A half-century after the publication of Alex Haley’s masterwork, a Tennessee school board’s move to ban the book has stoked outcry.

The post Uprooted: ‘Roots’ Is Banned on its 50th Birthday appeared first on Truthdig.

I first heard the word “intersectionality” during an identity workshop I took in undergrad. Inside our student center, my classmates and I stood under colorful signs naming different aspects of identity—like race, gender, sexuality—as we were asked a series of questions that required us to stand underneath one and talk about how that part of […]

Three people silhouetted in profile, surrounded by vibrant colors and shapes.

Axios: “The holiday’s staying power shows how Black history can be absorbed into calendars, payroll systems and public rituals even as the post-2020 commitments that gave it renewed force are renamed, narrowed or abandoned.” “The holiday is enduring by becoming quieter, more internal and routine.” “Juneteenth remains a federal holiday, and President Trump cannot cancel […]

Editor’s note, June 19, 2026, 6 am ET: This story is being republished for Juneteenth. It was originally published in 2022. Part of the Juneteenth issue of The Highlight, produced in partnership with Capital B. As the Juneteenth holiday approaches, you’ll start to see various symbols of Blackness across the country. Front lawns, apartment balconies and clothing with the […]

In April, the National Park Service placed a statue of Caesar Rodney, one of America’s Founding Fathers, in Freedom Plaza, a small park near the White House. That installation drew notice, and criticism, because Rodney, a plantation owner from Delaware who played a key role in crafting the Declaration of Independence, enslaved people—a complication that […]

The Trump administration is trying to get rid of the first reparations program in the U.S. for Black Americans.

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice asked a judge to end the program in Evanston, Illinois, offering $25,000 to the descendants of the city’s Black residents who experienced housing discrimination between 1919 and 1969 due to city policies and ordinances. All residents who…

Seventy years after Paul Robeson testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, his searing testimony continues to echo.

The post When Mr. Robeson Went to Washington appeared first on Truthdig.

When Bryan Stevenson moved to Montgomery, Alabama, in the 1980s, the city—one of America’s most prominent slave trading spaces before the Civil War—had dozens of Confederate monuments and memorials, but nothing commemorating slavery. Today, thanks to Stevenson’s efforts, the city looks much different. Subscribe to Mother Jones podcasts on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast […]

We tend to treat disability politics as a modern phenomenon, the product of disability civil rights movements in the latter part of the 20th century. It’s not: the long arc of that history, in fact, goes back to the American Revolution, whose new ideas promised some disabled white Americans an unprecedented level of inclusion—and to […]

Zakaria's father was killed by terrorist group Al-Shabaab in Somalia

The rioting in Belfast fits Britain’s now familiar routine of violent crimes followed by race riots. While the government promises anti-immigration crackdowns, the rioters want to unleash their rage and terrorize minorities.

In a special edition of Closing Argument, Jamiles Lartey reflects on the region as the nation’s 250th celebration approaches.

Algebra I is known as a gateway class: Students who pass the course are more likely to take advanced math courses, graduate from college and earn more money as adults. But for many children, their path to success in Algebra I is formed years before they take the class. Third grade math scores can strongly […]

The post Strong early math skills equal later algebra success appeared first on The…

A European Union deportation law is paving the way for ICE-style tactics and infrastructure across the continent.

The post This Is How ICE Comes to Europe appeared first on Truthdig.

Racist right-wing activist and pardoned January 6 insurrectionist Jake Lang was arrested in Dallas on Tuesday night for making “terroristic threats.” His bail is set at $1 million. Lang was visiting Texas to stir up racial animus around the trial of Karmelo Anthony, a Black teenager who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for fatally stabbing a white teenager at a track meet last year.

“They…

President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice released an opinion on Tuesday that, in the likely event it is embraced by a Republican-controlled federal judiciary, would make it significantly harder for plaintiffs who face employment discrimination to prevail in court. The opinion was released by the Office of Legal Counsel, an institution that interprets federal law […]

Actor Idris Elba dismissed longstanding rumors that he would be the next James Bond, calling the speculation “unrealistic” and claiming that many global audiences would never accept a Black male in the iconic role. What do you think?

The post Idris Elba Says Some Audiences Won’t Accept Black James Bond appeared first on The Onion.

_This story originally appeared on Out._

Whether HelloFresh is "winning the internet" or being "sick and twisted" is a matter of perspective, but there's no denying the brand's official Instagram account is getting seen.

Friday's original post addressed anal sex, without coming out and saying so.

“We know eating isn’t always a top priority this month. We respect that. But for those of you…

The Trump administration is attacking the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission—which helps maintain federal laws against workplace discrimination—for apparently violating the Constitution.

The Justice Department on Tuesday accused the EEOC of pressuring “employers to engage in race-based decisionmaking” and enforcing guidelines that “contemplate liability based on disparate effects alone,…

Sixty years ago, James Meredith began walking alone from the Peabody Hotel in Memphis as he began his March Against Fear. He was heading toward the Mississippi Delta to counter the swelling racism that had followed the passage of major rights legislation and to galvanize Black voter registration.

The post James Meredith’s March Against Fear Turns 60 as New Voting Rights Battles Loom in…

News Editor Ashton Pittman argues that the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling gutting the Voting Rights Act “relies on feigned colorblindness to racist systems,” enabling even Jim Crow-style policies to flourish.

The post Editor’s Note | Even Jim Crow Is ‘Colorblind’ Now Under This Supreme Court. I Am Not. appeared first on Mississippi Free Press.

This story was originally published by The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up for its newsletters here. Last December, the Department of Justice opened a new office in its Civil Rights Division called the Second Amendment Section. The goal of the office, as previously reported by Mother Jones and The […]

After Henry Nowak was stabbed and then arrested as he lay dying, Britain’s far right seized on the case. Jacobin spoke to Daniel Trilling about what it reveals.

Jon Boutcher backed a call by Henry Nowak’s parents that his death in Southampton should not be “used to create division”

Criminal organizations like Los Ardillos are terrorizing local communities in an effort to expand control over valuable mineral deposits.

The post The Narco Erasure of Indigenous Mexican Life appeared first on Truthdig.

I knew we’d be focusing on elections on today’s BradCast, with critical midterm primaries being held in six states on Tuesday. Little did I know, however, that the corrupted rightwing U.S. Supreme Court would bigfoot our planned coverage of results with perhaps their worst, most corrupt, most partisan ruling to date. And that’s really saying […]

WINOOSKI, Vt. — The day’s class started with a writing prompt: Do you feel safe in school? Why or why not? The students — whose families hail from across the globe and speak languages including Arabic, Nepali, Spanish and Somali — wrote their responses before reading them aloud. “I feel safe in school because I […]

The post This school district has received death threats for standing up for…

'This isn’t the whole of Greater Manchester being racist. But what the whole of Greater Manchester can do is stand together against it'

Allen v. Milligan, an Alabama redistricting case that is now before the Supreme Court for the third time, is a face-palm, wrapped in a head-desk, wrapped in some of the most incompetent legislative draftsmanship that has ever been presented to the justices. If Alabama Republicans have any sense, they will fire all of their lawyers. […]