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Georgia's Long History of Voter Suppression
Now that Donald Trump's baseless lies about voter fraud have been summarily dismissed by the courts, perhaps some attention can be paid to the true threat to free and fair elections: not voter fraud but systemic and massive voter suppression. Voter suppression, not voter fraud, could have critically important effects in Senate runoff elections in Georgia that will determine which party controls the majority in the U.S. Senate.
The Sensible, the Mad and the Missing
The 2024 presidential race is taking shape. It looks like a choice between the sensible, the mad and the missing. Joe Biden seems intent on running on his record, a sensible route for the incumbent. His major challenger, the inescapable Donald Trump, is replaying his madcap candidacy – his program a mixture of resentment, racism, bluster and victimization. What’s missing are the big challenges that America can’t avoid and can’t seem to face.
U.S. Needs to Make Its Asylum Policy Clear
Today, the makeshift migrant border camp in Del Rio, Texas, is virtually empty, cleared of thousands of Haitian refugees who came there seeking asylum in America. State troopers now line the border area to discourage others from gathering.
The 1619 Project
On Sunday, the New York Times unveiled "The 1619 Project," a journalistic series in the Sunday magazine that seeks to tell the "unvarnished truth" about slavery and its impact on America's history. In 1619, just 12 years after the founding of the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, the Jamestown colonists bought the first slaves, 20 to 30 enslaved Africans, from English pirates.
The Janus Case and The Continuing Attack On Workers
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Janus v. AFSCME; a ruling is expected in a few months. The case is the culmination of a concerted right-wing attack on the unions of teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses and other public sector workers.
What Do African Americans Want?
As the presidential primaries heat up, African American voters are suddenly in demand. Democratic candidates vie to gain support in what is a key constituency in the Democratic Party. Donald Trump's re-election campaign says it's planning a special appeal to Black voters, arguing that if Trump could simply reduce the staggering margins against him, it would have dramatic effect. We know what the candidates want. The obvious question is what do African Americans want?
Injustice of Emmett Till's murder resonates to this day
"The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine," goes the saying. For the brutal killing of Emmett Till in 1955, just how fine those wheels will grind remains to be seen even to this day.
Anniversary of Selma Reminds Us of How Democracy Is Defended
Politicians for both parties loudly praise the courage of Ukrainians defending their democracy from the Russian invasion. Yet, bipartisan defense of democracy disappears when the question is democracy at home. March 7 marked the 57th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when the police attack of a peaceful march of Blacks seeking the right to vote in Selma, Alabama, stirred the outrage that led to passage of the Voting Rights Act. Today the right to vote is once more in question.
No Matter the Issue, Republicans Always Say No
Just say no. That seems to sum up the position of Republicans in the Congress these days. For all the talk about bipartisan compromise or about the two parties working together, at the end of the day, the Republican position is simply to say no.
We Must Hold Officials Responsible for Black Man's Death
This week I attended the funeral service for a 21-year-old young man, Emantic eE.J.i Bradford Jr.
Let the Prisoners Go
Across the United States and across the world, prisoners are among the most vulnerable to the coronavirus. Overcrowded facilities, shortages of food and medicine, totally inadequate testing expose prisoners who are disproportionately poor and afflicted with prior conditions that render them vulnerable to the disease. Prisoners increasingly are protesting their conditions, objecting to being sentenced to die in prison.
Time for Democracy to Work
The right to vote is fundamental to a democracy. Today in America, however, that right is under partisan attack across the country. If it is to be defended, nonpartisan reforms must pass across a partisan divide. The question now is whether Democrats will join together to protect the right to vote from the assault it faces from Republicans at every level of government.
The Supreme Court's Right-wing Crusade
This week, the right-wing majority on the Supreme Court ignored precedent, and trampled law and legal procedure to gut the Environmental Protection Agency's primary mission: the ability to curb pollution of harmful substances. It thereby erected a judicial roadblock to dealing with catastrophic climate change even as the alarming threat grows worse.
Trump Doesn't Want Immigration Solution; He Needs Issue to Divide Us
"Yes, if we don't get what we want, one way or the other ... I will shut down the government," said President Trump to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi, referring to his demand for $5 billion to build his border wall.
Peace is a Process, Not a Single Act
July 27 marked the 66th anniversary of the signing of the Korean War armistice, which brought an end to hostilities that killed nearly 5 million people, including almost 40,000 U.S. service members. The war ended in a temporary cease-fire, which is why the United States still maintains 28,500 troops in South Korea. Nuclear missiles ring the region and threaten the people living there. North and South remain divided, separating thousands of families.
A Tale of Two Cities: Selma and Shelby County
In "A Tale of Two Cities," Charles Dickens contrasted the plight of the poor in France with the lavish wealth of the aristocracy, the city of need with the city of greed. That harsh exploitation eventually erupted in the French Revolution, and the brutal revenge of the revolutionaries on their former oppressors.
White Supremacist Violence Is Once More On the Rise
Every right we have fought for and won since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his monumental "I Have a Dream" speech 56 years ago this Wednesday is under unrelenting attack and in grave peril -- from the right to drink fresh water and to breathe clear air, to the right of workers to organize for better wages and safer conditions to the right to vote without interference from "enemies foreign and domestic" to the rights of women, children, the LGBTQ community and immigrants.
Time for Biden to invoke the 14th amendment
So it has come to this. House Republicans are about to force the U.S. government to default on paying its debts – obligations that the Congress voted to make. They bluster that they will blow up the economy, tank the dollar, and destroy America’s good faith and credit unless they get their way – even as they are bitterly divided about what “their way” means. The stakes are unfathomable – and so it is worth being clear about what is happening.
No, President Trump, the Never-ending War in Afghanistan Is Not Ending
Don't fall for the hype. That is the one lesson that we all should have learned about Donald Trump. He's a salesman, not a statesman. He offers up fantasies, not facts. The most recent agreement with the Taliban in Afghanistan is a clear example of this.
Mobilizing the Poor People's Campaign
This week in Washington, the powers that be are hearing from a vital new democratic force in this country. For three days, the Poor People's Campaign will bring poor and low-wage Americans to the nation's capital to call for a moral renewal in this nation. They will question many of those who are seeking the Democratic nomination for president.
