In honor of the 50th anniversary of the most tragic assassination of the 20th century, we present a “guest blog” from the high priestess of soul, Nina Simone, who pronounced the last word on this event, written and performed on April 7, 1968, 3 days after the murder. Please listen to the whole thing. (apologies for the tasteless ad). “They’re shooting us down one by one, don’t forget that, because they are. Killing us one by one.”

In order to understand the need for reparations, we need to understand that racism is historic, systemic, and structural, woven in the social fabric of the United States. It’s not about who was alive in slavery times or even who benefitted from centuries of oppression and discrimination. Its essence is embodied in the following statistic: the median wealth (not income) of white households is 13 times that of Black households, $141,000 to $11,000 (2013 figures). A difference of $130,000 per household. While useful, the destruction of Confederate monuments or even the stopping of police murder of Black people will not end racism. The only […]

We don’t have one working class in the U. S. We have two: one white and one black/Latinx. As long as white family wealth is 13 times black family wealth, class unity isn’t likely. Nor is it even desirable for black people. A united working class as Bernie envisions it in this period would led by whites and benefit whites more than it would blacks. Cuba is a good example. If we are sincere in wanting a society where caring replaces greed, where cooperation beats competition, black people are leading that struggle. The cutting edge of that struggle is in […]

Some good things are coming out of the Charlottesville tragedy: One, people are talking about racism; two, the racists clearly overreacted by murdering Heather Heyer and wounding nine others, thus turning off many of their would-be supporters. But lest we believe that virulent racism is the exclusive property of the white supremacists, we need to understand that racism is historic, systemic, and structural, woven in the social fabric of the United States. Its essence is embodied by the following statistic: the median wealth (not income) of white households is 13 times that of Black households, $141,000 to $11,000 (1913 figures). […]

It’s time to face the fact that, to paraphrase Lincoln, the U. S. is a nation is of white people, by white people, and for white people. On July 4, we celebrate the  241st anniversary of the slave owner’s revolt. The British empire abolished slavery in 1831, some 32 years ahead of the U. S. White supremacy was the founding principle and remains the predominant force in the U. S. The countervailing trend has enjoyed brief moments of promise: the end of slavery, Reconstruction, Civil Rights, but those moments add up to about 20 years. Reconstruction was followed by 85 years […]

I went to Arlington National Cemetery last week for research on a novel I’m writing. There are a lot of dead people there, mostly victims of U. S. Imperialism. I suppose excepting WWII where maybe we wore the white hat. I learned the cemetery used to be a plantation owned by the wife of Robert E. Lee. Confiscated during the Civil War. Mid-war, it became a refugee camp for enslaved peoples freed by Sherman and other Union offenses. It became a thriving community of 1500 people. Of course, after Reconstruction, there were relentless efforts to retain the land for white […]

I just finished Richard Rothstein’s new book, The Color of Law, A Forgotten History of How our Government Segregated America. Please read this important book. Since the rise of Malcolm and the black power movement, I’ve considered the demand for integration as not addressing the real needs of the Black community. But Rothstein makes clear that the end of segregation, in housing in particular, is not about Black and white kumbaya. Rothstein argues that the segregation in housing that persists throughout the North as well as the South was not de facto segregation, enforced by local prejudices of banks and realtors. […]