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When Enough Is Enough. By Ronald J. Sheehy, Editor / On Race in America
The quiet bridesmaid of revolutions is the awakening of the consciousness of ordinary people.
Throughout history, moments of profound political change rarely begin with dramatic acts alone. More often, they begin quietly—when ordinary people start to see their circumstances differently. The awakening of public consciousness is the unseen force that precedes change. It is the moment when individuals who once tolerated injustice begin to recognize it for what it is, and when private grievances gradually become a shared moral conviction.
In that moment, an injustice long endured could no longer be ignored. The awakening of public consciousness made organized resistance possible.
That history offers an important lesson for our own time.
Read the complete essay: When Enough Is Enough.
The Week’s Top Stories
Political / Social
There Will Be No Post-Presidential Peace For Donald Trump. By Matt Ford / TNR
The president and his allies will face impeachments, lawsuits, and maybe even The Hague.
Donald Trump spent the first year of his second term trying to signal his strength, his impunity, and his permanence in American public life. When House Republicans gathered at the Kennedy Center in early January for a policy summit, he struck a much more vulnerable tone. “You got to win the midterms, because if we don’t win the midterms, it’s just going to be—I mean, they’ll find a reason to impeach me,” Trump told the assembled lawmakers. “I’ll get impeached.” Read more
Related: I Know Why Trump and His Goons Are Toast. By Laura Esposito / Daily Beast
Clyburn: SAVE America Act ‘nothing but a throwback’ to Jim Crow laws. By Ryan Mancini / The Hill
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act “is nothing but a throwback to those laws that were passed after Reconstruction that made it impossible for African Americans to get elected,” Clyburn told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
If passed, the SAVE America Act will require Americans to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote and a valid ID in order to cast a ballot. “And if the SAVE Act becomes law,” Clyburn continued, “it will reduce –– dramatically –– the number of African Americans currently serving in the Congress, and I think that what we need to do is spend our time working on saving this democracy that some people seem to want to throw into the ditch.” Read more
Related: Changing How We Vote. We examine the SAVE America Act. By Sam Sifton / NYT
We Have Reached End-Stage Polarization. By David French / NYT
Does anyone think a healthy nation with a healthy political culture would elect a man like Donald Trump not once, but twice?
The eternal return of President Trump is a sign of our national sickness, and a recent Pew Research Center study shows us exactly what that sickness is. We despise one another, and demagogues rise when hatred increases. It’s as predictable as night following day. Read more
Related: How racist group chats are part of a long history of GOP bigotry. By Oliver Willis / Daily Kos
Related: White Identity Is Galvanizing the Right. By Ross Douthat / NYT
Black children shouldn’t die from cancer caused by capitalism. By Valencia P. Walker / The Grio
From pediatric cancer wards to neonatal intensive care units, the effects of toxic pollution on Black children are impossible to ignore.
A Black child admitted with cancer was almost always from Louisiana. I mentioned my observation to a nurse who casually remarked, “Oh, those are the kids from ‘Cancer Alley.’” When she realized I had no clue what “Cancer Alley” was, she quickly explained how they suspected the pollution from petrochemical plants and refineries were increasing rates of pediatric cancer for children living between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Read more
Education
Duke University Has Officially Ended Its Full-Ride Scholarship For Black Students In Need Of Financial Assistance. By Philip Lewis / Afrotech
Duke University is the latest higher educational institute to make a change following the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that ended affirmative action in admissions.
According to its student publication The Chronicle, the North Carolina college has officially discontinued its Reginaldo Howard Memorial Scholarship Program. Since its inception in 1979, the merit scholarship was created for Black undergraduates, some of whom were required to demonstrate the need for financial assistance. It covered the cost of full tuition as well as room and board for those who were selected to be a part of the program. Read more
Related: The Paradox of the Post-DEI Era in Higher Education. By Pernell Goodwin / The EduLedger
Black Leadership Across Campuses Summit Focuses On Strengthening HBCUs. By Chera Watson / Eduledger
Scholars, sitting presidents, practitioners, and higher education leaders gathered virtually for the Black Leadership Across Campuses Summit, focusing on what organizers called the “health and well-being” of historically Black colleges and universities at a pivotal and politically turbulent moment for the sector.
