Why Confederate Statues Fail to Represent Southern History

“The Civil War was about conflict within the Confederacy and within the United States. But statues of Confederate soldiers erase those conflicts by portraying the South as united behind the Confederacy,” writes historian Laura Edwards. “In fact, the South was as conflicted in the Civil War era as it is now. So was the rest of the United States. And that is why the Confederate statues and their portrayals of false unity are so misleading and dangerous.”

Read More in The Hill

Military Bases Named For Confederate Leaders

“Let’s not be in any doubt about what Braxton Bragg represents. He was a slaveholder who fought against the U.S. Army in order to preserve the South’s ‘peculiar institution.’ The time has come for Fort Bragg and the other bases named after Confederate generals to be renamed in honor of individuals who fought to defend the United States and the values that the U.S. Army is pledged to defend,” writes Michael Newcity, a professor of Slavic and Eurasian Studies.

Read More in the Detroit Free Press

Enrollment Impeded For Undocumented Kids in NC

Despite federal laws that guarantee access to public education for undocumented children, the majority of school districts in North Carolina are impeding enrollment, a new report from the Children’s Law Clinic at Duke University finds. “We hope that school districts will use this report to review their enrollment practices to ensure that they are compliant with the law and are welcoming to immigrant children,” says Jane Wettach, director of the clinic.

Read More in The Progressive Pulse

What is the Far-Right’s Endgame?

Historian Nancy MacLean, author of an intellectual biography of James McGill Buchanan, explains how this little-known libertarian’s work is influencing modern-day politics. “Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America” examines Buchanan’s vision that MacLean says has become a playbook for a network of people looking to override democracy in order to shift more money to the wealthiest few.

Read More in Slate

Is North Carolina the Future of American Politics?

What really distinguishes North Carolina is that it is a quintessentially purple state, with voters almost evenly split between Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliateds. “That’s what contributes to the meanness and paralysis of North Carolina politics,” says public policy professor Mac McCorkle, a former Democratic political consultant. “… We’re so closely pitted, everything’s a battle.”

  Read More in New York Times Magazine

The Paris Agreement, Climate Change, NC Coast

“President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement may have serious consequences for North Carolina and our precious coast. In his withdrawal speech, he made no reference to the fact that the Paris Agreement is the first global step in the direction of slowing down the sea-level rise,” writes
Orrin Pilkey, professor emeritus at the Nicholas School of the Environment.

Read More in The News & Observer

Impact of Supreme Court Rejecting NC Redistricting

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday struck down North Carolina’s 1st and 12th congressional district lines drawn by state legislators in 2011. A three-judge federal court ruling had previously found that lawmakers relied too heavily on race when drawing the boundaries. “You’re likely to see state legislature be extremely careful in using race in redistricting, because uses of race are likely to be struck down by a federal court,” says law professor Guy Charles.

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Real Populism Was Very Different From Trump’s Pseudo-Populism Today

“For months, we’ve been told that Donald Trump’s election was a ‘populist revolt,’ working-class, alienated white Americans dissatisfied with the growing economic inequality rising up against a self-satisfied Establishment. There is some truth in this. But real populism — such as that in the 1880s and 1890s — was very different from Trump’s pseudo-populism,” writes historian emeritus William Chafe.

Read More in The Hill