Image by Sonny Sixteen from Pexels The racialization of security currently playing out is nothing new. Security has often been racialized and racism has always been securitized. Historically, the incestuous relationship between these two issues has been anchored in a logic of instrumentalization. Definitionally, racism is essentially a threefold dehumanizing construct representing a vision of…
Image by Pexels from Pixabay “The Blaine Amendment was ‘born of bigotry.”’ Reasonable people can certainly disagree over whether Chief Justice John Roberts’ forceful words in the opinion of the five-to-four judgement in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Taxation, which produced seven different opinions, was the stake through the heart of the anti-Catholic Blaine Amendments…
Photo by Fifaliana Joy (Pixabay) Americans looking for a way forward in this national crisis are calling for prioritizing anti-racism, demilitarizing American society, and democratizing the political and legal system. To do so will require understanding which institutions are most in need of reform. My research on the American border suggests that border policy should…
Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay The images have already become iconic: militarized police using tear gas and rubber bullets to clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Park, positioned across from the White House, so that President Trump and his entourage could walk to the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photo op…
Photo by ollivves on Pixabay Although the sudden emergence of a novel form of coronavirus might bring Martin Luther to mind, it is revealing that many apparently secular voices are thinking along lines laid down by the venerable John Calvin. Not in the sense that gloomy declarations of “total depravity” are making a comeback, no…
Photo by Alex Holyoake / (Flickr, CC BY 2.0) Growing up in the Black Church, I have been raised in a context in which call-and-response is invoked often. In call-and-response, a singer sings or a preacher issues a call, and others respond with an answer. One may greet another with “God is good all the…
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels The judgment of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Bostock v. Clayton County, decided on June 15, 2020, is, to say the least, quite controversial. It relates to non-discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment practices and has been applauded by many who champion the legal protection…
Image by Darko Stojanovic from Pixabay The question of the “right” to fair, universal and comprehensive healthcare has been circulating for quite a while, but rapid expansion of modern medical technology has transformed the question from a periodic issue into a perennial one. Controlling rising costs, determining priorities, and ensuring fair distribution and access to…
Photo by michael_schueller on Pixabay Over the last decade, the internet has been abuzz with complaints from white American Christians that they are the victims of a broad secularist and leftist persecution. Stung by the decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, bewildered by demographic research demonstrating their new minority status, and ever more desperately aligning their…
Black and Silver Laptop Computer, Jolo Diaz, Pexels Last month, for the first time ever, Twitter fact-checked two presidential tweets. In response, President Donald Trump issued an executive order which would, in essence, eliminate a pillar of U.S. internet law, the protections contained in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA 230). CDA 230…