Rights and Democracy
Brazilian Order and Progress
Every four years, Brazilians wrap themselves in their cheerful green, yellow, and blue flag emblazoned with the Portuguese words "ordem e progresso." The slogan, which translates as "order and progress," stretches across a puddle of stars. It's not just the people,...
Blame Cantor, Not Immigration
Talk about being kicked to the curb. A little-known, under-financed tea party challenger crushed seven-term Congressman and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in an unusual primary loss. As Washington insiders struggled to make sense of the Virginia Republican's...
What Democrats Can Learn from Cantor’s Loss
David Brat, the man who unexpectedly defeated Eric Cantor in a recent Republican primary, is an ideologue. That should be a source of encouragement for candidates on the populist left — but not for the reasons you might think. Brat is a professor whose college chair...
The Golden Rule’s Resurgence
Back in the 1950s, the U.S. military made the Marshall Islands the primary site for its nuclear weapons testing. As you might expect, those tests in the middle of the Pacific Ocean wreaked havoc on the environment and human health. In 1958, a Quaker-inspired voyage of...
How Did ‘Don’t Mess with the Money’ Become the NSA’s Motto?
Imagine we had a brazen and powerful gang stealing trillions of dollars from the American people. Then imagine that our law enforcement folks knew the identities of every one of that gang's ringleaders. Wouldn't it be great if the government of the United States had...
Crushing Cantor by Dissing Wall Street
Restoring the Right to Vote
Last year, the Supreme Court decimated one of the civil rights movement's crowning achievements. Now, it's time for Congress to pick up the pieces, put it back together and make our laws strong enough to protect our most important right: our vote. Many folks who lived...
Remembering Dr. Maya Angelou
I was traveling when Dr. Maya Angelou died, away from my poetry community in Washington, D.C. But my Facebook feed was crowded with tributes and powerful remembrances, as writers, survivors, and truth tellers chronicled the impact of Dr. Angelou's life and words on...
Stalled at the Starting Line
"Gentlemen, start your engines." That message, played repeatedly in a commercial beamed on the Jumbotron at this year's Indianapolis 500, had nothing to do with racecars. A coalition of faith, business, and law enforcement leaders used the iconic event to launch their...
Therapy Benefits Us All
In 2008, I went to therapy. By then, I'd needed it for a long time. I had a terribly difficult, incurable condition — one I'd had for 28 years without treatment. My condition? Being human. Like many "normal" people, I felt I didn't need therapy when I went. But my...
