#Blacklivesmatter Archives

Feature

How “Blue Lives Matter” Perpetuates Police Violence

The movement fosters an environment of fear, hatred, and racism

June 9, 2020 • by Adam Quinn

In the aftermath of the killings of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa and Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte at the hands of police, the Blue Lives Matter hashtag rallied around a video of a group of black youth attacking a white man and taking his pants off in a parking garage ...

How “Blue Lives Matter” Perpetuates Police Violence

Race

Killer Mike on the Murder of George Floyd

The Atlanta rapper addresses his community

June 1, 2020 • by Killer Mike

On Saturday, May 29, the rapper Killer Mike, best known for his work with the duo Run the Jewels, joined the mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms, at a televised press conference. Killer Mike usually appears in a choreographed setting, like the official music videos for Run the Jewels tracks like ...

Feature

The Makings of Black Lives Matter and Public Seminar

Reflections of an old New Leftist on the Race/isms Book Forum

February 23, 2018 • by Jeffrey C. Goldfarb

I am not a great fan of the older generation bemoaning the limitations of the younger one. I am not at all sure, as some of my peers are, that we were more curious than they are, read more, were smarter, more engaged, more mature. With this in mind, I ...

The Makings of Black Lives Matter and Public Seminar

Feature

#BlackLivesMatter and the Democratic Necessity of Social Movements

What active citizenship can look like and what it can accomplish

November 8, 2017 • by Deva Woodly

– Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Madison 1787 “We who believe in freedom cannot rest.” – Ella Baker 1964[1] Social movements are often regarded as potentially hazardous disruptions, uprisings that interfere with the normal mechanisms of politics -- insurgencies that must be either repressed or swiftly re-incorporated into the regular legislative process. In ...

Race

Regarding the Violence in Charlotte

September 24, 2016 • by Zachary Sunderman

An open letter to those with misplaced priorities. You're not honest. You act like you're so disgusted by protests and violence, but there's something that disgusts you even more, and that's admitting and addressing the scourge of racism that exists all throughout our cities and, quite possibly, in your own mind. Otherwise, ...

Feature

Cleveland’s Other Conventions at the RNC

August 30, 2016 • by Jo Freeman

Political conventions attract strange bedfellows. Over the weekend preceding the Republican Convention, two other conventions met to talk about issues that were almost polar opposites to those of the Republicans. Both were held in black Baptist churches. The traditional Sunday protest march was small and peaceful, organized by the Worker’s ...

Cleveland’s Other Conventions at the RNC

Multi Media

Dallas, Conventions, and Vaccines

Past Present Episode 43

July 21, 2016 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

In this week's episode, Niki, Natalia, and Neil debate the police shooting in Dallas, the role of conventions in presidential politics, and the rise of anti-vaccine activism. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: The nation is grieving the death of five Dallas police officers, one of ...

Feature

Black Lives Matter: The Politics of Race and Movement in the 21st Century

Understanding the movement and what it represents

January 18, 2016 • by Deva Woodly

Where should we begin in accounting for the rise of the movement for black lives?

The tragedy of 21^st century America is that there are innumerable places one could begin. The grievances that have sparked the cry, “Black Lives Matter,” might be rooted in the killing of black ...