Independent since 2002 Issue No. 1102 Week of November 7, 2026 Get the free email dispatch →

Category: Commentary

Commentary

Andrew and Tristan Tate Face the Possibility of Criminal Prosecution

By Dr. Elwood Watson, PhD Guest Commentator

Conservatives such as Megyn Kelly, Ben Shapiro, and Ron DeSantis have been bitter critics of the brothers and have chastised their fellow conservatives who have embraced the duo. By contrast, others on the conservative right have adopted a “hear no evil, fear no evil, see no evil” non-partisan stance.

Andrew and Tristan Tate, the far-right social media influencers and self-described misogynists who command a following of young, angry men on the internet, were arrested in…

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Commentary

If You Don’t Count It, You Don’t Have to Fix It

By Dr. Julianne Malveaux, PhD Editorial Board

In the twisted logic of this political moment, counting racial inequality is treated as a form of racial discrimination, while actual discrimination is rendered invisible.

The Trump administration is not eliminating workplace discrimination. It is eliminating the receipts. On July 23, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) proposed abolishing the EEO-1…

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Commentary

The Death of Senator Lindsey Graham Is an Opportunity To Stand on Political Principle

By Dr. Elwood Watson, PhD Guest Commentator

The bipartisan avalanche of selective amnesia to depict Graham as a congenial and amiable fellow who was never confrontational, even with those with whom he was politically at odds, is perversely disingenuous.

Senator Lindsey Graham’s abrupt and untimely death sent shockwaves throughout Washington and the Beltway establishment as well as the larger mainstream media, the pundit class, bloggers,…

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Commentary

The “Fellow Travelers” Are Back

By Dr. Julianne Malveaux, PhD Editorial Board

People who had little offered us coffee or water. Cubans spoke candidly about their frustrations. They did not resemble puppets in either Washington’s or Havana’s propaganda.

Fellow traveler” is a phrase dragged from the rhetorical graveyard of the 1950s, when accusation substituted for evidence and dissent became disloyalty. Its appearance in a…

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Cover Story

The Currency of Oligarchy

By Dr. Julianne Malveaux, PhD Editorial Board

Imagine generations of Americans encountering Tubman not only during Black History Month, but every day - at the ATM, the corner store and the kitchen table. That is why representation on currency matters. It is history placed into circulation.

As an economist, I have spent much of my life thinking about what money does. It measures value. It facilitates exchange. It stores wealth. But money…

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Commentary

White Supremacists Demonstrate

By Dr. Elwood Watson, PhD Guest Commentator

They despise the fact that a Black woman’s stoic silence ripped open the pathology, fear, and fecklessness of those White men.

Reuters photographer Chaney Orr took the photo that has launched numerous conversations. He showcased a young Black woman, Bernita Bowlding, sitting alone on the Metro in…

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Commentary

Democratic Socialist Oliver Larkin Says Florida Is Worth Fighting For

By Sharon Kyle, JD Editorial Board

The union organizer and democratic socialist challenging Rep. Jared Moskowitz argues that Democrats cannot defeat the right by imitating it.

Once regarded as the nation’s most important swing state, Florida has moved sharply to the right under Republican control. Donald Trump has carried the state three…

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Commentary

The Current Democratic Establishment Is Under Attack Because of the Perception That It Is Weak and Inefficient

By Dr. Elwood Watson, PhD Guest Commentator

A politician's background is less important to me than their willingness to combat draconian political policies designed to undo centuries of progress.

Recent Graham Platner accusations notwithstanding, no one can credibly deny that Democratic Socialist candidates are having quite a moment. Octogenarian senator Bernie Sanders enjoys the highest…

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Commentary

HBCUs Are Still the Vanguard

By Dr. Julianne Malveaux, PhD Editorial Board

They take seriously the students America too often treats as afterthoughts, and they turn potential into leadership. The question is whether they will receive the investment, protection, and respect that their record demands.

This week I am thinking about what it means to go back to school in a country that still rations opportunity. The stores are selling backpacks…

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Commentary

Cruelty Is the Point: Haiti, TPS, and the Politics of Punishment

By Dr. Julianne Malveaux, PhD Editorial Board

Congress can act. The administration can halt deportations. Communities can protect their neighbors.

Haiti is not an abstraction. Haiti is a nation whose pain has too often been treated as policy collateral, a people whose labor is welcomed when…

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