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Dispatches From the Culture Wars – Summer Reading Edition

Race and police violence – doing the math; Toxic testosterone; Hunting Muslims; BLM data; Libraries are back

Alex Wroblewski for The New York Times

Aren’t More White People Than Black People Killed by Police? Yes, but No.

By Wesley Lowery
July 11, 2016
Washington Post

U.S. police officers have shot and killed the exact same number of unarmed white people as they have unarmed black people: 50 each. But because the white population is approximately five times as great as the black population, that means unarmed black Americans were five times as likely as unarmed white Americans to be shot and killed by a police officer.

The Weaponised Loser
By Stephen T Asma
June 27, 2016
Aeon

The shooter is almost always male. Of the past 129 mass shootings in the United States, all but three have been men. The shooter is socially alienated, and he can’t get laid. Every time you scratch the surface of the latest mass killing, in a movie theatre, a school, the streets of Paris or an abortion clinic, you find the weaponised loser.


Missouri Muslims Fear for Their Safety After Politician Sells Fake ‘ISIS Hunting Permits’

By Jack Jenkins
July 5, 2016
Think Progress

A Missouri candidate for governor is raising money for his campaign by selling fake “ISIS hunting permits,” frustrating local Muslims who say the stickers perpetuate anti-Islam sentiment.
Threats, violent assaults, protests, airport profiling, and instances of vandalism directed at the American Muslim community have risen in the wake of ISIS-affiliated terrorist attacks, even though the Muslim victims are not known to have any connection to the murderous group.


How Americans View the Black Lives Matter Movement

By Juliana Menasce Horowitz and Gretchen Livingston
July 8, 2016
Pew Research Center

A recent Pew Research Center survey conducted Feb. 29-May 8, 2016, found that general awareness of Black Lives Matter is widespread among black and white U.S. adults, but attitudes about the movement vary considerably between groups.

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Adding Classes and Content, Resurgent Libraries Turn a Whisper into a Roar
By Winnie Hu
July 4, 2016
New York Times

Far from becoming irrelevant in the digital age, libraries in New York City and around the nation are thriving: adding weekend and evening hours; hiring more librarians and staff; and expanding their catalog of classes and services to include things like job counseling, coding classes and knitting groups.
No longer just repositories for books, public libraries have reinvented themselves as one-stop community centers that aim to offer something for everyone. In so doing, they are reaffirming their role as an essential part of civic life in America by making themselves indispensable to new generations of patrons.