Featured
When a Nation Devalues Human Life. By Ronald J. Sheehy, Editor / On Race in America
In every age, nations are tested not only by their wealth, military strength, or political institutions, but by the value they place on human life. This essay reflects on the moral consequences of becoming indifferent to suffering and asks whether a democracy can remain true to its highest ideals when compassion gives way to complacency.
Read complete essay. When a Nation Devalues Human Life. By Ronald J. Sheehy, Editor / On Race in America
The Week’s Top Stories
Political / Social
As Trump’s approval rating reaches embarrassing depths, the GOP faces a difficult choice. Steve Benen / MS Now
The latest CNN poll showed Trump’s overall approval rating slipping to 34%, matching the career low he last saw in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack. The same survey showed the president struggling on issues across the board, and his backing among Republican voters has dropped to 78%, his worst-ever standing among members of his own party.
Indeed, the lower Trump’s support sinks, the more his party will have to confront a question about how to respond to reality-based data. Do they take new, meaningful steps to distance themselves from a failing, woefully unpopular president, or do they continue to carry Trump’s water and take their chances with dissatisfied constituents? Read more
Related: The sleeping giant of America is finally awakening. By Robert Reich / Substack
Urban League report says Trump administration is harming Black Americans’ chances at American Dream. By Matt Brown / AP
The American Dream may not be dead for many Black Americans, but it is further away than at any point since the Civil Rights Movement, warns a report by the National Urban League.
Released on Thursday, the annual “State of Black America” report grimly describes Black Americans ‘ economic and political prospects as having worsened due to policy changes from President Donald Trump’s administration, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press. The report contends that the challenges it highlights for Black communities are warning signs for the prosperity of all Americans. Read more
Related: New Report: Economic Realities Worsening for Black Men and Boys. By Phenix S. Halley / The Root
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani Doubles Down on Reparations Promise as He Reveals Next Steps for Black Residents. Byh Phenix S. Halley / The Root
In an exclusive interview with The Root, Mamdani explains why confronting New York’s slavery history is essential to understanding the reparations debate.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is standing by his push to examine reparations, saying the question is not whether history is uncomfortable. Instead, it is whether New York is willing to confront the truth of its role in creating lasting racial inequities. Read more
Republican disenfranchisement bid drives Black voters to polls, study finds. By Adria R. Walker / The Guardian
Black voters in south motivated to turn out by Republican push to redraw maps after supreme court ruling
A new analysis of Black voters in the south indicates that Republican attempts to dilute their political power is driving them to the polls in larger numbers and shifting their counties further left. Read more
Donalds cruising to GOP gubernatorial nomination should worry Florida Republicans. By Mary Anna Mancuso / Miami Herald
Byron Donalds has the money, the polls and Donald Trump’s endorsement but, as Miami Herald opinion columnist Mary Anna Mancuso argues, the real story of Florida’s GOP gubernatorial primary is what’s happening beneath the frontrunner’s feet. Two columns by Mancuso make the case that dismissing James Fishback’s insurgency would be a mistake Republicans have made before.
Donalds may be the presumptive nominee, but the more interesting question is what the Florida GOP does the day after the Aug. 19 primary — because a party that once rode the Tea Party wave into power is now the establishment fending off its own insurgency. Read more
Imprisoned writer Mumia Abu-Jamal seeks UN intervention after 44 years behind bars. By Ed Pilkington / The Guardian
As he approaches the 45th anniversary of his incarceration in December, the Black radical writer and prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal is taking his claim that he has been subjected to arbitrary imprisonment for a crime that he did not commit to a new tribunal: the United Nations in Geneva.
On Tuesday Abu-Jamal, 72, lodged a petition with the UN’s working group on arbitrary detention, a body within the Human Rights Council. It marks the latest attempt by the internationally renowned prisoner and prolific author of 15 books to seek relief, having exhausted all domestic channels through state and federal courts. Read more
The Rapid Rise of Right-Wing Militias. By Reveal / Mother Jones
A former federal prosecutor examines how white nationalism came out of the shadows.
A photo went viral on Independence Day this year. It showed a Black woman on a Metro train in Washington, DC, surrounded by members of Patriot Front, a far-right white nationalist group. The picture, taken on America’s 250th anniversary, seemed to encapsulate not only the continuing story of race in America, but also this current moment when right-wing groups seem louder, prouder, and more public than they’ve been in decades. Read more
Related: Trump torn apart by former CIA head for ignoring right-wing extremists. By Matthew Rozsa / AlterNet
Education
Ivy League schools received 178 times more foundation funding than HBCUs, report finds. By Odafe Oghen / The Grio
A renewed analysis found the funding gap persisted between 2015 and 2019, despite growing attention to HBCU philanthropy in recent years. Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.
