Featured

America’s Achilles Heel: The Wages of Whiteness. By Ronald J. Sheehy, Editor / On Race in America

For years, a persistent question has hovered over American politics: why do so many poor and working-class white Americans support Donald Trump when many of his policies work directly against their material interests? The answer is neither new nor mysterious. It was articulated with devastating clarity by W. E. B. Du Bois in his landmark 1935 work Black Reconstruction in America. Read more

The Week’s Top Stories

Political / Social

Donald Trump’s State of the Union Was Long and Wrong. By Susan B. Glasser / The New Yorker

For all the blather, it was not only long but incredibly news-free. What we learned on Tuesday night is that Trump may or may not go to war with Iran—to stop a nuclear program that he claimed, once again, to have already “obliterated”—and also that, despite the Supreme Court’s “very unfortunate ruling” rebuking his overreach in imposing sweeping international tariffs, Trump wants to keep them anyway, by invoking other executive authorities that he may or may not legally have.

But Trump is all about superlatives. Everything he does has to be the biggest, the strongest, the mostest. Who cares that he managed to say almost nothing with all those words? He made history. Read more

Study reveals how Trump’s 2024 victory made prejudice cool again. By Adam Lynch / MSN

A new study reveals that President Donald Trump’s derogatory rhetoric is making prejudice fashionable again.

“Individuals naturally want to fit in,” reports PsyPost. “They tend to hide their prejudices when society disapproves of them. However, when a prominent political figure openly uses derogatory language against specific groups, it sends a signal that these negative attitudes are now socially acceptable.” Read more

How Trump and His Allies Are Working to Depress Turnout, Immediate Voters and Steal the 2026. By Katrina Vanden Heuvel / The Nation

Time to save America from the SAVE America Act.

Earlier this month, the House passed the SAVE America Act, which threatens to block millions from voting in November. It’s just one salvo in a multipronged Republican effort to undermine the midterms and lay the groundwork for a new round of 2020-style election denialism should Democrats win Congress. Read more

Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Joseph Stiglitz Slams Trump’s Myths About Tariffs, Affordability. By Amy Goodman / Democracy Now

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz responds to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, when the president repeatedly touted his tariffs as saving the country money and boosting the economy.

Stiglitz says Trump’s “lies” about tariffs can’t erase the truth about how they have raised costs for most U.S. residents. “It is estimated the average family is paying somewhere between $1,000 and $1,700 in extra money because of the tariffs,” says Stiglitz. “His policies have failed.” Read more

The Mississippi Delta Is a Testing Ground for the Nation. By Aallyah Wright / Capital B

W. Ralph Eubanks’ book “When It’s Darkness on the Delta” examines the inequality and history that shaped the area and why it’s a mirror to America.

They endure high levels of poverty, food insecurity, and a lack of jobs. Between 2002 to 2022, employment grew in surrounding areas and the nation while it consistently declined in the Lower Mississippi Delta region. For decades, those in power have chosen to ignore the realities of this place, Mississippi native Eubanks said. He set out to find out why in his new book, When It’s Darkness on the Delta. He says that “America Is the South,” and the Delta isn’t a silo. Read more

Georgia Is Letting a Railroad Seize Land a Black Family Has Owned For 100 Years. by Adam Mahoney and Aallyah Wright / Capital B

Descendants of enslaved people are fighting an attempt to use eminent domain to carve a spur through one of Georgia’s largest Black‑owned farms. At 92, Ida Lowe Blocker still attends community meetings. She hopes the railroad track does not get built behind her home.

In 1850, Andrew Benjamin Tarbutton enslaved 25 people in central Georgia. A year later, he purchased more than a dozen additional people off the docks in Savannah and marched them toward his home, setting the foundation for his family’s generational wealth. Four generations later, a railroad company owned by one of his descendants is using eminent domain to seize land of poor farmers, including descendants of enslaved people, not too far from where his family’s fortunes started. Read more

Is vicarious racism impacting your children? Its effects can be devastating. By Kay Wicker / The Grio

Social media, headlines, and increased discussion could be causing your kids to experience racism vicariously.

According to child and adult psychiatrist Dr. Amanda Joy Calhoun, this phenomenon is called “vicarious racism,” and its impact on young developing minds can be intense. “Some [children] are angry, some are depressed, some are terrified, worrying about their safety as Black people in America,” she writes in Parents magazine, describing how widely-televised racist violence and bias show up in the mental health of her patients. Read more

Education

How a Jewish Philanthropist and Black Educator Rewrote Southern Education. By Jeffrey Kass / Level Man

Their model — resources plus community ownership —educated 600,000 children and rewired opportunity across generations.