The daylong convening, hosted by the Center for the Study of HBCUs at Virginia Union University and co-organized with the Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning at Rice University, drew participants from across the country to examine funding disparities, presidential leadership, student mental health, institutional sustainability and the broader economic role HBCUs play in their communities. Read more
The Erasure of Black Studies. A report from the undoing of a field. By Jafari S. Allen / The Chronicle of Higher Ed.
On the night of March 5, Columbia University’s Institute for Research in African American Studies co-hosted an emergency forum on what is happening to Black-studies departments across the country.
Anthropologists Ted Gordon, the founding chair of the department of African and African diaspora studies, and Ashanté M. Reese, an associate professor in the department, joined from Austin, where the University of Texas had just dissolved the department Gordon had spent years building into a prestigious national model. Michael Brandon McCormack, professor and chair of Pan-African Studies (PAS) and a professor of interdisciplinary and public humanities at the University of Louisville, joined from Kentucky. Read more
Related: Professors Are Changing What They Teach, Even Far From Trump’s Gaze. By Alan Blinder / NYT
Charlie Kirk’s organization targets high school students with MAGA messaging. By Alex Henderson / AlterNet
Turning Point, now led by Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk, is heavily focused on college campuses. But in a video posted by the New York Times on March 15, reporters Michael Anthony Adams, Mark Boyer and Luke Piotrowski examine Turning Point’s high school outreach with Club America.
According to the report, “At least eight Republican governors have partnered with Turning Point, vowing to bring Club America to all of their public high schools. But here in New York, where Democrats govern and a statewide embrace of TPUSA’s conservative Christian ideology is unlikely, students like Jacob Kennedy are still trying to launch Club America, even if that means an uphill battle.” Read more
World
From friendly to violent: the history of US-Iran relations. By Zulekha Nathoo / USA Today
As the U.S.-Israel war in Iran intensifies, it’s hard to imagine Iran was once an important U.S. ally. In this special episode, we lay out key inflection points in the history of US-Iranian relations and how they continue to shape the ongoing conflict today.
Ali Vaez, the Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, joins The Excerpt to share his insights and analysis. Watch here
Related: Trump’s Dangerous Lack of a Strategy in Iran. The Editorial Board / NYT
Related: A Brief History of the Black Iranian. By Jeffrey Kass / Levelman
Russia says it supports Cuba after Trump says he will ‘take’ the Communist republic. By Reuters
Russia said it had unwavering solidarity with Cuba on Tuesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he expected to have the honour of “taking Cuba” and that “I can do anything I want” with the Communist-run island republic.
Related: Cuba’s leader says U.S. aggression would meet ‘impregnable resistance. By Milexsy Duran / AP
Related: Trump’s Plan for “Taking” Cuba. By Peter Kornbluh and William M. Leogrande / The Nation
How White South Africans Are Reshaping the Mississippi Delta. Boyce Upholt / The New Yorker
As Donald Trump offers U.S. asylum to Afrikaners, thousands are already working in the country on agricultural visas.
Nick Ramsden, a farmer from Pretoria, South Africa, spent a long Thursday in July driving an eighteen-wheeler along a three-mile loop at the Nelson-King Farms, in rural Mississippi. He began at the edge of a soybean field, where workers were piloting combines and cutting the crop; once the truck was loaded, Ramsden delivered the load to the farm’s silos on a highway outside of Chatham, Mississippi. His freckled face crinkled as he squinted into the sunlight. Wisps of blond hair curled out from his baseball cap. Read more
Trump’s National Security Strategy Is a Blueprint for White Nationalism. By Juan Cole / The Nation
Trump’s foreign policy reasoning mirrors the crackpot logic of a runaway authoritarian.
Under President Donald J. Trump, the United States has now become an engine for the promulgation of white nationalism. Not since the 1930s has such an ideology, which exalts those ethnic groups it codes as “white” while denigrating all others, underpinned the domestic and foreign policies of a major world power. Read more
Ethics / Morality Religion
The US-Israel war on Iran is shaped by religion as much as strategy. By Riaz Khokhar / Aljazeera
The United States–Israeli war on Iran is as much a collision of competing religious ideologies as it is a clash of strategic interests. To understand it purely through a secular realist lens is to miss half the story.
