Politics
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White House: Trump’s Muslim Ban ‘Disqualifies’ Him for Presidency
Donald Trump’s recent anti-Muslim comments, going so far as to suggest that all Muslims should be banned from entering the United States, have prompted an onslaught of backlash from within the Republican Party itself, as well as, as it turns out, the White House. During Tuesday’s press briefing, White House press secretary Josh Earnest bluntly…
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Donald Trump’s Anti-Muslim Comments Cross a Moral Line
Donald Trump has laid down a final, outrageous gauntlet—ban all Muslims from entering America—in a seemingly endless array of rhetorical provocations and insults to marginalized communities in his self-described quest to “make America great again.” Trump’s assault on Muslim Americans and immigrants is an attack not only on freedom of religion but also on the…
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In Chicago, Another Federal Investigation of Police, but Will It Really Matter?
On Monday, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced a new Department of Justice investigation into the practices of the Chicago Police Department. This comes in the wake of newly released statements from Chicago police regarding the shooting death of Laquan McDonald by Chicago Officer Jason Van Dyke that seriously contradict what can plainly be seen in…
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Historic Presidency, Historic Opposition: The Legacy of President Barack Obama
Barack Obama is going to be in the history books. This will happen regardless of his critics or his fans, both of which are legion. It will happen regardless of who wins the White House in November 2016. It will happen whether you love him adoringly, deride him with cynicism or hate him with all…
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No Way Out: The White House Looks at Link Between Incarceration and Poverty
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch asked what was the price of justice during a White House Convening on Incarceration and Poverty on Thursday. Right now, more than 2.2 million people are incarcerated in the U.S., a 61 percent increase since 1990, according to a new report released by the Council of Economic Advisers that found…
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The Laquan McDonald Aftermath: More Heads Need to Roll in Chicago
On Tuesday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy amid continued unrest stemming from the release of video footage that chronicled the killing of Laquan McDonald at the hands of Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke. McCarthy’s termination was a move that was, presumably, executed to help stabilize a situation that continues to…
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Hillary Clinton: Better for Black People Than Obama?
Editor’s note: In an article titled “Yes She Can,” a play on President Barack Obama’s inspiring 2008 campaign slogan, Michael Eric Dyson writes for the New Republic of his conversion to the belief that Hillary Clinton will do more for black people than the president himself. Calling himself a skeptic after a series of questionable…
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Killer Mike Wants You to Back Bernie Sanders
Earlier this week, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was parlayin’ with Killer Mike, throwing up what could inevitably be mistaken for gang signs, and going to soul food restaurants in “the A” like it was just a typical day in the hood. Now, if that’s not a white man trying to assimilate into blackness, I don’t…
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New White House Initiatives Are Great for Girls but Don’t Compare to My Brother’s Keeper
Blink and you would have missed it. Lost in much of the coverage of the Paris attacks, student protests and police shootings, more than a week ago, the White House announced a new series of initiatives meant to help women and girls of color. There was a daylong forum for it, a forum focused on…
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Donald Trump Is as American as the KKK
If a mad scientist locked himself in a laboratory and threw racism, sexism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, imperialism, classism, elitism and delusions of grandeur into a boiling cauldron, the result would be Donald John Trump. Donald Trump is America. In so many ways, he is what this white supremacist nation clings to with slippery fingers in last-ditch…