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Obama Administration Prepares to Reinforce the Militarized Police Occupation of Black America

Glen Ford Black Agenda Report
Barack Obama is “responsible for the biggest escalation in the history of the one-sided war against Black America." He increased militarization of local police 24-fold before banning some kinds of Pentagon weapons transfers, but is now preparing to send more battlefield weaponry to the streets of our cities. “Clinton or Trump will surely build on Obama’s lethal legacy.”

Arresting Development

Bakari Kitwana ColorLines
Melina Abdullah, a BLM organizer and chair of Pan African Studies at California State University, L.A., says that local police are using arrests and felony charges to contain a resistance movement pushing to disarm, defund and abolish their departments. “I saw it happen several times; I was present for the targeting,” she says, recalling the way police officers watched and followed Richards over the last several years as they organized actions.

Where Does The Mass Of A Proton Come From?

Ethan Siegel Forbes
We may be close to understanding the interactions of quarks and gluons within the nucleus of atoms, and when we do one of the longest-standing mysteries of physics, where the mass of the known matter of the universe comes from, may finally yield to humanity.

Comic-Con Proves That Luke Cage Might Be the Most Important Thing Marvel Has Done

Joanna Robinson Vanity Fair
In the official teaser for the show, Cage dons a hoodie just as Batman would put on a cowl or Thor would don a cape. But in a post-Trayvon Martin world, that image—of Cage pulling the hood tight around his face—is a loaded one. And all of this imagery comes in a series that centers on Luke Cage’s wrongful imprisonment.

In South Texas, Fair Wages Elude Farmworkers, 50 Years After Historic Strike

John Burnett NPR
A lot has changed since 1966, when watermelon workers in the South Texas borderlands walked out of the melon fields in a historic strike to protest poor wages and appalling working conditions. What hasn't changed is the work: It's as brutal as ever. Workers are vulnerable to getting cheated by growers and crew bosses. Texas — with the third-largest population of farmworkers after California and Florida — has some of the lowest agricultural wages in the country.

North Dakota's Standing Rock Sioux Aren’t Backing Down to Oil Pipeline Developers

Sarah Aziza Waging Nonviolence
Armed with drums, tribal flags, and cell phones, demonstrators moved to block the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, a $3.7 billion dollar crude-oil conduit slated to cut just 1,000 feet from the perimeter of native land. Confrontations began on Wednesday, August 10, when construction crews and private security hired by Energy Transfer Partners, the Texas-based developers overseeing the pipeline, arrived to break ground. Fourteen Arrests were made on Thursday...