Thee relationship between Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington is one of the most consequential and still underappreciated examples in American history of what can happen when people intentionally expand their circle of trust across race and lived experiences. It wasn’t inevitable. It was chosen. Read more

Daughter of slaves devoted life to education, advised presidents. By Page Leggett / Illumination

Born to former slaves just 10 years after the Civil War ended, Mary McLeod Bethune ’s improbable life took her from the humblest roots to the White House, where she served as an advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt and trusted friend to Eleanor Roosevelt.

The Mayesville, S.C., native – born on a cotton farm – knew education was essential in lifting African-Americans out of poverty. “The drums of Africa still beat in my heart,” she wrote. “They will not let me rest while there is a single Negro boy or girl without a chance to prove his worth.” She believed vocational training was the right path for blacks and focused on “education that reached the hand, heart and mind,” Jordan said. In 1904, she started the Daytona Literary and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls in Daytona Beach, Fla., which through a merger with an all-male school became the co-ed Bethune-Cookman University. Read more

The Democratic Party Is Turning Back Toward Public Schools. By Peter Greene / The Progressive Magazine

The New Democrat Coalition in the House of Representatives is calling for funding public education for students in every zip code. Members of the New Democrat Coalition meet with President Joe Biden at the White House, March 2022.

It has been a long time since the Democratic Party gave its full-throated support for public schools in this country. Now a coalition of Democrats in Congress is offering a new policy lens that could reverse the decades-long abandonment of the U.S. public education system. Read more

Trump is betting on DeSantis’ college oversight revamp. It’s shaping up to be a red-state revolution. By Rebecca Carballo, Andrew Atterbury and Bianca Quilantan / Politico

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is at the center of a red-state rebellion against the organizations that oversee the nation’s colleges — and he’s getting a boost from President Donald Trump. The Florida governor’s project, which received $1 million from Trump’s Education Department, is trying to establish an accreditor more aligned with conservative values.

The outgoing Republican governor has been on a yearslong campaign to break up the current system of college accreditors, the obscure gatekeepers that decide whether universities qualify for federal student aid. And he’s building support across several states looking to challenge “woke” policies. Read more

Longtime Xavier University President, leader Norman C. Francis dies at 94. By Raven Poole / WGNO

Dr. Norman C. Francis, the longtime president of Xavier University and a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights Movement, has passed away, leaving behind a true legacy many look up to.

“He will be missed tremendously. He’s just that profound human being and had that profound an impact. One person can’t replace him. A prince of a man, an iconic figure. There’ll never be another,” former Councilman Oliver Thomas said. Francis became the first black and lay president of Xavier University in 1968. He led the nation’s only Catholic, historically Black university for nearly 50 years. Read more

World

Inside South Africa amid Trump’s White farmer genocide claims. By Anderson Cooper, Michael H Gavshon, Nadim Roberts / CBS News

President Trump says that White farmers are victims of a genocide. The South African government disputes that. We went to South Africa to see for ourselves.

Whites make up only about 7% of the population of South Africa but still own 72% of all privately held agricultural land, and many of the country’s large commercial farms. Johann Kotzé: It’s actually not about White genocide. It’s about criminality– in South Africa. Anderson Cooper: That’s what’s happening on farms. It’s what’s happening in streets in Johannesburg and other major cities, it’s crime. Read more

Iran cannot defeat US military might, but it can still win. By Jang Xiaotong / Aljazeera

Capitulation in the form of a deal will not stave off US aggression. Defiance through regional alliances could.

Last week, American diplomats and their Iranian counterparts sat down in Geneva for yet another round of talks mediated by Oman. The outcome seemed unclear. While the Iranians said “good progress” had been made, the Americans claimed there was “a little progress”. Meanwhile, United States President Donald Trump threatened once again to strike Iran. In recent weeks, there has been a heavy US military build-up in the Middle East in preparation for what many observers see as an imminent attack. Read more

“It’s Still a Genocide”: Poet Mosab Abu Toha on Reality of “Ceasefire” in Gaza. By Amy Goodman / Democracy Now

We speak with Mosab Abu Toha, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Palestinian poet and author from Gaza, who responds to recent developments in the region including the Trump administration’s policy on Palestine, a recent report finding that the genocide’s death toll is much higher than originally reported and more.

