Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Rioting broke out on Monday in Baltimore—an angry response to the death of Freddie Gray, a death my native city seems powerless to explain. Gray did not die mysteriously in some back alley but in the custody of the city’s publicly appointed guardians of order. And yet the mayor of that city and the commissioner…
Erin Burnett really tried, bless her heart, to imagine a reason why it might be inappropriate to refer to protesting black Baltimore teenagers as thugs. The CNN host was interviewing Baltimore city councilman Carl Stokes when she incredulously questioned Stokes whether Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlins-Blake’s categorization of the teens as criminals and thugs was “the…
By Sunili Govinnage April 24 Follow @suniliSunili Govinnage is a freelance writer and human rights lawyer from Perth, Australia. She is a volunteer editor for MediaDiversifed.org. (Victor R. Caivano/AP) In 2014, I decided that for the entire year, I would not read books written by white authors. My goal was to address the reading practices…
If the tickets are any indication, Tampa residents must be the lousiest bicyclists in Florida. They don’t use lights at night. Don’t ride close enough to the curb. Can’t manage to keep their hands on the handlebars. In the past three years, Tampa police have written 2,504 bike tickets — more than Jacksonville, Miami, St….
Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned” is the best-known line from William Congreve’s The Mourning Bride. But I’m concerned with the phrase preceding it, which captures wrath in more universal terms: “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned.” Even an angry Almighty can’t compete with mortals whose love turns to hate….
The New Republic published a withering profile of Cornel West this weekend, comparing the philosopher to Mike Tyson, who at the heights of his boxing prowess was the most feared fighter on the planet, but who is now a celebrity shell of his former self. Writer Michael Eric Dyson charts what he believes is West’s…
Five out of Parma, Missouri’s six police officers resigned this week before Tyrus Byrd, the town’s first African-American, female mayor, was sworn in. The city’s attorney, clerk, and waste water treatment plant supervisor also resigned, KFVS12 reports. According to KFVS, The outgoing Mayor Randall Ramsey said that the city officials cited “safety concerns” in their…
Freddie Gray, a Baltimore man injured during an arrest by Baltimore police last week, died Sunday at Shock Trauma, prompting protests by city residents and out-of-town activists and promises from city officials for a thorough investigation. Gray, 25, died a week after he suffered a broken vertabra after being arrested near Gilmor Homes in Sandtown-Winchester….
North Charleston, South Carolina, is first and foremost home. It’s where I spent my formative years, where my parents live, and where I went for Thanksgiving last year. But North Charleston is, for many people, a headline now. Charleston’s blacker, poorer neighbor is a headline because Walter Scott died there, because police officer Michael Slager murdered him there, allegedly. A…
Feidin Santana, who filmed the police killing of Walter Scott, is interviewed on NBC Nightly News. Photograph: NBC Walter Scott and police officer Michael Slager were struggling on the ground in the seconds before Slager shot Scott dead, the man who recorded video footage of the killing in South Carolina said on Wednesday evening. In…