Posts By This Author

Empathy and Empire are Antithetical

by Alan Bean 06-10-2010
A University of Michigan study suggests that the college students of today are 40 percent less empathetic than students twenty or thirty years ago.

Tea Party Militias?: Telling Mainstream Conservatives from Right Wing Extremists

by Alan Bean 03-04-2010

The Southern Poverty Law Center has issued a frightening report on the explosive growth of extremist organizations on the radical right. It is hard to know how to account for this phenomenon.

Huckabee Got it Right

by Alan Bean 12-09-2009
Mike Huckabee is done as a presidential contender. That's the word on the street.

Fear, Race, and Pride in the Gates Arrest

by Alan Bean 07-27-2009

Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrested, Now Who Owes Whom an Apology?

by Alan Bean 07-22-2009

The Cambridge Police Department arrested Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. after Dr. Gates entered his own home and produced proof of his identity.

Competing Narratives: Lessons from the Jena 6, Part 2

by Alan Bean 07-09-2009

Lessons from the Jena 6

by Alan Bean 07-08-2009

What lessons do we take away from the Jena 6 story? Six young men won't be dragging a felony conviction into adult life. That's reason for rejoicing, but as this saga approaches its third birthday, it's fair to ask if we have learned anything.

The Jena 6 are Free!

by Alan Bean 06-29-2009

The Jena 6 and Justin Barker are now free to move ahead with their lives. The terms of the plea agreement were revealed in the course of a two-hour court hearing at the LaSalle Parish courthouse.

American Violet and the Idolatry of Law

by Alan Bean 04-17-2009

NPR's Wade Goodwyn has been working on this story ever since he attended the premier of the film American Violet at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Hearne, Texas, three weeks ago.

American Violet: Drug War Injustice Hits the Big Screen

by Alan Bean 04-15-2009
American Violet, a Hollywood blockbuster that opens in theaters next week, tells the story of Regina Kelly, one of the people rounded up in a T

Eric Holder, Ted Stevens, and Prosecutorial Misconduct that Doesn't Make Headlines

by Alan Bean 04-14-2009
No one is saying that Ted Stevens didn't lie about unreported contributions. But the government has to play by the rules even when the defendant is guilty.

Tulia and Jena: America in Miniature

by Alan Bean 02-17-2009
I moved to Tulia, Texas, in the summer of 1998, a year before a massive drug bust decimated the black side of town.

A Lasting Sting

by Alan Bean 11-01-2003
Is justice delayed better than none at all?