Your White Neighbor’s “Black Lives Matter” Yard Sign Is Not Enough | Frederick Douglass on the Meaning of July 4th

4 July 2020 TOP STORIES Your White Neighbor’s “Black Lives Matter” Yard Sign Is Not Enough Being anti-racist means making places safe for Black people to inhabit. Without that, BLM yard signs are just performative allyship. BY SHAYLA LAWSON ‘I Must Mourn’: Frederick Douglass on the Meaning of July 4th to the Slave These words, spoken in 1852, are relevant to modern U.S. society mired in the legacies of slavery and racist brutality. BY FREDERICK DOUGLASS The Church of Latter-Day Socialists These Mormons are taking the church back to its socialist roots. BY NICHOLAS GREYSON WARD The Problem With Israel’s Annexation Is Its Brutality, Not Its Optics We need strong condemnation of Israel’s annexation plans, not handwringing over bad P.R. BY SANDRA TAMARI The Grassroots Efforts to Save the Lives of Immigrants Who Can’t Get Covid-19 Testing From the State Local groups are stepping in to fill a lethal void. BY MAURIZIO GUERRERO Telling Cops to Get Criminal Justice Degrees Won’t End Police Violence The field of criminal justice is itself part of the problem. BY ASH STEPHENS These Workers Don’t Get Aid and Are Going Hungry. A Tax on New York Billionaires Could Help Them. The easiest way to help workers who are ineligible for aid: a tax on billionaires. BY REBECCA CHOWDHURY My University Plans to Reopen This Summer, Based on Advice From McKinsey. That’s Terrifying. McKinsey & Company is pushing a military-style, corporate response to the Covid-19 crisis in public higher education. What we need is an anti-racist approach. BY JEFFREY HELGESON To the Texas GOP, “Freedom of Choice” During a Pandemic Means the Freedom to Die for Profit Texas Republicans were unable to withstand the pressure from their deep-pocketed donors for a hasty reopening. Now more than 100,000 Texans are infected. BY CRISTINA TZINTZUN RAMIREZ Artists Explore the Hidden Tolls of Life Lived at a Distance What art looks like in isolation. BY DIANA BABINEAU WORKING IN THESE TIMES Police Union Denies Racism, Calls AFL-CIO President “Disgraceful” in Irate Letter Here's the furious letter police union leader Sam Cabral sent to Richard Trumka raging against the AFL-CIO's mild statements on police reform. BY HAMILTON NOLAN RURAL AMERICA IN THESE TIMES Global Agribusiness is Devouring the World’s Last Forests. We Need Local Food Systems, Now. Is a steady stream of burgers, bath soaps, and body butter worth the price of an increasingly volatile and unlivable planet? BY GAURAV MADAN In These Times is a nonprofit, reader-funded publication.