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Anti-Choice Doc Aims to Link Reproductive Rights to ‘Black Genocide’

By Michelle Goldberg

…ulates anti-contraception arguments made by male Black Power leaders in the 1960s and 1970s. Indeed, African-American militants were behind some of the earliest instances of clinic violence. As Elaine Tyler May writes in her forthcoming book, America and the The Pill (Basic Books, April 27, 2010), one Cleveland family planning center was burned down after accusations of “black genocide,” while in Pittsburgh, the militant leader William “Bouie” Had…

Why Egypt is America’s Enemy

By Haroon Moghul

Some two-and-a-half years ago, I wrote an essay for this magazine, titled “Secular Good, Muslim Bad“. It was a reflection on the initial protests which became the Arab Spring, before the counterrevolution kicked in and turned a hopeful cry for breathing room into a demented Arab Spring Cleaning. The vermin are fellow Arabs, demonized and derided for years, such that their blood becomes cheap. This happens all too often with minorities; what is u…

Noah v. Kitschy Jesus: A Tale of Two Movies

By Jay Michaelson

…more ambivalent about him) and therefore he can’t be seen getting in knock-down, drag-out fights with his sons. Good people don’t do that. And of course, Jesus can’t be tempted by sins of the flesh—even though the Bible itself suggests that he might’ve been. I don’t think it’s because Aronofsky’s Noah has a mixture of admirable and flawed elements that he raises fundamentalist suspicions. It’s because he has a mixture of any kind at all. Progress…

Possible Heir to Dalai Lama Cleared of Corruption Charges

By Tsering Namgyal

…nd China could fire a cheap shot. The Indian government’s assertiveness vis-à-vis China is refreshing (though achieving it at the expense of refugees and Buddhist monks who fled China at 14 to get an education smacks of bad taste.) The affair has also unsettled the sentiments of those living in India’s predominantly Buddhist Himalayan region, which separates China from India. There were large protests in the capitals of both Ladakh and Sikkim, as…

Disney’s Lump of Coal

By Anthea Butler

…rdworking African American young woman, and Prince Naveen, a handsome ne’er-do-well prince searching for a sugar momma to marry. Through his interaction with a voodoo priest, Dr. Facilier (character traits: sly and dastardly), Prince Naveen is turned into a frog and, unfortunately, turns Tiana into a frog too by asking her for a kiss to break the spell. No surprises here. The surprises come when staples of New Orleans life are used in ways that ar…

After Orlando: Love Wins, But When?

By Daniel Schultz

…outhern France, which contains ancient, astonishing paintings discovered in 1994. They are filled with wonder, color, raw power, more life-like than life. But here’s the thing: scientists say rockfall closed the cave to the outside ages ago. Chauvet and its contents went unseen for 28,000 years while the world continued around it, summer to winter and back, a million griefs and more ignored in all that time. The hope of the dead feels like that so…

Something Borrowed, Something Blue: Avatar and the Myth of Originality

By S. Brent Rodriguez Plate

…film is rearranged into the Latino-oriented Tortilla Soup, and the African-American-centered Soul Food. On another scale, the television series Lost could easily be renamed “The Lord of the X-Files,” as it is a reinvention of William Golding’s 1954 novel Lord of the Flies, mixed with X-Files intrigue (and frustration), a bit of Gilligan’s Island, and populated by a character list of Who’s Who in Philosophy: John Locke, Desmond “David” Hume, Rouss…

Romney Goes to Bat Against Reid in Nevada

By Joanna Brooks

…ion jobs, more than doubling the state’s population. Now, those speculation-and-spending fueled good times are gone. That volatility does not treat mild-mannered Mormon politicians well: be they Reids, or Romneys. Just last week, Jan Shipps, a longtime scholar and canny observer of Mormon experience, wagered that Angle would beat Romney if he were on the ticket. I think she’s right. What’s happening in Nevada is the ugly down side of a speculation…

Playing Hooky: Will Boycott of Catholic Church Spur Reform?

By Nathan Schneider

…, however, is what some people’s leaving means for those of us who stay. Ex- or lapsed Catholics are everywhere, often well-meaning and progressive. But where does their absence leave those of us who remain in church, and who want to be a force for change? It’s clear that Jennifer Sleeman isn’t proposing to abandon the Church altogether. But a protest should always be in the image of its goal, the means in keeping with the ends. When I heard of he…

Note for Today

By Amina Wadud

…ss in white more often? Exercise and Diet Well, I’ve hit the awful plateau, 15 pounds down but gone in the first three weeks. I wish I had managed more than the once a day daily walk, too. This is not just vanity, nor even that pre-diabetes diagnosis, but I really want to be fit for all the activity. I hope I can avoid the prediction that everyone gets sick, even if just a cold. The only thing I want taxed is my soul, not my aging body. But there…