1. What Colin Kaepernick's National Anthem Protest Tells Us About America
As Kaepernick continues to protest, read this sobering look at what happens when black athletes choose to point their aggression towards larger, systematic inequalities. (Hint: there's always backlash.)
2. How The Catholic Church Documented Mother Teresa's 2 Miracles
A good primer for Sunday’s canonization of Mother Teresa: Before candidates qualify for sainthood, the miracles attributed to them must be proven. Here’s how that happens.
3. The Mysterious Private Police Force That’s Killing People In The Nation’s Capital
“Special police officers like the two that killed Alonzo are not quite full police officers, but they’re more than security guards. They are a private police force, empowered to make arrests and carry guns. But because they work for private contractors and not public agencies, their actions are often shrouded in mystery.” (Bonus wrap! Watch: How can we trust that black lives matter to police?)
4. Weiner Didn’t ‘Humiliate’ Huma. He Humiliated Himself.
“Humiliated” has long been used to describe Abedin. But why do we assume her dignity and self-respect have suffered in her husband’s embarrassment?
5. Muslims Can Wear Headscarves for Alabama IDs. A Christian Woman Sues So She Can, Too
A Christian woman who adheres to the New Testament directive for women to cover their hair was told only Muslim women have the right to do so in ID photos. She is suing, and the religious liberty conversation is adding another dimension.
6. Are We Feeling Collective Grief Over Climate Change?
The idea is controversial, but "there isn't the slightest shred of doubt in my mind, that everyone on some level is anxious, deeply anxious, about climate change," says one forensic psychiatrist.
7. How Nextdoor Reduced Racist Posts by 75 Percent
It’s a top challenge for social media platforms: How to develop digital tools that are open and accessible but also protect users against hate? Here’s what one tech company is doing — and so far, it’s working.
8. Why Celebrities Like Gene Wilder Choose a Private Death
One reason, in this insightful piece after the posthumous news of Wilder’s struggle with Alzheimer’s: Disclosure might come with a burden. “People might expect a ‘big, profound’ conversation … and that’s a lot to ask of someone who doesn’t feel well and is dealing with their own complicated feelings.”
9. Where the Spirit of ‘Mister Rogers’ Endures
Fifteen years after the PBS show ended, the wisdom and empathy of its host persist in an unexpected place: advice columns. (Really!)
10. George Saunders on Trump, Mystery, and Why He Rejects Social Media
The beloved writer, on the American Dream and the legacy of racism: “So I think the burden is now upon us white people, to say that this systemic inequality offends us. It offends us because it is un-American, and puts our brother- and sister-Americans at risk, and puts upon them hardships too great to bear. I also think it's on us to investigate ourselves for any lingering sense that we are 'giving' equality. We are not. It is already given. And not by us.”
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