Author: TheConversation

By Sharon Austin, Professor of Political Science, University of Florida The vice president-elect of the United States is the American daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants. With Joe Biden’s projected presidential win over Donald Trump, Sen. Kamala Harris breaks three centuries-old barriers to become the nation’s first female vice president, first Black vice president and first Black female vice president. Harris is also of Indian descent, making the 2020 election a meaningful first for two communities of color. Harris was not the first Black female vice presidential aspirant in American history. Charlotta Bass, an African American journalist and political...

By Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth, Distinguished Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, Purdue University As the nation celebrates our 17 million living veterans, it is also important to know that the number of these heroes who are ending their own lives prematurely is rising. In the general population, suicide is the 10th most common cause of death, but among veterans with PTSD, it is fourth. Among veterans younger than 35, it is second. Suicide rates are also rising among members of the military. Since 2017, rates for active-duty service members have been above those of civilians. The same is...

By Stephen A. Jones, Adjunct Instructor of History, Central Michigan University; and Eric Freedman, Professor of Journalism and Chair, Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, Michigan State University The fury over racial injustice that erupted in the wake of George Floyd’s killing has forced Americans to confront their history. That is unfamiliar territory for most Americans, whose historical knowledge amounts to a vague blend of fact and myth that was only half-learned in high school and is only half-remembered now. If their historical knowledge is lacking, Americans are not any better informed about the role of presidential leadership – and...

By Brian J Purnell, Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History, Bowdoin College; Morgan Marietta, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell; and Neta C. Crawford, Professor of Political Science and Department Chair, Boston University The American public has had its say and for the first time in a generation denied a sitting president a second term. President’s Trump’s tenure lasted just four years, but in that time he dragged policy on an array of key issues in a dramatic new direction. Joe Biden’s victory, confirmed by the Associated Press late morning on Nov. 7, presents an...