Black and Blue: The Uses of Anger

1. Nina In 1963, the singer Nina Simone was so angry she wanted to go out and kill somebody. The civil rights activist Medgar Evers had been murdered in June and four months later four little black girls died in the bombing of the Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Nina Simone’s husband and manager…

10 Martin Luther King Quotes for MLK Day

From the tradition that led to Barack Obama, Martin Luther King was among the most lyrical of leaders. He combined the tones of a preacher in the black southern tradition with the rhythms of a poet. Especially for MLK Day, here are some of his words.   1. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is,…

New Books on Race in the United States

  Invisible No More: Police Violence against Black Women and Women of Color by Andrea J. Ritchie (Beacon Press) This book by Black feminist legal scholar, writer, and activist Andrea Ritchie looks at the ways black and indigenous women are affected by racial profiling, police brutality, and immigration enforcement. The Origin of Others by Toni Morrison…