Black lives matter

The Police Aren't Part of Change in Chicago

by Dan Berger

A historian critiquing a recent book on Black Lives Matter argues that the political, fiscal and cultural influence of police is so broad that it's impossible to think of meaningful social reform in a society that includes modern police departments. 

What Has Black Lives Matter Achieved? A New Critique from the Left

by Jay Caspian Kang

Political scientist Cedric Johnson argues in a new book that protest movements have fixated on racial identity at the expense of making a broad critique of how policing defends an unequal and exploitative society and building a bigger coalition for change. Writer Jay Caspian Kang puts this argument in the context of debates about identity politics from the center to the left.

Tyre Nichols's Death and America's Systemic Failure

by Peniel E. Joseph

Nichols's killing, like other police killings, emphasizes the need for what W.E.B. DuBois called "abolition democracy," meaning the "eradication of the institutions, vestiges, and badges of racial slavery and new investments in Black citizenship and dignity." This is more than "reform." 

Refuse a Return to "Normalcy" after Police Killings

by Austin McCoy

Refusing to accept avoidable death as part of American life—from COVID or police violence—is the foundation of change. Americans need to organize a national day of mourning in the form of a work stoppage. 

The Police Killing of Tyre Nichols Was Heinous, but not an Aberration

by Simon Balto

Americans must not continue to presume that violent incidents are external to the basic role and function of policing in society. 

Michigan GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Claimed in 2020 Dems Plotted Overthrow of US in Retaliation for Losing Civil War

Tudor Dixon used a far-right streaming network to make this claim in 2020; she also has made unfounded claims about abortion and schools teaching socialist ideology. 

Historian Donna Murch on the Long History that Led to BLM

"In terms of repression and resistance, it takes people and communities time to understand what is happening to them."

A Bizarre War on Protest By Republican Judges

"If protest leaders can be hauled into court — and potentially forced to pay out of their own pockets — for the actions of a single protest attendee, then no sensible person will organize a protest."

The Return of the Mass Protest

by Elizabeth Hinton

Although mass protests are far more peaceful than they were in the 1960s, reviving nonviolent direct action tactics associated with MLK, the police response to them has been more heavily armed and violent.

In Rittenhouse Trial, Language Matters

by Felicia Angeja Viator

Kyle Rittenhouse's trial evokes the 1943 "Zoot Suit Riots," when white vigilantes, including uniformed servicemen, beat Mexican American youth in Los Angeles and other cities. The courts contributed to exonerating the vigilantes by repeating the language of a moral panic that characterized the victims as "gangsters" and hoodlums.

Did Last Summer's BLM Protests Change Anything?

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

A commission convened by the Mayor of Philadelphia exemplifies the American preference for symbolism over substance in recently proclaimed "racial reckonings." 

Black Lives Matter Misses the Point About Cuba

by Jorge Felipe Gonzalez

American activists who recognize the antiracist achievements of the revolutionary Cuban government miss the ways that that government's authoritarianism and more recent economic policies disproportionately harm Afro-Cuban people. 

The Complicated History Behind BLM's Solidarity With The Pro-Palestinian Movement

"We need to understand that Black identification with Zionism predates the formation of Israel as a modern state," says Robin D. G. Kelley, a historian at the University of California, Los Angeles who studies social movements.

We are Told America is Living Through a ‘Racial Reckoning’. Is it Really?

by Simon Balto

Policing historian Simon Balto argues that White America today seems most intersted in defending a personal sense of innocence over racism rather than working for justice. The new culture war over "critical race theory" is evidence.

George Floyd Changed The World of Athlete Activism

by Carl Suddler

The protests over George Floyd's murder involved Black athletes at a time when athletes are highly visible and broke with a decades-long tendency to steer clear of controversy.

Killings by Police Declined after Black Lives Matter Protests

The study relies on a quantitative method that evaluates the timing of events to approximate a control-group experiment. The mechanism remains unclear, but results suggest BLM protests lead to fewer police killings. 

What Obama Gets Wrong on 'Defund the Police'

by Austin McCoy

"If political budgets are moral documents, then divesting heavily from institutions that have the capacity to perpetuate harms is the moral thing to do."

Virginia Sen. Louise Lucas Cleared of Charges of Conspiring to Topple Confederate Monument

Virginia state senator L. Louise Lucas, who is Black, was cleared of charges related to this summer's protests against public monuments to the Confederacy. 

Voting Trump Out Is Not Enough

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

The results of the 2020 election show that the Democratic Party will fail unless it is willing to abandon a futile effort to woo Republicans to the center and embrace popular policies that meet the needs of Democratic constituents. 

Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Black Lives Matter Organizer

"The Supreme Court has long recognized that peaceful protesters cannot be held liable for the unintended, unlawful actions of others," said American Civil Liberties Union National Legal Director David Cole.