A renewed examination of private philanthropy found that the average Ivy League university received 178 times more foundation funding than the average historically Black college or university between 2015 and 2019. The HBCU foundation funding gap echoes an earlier funding analysis and comes despite MacKenzie Scott’s HBCU giving in recent years. Read more
Florida’s Great Conservative Crack-Up. By Garrett Shanley / The Chronicle of Higher Ed.
When Gov. Ron DeSantis began transforming Florida into the place “where woke goes to die,” he turned to Christopher Rufo for help. Even after carrying his crusade against diversity, equity, and inclusion to President Trump’s Washington, Rufo never lost interest in Florida.
Last month, he reentered the state’s higher-ed wars as the University of Florida prepared to install Stuart Bell, the University of Alabama’s former leader, as its next president. From his perch on X, where he commands nearly 850,000 followers, Rufo amplified criticism from some of his Manhattan Institute compatriots over Bell’s record on DEI while raising questions about the extraordinary influence of the university board’s chairman, Morteza (Mori) Hosseini. Read more
31 Colleges Recently Became ‘Black-Serving Institutions.’ What Does That Mean? Amann S. Mahajan / The Chronicle of Higher Ed.
Thirty-one colleges recently made explicit commitments to supporting Black students — at a time when the Trump administration has targeted higher education’s diversity efforts and slashed millions in funding for institutions with large minority populations.
The “Black-serving institution” designation, created by the California Legislature in 2024 and awarded for the first time late last year, recognizes colleges with a certain representation of Black or African American students (at least 1,500 total or 10 percent of enrollment) where campus leaders have agreed to take intentional steps to increase their success rates. It doesn’t come with funding attached, but colleges sought the recognition anyway. Read more
Tuskegee University’s new dress code ignites mixed reactions. By Kay Wicker / The Grio
From educators to incoming students, many react to Tuskegee University’s updated dress code banning bonnets, du-rags, pajamas, and more.
Satin bonnets, du-rags, a pair of fuzzy bedroom slippers, and pajamas. These are among the things Tuskegee University doesn’t want to see in its lecture halls, library, dining hall, and other campus spaces come fall. Ahead of the 2026-2027 academic year, the Alabama-based university unveiled an updated dress code outlining what students should and shouldn’t wear in classrooms, offices, dining facilities, and elsewhere on campus. The policy quickly sparked a heated debate online. While campus dress codes are to be expected, especially at HBCUs, Tuskegee’s announcement comes at a time when conversations around Black appearance, professionalism, and self-expression continue to unfold in classrooms, corporate offices, and even airports, leading many to question where professionalism ends, and respectability politics begins. Read more
World
ICE plans to target Haitians as Temporary Protected Status is set to end, sources say. By Camilo Montoya-Galvez / CBS News
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has made plans to ramp up operations to arrest and deport Haitian migrants, as hundreds of thousands of Haitians brace for the termination of their legal status, according to two agency sources and federal documents obtained by CBS News.
The plans include arresting migrants in Ohio — where large Haitian communities in cities like Springfield have been targeted by President Trump and conservative politicians and commentators — and quickly putting them on deportation flights to crisis-stricken Haiti, the internal documents indicate. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Mr. Trump amplified baseless claims that Haitians in Springfield were eating cats and dogs. Read more
67 boat strikes. 221 dead. The cocaine hasn’t slowed, officials report. By Alex Horton , Terrence McCoy, Samantha Schmidt , and Dylan Moriarty / Wash Post
The president says Operation Southern Spear has virtually ended drug trafficking by sea. Pentagon and DEA analysts have concluded otherwise.
The Trump administration’s deadly military strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats have not reduced the amount of cocaine entering the United States, but they’re prompting criminal organizations to develop new strategies and tactics and undermining traditional investigative methods, according to a previously unreported assessment by the Drug Enforcement Administration, a closed-door congressional briefing and interviews with current and former U.S. and foreign officials. Read more
Oprah to Close South African School After Nearly 2 Decades. By TMZ Staff
Oprah Winfrey‘s girls’ school in South Africa she opened nearly two decades ago will be closing in 2027 … and transitioning its operations to local officials, she announced.
Moving forward, the media mogul will instead focus on a scholarship program for girls at the boarding school — currently called the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy of Girls — she said in a statement Wednesday. The plan is to expand reach to more young girls across South Africa. Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
The right says “suicidal empathy” is destroying the West. Here’s the truth. By Zaid Jilani / Vox
America’s right-wing elites have a theatrical new indictment of liberals that they warn will lead to catastrophe: They care too much.
