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Let Black Kids Just Be Kids

Robin Bernstein The New York Times
As long as white children are constructed as innocent, we must continue to demand that children of color are as well. The idea of childhood innocence carries so much political force, we can’t allow it to be a whites-only club. We argue that black and brown children are as innocent as white children, we assume that childhood innocence is purely positive. The idea of childhood innocence itself is not innocent: It’s part of a 200-year-old history of white supremacy.

The Rebellion in Newark

Junius Williams New Jersey Monthly
In the summer of 1967, the streets of Newark exploded in violence. Here is a first-hand account of the tragic events that changed the city, and the country forever. Newark’s population is still exceedingly low income. Crime, gang warfare, drugs, joblessness and failing schools are still facts of life in some Newark neighborhoods. But the cultures of many ethnic groups continue to lift the spirit of its many peoples. Increasingly, Newark is a good place to call home.

Justice Department Changes Stance on Key Voting Rights Case

Pema Levy Mother Jones
The Justice Department “simply has no more credibility in this litigation,” Dunn told the Texas Tribune after the government’s latest brief. “For six years, the Department of Justice stood on the side of voters arguing that Texas’ unnecessary voter photo ID law was enacted with discriminatory intent, then after the new administration was sworn in, one of DOJ’s first acts was to back out of the case.”

`Love Thy Neighbor?'

Stephanie McCrummen The Washington Post
When a Muslim doctor arrived in a rural Midwestern town, "it felt right." But that feeling began to change after the election of Donald Trump. Trump had won Lac qui Parle County, with nearly 60 percent of the vote. Nearly all of Minnesota outside the Twin Cities had voted for Trump, a surprising turn in a state known for producing some of the Democratic Party's most progressive leaders, including the nation's first Muslim congressman.

How Paul Robeson Found His Political Voice in the Welsh Valleys

Jeff Sparrow The Guardian
Paul Robeson - African American singer, movie star, Broadway actor, freedom fighter and socialist -built his singing career in the teeth of racism in the early 1900s. But his radicalism was spurred on in Britain - by a chance meeting with a group of Welsh miners.

Tidbits - July 6, 2017 - Reader Comments: Trump Lies; Voting Rights Danger; July 4th; Georgia Special Election; Healthcare; Socialism's Future; Wonder Woman; Massachusetts Attack on BDS; Free Non Violent Resistance Trainings; and more....

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Reader Comments: Trump Lies; Voting Rights in Danger; July 4th; Georgia Special Election - Theft?; Healthcare Fightback; Readers comment on Socialism's Future; Wonder Woman; Massachusetts Legislative Attack on BDS; Free Non Violent Resistance Trainings; and more....

Monumental Rubbish: With the Statues Torn Down, What Next for New Orleans?

Adolph Reed Jr. Common Dreams
New Orleans is better for being rid of the monuments that commemorated the mythology and actual history of slavery and segregation. But elites still govern. The politics of representation dovetails with the reigning discourse of diversity and a local political economy based on marketing "cultural authenticity. To the extent that antiracism centers of pursuit of recognition rather than altering patterns of distribution it will remain trapped in neoliberal inequakity.
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