What Truth Sounds Like: RFK, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America. Michael Eric Dyson is one of America’s premier public intellectuals. The author of last year’s outstanding bestseller, “Tears We Cannot Stop,” Dyson is University Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University, a frequent contributor to the New York Times, and an editor of The New Republic. Ebony … Continued
While New York City may be the capital of wealth in America, the celebrated metropolis has been a locus of rebellion. From the revolt of the Native American Munsee against the Dutch, to slave uprisings, class and race riots, Stonewall, protests against the Republican National Convention, Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, and much … Continued
From at least the Haitian Revolution to the present, black and brown people in the Western Hemisphere have linked arms in solidarity with each other. Historian Paul Ortiz discusses how we can’t understand the United States and its past without looking beyond its borders. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Paul Ortiz, An African American and Latinx History … Continued
What just happened? Is it good or bad? We ask some experts. PLUS: Athol Fugard’s play about racial connection, and disconnection, ‘A Lesson from Aloes’, opens in S.F. With host Kris Welch.
Building solidarity across racial lines has been one of the thorniest problems of the left in the US, stymying struggles against capitalism over generations. David Roediger talks about race, class, and solidarity — as well as the radical scholar George Rawick and the organization Facing Reality. Resources: David R. Roediger, Class, Race, and Marxism Verso, … Continued
Few thinkers have shaped the world as much as Karl Marx, although the ways that he changed it may not have been to his liking, as David McNally argues. He discusses the ideas and legacy of Karl Marx, to mark the bicentennial of his birth.
By way of celebrating International Workers Day, or May Day, we look back at the legendary union, the Industrial Workers of the World, or Wobblies, with historian Kenyon Zimmer. He discusses the lessons to be learned from how the Wobblies fought back and united workers across cultural and racial differences. Resources: Peter Cole, David Struthers, … Continued
We’re told that the police are imperfect, but if we make the right reforms, the bad apples will be weeded out and aggressive behavior no longer tolerated. But, as David Correia argues, what if the police are not reformable? Resources: David Correia and Tyler Wall, Police: A Field Guide Verso, 2018
Given the disparities between the lifespans of whites, African Americans, Native Americans and other groups, it might seem to be sensible to gear medicine along racial lines. But sociologist Leslie Hinkson argues that it represents a dangerous turn in science and healthcare. She discusses race, biology, and debt. Resources: Nadine Ehlers and Leslie R. Hinkson … Continued
The cowboy is a mythified character in American society, conjuring up rugged individualism and masculine brawn, values dear to American capitalism. But historian Mark Lause suggests that when we think of the cowboy, we should think of a precarious wage worker. Resources: Mark A. Lause, The Great Cowboy Strike: Bullets, Ballots and Class Conflicts in … Continued