After the March 2 Pentagon press briefing, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declared that “crazy regimes like Iran hell-bent on prophetic Islamist delusions cannot have nuclear weapons”. Separately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Iran’s rulers as “religious fanatic lunatics”. To understand why these remarks matter and why this war cannot be understood through a purely strategic lens, one must first understand what has been happening inside Western Christian societies. Read more
Related: In Trump’s Iran conflict, it’s prosperity gospel vs. the Quran. By Phyllis Zagano / RNS
Air Force Academy Prepares Ideological Overhaul, With Erika Kirk Bringing “Bold Christian Faith.” By Austin Campbell / The Intercept
Records from theUnited States Air Force Academy’s oversight board show leaders dismantling diversity programs and reviewing curriculum as the board embraces what critics call a concerning ideological turn toward Christian nationalism and prepares to seat conservative activist Erika Kirk.
“The appointment of Erika Kirk to the U.S. Air Force Academy Board of Visitors goes hand in hand with Christian nationalist incursions into our armed forces, such as Pete Hegseth’s actions and statements promoting his fervent brand of evangelical Christianity at the Pentagon,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Read more
Religious leaders condemn Michigan synagogue attack – but moving forward together tricky. By Tom Perkens / The Guardian
Jewish and Arab American leaders decry violence at Temple Israel, but US-Israel war on Iran complicates healing
Jewish and Arab American leaders across Detroit and the US strongly condemned the 12 March terrorist attack on a Michigan synagogue and largely aimed to lower tensions against the backdrop of the US and Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Iran. But in Michigan, where large populations of Arab Americans and Jews live near one another, the complexities of the situation can be difficult to grapple with – and few people had easy or quick answers on how to move forward. Read more
Historical / Cultural
Benjamin E. Mays, The Schoolmaster of Freedom. By Kolumn Magazine
How Benjamin E. Mays helped shape the moral vocabulary of the civil rights movement- and the generation that carried it forward.
Benjamin Elijah Mays is often introduced through someone else’s greatness. He is described as Martin Luther King Jr.’s mentor, Morehouse College’s transformative president, or the minister-educator whose voice helped steady the civil rights movement. None of that is false. But it is incomplete. Mays was not simply adjacent to history. He was one of the architects of the moral and intellectual environment that made modern Black freedom struggle legible to itself. Read more
Americans divided on nation’s history as 250th anniversary nears. By Judy Woodruff / PBS
Deep divisions over how Americans remember their past are coming into sharper focus as the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Judy Woodruff reports for her series, America at a Crossroads.
Alan Spears: There are some folks who feel like, in the name of combating diversity, equity and inclusion, in the name of fighting or combating or pushing back against wokeness, that we have to restore our history to a point where it simply celebrates everything that’s happened in this country. And if you have challenging elements of our history, the forced removal of indigenous people and tribes, the issue of slavery, emancipation, the civil rights movement, those sorts of things, those elements complicate our national narrative. Read more
How Black Women Continue to Shape American Democracy. By Irene Monroe / The Progressive Magazine
During Women’s History Month, I pay homage to all women, but especially to my sistahs. When Maya Angelou wrote her famous 1978 poemStill I Rise, she reminded us Black women that we come from a long lineage of movers and shakers—women who triumphed not in spite of their challenges, but because of them.
One of those remarkable women was one of my former Congressmembers, Shirley Chisholm—a Democrat from New York whom I personally knew and who shaped my activism. Read more
Ryan Coogler wins best original screenplay Oscar for Sinners. By Andrew Pulver and Catherine Shoard / The Guardian
Coogler, who also directed the film, becomes only the second black writer to win this award, after Jordan Peele
Sinners, which Coogler also directed, stars Michael B Jordan as twins “Smoke” and “Stack” Moore, whose juke joint is under siege by vampires led by Jack O’Connell. Jordan later won the best actor Oscar for his performance. Coogler has been heavily featured already in this year’s script awards race, winning best original screenplay at the Baftas, Writers Guild and Critics Choice awards, and picking up a nomination at the Golden Globes. Read more
Related: ‘Sinners’ Oscar losses outrage fans – ‘Academy got this one wrong.’ By Edward Segarra / USA Today
Black Music Sunday: Celebrating Lightnin’ Hopkins and his Texas blues. By Denise Oliver Velez / Daily Kos
Bluesman Sam “Lightnin'” Hopkins was a direct link to the rural blues tradition and a key figure in the transition from country to city blues. He recorded for a host of labels and was one of the most prolific blues artists of the twentieth century.
