How We Get Free
The struggle for black liberation is bound up with the project of human liberation and social transformation.
Search Result(s) for: “martin luther king jr”
The Left Can Win the American South
Republicans captured the South through racist “dog-whistle” appeals and by exploiting the deindustrialization that ravaged the region after NAFTA. But we can't write off the South as hopelessly reactionary — there’s a base for progressive politics that speaks to workers of all races.
Michael Harrington, American Socialist
Democratic Socialists of America founder Michael Harrington, who died thirty years ago today, was a beacon of humanity, decency, and socialism throughout his lifetime.
The Fire This Time
If poverty and racism persist, it won’t be long before there’s another Michael Brown, Eric Garner, or Trayvon Martin.
We Need an Economic Bill of Rights
Political rights are not enough. Economic rights — the right to home, food, health care, a union, and a safe and stable planet — should be our rallying cry for a just country and world.
Harry Belafonte’s Promising Career as a Film Star Ended Before It Really Began
Harry Belafonte, who died earlier today at age 96, was well known for his groundbreaking music career and civil rights activism. But in his early years, he appeared poised to become a major film star. We revisit two of his forgotten early classics here.
The Far Right Is a Lucrative Market for Book Publishers
The publishers that dominate the book trade have all created special imprints that cater to ultraconservative readers. They don’t want their brands associated with racism and misogyny, but they’re happy to profit from this growing ideological niche.
Newly Obtained FBI Files Shed New Light on the Murder of Fred Hampton
The horrifying story of the 1969 police murder of Fred Hampton is now well known. But there’s still much to be revealed about the case — like the information in bureau files newly obtained by Jacobin showing the FBI awarded Special Agent Roy Martin Mitchell, the handler of informant William O’Neal who was key to the raid that killed Hampton, a $200 bonus for work well done.
Kathryn Bigelow’s Moral Parable
Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit turns a deep-rooted urban rebellion into a “race riot.”
Selma and the Struggle
Selma isn’t just a great movie. Its sense of history and justice is deeply politicizing.
The California Christian Socialist Who Thought Socialism Was “Christianity in Overalls”
In the early 20th century heyday of US socialism, J. Stitt Wilson was elected mayor of Berkeley, California. He was a Christian socialist who held up Jesus the Carpenter and the Bible as radical injunctions to create a society of cooperation and democracy.
Micah White Is the Ultimate Occupy Grifter
Micah White, the guy who says he “cocreated” Occupy Wall Street, just went to Davos to “achieve great changes” with the 1 percent. Sometimes social movement activism becomes just another scam.
June 19 Should Be a National Holiday
On June 19, 1865, slavery ended in Texas. Juneteenth should be a national holiday.
Mother’s Day Has Deeply Radical Roots
Yes, you should absolutely call your mom today. But you should also know that Mother’s Day isn’t just a holiday for greeting card and chocolate companies to make a buck, but of radical antiwar and feminist organizers.
Why Bill Clinton Attacked Stokely Carmichael
Bill Clinton’s decision to disparage Kwame Ture, born Stokely Carmichael, at John Lewis’s funeral was a disgraceful attempt to drain the Civil Rights Movement of its radicalism and limit the horizons of political possibility today. But internationalism and black radicalism speak much more to the present moment than Clinton’s tired, centrist politics.
Amazon Workers in North Carolina Are Building a Union
Since the Amazon Labor Union’s victory in New York, interest in organizing has surged nationwide. In North Carolina, worker-organizers are building solidarity by helping coworkers struggling with starvation wages and an increasingly punitive management.
A Child of the Weather Underground Looks Back
The moments of doubt and self-criticism in Zayd Ayers Dohrn’s memoir of growing up as the child of two Weather Underground leaders offer a history of the 1960s and ’70s that can inform healthier and more effective left strategy today.
Sam Pollard Talks About Arthur Ashe, “The Jackie Robinson of Tennis”
Sam Pollard sat down with Jacobin to discuss his new documentary on black tennis legend Arthur Ashe — the man who broke down the racial barrier in “the sport of kings.”
Atlanta, Georgia, Was a Center of Anti-Apartheid Organizing
The common picture we get of the US South is one of resolute conservatism. But the region has a radical history, too — as seen in Atlanta’s role as a center of opposition to apartheid South Africa.