Friday Nite Videos | May 29, 2020

Rep. Al Green Calls for 'War on Racism' in Wake of George Floyd Death. Da 5 Bloods | Spike Lee Movie. Sarah Cooper Trump Impersonation. The Legal Marijuana Industry Is Rigged | Hasan Minhaj. How Coronavirus Spreads Outdoors vs. Indoors.

Officer Charged in Death of George Floyd

"Don't think for a minute that Derek Chauvin would have been arrested if people in Minneapolis weren't standing up and fighting."

Trump’s Warped Definition of Free Speech

Trump is seeking to build social-media companies such as Twitter and Facebook into part of an authoritarian infrastructure that amplifies his power and silences the opposition.

Why Trump and the GOP Don’t Want Mail Voting

The strongest tool Americans have to prevent Republican attempts at voter suppression is mail-in voting

Mourning and Organizing

Collective grief, from Minneapolis to vigils for victims of COVID-19, is inseparable from rebellion

Police Failed - Death of George Floyd, in Context

The video of Floyd's death is horrific but not surprising; terrible but not unusual, depicting a kind of incident that is periodically reënacted. It's necessary and, pedestrian to observe that policing in this country is mediated by race.

Crumbs for the Hungry but Windfalls for the Rich

Billions are going to zillionaires under the guise of pandemic relief. While President Trump and his allies in Congress seek to tighten access to food stamps, they are showing compassion for one group: zillionaires.

Left-wing Activists Losing Hope for Change Leave Israel

They founded anti-occupation movements and fought for the soul of Israeli society, but ultimately decided to emigrate. The new exiles tell Haaretz how they were harassed and silenced, until they had almost no choice but to leave.

Frances Goldin - Legendary Activist and Literary Agent

Frances Goldin was relentless, her enthusiasm infectious. And her life shows the value of being a long-distance runner. She fought like hell to defend her community. Frances had been a regular presence at Zuccotti Park a couple of years earlier...

May 28, 2020-Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements

Reader Comments: I Can't Breathe - Again; Trump Second Term Means Tyranny; Reader's Respond on Tara Reade; Open Churches?; Vietnam; Indonesia; Chile; Nuclear Testing, Nuclear Cold War - Again; Resources; Events:COVID and mass incarceration; June 20th
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Culture

books

Unstable Histories

Steffan Blayney Radical Philosophy
In the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, radical psychologists and psychoanalysts sought to transform their profession. This book shows how those efforts intersected with the radical cultural and political movements of the day.

film

Spike Lee and the Battlefield of American History

Regie Ugwu The New York Times
Spike Lee has spent nearly four decades and more than 30 films reckoning with the jagged and brutal course of history. Now, in the middle of a global calamity, and with a new film, “Da 5 Bloods", he revisits the Vietnam War.

food

America’s First Connoisseur

Edward White The Paris Review
Jefferson brought James Hemings to France and gave him a first-rate culinary education with some of Europe's most illustrious chefs. His legacy thrives today in kitchens across America.

poetry

So Much for America

Amaud Jamaul Johnson Southern Review
In a time when the murder of African Americans in plain sight terrifies the news, Poet Amaud Jamaul Johnson captures the feeling of capture.

Labor

labor

United Steelworkers on Solidarity and Justice for Black Lives

United Steel Workers
The murder of George Floyd, which was preceded by the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor illustrates the devastating impact racism. At moments like these, we in the labor movement cannot be silent and must express our outrage.

labor

The Case For Sectoral Bargaining Is Now Stronger Than Ever

Hamilton Nolan In These Times
Even if sectoral bargaining would not magically produce perfect unions with perfect solidarity, it would give unions the access they need to build those perfect unions by creating sector-wide labor groups.

labor

Today’s Labor News & Commentary

Rund Khayyat onlabor
OSHA rolled back its previous announcement that it would functionally leave federal safety regulations unenforced by refraining from government investigation of corona-related health and safety complaints.

Friday nite video

video

Da 5 Bloods | Spike Lee Movie

From Academy Award® Winner Spike Lee comes a New Joint: the story of four African-American Vets who return to Vietnam,  confronted by the lasting ravages of The Immorality of The Vietnam War.

video

The Legal Marijuana Industry Is Rigged | Hasan Minhaj

As rich, white business owners monopolize newly-available marijuana licenses, states continue to arrest people of color for cannabis crimes, even after it’s legal. This leads Hasan to ask: if cannabis can’t be legalized fairly, should it be legalized at all?