An oral historian of medical care in the South observes that the current crisis shows weaknesses in the fabric of society that would have long been obvious to policymakers if they were more inclined to listen to ordinary people.
In a country with segments of people who deny science, act on revelation, see regular events as either conspiratorial or supernatural, COVID-19 offers a platform for misinformation and agitation.
In a crisis, unity and cooperation have been the positive sides of consumer politics. But they have always fought against price gouging, suspicion and stereotyping.
It is time to start demanding a successor to the National Youth Administration to meet the educational and economic needs of students--and to ask who in Washington will carry the torch that Eleanor Roosevelt raised during the Depression decade as the champion of low income youth.
The exact distribution of power in American federalism is debatable. But any federal arrangement demands consistency so that states and the federal government can cooperate in an emergency. That seems beyond the Trump administration.
Ron Steinman covered the notorious "Five O'Clock Follies" press conferences held by American military leadership in Saigon, and warns against comparing them to the Trump administration's daily Coronavirus briefings.
Companies have used federal funding in previous crises for selfish, rather than public, ends. In the COVID-19 crisis some are using bailout funds to make jobs permanently disappear.
Autocrats use law not to achieve the laws’ objectives, but to subdue opposition and bolster their supporters. If Trump remains in office, America will likely lose its freedom through these forces.
Good history requires empathy and imagination. So too does understanding how the coronavirus affects not just us or our family and friends, but also other people, including all the less advantaged, whether in the USA or abroad.
Whether or not the world which exists on the other side of the coronavirus crisis will be better waits to be seen. Remember that the leaders of the 1381 Peasant's Revolt were captured and executed.
Tiger King viewers should look past the show's outrageous elements to consider the political, economic and legal factors that shape queer life in the American south.
Donald Trump is standing athwart the scientific process and shouting "Look at Me!" His claims to discern what science is "real" are making the coronavirus crisis far more dangerous.
Organized by Denis Hayes, the first Earth Day was celebrated in ceremonies at some two thousand colleges and universities, ten thousand primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the U.S.
Even Donald Trump's harshest critics would do well to understand his powerful appeal to white evangelical Christians instead of simply complaining about it.
