Opinions

But let's be clear: While we can all have political disagreements, we must be firm in rejecting Trump's, or any politician's, attempt to use racist campaign tactics, like referring to protesters—the vast majority of whom are peaceful-- as "anarchists" or downplaying Blake's shooting—seven times in the back-- during a police stop in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to divide White suburban voters from Black urban voters, as though we are not ALL Americans. … [Read more...] about Dear White women, let’s not fall for Trump’s racist bet on us

A number of local New York activists like Andrew J. Padilla and Ed García Conde shared their brief, puzzling encounters with Krug online and traces of her involvement with Revolutionary Fitness, a left-oriented fitness center, emerged. Shawn Garcia, founder of Revolutionary Fitness, told me in an email message that Krug tried to "gain some clout by affiliating herself with us and other community organizations like Harlem Cop Watch," but stopped hanging around "because she claimed we weren't hard enough on gentrifiers." … [Read more...] about The most hurtful part of Jessica Krug pretending to be Black

While it might be argued that these books and the allegations contained in them are already baked into voters' impressions of Trump, the timing of the publications is critical. This is a very unusual election given the restrictions that Covid-19 has put on both the candidates and the public. The most significant variable is just how short this campaign will be. The country has been focused on the pandemic, not the Presidential race, for most of the year. It's only now, post Labor Day, that the public is increasingly turning its attention to the election. … [Read more...] about The three writers who could cost Trump the election

While restrictive measures, such as voter ID laws, undermine the ability of Blacks and poor people to vote, such measures limit the rights of women more broadly, including White women who may not have updated their ID after changing or hyphenating their names upon marrying. The Washington Post notes that women are more likely to change their names when shifting their marital status, reporting that "90 percent of women change their names when they get married, and many change their names back if they get divorced." Additionally, women live longer and, in part because of this, make up a larger share of the electorate than men. Plus, the cost of obtaining ID burdens women (as women are more likely to live in poverty). … [Read more...] about Two anniversaries Trump is dishonoring

"It doesn't solve the white supremacy that made it to begin with," Franklin Leonard, founder of screenplay discovery platform The Black List, told me in an interview. "It does not go back in time and rightfully put Hattie McDaniel at the Oscars ceremony, which she was not allowed to attend when she won [due to segregation]. It doesn't change that Hollywood thinks of black-led and directed movies as having less value, especially abroad, even when data says otherwise. All it does is paper over these failures. If you really want to put "Gone With the Wind" in context, do it by addressing Hollywood's historic lack of black stories told by black people." … [Read more...] about It turns out your favorite movie is racist. What now?