A new study in the British medical journal The Lancet has concluded Israel’s war on Gaza killed far more Palestinians than initially reported. Researchers found there were over 75,000 violent deaths in the first 16 months of Israel’s assault, compared to the roughly 49,000 deaths reported by the Palestinian Health Ministry over that period. More than half of those killed in the Israeli strikes were women, seniors or children. Read more

Ethics / Morality / Religion

Religious ties shape how Black Americans define family, Pew study finds. By Fiona Murphy / RNS

Black Americans are more likely to consider people not related to them by blood or marriage part of their families, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center. Religious affiliation, Pew found, is a key factor in forming these alternative family networks.

Pew’s 93-page report, based on a survey of 4,271 Black adults and 2,555 adults of other races, examines how Black Americans define and experience family, and how people support one another. Overall, 77% of Black Americans said their family includes at least one nonrelative, compared with 63% of adults of other races. Read more

Morehouse faces backlash over plan to honor Joseph Smith with chapel portrait amid slavery debate. By Ann Brown / MSN

An ongoing debate is taking place on the campus of Morehouse College as the Joseph Smith portrait is set to be displayed in the coming months.

Smith founded Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. He published the “Book of Mormon” at age 24 and, within 14 years, had attracted tens of thousands of followers by the time of his death. Some in the Latter Day Saints had ties to slavery. While Smith himself was not a slaveholder, some early church members owned slaves. Supporters of Smith’s portrait have pointed to his 1844 presidential campaign platform, during which he advocated for the abolition of slavery and proposed federal compensation to enslavers. Read more

33 historically Black churches receive $8.5 million in preservation grants. By Adelle M. Banks / RNS

Grants were awarded, ranging from $50,000 to $500,000, for capital projects, programming and interpretation, or project planning. Clockwise from top left: Bethel Baptist Institutional Church (Aaron Mervyn), Clinton AME Zion Church (R. Peter Robertson), Mt. Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church (Rev. Pond), and Good Shepherd Episcopal Church (Ethos Preservation).

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church are among 33 Black churches receiving millions of dollars for preservation of their sacred and historic buildings. They are recipients of the fourth annual round of grants from the Preserving Black Churches program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. Read more

ICE Is Devastating Some Latino Churches. By Samuel Rodriguez / Christianity Today

I recently visited multiple congregations across Minnesota, including River Valley Church. As I stood inside each church, what I witnessed was not anecdotal or exaggerated. It was empirical and deeply troubling. As national immigration-enforcement politics evolve, churchgoers across the Midwest are feeling the consequences far from the border.

One of the largest Latino churches in the state, which previously held four Sunday services, is down to one service at roughly 60 percent capacity. Approximately 75 to 80 percent of this church body has stopped attending services altogether. This is not a story about declining faith or spiritual apathy. It is a story about fear. The Latino church is hemorrhaging, and the cause is increasingly clear. Read more

Historical / Cultural

Proof That Jim Crow Era Was Not That Long Ago And Why This is Important to Know. By Shellie M. Scott / The Root

Jim Crow laws were in place not that long ago. Even though many photos from that time are in black and white, the history is far from ancient and the remnants are all around us.

The nation’s first Black president, still handsome, young and energetic, was born into a country where segregation was still legal. Even people born in 1950 were only 14 or 15 when the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed, and spent their entire childhood under the Jim Crow system that served as America’s own system of apartheid. Read more

The Trump Administration Can’t Kill Black History Month. By Clint Smith / The Atlantic

We don’t need permission from the government to commemorate a complex past. Norman Rockwell’s 1964 painting “The Problem We All Live With”

The president has said, for example, that the Smithsonian museums spend too much time talking about slavery. His administration has told schools and universities that they should focus on a “patriotic education” that illuminates the uplifting parts of our country’s history while sidestepping anything perceived as too negative. The downstream cultural and societal impacts of such pronouncements from the White House have been stark. Schools, libraries, and corporations that once publicly celebrated Black history, both during February and beyond, have now gone quiet. Read more

Ibram X. Kendi vs. America’s “Antiracism Backlash.” By Reveal / Mother Jones

He rocketed to national attention during the BLM movement—then endured a storm of criticism. The author and professor debates America’s choice between democracy and dictatorship.

Kendi now leads another academic project, this time at Howard University’s Institute for Advanced Study, that focuses on racism and the global African diaspora. And next month, Kendi will release a new book called Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age, which examines what’s known as the “great replacement theory” and its links to authoritarian regimes around the world. Read more

The Republican Party Has a Nazi Problem. By Tom Nichols / The Atlantic

How did the GOP become a haven for slogans and ideas straight out of the Third Reich?

