Featured
What’s Happening Is Not Normal. America Needs an Uprising That Is Not Normal. By David Brooks / NYT
Conservative NYT Columnist David Brooks Calls for ‘National Civic Uprising’ to Defeat Trumpism – Complete With ‘Mass Rallies, Strikes.’
What is happening now is not normal politics. We’re seeing an assault on the fundamental institutions of our civic life, things we should all swear loyalty to — Democrat, independent or Republican.
It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power. Read more
Related: I Have Never Been More Afraid for My Country’s Future. By Thomas L. Friedman / NYT
Related: It’s Time to Protect America From America’s President. By Nicholas Kristof / NYT
Related: The Emergency Is Here. By Ezra Klein / NYT Podcast
Three ex-presidents denounce the current one in a two-week stretch. By Naftali Bendavid / Wash Post
Barack Obama urged Americans to resist President Donald Trump’s bullying. Joe Biden warned that Trump is wrecking the “sacred promise” of Social Security. Bill Clinton decried the emphasis on grievances and the need to dominate.
In an extraordinary stretch of just over two weeks, three former presidents have taken to the public stage to sound the alarm against the current occupant of the White House, despite the tradition that former presidents generally refrain from publicly criticizing their successors. Read more
Political / Social
What does my detention by ICE say about America? By Mahmoud Khalil / Wash Post
Mahmoud Khalil is a recent Palestinian graduate of Columbia University. He is being held in detention in Louisiana.
I write this letter as the sun rises, hoping that the suspension of my rights will raise alarm bells that yours are already in jeopardy. I hope it will inspire your outrage that the most basic human instinct, to protest shameless massacre, is being repressed by obscure laws, racist propaganda and a state terrified of an awakened public. I hope this writing will startle you into understanding that a democracy for some — a democracy of convenience — is no democracy at all. I hope it will shake you into acting before it is too late. Read more
Related: Americans of Color ‘Next in Line’ For Deportations. By Catherine Bouris / The Daily Beast
Trump is wrapping up 100 days of historic failure. By Dana Milbank / Wash Post
America has seen ruinous periods, but never when the president was the one knowingly causing the ruin.
He has been a legislative failure. He has been an economic failure. He has been a foreign-policy failure. He has been a failure in the eyes of friends, having launched a trade war against Canada, Mexico, Europe and Japan; enraged Canada with talk of annexation; threatened Greenland and Panama; and cleaved the NATO alliance. He has been a failure in the eyes of foes, as an emboldened China menaces Taiwan. He has been a constitutional failure. He has been a failure in public opinion. Read more
Related: If Trump Sounds Like He Wants a Police State, That’s Because He Does. By Chris Lehmann / The Nation
Related: Trump and Vance fear universities for a reason. By Ro Khanna / Wash Post
Related: The nightmarish problem with holding Trump in contempt of court. By Ian Millhiser / Vox
The New Far-Right Coalition That’s Out to Destroy American Democracy. By Casey Mitchel / New Republic
“Money, Lies, and God” argues that the failed January 6 insurrection didn’t discourage those who want to dismantle the republic. If anything, it emboldened them—and next time, they may succeed.
Trumpism is hardly one thing, even if it is overly reliant on Trump himself. Instead, Stewart uses her deep familiarity with the American far right to chart out what are, by the mid-2020s, the major elements of Trump’s political project, which she describes as the Funders, Power Players, Infantry, Sergeants, and Thinkers. Read more
Related: Fear and hope are drawing Democrats to Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez. By Maeve Reston / Wash Post
A Legal Battle Over Trump’s Threats to Public School Funding Has Begun. Sarah Mervosh and Dana Goldstein / NYT
Can President Trump withhold federal money for low-income students? A brewing fight over diversity, equity and inclusion programs may force the courts to decide.
The Trump administration is facing lawsuits and growing pushback over its demand that all 50 states end the use of what it says are illegal diversity programs in public schools or risk losing federal funding for low-income students. About a dozen mostly Democratic-leaning states including California, New York and Michigan, have refused to sign on to the administration’s directive. The nation’s two largest teachers’ unions, along with the N.A.A.C.P., are challenging the demand in federal court. Read more
Related: How school leaders are responding to Trump admin DEI order. By Jonaki Mehta / NPR
What to Know About Head Start, the Early Childhood Education Program the Trump Administration Is Proposing to Eliminate. By Chad de Guzman / Time
Among the programs targeted for cuts is Head Start, which has for 60 years provided comprehensive early childhood education and care for low-income families. “The federal government should not be in the business of mandating curriculum, locations and performance standards for any form of education,” the document reportedly explains.
The plan to fully eliminate Head Start, which was among Project 2025’s controversial policy blueprint and first reported to be in the Trump Administration’s upcoming budget proposal earlier this month by USA Today, would impact about 750,000 children, according to the nonprofit National Head Start Association (NHSA), and has been met with strong backlash from Democrats. Here’s what to know about the program. Read more
As DEI rollbacks take hold, students of color say they’re losing campus support systems. By AP and The Grio
Campus mentors. Move-in events. Scholarships. Diversity offices that made them feel welcome on predominantly white campuses.
The full scope of campus DEI rollbacks is still emerging as colleges respond to the Trump administration’s orders against diversity practices. But students at some schools said early cuts are chipping away at the sense of community that helped open the door to higher education. “It feels like we’re going back. I don’t know how else to describe it,” said Breeana-Iris Rosario, a junior at the University of Michigan, which is closing its DEI office and scrapping a campus-wide inclusion plan. “It’s like our voices aren’t being heard.” Read more
Related: The Naval Academy Thinks Midshipmen Can’t Handle the Truth. By Ryan Holiday / NYT
Related: Don’t call it DEI: Recruiters explain the hiring landscape under Trump 2.0. By Jacob Zinkula / Yahoo News
Many HBCUs need government funding, but some are preparing for a future without it. By
Several HBCU administrators who spoke to NBC News described a shared “culture of concern” across Black colleges. Lee Hall at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Fla., in 2024.
Colleges across the country are facing battles with the federal government over funding, but similar cuts and the potential elimination of the Education Department may be existential for historically Black colleges and universities, according to at least six college administrators and leaders who spoke with NBC News. Read more
Trump Admin Ends Wastewater Settlement For Black Alabama Town, Calling It DEI. By Zack Linly / Newsone
The U.S. Department of Justice just ended a settlement agreement regarding wastewater issues in a mostly Black rural Alabama county, citing Trump’s anti-DEI directive, which, of course, has absolutely nothing to do with a court settlement.
“The DOJ will no longer push ‘environmental justice’ as viewed through a distorting, DEI lens,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. Read more
Related: Energy Equity Rollbacks Leave Southern Black Households Bearing High Bills. By
Barbara Lee Wins Oakland Mayor’s Race in Her Return Home. Soumya Karlamangla / NYT
The former congresswoman, a progressive Democrat, campaigned on a promise to unite residents in the beleaguered California city. Her challenger, Loren Taylor, conceded on Saturday.
Barbara Lee, a progressive lawmaker known for her lone vote against military force after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, won the mayor’s race in Oakland, Calif., less than four months after she retired from a decades-long congressional career. Read more
World News
Trump Administration Draft Order Calls for Drastic Overhaul of State Department. Edward Wong / NYT
The draft executive order that could be signed by President Trump would eliminate Africa operations and shut down bureaus working on democracy, human rights and refugee issues.
The draft also calls for cutting offices at State Department headquarters that address climate change and refugee issues, as well as democracy and human rights concerns. Read more
Related: Trump Looks Willing to Write Off an Entire Continent. By Nahal Toosi / Politico
Related: Marco Rubio Has Lost Himself. Issie Lapowsky / Vanity Fair
Hungary’s Orban demonstrates how to dismantle democracy. By Rob Schmitz / NPR
Orban, 61, is in his fourth consecutive term as prime minister. In that time, he and his allies have dismantled democratic checks and balances, taken control of the country’s media, civil society and universities, and consolidated power in himself and his Fidesz party.
