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A Fair Deal for America. By Ronald J. Sheehy, Editor / On Race in America

I argue that the United States faces a pivotal moment in which economic inequality and challenges to democratic norms must be addressed together. Drawing on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights and the legacy of the civil rights movement, I propose a “fair deal” framework that unites economic and civil rights. I further contend that the 2026 midterm and 2028 presidential elections will be critical in determining whether such a governing vision can be realized.

Read complete essay: A Fair Deal for America

The Week’s Top Stories

Political / Social

Top psychiatrists issue urgent letter to Congress about Trump’s mental instability. By AlterNet

The following letter was sent to the bipartisan leadership of Congress on Monday, April 13, 2026 in regard to recent rhetoric and actions taken by US President Donald J. Trump

We write to you today with a sense of urgency that we do not use lightly. The behavior and rhetoric of President Donald Trump have crossed a threshold that demands the immediate and bipartisan attention of Congress. This is not a partisan assessment. It is a judgment grounded in observable fact, consistent professional assessment, and the constitutional responsibilities that your offices carry. Read more

This Is Not a Man in Control of Himself. By Jamelle Bouie / NYT

To have spent any amount of time observing President Trump over the last month is to conclude that he is in far over his head.

The president is struggling with the consequences of his actions, raging in protest of the fact that for all its firepower, the United States cannot bomb Iran into submission. When Trump launched his “short-term excursion,” he assumed that it would be — in the words of a Pentagon official in the last Republican administration to launch a Middle East war — a “cakewalk.” Read more

Trump Expands Anti-DEI Push With New Executive Order Targeting Federal Contractors. By Mary Spiller / Black Enterprise

Critics warn the directive could limit opportunities for minority-owned businesses and spark further legal battles.

President Donald Trump has issued a new executive order intensifying his administration’s efforts against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, this time focusing on companies that do business with the federal government. Signed March 26, the directive instructs federal agencies to more closely monitor contractors and subcontractors for what it describes as discriminatory DEI-related practices. Under the order, companies may be required to provide internal financial and operational records to demonstrate compliance. Businesses found in violation could face penalties, including the loss or suspension of government contracts. Read more

Scholars Sound the Alarm at NAN Convention. By Walter Hudson /EduLedger

Against the backdrop of federal assaults on diversity programs, the erasure of public history, and mounting threats to historically Black colleges and universities, some of the nation’s most prominent scholars gathered Friday to deliver a blunt diagnosis of American democracy, and an even blunter prescription for what comes next.

The “Critical Conversations with Scholars” panel, part of the National Action Network’s 35th Annual Convention, drew a standing-room crowd for a wide-ranging session moderated by Dr. Jamal Watson, professor and associate dean of graduate studies at Trinity Washington University. Panelists included Dr. Khalilah Brown-Dean of Wesleyan University, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson of Vanderbilt University, Dr. Christina Greer of Fordham University, Dr. Darrick Hamilton of The New School, and Dr. Jeanne Theoharis of Brooklyn College. Read more

The target is shifting: New data reveals Black immigrants bear the brunt of aggressive new ‘street arrest’ tactics. By Bobby Pen / The Grio

A new report from the Deportation Data Project shows an 11-fold increase in neighborhood arrests and a staggering rise in the detention of those with no criminal records.

The report, titled “One Year of Immigration Enforcement,” reveals a staggering 1,100 percent increase in “street arrests,” an aggressive tactic where federal agents apprehend individuals in their own neighborhoods, at courthouses, or during routine check-ins at ICE field offices. For Black undocumented migrants, who already face systemic disparities in policing, this shift marks a dangerous new era of enforcement that prioritizes volume over public safety. Read more

The Hidden Health Inequality Facing Even the Wealthiest Black Mothers. By Nina Martin / Mother Jones

Khiara Bridges has published her fourth book, one that feels very much like a sequel to her first: Expecting Inequity: How the Maternal Health Crisis Affects Even the Wealthiest Black Americans.

In it, she tries to answer a question that has perplexed researchers—and journalists like me—for at least a decade: Why don’t education and income protect Black women from disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality and life-threatening complications? The book focuses on San Francisco, which has one of the widest income gaps in the US and a Black population so small that encountering a Black woman with private insurance “was like seeing a mythical creature,” Bridges says. Read more

Education

When You Can’t Talk About Race. With DEI banned, a university struggles to confront the release of racist texts. By Katherine Mangan / The Chronicle of Higher Ed.

Beside a sprawling oak tree near the campus library at Florida International University, Marvin Dunn, an 85-year-old professor emeritus of psychology and historian, listened quietly last month as a local business owner read aloud from a group chat that lists 31 ways to kill Black people.

