The continued protests against the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black Americans are testing both the USA and the world. They highlight the structural racism in American society and the extent of the nation’s commitment to equality of rights and justice for all. Globally, the
Whenever I set aside time to write about anti-Semitism in contemporary politics, I block out some time to make substantive updates for the inevitable anti-Semitic scandal(s) that will happen in between my first draft and the potential publication. In the contemporary environment, the probability of a major political figure
In the wake of the tragedy in Minneapolis, even some conservatives have been forced to concur that there may be a need for criminal justice reform, and because of this, change seems to finally be on the horizon. However, it would be egregious not to include the prospect of prison
From our earliest days as a nation, the American story has been one of striving. Born in pursuit of a more perfect union, we have repeatedly sought to animate the ideals of liberty and justice in our laws and mores. Our history lays bare our successes and failures in this
Money bail is the payment a person arrested and charged with a crime is required to pay in order to be released from jail while awaiting trial. Determined by the judge at a pre-trial hearing, the amount varies depending on the alleged crime, the defendant’s flight risk, and their
In her book Invisible Women, Caroline Criado Perez repeatedly refers to the time Bernie Sanders said: “it’s not enough to say ‘I’m a woman, vote for me.’” This line seemed to irritate her. Later in the book, she concludes that it is enough to say such a thing,
In the 1890s, our society put colonialist abuse on a pedestal when the monument honoring James Marion Sims was erected in Central Park in New York City. James Marion Sims was once applauded for his achievements in gynecology. He perfected surgeries that treated women with vesicovaginal fistulas, ruptures of the
Former UK Prime Minister Theresa May quipped that “If you believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere” at a Conservative Party conference in the fall of 2016. British voters had just narrowly voted to leave the European Union and the United States had
On June 3, officers in the New Orleans Police Department shot chemical irritants into a crowd attempting to cross the Crescent City Connection, a bridge spanning the Mississippi River. This came the day after the NOPD kneeled in solidarity with protesters blocking the I-10, peacefully clearing the highway. It is
Throughout the course of history, organized groups of people have turned to isolating their adversaries from resources when faced with conflict. They generally do so through two main mechanisms; the rather primitive, yet timeless blockade and its diplomatic successor, the sanction. Appearances aside, deprivation lacks the obvious moral superiority to
The murder of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer has once again brought the issue of systemic racism, police violence, and criminal justice reform to the forefront of the American national conversation, in print and in the streets. As part of that conversation, Liberal Currents solicited
Everyone hates identity politics. Leftists like Walter Benn Michaels argue that antiracism, feminism, and LGBT rights movements divide and undermine the real liberatory battles by emphasizing individual identity rather than universal working class solidarity. Liberals like Mark Lilla, meanwhile, make much the same argument, fretting that identity politics emphasizes difference
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