Category Archives: Racism

A fresh wave of hard-right populism is stalking Europe

In Germany, the AfD are weaponising climate change

The Economist — Sep 14th 2023
A spectre is haunting Europe: the spectre of a rising hard right. In Germany the overtly xenophobic Alternative for Germany (afd) has surged to become the country’s second-most popular party.
Its success is polarising domestic politics and it seems poised to triumph in state elections in the east next year. In Poland the ruling Law and Justice party is leading the polls ahead of a general election on October 15th, and it is being drawn further to the right by an extreme new party, Confederation.

Continue reading A fresh wave of hard-right populism is stalking Europe

When Hanging Wasn’t Brutal Enough for Black Prisoners: Southern Whites Brought In “Old Sparky”

From Reading Religion:

The End of Public Execution

Race, Religion, and Punishment in the American South

By: Michael Ayers Trotti

266 Pages — $32.95

  • Published By: University of North Carolina Press

Michael Ayers Trotti’s The End of Public Execution: Race, Religion, and Punishment in the American South opens with a short transcription of a newspaper article about an Atlanta hanging. The report is about the 1891 execution of Frank Danforth, a Black man who had been convicted of the murder of his wife. The report mentions preachers saying prayers and singing, Danforth swaying to religious music, his repeated testimony to his belief in his own salvation, and white women who stood on a jailhouse fence to watch his execution. Trotti observes that the report describes Danforth’s execution as private because it was done behind jailhouse walls, even though hundreds of people were in attendance.

Continue reading When Hanging Wasn’t Brutal Enough for Black Prisoners: Southern Whites Brought In “Old Sparky”

A Weekend Read: The Atlanta Trials & Race

You Can’t Talk About Trump’s Georgia Case Without Talking About Racism

TIME Magazine — IDEAS
Janell Ross is the senior correspondent on race and identities for TIME.
Janell Ross, TIME Magazine

As the final bars of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” filled the room, former President Donald Trump took the stage in Windham, N.H. The audience, many of them white New Englanders and veterans, chanting “U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A” had to settle a bit before Trump could launch into a winding, military-themed speech at the August 8 campaign rally.

Continue reading A Weekend Read: The Atlanta Trials & Race

Quaker Book Giveaway: Turning the Page on Florida Censorship

Florida Quakers give away hundreds of Black-history books

BOOK GIVEAWAY A SUCCESS — Members of the DeLand Quakers stand in front of a portion of the books on Black history collected to be distributed at the recent rescheduled Juneteenth celebration. In front, from left, are Kathy Hersh, Heba Ismael, Carol Reed and Bill Brennan. In the back row, same order, are Jim Cain, Beverly Ward, John Heimburg and Bill Kwalwasser. PHOTO COURTESY KATHY HERSH

Continue reading Quaker Book Giveaway: Turning the Page on Florida Censorship

An Overdue Blow at the Roots of White Minority Rule in The Deep, Deep South

The Guardian —

2-1 ruling on policy that revoked voting rights for certain people with felony convictions is surprise victory from conservative court

A federal appeals court on August 4  struck down Mississippi’s Jim Crow-era policy of permanently revoking voting rights from certain people with felony convictions, ruling that it is unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.

The 2-1 panel ruling is a surprise victory from the conservative fifth circuit court of appeals just over a month after the US supreme court refused to hear a challenge to the discriminatory law.

Continue reading An Overdue Blow at the Roots of White Minority Rule in The Deep, Deep South