The Black History Learning Tree, designated by Dunn as an act of resistance against the state’s anti-DEI laws, might have been the only safe place on the Miami campus for a professor to talk openly about the controversy that has engulfed the campus since the chat contents were leaked to the local press. Before the backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion, colleges would often respond to racist incidents with campuswide conversations, counseling for students, and faculty training on how to discuss the incidents in the classroom. Read more

A Progressive Group Rolls Out a Campus Competitor to Turning Point. By Kellen Browning and Shane Goldmacher / NYT

More Perfect Union, a left-wing media organization, hopes to win back young voters and build a new generation of college influencers with its More Perfect University program.

The stakes are high on college campuses, where younger voters joined a historic shift of traditionally Democratic groups toward Mr. Trump in 2024. Young voters backed former Vice President Kamala Harris over Mr. Trump, 51 percent to 47 percent. But that result represented a significant shift from the 25-point margin by which they backed former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020, according to an analysis of Associated Press VoteCast data. Read more

Research as Resistance: Black Scholars Urged to Defy Political Pressure and Reclaim the Narrative at AABHE (American Ass of Blacks in Higher Ed). By Jamal Abdul-Alim / EduLedger

Black scholars must continue to conduct research as an act of resistance against efforts by the Trump administration to stifle diversity and hide the nation’s history of oppression from public view.

That was the heart of the message delivered Sunday to a bevy of scholars at a higher education conference here, as well as by the son of historian John Hope Franklin during a signature event to bestow an award named after Franklin. “We must resist and continue to conduct our research, publish and teach,” John W. Franklin, principal at Franklin Global LLC, told attendees at the annual conference of the American Association of Blacks in Higher Education, or AABHE. Read more

Morris Brown College Preps For First Graduation Of ‘Restoration Class’ Since Reaccreditation. By Nahlah Abdur-Rahman / Black Enterprise

This cohort of graduates, deemed the “Restoration Class,” is the first to graduate from Morris Brown since its reaccreditation. As the 92 spring graduates of Morris Brown bask in this milestone accomplishment, they also reflected on their own stories of second chances.

Now, as the HBCU inches closer to its former glory within the Atlanta University Center, it has its first wave of new era alums to thank. Instilling faith in one another has made both the school’s and the students’ efforts fruitful. Read more

World

Double standards? Why Iran’s nukes are scrutinised, Israel gets a pass. By Usaid Siddiqui / Aljazeera

For more than two decades, Iran’s nuclear programme has been subject to intense international scrutiny, sanctions and diplomatic negotiations. By contrast, while Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, an assertion it has consistently refused to deny or confirm, it faces little to almost no international pressure for transparency. Photographs of construction site near Dinoma in the Negev desert for Israel’s then-secret nuclear reactor were taken during 1960.

Over the past 10 months, Israel and the United States have waged two wars on Iran, arguing without evidence that the country was on the verge of having the capacity to build a nuclear weapon. These wars – the 12-day conflict in June last year and the recent month of fighting this year – have killed more than 2,600 Iranians and plunged the world into an unprecedented energy crisis. This imbalance has prompted complaints by Iran of double standards, as well as by proponents of nuclear non-proliferation worldwide. Read more

Pope Leo Denounces The ‘Delusion Of Omnipotence’ He Says Fuels The U.S.-Israeli War In Iran. By Nicole Winfield / HuffPost

In his strongest words yet, Pope Leo XIV on Saturday denounced the “delusion of omnipotence” that is fueling the U.S.-Israel war in Iran and demanded political leaders stop and negotiate peace.

History’s first U.S.-born pope didn’t mention the United States or President Donald Trump in his prayer, which was planned before the talks were announced. But Leo’s tone and message appeared directed at Trump and U.S. officials, who have boasted of U.S. military superiority and justified the war in religious terms. “Enough of the idolatry of self and money!” Leo said. “Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!” Read more

What Orban’s Defeat Means for the Rest of the World. By Michelle Goldberg / NYT

On Sunday, it happened: Orban was defeated. In an election with the highest voter turnout in Hungary’s democratic history, Magyar’s Tisza party won a two-thirds supermajority, enough to alter the constitution that Orban had rewritten to shore up his power.

