Today's Liberal News

Behind the Byline With Ed Yong

In our series “Behind the Byline,” we’re chatting with Atlantic staffers to learn more about who they are and how they approach their work. Ed Yong is a staff writer who covers science. He writes about everything from hagfish slime to giraffe tackling, but since March, he has focused all his reportorial energy on the pandemic.This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.

America Is Already Different Than It Was Two Weeks Ago

A lot has changed these past couple of weeks. As protesters have gathered following the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police in late May, the Black Lives Matter movement has rapidly gained public support. Seizing or at least reading the moment, politicians, companies, and organizations have announced a flurry of new policies and revised positions intended to address structural racism.

The Books Briefing: Readjusting Our Understanding of History

In the abolitionist Frederick Douglass’s 1866 essay “Reconstruction,” he dissects how the enterprise of slavery could not be righted without devising a plan that accounted for the danger in giving states too much autonomy. Douglass was keen to the way the institution of slavery could linger if not reckoned with honestly and ended definitively. Many inconsistent or inaccurate perceptions of American history still persist, obscuring the realities of systemic injustice.

Trump’s Aides Are Desperately Trying to Soothe His Anxieties

The Trump campaign is busy fighting the battle for hearts and minds this week.Not voters’ hearts and minds—at the moment, the president’s reelection campaign is losing those left and right, with many recent polls showing his position slipping against the presumptive Democratic candidate, Joe Biden.Instead, the Trump reelection team is busy trying to soothe the president’s own troubled mind, and his insecurities.

Angela Davis: Dems & GOP Tied to Corporate Capitalism, But We Must Vote So Trump Is “Forever Ousted”

“Neither party represents the future that we need in this country — both parties remain connected to corporate capitalism,” Angela Davis says of the 2020 election. “We’re going to have to translate some of the passion that has characterized these demonstrations into work within the electoral arena, recognizing that the electoral arena is not the best place for the expression of radical politics.

Angela Davis Slams Trump Rally in Tulsa, Massacre Site, on Juneteenth Celebration of End of Slavery

President Trump will resume holding indoor campaign events starting with a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 19, a day known as Juneteenth, that celebrates African Americans’ liberation from slavery. The rally also falls on the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa race riots, one of the worst acts of racial violence in U.S. history, in which white residents killed hundreds of their African American neighbors.

Uprising & Abolition: Angela Davis on Movement Building, “Defund the Police” & Where We Go from Here

The uprising against police brutality and anti-Black racism continues to sweep across the United States and countries around the world, forcing a reckoning in the halls of power and on the streets. The mass protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 have dramatically shifted public opinion on policing and systemic racism, as “defund the police” becomes a rallying cry of the movement.

Seattle Protesters Declare Autonomous Zone Around Police Precinct After Heated Standoff with Police

In Seattle, protesters have barricaded a six-block autonomous zone, after protests were met with a violent police response. Amid a days-long standoff, police removed barricades and abandoned their East Precinct building, and protesters moved into the area, declaring it “Free Capitol Hill.” We go to Seattle to speak with Omari Salisbury, a citizen journalist who has been live-streaming the uprising and police crackdown.

Historian Robin D.G. Kelley: Years of Racial Justice Organizing Laid Groundwork for Today’s Uprising

As protests against police brutality and racism continue across the country, we speak with historian and UCLA professor of African American studies Robin D.G. Kelley. “We’re not here by accident,” Kelley says, crediting racial justice organizers for laying the groundwork for this moment over the last decade. “The real question now is whether or not this can be sustained.

“He Didn’t Deserve to Die Over $20”: George Floyd’s Brother Urges Congress to Stop Police Killings

A day after George Floyd’s family laid him to rest in his hometown of Houston, his brother Philonise Floyd addressed lawmakers on Capitol Hill to demand an end to police violence. “I’m tired. I’m tired of pain,” he told the House Judiciary Committee. “People of all backgrounds, genders and races have come together to demand change. Honor them. Honor George.

U.S. Passes 2 Million Coronavirus Cases as States Lift Restrictions, Raising Fears of a Second Wave

The number of confirmed U.S. coronavirus cases has officially topped 2 million as states continue to ease stay-at-home orders and reopen their economies and more than a dozen see a surge in new infections. “I worry that what we’ve seen so far is an undercount and what we’re seeing now is really just the beginning of another wave of infections spreading across the country,” says Dr.