Opinion - Page 4

/

A Scholar of HBCUs Shines a Harsh Light on the Institutions

By Sara Weissman Joseph L. Jones has spent his entire educational career at historically Black colleges and universities: He earned his bachelor’s degree at Philander Smith College (now University), completed his Ph.D. at Clark-Atlanta University and spent a little over a year

A demonstrator holds her hands up while she kneels in front of the Police at the Anaheim City Hall on June 1, 2020 in Anaheim, California, during a peaceful protest over the death of George Floyd. - Major US cities -- convulsed by protests, clashes with police and looting since the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd a week ago -- braced Monday for another night of unrest. More than 40 cities have imposed curfews after consecutive nights of tension that included looting and the trashing of parked cars. (Photo by Apu GOMES / AFP) (Photo by APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images)
/

Black Americans are battling ‘three pandemics,’ new report finds

By Nicquel Terry Ellis Higher unemployment rates, lower household incomes and lack of access to health care left Black Americans more vulnerable to the Covid-19 pandemic and there is an urgency to address these structural inequities, according to a new report on the state of Black America released Thursday by the National Urban League. The

More
/

What 2021 is showing us about Black lives mattering

 by Richard J. Reddick More than a year after the pivotal moment where millions of Americans witnessed the murder of George Floyd at the hands of those charged with the responsibility to serve and protect — and about two weeks after the salutary news that his killer would pay with a 22.5 year prison sentence

More
/

We’re beginning to see the real Kamala Harris

Opinion by Roxanne Jones A few weeks ago, a meeting was not going well. My business partner had just shut down a room of wealthy, powerful White men. No easy feat. “That is not what I do,” she said to a client. “You need to go sit down with that question.” In other words, do

More
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 18: A statue of Joseph Wheeler (2nd R)), a cavalry general in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War and member of the House of Representatives, stands on a pedestal outside the office door of House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) in Statuary Hall inside the U.S. Capitol June 18, 2020 in Washington, DC. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has requested that Congress remove this statue and 10 others of Confederate soldiers and officials from the U.S. Capitol "The statues in the Capitol should embody our highest ideals as Americans, expressing who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation. Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals. Their statues pay homage to hate, not heritage. They must be removed," Pelosi wrote in the letter addressed to committee Chair Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Vice Chair Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
/

The House takes a revealing vote on Confederate statues

 by Nicole Hemmer During the insurrection in January, a rioter hoisted a Confederate flag over his shoulder, letting it furl out behind him as he marched through the Capitol. It was an outrageous sight: not even during the Civil War had insurrectionists breached the halls of Congress with the battle flag. Yet there it was, flapping alongside

More

This late civil rights icon’s imprint is everywhere today

Opinion by Peniel E. Joseph The man best known for popularizing the term “Black power” always answered the phone with the words, “ready for revolution.” Stokely Carmichael answered the phone this way to acknowledge his role in sacred efforts to build a new society in America and around the world. He defined revolution as transforming the status

More
NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 19: Protester chant near the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. statue during a Juneteenth celebration on June 19, 2020 in New York City. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when a Union general read orders in Galveston, Texas stating all enslaved people in Texas were free according to federal law. (Photo by Michael Noble Jr./Getty Images)
/

Juneteenth’s path to becoming a federal holiday was a long time coming

By Harmeet Kaur For much of US history, Juneteenth has been a date observed mostly by Black Americans commemorating the symbolic end of slavery. Since the reckoning reignited by the killing of George Floyd last year, though, the tide has changed enormously. All but one state, as well as the District of Columbia, recognize the milestone of

More
/

A vaccine marvel is bringing America back

Analysis by Stephen Collinson America has never been closer to the end of this pandemic, which has inflicted the most universally experienced crisis and assault on national morale since World War II. The near-miraculous vaccines have the virus — which has ravaged the nation — in retreat. Deserted cities that once echoed at night to

More
LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 23: A student walks near Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA on April 23, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. According to reports, half of recent college graduates with bachelor's degrees are finding themselves underemployed or jobless. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
/

I scraped by to pay for community college. The US can do more for students

Opinion by Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez Nearly two decades ago, I was barely scraping by at community college, only able to afford it thanks to Pell Grants and my job as a server. Neither of my parents had graduated from college, and I had been rejected from my dream school, the University of Texas at Austin.

More

People of color have a new enemy: techno-racism

By Faith Karim As protesters take to the streets to fight for racial equality in the United States, experts in digital technology are quietly tackling a lesser known but related injustice. It’s called techno-racism. And while you may not have heard of it, it’s baked into some of the technology we encounter every day. Digital

More
Demonstrators deploy a " Black Lives Matter" banner near the White House during a demonstration against racism and police brutality, in Washington, DC on June 6, 2020. - Demonstrations are being held across the US following the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, while being arrested in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Olivier DOULIERY / AFP) (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

What critical race theory is — and isn’t

By Faith Karimi Critical race theory. You may be hearing those three words a lot these days. Lawmakers in Idaho are seeking to ban them from the state curriculum and parents in Texas are opposing a school district‘s efforts to combat racism with lessons in “cultural awareness” — seen by some as critical race theory.

More