Free Republic

If America were a song, the killing of unarmed black people by the police would be a standard chord progression or rhythm, the sort of indistinguishable background noise that you hear so often you might not even notice it anymore. On Friday, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a 40-year-old black man named Terence Crutcher had car troubles. The police approached him. Crutcher responded by putting his hands in the air. The Tulsa police used a Taser on Crutcher. A Tulsa police officer, Betty Shelby, then shot him dead. They left him bleeding in the street for almost a minute before rendering any...

Violence and protests are features of Donald Trump’s 2016 Republican presidential primary campaign. His rally in San Jose, California, on Thursday did not deviate from this script. As reported by the Associated Press, protesters clashed with Donald Trump supporters outside of the San Jose Convention Center. Eggs were thrown at several of Trump’s foot soldiers by protesters. There were also reports of physical altercations between the two camps. Right-wing websites such as Fox News, Breitbart and others are sounding cries of alarm and panic over the San Jose protests. Such shrill voices will only become louder and more hysterical as...

I have an alert set in Google that sends me an email whenever my name is mentioned somewhere on these Internets. Little did I know that I was part of a vast conspiracy to take away white people's guns, and also to deny said firearms to poor African-Americans. In a dark corner of the gun nut Right-wing blogosphere, I have been elevated to the level of Nikki Giovanni (god, I wish I had 1/100th of her talent or success). I am also apparently an "intellectual" (I wish), a well-funded operative of the Left (I wish I had those duckets), and...

The national discourse on race jolts forward again. Consider that presidential hopeful Herman Cain spoke with gusto at CPAC 2011 to an appreciative audience. Mr. Cain, however, drew a caustic essay from Alternet columnist Chauncey DeVega — a pseudonym — who claimed Mr. Cain‘s “shtick is a version of race minstrelsy where he performs ‘authentic negritude’ as wish fulfillment for white conservative fantasies. Like the fountain at Lourdes, Cain in his designated role as black conservative mascot, absolves the white racial reactionaries at CPAC of their sins.”