Putting Trump’s Racism in its Place

One More Reason Why AOC Should Be the Face of the Democratic Party’s Future

A naïve reader might read this and imagine that Hewitt’s point is obvious: the contrast between Presidential candidate Kennedy in 1968 and the current President, Donald Trump, in 2019. The contrast is more than obvious. It is glaring. And yet, of course, Hewitt has other purposes in mind. The first is ...
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How Latinos are America’s Greatest Hope for Economic Growth and Renewal

If the nearly 60 million Latinos in the US were a country, they’d be the world’s 7th largest.

But as I will demonstrate, in 2019 it is ridiculous to divide Americans by ethnicity. We all need each other to thrive. Without the 40% of the Texas population that are Latinos, the state’s economy would collapse over time. Of course I am making these points because of the gut-wrenching atrocity ...
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Baltimore, Marianne Williamson, and a National Service Requirement

Past Present Episode 191

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Last week, President Trump unleashed a barrage of insults against Baltimore and its member of Congress, Elijah Cummings. Natalia referred to this POLITICO article about how New York City gave us Trump. Niki referred to journalist Jonathan Weisman’s tweets about the “real” nature of regions.Self-help guru Marianne Williamson is ...
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White Women are Not My People

“White women” is a demographic category — not a political group

I recently got asked to sign a public letter in which I was supposed to pledge “as a white woman” that now that I had watched Ava DuVernay’s film series “When They See Us,” I would object to Linda Fairstein (who oversaw the prosecution of the Central Park Five as ...
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It Was Never About The Buses

Personal And Political Reflections On “Forced Busing”

One of my earliest recollections dates back to the fall of 1964, in my 6th grade class at St. Matthias Elementary School. The nun who taught the class had us research that year’s presidential election, and each of us had to decide which of the major party candidates – Johnson ...
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The Moon Landing’s 50th Anniversary, “Go Back to Where You Came From,” and Air Conditioning

Past Present Episode 189

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Fifty years ago, the world watched as Americans walked on the moon. Natalia recommended this New Yorker republication of the 1969 “Talk of the Town” covering how New Yorkers watched the moon landing. Niki referred to this Scientific American interview with Nikita Khrushchev’s son about how the event was ...
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We Must Defeat Trump

This does not mean that “centrist” strategies ought to be embraced, but it does mean that Democrats need to argue with a sense of proportion and in a way that underscores their unity against Trump.

A wide range of people, ranging from Never Trump Republicans to Democrats right, center, and left, to self-described “Progressives” and democratic socialists, have long known this. Some of us, myself included, have been writing about this for years now (it sometimes seems like decades). I am sick of writing about this. For it ...
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Why Are American Military Bases Still Named After Confederate Soldiers?

In failing to realize that individuals are the sum of their actions — all of their actions — the Army is perpetuating hate, subjugation, and inequality.

The great irony is that many of these lieutenants will serve at bases named after Confederate leaders. As of this writing, there are 10 bases on American soil named in honor of men who betrayed their oath to protect the United States Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic — ...
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School Busing, Girlboss, and Lil Nas X

Past Present Episode 187

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: After Senators Joe Biden and Kamala Harris clashed at the Democratic debate, school busing is back in the news. Niki referred to historian Matt Delmont’s book on busing and to her own column at Australia’s The Age about the intergenerational dynamics of the Democratic debates. Natalia recommended Ansley ...
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From Raunchy to Respectable and Back

PRIDE marches on the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riot

The first PRIDE marches were quite raunchy, in a time when displaying pubic hair or female nipples was considered obscene and could lead to arrests.  Over the decades what was publicly acceptable changed. PRIDE marches became more like Mardi Gras with costumes, floats and flashy dressing.  There have been many schisms over ...
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“After Stonewall” Exhibitions Remind Us That Queer History Shouldn’t Be Straightforward

Stonewall on show at the NYPL, the New York Historical Society, and the Leslie-Lohman Museum

For visitors to these commemorative exhibitions, the broad similarities largely stop there. While all three institutions have chosen the Stonewall riots as the epicenter of their curatorial narratives, their reasons for doing so differ. At the New York Public Library, the riots serve to anchor a larger narrative arc of ...
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Letter Three to Germany: Visiting Chicago Under Trump

In February 2019, Berlin-based author Esther Dischereit observes St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago

This article was originally published in German in Deutschlandfunk Kultur on April 24, 2019 and has been slightly revised. It is reprinted with the kind permission of Deutschlandfunk Kultur. --- I met Mickey on the Chicago River. “Kiss me, I’m Irish,” said her T-shirt. Her husband, John, a programmer, says that St. ...
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