The Roundup Top Ten for November 12, 2021
The Changing Same of U.S. Historyby David WaldstreicherHistorians have returned to the question of whether the Constitution is the problem or the solution with renewed vigor and high stakes. Those accusing ideological rivals of "doing politics, not history" are not innocent of the same charge. |
White Supremacists Attacked Democracy and Have Thus Far Faced No Consequencesby Carol AndersonThreatening to demolish the structure of government to preserve white supremacy is a time-honored American tradition, as is escaping consequences for doing so. |
Have the University of Austin Founders Been in a Classroom Lately?by Aaron R. HanlonProposing a new college to fight campus illiberalism is a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist. Really. |
White Backlash is America's Most Destructive Habitby John S. Huntington and Lawrence GlickmanThe authors endorse the term "counterrevolution" for a repeated pattern of political mobilization among White Americans combining distrust of democracy, apocalyptic rhetoric about the effects of racial equality, and the endorsement of antidemocratic and violent means to halt change. |
In Rittenhouse Trial, Language Mattersby Felicia Angeja ViatorKyle Rittenhouse's trial evokes the 1943 "Zoot Suit Riots," when white vigilantes, including uniformed servicemen, beat Mexican American youth in Los Angeles and other cities. The courts contributed to exonerating the vigilantes by repeating the language of a moral panic that characterized the victims as "gangsters" and hoodlums. |
UC Churns Through a Quarter of its Lecturers a Year. Like Me.by Diane Mendoza Nevárez"When UC treats lecturers as gig workers, they deny students access to the mentorship crucial for student retention and success." |
When Politicians Like JD Vance Call Professors Like Me the Enemy, What's Really Going On?by Benjamin Carter HettIt's no longer politically expedient to attack minorities or immigrants; professors make a great substitute because their work is often a mystery to the public and they don't have the power to fight back. |
Black Veterans of the First World War are Often Overlookedby Michelle MoydNearly 638,000 African men fought in Africa and Europe. Some were conscripted by colonial powers and forced to fight or labor, and others hoped through service to stake claims to political rights. More global attention to their service and its relationship to colonialism is needed. |
The Academy Museum Ignores Hollywood Labor Historyby Andy LewisThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was originally established to help studios negotiate contracts with the studio unions. Today, the on-set tragedy in New Mexico reminds that film production is an industry and workers make it run. The Academy Museum misses that part of the story. |
Extremism Didn't Begin with Trump, and Won't End with Him Eitherby Joseph LowndesPat Buchanan never succeeded in winning the Republican nomination, but he did as much as anyone to shape the politics of grievance and the image of beseiged white America that drives the party's base today. |