The Roundup Top Ten for April 30, 2021
Rick Santorum And His Critics Are Both Wrong About Native American Historyby Michael Leroy ObergRick Santorum's recent comments reflect a white nationalist viewpoint. But too many liberal critics responded to them with historical references to Native "contributions" to the American nation that erase the violence that nation carried out against indigenous people. |
Vaccine Hesitancy Is as Old as Vaccines. I Take Comfort in Thatby David MotadelResistance to vaccination is nothing new. But historical episodes of "vaccine hesitancy" have tended to dissolve. |
In the U.S, Praise for Anglo-Saxon Heritage has Always Been about White Supremacyby L.D. BurnettLabeling American political institutions as "Anglo Saxon heritage" reveals the ugly strain of thought that holds only some ethnic groups are congenitally capable of participating in citizenship. |
Police Reform Doesn’t Workby Michael BrenesLiberal calls for police reform operate within an ideological context where preserving order and enforcing private responsibility for social problems suppresses considering inequality. Minneapolis, the site of Derek Chauvin's trial and the killing of Daunte Wright, is an illustrative example. |
Mary Seacole and the Politics of Writing Black History in 1980s Britainby Margo WilliamsThe revival of British interest in the life of Jamaican-Scottish nurse Mary Seacole reflected the rise of a movement by Black British activists to see Black history as a story of struggle, rather than of a color-blind narrative of Britishness. |
Colony of Cobblestoneby Carlos SantiagoSan Juan's cobblestones are an illusion, aesthetic flourishes of "old world charm" intended to boost the tourism economy and conceal the island's status as a U.S. territory. |
The Crushing Contradictions of the American Universityby Chad WellmonThe proliferation of student loan debt reflects the acceptance by banks, borrowers, and the federal government of the idea that higher education is transformative and beneficial. Is this ideology bordering on magical thinking? |
The Perils Of Participationby Amanda Phillips de LucasThe construction of US Highway 40 in West Baltimore blighted a Black community with far-reaching results. But it's important to understand that road planners used a selective idea of participatory planning to manufacture community consent for the project. |
The MOVE Bombing and the Callous Handling of Black Remainsby Jessica ParrThe remains of the victims of the Philadelphia Police Department's bombing of the MOVE organization in 1985, including two children, were acquired by the University of Pennsylvania, stored outside of climate control, passed on to Princeton, and eventually lost, a final indignity to the victims. |
Elegy for Op-Edby Michael J. SocolowThe decision by the Times to rebrand its outside commentaries reflects its failure to fight consistently over the years for the open exchange of ideas and to differentiate the views it published from its own official positions. |