Muhammad Ali for many people was more icon than athlete. Like Jim Brown or John Carlos, he was someone who inspired African-Americans and Muslims to fight oppression, move beyond the comfort of success and speak out against injustice no matter the cost or inconvenience. Between the Will Smith-led biopic and various tributes over the years, most Americans know that Ali spoke out against the Vietnam War, converted to the Nation of Islam and was a global humanitarian.
May 19 marked what would have been the 88th birthday of Malcolm X. Malcolm’s name is still revered by legions both nationally and internationally, and for good reason. A tireless, uncompromising foe of imperial wars, racism, economic exploitation and a staunch supporter of African and Third World liberation movements, Malcolm X rekindled black pride. His legacy and place in history decades after his brutal murder, a crime still shrouded in controversy and debate, are more secure than ever.
Dallas resident Thomas Pak recently appeared on a local African-American radio show to offer an apology. The 40-year-old Korean emigre had been involved in a December altercation with a customer at his gas station in a largely black Dallas neighborhood. The fallout from that incident has since engulfed the two communities.
Banning TikTok would benefit Meta and Google, their parent companies, but it wouldn’t benefit national security. People would still be exposed to as much junk news as before, and experience shows that these social media platforms could be vulnerable to manipulation as well.
If relatively simple songs are being underanalyzed, we also lose the power in more complicated expressions of protest in songs like Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” The song’s triumphant chorus, which chants “Born in the U.S.A.,” often overshadows its darker verse.
