Blog Archives

A Portrait of Modern Racism

Huddled in the store’s back office, the employees tried to avoid being seen by the men who loomed outside. They were ready for this situation. A suspicious call earlier in the day inquiring about the store’s opening hours set the

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Posted in Civil Rights, Race

Rachel Dolezal and other strange stories of race in America

We found out this week that the NAACP’s city director in Spokane, Washington is a white woman who has been pretending to be black for years. In fact, Rachel Dolezal has invented an entire mythology for herself complete with an

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Posted in Race

The myths and realities of the Southern Strategy

Let’s recite the myth together. Richard Nixon, on the campaign trail in 1968, visits a Southern state and is shocked by the enthusiastic reception he receives. His campaign team scrambles to build a strategy that will tap into Southerner’s rage

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Posted in Civil Rights, Neo-Confederate, Race, Religious Right

The stubborn legacy of one party rule in the South

Mississippi’s first Governor was a Democrat. Apart from the period of occupation after the Civil War, every subsequent Governor of Mississippi was a Democrat across a stretch of nearly 200 years. With a handful of caveats and outliers, that pattern

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Posted in Civil Rights, Neo-Confederate, Race, Republican Party, Texas

How pluralism threatens lower income whites

Democrats are seeing a steady erosion of their traditional support among low and middle-earning white families. That drift contributed heavily to the outcome of the 2014 mid-terms, but it has been in motion since the Civil Rights Acts of the

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Posted in Civil Rights, Neo-Confederate, Political Theory, Race, Religious Right, Tea Party

Staten Island, Ferguson, and the Democrats

When Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke at the funeral of slain New York City police officers, thousands of officers in attendance turned their back on him. Since then they have engaged in a series of work stoppages. Their grievance?

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Posted in Civil Rights, Neo-Confederate, Race, Republican Party

How Bruce Rauner could “Shake up Springfield”

Congratulations, Governor Rauner. Having gained barely 50% of the vote, you are about to become Illinois’ first Republican Governor in more than a decade. That’s the good news for the Illinois GOP…all of it. Here’s the rest of the picture.

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Posted in Civil Rights, Race, Republican Party, Welfare State

A vicious cycle of looting in America’s cities

How did Washington DC’s Anacostia neighborhood become a festering slum and why has it become trendy again? What can that cycle tell us about events in Ferguson, Missouri? Almost sixty years after the murder of Emmitt Till we continue to

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Posted in Civil Rights, Race

Giving up on the Redskins

Native American communities have been battling for decades for the right to influence how their culture and history are used by others. They have enjoyed some success in recent years curbing the use of “Indian” imagery in sports. Now they

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Posted in Civil Rights, Race

The Reparations Article

The Atlantic’s article by Ta-Nehisi Coates on reparations is an absolute must-read for anyone who claims to have an informed opinion about racial matters. For that matter, it’s a must read for anyone with an interest in quality writing or

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Posted in Civil Rights, Race
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