Reading Time: 9minutesThis article is part of a series on economic inequality in the US.In 2014, Dani Brockington moved to Atlanta for a cushy job as a graphic designer.
Reading Time: 6minutesAbara Uduike was enjoying a burger and beer in a restaurant in Guangzhou, China, when a stranger called. The male voice sounded “interrogative,” and demanded that he come home quickly. Despite having no idea who was calling, Uduike rushed back to his apartment.Ten minutes later, four police officers and three medical workers showed up.
Reading Time: 4minutesThe word “unprecedented” has been tossed around a lot in the last few years, especially among left-leaning talking heads discussing anything that comes out of the Oval Office.
Reading Time: 20minutesWhile the fog of history swirls around us, some crucial events change both the way we look at the past and our expectations for the future.
Reading Time: 12minutesToday we’re facing the exact same questions that Americans were asking just over fifty years ago, in 1967 and 1968, as riots took place all across America, resulting in over 70 dead and untold injured. In order to understand how civil unrest had reached such proportions, and how to prevent it from occurring in the future, President Lyndon B.
Reading Time: 5minutesIn Greenville, MS, not long ago, workers at a commercial laundry were told to stay put when the plant floor was flooded. They were ordered to keep working, with plastic bags around their feet, standing in water, folding linens that came in from area hospitals. “They were unmasked, ungloved, unprotected.
Reading Time: 4minutesA major effect of the world’s changing climate will be the mass migration of people who have to leave uninhabitable places and go somewhere else to live. If (recent) history is any indicator, that’s not going to end well. In the US, President Donald Trump tapped into the anti-immigrant attitude of many Americans to get elected.
Reading Time: 17minutesFive years ago, on August 9, 2014, a policeman shot an unarmed black man in Ferguson, MO, under circumstances that are still not clear. A grand jury concluded the shooting was justified. This led to more than a week of protests and rioting, with a heavy-handed, militarized response from the police, even when protests were peaceful.
Spoiler Alert! This podcast features a detailed discussion of the story portrayed in the film Green Book. If you haven’t seen it yet, and plan to, please save this podcast for later.The movie Green Book has earned accolades and attacks since it was released in December. The controversies are sure to be rekindled by the 91st Academy Awards Sunday, Feb.
When the effects of the Trump administration’s family separation policy became big news, a lot of people commented that “this is not who we are” or that “America is better than that.” Sadly, they are mistaken, because ripping (brown) children away from their parents is exactly in line with the US’s long history of deep-seated racism.
We always hear that the US is “a nation of immigrants.” But, according to immigrant rights activist Aviva Chomsky, this hides the real truth about America’s immigration history.In this week’s WhoWhatWhy podcast, Chomsky, a professor at Salem State University in Massachusetts, places the current debate about immigration in America in a broader historical context.
The body cam video of the Milwaukee police officer who initially confronted Sterling Brown is difficult to watch. But you should. The full video is 30 minutes long but you’ll get the picture right away. It’s the story of a small man who abuses the power he is entrusted with. And the same thing is playing out across the country on a daily basis in different forms.
Later this month, Starbucks will close the 8,000 stores it owns within the US for one afternoon to provide “racial bias training” to its nearly 150,000 employees. Let’s see how things work out. If the training is successful, maybe the entire country should shut down for a bit, take a long hard look in the mirror, and do some racial bias education of its own.
After signing a Martin Luther King Jr. proclamation last week, President Donald Trump was asked point blank, “Are you a racist?” The president ignored the question but it is certainly worth asking based on his own divisive statements and actions.Is the US going backwards? Is racism getting worse? Or is it just more visible now?
One headline today read, “Republicans in Despair After Trump’s Disastrous Week.”It brought to mind heated conversations I had years ago with Republican aides on The Hill, folks I have known from when I reported on such things back in the 80s and 90s.Those conversations were sparked by the first signs of trouble: the Tea Party insurgents.