Featured
Republicans are out of the mainstream on race. By William Saletan / Slate
On the Chauvin trial, civil rights, and acknowledging discrimination, GOP voters don’t line up with the rest of the country. Americans are divided in their views on the killing of George Floyd. But the biggest division isn’t along racial lines. It’s between Republicans and everyone else. This week, in an Economist/YouGov poll, 64 percent of Americans said police were “not justified in the amount of force they used” in Floyd’s arrest, but only 41 percent of Republicans agreed. Most Americans said former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin should be convicted of murder, but only 31 percent of Republicans agreed. Read more
Political / Social
Why corporate America is declaring independence from the GOP. By Michele L. Norris / Wash Post
If you want a sense of the endgame in the ongoing showdown between aggrieved Republicans and corporate leaders willing to criticize the party’s efforts to roll back voting rights, just flip on your TV and watch the ads. The outcome is easy to see in the stream of multicultural and often mixed-raced families buying cars, taking vacations, planning their retirements, doing laundry and laughing at the dinner table. Read more
Related: 100 Business Leaders Discuss Plans For Attack On GOP Vote Suppression Laws.
Related: The Marriage Between Republicans and Big Business Is on the Rocks. By Thomas B. Edsall / NYT
The Shooting of Daunte Wright and the Meaning of George Floyd’s Death. By Jelani Cobb / The New Yorker
George Floyd Square, the intersection in Minneapolis where Floyd died, last May, features a mural that says “You Changed the World, George.” And, in the eleven months since Floyd’s agonizing death, captured on video, we have seen changes ranging from mercenary corporate endorsements of the phrase “Black Lives Matter” to personal reckonings with the role of race in American society as well as substantial legislative and policy changes regarding policing. Read more
Related: Unequal Justice: What We Can Learn from the Derek Chauvin Trial. By Bill Blum / The Progressive
American Insurrection: Deadly Far-Right Extremism from Charlottesville to Capitol Attack. What Next? By Amy Goodman / Democracy Now
A new report by the Capitol Police’s watchdog reveals officials knew Congress was the target of the deadly January 6th insurrection, yet officers were instructed to refrain from deploying a more aggressive response that could have helped, quote, “push back the rioters.” For more, we turn to a new film called American Insurrection, that explores how far-right groups were emboldened and encouraged by former President Trump, and what the fears and concerns are, going forward. The documentary by Frontline premiered Tuesday on PBS. This is the trailer. Watch here
House Legislation On Slavery Reparations Gets Committee Vote. By Juana Summers / NPR
A bill that would establish a commission to develop proposals and a “national apology” to help repair the lasting effects of slavery is moving closer to a vote in the House. The legislation has been stalled in the House for nearly 30 years, but the idea of reparations for African Americans has gained new traction amid a racial reckoning in this country. The House Judiciary Committee is expected to mark up the bill and hold a vote on Wednesday. If it is reported out of committee, the legislation will receive its first floor vote since former Democratic Rep. John Conyers first introduced it in 1989. Read more
Senate poised to advance rare bipartisan measure aimed at hate crimes against Asian Americans. By Paul Kane / Wash Post
Senate leaders are poised to move ahead Wednesday on a rare bipartisan effort aimed at investigating and halting hate crimes against Asian Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic. Both sides cautioned that the tentative framework could still fall apart, but senators signaled a willingness to merge various proposals that could lead to bipartisan passage of a bill by the end of the week. Such passage would be highly unusual in a chamber that has been dominated in recent months by a presidential impeachment trial and the Democrats’ party-line passage of a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill. Read more
Janelle Jones, Top Biden Labor Economist, Seeks Job Market That’s Fair For All. By Ayesha Rascoe / NPR
The U.S. economy added more than 900,000 jobs last month. For most White House officials, that would be considered a banner number. For Janelle Jones, the top economist at the Labor Department, there is much more work for the Biden administration to do. Jones, the first Black woman to ever hold her position, says it would take a year of similar jobs reports just to get back to where the economy was before the pandemic. But even then, she says, getting back to the status quo is not enough. Read more
We’re stuck in a loop of death until we address policing. This Netflix short showcases that. Michele L. Norris / Wash Post
Biden’s pick for top civil rights post spars with Republicans over police funding. By David Nakamura / Wash Post
CDC studies find racial and ethnic disparities in Covid-19 hospitalizations, ER visits. By Naomi Thomas / CNN
Racial and ethnic minority groups had higher rates of hospitalization for Covid-19 and sought emergency department care for Covid-19 more when compared to White people, according to two new studies published Monday in the US Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The reports underscore “the need to address health inequities in our country, including and our vaccination efforts,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Monday during a White House Covid-19 briefing. “We must acknowledge the disparities that exist and commit to an equitable distribution of vaccines, particularly to those communities that have been hardest hit by the virus.” Read more
How race-related stress could be driving educators of color away from the job. By Ain Grooms / The Conversation
