Month: April 2020

Theory

The Crisis of Our Times: Climate, Capitalism, or Western Civilization?

By Nuri Yi. Young People and an Existential Crisis  We live in uncertain times. Perhaps even more so in this particular moment, but maybe life always gives us much to wonder about: What is the meaning and purpose of our shared existence on this planet? What can we expect from life, and how are we meant to live? What do we deserve? Questions like these, … Continue reading The Crisis of Our Times: Climate, Capitalism, or Western Civilization?

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Cultural Critique

Our Town by Thornton Wilder; Our Irresponsibility – A Critique

By Jacob Harris. Thornton Wilder’s Our Town is an American Classic in every sense of the word. It epitomizes American values: family, freedom, love, understanding. It tells what, seemingly, is the story of America. We get through life: we learn in our early childhood, we fall in love and get married in our adulthood, and then we die. We follow the story in the town … Continue reading Our Town by Thornton Wilder; Our Irresponsibility – A Critique

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Research, Theory

Black Power and King’s World House

By Brandon Do. “What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.” Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go From Here Our lives reflect the instability of … Continue reading Black Power and King’s World House

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Theory

Completing the World Anti-Colonial Movement: A Task For Our Times

By Jahanzaib Choudhry. The heroic history of the largest movement in the world for the elevation of humanity is hidden from young people. The ideas of the West through academia and the media unconsciously shape much of the discourse among young activists who wish to work for a more just world. Ideas such as democracy often serve as the guidepost for activism but without much … Continue reading Completing the World Anti-Colonial Movement: A Task For Our Times

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Cultural Critique

Sorry to Bother You – A White Story in Black Voice

By Nandita Chaturvedi. The art and music of a people can tell you much about their moral and spiritual state. In fact, one of the things that defines the state of a civilization at any moment in history is the art and literature that it produces. We are living in times of anxiety, confusion and pessimism, and the movie Sorry to Bother You is an … Continue reading Sorry to Bother You – A White Story in Black Voice

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Cultural Critique, Theory

A Revolutionary Criteria for Literature: A review of Mulk Raj Anand’s Coolie

By Meghna Chandra. In the popular Ted Talk “Danger of a Single Story”, feminist icon and author Chimamanda Adichie tells us of the the importance of representation in literature. She speaks of her own story growing up in Nigeria and reading books from the West, thinking all books were about foreigners with blonde hair who drank ginger beer and ate apples. She tells how stories … Continue reading A Revolutionary Criteria for Literature: A review of Mulk Raj Anand’s Coolie

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Biography, Research, Theory

For Young Activists, A Lesson from Nashville

By Emily Dong. When I was a student, I was involved in multiple ebbs and flows of social justice activism. From protesting a University healthcare fee and heckling Trustees, to shutting down campus roads on May Day and demanding no border wall — all took different forms and fought for different things, but all ended the same way: with limited results, and the students themselves … Continue reading For Young Activists, A Lesson from Nashville

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Biography, Cultural Critique

Charles White and the Purpose of Education

By Serafina Harris. People still talk about the night John Henry was born. It was dark and cloudy. Then, lightning lit up the night sky. John Henry’s birth was a big event …   He told his family, “I am going to be a steel-driver some day.” Steel-drivers helped create pathways for the railroad lines. These laborers had the job of cutting holes in rock. They … Continue reading Charles White and the Purpose of Education

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Theory

Queerness as Whiteness: Beyond Identity Politics

By Michelle Yuan. I was queer. And when other people told me they were queer, I felt a tender pride for all of us. Together, I believed we were courageously transgressing constrained ideas of who and what a person could be. I was convinced we were the next wave of young radicals advancing the frontier of human development. I grappled with the question of my … Continue reading Queerness as Whiteness: Beyond Identity Politics

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Theory

James Baldwin and the White Roots of Anti-Communism

By Jeremiah Kim. It was the summer of 1961 in New York City, and James Baldwin was speaking at a forum hosted by the Liberation Committee for Africa titled, “Nationalism, Colonialism, and the United States: One Minute to Twelve.” Amid the backdrop of the Cold War and the growing Civil Rights Movement, Baldwin made an argument — that anti-communism was a form of white supremacy: … Continue reading James Baldwin and the White Roots of Anti-Communism

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