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The Roundup Top Ten for November 23, 2022

School Politics at the Center of DeSantis's Conservatism

by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd

Although contemporary conservatives tend to malign public schools and teachers, they are tapping into a long historical legacy in which widespread education was conditioned on the promise that schools would inculcate nationalism and the morality of conservative ruling elites. 

Push Confederates Out of Gettysburg for Good

by Kevin M. Levin

Why are the forces that fought to preserve slavery, and who invaded the free state of Pennsylvania and kidnapped free Black Americans into slavery in 1863, allowed to march in Gettysburg's Remembrance Day parade? 

The US-China Relationship: Why It Collapsed, How it Can Be Fixed

by Jake Werner

The split between the US and China precedes the leadership of Biden, Trump, and Xi, as politicians in both countries have increasingly come to see the others' prosperity as a threat. Solving the split requires looking to the problems of global market capitalism that exacerbated the rift. 

Blacks and Jews—Again

by Michael Eric Dyson

At a moment of rising authoritarianism in America and the world, it is necessary for Black America and American Jews to recognize antisemitism as a species of white supremacy that threatens both groups. 

Larry Krasner and the Limits of "Law and Order"

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Pennsylvania Republicans have launched a futile effort to impeach the reformist Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner, defying local democracy to try to score political points through a backlash exploiting white voters' fears of crime. 

How Kanye West Uses the Language of Black Liberation to Serve White Supremacy

by Ashley D. Farmer

"West’s brand of Black Power is preoccupied with conspicuous consumption and wealth accumulation. Becoming a billionaire was not what the Black Panthers had in mind."

Is Environmental Damage Really Sabotage by Capital?

by R.H. Lossin

 The term "capitalist sabotage" describes intentional destructive activity in service of profit, and is a more accurate label than "accident" or "unintended consquence" for the environmental change that will cause a million unnecessary deaths a year over the coming decades. 

DeSantis v. Trump: More Polish, Less Bombast, Same Threat to Democracy?

by Annika Brockschmidt

Conservatives appear eager to boost Ron DeSantis as a "normal" conservative without Trump's "big lie" baggage. Yet his political career is a monument to the pursuit of minority rule, from gerrymandering to voting rights. 

Black Family History Opens New Archives

by Paula C. Austin, Catherine Nelson and Donna Payne Wilson

Paula Austin's history of Black Washington depended on the knowledge and memorial work of generations of Black families, who have preserved history that is not kept in traditional archives. 

Postcard From Detroit

by Mattie Webb

The city of Detroit is a fitting location for an archive documenting not only American labor history but the connections between US-based unions and the antiapartheid movement in South Africa.