The Goodspeed Update

I just uploaded a set of photos of my neighborhood branch of the D.C. Public Library. The library has been closed since 2004 and no plan exists for its re-construction. It was closed with two other neighborhood plans and slated for demolition and re-construction, but the D.C. Board of Public Library Trustees canceled the construction […]

This call I’m helping organize for YP4 will be really interesting, one of our fellows is a published author.
We are excited to celebrate Black History Month with a special Town Hall Meeting conference call:
Strides for Social Justice:
The Struggle for Educational Equality
A discussion about past struggles for educational equality
and the lessons we can apply to our […]

The headline says it all. And guess who seems to be behind the effort? None other than my friends at the ACLU of Michigan, where I interned in 2002. A number of journalists and organizations, ranging from Christopher Hitchens to Greenpeace, have joined the lawsuit.

The headlines tell it all on this one.

Detroit News: “U-M Suspends Coke Contract“
Ann Arbor News: “U-M puts contract with Coke on ice“
University Record: “U-M suspends purchase of Coca-Cola products“
Michigan Daily: “‘U’ to suspend Coke contracts in milestone decision“

Although in general the memory of the 2000 Michigamua Tower Occupation is fading at Michigan, I have been encouraged by a new crop of activists who have sought to bring attention to the organization. Jamie Shenk is one of those students. The president of M-agination films, a unit of the University Activity Center, he became […]

I just finished Sheryll Cashin’s book The Failures of Integration: How Race and Class are Undermining the American Dream. Although I won’t attempt a proper book review I will offer a few thoughts. A longtime resident of Washington, D.C. (Cashin clerked for U.S. Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, served in the Clinton White House, and […]

A coalition called the Hip Hop Caucus is organizing a protest of FEMA today at 11 a.m. to draw attention to the agency’s inadequate response to provide housing to hurricane survivors. The group, which seeks to “provide a comprehensive agenda for the Hip-Hop community both domestically and abroad” is holding a protest of FEMA in […]