Today's Liberal News

“Get Down to Business”: Harry Belafonte in 2016 on Trump, Socialism & Fighting for Justice

We continue our Juneteenth special with more from Harry Belafonte, the legendary actor, singer and civil rights activist, who died in April at the age of 96. Belafonte last appeared on Democracy Now! in 2016 at a special event at the historic Riverside Church in New York to celebrate Democracy Now!’s 20th anniversary. He co-headlined the event with Noam Chomsky. It was the first time they had done a public event together.

“Sing Your Song”: Remembering Harry Belafonte, Who Used His Stardom to Help MLK & Civil Rights Movement

We dedicate part of our Juneteenth special to remembering the life and legacy of the legendary actor, singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, who died in April at the age of 96. Belafonte appeared on Democracy Now! numerous times, and we feature two interviews. We begin with our 2011 interview at the Sundance Film Festival, where a documentary about his life, titled Sing Your Song, premiered, and discuss his political awakening and activism in detail.

Juneteenth Special: Historian Clint Smith on Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

We feature a special broadcast on the newly created Juneteenth federal holiday commemorating the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. We begin with our 2021 interview with historian Clint Smith, originally aired a day after President Biden signed legislation to make Juneteenth the first new federal holiday since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Six Essential Reads to Understand Juneteenth

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.On June 19, 1865, two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, word reached Texas notifying enslaved people of their freedom. Juneteenth is a holiday honoring this delayed freedom.

The Ships of the Future Could Be Very Slippery

This article was originally published by Hakai Magazine.In the late 1700s, King George III glimpsed the future of shipping. Sir Charles Middleton, the comptroller of the British Royal Navy, approached the monarch with a vision. His pitch came with a demo—a specially modified model of a warship called the Bellona. The king’s eye soon fell on the shimmering copper plates that encased the miniature ship’s hull below the waterline.

The Bitter Truth About the Bud Light Boycott

It isn’t every day that you see right-wing Americans wildly celebrating the fact that a Mexican brand is now the best-selling beer in the U.S. But that is exactly what we saw this week, after the market-research company NielsenIQ announced that Modelo Especial had dethroned Bud Light at the top of the beer-sales charts. Naturally, MAGA fans had not discovered the virtues of globalization. Instead, they were gleeful at the success of their Bud Light boycott.

The Failure of Affirmative Action

Most of my colleagues are college-educated. I am often the only product of felons, addicts, and foster care whom my peers have encountered outside of time spent volunteering in homeless shelters and group homes. Over the years, whenever affirmative action in higher education has come under threat, these folks have offered their sympathies. They believe that I—a child of a Black father and white mother who grew up in poverty and instability—feel the attacks more acutely.

Chris Christie, Liberal Hero

Chris Christie is the hottest candidate in the Republican presidential race right now. Oh, not with Republican voters. He’s still polling in the low single digits among the people who will actually choose the nominee. But among liberal pundits, Christie’s reputation is on the rise.

Was Mika Westwolf Killed by White Nationalist? Indigenous Woman’s Parents & Community Demand Justice

We speak with the parents of Mika Westwolf, a 22-year-old Indigenous woman struck and killed in March by a driver as she was walking home along the highway in the early morning hours. The parents and allies are on a “Justice to Be Seen” march to call for justice and an investigation. Westwolf was a member of the Blackfeet Tribe and was also Diné, Cree and Klamath.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen: State Dept. Must Release Report on Shireen Abu Akleh Death, Hold Killers Accountable

We speak with Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland about his call for the U.S. State Department to declassify a report on the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank last year. The Al Jazeera reporter was covering an Israeli military raid just outside the Jenin refugee camp and was clearly marked as press.

Big Win for Tribal Sovereignty: Indian Child Welfare Act Upheld by Supreme Court in Surprise Ruling

We speak with Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagle about a major victory at the Supreme Court in a case that could have gutted Native American sovereignty. In a surprise 7-2 ruling Thursday, the court upheld the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which protects Native children from being removed from their tribal communities for fostering or adoption in non-Native homes. The court rejected an argument from Republican-led states and white families who argued the system is based on race.

The Case for Postponing Must-See TV

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.Welcome back to The Daily’s Sunday culture edition, in which one Atlantic writer reveals what’s keeping them entertained.Today’s special guest is Maya Chung, an associate editor on the Books team and a frequent contributor to our Books Briefing newsletter.

A Hamlet for Our Age of Racial Reckoning

In 2018, Oskar Eustis, who runs the Public Theater, where I advise Shakespeare productions, introduced me to the theater director Kenny Leon. He was hoping to persuade Kenny to direct something for Shakespeare in the Park, and asked me to talk with him. I’m a professor with no acting or directing experience, but I am good at cutting four-hour plays down to size, can explain to actors the difference between thee and you, and have written extensively about Shakespeare’s world.

The Summer My Father Was a Cowboy

was the same summer he met my mother.
He and Uncle Max, home from college,worked the family farm, drove cattle
between fields, passed out by a fireafter trading swigs of Old Grand-Dad
from Max’s flask, the night sky lit uplike a marquee, “Kashmir” playing softly
on their portable radio. It was 1975.On off days, he’d drive to Carbondale
and see Dylan or Elton.

The Feminists Insisting That Women Are Built Differently

Was the sexual revolution a mistake? From the 1960s through today, the majority of feminists would instantly answer “no.” Easier access to contraception, the relaxation of divorce laws, the legalization of abortion, less emphasis on virginity, reduced stigma around unmarried sex—all of these have been hailed as liberating for women.But in the past few years, an emergent strand of feminism has questioned these assumptions.

What Emma Lazarus Got Wrong About Immigration

Americans have long worried that immigrants will take their jobs. Henry Cabot Lodge, who championed restrictive immigration laws as a U.S. senator, described foreign-born workers in 1891 as a “great reservoir of cheap labor” that was “constantly pulling down the wages of the working people.”Emma Lazarus, a contemporary of Lodge, presented a different point of view.