Over the past few months, during his agency’s chaotic crackdowns in Chicago and Minneapolis, the U.S. Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino has worn an unusual uniform: a wide-lapel greatcoat with brass buttons and stars along one sleeve. It looks like it was taken right off the shoulders of a Wehrmacht officer in the 1930s. Bovino’s choice of garment is more than tough-guy cosplay (German media noted the aesthetic immediately). The coat symbolizes a trend: The Republicans, it seems, have a bit of a Nazi problem. Read more

Heartbreaking Story of Hattie McDaniel, The First Black Oscar Winner. By Mahalia Otshudy / The Root

With the Oscars approaching, we must remember Hattie McDaniel, the first Black Academy Award winner, who was nonetheless disrespected by Hollywood.

Before McDaniel became famous for her role in “Gone With the Wind,” she first gained major recognition alongside Shirley Temple in the 1935 comedy film “The Little Colonel.” In 1940, McDaniel made history by becoming the first Black person to win an Academy Award. In her speech, the award-winning actress said that she’d “sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race and to the motion picture industry,” according to the Academy Awards. Read more

The musical dialogue between Bob Dylan and Black America. By Caryn Rose / Salon

Highway of Diamonds – Black America Sings Bob Dylan” is the latest release in Ace Records’ “Black America Sings…” series. It showcases decades of Black artists reshaping and sometimes radically reframing Dylan’s work. Shown is Odetta.

Ace is a small but mighty UK label that specializes in reissues and vintage catalog material, prioritizing physical releases that feature thoughtful annotations and liner notes. Their previous Dylan entry in the series (2010’s “How Many Roads”) features several of the same artists on “Highway of Diamonds,” and that’s not because they were limited for choice, but because there are simply so many excellent covers to choose from. Read more

Black Music Sunday: Remembering Nat King Cole. By Denise Oliver Velez / Daily Kos

How many of you are old enough to have grown up with the mellifluous sounds of Nat King Cole, and his pianistic artistry? A new biopic on his life and music is in the works, starring Colman Domingo. I’m looking forward to seeing it. Baseball player Roy Campanella, right, is seen singing a duet with Nat King Cole, center, as Campanella’s wife Ruthe listens at New York City’s Copacabana nightclub, in this Nov. 7, 1958 file photo.

Singer, actor, and pianist Nathaniel Adams Coles, who the world knew as ”Nat King Cole,” was born on March 17, 1919, in Montgomery, Alabama and joined the ancestors on Feb. 15, 1965, in Santa Monica CA. He was only 45 years old. His biography at Musician Guide by Elizabeth Thomas details his life and career: Read more and listen here.

Sports

Howard University Makes History By Taking Home Men’s, Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships. By Cedric Thornton / Black Enterprise

For the women’s team, this is its first NEC title. For the men’s team, this is its second straight championship, third in four years.

Howard University has captured both men’s and women’s swimming and diving championships for the Northeast Conference. The wins make Howard the standard-bearer for Black swimming programs. Read more

‘Making my mark on the industry’: Kyrie Irving is growing — and thriving — as chief creative officer of Anta Basketball. By Aaron Dodson / Andscape

The Dallas Mavericks’ star point guard recently helped the Chinese company open its first U.S. flagship store while promoting his third signature shoe

Days before the 2026 NBA All-Star Game, Anta — the largest China-based company in the sportswear industry — hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its first store in the United States. But the real prize was a chance to meet Anta’s chief creative officer, aka Dallas Mavericks star point guard Kyrie Irving, who accepted the unique role three years ago when he joined the brand. Read more

Lakers Legend Urges LeBron James to Leave Amid 3-Game Winless Slump. By Pranav Kotal / Essentially Sports

The report that LeBron James’ eighth season with the Lakers is his last is not dying down. Add to this the probability of him retiring for good is also on the table. With a mixed bag of form, even a former champion and Purple and Gold franchise legend wants Bron to take the exit from LA.

“I just thought it was laughable, you know, coming from one of the greatest players that ever played a game, to say that it was harder, it’s harder to play now than it was then,” said Byron Scott on Brown Bag Mornings106. The 3x NBA champion even said he is ready to see him go away from the Lakers. “Yeah. You know, I mean, as I said, I’m a fan, but you know, I don’t mince words either. I think this should be his last year here.” Read more

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On Race in America (Feb 28) – Stories, Insight and Perspective

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