The tech crack down has pushed extremist groups off social media platforms and onto messaging apps
By Kevin Grisham, Professor of Global Studies, California State University San Bernardino Right-wing extremists called for open revolt against the U.S. government for months on social media following the election in November. Behind the scenes on private messaging...
A Black Woman of Faith: Federal plan revived to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill
By Robert Gudmestad, Professor and Chair of History Department, Colorado State University The Biden administration has revived a plan to put Harriet Tubman on the US$20 bill after Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary delayed the move. That was encouraging news to the...
Kenosha prosecutors seek arrest of Kyle Rittenhouse after he disappeared from last known address
Kenosha prosecutors asked Judge Bruce Schroeder on February 3 for a new arrest warrant for Kyle Rittenhouse, the Illinois teen charged with shooting three people, killing two of them, during a protest over police brutality in Wisconsin after he apparently violated his...
A symbol of White insurrection: The Confederate battle flag never reached the Capitol until 2021
By Jordan Brasher, Assistant Professor of Geography, Columbus State University Confederate soldiers never reached the Capitol during the Civil War. But the Confederate battle flag was flown by rioters in the U.S. Capitol building for the first time ever on January 6....
Dasha Kelly Hamilton becomes Wisconsin’s first female poet laureate of color
Wisconsin’s new poet laureate Dasha Kelly Hamilton wants to help people find the pulse of poetry and bring it into their everyday life. “In my experience that’s reminding all of us that poetry is always here, always around us and in us, and to exercise that...
Assault on the nation’s Capitol raises concern over scope of White Supremacist infiltration of police
By Vida Johnson, Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown University The apparent participation of off-duty officers in the rally that morphed into a siege on the U.S. Capitol building January 6 has revived fears about white supremacists within police departments. These...
America’s first vampire was Black: How a gothic story from the 1800s advocated for emancipation of slaves
By Sam George, Associate Professor of Research, University of Hertfordshire In April of 1819, a London periodical, the “New Monthly Magazine,” published “The Vampyre: A Tale by Lord Byron.” Notice of its publication quickly appeared in papers...
Barriers and Disillusionment: Obstacles still prevent Wisconsin’s nonvoters from attaining political clout
Working digitally and on the streets of Milwaukee, activists tried to convince nonvoters to go to the polls, but distrust and disgust kept some away. When Angela Lang reflected on the thousands of conversations she and other members of her community organization,...
Which false God will American Evangelicals worship now that Trump has become a fallen deity?
By Stewart Clem, Assistant Professor of Moral Theology, Aquinas Institute of Theology Donald Trump, by his own words and actions, does not appear to be the religious person or even someone who believes in a higher power beyond himself. He has claimed he doesn’t seek...
Research finds that People of Color are subject to the most punitive enforcement of public health orders
COVID-19’s spread is neither colorblind nor colorless, sending Black, Latinx and Indigenous people to the hospital at a rate four times higher than white people. To make matters worse, the people of color and immigrant communities who already bear the brunt of the...
The B117 Strain: A New Year brings a new coronavirus mutation and questions of vaccine effectiveness
By David Kennedy, Assistant Professor of Biology, Penn State A new variant of SARS-CoV-2 has been spreading rapidly in the United Kingdom, with more than 2,000 cases since September. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, generally accumulates mutations slowly...
An inability to control the pandemic: 70% of the population needs to be vaccinated to stop COVID-19
By Pedro Mendes, Professor of Cell Biology, University of Connecticut It has been clear for a while that, at least in the U.S., the only way out of the coronavirus pandemic will be through vaccination. The rapid deployment of coronavirus vaccines is underway, but how...
