Oklahoma’s response to the pandemic was mired by partisan politics and misinformation that endangered the health of its residents; if the state is to now take a strong step forward in fighting the outbreak, it must heed the advice of health professionals and observe public safety guidelines.
Today, a few corporations serve as gatekeepers to the digital realm, empowered by a hands-free free-market ideology that has created markets without any incentive to innovate or improve. But as the success of local alternatives to the present system shows, there is nothing accidental — or inevitable — about America’s internet woes.
Liberal expressions of unity defang the true radicalism of antiracist and anticapitalist movements. Real solidarity is understanding that your struggle is my struggle and that our greatest allies are each other.
Both the calamity of the COVID-19 pandemic and the scourge of systemic racism are inextricably intertwined. If we are to cast off the political and social ineptitude that has marked our policies for generations, we must take this moment of large-scale societal change to implement progressive political change.
To strike a better balance between driving and living, cities and towns must commit themselves to human-oriented planning and the urban design to support it.
To combat the sexism that stands between women and the presidency, we must encourage women to run for office and vote for the women we believe in, so that it becomes normal to see a woman on the campaign trail — and, hopefully, in the White House.
Institutional racism poses a serious danger to the health and safety of Black people. But the crowded and chaotic character of these protests poses a similarly lethal threat to the lives of immunosuppressed Americans.
With change and action, Juneteenth has the potential to be more than a symbol of injustice and cruelty. But if America does not address this bloody history, and supplants real action with merely a day off from work, our "sounds of rejoicing" will remain "empty and heartless."
