“Justice for J6” Rally Was Much Ado About Nothing

Capitol Hill Police, who were under-prepared for the January 6, 2021 riot, were over-prepared for the “Justice for J6 ” rally just west of the reflecting pool at the Capitol on September 18. Tall fences surrounded the Capitol itself. Metal barriers wrapped around the designated protest area. Jersey barriers kept unauthorized ...
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“Justice for J6” Rally Was Much Ado About Nothing

I Am a Man

As the nation looks for justice in the George Floyd murder, activists embrace the world Martin Luther King, Jr. envisioned during the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike

_____ Martin Luther King encapsulated all that Black Americans demand and deserve from their country into one sentence: “All we say to America is, ‘Be true to what you said on paper.’” King spoke those words on April 3. 1968, during what is remembered as the “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, ...
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I Am a Man

A Halloween Uprising and Poland’s General Strike Over Abortion

A new generation of women rises up against an unholy – and sexist – alliance of church and state

Poland’s Halloween has always been a solemn national holiday with pagan roots called All Souls Day, known long ago as Forefathers’ Eve, and immediately followed on November 1 by All Saints Day. Normally, it’s a contemplative period of reconnecting with those who are not with us anymore, whether grandparents, veterans, or ...
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A Halloween Uprising and Poland’s General Strike Over Abortion

On Fascism, Non-fascism, and Antifa

Natasha Lennard in conversation with James Miller

JM: Since you've written an entire book with the title Essays on a Non-Fascist Life, can you tell me a bit about how you chose that title, and what the term "non-fascist" means to you, in the context of those essays? We both know the appearance of the phrase in the context ...
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“Brother Doc,” a Co-Conspirator for Justice

For a physician who supported armed struggle in the 1970s and 1980s, a commitment to radical anti-racism was everything

But what kind of action? There have always been Americans who could imagine a world of racial equality and justice, and who worked in cross-racial alliances to make it happen, not just -- as we do today -- at a street protest, or by issuing heartfelt statements of support, or ...
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“Brother Doc,” a Co-Conspirator for Justice

Let’s Build a Monument to Anastácia

An enslaved woman’s image that has traveled around the hemisphere can help us rethink slavery and memorialization

In May 2020, as the social movement to remove racist monuments grew and the COVID-19 pandemic spiraled out of control, two white women protesting against social distancing and masks were photographed with a sign. It read: “Muzzles are for dogs and slaves. I am a free human being.” It featured ...
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Let’s Build a Monument to Anastácia

Mike Pompeo’s Originalist Foreign Policy

The Commission’s report gives ammunition to partisans who aim to weaken core constitutional protections within the United States

This justification is a pretext. While pretending to strengthen protection for human rights abroad, the Commission’s report gives ammunition to partisans who aim to weaken core constitutional protections within the United States. Pompeo and the Commission’s report embrace an “originalist” vision of America’s founding. Originalism is a doctrine in constitutional law ...
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Mike Pompeo’s Originalist Foreign Policy

Trojan Horse

Misusing Greek mythology on a college campus sneaks white supremacy in the back door

These cultural forms act as “Trojan horses,” sneaking offensive, even racist and sexist ideas into the fabric of the university where they lie in wait to do harm. In our case, one has to begin, of course, with the hyper-masculine bronze statue of Tommy Trojan (erected in 1930) at the center ...
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Trojan Horse

On Our Revolutionary Moment

Putting today’s revolt against institutional racism into historical context

Protestors, who had been staging increasingly violent strikes, had assailed City College, CUNY’s flagship school, located in the middle of Harlem, as a racist institution that used academic standards to deny admission to all but a handful of Black and Puerto Rican students. They demanded that CUNY abandon those standards ...
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On Our Revolutionary Moment

Their Violence and Ours

Attacks on property do not always undermine a political cause

How should we make sense of the political violence that has sometimes accompanied Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests? What about the state’s violent response to peaceful protest, or the dangerous acts committed by right-wing counter-protestors? Speaking on Canadian radio in the wake of 160 riots that shook U.S. cities during the ...
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Their Violence and Ours

Biden Versus Trump: Whose Story of America Will Americans Choose?

“That’s not who we are” — or is it?

As Plato suggested in The Republic, politics is driven more by stories than facts. As different as they are in all other regards, America’s last two presidents both won wildly improbable electoral victories while telling completely contradictory stories about their country. Barack Obama made his own hopeful story a symbol of ...
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Biden Versus Trump: Whose Story of America Will Americans Choose?