Tag Archives: civil rights

Greensboro lunch counter sit in anniversary, 2018

It’s the anniversary of the start of the sit-in campaign in Greensboro, North Carolina. I’m always moved and encouraged by the audacity of those young men.    There was once a store called Woolworths.  It sold dry goods, mostly cheap … Continue reading

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Happy birthday, Rosa Parks (2017)

Happy birthday, Rosa Parks!  Born on February 4, 1913, Parks was not a tired old lady in 1955, when she refused to move to the back of the bus.  She was an experienced and committed activist, deeply tied into the … Continue reading

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Lunch counter sit-ins anniversary

It’s the anniversary of the start of the sit-in campaign in Greensboro, North Carolina. I’m always moved and encouraged by the audacity of those young men.    There was once a store called Woolworths.  It sold dry goods, mostly cheap … Continue reading

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Martin Luther King Day, 2017

(This is a repost of the MLKing Day holiday note.) Martin Luther King died young enough and dramatically enough to be turned into an American hero, but it was neither his youth nor his death that made him heroic. In … Continue reading

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The protest(s) sessions and what comes next

Unlike most of his would-be Cabinet mates, Attorney General-designate Jeff Sessions has filed his ethics and financial disclosure forms. When Senate committee hearings began this morning, his opponents were ready. Lisa Desjardins, from PBS Newshour, posted the welcome Senator Sessions … Continue reading

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Martin Luther King Day, 2016 (repost)

(This is a repost of the MLKing Day holiday note.) Martin Luther King died young enough and dramatically enough to be turned into an American hero, but it was neither his youth nor his death that made him heroic. In … Continue reading

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Don’t stop with the flag. #blackvotesmatter

Politicians in the South, mostly Republicans (because it’s mostly Republicans in power in the South), have been rallying around the removal of the Confederate flag from government display.  South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley called her state legislature into a special … Continue reading

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Start with the flag

The tragic racist killing of nine people at Charleston’s African Methodist Episcopal Church, following a year of activism around #blacklivesmatter, drew unusual attention to a range of issues around political and economic inequality.  Striking the battle flag of the Army … Continue reading

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More flags

Participants in the flag debate around my campus note that the American flag has been deployed in the service of heroic causes and of less heroic and admirable efforts.  The truth is that if you can’t find the flag used … Continue reading

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#Selma50: Whose history?

The thousands of people who marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama this weekend would not be attacked by state troopers, nor face gas or police dogs. Fifty years makes for an auspicious anniversary.  The brutal beatings that … Continue reading

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