Peter Buffett: “The Charitable-Industrial Complex”
As more lives and communities are destroyed by the system that creates vast amounts of wealth for the few, the more heroic it sounds to “give back.” It’s what I would call “conscience laundering” — feeling better about accumulating more than any one person could possibly need to live on by sprinkling a little around as an act of charity.
But this just keeps the existing structure of inequality in place. The rich sleep better at night, while others get just enough to keep the pot from boiling over. Nearly every time someone feels better by doing good, on the other side of the world (or street), someone else is further locked into a system that will not allow the true flourishing of his or her nature or the opportunity to live a joyful and fulfilled life.
Ta-Nehisi Coates: “To Stop Being the Party of Stupid You Must Stop Being Stupid”
Conservatives often perceive liberal attachment to diversity as a kind of “everyone’s a winner” cuddle party, where we sit around exchanging rice-cakes and hating on the military. But the great strength of diversity is it forces you into a room with people who have experiences very different from your own. …
If you are not around people who will look at you like you are crazy when you make stupid claims about other people’s experiences, then you tend to keep saying stupid things about other people’s experiences. It is not enough to pay a political price, or even to be shamed into silence. You have to come to believe — in your heart — that sincerity itself is not the same as accurate information. It is not enough for you to not be “the party of stupid” or to “stop saying stupid things” you must show some active commitment toward being less stupid.
Normally, I prefer to look up to adults as role models. But what is happening in Texas right now it’s hard to find adults who I want to look up to.
I don’t look up to an adult who is taking away a woman’s right to choose.
I don’t look up to an adult who is calling a 14-year-old girl a whore.
I don’t look up to an adult who is screaming in my face and saying I am ugly.
And I certainly don’t look up to anyone who says they are Christian but treats women the way I’ve been treated these past few days as a teenage girl.
Paul Campos: “This Supreme Court is a disgrace”
The Constitution was specifically amended in the most explicit possible terms to allow Congress to pass precisely this sort of law [the Voting Rights Act], for this precise purpose. The 15th Amendment was enacted to give Congress the power to stop states from discriminating against racial minorities in regard to the right to vote.
So what we have here is a situation in which a war was fought in which 600,000 soldiers died, in large part so that the Constitution could be amended in such a way as to give Congress the power to force the slave states to treat black people like human beings. A century later, Congress gets around to actually using this power, and the law it passes is a remarkable success.
But according to the Roberts Five, it’s unconstitutional for Congress to enforce legislation specifically mandated by the Constitution, because it has carried out its legislative responsibilities too well.
Lisa Sharon Harper: “Jesus and Affirmative Action”
So, while Jairus waited, Jesus stopped and listened to the woman’s whole story. Finally, Jesus called the woman “daughter;” bestowing on her the dignity of belonging. To the one who has been ghettoized, Jesus says come into the center. It is time that we hear your story. It is time that we focus on you. And according to Jesus, this woman was worth Jairus’s wait. This is affirmative action.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In