In the run-up to the election, people in Hungary spoke less about a change in leadership than a change in regime, from one that is Russian-aligned and kleptocratic, with the ruling party embedded in virtually every institution, to one that is free, liberal and oriented toward Europe. The geopolitical consequences of Magyar’s victory could be profound. Under Orban, Hungary has vetoed aid to Ukraine and sanctions on both Russia and Israel. Magyar’s movement is hostile to Russia; people at his rallies have taken up the chant “Russians, go home,” a slogan from the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. “There is a strong narrative of commitment to the European Union and NATO.” Read more

Cuba sent doctors. Washington sent a destroyer. By Jafari S Allen / Aljazeera

A team of Cuban doctors and nurses arrives in Liberia on October 22, 2014 to help to fight the worst outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus

When the lights went out in Cuba last month leaving in the dark 10 million people, American media coverage reflexively reached for its tired old frame: a failed communist state, a dying regime, an opportunity. What that coverage cannot see, because it has not been looking at Cuba the way Cuba has been looking at itself, is what we stand to lose when the logic of possession replaces the logic of solidarity. Read more

Haitians cut back on already scarce food and ask how they’ll survive rising fuel prices. By Evens Sanon and Danica Coto / AP

For a factory worker in Haiti, the war in distant Iran means he now has to walk two hours to work and the same distance home each day, because he can no longer afford public transportation.

The conflict in Iran has caused oil prices in Haiti to surge, disrupting critical supply chains, doubling transportation costs and forcing millions of undernourished people to cut back on already scarce meals. Haiti, the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere, has been hit the hardest by rising oil prices that experts warn will deepen a spiraling humanitarian crisis. Read more

Ethics / Morality / Religion

On war, peace, the president and the pope. By George Weigel / Wash Post

George Weigel is a distinguished senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His books include “Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II.”

“Blasphemy” — the definition of which, according to my beloved Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, includes “claiming the attributes of deity” — is not a term typically deployed these days to describe the actions of political leaders. Consider, however, President Donald Trump’s Truth Social posts on Sunday night. Read more

When Faith Is Willfully Blind Loyalty: An Openly Demonic Presidency and a Crisis. By Fisher Jack / EurWeb

There are moments in history when silence is not neutrality—it is complicity. We are living in one of those moments. What we are witnessing in segments of American Christianity today is not simply political loyalty; it is something far more troubling: a spiritual surrender disguised as faith.

Let’s be clear—this is not about partisan disagreement. Nations have always wrestled with political division. This is about the alarming willingness of many self-professed Christians to excuse, defend, and even glorify behavior that directly contradicts the very teachings of Jesus Christ. It is about the absence of moral courage in spaces where truth should be the loudest voice. Read more

Pete Hegseth’s Gospel of Carnage. By Frank Bruni / NYT

I guess a zealot, by nature, can’t hide — too extreme are his convictions, too grand his designs, too consuming his arrogance. And so, over recent weeks, Pete Hegseth has fully revealed himself.

He has made clear that every missile the United States fires, every bomb it drops, every Iranian it kills, is for Jesus. Praise be the Lord, who has given America the power to wipe out an entire civilization. That’s what President Trump threatened to do — in an intermittently jaunty social media post, no less — and Hegseth gave no indication of unwillingness to execute that order. Read more

Black Immigrants Are Diversifying the American Church. By Jessica Janvier / Christianity Today

African Americans have long ministered to Black people abroad. Those communities are now increasingly migrating to the US.

Historians say the presence of the African Catholics in South Carolina played a significant part in the first mass conversion of slaves, which took place during the Great Awakening. At the time, Black Christians were participating in evangelical revivals sweeping through England, its island territories, and the American colonies. As white preachers and missionaries were connecting believers across borders, the first Black evangelicals were also doing the same. Read more

The Black Madonna and the church’s imagination. By Allison Bobzien / The Christian Century

Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones argues that to name Mary as Black is to challenge Christianity’s complicity in colonization and to claim sacred Blackness.

Opening with a stirring description of the discovery of Nossa Senhora Aparecida, the Black Madonna statue pulled from the nets of fishermen in Brazil in 1717, Immaculate Misconceptions wastes no time in detailing the central question of the book: What would it mean for the church to imagine Mary the mother of God as Black? Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones writes: “To claim—or rather, acknowledge—that ‘Mary is Black,’ is to state both the personal and the political as they are entrenched in the theological.” Read more

Historical / Cultural

Defending the truth: The fight for Black history in 2026. By Bria Nelson / The Hill

As the U.S. nears its 250th anniversary, a battle for the soul of U.S. history is unfolding. Last year, reports surfaced of the National Park Service scrubbing exhibits on Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad — a blatant attempt to sanitize the history of resistance against slavery.

