Memorial Day is one example of how the whitewashing of U.S. history enables the minimizing of the contributions and injustice of Black people in favor of whiteness.
The borders of racial categories are malleable, contested, and change over time. But believing that demographic changes will inevitably cause the racial hierarchy to fade away ignores centuries of evidence to the contrary.
Last week, Abdul-Aliy Muhammad published an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer outlining some disturbing news: Penn Museum and Princeton University has been holding the remains of two children killed in the MOVE bombing of 1985 hostage for 36 years – without the consent or consideration of their family.
Columbus Day represents the history of colonization and erasure of Indigenous communities. Learn about the movement to change it.
Interpreting the Founding Fathers’ wishes is a staple of American political discourse. Constitutional originalism is more of a conservative thing, but really, Founding Father mindreading cuts across the ideological spectrum. The Founding Fathers would have hated partisanship (History) or Trump (Foreign Policy) or gun control (History) or not having gun control (HuffPost). Obama informed us, helpfully, that the Founding Fathers didn’t want presidents to serve three year terms (ABC). The Atlantic told us the Founders would have been especially disgusted by Trump’s pardon of the former owner of the San Francisco 49ers (The Atlantic).
COINTELPRO targeted Black activists throughout history. How does it impact Black Lives Matter today?
COINTELPRO, a series of covert and illegal initiatives by the FBI, and its impact on Black activism in the 1960s.