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

Issue: 872

July 1, 2021

CRT

Cartoon

CRT

By Chuck Siler

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Commentary

After Juneteenth, What Does This 4th Of July Mean?

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

Black patriotism is exhibited not only on the battlefields of America's wars but also in America's streets and sports arenas.

This July 4th, America will celebrate 245 years of independence from British rule. However, when President Joe Biden signed into law Juneteenth as a federal holiday,…

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Commentary

“The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” – Speech by Frederick Douglass, July 5, 1852

By The Black Commentator Guest Commentator

Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us?

Frederick Douglass gave this speech on July 5, 1852 at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, held at Corinthian Hall in Rochester,…

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Sharp n’ Blunt

Ol’ Glory Should Be Flown Upside Down This 4th – America Is in Distress

By Desi Cortez Columnist

Perhaps we are witnessing the beginning of the end of White domination, the “last stand” and “fall-out” of European Conquest… or this is the beginning of “Minority Rule” in America and Trump’s Troops will ram down our throats their way of life.

I've read numerous iconic quotes throughout my caramel life, and I have my personal gems and jewels - powerful words, ranging from Frederick Douglass, and Dr.…

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Color of Law

Political Artist John Sims Detained, Handcuffed by S.C. Police in His Gallery Apartment

By David A. Love, JD Executive Editor

If resisting and cooperating bring the same outcome - death - what am I to do, especially if good cops cannot stand up to bad cops? Political Artist John Sims Detained, Handcuffed by S.C. Police in His Gallery Apartment.

A Black artist in Columbia, South Carolina was held at gunpoint, handcuffed and detained by police officers who thought he was an intruder in his own…

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Commentary

This Anthem Does Not Speak for Me

By Dr. Julianne Malveaux, PhD Editorial Board

We are disgusted by the injustice and hypocrisy woven into every fabric of our lives, even as we experience and enjoy aspects of progress and opportunity that distinguish our lives from those of our enslaved foremothers and fathers.

Frances Scott Key, author of the Star-Spangled Banner, our “National Anthem” was a dyed-in-the-wool racist. He opined that “Negroes” were a “distinct and inferior race.” He…

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Commentary

Connecting the Dots

By Dr. Walter C. Farrell, Jr., PhD, M.S.P.H. Columnist

As White flight intensifies and White birth rates decline, students of color have ascended to majority status in K-12 public schools and now make up the bulk of students in the 50 states.

Students of color are facing their third generation K-12 public education crisis. The 1954 Brown Decision ushered in a period of furious opposition to the desegregation…

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Commentary

SCOTUS Rules That Union Organizers Cannot Enter Farms to Contact Workers – Solidarity America

By John Funiciello Columnist

Growers in California or in any other state where migrant workers are employed never wanted their workers to even think about a union or what it means to have a contract that conferred rights that the growers would have to honor.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month ruled that union organizers can be kept off of farm properties to speak with field workers on their breaks or…

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View from the Battlefield

How the Word Is Passed

By Jamala Rogers Editorial Board

The history of slavery is a history of the United States. It was not peripheral to our founding; it was central to it. It is not irrelevant to our contemporary society; it created it.”

We celebrated Juneteenth. Here comes America's Independence Day. There's no better time to put July 4 in historical perspective. We must connect it with the racist…

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