Back in April, US Defense Secretary Pete “Signal” Hegseth ordered 381 books removed from the US Naval Academy’s Nimitz Library. These included works read by young people—Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give—and scholarship on books for young people, such as Robin Bernstein’s Racial Innocence and
How are the good people of Manhattan, Kansas fighting the regime? Well, in many ways, but one is via Indivisible MHK — the local chapter of Indivisible, the national pro-democracy organization founded by Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg. To find out what, precisely, we are up to, follow us on social media (BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, Substack,
A version of this appeared on Substack – both mine and Indivisible MHK’s — this past Wednesday. I am tired. Very tired. The regime is setting fires faster than we can put them out. This, as we know, is by design. They seek to overwhelm. They want surrender. But why should we give them what they
On Saturday, Kansans held a virtual Town Hall with one of our missing Senators — Jerry Moran. Since he refused to meet us, we had an empty chair with his photograph taped to it. Over the course of 2.5 hours, 32 people from many walks of life expressed our concerns — about the ongoing coup, the
I’ve made another anti-fascist educational video. Below, full text and a list of main sources for the video — which I talk more about at the end of the video. So, language matters. You hear of people being fired because of DEI, of programs being shut because of DEI, of grants revoked because of DEI.
“I was stunned. Everyone was, I know that. It was hard to believe. The entire government, gone like that. How did they get in, how did it happen? That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn’t even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at
“another world is not only possible, she’s on her way.” — Arundhati Roy I offer this quotation to encourage you to sustain a sense of possibility, however contingent or uncertain. Because another world is possible. I cannot predict whether we will see that world, but it is nonetheless worth fighting for. Activists may not see
Dear students, I wish our class were meeting in person. Because then I would bring you donuts. And because I want to check in with you, see how you’re doing. How are you doing? Courtesy of Christie Launius, Associate Dean for Student Success, Engagement, and Undergraduate Studies, here are a couple of resources
For this year’s Seuss birthday, an excerpt from Was the Cat in the Hat Black?: The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature and the Need for Diverse Books (Oxford UP, 2017). The thesis: Support a US Anti-Racist Education Act because racism is a national emergency that threatens our democracy. But first, and with thanks to The
I wrote the following this morning, in my journal. I thought (perhaps wrongly) that it might resonate with – or even help – others. So, I am sharing it here. Welcome to pandemic day 250. If your pandemic life started on March 14th (as mine did), today is day 250. Many months ago, I decided that
