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How the United States Economically and Politically Strangled Puerto Rico

Mark Karlin, Truthout Interview Truthout
Although Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship in 1917, the United States continued to exploit, oppress and eventually launch a "war" on the people of Puerto Rico to gain land and resources. The book, War Against All Puerto Ricans, is a vivid, detailed account of the brutal treatment of a people "liberated" from Spain only to be subjugated by the US.

#SayHerName Shows Black Women Face Police Violence Too

Dani McClain The Nation
A new report “Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women” by the African American Policy Forum (co-authored by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw and Andrea J. Ritchie) offers the stories of girls and women—both cis- and transgender—whose names are not as well known in the mainstream and argues that fewer numbers is no excuse for erasure.

Recommended Summer Reading: Alternative Lists

Hope Wabuke; Liberty Hardy
The New York Times and NPR recently released their summer reading recommendations. Their lists might lead you to believe that only white authors are writing books worthy of summer reading. Here are two alternative lists from The Root and Book Riot.

President Obama's Human and Moral Challenge: Oscar López Rivera

Editorial, translated by Jan Susler El Nuevo Dia
This week, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus sent a letter to President Obama, with a copy to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, asking him to immediately commute the sentence of political prisoner Oscar López Rivera, a decorated Vietnam War veteran.

Guilty Until Proven Innocent: The Problem with Money Bail

Francesca Forrest Communities & Banking, Summer 2015 issue
The bail system affects the poor disproportionately, and the legal outcomes for those who await trial behind bars are much worse than the outcomes for those who don't. The work of Pretrial Services Agency shows that alternatives to bail exist.

Countess v Communist in Battle to Become Mayor of Madrid

Ashifa Kassam The Guardian
Charismatic and tough as nails, the two ideologically opposite women are leading the showdown for the job of mayor of Madrid, in one of the most closely watched electoral battles to emerge from the political and social transformation gripping Spain.

Spotlight on Baltimore

Todd Cherkis Labor Notes
'The murder of Freddie Gray was like a boomerang,' says West Baltimore resident Randolph Ford, 'flipping the status quo around to where the unity of the people and the fight for social justice has strengthened.' Ford is a leader in United Workers, a Baltimore-area worker center. Through the Fair Development Campaign, our group and others in the labor movement here are calling for a new kind of development.