“Suicidal empathy,” the phrase coined by Canadian marketing professor and conservative influencer Gad Saad, is suddenly on the lips of everyone right-of-center — including billionaire Elon Musk, who has promoted Saad’s book by the same name. The catchy two-word indictment crystallizes a broader critique on the right — that progressive values aren’t just a misdirection of priorities, but an active threat to everything the West has achieved over thousands of years.
Black Baptists open advocacy center in DC. By Jeff Brumley / The Christian Century
A historically Black denomination has opened an advocacy center in the heart of Washington, DC, to protect civil rights, champion religious freedom and to be a voice for the poor and marginalized. Boise Kimber, president of the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc.
The National Baptist Convention USA Inc., announced the launch of its Center for Social Justice to counter the extreme threats to democracy and freedom currently besetting the nation. “We are positioning ourselves at the center of policy and discussions that affect African Americans and our faith communities,” NBCUSA President Boise Kimber said. Read more
Churches Are More Diverse but Talking Less About Diversity. By Aaron Earls / Christianity Today
Over the past decade, churchgoers are more likely to see someone of a different ethnicity in their congregation but less likely to hear about racial diversity from the pulpit.
“Since 7 in 10 Americans believe our country still has a long way to go on race relations, it is not for lack of need that pastors are not addressing racial reconciliation,” McConnell said. “The majority of pastors still address racial reconciliation each year, but the rise in pastors who rarely or never address the topic from the pulpit across many demographic groups appears disconnected from this need.” Read more
Afro-pessimism and Christian hope. By Lynn Tang Lee / The Christian Century
Reading Saidiya Hartman alongside Vincent Lloyd has helped me get through the night. Afro-pessimism requires some explanation. But first it might be helpful to articulate a nourished and full sense of hope. Lloyd, a religious scholar who works in Black theology, reminds us what Christian hope is supposed to be:
Christians are to be committed to a vision of the future in which goodness prevails, a time when violence and suffering end. This vision produces an uncannily bright disposition, a disposition discordant with the violence and suffering that surrounds. Christians are called to do more than endure or persevere in a world of wretchedness. They are called to thrive, to have a radiance guaranteed by the eternal happiness they know is to come—to have a radiance that itself participates in that happiness. Read more
Historical / Cultural
Miami Turns 130, And The Black History Behind The Magic City Runs Deeper Than Most Know. By Keytron Hill / Baller Alert
Today marks 130 years since Miami was officially incorporated as a city, and if that history gets told the way it usually does, the story starts and ends with Julia Tuttle mailing orange blossoms to Henry Flagler to prove Miami survived a freeze that devastated the rest of Florida. That part is true. But the fuller story of July 28, 1896 is one that rarely gets centered, and it is a story Baller Alert thinks deserves the spotlight on Miami’s birthday.
When the vote to incorporate Miami as a city took place, roughly 367 registered voters showed up to make it official. Of those voters, 162 were Black men, many of them Bahamian immigrants who had come to South Florida for construction and railroad work. That means Black voters made up close to forty four percent of the people in that room, and without them, Miami would not have hit the minimum number of registered voters required by Florida law to incorporate as a city at all. Read more
Nearly 100 years ago, Philadelphia’s Inez Patterson integrated pools and encouraged other Black girls to swim too. By Samantha Adams / The Conversation
After graduating high school, Patterson went on to integrate Temple University’s women’s swim team. She refused to swim during the hourlong “colored” practice time. Being the only Black woman on the team, she insisted on swimming whenever her white teammates swam and being “too busy” to swim during the segregated hour.
“Up to this time, no colored girls had taken part in any swim meets (at Temple),” Patterson told the Baltimore Afro-American in 1934 about her experience at the university. “The purpose of (the swim meet) was to foster intercollegiate spirit among the students so, ‘Why shouldn’t I go?’ I asked myself. Out of 500 girls present I was the only colored.” Read more
Trump Escalates Campaign Against Smithsonian With New “Warning Signs” Order. By Chris Walker / Truthout
President Donald Trump issued an executive order this past weekend demanding new signage outside the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History (NMAH), due to what his administration has alleged are displays that demonstrate an unpatriotic view of the past.
