history
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An Incomplete History of White Election Violence
America is not a “civilized country.” While, compared to most countries, we have an abundance of toilets, street lights and wifi hotspots, the so-called “United” States also boasts more intentional homicides, gun violence and is more politically unstable than most of the developed world (or as one slightly jaundiced geopolitical expert calls them— the “shithole…
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Where White People Are Scarier Than Monsters: The Hidden Black History of Lovecraft Country
On Sept. 16, 1968, 51 years before HBO aired the first episode of its groundbreaking horror series, Carol Jenkins found herself in Lovecraft Country. Jenkins, a 21-year-old door-to-door encyclopedia saleswoman, sprinted away from a pack of bloodthirsty monsters chasing her through the tiny streets of Martinsville, Ind. She ran for the first home she could find…
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Illinois Lawmaker and Community Leaders Are Working to Suspend Current History Curriculum That 'Leads to White Privilege and a Racist Society'
A group of community leaders in Illinois are working with a state lawmaker to abolish the current history curriculum in their local school districts because they believe it leads to “white privilege and a racist society.” CNN reports that state Rep. LaShawn K. Ford, and several community leaders in Evanston, Ill., said the current history…
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Samuel L. Jackson to Star in Enslaved Docuseries, Which Chronicles the History of Human Trafficking
A new Samuel L. Jackson project is coming our way, and it’s something pretty different from the tough-talking acting legend. According to Variety, Jackson is starring in and executive producing a six-part docuseries titled Enslaved, which focuses on unlocking information about human trafficking “from Africa and the New World.” The site says the show, which…
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Sorry, White America, But All Holidays Matter
Today is July 4th, a.k.a Independence Day, a.k.a ID4, according to the seminal 1996 film. A day commemorating when some white dudes won their valiant fight to stop paying taxes to some other group of white dudes. For over 240 years, America has taken to grand fireworks displays, cookouts and a solid run of Will…
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America Is a Confederate Monument
I am 6. I am sad because my face is black and not striped. My sisters and I are at Kalmia Gardens, the beautiful home of Thomas Hart, who founded my hometown, Hartsville, S.C., in 1817. Every year, we visit the Kalmia Gardens Festival and every year, my mother forbids us from having the local…
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Twitter Is in a Frenzy Over Resurfaced Article About Beethoven's Possible Blackness
Thanks to a circulated screenshot from the website The Concordian, Twitter has been abuzz since Wednesday night with the idea that classical German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven was actually a black man. So now it totally makes sense why “Symphony No. 5” bangs so hard. The Concordian article dates back to 2015, and…
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Sorry to This Monument: Brits Give Statue of Prolific Slave Trader a Nice New Home at the Bottom of the Bristol Harbor
A statue of a prominent slave trader found its proper home on Sunday: at the bottom of a harbor. The overdue relocation came at the hands of Black Lives Matter protesters in the British town of Bristol. Videos of them toppling the statue, rolling it through the streets, and Jazzy Jeff-ing it into the Bristol…
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How to Write About a Vaccine
An Associated Press poll published on Wednesday found that a “surprisingly low” number of Americans—around 50 percent—said they would get a COVID-19 vaccine if one were available. In total, nearly a third said they weren’t sure if they would get vaccinated, while another 20 percent said they would outright refuse. But, as has been the…
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Before the 'Chinese Virus': A Brief History of White People Blaming America's Problems on Everyone Else
Donald Trump is a white supremacist. Donald Trump is a racist. While those two previous sentences might seem redundant, they mean two different things. Racists ascribe (consciously or unconsciously) characteristics and attributes to certain races, while white supremacists perpetuate and maintain the superiority of the white race. Even though white supremacists often use racism as…