When teachers of color experience high levels of race-based stress in schools, they can also have an increasingly negative sense of belonging, according to new research. Teachers reported less support from colleagues than did principals. Over 75% of the teachers in our sample (175 out of 229) reported a negative sense of belonging, especially when they thought school districts would not devise policies to actively address equity and racism. Read more
Historical / Cultural
How White fears of ‘Negro domination’ kept D.C. disenfranchised for decades. By Meagan Flynn / Wash Post
Rep. Pat Fallon came to the hearing armed with 150 years of census data, and when it was his turn to speak he turned to D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser. “Do you believe that Washington, D.C., has been historically denied statehood based on racial grounds?” the Texas Republican asked, hours into the House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on March 22 over whether to make D.C. the 51st state. The report, “Democracy Deferred: Race, Politics, and D.C.’s Two-Century Struggle for Full Voting Rights,” brings to the surface a trove of overtly racist ideas about D.C.’s incapability to govern itself dating from Reconstruction — when Black men gained the right to vote — through the civil rights movement, when the city finally won limited home rule. Read more
Life in Anna, Illinois, a Former ‘Sundown Town.’ By Logan Jaffe / The Atlantic
I GOT INTO TOWN JUST AFTER SUNSET. The lights were on at a place called the Brick House Grill, and if you were out on South Main Street on a Friday night in February, chances are, that’s where you were going. So I went in, too.I took a seat at the bar. A man two stools over from me struck up a conversation. I told him I was a journalist from Chicago and asked him to tell me about this town. “You know how this town is called Anna?” he started. “That’s for ‘Ain’t No Niggers Allowed.’” He laughed, shook his head and took a sip of his beer. The man was white. I am white. Everyone else in that restaurant in Anna was white. Read more
Hank Aaron’s Name Will Replace a Confederate General’s on an Atlanta School.
A public school in Atlanta carrying the name of a Confederate general who was an original grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan will be renamed for Hank Aaron, the baseball legend who broke racial barriers and the career home run record. In an unanimous vote on Monday, the city’s school board approved removing the name of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest from Forrest Hill Academy and calling the alternative school the Hank Aaron New Beginnings Academy. Read more
‘Policing The Police’: How The Black Panthers Got Their Start. WBUR News
This land is sacred to the Apache, and they are fighting to save it. By / Wash Post
Last week Deb Haaland, the nation’s first Native American interior secretary, spent three days at Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, another sacred site under siege. She is expected to urge President Biden to restore Bears Ears to at least 1.35 million acres — its size before the Trump administration slashed its protected area by 85 percent. On Tuesday, a House Natural Resources subcommittee will hold a hearing on saving Oak Flat. Like so many sacred Native American sites, Oak Flat is caught in a web of deep history, politics and legal wrangling. Read more
Sounds of Freedom: The Music of Black Liberation. By AAIHS Editors
Conversations in Black Freedom Studies(CBFS) is a monthly discussion series held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Curated by Jeanne Theoharis and Komozi Woodard, the series was established as a space to discuss the latest scholarship in Black freedom studies, bringing the campus and community together as scholars and activists challenge the older geography, leadership, ideology, culture, and chronology of Civil Rights historiography. In anticipation of the discussion on Sounds of Freedom: The Music of Black Liberation, scheduled for May 6th, we are highlighting the scholarship of two of their guests. Read more
Rod Wave and Lil Tjay, Two Brands of Sing-Rap With Different Bite. /NYT
Last week, just after “SoulFly,” Wave’s third album, debuted atop the Billboard album chart, Wave performed “Tombstone” on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” Singing on a riverside porch, Wave gave off an air both baptismal and funereal. One week after the release of “SoulFly” came the second album from the 19-year-old Lil Tjay, “Destined 2 Win,” which just debuted at No. 5. Read more
Sports
A handshake from a white teammate signaled Jackie Robinson’s arrival in America’s game. By William Weinbaum / The Undefeated
When Mike got home, his father, George “Shotgun” Shuba, pointed at the wall above his recliner to the only memento displayed in the house from his 14-year professional baseball career. “I want you to look up at that photo,” he said to his young son. “That’s me and Jackie Robinson and I want you to understand what it means: ‘You treat all people equal.’ Do you understand?” Read more
Hideki Matsuyama earns praise from Tiger Woods after Masters win. By Jace Evans / USA Today
Hideki Matsuyama made history Sunday, becoming the first Japanese male golfer to win a major championship by wrapping up the 2021 Masters title. His history-making win earned kudos from the biggest name in the golf world: Tiger Woods. “Making Japan proud Hideki,” Woods wrote on his verified Twitter account. “Congratulations on such a huge accomplishment for you and your country. This historical @TheMasters win will impact the entire golf world.” Read more
Former Titans star Eddie George reportedly named Tennessee State coach. By Cindy Boren / Wash Post
Eddie George, the Tennessee Titans’ former star running back, reportedly has been named football coach at Tennessee State. The coaching job will be the first for George, with Tennessee State following Jackson State, which hired Hall of Famer Deion Sanders as head coach in September. Jackson State is 4-3. Read more
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