The signs will “warn” visitors about a supposed “ideological capture” of the NMAH. They also claim that the museum’s displays depict historical events using a “radical view of American history.” Read more
Meet Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings’ queer descendants. By Nicholas Boston / Salon
Through her late mother, Julia Jefferson Westerinen, Dorothy is a direct descendant of Thomas Jefferson, the third president and principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman of African extraction who bore him children. Dorothy Westerinen (R), stands with her mother Julia Jefferson Westerinen (L), at Monticello in 1999
Eston Hemings was born on May 21, 1808, and raised in slavery at Monticello, the Jefferson plantation in Virginia. Emancipated at 21, he moved to Ohio, then Wisconsin, where he and his half-Black, half-Jewish wife, Julia (née Isaacs), changed their last name to Jefferson and began passing for white. Eston’s decision led to estrangement from his brother Madison, the only one of the four surviving Jefferson-Hemings offspring to remain in the Black community. Read more
Obama’s Answer to Matt Barnes’ Race Question Is a Reminder That Blackness Isn’t a Monolith. By Shellie M. Scott / The Root
When Matt Barnes asked Barack Obama when he realized the world would always see him as a Black man, the former president didn’t respond with a story about exclusion. Instead, he reflected on his upbringing and the lesson that showed him there is no single way to be Black.
When Barack Obama sat down with former NBA player Matt Barnes, a biracial American with Black and Italian heritage, their conversation turned to questions of identity. In a June interview, Barnes asked Obama whether there was a moment when he realized that, no matter how proud he was of being biracial, the world would always see him as a Black man. Read more
The Curly, Coily Hair God Made. By Jordone Massey / Christianity Today
When I was in sixth grade, I learned my hair made me different. I was 11 and a new student in a predominately white private school in Columbia, South Carolina. My mother had moved me there from a majority Black charter school where I had sat in classrooms among little Black girls who sported multicolored barrettes in their pretty braids and put pink bows in their slicked-back ponytails. At the new school, there was me and Brianna.
Somewhere along the way, how I saw myself also began to change. My classmates did not lovingly embrace Black hairstyles, which to 11-year-old Jordone meant I was tolerated but not embraced. The microbraids I once considered stylish suddenly became tiring because they prompted so many questions. (“How did you get your hair to do that?” “How do you wash your hair when it’s like that?”) I wanted to be cute. But my braids, cornrows, and Afro puffs were no longer markers of beauty; they now marked difference. Read more
Related: Black Girls, Hair, and the Cost of Beauty. By Ronald J. Sheehy, Editor / On Race in America
Sports
Trump’s Favorite Sportscaster Erupts Over President’s ‘Racist’ Remark. By Harry Thompson / The Daily Beast
Donald Trump’s sometime favorite sportscaster has called him out over his “disgusting” comments about NBA megastar LeBron James.
Stephen A. Smith’s defense of the basketball legend comes despite long-running acrimony between them after the commentator criticized James’ NBA-playing son Bronny. In the wake of the president’s bizarre allegation that James may be a “racist,” Smith buried the hatchet, stepping in to defend the newly signed Philadelphia 76ers star, 41. Read more
Related: LeBron James: An Odyssey. By Louisa Thomas / The New Yorker
Texas lawmaker says WNBA response on Caitlin Clark ‘falls short,’ keeps ‘every option on the table.’ By Dan Zaksheske / Fox News
Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, says the WNBA’s response to congressional concerns about Caitlin Clark’s treatment “falls short” and warned that lawmakers will keep “every option on the table” as they continue pressing the league for answers.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert responded on July 24 to a letter from Pfluger and 10 other House Republicans who questioned whether the league had adequately protected Clark and held opposing players accountable for overly physical conduct. In the two-page response obtained exclusively by OutKick, Engelbert said the WNBA’s “top priority is the health, safety, and well-being of every player in our league, including Caitlin Clark.” Read more
Former ESPN Host Explains Why Launching a Black Sports Network With Ryan Clark & Cam Newton Isn’t Feasible. By Krushna Prasad Pattnaik / Essentially Sports
Following ESPN’s latest wave of layoffs, many fans quickly floated the idea of personalities like Jemele Hill, Ryan Clark, and Cam Newton teaming up to launch their own Black-owned sports network. Of course, Hill found the concept intriguing. But she was quick to point out why it’s not feasible.
“I love the idea, but now let’s talk about the execution, because that’s the part that people don’t think about when they talk about the execution,” Hill explained in a YouTube video. “At this point, at least in my career—I can’t speak for everybody else—at this point in my career, I got real big bills. And when you start up, any new start-up, you need to be funded, number one. So, we’re talking about advertising, we’re talking about studio. Like we’re talking about a lot of moving parts.” Read more
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