Progressive Voices
I understand why Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz is leaving UNC
Over the last four weeks, the University of North Carolina community has been on edge. After reporting surfaced that Chancellor Guskiewicz was the remaining finalist for the Presidency of Michigan State University and his acknowledgement that he was considering the option, all of us at Carolina have been waiting – for his decision and for […]
Weekend humor from Celia Rivenbark: Sports reporter blindsided by ethics uproar
Hello! I’m Charissa Thompson. Some of you may know me from my years as a Fox Sports sideline reporter during some pretty big pro football games where I ask tough questions like: “Coach, you’re down two touchdowns. What’re you going to tell the guys to do differently when the second half starts?” That’s one of […]
Would we be willing to do what we did 82 years ago to win?
A few weeks ago, I was traveling and stumbled onto a public radio program that rebroadcast radio propaganda related to World War II and the United States’ rationing efforts. It was walking Americans through what was necessary to conserve, how some rationing worked, and why certain products like rubber were essential to the war effort. […]
Court rulings on “standing” help GOP to further entrench gerrymandered districts
North Carolina’s new voting district maps were hatched in a way that brings to mind Macbeth’s calculation as he ponders murder: “If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well / It were done quickly: …” In other words, it’s a nasty piece of business but if it’ll solve the problem then just get […]
Medicaid expansion will prove extremely valuable in the fight against cancer
December 1 is a monumental day for North Carolina. The Tar Heel State should feel a sense of pride and relief for the nearly 600,000 North Carolinians who are now eligible for affordable health insurance through Medicaid. We at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) are thrilled to see this decade-long fight […]
Hands off our national myth, er, story – the dynamic driving anti-wokeness
Legitimacy and the fear of losing it. That’s at the root of efforts to whitewash teaching that would otherwise tell stark, uncomfortable truths about U.S. history and the impacts that linger today. I’m referring here to the legitimacy of American exceptionalism. There are many who demand homogeneity even on what we agree is our national […]
NC computerized prison mail system is both cruel and a rip-off
I’ve been doing life in the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC) for almost 22 years. In 2021, the NCDAC made my life worse by contracting TextBehind to remotely scan and print our mail, supposedly to thwart synthetic drug smuggling, although it is widely accepted that prison employees are the main source of contraband. […]
In the U.K. and U.S. alike, the conservative movement is falling apart before our eyes
LONDON — The British government now has a Minister for Common Sense. Esther McVey, a former talking head on GB News (a kind of low-rent Fox), has been installed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to “tackle the scourge of wokery.” She wants to stop diversity training, keep combustion engines around forever (to hell with the […]
Weekend humor from Celia Rivenbark: New House Speaker is quietly frightening
With the recent death of Matthew Perry, I’m picturing how his always sarcastic “Friends” character, Chandler Bing, might have viewed new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. “Could he BE any worse for the country?” Nope, Chandler, he could not. Mike Johnson looks bookishly harmless for sure. He’s got the kind of forgettable appearance that […]
Bookman: Unholy night – A Trump White House Christmas coup caper
It was a Christmas party at the Trump White House, and despite the festive decorations, the trees and the wreaths and the red-and-green bunting, the mood must have been grim. A few days earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court had firmly rejected a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas seeking the overthrow of election results […]
Conservative hypocrisy on the rights of parents hits a new low
There are a lot of excellent reasons to oppose laws that require parental approval when young women under the age of 18 seek abortion care. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to meet an Indiana couple who lost their teenage daughter to such a law. Terrified of admitting her pregnancy to her parents as […]
The challenge that confronts North Carolina Democrats
The promise of the New South has proven exceedingly unreliable. Led by civic fathers in the industrializing Piedmont, Southerners have long promised the rest of the country that their region would surmount its backwardness and emerge into the national mainstream. Alas, racism and isolation have remained stubbornly persistent, and no matter how giddily optimists proclaim […]