his hometown of Chicago.
Kelly faced 13 counts. Kelly, 55, was found guilty on three counts of child pornography and three counts of child enticement. A conviction of just one count of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, while receipt of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum of five years. Judges can order that defendants sentenced earlier in separate cases serve their new sentence simultaneously with or only after the first term is fully served. Federal inmates must serve at least 85% of their sentences. Read more
Black or Bot? The Long, Sordid History of Co-opting Blackness Online. By Morgan Jerkins / Mother Jones
Trolls and foreign agents love to exploit African-American culture for political gain
This manipulation of Blackness for political gain was on full display during the 2016 election. According to a 2018 New York Timesreport, Russia’s Internet Research Agency (IRA), which fueled the country’s influence campaign and was owned by a close Putin ally, “created a dozen websites disguised as African American in origin, with names like blackmattersus.com, blacktivist.info, blacktolive.org and blacksoul.us.” Read more
Sports
Howard blanks Morehouse College, 31-0 in New York Classic. By AP
Quinton Williams threw two touchdown passes and Antoine Murray ran for two more as Howard broke a scoreless tie at halftime to post a 31-0 rout of Division II Morehouse College Saturday in the Inaugural HBCU New York Classic. The historic rivals met for the 38th time since the series started in 1923. The Bison are 26-10-2 all-time in the series and have won all five meetings since its revival in 2010. Read more
Michael Jordan jersey becomes priciest game-worn memorabilia ever sold. By Michael Charles / Wash Post
A jersey worn by Michael Jordan in Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz sold Thursday for $10.1 million via Sotheby’s auction house.
After selling for more than double Sotheby’s initial estimations, the “Last Dance” jersey is the most expensive piece of game-worn sports memorabilia ever auctioned. This mark was previously set at $9.3 million in May for a jersey worn by Diego Maradona in Mexico City during thee 1986 World Cup quarterfinals, in which he scored his historic “Hand of God” goal. Read more
Baseball honors Roberto Clemente, who broke barriers for Latino players. By Frederic J. Frommer / Wash Post
Martín Dihigo was Shohei Ohtani decades before Angels’ MVP candidate. By Cesar Brioso / USA Today
Martín Dihigo is the only player enshrined in baseball Halls of Fame in at least four countries: the U.S., Cuba, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. He was a two-way star decades before Shohei Ohtani.
“The beautiful thing about the success that Shohei Ohtani has had over the last couple of years is that it has turned a bright light to the great two-way stars of the Negro leagues,” Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, told USA TODAY Sports. “Martín Dihigo takes this whole two-way notion to an entirely other level because you can make the case that Martín Dihigo was the most versatile baseball player in the history of our sport.” A dominant pitcher who regularly played every position except catcher, Dihigo displayed great range in the middle infield and an outfield arm that opponents said would have rivaled that of Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente. Read more
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