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Split-Second Decisions: How a Supreme Court Case Shaped Modern Policing

The SCOTUS decision in Graham v. Connor granted broad deference to police officers' judgment about the necessity of use of force; activists now recognize the decision as an impediment to prosecuting officers for abusive actions. 

Hester Ford, Oldest Living American, Dies At 115 (Or 116)

Hester Ford lived through sharecropping, the 1918 flu pandemic, the Great Depression, World War I and II, Jim Crow laws, the civil rights movement and the coronavirus pandemic.

Does a President’s First 100 Days Reveal Anything About the Next Four Years?

Does a President's "First 100 Days" really tell anything useful about the course of a presidency? PBS News Hour compares Biden to some past Presidents. 

Behind ‘Strange Fruit,’ Billie Holiday’s Anti-Lynching Anthem

In 2021, as the nation continues to reckon with a series of killings of unarmed Black people by the police, “Strange Fruit” has maintained its place in the national conversation about racism.

Decades After Police Bombing, Philadelphians ‘Sickened’ by Handling of Victim’s Bones

"Anguish came surging back when officials at two Ivy League universities acknowledged that anthropologists had been passing the bones of a young bombing victim between them for the last 36 years."

The Woman Who Shattered the Myth of the Free Market

Joan Robinson theorized the problem of monopsony as workers attempting to sell their labor are hurt by the small number of buyers. 

In Poland, an L.G.B.T.Q. Migration As Homophobia Deepens

People leaving Poland for better economic opportunities within the European Union have been joined by gay and lesbian Poles who experience increasing hostility at home. 

Tribes Want Medals Awarded for Wounded Knee Massacre Rescinded

"To date, the nation has awarded more than 3,500 Medals of Honor, including about 400 to soldiers who fought during campaigns against Native Americans.... no medals awarded for service in the Indian campaigns have been revoked."

Allon Schoener, 95, Dies; Curator Caught in Furor Over ‘Harlem’ Show

Schoener always insisted that critics misunderstood the purpose of the exhibition, which didn't include original paintings by Black artists but did highlight African American photographers. But with distance from the furor, he dismissed claims that he was an early victim of "cancel culture" by recognizing controversy as the price of progress. 

Hank Azaria Apologized for Playing Apu on ‘The Simpsons.’ I Accept

An Indian American actress reflects on the impact of 30 years of the character of Apu on the wildly popular show, arguing it enshrined a performance akin to minstrelsy as the dominant view of South Asians in American culture. 

The Black Panther Party Has Never Been More Popular. But Actual Black Panthers Have Been Forgotten

"What do veteran Panthers—some of whom are now at an advanced age and fighting to make ends meet after spending more than half their lives in prison—think of this recent boom in artistic and commercial interest?"

Walter Mondale Remade the Vice Presidency

by Stuart E. Eizenstat

"Walter Mondale created the modern vice presidency out of a position that was an afterthought at the Constitutional Convention. Mondale was a great public servant and a decent man, and his death comes at a time when his progressive politics have gotten a second breath in the Democratic Party."

Sanders, Jayapal Introduce Bill to Make College Tuition-Free for Many Americans

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) introduced legislation on Wednesday to make college tuition free for many Americans, a policy that would be paid for by a tax on Wall Street. 

The Radical Politics of Nina Simone

by Chardine Taylor-Stone

"On the anniversary of her death, we can look at how the story of Simone’s political life is told, and who is telling it; at what they choose to include, and what they do in fact ‘erase’."

The Fruit of Power

Raoul Peck's documentary "Exterminate All The Brutes" considers not just the history of settler colonialism, but the epistemology of history in contexts where the powerful seek to shape knowledge. 

By Bearing Witness — And Hitting ‘Record’ — 17-Year-Old Darnella Frazier May Have Changed The World

“The world needed to see what I was seeing,” she said.

Students and Faculty Fight to Save Classics Department at Howard University

The decision is seen by many Howard students as a blow to the university's academic standing, but it also comes at a time when the significance of racism in classical studies is a hot academic debate. 

Richard Wright’s Newly Restored Novel Is a Tale for Today

by Reginald Dwayne Betts

Reginald Dwayne Betts reviews the newly-published "The Man Who Lived Underground," which speaks as much to today as it does to the 1940s. 

From Rodney King to George Floyd: Reliving the Scars of Police Violence

"The murder trial of Derek Chauvin is at the center of a national reckoning on race and policing. But cycles of protests over systemic racism and policing are not new. We watched the trial with the families of Rodney King, Oscar Grant and Stephon Clark to see this moment in history through their eyes."

Stuck At 435 Representatives? Why The U.S. House Hasn't Grown With Census Counts

Legislation passed in 1929 sets a cap on the size of the US House of Representatives, making the decennial census a high-stakes battle for precious seats. Expanding the House would make it more democratic and avoid taking existing seats away.