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Martin Luther King, Institutions and Power

Jared Bernstein The Washington Post
Honoring King's vision and legacy thus requires not simply remembering his most well-known dream: a racially inclusive society very different from the one that existed in his, or sadly, our own time. It requires recognizing the need to redistribute the power from the oppressive, exclusionary institutions, many of the same ones - housing, schools, criminal justice, the economy - he fought for until the day he was taken from us. What does honoring that vision mean today?

School Privatizer to Head US Department of Education

Bob Peterson Education in Crisis
While it is doubtful that US President-elect Donald Trump ever read George Orwell's 1984, Trump's cabinet choices appear to come right out of the doublethink that ruled Orwell's dystopian society. In Orwell's book, the Ministry of Plenty rationed essentials while the Ministry of Truth manufactured falsehoods. Trump's choice for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, is perhaps the most extreme of Trump's cabinet nominees.

Women's March on Washington - Why We March, Where We Are Marching - Links for 616 Cities

Women's March on Washington
We believe that Women's Rights are Human Rights and Human Rights are Women's Rights. We must create a society in which women - including Black women, Native women, poor women, immigrant women, disabled women, Muslim women, lesbian queer and trans women - are free and able to care for and nurture their families, however they are formed, in safe and healthy environments free from structural impediments. Marches in 616 cities - full list and information.

Marchers Across the Country Turn Out In Support of Immigration Reform

Oliver Ortega The Progressive
Fear and uncertainty punctuated immigrant rights rallies across the country, as speakers shared their worries about the future of the country. Actions occurring simultaneously in fifty cities in the first large-scale immigration demonstration since the election.

Obama, Racism, and Trump's Rise to the White House

Gary Younge The Guardian
As Obama passes the keys and the codes to Donald Trump at the end of this week, so many liberals mourn the passing of what has been, remain in a state of disbelief for what has happened, and express deep anxiety about what is to come. It is a steep cliff – politically, rhetorically and aesthetically – from the mocha-complexioned consensual intellectual to the permatanned, “pussy-grabbing” vulgarian. But there is a connection between the “new normal” and the old.

No Racial Barrier Left to Break (Except All of Them)

Khalil Gibran Muhammad The New York Times
We cannot engineer a more equitable nation simply by dressing up institutions in more shades of brown. Instead, we must confront structural racism and the values of our institutions.

Bruce Springsteen is a Class Act

Alessandro Portelli The American Prospect
Springsteen the musician has also been an artist of the word, and this book confirms his artistry in that second medium. Few literary genres can be as inane as stars’ autobiographies, and while Born to Run has enough concert anecdotes to satisfy the curiosity of any fan, it is a sustained, satisfying, and thoroughly readable self-portrait.

Martin Luther King and U.S. Politics: Time for a U.S. Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Robert Dodge CounterPunch
Unlike previous truth commissions dealing with governments and non-state actors, this truth and reconciliation commission would be charged with investigating, identifying, and presenting past falsehoods, lies and wrongful actions by individuals, political parties, operatives and media biases that affected the outcome of this year’s election campaign undermining our democratic process at any cost in order to get elected.