Race Inquiry Digest (September 3) – Important Current Stories On Race In America

Feature – The Religion of Whiteness Becomes a Suicide Cult. To understand the rapid mainstreaming of white supremacism in English-speaking liberal democracies today, we must examine the experience of unprecedented global migration and racial mixing in the Anglosphere in the late 19th century: countries such as the United States and Australia where, as Roosevelt wrote admiringly in 1897, “democracy, with the clear instinct of race selfishness, saw the race foe, and kept out the dangerous alien.” It is in the motherlands of democracy rather than in fascist Europe that racial hierarchies first defined the modern world. It is also where a last-ditch and potentially calamitous battle to preserve them is being fought today. Read more

Trump’s white evangelical supporters long for the imagined values of a less diverse past. President Donald Trump stands with Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. during commencement ceremonies at the school on May 13, 2017 in Lynchburg, Virginia. Nostalgia for a whitewashed version of history connects the Trump administration and a conservative faith community shaped by decades of culture wars. Read more 
This vile, unadulterated racism. President Trump’s bigoted hatred of Latino immigrants has been clear from the beginning. Now his administration is aggressively persecuting Latino citizens as well. In some cases, valid passports have been confiscated and revoked, their holders stranded in Mexico, unable to come home. In other cases, people have been arrested, sent to detention centers and slated for deportation. Read more 
Who’s Afraid of a White Minority? The question of whether America will become a majority-minority nation — and when that might happen — is intensely disputed, of enormous political import and extraordinarily complex. The battle over how to project the future population of the United States has profound political implications. Read more 

From the Archives: Howard Zinn on John McCain and Everyday Heroism. “Our country is full of heroic people who are not Presidents or military leaders or Wall Street wizards, but who are doing something to keep alive the spirit of resistance to injustice and war.” by   Read more 

Before Aretha Franklin was a superstar, her father shone on a different stage. She was the “Queen of Soul.” He was “The Black Prince.”Her voice transformed music. His “whooping” changed preaching. And while classics such as “Think” and “Chain of Fools” became her signature songs, his sermon on “The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest” became such a pulpit hit that it was added to the Library of Congress. Read more 
The Asian-American Age. This past week the Trump Justice Department threw its weight behind a high-profile lawsuit against Harvard University, in which a group of Asian-American plaintiffs claim — with a great deal of evidence — that the famous Ivy school discriminates against them as it once discriminated against Jews. At the movies and in court, a rising minority claims the spotlight. Read more 

Andrew Gillum’s primary victory in Florida shows that winning the 2018 midterms will be all about turnout. The only tactic that can overcome Republican gerrymandering and voter suppression is getting Democrats to the polls. Read more 

Why Are Black People Still Punished for Their Hair? Only black people are shamed when they choose to wear hairstyles consistent with their natural hair texture. Far too often, black students are humiliated, shamed or banned from school because of bias against natural black hair. It’s frustrating that schools, employers and federal courts continue to judge us based not on what we can contribute but on who we are and how we wear our hair.  Read more 

LeBron James’ The Shop Is an Unfiltered Glimpse Into the Black Experience in Present-Day America. Tuesday night brought the premiere of James’ eight-episode unscripted HBO series, The Shop. The show, produced by James and his longtime friend and business partner Maverick Carter under their Uninterrupted media imprint, rewrites the rules on what a talk show can be. Taking a dive into a number of controversial subjects, it’s evident that the King has free rein and will leave no stone unturned. Read more 

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