Splinter Groups: America’s far-right factions have gotten more extreme after the Capitol insurrection
As the United States grapples with domestic extremism in the wake of the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, warnings about more violence are coming from the FBI Director Chris Wray and others. Matthew Valasik, a sociologist at Louisiana State University, and...
The Moral Universe: Evaluating progress across the arc of MLK’s Dream to America’s reality today
April 4 marked the 53d anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination. Over half a century. Has America come any closer to his dream? He would be pleased at some of our progress. Segregation is no longer the law of the land. The Voting Rights Act helped open...
Collecting Black Bodies: How academic curiosity left universities with the remains of enslaved people
By Delande Justinvil, Doctoral Student in Anthropology, American University; and Chip Colwell, Associate Research Professor of Anthropology, University of Colorado Denver Among the human remains in Harvard University’s museum collections are those of 15 people who...
Decision by MLB to relocate the All-Star Game over Georgia’s Jim Crow-style voting law comes at a cost
As Republicans predictably cried foul over Major League Baseball’s April 2 decision to relocate the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta in response to Georgia’s restrictive new voting law, prominent Democrats blamed the GOP for the economic toll the move will...
How many fans are too many during a pandemic: What baseball can learn from the NFL’s 2020 COVID-19 season
By Alex R. Piquero, Chair of the Department of Sociology and Arts & Sciences Distinguished Scholar, University of Miami; Justin Kurland, Director of Research, National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security, The University of Southern Mississippi...
The full scope of MLK’s dream took on the issues of poverty and war along with systemic racism
When Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech, he did something extraordinary for a speaker mounting a challenge to the existing order: he positioned those in his movement not as outsiders and dissidents, but rather as inheritors, indeed as the true...
A Rite of Spring: Easter bunnies, colored eggs, and other little-known facts about the Christian holiday
By Brent Landau, Lecturer in Religious Studies, University of Texas at Austin On April 4, Christians will be celebrating Easter, the day on which the resurrection of Jesus is said to have taken place. The date of celebration changes from year to year. The reason for...
Study finds troubling economic implications from the warming of Lake Michigan’s deep waters
The effects of climate change are being felt in every corner of the globe, including nearly 500 feet below the surface of Lake Michigan. A new study by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Great Lakes Environmental Research...
Measuring Equity with Urban Forests: How planting trees helps build prosperous and healthy communities
The term “urban forest” may sound like an oxymoron. When most of us think about forests, we may picture vast expanses of tall trunks and dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves, far from the busyness of the city. But the trees that line city streets and surround...
Wisconsin GOP proposes law to penalizes cities that “Defund” Police Departments by cutting state funding
Wisconsin cities that cut their law enforcement budgets would lose state funding under a Republican proposal at the state Capitol. Under the bill, a municipality that decreases its budget for hiring, training, and retaining police officers would lose the same amount...
Wisconsin’s public health plan now depends on individuals to voluntarily wear masks to stay safe
With the only mandatory statewide measure against the coronavirus pandemic now history, a divided state Supreme Court has left battling the virus up to the voluntary choices of each Wisconsin resident — and to the power of local health departments. The 4-3 ruling on...
Slave-built infrastructure continues to generate massive wealth for state economies
By Joshua F.J. Inwood, Associate Professor of Geography Senior Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute, Penn State; and Anna Livia Brand, Assistant Professor, University of California, Berkeley American cities from Atlanta to New York City still use buildings,...
