It’s Time for ‘Poverty in the Trenches’ Hearings It’s Time for ‘Poverty in the Trenches’ Hearings
We need a series of hearings to hear from those who are “in the trenches” fighting poverty.
Jul 31, 2013 / Greg Kaufmann
Letters Letters
The Rise and Fall of the Black Panthers Northampton, Mass. In 1974, I waited an entire week to report my mother, Betty Van Patter, missing to the Berkeley Police Department in order to protect Elaine Brown’s campaign for the Oakland City Council from police harassment. Even after her body was found in the San Francisco Bay, it still took ten years and the dogged work of investigative journalists to convince me to face reality. Most people don’t understand why the politics of my mother’s murder by the Black Panther Party were as devastating to me as the loss of her as my mother. People could consider this to be crazy, callous or the result of cult thinking, but I have simply always taken political will quite seriously. The state of cognitive dissonance I found myself in resulted from recognizing the Panthers as both icons of resistance and murderers of innocents at the same time. As I read all the memoirs, articles and the rewriting of history by the academics, I remain forlorn waiting for the “real story” to emerge. Joshua Bloom and Waldo Martin’s Black Against Empire had a chance, but it failed. At least we now have Steve Wasserman’s brilliant review “Rage and Ruin” [June 24/July 1] as a step forward in the conversation about the party’s history. One assertion by the book’s authors that particularly irks me is their dismissal of the late Hugh Pearson’s Shadow of a Panther as nothing more than a consultation with David Horowitz. Pearson’s intent was to present Huey Newton as the hero he believed him to be, only to discover Newton’s many crimes and cruelties to other Panthers and innocent bystanders. Pearson had the courage to write about what he learned within the context of the controversy as far as it had developed by the mid-1990s. Bloom and Martin completely missed the point. TAMARA BALTAR Hattiesburg, Miss. I am truly amazed by the quality of Steve Wasserman’s review of the new history of the Black Panthers and his thoroughly balanced and informed assessment of its accuracy. Wasserman’s descriptive detail opens a much clearer window, and offers readers a seminar on Black Power in the ’60s. In addition, his personal experience with many of the key people involved makes for exciting reading. MIKE GERALD Yes, Let’s Diversify Journalism New York City With Farai Chideya’s “Let’s Diversify Journalism” [June 3], The Nation joined a growing chorus of media insiders denouncing the industry standard of unwaged intern labor, which in effect excludes people of color and the working class. We, the Nation Institute’s Spring 2013 interns, presented our concerns to the magazine’s editors and fundraisers about the Nation interns’ marginal pay. The Nation and the Institute verbally committed to work with us to change the terms of the internship. Our five months as fact-checkers were an invaluable learning experience, nurturing us intellectually, professionally and socially. Yet to participate in the program, an intern must work full time for a $150 weekly stipend, an impossible prospect for many who are underrepresented in today’s media. As Chideya explains, the unwaged intern pipeline populates the industry with a homogeneous staff that “often produces a damaging false consensus” by excluding people of color and the working class. We hear of journalism’s impending death all too often, but the eulogies are premature. Journalism isn’t dying; it is changing dramatically. This period of transformation is an opportunity for media outlets to bring new voices to the forefront of knowledge production. Paying interns a living wage would remedy a workplace injustice and renew the vitality and relevance of the press. Likewise, recruiting more interns from public universities and community colleges would enable organic intellectuals from the working class to redefine our nation’s public conversation. To realize a just media economy in which interns earn a living wage and the marginalized can flourish, we need tenacious and imaginative media leaders. If anyone in journalism has what it takes, it is our colleagues at this magazine. The industry standard must be redefined. We ask The Nation and the Nation Institute to take the lead. ALLEEN BROWN, JAMES CERSONSKY, CATHERINE DEFONTAINE, ANDREW BARD EPSTEIN, LUIS K. FELIZ, ELANA LEOPOLD, ALEC LUHN, LETICIA MIRANDA, BRENDAN O’CONNOR, ANNA SIMONTON, COS