The dismantling of Hungary’s democracy is a point of fascination for political scientists around the world — including those advising the Trump administration. Read more
France’s president says making Haiti pay for its independence was unjust. By AP and NBC News
French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that historic injustice was imposed on Haiti when it was forced to pay a colossal indemnity to France in exchange for its independence 200 years ago.
Macron also announced the creation of a joint French-Haitian historical commission to ‘’examine our shared past’’ and assess relations, but did not directly address longstanding Haitian demands for reparations. Read more
U.S. intelligence contradicts Trump’s justification for mass deportations. By John Hudson and Warren P. Strobel / Wash Post
The determination is the most comprehensive assessment to date undercutting the president’s rationale for deporting suspected gang members without due process.
The National Intelligence Council, drawing on the acumen of the United States’ 18 intelligence agencies, determined in a secret assessment early this month that the Venezuelan government is not directing an invasion of the United States by the prison gang Tren de Aragua, a judgment that contradicts President Donald Trump’s public statements, according to people familiar with the matter. Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
Under Trump, Conservative Christians Want to Reshape Public Education or Flee the System. By Kelsey Kramer McGinnis / Christianity Today
“We’d rather be free than have it be fair.”
In Gideon’s words, the pursuit of equity in public education would lead to “Marxist,” redistributive policies—echoing recent pushback against DEI initiatives. She claimed efforts to close education gaps with state standards or regulations will inevitably lead to the restriction of freedoms or unfair impositions on parental rights. She urged attendees to “promote and protect education independence.” Read more
Black LGBTQ Christians ask: Where is the Black church’s prophetic voice on our rights? By Adelle M. Banks / RNS
The Rev. Don Abram stood outside the U.S. Capitol surrounded by a diverse group of clergy, some wearing rainbow-accented stoles and others holding signs calling for justice.
He joined them in what he saw as a double-pronged act of advocacy: opposing the Trump administration’s recent executive orders on gender and calling on Christian churches to become more inclusive of LGBTQ+ people. Read more
‘Anti-Christian Bias’ Signals Allegiance To White People: Report. Rosemary (Marah) Al-Kire, Clara L. Wilkins , and Michael Pasek / Newsone
President Donald Trump and members of his administration have long used allegations of anti-Christian discrimination as a rallying cry for supporters, arguing that policies and laws on issues like school prayer and LGBTQ+ rights threaten Christians’ right to express their beliefs.
Weeks into his second term, Trump took action, signing an executive order on “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias.” The order vowed to “protect the religious freedoms of Americans and end the anti-Christian weaponization of government” by identifying anti-Christian conduct and recommending policy changes. In mid-April, Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructed employees in the State Department to report any incidents of such bias that occurred during the Biden administration. Read more
What Was The Black Manifesto? NewsOne Staff / Newsone
The Black Manifesto, spearheaded by SNCC executive director James Forman, demanded $500 million in reparations from white churches and synagogues across the United States.
The Black Manifesto, written by civil rights activist James Forman in 1969, wasn’t just a call to action, it was a demand for reparations, justice, and power for Black Americans. Forman, the executive director of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), presented the Black Manifesto to the National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC) on April 26 of that year, according to SNCC Digital. His message was loud, clear, and unapologetic: America—especially white religious institutions—owed Black people. Read more
Historical / Cultural
MLK’s Famous Letter Changed a DC Church. By Caleb Morell / Christianity Today
A newly discovered note from CT’s first editor, Carl Henry, shows how King’s Birmingham Jail missive shifted a white pastor’s view on integration.
Every April since 1963, thousands recall Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and its timeless call to reject complacency in the face of injustice. Aimed not at staunch segregationists but at well-meaning white moderates, King’s letter sent shock waves through the nation and countless churches. His words still challenge us today—but back then, they forced many to reckon with their own passivity in real time. Read more
Freedom Riders faced a mob at this bus station. DOGE wanted to sell it. By Molly Hennessy-Fiske / Wash Post
The landmark site in Montgomery, Alabama, was deemed “not core to government operations,” and other stops in U.S. civil rights history could also be at risk.
