In the height of this particularly contentious election, we’ve heard a lot of rhetoric from both camps about how high the stakes are. In articulating this idea, Republicans and Democrats alike have repeated a similar refrain: times are tough, things are dark, and if you vote for the other party the Republic (and maybe the […]

Read more "Are We All Doomed?"

This is going to pain my conservative Christian friends and family, but it must be said: the religious right was never about the advancement of biblical values. It is a political movement that was originally centered on racial segregation that fused with grass-roots, hard-right ideological conservatism in the early 70s. And in the last several decades the […]

Read more "God’s Deplorable Warriors"

Hillary Clinton made big news twice this weekend. Both highlight the hypocrisy of the press and the dismal state of political dialog in this nation. We’ll begin with the more frivolous of the two stories. Hillary Clinton was sick. Outside. In public. At a hot, humid memorial and tribute to the victims and survivors of […]

Read more "The Basket Of Deplorables"

Two recent news items– Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the national anthem and University of Chicago Dean of Students John Ellison’s letter on trigger warnings and safe-spaces–  have me thinking about a frightening trend in contemporary discourse. Namely, how these two cases highlight our overwhelming desire to avoid earnest conversations about difficult subjects. Colin […]

Read more "The Consequences of Being Earnest"

In honor of Women’s Equality Day, I’d like to share an excerpt of my work on the origins of history in the schools. This comes from a larger chapter on teacher training and illustrates how the majority of teachers in the early days of the field were trained by women, whether at female teaching seminaries […]

Read more "Julia Anne King and the Role of Progressive Christian Women in Developing History Education"

Shaun King had some interesting stuff on his social media pages today regarding public conversations from young whites who attend or attended a private Christian school in Florida. PUBLIC conversations white kids from @TheFirstAcademy in Orlando have. It's a "Christian" school. pic.twitter.com/js2eCrQ4f9 — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 24, 2016 For the uninitiated, these rich, white […]

Read more "Christ-Centered Education– or How White People Hide Behind Jesus to Excuse Their Bigotry"

The recent release of body cam footage from the Paul O’Neal shooting in Chicago has me thinking about violence and government. Specifically, it makes me wonder if you can even call what is happening on the streets of our most dangerous cities police violence or if it is better characterized as a vacuum of the […]

Read more "The Monopoly on Violence"

In Part One of this two-part post, I outlined the roots of white supremacy in the Southern Strategy. As a top-down process, leadership in the Republican Party chose to abandon black voters in favor of courting white supremacist Democrats as a strategic electoral decision. This allowed the GOP to flip the south from being a staunch Democratic […]

Read more "Why Do People Claim Conservatives Are Racist? (Part Two)"

Editorials, like this one from the Chicago Tribune, keep popping up. Trump and Clinton are the least popular candidates ever! No one likes them! We are all only voting for one or the other out of our greater hatred for His Orangeness or The Clinton Dynasty! Maybe this is true. People do seem to like […]

Read more "The False Promise of Third Party Candidates: How do Parties Really Change?"

The story of Philando Castile, while extraordinary for the tragic ending, is all too familiar in the black community. To be black in America often means to be suspected of criminal activity by law enforcement and the white community at large. There is clear and overwhelming evidence that they are policed and punished differently. This […]

Read more "Black and Blue"