Featured
A Political Standoff Over Affirmative Action. By Liam Knox / Inside Higher Education
Representative Burgess Owens (left) and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona offered clashing guidance for colleges navigating the affirmative action ban within hours of each other.
“Through decades of demeaning messages, our country has accepted that Black Americans are overall incapable of intellectually competing against white Americans through merit,” said Owens, who is Black. “Affirmative action has been the Trojan horse for that message.”
“We’re not going to be able to succeed as a multiracial democracy and compete globally if diverse students lack access to our most life-changing higher education opportunities,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said at a press briefing on the report Thursday afternoon. “Inaction is not an option here.” Read more
Related: Affirmative Action is Necessary, But It Has Never Been Adequate. By Michelle Chen / The Progressive
Political / Social
The growing battle over corporate diversity practices, explained. By Taylor Telford / Wash Post
The recent Supreme Court decision on affirmative action in college admissions emboldened objectors to corporate DEI practices. Here’s what might change.
Related: Grant program for Black female entrepreneurs blocked by federal appeals court. By AP and NBC News
Donald Trump’s Latest Threats Really Are About the Violence. By Elie Mystal / The Nation
It can be tempting to dismiss Trump’s threats against his perceived opponents as mere bluster, but his attacks on Letitia James make it clear that he’s not just playing around.
I cannot actually list all the people Donald Trump has wished to harm with physical violence. They include most of his political opponents, often along with their families; every prosecutor who has investigated or indicted him; nearly every judge who has presided over one of his cases, protesters; hecklers; former vice president Mike Pence; and there was also that time he threatened to nuke a hurricane. Read more
Related: Trump’s escalating violent rhetoric is straight out of the autocrat’s playbook. By Margaret Sullivan / The Guardian
Related: “Highly connected”: How the right’s political violence relates to a rise in criminal violence. By Chauncey Devega / Salon
John Kelly goes on the record to confirm several disturbing stories about Trump. By Jake Tapper / CNN
John Kelly, the longest-serving White House chief of staff for Donald Trump, offered his harshest criticism yet of the former president in an exclusive statement to CNN.
“A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women,” Kelly continued. “A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason – in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law. Read more
“A clarion call to arms”: Experts on why MAGA remains impervious to anti-Trump Republicans’ message. By Chauncey Devega / Salon
Last week New York Times political reporter Jonathan Swan highlighted an attempt by a group of anti-Trump conservatives to stop the ex-president by weakening his support among the MAGA cultists. Their efforts failed; Trump’s dark charism and cult-leader power is that great.
In an attempt to make better sense of the enduring power of the Trump MAGA cult, I asked a range of experts for their insights and reactions to this important new reporting by the New York Times. Read more
Related: One Reason the Trump Fever Won’t Break. By David French / NYT
Related: How the diploma divide came to dominate American politics. By Jason Willick / Wash Post
Biden campaign makes case to Latino and Black voters with new radio ads. By Sabrina Rodriguez / Wash Post
The Biden campaign launched radio ads Tuesday on Black- and Hispanic-owned radio stations in battleground states across the country as part of a multimillion-dollar effort to court Black and Latino voters more than a year ahead of the 2024 election.
The ads are part of a $25 million, 16-week advertising campaign aimed at swing-state voters, and they constitute a larger and earlier advertising push than Barack Obama and Donald Trump undertook in their reelection campaigns. The ads also are the earliest-ever paid investment in Black and Hispanic radio for a Democratic reelection effort, the Biden campaign said. Read more
Laphonza Butler sworn in as the third Black female senator in history. By Maeve Reston and Annabelle Timsit / Wash Post
Butler was tapped by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill the term of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who died last week
Butler, 44, a onetime labor leader who was most recently the head of Emily’s List, was tapped by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to fill the term of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who died at 90 last week. Read more
Attorney Ben Crump aids Tennessee State University in $2.1B dispute. By Craig Shoup and Todd A. Price / the Tennessean
“Tennessee State University, y’all been swindled, y’all been cheated, y’all been bamboozled,” Crump said.
The statistics were highlighted by Tennessee State University President Glenda Glover Tuesday, who called Tennessee’s $2.1 billion the tip of the iceberg. During the 30-year period given by the Biden administration, from 1987-2020, more than $30 billion has gone missing from eight historically Black colleges and universities and their campuses across those 16 states, she said. And if TSU is not given the $2.1 billion it’s owed, Crump said the school will take legal action against the state. He then led a chant with the crowd, “It is true. They stole $2 billion dollars from TSU.” Read more
Rhode Island bank to pay $9M to resolve discriminatory lending allegations. By AP and NBC News
Despite expanding across Rhode Island, Washington Trust never opened a branch in a majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhood, investigators said.
A complaint accused Washington Trust Company of failing to provide mortgage lending services to majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Rhode Island from 2016 to 2021. The bank was founded in 1800, and according to the Justice Department is the oldest community bank in the nation. Read more
Why Can’t We Stop Unauthorized Immigration? Because It Works. By Marcela Valdez / NYT
Our broken immigration system is still the best option for many migrants — and U.S. employers.