TOLLERSON, SARAH WOOLF The Nation Institute Replies New York City We appreciate this thoughtful letter and take the concerns it raises seriously. The internship program is a source of great pride for the Nation Institute. Every few months it gives a group of talented young people the opportunity to participate in weekly editorial meetings; learn fact-checking, research and digital media skills; interact at seminars with visiting journalists, thinkers and activists; and, often, to find their own voices as writers for the magazine and the website. The Institute recognizes the financial pressures faced by interns living in New York City and has determined to increase their stipend beginning with the fall 2013 class. We will also continue to provide financial aid in the form of travel and housing grants to interns to help make their participation possible. This will put additional pressure on our fundraising for the program, so we urge readers to donate directly to the Victor S. Navasky Internship Program, c/o The Nation Institute, 116 E. 16th Street, 8th floor, New York, NY 10003. TAYA KITMAN, director, The Nation Institute Is That a Nation in Your Pocket, or… Saint Cloud, Fla. I don’t much care for Billy Graham or his Bible-thumping evangelistic ways, and I never imagined myself feeling compelled to defend him. But Edward Sorel’s stupid criticism of him based on an old photograph, along with the ridiculous comment about his hand in his pocket, has made me wonder what kind of childish, moronic staff is working at The Nation [“New York, New York, It’s a Hell of a Town,” June 24/July 1]. Are all the adults away on vacation? Keep it up if you wish to lose all credibility with normal working people. JERRY MOBLEY Sorel Replies New York City None of the Nation staff members I have met could ever be characterized as moronic or childish. But, happily, the standards for outside contributors are less restrictive. EDWARD SOREL Corrections Michael Sorkin’s “Hitler’s Classical Architect” [June 10/17] incorrectly identified architect Erik Gunnar Asplund as Carl Asplund. Marina Amaral and Natalia Viana’s ”Brazil vs. the World Cup” [July 22/29] incorrectly gave Brazil’s annual education budget as $17 billion. It is $37 billion. Accordingly, the overall investment for the 2014 World Cup ($14-plus billion) is more than one-third of the annual education budget, not a little less than half.
Jul 31, 2013 / Our Readers and Edward Sorel
Puzzle No. 3290 Puzzle No. 3290
And don’t miss Kosman and Picciotto’s crossword blog, Word Salad.
Jul 31, 2013 / Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto
In an Economic Democracy, Stiglitz and Reich Would Be Contenders for Fed Head In an Economic Democracy, Stiglitz and Reich Would Be Contenders for Fed Head
Treating the choice of the next Federal Reserve chair as an election campaign will bring citizens into the debate and raise vital issues.
Jul 30, 2013 / John Nichols
The Naïveté We Need: Notes on a Climate Action The Naïveté We Need: Notes on a Climate Action
At Sunday’s march on the Brayton Point coal plant in Massachusetts, I was reminded of what it takes for a movement to win.
Jul 30, 2013 / Wen Stephenson
Fossil Fuel Divestment Is About More Than Reducing Emissions Fossil Fuel Divestment Is About More Than Reducing Emissions
A student architect of the movement to divest from fossil fuel companies assesses the growing campaign's strengths and weaknesses.
Jul 30, 2013 / StudentNation / Ali Roseberry-Polier and StudentNation
Sexual Harassment Is Not a Disease, But It Surely Is an Epidemic Sexual Harassment Is Not a Disease, But It Surely Is an Epidemic
San Diego Mayor Bob Filner’s seeking medical help for allegations of sexual harassment redirects our attention away from the real psychological and social harm that his victi...
Jul 30, 2013 / Salamishah Tillet
Sharif Abdel Kouddous: Egypt’s Increasingly Repressive Political Order Sharif Abdel Kouddous: Egypt’s Increasingly Repressive Political Order
Despite EU attempts to broker a peaceful political settlement, the prospect of continued bloodshed is very real.
Jul 30, 2013 / Press Room
Student Power ’13 Student Power ’13
Last year’s Convergence, the first of its kind, inspired and informed a year of unified student action. There are still spots left for this year's confab.
Jul 30, 2013 / StudentNation / StudentNation
The GOP Misunderstands the ‘War on Women’ The GOP Misunderstands the ‘War on Women’
The Republican Party has shown nothing but disdain for the real needs of actual women.
Jul 30, 2013 / Katrina vanden Heuvel