Justice

Why did American policing get so big, so fast? The answer, mainly, is slavery.

Frank B. Wilderson III sketches a map of the world in which Black people are everywhere integral but always excluded.

167 Black soldiers were dishonorably discharged from the army in 1906. Two Angelenos corrected the historical record in the 1970s.

The United States often touts itself as a "nation of immigrants," but this obscures the real story.

Black abolitionist David Ruggles opened the first Black-owned bookstore in 1834, pointing the way to freedom—in more ways than one.

Racism and sexism were bound together in the fight to vote – and Black women made it clear they would never cede the question of their voting rights to others.

African American women played a significant and sometimes overlooked role in the struggle to gain the vote.

Police reform is a time-honored counter-insurgency measure to quell rebellion.

The history of anti-Chinese violence in Truckee, California, is as old as the town itself.

The parallels between the summer of '32 and what is happening now are striking.

Winning the vote for women was a mighty struggle. Securing full liberation for women of color was no less daunting

How African-Americans in Early America celebrated the Declaration of Independence's ideals, even as basic freedoms were denied to them.

From unjustified stops of Black teenagers to a device to torment people in custody, racist police brutality runs deep.

How calls for “real reforms” have resulted in measures that further shield police from real accountability.

To hold the police accountable for misconduct, data related to police violence must not only become more accessible, it must also become more reliable.

Generations of Asian Americans have struggled to prove an Americanness that should not need to be proven.

In 1932, the “Bonus Army” of jobless veterans staged a protest in Washington, DC. The government dispersed them with tear gas.

Cynthia Tucker shares her hope that a new generation of activists can learn from Lewis' courageous and peaceful fight for “beloved community.”

Decades before protests against mass incarceration galvanized the black freedom struggle, Malcolm indicted the entire justice system as racist.

Anger over policing and inequality boiled over more than 50 years ago, and a landmark report warned that it could happen again.

The restrictions imposed during recent racial justice protests have their roots in efforts to “contain” Black Americans. 

But today’s activism reflects longstanding commitments to freedom.

David Ruggles' fight against the "kidnapping club" in the 1830s shows that police violence has been part of America's DNA from its earliest days.

How the movement that’s changing America was built and where it goes next.

He forced the country to engage in a three-year conversation about the meaning of free speech that shaped policy and law after World War I.

How government commissions became alibis for inaction.

Amid calls to defund police, cops are framing themselves as victims. We must remember who is really being brutalized.

Protest slogans and the terms for debate.

There are superficial similarities, but what we’re seeing now is something completely new.

The present round of protest is different. The participants are people of every race, ethnicity, sex, age, and religion.