Migrants dream of America because they are an entrenched part of our economy. This is nothing new; America’s economy has always relied upon a mass of disempowered, foreign-born laborers, whether it was enslaved Africans picking cotton, Chinese building railroads, Irish digging coal, Italians sewing garments or Mexicans harvesting fruit. Read more
A New Theory of Race in America. By Rhoda Feng / The Chronicle of Higher Ed.
A Conversation with the Asian American-studies Scholar Claire Jean Kim
Kim’s latest, Asian Americans in an Anti-Black World (September 2023, Cambridge University Press), explores how white-dominated racial power produces inter-ethnic group conflict. It builds on and revises her seminal 1999 article, “The Racial Triangulation of Asian Americans,” which argued that the American racial order could be diagrammed “as a two-dimensional plane defined by two axes: the superior–inferior scale (y axis) and the insider–outsider scale (x axis).” Asian Americans, Kim argued, were located “in between Whites and Black people on the superior-inferior scale and far beyond both on the insider-outsider scale.” Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
Uprooting the Racism of American Churches. By James Travis Young / Patheos
The heritage of evangelical Christianity in the United States is founded upon systemic racism that perpetuated itself generation after generation for centuries. Although both the church and America remains racially divided today, you and I can participate in a future where healing takes place.
To address the legacy of systemic racism within evangelical Christianity and move toward healing, there is no substitute for genuine discipleship. It’s about more than just going to church or aligning with specific businesses or media outlets. True discipleship involves building relationships, engaging in acts of love and service, and embodying the teachings of Christ in our daily lives. Read more
America’s Proclivity For Extremism Has Religious Roots. By John Fanestill / Time
Was the United States founded as a Christian nation? The question invites a “yes” or “no” answer, fracturing conversations about the role of religion in American public life along ideological and partisan lines. But the truth is far more complicated.
“White Christian Nationalism” is a particular way of describing the racism and violence that is endemic to American society, drawing special attention to its religious roots. Sociologist Philip Gorski has defined the term as “a story about America” that shapes popular understandings. At root, Gorski asserts, this story suggests: “America has been entrusted with a sacred mission: to spread religion, freedom, and civilization — by force, if necessary.” Read more
From fasting to pregame prayers: how religion shapes the NBA. By Jacob Uitti / The Guardian
Christians, Muslims and Jews have starred in the league. But even those without a faith can benefit from spiritual practice. Shown is Hakeem Olajuwon who fasted during the NBA finals while observing Ramadan.
Some would say that building a team culture around religion is tricky – and risks excluding players who do not practice a faith. How, for example, would Olajuwon or an atheist have felt in Hill’s Spurs team. That’s why today, the NBA retains team chaplains rather than players to lead faith practice, something that can be traced to the late 1970s and Hall of Famer Bobby Jones. And they offer advice and support to players from every faith, and those who have none. Read more
AME Bishop Silvester Beaman named chair of White House council on African engagement. By Adelle M. Banks / RNS
‘Bishop Beaman’s extensive experience and deep roots in Africa will enable him to lead the Council to achieve its full potential,’ the White House said.
Bishop Silvester Scott Beaman of Delaware was named the leader of the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement in the United States, the White House announced Tuesday (Sept. 26). Beaman, 63, is the prelate of the AME district that includes South Africa, Namibia and Angola. Read more
Historical / Cultural
Indigenous Peoples Day offers a reminder of Native American history − including the scalping they endured at the hands of Colonists. By Chriatoph Strobel / The Conversation
For the third year, the United States will officially observe Columbus Day alongside Indigenous Peoples Day on Oct. 9, 2023.
In 2021, the Biden administration declared the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day. I am a scholar of Colonial-Indigenous relations and think that officially recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day – and, more broadly, Native Americans’ history and survival – is important. Yet, Indigenous Peoples Day and Columbus Day should also serve as a reminder of the violent past endured by Indigenous communities in North America. Read more
Related: Muscogee Nation judge rules in favor of citizenship for slave descendants / NPR
Florida’s History of African Resistance. By Brian G. / Momentum
The story of the Maroons is missing from American education
Maroons have been described in various ways, but the most consistent feature is they are self-liberated Africans who ran away or escaped slavery and fought to remain free. Often, they formed hidden communities and plotted uprisings to liberate other Africans—some formed bonds with Native American communities, finding allies to aid them in their struggle. This slice of history is beyond the watered-down tales that often find their way into history classes. Most Americans don’t realize that Maroons existed in great numbers. The revolutionary truth that Black people resisted slavery is often concealed. Read more
The Musical Legacy of a Mississippi Prison Farm. Hanif Abdurraqib / The New Yorker
The new album “Some Mississippi Sunday Morning” collects gospel songs recorded inside a notorious penitentiary.
