Tag: 2020 Uprisings

Today we face the paradox of states simultaneously criminalizing masks—because of protests—and mandating them because of COVID-19. In this interview, social theorist AK Thompson explores the history of masks in protests and why rioting is politically effective.

Activists fighting to remove statues of slavers and colonizers understand better than most how public memorials can be a form of violence.

Counterterrorism largely ensnares people of color.

The reissue of Vivian Gornick’s The Romance of American Communism invites a new generation to reflect on what it means to live a life of political commitment.

Jalil Muntaqim, a Black Panther imprisoned since 1971, is one of thousands of elderly prisoners the United States has refused to free during the pandemic.

Prison and police abolition were key to the thinking of many midcentury civil rights activists.

Reform efforts will fail. Only a power shift to communities can improve public safety.

These protests are too widespread to go away. There will be no peace without justice on multiple fronts.

The story of how black people confront systems of racial capitalism and plot world liberation. A reading list from Robin D. G. Kelley.

Allies can be powerful aides to social justice movements—but it is their responsibility to make sure they don’t become a distraction from the cause.

An interview with Lorgia García-Peña on ethnic studies and protest.

The rage on display in Minneapolis is not only about police violence. It is also about the country’s utter disregard for the pain of black Americans.

A proper understanding of urban rebellion depends on our ability to interpret it not as a wave of criminality, but as political violence.