2019 Poetry & Short Story Contests | Boston Review

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Race

The Racist Politics of the English Language

How we went from “racist” to “racially tinged.”

Lawrence B. Glickman

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Race

Race

Black Resistance in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley

In Revilletown, which was founded by freed slaves, a petrochemical company has seized ownership of an ancestral cemetery. But an attack on the dead is an attack on the living.

Robin McDowell

Politics, Race

“Every Crucifixion Needs a Witness”

William J. Barber II on the the successes of civil disobedience, the failures of electoral campaigns, and why the South holds the key to transformation in this country. 

Toussaint Losier, William J. Barber II

Race

The Mismeasure of Minds

Twenty-five years later, The Bell Curve’s analysis of race and intelligence refuses to die. Reckoning with its legacy may help redirect the conversation in urgently needed ways.

Michael E. Staub

Race

Speaking the Truth

Cornel West and Deborah Chasman discuss the disproportionately white publishing world, the responsibilities and burdens of public life, and the predicament of black intellectuals today.

Cornel West, Deborah Chasman

Literature & Culture, Race

Aretha Franklin’s Soul

‘Amazing Grace,’ the long-lost film of Franklin’s gospel album, offers a lesson in the deep connections between gospel and soul music.

Ed Pavlić

Forum

How Race Made the Opioid Crisis

The opioid crisis and the War on Drugs are intertwined in the mutually reinforcing framework of racial capitalism.

Donna Murch

Race, Reading Lists

How To Talk About Anti-Semitism

A reading list. 

Rosie Gillies, Boston Review

Race

Succeeding While Black

Michelle Obama’s new book reduces racial inequality to a matter of psychological impairment that can be overcome through grit and grin. This is a dangerous proposition.

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Race

When Jamaica Led the Postcolonial Fight Against Exploitation

In the 1970s, a bloc of Third World states forced the United Nations to take seriously the unequal distribution of global wealth. Could their example inspire a new generation?

Adom Getachew

Race

Confronting the Relics of the Old South

Two attractions in Alabama—the new national lynching memorial and the First Confederate White House—show a nation struggling to contend with its legacy of racial violence.

Liza Oliver

Race

What Happened to Kanye West?

Kanye represents what happens when the liberties of artistic genius are confused for political insight.

Christopher Lebron

Race

The Missing Malcolm X

Our understanding of Malcolm X is inextricably linked to his autobiography, but newly discovered materials force us to reexamine his legacy. 

Garrett Felber

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