The Roundup Top Ten for April 1, 2021
The Painful History of the Georgia Voting Lawby Jason Morgan WardThe new wave of vote suppression bills, like the one in Georgia, reflect a less obvious but important aspect of Jim Crow law: the use of superficially race-neutral language to keep specific groups from voting. The danger is that courts today will similarly fail to see these bills for what they are. |
Mitch McConnell is Wrong. The Filibuster is, in Fact, Racistby Keisha N. Blain"Try as he might, McConnell cannot erase the historical record. To use his own words, 'There's no dispute among historians about that'." |
Working with Histories that Haunt Usby Marius KothorThe author responds to a recent essay on the traumatic aspects of archival research. As a political exile from Togo, her identity and experience converged with subject matter she couldn't study at a remove. |
Government has Always Picked Winners and Losersby David M.P. FreundGovernment action has always been tied to economic growth, and always involved policy choosing winners and losers. Policies proposed by the Biden administration as part of the COVID recovery aren't inserting the government into the market, they're changing the parties favored by government policy. |
The Problem with Confederate Monumentsby Karen L. Cox"I also believe it’s important that I, a Southern white woman, write and speak about this topic with blunt honesty. Monument defenders cannot dismiss me as a Northern liberal who has invaded the region to tell them what to do. I’ve grown up here, too." |
Teaching Controversial History: Four Movesby Jonathan WilsonA reflection on the work of teaching controversial subjects argues that it's essential to respect students' autonomy and provide them with the tools with which to change their own minds. |
Who's Afraid of Antiracism?by Chelsea StieberRecent books in different genres shed light on the limits of the French governing ideal of republican universalism for a society where racism is real and historically significant. |
Paleo Conby Daniel ImmerwahrWhy do the lifestyles of paleolithic hunter-gatherers repeatedly pop up as foils for western capitalist modernity? |
The Lack of Federal Voting Rights Protections Returns Us to the Pre-Civil War Eraby Kate MasurNew vote suppression bills in multiple states threaten to return the United States not to the Jim Crow era but to the period before the Civil War and Reconstruction when civil and political rights were protected or denied according to state politics. |
America’s Longest War Winds Downby Andrew BacevichPublic fatigue over the ongoing War on Terror must not allow political leaders to do what they seem to want most to do: avoid taking responsibility or learning lessons. |