Nina Simone's Face
The Atlantic
What happens when you see, when you hear, an act of bigotry? It depends on us.
Evelyn T. Butts and Joseph A. Jordan challenged Virginia's poll tax. The case made it to the US Supreme Court and in March 1966, Justices voted 6-3 to end the poll tax in all elections. Following the decision, African Americans were elected to state and local offices for the first time since Reconstruction.
Donna Murch, an associate professor at Rutgers University reacts to activists who shut down Donald Trump’s rally in Chicago. She responds to Hillary Clinton’s statement on what happened, and how it relied upon coded language. We highlight the Clintons’ records with African Americans. The discussion expands into a full assessment of the successes and struggles which Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign has had with Black voters.
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For Sanders, and to build a more multi-racial left, progressive whites must prioritize work as loyal allies in struggles for racial justice led by activists of color. Jessie Jackson in his 1984 and 1988 campaigns boldly ventured into lily-white states, speaking at farm foreclosures and picket lines from Maine to Iowa. Ultimately, Sanders' "political revolution" must be as diverse as those who constitute the 99 percent.
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