Roundup

Compliance Will Not Save Me

by Ibram X. Kendi

The idea that Black people can preserve their lives through absolute compliance with police is a vestige of the age of slavery and Jim Crow, but history shows that compliance has never secured safety under white supremacy. 

GOP's New 'America First Caucus' Follows in some Blatantly White Nationalist Footsteps

by Kevin M. Kruse

The 1920s saw American nativists invoke the purity of "Anglo Saxon" heritage as a justification for restricting immigration outside of western Europe and other measures that inspired the racial dictatorship of Nazism. It needs to be made clear where this "America First" movement can lead. 

The Roundup Top Ten for April 16, 2021

The top opinion writing by historians and about history from around the web this week. 

Why the Hope for Peace is Waning in Northern Ireland

by James Waller

"The Troubles, the decades-long Catholic uprising against British rule starting in the 1960s, began with Catholic frustration over a government that would not leave. If widespread violence returns, it will be because of Protestant frustration over a government that would not stay."

The Gatekeeper

by Adam Tooze

Paul Krugman's career as a politically influential economist has reflected the political dead end of the Clinton-era ideal of technocratic governing. His new book suggests that the intellectual authority of the economics profession may no longer prevent active government or deficit spending. 

This Much is Clear: Derek Chauvin’s Trial Won’t Change Policing in America

by Simon Balto

A historian of policing warns that, while many hope for a guilty verdict, that result, by identifying and punishing "bad" policing, may effectively render legitimate forms of violence and abuse that are historially part of policing in minority communities.

What 19th-Century Domestic Manuals Say about Housing as Infrastructure

by Leah Marie Becker

"We are only as safe as the person breathing the most polluted air or with the least access to stable housing."

My Ancestors Were Enslaved—But Their Freedom Came at a Price for Others

by Alaina E. Roberts

Historian Alaina Roberts' work grew out of a family history in which her ancestors were brought to Indian Territory as slaves of Cherokee masters expelled from the southeast, then became landowners as the government erased tribal control of land. 

Trump, Defying Custom, Hasn’t Given the National Archives Records of His Speeches at Political Rallies

by Shannon Bow O'Brien

"Until President Trump, there have been no missing public speeches in the permanent collection. By removing these speeches, Trump is creating a false perception of his presidency, making it look more serious and traditional."

It’s Time to Break the Traditions of White Nationalism in our Civic Institutions

by Walter Greason

The Capitol riots on January 6 and the wave of voter restriction legislation since demonstrate that a significant section of White America views citizenship in racially exclusive terms. Despite civil rights gains, there has been no real engagement with this American tradition. 

Registering Women for the Draft Wouldn’t be a Big Departure from the Past

by Kara Dixon Vuic

An odd alliance of the ACLU and the antifeminist National Coalition for Men is petitioning the Supreme Court to overturn a ruling exempting women from registering with the Selective Service and potentially being drafted into the military. Many voices have long advocated this change. 

Stacey Abrams’s Fight against Voter Suppression Dates Back to the Revolution

by Karen Cook Bell

"The roots of Black women’s activism can be traced back to the Revolutionary Era, when thousands of Black women protested with their feet and ran away from their enslavers." This act would shape the demands of radical Black politics in the ensuing decades.

Are you ready for the Roaring '20s?

by Nicole Hemmer

The end of the pandemic may portend a repeat of the "roaring 20s" a century later. But anyone anticipating a wild party should recall the nativism, racism, and rampant inequality of the era. Can the individual desire to live life to the fullest support a politics of inclusion and equality? 

Trump-Loving White Women are Protecting Matt Gaetz. History Tells Us Why

by Keisha N. Blain

While the allegations of potentially criminal sexual conduct by Rep. Matt Gaetz are shocking, it should not be shocking that conservative white women have closed ranks in support of the Congressman. 

Virginia Police, Army Lt. Caron Nazario and America's Bloody Traffic Stop Catch-22

by Matthew Guariglia

The incident of Lt. Caron Nazario illustrates the argument of 1960s Black radical activist Robert Williams that violence against Black people has always been part of maintaining the social order; recognizing nonviolence as a tactic of civil rights activism should not obscure the constancy of violence from the other side. 

"Where Perversion is Taught": The Untold History of a Gay Rights Demonstration at Bucks County Community College in 1968

by Marc Stein

A student protest at Bucks County (PA) Community College in 1968, sparked by the college's decision to block a speech by gay rights advocate Richard Leitsch, should be recognized as a key event in the growing movement for gay liberation. 

A Once-in-a-Century Crisis Can Help Educate Doctors

by Molly Worthen

The COVID-19 pandemic has offered valuable lessons on the necessity of humanistic education in the training of medical professionals. 

Black Protesters Have Been Rallying Against Confederate Statues for Generations

by Karen L. Cox

The movement to remove monuments and memorials to the Confederacy and historical figures with ties to racism or slavery is not new; it should be recognized as part of a longstanding effort by African Americans to challenge the public veneration of white supremacy. 

Return the National Parks to the Tribes

by David Treuer

"The idea of a virgin American wilderness—an Eden untouched by humans and devoid of sin—is an illusion" that has hidden the forced removal of Native people from the lands converted to national parks. Native people should tend and protect the land again.

Slaughter Central: The United States as a Mass-Killing Machine

by Tom Engelhardt

The American armanents industry is profiting from the sales of weapons of potential planetary destruction, mass shootings, and all manner of violence in between. We should understand the gun industry as a global public-private partnership of death.