Video: 1959 — The Year That Changed Jazz Forever
In 1959, four albums were recorded that took music in a new direction : Kind of Blue by Miles Davis; Time Out by Dave Brubeck; Mingus Ah Um by Charles … Continue reading
Marta Daniels: Justice is a Black Woman — The Amazing Constance Baker Motley
You may not know her name, but you have been affected by the legal battles she won and the precedents she set that helped shape civil rights, women’s rights and … Continue reading
Jose Padua: Bold as Love
It was my end of the summer visit back home— to DC, from New York, from the train full of bad snacks and half-cold beer, and when I got to … Continue reading
Chris Hedges: Malcolm X Was Right About America
We are the nation Malcolm knew us to be. Human beings can be redeemed. Empires cannot. Malcolm X, unlike Martin Luther King Jr., did not believe America had a conscience. … Continue reading
Jose Padua: On the Distant Prospect of Three Mile Island
The distant prospect of Three Mile Island from the window of our hotel room this December day reminds me of how underrepresented my people have been in the popular culture … Continue reading
Djelloul Marbrook: Our Discourse About Racism is too Narrow
I’ve felt from a very early age that we can’t engage in honest discourse about racism in our society unless we take the full measure of racism as it has … Continue reading
Malcolm X: Make it plain
American Experience: PBS Documentary on the Life & death of the Hon. Malcolm X. (1994). “Here – at this final hour, in this quiet place – Harlem has come to … Continue reading
Dawn Potter: Hated by Literature
I was in my early teens when I met, for the first time, a book that didn’t like me. I’d read by this point plenty of books that I didn’t … Continue reading
Jose Padua: Memo in the form of a sonnet to the white supremacist who referred to my wife as a breeding vessel for the Hispanic invasion
Despite my name being Jose I am not Hispanic but Filipino, which means that as far as you’re concerned my white wife is not a breeding vessel for the Hispanic … Continue reading
Sarah Lazare: As Protests Sweep Nation, DOJ Confirms Cleveland Police ‘Chaotic and Dangerous’
Last month, amid mounting nationwide outrage at deadly law enforcement violence against black people, Tamir Rice—12 years old, African-American, and unarmed—was shot and killed by Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann … Continue reading
Jon Queally: At Home and Abroad, UN Report Details Abysmal US Record of Abuse
Torture, indefinite detention, excessive force, and systematic discrimination and mistreatment have become part of the nation’s modern legacy. An official report by the United Nations Committee Against Torture released Friday … Continue reading
Mel Packer: Manifesto on Violence
We are being inundated by media and government condemnation of the “violence” committed in Ferguson in response to the Grand Jury’s failure to indict Darren Wilson for murdering Michael Brown. … Continue reading
Jose Padua: The Pursuit of Happiness
It was the 60s way before the summer of love when after being turned away from the entrance to Mayo Beach because we’re people of color, or, specifically, as the … Continue reading
Daniel Burston: Racism, Policing and the Exuberance of Power
“Justice, justice shall you pursue . . .” Deuteronomy 16:18 “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke Trayvon … Continue reading →