In a National First, California May Ban “Willful Defiance” Suspensions
Robin Rayne/Zuma Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.A new bill has reached the desk of California Gov. Gavin Newsom that would bar the state’s public and charter schools from suspending or expelling students in sixth through twelfth grades for “willful defiance,” a largely undefined…
How the Right Retired “Negrophile”—and Substituted “Woke”
Mother Jones illustration Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.On June 14, 1862, the New York Times published an editorial titled “The Mystery of Negrophilism.” The essay questioned the origins of white Americans’ “extraordinary interest in the negro” and called the “passion for the American…
Congress is Finally Fixing the (Very Broken) Organ Donor Network
Mother Jones illustration; Getty Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.A bipartisan bill to reform the national organ donor network has reached President Joe Biden’s desk, spelling the likely end of a troubled monopoly in place for close to four decades. Signed, the law will let…
Affirmative Action May Be Dead—But the Battle Over Race and Admissions Is Just Getting Started
Mother Jones; Getty Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, often ranked as the country’s top public high school, lies across the Potomac River from Washington in Alexandria, Virginia. For years, the magnet school’s student body has been majority Asian…
How a Bill to Ban Caste Discrimination Morphed Into a Fight About Wokism
California state Sen. Aisha Wahab’s (left) bill banning caste discrimination has ignited a firestorm of controversy.Mother Jones illustration; José Luis Villegas/AP; Sonia Paul Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.The sun was ablaze and the energy was charged. Outside the California State Capitol in early…
Debunking Florida’s Argument That Slavery Could Benefit the Enslaved, in 120 Seconds
Mother Jones illustration Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.In my latest video, I tackle the controversy surrounding Florida’s teaching standards. These new guidelines, approved last month, sparked an avalanche of criticism by suggesting that enslaved Americans “developed skills which, in some instances, could be…