Notes on red liberty
The cover art of New Narratives on the Peopling of America
Everyone is from this earth, everyone is Indigenous, everyone is illegal. ...
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Invisible Scam: Percival Everett’s Erasure
On race, stereotypes, and “a wonderful, hideous joke”
Greil Marcus on the nuanced portrayal of race, family trauma, and cultural constructs in Percival Everett's ERASURE....
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Germany, Genocide, and Gaza
Why, critics ask, aren’t Germans forcefully condemning Israeli action in Gaza and the West Bank as genocide?
What about German responses to the claim that Israeli policies toward the Palestinians constitute genocide? Many Germans are understandably wary to use that charged term when it comes to the Middle East because of their own history—the same reason why German officials have kept a tight rein on pro-Palestinian demonstrations ...
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Never Again Should Be for Anybody
Germany is on the wrong side of genocide, again
As an aside, and as an African, I wish the German government exhibited the same regret for their history in Namibia with the Herero-Nama genocide and for the genocide during the Maji Maji Rebellion in Tanzania....
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Horror and Humor in Hulu’s The Other Black Girl
The genre-bending drama challenges the white workplace
Based on the bestselling novel by Zakiya Dalila Harris, The Other Black Girl dissects the horror of insidious racism in white workplaces...
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Preventing Genocide
Large-scale killings of identity groups do not happen overnight
An increasing number of scholars and practitioners are advocating for new ways of understanding and approaching atrocity prevention. ...
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The US Should Only Support a Multiethnic, Nonsectarian Israel
If Israel chooses to continue its current course, it should do it alone, without our funding
Whether or not it sways Netanyahu, we should certainly withhold military funding now and make our support contingent on clearly stated humanitarian objectives and an ultimate governing framework that conforms to our ideas of justice....
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American Fiction Offers a New Spin on the Challenges Facing Black Artists
Director Cord Jefferson tackles Percival Everett’s 2001, novel Erasure
Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction is garnering praise this awards season for its satirical approach to Black representation...
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Netflix Revives the Genre of the “Blaxploitation” Film to Attract Black Subscribers
They Cloned Tyrone tries to turn the colonization of Black Americans into a LOL comedy
As a genre, Blaxploitation films were often morally ambiguous: though made for and by Black filmmakers and audiences, and sometimes depicting a kind of dead-end domestic colonialism, the films often normalized misogynistic treatment of Black women and uncritical ideals of Black capitalism....
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Beyond Colonialism in a Sentimental Mood
Éric Vuillard’s new book punctures the curious French nostalgia for Indochina
Empires tend to create a rosy picture of the past, conveniently ignoring the atrocities they inflicted. Vuillard avoids this trap, in a witty manner. ...
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What Does It Mean to Be “Latino”?
From ads to academia, which box do we check?
From historical influences to contemporary marketing, Kevin Anzzolin explores the evolving nomenclature of the diverse "Latino" community....
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Have We Scholars of Anti-Semitism Failed to Facilitate Empathy for Its Victims?
What we can learn from scholars of anti-Black racism
For almost a century, most of us have focused on dissecting anti-Semitic ideas and ideologies. But—with the very important exception of those studying the Holocaust—we have not paid enough attention to the impact these ideas, images, and actions have on Jews as human beings....
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