2019 Poetry & Short Story Contests | Boston Review

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Race

Race

How Wall Street Colonized the Caribbean

The expansion of banks such as Citigroup into Cuba, Haiti, and beyond reveal a story of capitalism built on blood, labor, and racial lines.

Peter James Hudson

Literature & Culture

Race in Black and White

Slavery and the Civil War were central to the development of photography as both a technology and an art.

Alexis L. Boylan

Race

Black Resistance in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley

In Revilletown, which was founded by freed slaves, a petrochemical company has seized ownership of an ancestral cemetery. But an attack on the dead is an attack on the living.

Robin McDowell

Law & Justice

How Cars Transformed Policing

Before the mass adoption of the car, most communities barely had a police force and citizens shared responsibility for enforcing laws. Then the car changed everything.

Sarah A. Seo

Politics, Race

“Every Crucifixion Needs a Witness”

William J. Barber II on the the successes of civil disobedience, the failures of electoral campaigns, and why the South holds the key to transformation in this country. 

Toussaint Losier, William J. Barber II

Global Justice

Remembering the Golden Spike Ceremony

The completion of the first transcontinental railroad 150 years ago is remembered as an iconic moment in the history of U.S. westward expansion. But there are other ways to understand the railroad’s significance, and its sharp resonance for our times.

Manu Karuka

Race

The Mismeasure of Minds

Twenty-five years later, The Bell Curve’s analysis of race and intelligence refuses to die. Reckoning with its legacy may help redirect the conversation in urgently needed ways.

Michael E. Staub

Science & Nature

The Sins of “Smart” Cities

What happens when we reframe complex social and political issues as technical puzzles? Two new books challenge modern cities' over-reliance on data and technology.

Ruth Miller

Philosophy & Religion

The Pacifist Roots of an American Nazi

Ingrid Rimland was a pioneering voice of the neo-Nazi Internet. She was also raised Mennonite, a peaceful religion with a long history of celebrating white “ethnic” identity.

Ben Goossen

Politics

The Most Radical City on the Planet

Jackson has a long history of black resistance—a seeming contradiction in a state better known for its stubborn poverty, violent Confederate fan boys, and deeply entrenched black oppression. 

Makani Themba

Race

Speaking the Truth

Cornel West and Deborah Chasman discuss the disproportionately white publishing world, the responsibilities and burdens of public life, and the predicament of black intellectuals today.

Cornel West, Deborah Chasman

Reading Lists

What Marx Got Wrong About Capitalism

A Racial Capitalism Reading List 

Rosie Gillies, Boston Review

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