“Law and order” has long been the battle cry of the Conservative Movement. To today that battle cry is just the cry of a group that wants to manipulate and shield themselves from accountability, suppress dissent, and entrench inequality. Conservatism, at its best, was for restraint, tradition, and individual liberties. In recent decades, a form of radical conservatism has weaponized legality, not to uphold justice, but to legitimize harm and what some may view as corruption. Conservatives are great with phrases like “election integrity,” which is cloaked in laws for suppression. They use “national security” to justify the crackdown not only on illegal immigration but also on legal immigration. They use a conservative playbook that relies on legalities to advance unethical behavior. The end of our “Pledge of Allegiance” does not end with the words law and order. It ends with the words “Liberty and Justice For All”. Not just all conservatives. Not just for Republicans. Those should...
The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only museum in the United States devoted to the African American Experience, and it is under attack. America has always tried to hide the many scars its policies have left on human history, and Slavery is just one of them. This is not new. Since 2021, over 40 states have proposed or passed laws to restrict how race, slavery, and systemic racism can be taught in our schools. They have called pretty much any teaching of Black history or the Black experience in America as teaching Critical Race Theory. Local school systems have banned books about slavery and the Black voice to silence the truth. In Florida, where I live, the state has outlawed the teaching of anything critical about race relations in America. One could say that the State of Florida has been whitewashing American History. Now the Trump Administration wants the Smithsonian to do the same. The Black experience actually starts not in...