Faith and politics intersected on Sunday when discussions of how Donald J. Trump handled a question about President Obama’s religion evolved into an awkward debate over whether a Muslim could ever be commander in chief. Several Republican presidential candidates offered halting responses to the question when it was posed to […] Read more »
Politicians’ trash-talk about immigration means that Latinos become less politically trusting and more ethnocentric
… When politicians decry illegal immigration, they accomplish two things among Latinos, perhaps without intending to. First, they raise the importance of ethnicity relative to other forms of identity. That is, they make Latinos think of themselves as ethnics, rather than as working class, Catholic, Democrats, etc. Second, they smear […] Read more »
Washington State: Race, Justice & Democracy
KCTS 9 and The Elway Poll conducted a 400-person sample poll of registered Washington voters on the subject of race relations. Results show that voters are divided on the current condition (good or bad) of national race relations, while 86% think race relations in their own communities are good. In […] Read more »
How Jimmy Carter championed civil rights — and Ronald Reagan didn’t
… Carter is largely remembered as a feckless leader; even his own party tends to ignore his time in the White House. But he had a strong record on civil rights, and his work to advance the cause would have been far more consequential if his successor, Ronald Reagan, had […] Read more »
Book Revew: ‘Give Us the Ballot,’ by Ari Berman
… “The revolution of 1965 spawned an equally committed group of counterrevolutionaries,” Berman writes in “Give Us the Ballot.” “Since the V.R.A.’s passage, they have waged a decades-long campaign to restrict voting rights.” Berman argues that these counterrevolutionaries have “in recent years, controlled a majority on the Supreme Court” and […] Read more »
Tale of Two Cities: Views of Katrina Recovery in New Orleans Divide along Racial Lines
African American and white residents of New Orleans see the progress of recovery since Hurricane Katrina very differently, according to a new survey from the Manship School of Mass Communication’s Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs at LSU. Nearly 80 percent of the city’s white residents feel Louisiana has […] Read more »