African-Americans

By Akilah Johnson and Nina Martin | – ( ProPublica ) – The Rev. Dr. Kejuane Artez Bates was a big man with big responsibilities. The arrival of the novel coronavirus in Vidalia, Louisiana, was another burden on a body already breaking under the load. Bates was in his 10th year with the Vidalia Police […]

African-Americans

Biden Nominates first African-American Secretary of Defense, 250 Years after Crispus Attucks

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President-Elect Joe Biden will appoint retired four-star general Lloyd J. Austin III as his secretary of defense, according to the scoop by Lara Seligman, Tyler Pager, Connor O’Brien and Natasha Bertrand at Politico. Austin will be the first Black secretary of defense in our nation’s history. Austin has, they note, […]

African-Americans

What President-Elect Biden and all Americans owe the Black Voters who Saved our Democracy

OtherWords

By Tracey L. Rogers | – ( Otherwoods.org) – Black voters waited in 10-hour lines to show up for Joe Biden. Now Biden needs to return the favor. During a pandemic that has killed Black people at disproportionate rates, we still managed to save our democracy by getting out the vote in what may have […]

African-Americans

Trump’s Scapegoats, African-Americans and Muslim-Americans, defended the Blue Wall and Elected Biden

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump notoriously said “I think Islam hates us,” and slapped a Muslim visa ban on a number of countries, which he later expanded. The ban cut families off from loved ones in Yemen, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria. Joe Biden pledged to end the ban on “Day one” of his presidency. […]

African-Americans

Trump’s appeals to white anxiety are not ‘dog whistles’ – they’re racism

The Conversation

By Bethany Albertson | – President Donald Trump’s rhetoric is often referred to as “dog whistle politics.” In politician speak, a dog whistle is language that conveys a particular meaning to a group of potential supporters. The targeted group hears the “whistle” because of its shared cultural reference, but others cannot. In 2018, The Washington […]

African-Americans

Trump doesn’t Understand History any more than he Understands Epidemics

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump has a long history of proclaiming that he understands things better than the people who are experts in those things. When Dr. Robert Redfield, the head of the Centers for Disease Control, testified to Congress that mask-wearing is even more effective against Covid-19 than a vaccine is likely to […]

African-Americans

Taking the Next Knee: Is this Athletic Revolt For Real and Is It a Danger to Donald Trump?

Tomdispatch

By Robert Lipsyte | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Last year, when LeBron James described some of President Trump’s public statements as “laughable and scary,” Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham ordered the basketball superstar to “shut up and dribble.” LeBron responded thoughtfully by saying that her comment “resonated with me, but I think it resonated […]

African-Americans

Presidents have a long history of condescension, indifference and outright racism towards Black Americans

The Conversation

By Stephen A. Jones qnd Eric Freedman | – The fury over racial injustice that erupted in the wake of George Floyd’s killing has forced Americans to confront their history. That’s unfamiliar territory for most Americans, whose historical knowledge amounts to a vague blend of fact and myth that was only half-learned in high school […]

African-Americans

Black Lives Mattering: HBO’s ‘Lovecraft Country’ demonstrates that Racism is the True Horror

The Conversation

By Guy Stephen Webster | – Lovecraft Country, a new series from HBO adapted from the 2016 novel by Matt Ruff, takes a critical look at the legacy of the controversial but classic horror writer, HP Lovecraft. By doing so it also sheds a light on the mode of literature he famously pioneered: weird fiction. […]