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A soldier standing guard on the corner of 7th & N Street NW in Washington D.C. with the ruins of buildings that were destroyed during the riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
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After April 4: The 1968 Rebellions and the Unfinished Work of Civil Rights in DC

When the smoke cleared in D.C. following the 1968 riots after the assasination of MLK, the city's black communities organized to rebuild a more equitable city.
A roll of cotton thread in the shape of an eye.

Slavery and the Guardian: The Ties That Bind Us

There is an illusion at the centre of British history that conceals the role of slavery in building the nation. Here’s how I fell for it.
Protesters at a police brutality rally at the Texas State Capitol in 1977.

The Killing of José Campos Torres

Decades before the recent police violence in Memphis, a brutally beaten Latino man was tossed by officers into a Houston bayou and drowned.
The Police Beat Algorithm, along with its computational key. Illustrated by Kelly Chudler.

The 1960s Experiment That Created Today’s Biased Police Surveillance

The Police Beat Algorithm’s outputs were not so much predictive of future crime as they were self-fulfilling prophesies.
New York City sidewalk full of people wearing hats.

Hat Havoc in the Big Apple

The Hat Riots of 1922 show how arbitrary, elite rules can spur civil unrest.
Black and white photo of Ishmael Reed as a child in Willert Park Courts, 1943.

The Buffalo I Knew

The city is at a crossroads. Which path will it take?
Kyle Rittenhouse waves to cheering fans as he appears at a panel discussion at a Turning Point USA America Fest event on Dec. 20, 2021.
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Bernhard Goetz and the Roots of Kyle Rittenhouse’s Celebrity on the Right

Why vigilante violence appeals politically.
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Extremism in America: Out of the Shadows

According to experts who monitor the radical right, the white supremacist ideology that police say drove the Buffalo gunman has begun moving into the mainstream.
Illustration of Cedric Robinson by Joe Ciardiello.

Cedric Robinson’s Radical Democracy

Rejecting the resignation of the 1970s and ’80s, Robinson found in the disinvested ruins of the city a new egalitarian form of politics.
Formal portrait photo of Destin Jenkins.

Public Thinker: Destin Jenkins on Breaking Bonds

“What if we identified the politics of municipal debt as circumscribing political horizons and futures?”
Two artifacts: a firefighting badge from 1861, and a silver speaking trumpet.

Two Objects Bring the History of African American Firefighting to Light

The story played out very differently in Philadelphia and Charleston, and not in the way you might expect.
Sketch of Harlem reimagined

How a Harlem Skyrise Got Hijacked—and Forgotten

The fate of June Jordan’s visionary reimagining of Harlem shows that when it comes to Utopias, the key question is always: “Whose?”

Police Reform Doesn’t Work

A century of failed liberal attempts at policing reform in Minneapolis suggests that none of the city’s current proposals will prevent another George Floyd.
photo of Otto Kerner with quote: "freedom for every citizen to live and work according to his capacities and not his color"

We Were Warned About a Divided America 50 Years Ago. We Ignored the Signs

As in the 1960s, the nation today stands at a turning point.

A TV Documentary Shows the Deep Roots of Right-Wing Conspiracy

In 1964, the John Birch Society was the most active far-right group in the United States—unless you count the Republican Party.
Teenagers from PAL take part in “Commissioner for A Day” on February 18, 1969

Rivalry in the Trenches

Philadelphia’s PAL and the Black Panther Party’s efforts to mold black youth into their own image.
African American man at a desk with microphones, nameplate shows he is Newark's Mayor Kenneth Gibson.

Police Power and the Election of Newark’s First Black Mayor

Fifty years ago, Newark, New Jersey, elected its first Black mayor—Kenneth Gibson—at a moment when there was an urgency to address police violence.

We Should Still Defund the Police

Cuts to public services that might mitigate poverty and promote social mobility have become a perpetual excuse for more policing.
Demonstrators surround a police car during the Watts uprising in 1965
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Understanding Today’s Uprisings Requires Understanding What Came Before Them

The media must make the long years of organizing as visible as the eruptions and uprisings.

A Brief History of Dangerous Others

Wielding the outside agitator trope has always, at bottom, been a way of putting dissidents in their place.
Woman walking past a mural of Frederick Douglass
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Lessons for Sustaining Black Businesses After a Crisis

Private coalitions alone aren’t enough to address racial wealth gaps.

The History of the “Riot” Report

How government commissions became alibis for inaction.
Police officer behind yellow police tape.

Police Reform Won’t Fix a System That Was Built to Abuse Power

The history of American policing shows that it was designed to eat up resources and subjugate the civilian population.
An row of small suburban houses, with an SUV parked in a driveway and an American flag in the foreground.

Trump Doesn’t Understand Today’s Suburbs—And Neither Do You

Suburbs are getting more diverse, but that doesn't mean they’re woke.

It Really Is Different This Time

Two dozen experts consider the George Floyd protests in light of protests past.
Federal Reserve building.
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The Fed Could Undo Decades of Damage to Cities. Here’s How.

The bond market has fueled vast inequities between cities and suburbs — especially in smaller locales.

A Brief Criminal History of the Mask

How a New York law on “masquerading” passed in the early nineteenth century has been used—and abused—in the decades since.

What Our Contagion Fables Are Really About

In the literature of pestilence, the greatest threat isn’t the loss of human life but the loss of what makes us human.
Martin Luther King Jr. giving a speech.

Martin Luther King and the 'Polite’ Racism of White Liberals

Many of King’s words about allies ring true today.
A Black woman poses with the McDonald's golden arches.

How Fast Food "Became Black"

A new book, "Franchise," explains how black franchise owners became the backbone of the industry.

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