COLORLINES: FREDERICK DOUGLAS ON AMERICAN MYTHS (AND LIES)

 

July 7, 2011 Colorlines.com Direct | Published by the Applied Research Center How We Marked Independence Day: Reading Douglass The abolitionist’s July 4, 1852, speech is among his greatest. Colorlines editor Kai Wright says Douglass’ message then–that America has made a “hollow mockery” of its founding ideals–remains urgent. Celebrating Summer in the City It’s hot. The sun is shining. And there’s more than bad news in our neighborhoods. Share images of YOUR summer loving with Colorlines! Email them to us now! Also: Colorlines’ summer jams mixtape; movies that aren’t “Harry Potter”; and sci-fi beach reads. What Colorist Tweet Memes Miss: It’s #TeamStructuralRacism Tweet memes like #TeamLightSkin are the latest example of our insistence that skin-tone obsession is just personal preference. Akiba Solomon unravels the research that proves it’s not. DSK Rape Case Takeaway No. 5: You Have to Be the Perfect Victim Akiba Solomon says if Dominique Strauss-Kahn is innocent, this is justice. If he’s guilty, he’ll do this again. Either way, the mechanisms of victim-blaming will keep on churning. BART Officers Kill Man at San Francisco Train Station The department must now explain as much as possible to a public already wary of its officers in the wake of Oscar Grant. Are Immigrants Flooding the Military for U.S. Citizenship? Military service is not exactly the breezy fast track to citizenship it can appear to be. The Globe’s Not Only Getting Hotter. It’s More Unjust and Unstable, Too Climate change is wreaking havoc on more than the environment. All over the Global South, it’s creating refugees, sparking conflict over resources and justifying repression. More Latinos in U.S. Identifying as Indian Meanwhile, some families obviously have mixed feelings about identifying as indigenous.   COLUMNS Dispatches Movement Notes Global Justice Gender Matters HOT TOPICS Drug War LGBT Pride 2011 ACTION CELEBRATE LOVE Colorlines.com on Facebook and Twitter Colorlines.com is published by the Applied Research Center   Take the Colorlines.com Reader Survey–and Get Kamau Bell’s Comedy Album In just 5-7 minutes, you can help Colorlines.com continue to improve. Your free gift for completing the survey is a download of the hilarious, award-winning album “Face Full of Flour” by W. Kamau Bell.