While public outcry forced a partial walk-back, this erasure is a part of a broader crusade to whitewash history. It has been spurred in large part by an executive order from the Trump administration calling for “improper, divisive or anti-American ideology” to be removed from the Smithsonian. The aftermath of that executive order included the resignation of National Museum of African American History and Culture director, Kevin Young. Read more

Mississippi will celebrate Confederate Memorial Day soon. When, why. By Bonnie Bolden / Clarion Ledgaer

Mississippi will celebrate Confederate Memorial Day later this month

Several Southern states still treat it as a holiday. But only four states honor the South’s Civil War dead with a day off for public workers. The Magnolia State takes it a step further and celebrates April as Confederate Heritage Month. There have been several failed attempts to drop the holiday in the Mississippi Legislature. Here’s what we know about Confederate Memorial Day, when Mississippi celebrates and what other Confederate holidays the state celebrates. Read more

History: Sade, Luther Vandross, Wu-Tang Clan, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte among 2026 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. By Brandon Caldwell / The Grio

In an announcement on Monday during “American Idol”, the Rock Hall revealed that Sade, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan were among those to be inducted into the illustrious institution. Three other notable inductees, Queen Latifah, Fela Kuti and MC Lyte, were inducted into the Early Influence wing.

Vandross and Wu-Tang enter the Hall on their very first ballot. Sade reached the Hall on her second ballot, while Lyte and Latifah had not been previously nominated. Kuti had been nominated twice before, but made it this year. Read more

Dave Chappelle stands firm through backlash and considers revisiting ‘Chappelle’s Show.’ By Jonathan Landrum Jr. / AP

Dave Chappelle strolled through the Ohio village’s downtown like he always does: unbothered, unhurried and unmistakably himself.

There was no stage, no spotlight — just Yellow Springs, where he’s lived for decades, a place he spent summers as a child while his father worked as dean of students at nearby Antioch College. It’s in places like this, away from the glare, where Chappelle finds clarity and continues to sharpen a comedic voice that has sparked debate, drawn criticism and, through it all, refused to bend. “I’ve had a lot of support from my people,” said Chappelle, an Emmy and Grammy winner. “That’s what’s sustained me.” Read more

Sports

Jackie Robinson Day is a bridge for MLB and Negro League conversations. By Jason Jones / NYT

Bob Kendrick believes Major League Baseball has kept Jackie Robinson’s legacy at the forefront by celebrating every April 15. Jackie Robinson Day, now an annual MLB commemoration, saw its introduction to the league in 2004.

Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, has watched MLB observe the day by having all players, managers and umpires wear Robinson’s No. 42, which is retired across the league. There are replica jerseys of the former Brooklyn Dodgers pioneer who broke the MLB color line 79 years ago. Player hats featuring a Robinson-themed patch are available for retail. There are even Robinson-themed sneakers. Read more

Tiger Woods Plus Donald Trump: A Tragedy Made in the USA. By Dave Zirin / The Nation

Woods and Trump’s famous friendship is built on a shared knack for accumulation, vacuousness, and power worship. It’s as American as apple pie.

For anyone who believes that Donald Trump, in his infinite narcissism, has no empathy for anyone other than himself, think again. He may project nothing but apathy or glee concerning the pain he’s inflicted on countless families around the world, including his own damaged, parasitic brood; he may threaten war crimes in a national televised address; he may promise to use federal troops to “force ourselves upon” Los Angeles during the 2026 World Cup; but he does genuinely seem to love golfing legend Tiger Woods. Read more

Candace Parker, Amar’e Stoudemire, Doc Rivers headline 2026 Hall of Fame class. By Devon Henderson, Emily Ohman and Mark Puleo / The Athletic

Candace Parker, Amar’e Stoudemire and Doc Rivers headline a nine-member class that has been selected for induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame next August.

The threesome will be joined by Elena Delle Donne, Mark Few, Joey Crawford, Chamique Holdsclaw, Mike D’Antoni and the 1996 United States Women’s National Team in the Class of 2026, the Hall of Fame announced Saturday. Some were dominant forces on the court and pioneers of their sport, while the coaches maintained remarkable levels of success for over two decades each. Read more

Most Dangerous Teams In The NBA Playoffs. By Steve Bradshaw / Forbes

Round one of the 2025-2026 NBA playoffs kicks off on April 15th, but most of the bracket is already set. With that being the case, we’ll be looking at the most dangerous teams for the NBA playoffs.

The way we’ll be conducting this list is by taking the top four teams that are set to make some serious noise in the playoffs. While there won’t really be a sleeper team on here, the goal is to help you understand which rosters look dangerous heading into the playoffs: Oklahoma City Thunder, Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs. Read more

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On Race in America (Apr 18) – Stories, Insight and Perspective

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