The bus station’s “colored entrance” has vanished: door bricked over, scattered holes where a sign once hung. Though standing just inches away on the sidewalk, the students might not have even noticed it, had the museum director not highlighted the “ghost of segregation.” The building, he explained, was telling them a story. Read more
Adolf Hitler: From Democracy to Dictatorship. By Anthony Stahelski / Moderate Voice Adolf Hitler became German Chancellor (prime minister) because his party, the National Socialist Party (Nazi), received more votes in parliamentary elections in 1932.
Hitler cynically used the democratic process; he was never a believer in democracy. His dictatorial ambitions were published in Mein Kampf (My Way) in 1925, a clear declaration of his global domination plans. It should have been no surprise when he began dismantling democracy as Chancellor eight years later, in January 1933. Read more
Related: Hitler’s Terrible Tariffs. By Timothy W. Ryback / The Atlantic
Lawmakers push bipartisan bill to put the American Latino museum on the National Mall. By Deborah Barfield Berry / USA Today
In the midst of the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back diversity initiatives, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators is pushing for a site on the National Mall for a museum focused on the American Latino experience.
“Latinos have been at the heart of U.S. history for hundreds of years, shaping American culture, communities and business,” Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, said in a statement. “The story of the American Latino, and the simultaneous fight for equality by American women, should be enshrined on the National Mall, the tapestry of the United States.’’ Read more
The Highs and Lows of ‘Soul Train’ Creator Don Cornelius. By Angela Johnson / The Root
It’s hard to talk about Black music without talking about “Soul Train” creator Don Cornelius. The Chicago native, who got his start on local radio and television, wanted to create a program that showcased Black people in a positive light. With $400 of his own money, he developed the show, featuring young people dancing to the hottest soul, funk and R&B songs.
“Soul Train” eventually achieved national syndication and ran from 1971 to 2006, making it one of the longest-running syndicated programs on American television. In 35 years, legendary artists like The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, Mary J Blige and LL Cool J would grace the “Soul Train” stage. But despite his professional success, Don Cornelius faced a series of personal and health issues that ended in his tragedy in 2012. This is the story of the highs and lows of Don Cornelius. Read more
Diddy party life was a cultural moment: Inside the White Parties. By Marco della Cava and Anika Reed / USA Today
Once upon a time, Sean “Diddy” Combs was on top of the world.
The date was July 4, 2004, and the occasion was the rapper-turned-entrepreneur’s seventh annual White Party, an ultra-exclusive affair held in the Hamptons at his posh Long Island, New York, mansion. A who’s who of A-listers, from Aretha Franklin and Justin Bieber to Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, appeared bedecked only in white, eager to be star players in the summer’s zeitgeist-defining spectacle. Read more
Related: What to know about the charges against Diddy. By
Sports
Can Steve Kerr Light an Anti-Trump Fire in the Sports World? By Dave Zirin / The Nation
The coach of the Golden State Warriors stands up to bullies like Donald Trump. Let’s hope that others in the NBA will follow suit.
Morgan Price Becomes 1st HBCU Gymnast To Win Back-To-Back National Titles. By Jovonne Ledet / BIN News
Fisk University gymnast Morgan Price defended her historic national title.
According to HBCU Legends on Sports Illustrated, Price won the USA Gymnastics All-Around title at the 2025 Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics National Invitational Championships held at Centenary Dome last week. The Fisk University gymnast secured first place in her vault, balance beam, floor exercise, and uneven bars routines. Read more
This football team shows what we lose when we ignore our real history. By Sally Jenkins / Wash Post
Researching the Carlisle Indian School football team, I learned enough about our country to be moved to tears — of joy, pain and love.
The 1911 Carlisle Indians football team poses with a game ball from the victory against Harvard, arguably one of the greatest college team ever. Pictured are fullback Jim Thorpe, seated third from right, and coach Glenn “Pop” Warner, standing third from right. (Courtesy of Carlisle Indian School/Cumberland County Historical Society) Read more
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