In the 1920s, 1930s, and early 1940s Hopkins traveled through Texas playing at beer joints, picnics, and parties. He recorded as a popular artist after World War II and was rediscovered by folklorists in 1959, prompting a resurgence in his popularity and leading him to worldwide fame as a blues guitarist and singer. Read more and listen here
We Loved Donny Hathaway’s Angelic Voice While He Was Trapped In A Private Hell. By Angela Johnson / The Root
The “musician’s musician,” whose flawless harmonies offered the world a refuge, was privately enduring a horrifying descent into paranoid schizophrenia.
Singer-songwriter Donny Hathaway is undoubtedly one of the greatest musicians of our time. The Chicago native who grew up singing gospel music in his grandmother’s St. Louis church, was known for his soulful voice and his piano prowess he brought to hits like “The Ghetto,” “This Christmas” and “Someday We’ll All Be Free.” But his ongoing struggles with mental health would ultimately cut his career short and lead to his untimely death at age 33. This is the story of Donny Hathaway. Read more
JAŸ-Z is re-entering a different America. By Justin Tinsley / Andscape
Despite his Super Bowl halftime success, JAŸ-Z’s empire has become a mirror for collective cynicism about power and ascent.
I made it so, you could say Marcy, and it was all good/ I ain’t crossover, I brought the suburbs to the hood/ Made ‘em relate to your struggle, told ‘em about your hustle/ Went on MTV with durags, I made them love you…” — JAŸ-Z, “Come And Get Me” (1999). truth is, JAŸ-Z didn’t lie. He really did make it a hot song. Thirty years after he (or rather, Nas) told the world he was “out for presidents to represent me,” the rap titan returned to the beginning. Last month, JAŸ — who has reverted back to the original format of his name — released the original version of his first single, “Dead Presidents,” to streaming services for the first time. The moment commemorated the single that launched his avant-garde debut album Reasonable Doubt. Read more
Related: Dr. Dre has officially hit billionaire status. By Haniyah P. / The Grio
Sports
Michael Jordan Stayed Silent. And Critics Say It Cost a Black Senate Dream. By Christian Spencer / Finurah
Michael Jordan has long avoided political endorsements.
The NBA legend has preferred to keep his political views to himself; it is a stance that some critics argued may have cost Harvey Gantt, the former mayor of Charlotte, a chance to become North Carolina’s first Black U.S. senator in 1990. It’s a long-told story that has recently resurfaced. Read more
It Was Going to Be Magic City Night at the Atlanta Hawks. Then the Outrage Poured In.
The famous strip club is a symbol of the authentic city to many people in Atlanta. But others wondered whether the N.B.A. should be promoting it.
Each year, N.B.A. teams put on hundreds of theme nights. They celebrate cultural heritage, veterans, Barbie, movies or cancer research. But in late February, the Atlanta Hawks announced an unusual theme night: Magic City Monday. In the news release, the Hawks called Magic City an “iconic cultural institution,” which it very much is in the city of Atlanta. But it is also a strip club, known for its acrobatic dancers, its place in hip-hop history and a famous clientele, including many professional athletes. Read more
At Howard, Athletes Must Stand for the Anthem or Stay in the Locker Room. By Alecia Taylore / Capital B
The women’s basketball team recently chose to remain in the locker room during the anthem after the university placed restrictions on protests.
For years, Howard University’s women’s basketball team has been taking a knee to protest the mistreatment and brutalization of Black Americans by law enforcement. But on Wednesday night, at a game between Howard and South Carolina State University, that tradition – which had been a source of pride for many players and students – came to an end. During the national anthem, only one team was on the court. As fans stood across the Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia, the Howard women’s basketball team remained in the locker room to adhere to a new policy from the Howard University Department of Athletics that bans kneeling during the anthem and requires standing. Read more
Jayson Tatum’s Comeback Brings Jordan-Era Comparisons – How the Celtics Can Make It Count. By Adel Ahmad / Essentially Sports
Jayson Tatum’s return is not just about recovery. It is about whether Boston can follow a blueprint that once built a dynasty. Because when a superstar comes back to a team that already learned how to win without him, history does not ask if it works.
At the start of the season, the Celtics looked incomplete. Tatum was out indefinitely. The roster had already lost Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis. Expectations dropped immediately. However, the team never collapsed. Boston stayed competitive and positioned itself right behind the Detroit Pistons in the East. Meanwhile, Jaylen Brown stepped into the primary role for the first time in his career and delivered career-high production across the board. This situation has already played out before. In 1993-94, the Chicago Bulls lost Michael Jordan and handed the team to Scottie Pippen. Like Brown, Pippen delivered an MVP-caliber season and proved he could lead. Read more
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