The Big Isms

Posted on May 26, 2022 By Matthew Ehret Since a new wave of ‘domestic terror attacks’ have erupted over the past two weeks both in Buffalo and now more recently in Texas, the citizens of the USA and trans-Atlantic community more broadly are being whipped up into a frenzy of fear and confusion over the causes of ‘domestic terror’ which can only be remedied by increased dictatorial powers of the population. As has often been the trend in our post-9/11 age, such highly publicized atrocities have tended to carry in their wake ever expanded state powers to surveil, censor and manipulate the confused and fearful population who lacks an ability to discern the true causes of the horrifying events framed for their consumption on mainstream media. Before acquiescing to greater tyrannical powers to those agencies controlling western governments in exchange for promised security, it were wise to evaluate how and why terrorism – domestic or otherwise –

American Racism and the Buffalo Shooting Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, May 15, 2022, The New Yorker On Saturday, in the parking lot of a neighborhood grocery store, an eighteen-year-old armed with a semi-automatic assault rifle, the N-word emblazoned on its front sight, began shooting. Shots cracked in the air, piercing through an unusually warm eighty-degree spring afternoon in Buffalo, New York. The teen-ager, who was later identified by the police, donned military-esque camouflage, was draped in body armor, and wore a camera to capture his bloody rampage. When the shooting stopped, thirteen people had been hit, ten of them killed. Eleven of those shot were Black. The gunman was captured by the police when he left the grocery store, and, by late Saturday night, he was arraigned on charges of first-degree murder. The shooter is alleged to have posted a hundred-and-eighty-page “manifesto” avowing white-supremacist beliefs. In the hate-filled text, he denounced immigrants a

Sign up for Tomgram: As  TomDispatch  regular  Karen Greenberg, author of  Subtle Tools: The Dismantling of Democracy from the War on Terror to Donald Trump , makes clear today, it's one that seems capable of holding only pregnant women "responsible" for anything. (Certainly, the same shouldn't be true for presidents, especially  not The Donald !)   The Veneer of Accountability Is Wearing Thin in Twenty-First-Century America By Karen J. Greenberg Why has the United States already become so heavily invested in the Russia-Ukraine war? And why has it so regularly gotten involved, in some fashion, in so many other wars on this planet since it invaded Afghanistan in 2001?  Those with long memories might echo the conclusion reached m

  Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, taken in 2020 (photo Hakim Bishara/Hyperallergic) The Guggenheim Museum in New York City has joined the growing list of institutions to drop the name of the disgraced Sackler family. Owners of the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma, notorious for manufacturing and deceptively marketing the highly addictive painkiller OxyContin, the Sacklers recently agreed to pay as much as $6 billion to settle lawsuits from communities devastated by the opioid epidemic in the United States. The latest settlement agreement also included a clause allowing museums and other entities that have received Sackler donations to strip the name from their halls, spaces, and endowed positions without penalty. KEEP READING

  On race and schools, here’s what Americans agree and disagree on Matt Barnum, May 3, 2022, Chalkbeat American schools have suddenly found themselves at the center of several fierce cultural debates, particularly related to race and racism. The stakes are high — both politically and educationally. So what do American voters and parents actually think about these issues? It can be hard to get a good sense of that amid an avalanche of anecdotes, news stories, and viral videos. Chalkbeat examined over 20 polls since last year to find out. In some cases, what we found was surprising, while others confirmed conventional wisdom. And there were instances of both widespread agreement and sharp division. There are real divides in this country on how to teach about race and racism, particularly on whether to teach about racism as a present-day phenomenon. Parents are also divided about whether schools pay too much or too little attention to race and racism. continue   Ra

Landmark University Report Details How Slavery ‘Powerfully Shaped Harvard’ Cara J. Chang and Isabella B. Cho, April 26, 2022, Harvard Crimson Harvard University faculty, staff, and leaders enslaved more than 70 Black and Indigenous people over about 150 years, including some who lived on campus, according to a long-awaited University report released Tuesday that detailed and acknowledged the “integral” role slavery played in shaping the school. The report  found that the institution of slavery was essential to Harvard’s growth as an academic institution, serving as a key source of the University’s wealth across three centuries. Harvard had “extensive financial ties” to slavery through key donors who built their wealth off of slavery, the report said — including some who are memorialized across the University today. The report is Harvard’s most significant public acknowledgement of how it was supported and shaped by the institution of slavery. Its release comes mo