Race
What Slavery Tells Us about Marx
The enslaved human should be central to our analysis of commodity form.
Putting Rights in Their Place
Some future version of human rights might escape its current limitations.
Reviving the Black Radical Tradition
To dismiss human rights is to ignore black liberation struggles.
Black Panther Is Not the Movie We Deserve
The movie, unique for its Black star power, depends on a shocking devaluation of Black American men.
Against National Security Citizenship
Support for the U.S. military has long been seen as a crucial way for black Americans and immigrants to show that they “belong.”
The Cost of Canonizing MLK
In these video interviews, Brandon M. Terry explains how MLK’s canonization has come at the expense of taking him seriously as a political thinker.
A Political Philosophy of Self-Defense
Self-defense is not merely an individual right; it is collective political resistance.
Coates and West in Jackson
America loves pitting Black intellectuals against each other, but today’s activists need both Coates and West.
Our Top Stories on Race in 2017
In 2017, racism and xenophobia have played major roles in U.S. politics. As the year draws to a close, we present our top stories about race, immigration, and the dangerous ideology of white nationalism, from myths about Appalachia to racial capitalism to regimes of deportation.
A Bad Check for Black America
Nixon’s embrace of “black capitalism” turned the wealth gap into a wealth chasm.
One Year Later
We have to do much more than fight back, we have to fight for the world that could liberate and sustain us all when Trump is gone.
The Mythical Whiteness of Trump Country
J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy has been held up as a guidebook for understanding the 2016 election, but it’s rooted in a dangerous myth.
Keeping the Faith
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s latest book, We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy, is his clearest expression yet of political fatalism. But black activism has always believed in the possibility of change.
The Untold Story of Mass Incarceration
Reform can’t succeed unless we understand the complex political forces behind the expansion of the carceral state.
The Descent of Democracy
While the United States has expanded its borders of inclusion over time, the borders of whiteness have never fallen. Only a robust black public sphere can change that.
Why Coretta Scott King Fought for a Job Guarantee
She saw economic precarity not just as a side effect of racial subjugation, but central to its functioning.
Refuge for Fugitives
We can learn from the surprising coalition of people who sheltered and rescued escaped slaves.
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