Putting the Police Under Surveillance

By Thor Benson Aug 21, 2014 In some places in America, a black man holding a toy gun or a banana is more likely to be shot by the police than a white man with an actual gun. We live in a country of lethal fruit. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

The Pastor, the Police Officer and the Political Activist: Three Perspectives on Ferguson

Sonali Kolhatkar / Truthdig Aug 21, 2014 Police brutality against black men has become a shockingly common phenomenon in the U.S. The names of those who have died at the hands of law enforcement or their unofficial vigilante deputies over the past few years are too numerous to count. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

Race Card

Clay Bennett / Truthdig Aug 21, 2014 Dig deeper

What Makes Michael Brown’s Killing Different From the Rest?

Natasha Hakimi Zapata / Truthdig Aug 21, 2014 Mychal Denzel Smith, a contributing writer at The Nation, argues that the impetus behind the Ferguson protests isn't the slaying of one unarmed black man since the incident is not uncommon in present-day America. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Post-Racial America Alert

Mark Fiore / Truthdig Aug 21, 2014 What better way to defuse racially charged tension after a police shooting of an unarmed man than with a show of militarized force? Dig deeper

What Do Iraq’s Sunni Arabs Have in Common With Ferguson, Mo., African-Americans?

Juan Cole / Truthdig Aug 21, 2014 If prime minister-designate Haidar al-Abadi in Iraq is to hope to defeat the so-called Islamic State (actually a kind of mafia made up of serial murderers and marauders), he must find a way to reincorporate Iraq’s Sunni Arabs into the government. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Eric Holder in Ferguson: ‘I Am Also a Black Man’

Peter Z. Scheer / Truthdig Aug 21, 2014 The nation's highest-ranking law enforcement officer and the first African-American attorney general is now physically in the center of the racially charged uprising in Ferguson, Mo. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

The Ghost of Dred Scott Haunts the Streets of Ferguson

Amy Goodman / Truthdig Aug 21, 2014 Four miles south of the Ferguson protest's ground zero, along the same street, in the quietude of Calvary Cemetery, lies Dred Scott, the man born a slave who famously fought for his freedom in the courts. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Ferguson Situation Highlights U.S. Duplicity for America’s Critics Abroad

Kasia Anderson / Truthdig Aug 21, 2014 What does Ferguson, Mo., look like from afar right now? For some overseas critics of American foreign policy, it looks like a teachable moment to point out how the U.S. would do better to confront its own issues at home instead of policing the rest of the world. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Let’s Talk About Race

Signe Wilkinson / Truthdig Aug 21, 2014 Dig deeper

Military Plans

Clay Bennett / Truthdig Aug 20, 2014 Dig deeper

Freedom of the Press Endangered in Ferguson

Staff / Truthdig Aug 20, 2014 Several journalists have been arrested during protests held in Ferguson, Mo., over Michael Brown's shooting; Egypt issues a statement urging the U.S. to employ "restraint" in the Missouri suburb, seemingly mocking similar statements from the American government in the past; meanwhile, the Arctic's snow depth has fallen significantly in the past half century. These discoveries and more after the jump. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )