Featured – The US white majority will soon disappear forever. By Dudley Poston and Rogelio Saenz / The Conversation
Since the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 and the start of the Colonial period, the U.S. has been predominantly white. But the white share of the U.S. population has been dropping, from a little under 90% in 1950 to 60% in 2018. It will likely drop below 50% in another 25 years. White nationalists want America to be white again. But this will never happen. America is on its way to becoming predominantly nonwhite. Read more
It’s time to talk about being white in America. By Jonathan M. Metzl / Wash Post
It’s time to talk about what it means to be white in the United States. That’s what I was trying to do Saturday afternoon at the Politics and Prose bookstore in Northwest Washington when I was interrupted by a group of white nationalists. Ironically, the protesters’ chant — “This land is our land” — served only to reinforce my point. Read more
America Under Attack by White Supremacists Acting Like ISIS. By Kelly Wells / The Daily Beast
The alleged killer at a Southern California synagogue this weekend worked alone, according to law enforcement, but behind him is a sprawling, digital network of white supremacists spurring each other on to murder. Read more
Coddling white nationalists has deadly consequences. By Jennifer Rubin / Wash Post
From these earlier attacks we know white nationalists are seeped in the toxic brew of anti-Semitism and “replacement” conspiracies. (”Jews will not replace us,” the Charlottesville neo-Nazis chanted) They tell us what animates their violence. The alleged murderer in Pittsburgh declared Jews were behind the plot to flood America with black and brown people, and the New Zealand shooter aligned himself with President Trump. The New Zealand and Pittsburgh massacres inspired the Poway attack. Read more
Why So Many Violent White Supremacists Aren’t Charged With Domestic Terrorism. By Samantha Michaels / Mother Jones
A federal judge on Thursday announced that Christopher Hasson, a US Coast Guard lieutenant accused of plotting to kill politicians and journalists, may be released from jail ahead of his trial. US District Judge Charles B. Day said that while he had “grave concerns” about Hasson, a 50-year-old white supremacist from Maryland who had been stockpiling weapons for at least a decade, he could not fairly deny bond because Hasson had only been charged with gun and drug offenses and not a crime like terrorism. Read more
The Punisher skull: Unofficial logo of the white American death cult. By David Masciotra / Salon
White Americans appear to have enlisted into a death cult. If one drives around the suburbs or rural outposts removed from a major metropolitan area, it quickly becomes apparent that, in their zest and zeal for violence, countless whites have begun to brandish the Punisher skull, typically with red, white, and blue stripes, on their automobiles and clothing. Read more
What Ulysses S. Grant would tell Trump about Robert E. Lee. By Daniel Fried / Wash Post
“I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse. In one sentence, Grant manages to distinguish between Lee’s qualities as a general and the terrible cause — the destruction of the United States for the benefit of slavery — to which Lee put his talents.” Read more
Stacey Abrams won’t run for Senate. By James Arkin / Politico
“The fights to be waged require a deep commitment to the job, and I do not see the U.S. Senate as the best role for me in this battle for our nation’s future,” Abrams said in a video posted to her social media accounts. “But let’s be clear: I will do everything in my power to ensure Georgia elects a Democrat to the United States Senate in 2020.” Read more
Who Killed Atlanta’s Children? By Audra D. S. Burch / NYT
On the fifth floor of the Atlanta Police Department headquarters, more than a dozen investigative files of dead children are neatly spread across three tables. A handwritten list, scribbled in red ink, provides the names of some of the children who were killed. The years of each killing — 1979, 1980 and 1981 — are taped on three walls, along with grainy photos of the children, almost all of them smiling. Last month, Mayor Keisha lance Bottoms ordered the cold cases reopened and the evidence retested using the most recent DNA technology. Read more
From Nigel Shelby to Zion Wade, America must protect Black queer children. By George Johnson / NBC News
For many of us — Black queer children who made it into adulthood — we can tell you that the “it” in “It gets better” isn’t getting better nearly fast enough. And it certainly doesn’t just happen over time without action. Report of a completed suicide by a young 15-year-old Black gay boy named Nigel Shelby sent shockwaves through the LGBT social media community last week. Read more
John Singleton’s storytelling legacy will live on for generations to come. By Kelley L. Carter / The Undefeated
Perhaps John Singleton’s biggest contribution to popular culture isn’t the gripping, relatable portrait that is his 1991 instant classic Boyz n the Hood. It’s that he introduced so many talented players to the Hollywood cinema landscape — both on camera and behind the scenes. On Monday Singleton died at 51. Read more Also see, Acclaimed director John Singleton’s stroke: African-Americans face greater risk
Antoine Fuqua lets Muhammad Ali tell his own story in HBO’s ‘What’s My Name.’ By Soraya Nadia McDonald / The Undefeated
Although the former heavyweight champion boxer never got to tell his story on film, a new documentary from HBO Sports comes pretty close. Directed by Antoine Fuqua and executive produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter, What’s My Name | Muhammad Ali is culled from at least 1,000 hours of video and audio footage and focuses on Ali’s boxing career, narrated with his own words. It will air May 14 on HBO. Read more
Wynton Marsalis on 12 Essential Jazz Recordings. By Hank Shteamer / Rolling Stone
From Louis Armstrong to Ornette Coleman, the trumpeter picks breaks down tracks and albums that exemplify different aspects of a great American art form. Read more
Damian Lillard Is the Coolest Player in the NBA. By Nick Greene / Slate
The man is extremely measured and absurdly cool. While everyone else in the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, was busy losing their minds, Lillard celebrated his series winner by simply waving “bye-bye” to the Thunder. He invited a few people to his home for dinner on Monday night to watch Game 4 of the first-round series between the Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets. For several minutes, the Portland Trail Blazers’ star guard sat quietly on his sofa, chowing down on fried catfish, red beans and rice, and broccoli. And then suddenly, he spoke: “I’m getting rid of these motherfuckers tomorrow.” Read more
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