A picture of a ventilator in the a hospital.

Why the Pandemic Is Getting Worse in the United States

Skepticism abounds for good reasons. What passes for political leadership lurch between pretending that Covid-19 isn’t an issue until hospitals are full of patients or demanding that everyone be vaccinated without changing any of their living conditions. In any case the virus is now endemic, meaning that it isn’t going away. A nation that puts everyone on a knife edge of precarity cannot begin to address what this reality means for millions of people. Systemic change was needed before the pandemic and it is sorely needed now. . . .

A march for George Floyd on Juneteenth

How Not to Celebrate Juneteenth

Any effort to make Juneteenth a national holiday should be viewed with caution. Such a designation would only continue the telling of false tales. It would allow the bad actors of the present day to get away with cheap theatrics while continuing the legal and economic structures which still oppress Black people. The true story of the past would be kept hidden and the story of the present would be sugar coated. . . .

A Palestinian woman reacts as she carries a toddler, while Jewish settlers move out the belongings of a Palestinian family from a house in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009. In an unrest Tuesday, a Jewish family took over a house in an Arab neighborhood of east Jerusalem, sparking a protest by rock-throwing Palestinians and a few Israeli and foreign activists who joined them, police said. One of the family members was lightly injured in the head when a protester hit him with a metal bar, and police arrested five people. Both sides claim ownership of the building. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

What is Palestine to the U.S.

By Mumia Abu-Jamal For some, this may come as a surprise, for it seems illogical, but the U.S. doesn’t hate Palestine. It arms and finances its nemesis, Israel – yes. It votes consistently with Israel in the United Nations (UN) – even against the majority of the world’s nations -yes. It quietly and surreptitiously allowed Israel to become a nuclear power – yes. All this is true; but the U.S. doesn’t hate Palestine. The truth is something far worse, for dismissal is more damning than hatred. Palestine, its people, its history, its culture, its art, its poetry, its very land, . . .