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As Summer Ends, Tensions Remain High Between Black Community and Police
The third summer of our discontent is almost over. The latest tensions started in Ferguson, Mo., two years ago; then came Baltimore last year, with Milwaukee the latest city to erupt in protests and upheaval as tensions continue to run high across the nation between law enforcement and black Americans living in some of the…
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President Obama Defends Phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ in Unprecedented Town Hall
President Barack Obama led an unprecedented nationally televised town hall meeting on race and the criminal-justice system Thursday night. Black Lives Matter, said Obama, “simply refers to the notion that there’s a specific vulnerability for African Americans that needs to be addressed” and does not denigrate or disparage police officers, white people or any other…
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Hillary Clinton’s Speech May Finally Start That Long-Overdue Conversation on Race
Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, waded into the national crisis of race, democracy and criminal justice with a stirring call for racial justice in Springfield, Ill., on Wednesday. In the city that President Abraham Lincoln once called home, Clinton echoed the iconic president’s warning about the dangers of a “house divided” being…
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50 Years Ago Stokely Carmichael Called for ‘Black Power,’ Galvanizing a Movement
Fifty years ago this Thursday, the call for “black power” by Stokely Carmichael in Greenwood, Miss., transformed the black freedom struggle. Frightening white citizens while transforming black identity, the black power movement’s call for radical political self-determination challenged liberal frameworks for racial equality in profound ways that continue to reverberate to this day. Black power…
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Bill Clinton Speaking at Muhammad Ali’s Funeral Is the Corporate Co-Optation of an Icon
In life, and now in death, Muhammad Ali cut a swashbuckling, larger-than-life figure. Three days of celebration for Ali will culminate in a public funeral service led by former President Bill Clinton on Friday in Louisville, Ky., representing an ironic high point in the nation’s relationship with black radicalism. A black power icon and anti-war…
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Donald Trump’s Anti-Muslim Comments Cross a Moral Line
Donald Trump has laid down a final, outrageous gauntlet—ban all Muslims from entering America—in a seemingly endless array of rhetorical provocations and insults to marginalized communities in his self-described quest to “make America great again.” Trump’s assault on Muslim Americans and immigrants is an attack not only on freedom of religion but also on the…
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Black Student Activists Stand Against Racist Cultures on Campus
Editor’s note: The Associated Press is reporting that University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe announced Monday morning that he is resigning, “effective immediately,” in the wake of student protests over his handling of racial matters on campus. The radical spirit of the Black Lives Matter movement touched college campuses this past week in high-profile demonstrations…
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Hip-Hop’s Nas Joins Eric Holder as W.E.B. Du Bois Honoree
The third annual Hutchins Centers Honors convened Wednesday evening at Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre. The event honors trailblazers in politics, culture, business and finance. This year’s Du Bois Medal awardees—including Muhammad Ali (in absentia), former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the Children’s Defense Fund’s Marian Wright Edelman, Ariel Investments’ Mellody Hobson, journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault, artist…
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Elizabeth Warren’s Embrace of Black Lives Matter Is an Example of Moral Leadership
Elizabeth Warren is not running for president. But based on the dazzling speech she recently delivered on racial and economic justice, she most definitely should. Sen. Warren (D-Mass.) furthered our national conversation about race with a bold speech linking racial equality, public policy, economic justice and American history. Warren’s #BlackLivesMatter speech Sunday at the Edward…
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Jeb Bush’s Claim That Blacks Want ‘Free Stuff’ for Votes Insults Our Dignity and History of Struggle
Jeb Bush’s recent comments in South Carolina about Democrats getting black people to vote for them by promising them “free stuff” during election season is a powerful reminder that a leading Republican presidential candidate is woefully ignorant about contemporary race relations and the history that’s shaped the racial-justice struggle. Ironically, the former governor of Florida’s…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