The gruesome history of Parchman dates back to 1901, when the State of Mississippi bought up former plantation land in the heart of the Delta. Work on Parchman’s eighteen thousand acres took place from sunup to sundown. “S.M.S.M.” was recorded by Ian Brennan, a California-based producer who has collaborated with artists around the world, from the northern-Mali collective Tinariwen to a group of Cambodian musicians who survived the Khmer Rouge. Read more
Howard University hosts banned book authors to discuss censorship. By Takier George / Andscape
All the rest of us will pay for the stories you are too afraid to tell,’ Ta-Nehisi Coates tells the audience at International Black Writers Festival
Authors Mikki Kendall and Ibram X. Kendi joined Howard professors Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates to discuss why books that tell the history of Black America are needed by people in and outside the Black community. The discussion filled Howard’s School of Social Work and advanced Banned Books Week, which began Sunday and ends Saturday. Read more
Mary E. Pleasant: Reshaping the Landscape of Segregation in California. By E. Nicole Vines / AAIHS
Arriving in San Francisco in 1852, she would reinvent herself “as a kind of double agent,” according to reporter Liza Veale. “While most of San Francisco knew her as white, the black community knew that she was black — and fighting for abolition.”
The Pleasants came to California two years after it entered the union as a “free-holding” state, but at a time when Black Californians still faced challenges in exercising rights. Building coalitions to combat the issues highlighted at the state-level Colored Conventions Movement in California, African-descended people in California—less than 6,000 across the state—strategized ways to fight for their equality and inclusion as citizens. Read more
5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Sarah Vaughan. By Giovanni Russonello / NYT
All it might take is a second and a half of hearing her sing to make your spine tingle or your heart drop. Opera singers, jazz vocalists, writers and Vaughan’s biographer share their favorites.
For over a year, we’ve been rooting through jazz history five minutes at a time. We’ve covered favorites by Ornette Coleman, Mary Lou Williams, New Orleans’s jazz greats and many others. Now let’s turn our attention to a vocalist who epitomized — but couldn’t be contained by — jazz: Sarah Vaughan, “The Divine One,” owner of perhaps the most impressive vocal instrument in recorded history. Read more
Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes – About the documentary / American Masters.
Experience the groundbreaking sounds of bebop pioneer and virtuoso composer Max Roach, whose far-reaching ambitions were inspired and challenged by the inequities of the society around him. Premiere: 10/6/2023 at 9pm
PBS
Roach’s far-reaching ambitions were inspired and challenged by the inequities of the society around him. His political consciousness, expressed in his groundbreaking Freedom Suite and other works, made him a fierce advocate for change at a time when the nation was steeped in racism. Read more and listen here
Rap duo Armand Hammer wants to expose the lie of the American Dream. By Jason Buford / Wash Post
From left, Elucid and billy woods of rap duo Armand Hammer, photographed in Manhattan on Sept. 20. (Eric Hart Jr.)
Over the past decade, both Woods and his collaborator Elucid, their stage names, have made career of telling crushing tales about the lie of the American Dream. “We Buy Diabetic Test Strips,”their sixth studio album, captures why Armand Hammer is one of the most dynamic underground rap groups in the country, speaking to communities that the mainstream has forgotten. Their latest work, which was released on Sept. 29, documents how Americans attempt to navigate an economic system cracked by the pandemic, with only their heroic need to endure. Read more
Sports
Michael Jordan Is Now Worth $3 Billion And Joins The Forbes 400. By Justin Birnbaum / Forbes
Since Michael Jordan stepped onto an NBA court for the first time in 1984, earning an outsized payday has been a layup. Across his 15 NBA seasons, he hauled in $94 million and was the league’s highest-paid player in 1997 and 1998. But it was off the court where Jordan put serious air between himself and every other athlete on the planet, earning an estimated $2.4 billion (pre-tax) over his career with brands such as McDonald’s, Gatorade, Hanes and, of course, Nike, where his most recent yearly royalty check was for some $260 million. Read more
Will there ever be another member of baseball’s ‘Black Aces’? By Michael Lee / Wash Post
Black starting pitchers have always been rare. Now 20-game winners are, too. What does that mean for one of baseball’s most exclusive clubs?
Hunter Greene has long been considered the future, a flamethrowing strikeout artist who will test the limits of a radar gun while making the game cooler in the process. But when it comes to his musical taste and how he likes to prepare to mow down batters, Greene is decidedly old school. Read more
USC remains unbeaten, but Colorado remains impossible to ignore. By Chuck Culpepper / Wash Post
The questions still hovered amid the coffee aromas and the beer fumes of a harsh 10 a.m. kickoff: What will be the appropriate time to stop gazing at Deion Sanders’s new aurora borealis program at Colorado? When might we quit?
At one point afterward, Deion Sanders said, “If you can’t see what’s coming with CU football, you’ve lost your mind.” At another, he said, “If you can’t see what’s going to transpire over the next several months, there’s something wrong with you.” At still another he said, “You’ve got to be crazy if you can’t see the direction we’re headed.” Read more
Simone Biles brings her (seemingly) unbeatable vault to the world stage. By The Athletic Staff
Gymnastics star Simone Biles made more history Sunday, becoming the first woman to land the Yurchenko double pike vault at an international competition, meaning the extremely difficult vault will be named after her. Here’s what you need to know: Read more
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