Latest news with #Confederacy
Black America Web
2 days ago
- Politics
- Black America Web
From George Floyd to Jacques Beauregard: America's Racist Rebound
Source: Win McNamee / Getty Come, go back with me to the summer of 2020. Millions of people from all backgrounds flooded America's streets demanding justice for George Floyd and the long-dead victims of American racism. During this period of racial reckoning, something extraordinary happened: old statues fell. Confederate generals were pulled from their pedestals. Slaveholders were toppled from marble thrones. Base names, school plaques, and public memorials were reexamined and, at last, rejected. Even Aunt Jemima got fired. It was extraordinary not just because these relics had stood for so long, but because they were never supposed to fall. These monuments had been carefully built to last, not just in stone, but in story. They were erected not in the immediate aftermath of war or glory, but decades later during Reconstruction and Jim Crow, as part of a larger campaign to rewrite history and reassert white supremacy. For generations, they stood unchallenged, unexamined, normalized. They didn't just commemorate the past; they distorted it, insisting that the Confederacy was honorable, that slavery was an unfortunate 'necessary evil' or just a 'dark chapter' in American history, and that white dominance was eternal. So, when those statues fell, they didn't just crack concrete; they ruptured a national mythology. They forced this country to ask: What kind of stories have we been telling ourselves? Whose version of history have we honored? And who has been erased, silenced, or trampled in the process? And then, the backlash came swiftly. Politicians, pundits, and self-anointed defenders of the 'real America' started foaming at the mouth and sprinting to pass legislation. They accused activists of erasing history, even though what had actually been toppled was propaganda. School boards started banning books. Governors began defunding diversity programs. The phrase 'Critical Race Theory' became a scare tactic. All of it—the removals, the debates, the bans—revealed just how fragile the American memory really is when forced to confront the truth. Because these weren't just arguments over monuments. They were battles over meaning. They exposed the deepest fault lines in this nation's relationship to its own past and made clear that history in America isn't just taught. It's fought. Now, flash forward to this week in Louisiana. While the rest of us are out here trying to survive climate collapse, student loan debt, and whatever new judicial hell the Supreme Court has cooked up, Governor Jeff Landry decided the real emergency was… a military base not being named after a Confederate family. With full-throated arrogance, he announced that the Louisiana National Guard Training Center in Pineville will once again be called 'Camp Beauregard,' a name previously stripped for its ties to the Confederacy and white supremacy. Beauregard was one of several Confederate figures, along with Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, whose monuments were targeted for removal or recontextualization in New Orleans. But Landry, ever the political illusionist, insists this isn't about honoring General P.G.T. Beauregard. No, no—it's about honoring his father , Jacques Toutant Beauregard, a sugar planter and enslaver whose name never once graced a military base until now. What makes this move so brazen is that Landry didn't just resurrect a Confederate name; he found a new way to venerate the same old system. He skipped the general who fired the first shot of the Civil War and went straight for the man who owned people and passed that legacy down. Jacques Beauregard wasn't a national military hero. He didn't lead any major campaigns. His only enduring historical significance is the fact that he enslaved Black people and raised a son who fought to keep them that way. That's who Gov. Landry wants Louisiana to remember with pride. That's who he's asking soldiers, including Black soldiers, to salute. This isn't about history or reverence. It's about spite. It's about power. It's about turning back the clock on racial reckoning and reminding Black people exactly where we stand in the state's racial hierarchy: underfoot, beneath the boot, behind the name etched into government signage. Landry's stunt is not isolated. It's the latest chapter in the white nationalist scrapbook of American memory. Under Trump's influence, politicians like Landry are waging a full-blown war on the historical record. It's not just about books or bases. It's about declaring that the Confederacy never really lost. That even when the statues fall, the spirit behind them can still be revived through policy, propaganda, and PR. This is about Making America Great Again, and that requires restoring the myths that once held America together, even if they were built on bondage, theft, and mass murder. Landry's move to rename the base isn't some quirky homage to his state's past; it's part of the MAGA mandate to resuscitate the lost cause under a new name. It's about putting a fresh coat of patriotism on the same old plantation logic. They're not even hiding it. Landry paired his announcement with a gravestone meme reading 'WOKEISM.' He wrote in a Facebook post: Today, we will return the name of the Louisiana National Guard Training Center in Pineville to Camp Beauregard. In Louisiana, we honor courage, not cancel it. Let this be a lesson that we should always give reverence to history and not be quick to so easily condemn or erase the dead, lest we and our times be judged arbitrary by future generations.' As if restoring the name of a plantation-owning family is some brave act of historical preservation instead of a petty, ahistorical tantrum against progress. Nobody erased the dead. We just stopped pretending they were heroes. We stopped letting traitors to the United States, defenders of slavery, and men who fought to keep Black people in chains stand unchallenged on our public pedestals and government signs. That's not cancel culture, that's called accountability. That's a long-overdue course correction in a country that's spent centuries gaslighting its victims. And that line about how we shouldn't be 'so quick to condemn or erase the dead, lest we and our times be judged arbitrary by future generations?? Please. Chile, I'm a whole historian and I am absolutely here to condemn colonizers, rapists, enslavers, lynchers, and every power-drunk architect of racial violence who thought Black life was disposable. That's called ethical clarity. The Confederacy wasn't misunderstood. It wasn't unfairly maligned. It was a violent, racist rebellion whose leaders chose war to preserve slavery. I get so tired of people who argue, 'But we can't judge men of their time,' as if our enslaved ancestors weren't judging them in real time. You think they were sitting on cotton bales thinking, 'You know, Master really needs a DEI training and maybe he'll stop whipping us and give us our freedom.' These weren't confused or misguided men. They made deliberate , violent choices to dominate, exploit, and brutalize. And they built systems that still haunt us. Refusing to condemn that isn't neutrality, it's complicity. Judgment is how we learn. It's how we draw moral lines. If we can't say that enslaving people was evil, regardless of what century it happened in, then we have no business calling ourselves civilized. You want reverence? Give it to the ones who resisted. Give it to the ones who survived. The rest can stay condemned and thrown into the dustbin of history. The irony, of course, is that if Jeff Landry had actually read a history book, or even skimmed past the plantation chapter, he'd know that General P.G.T. Beauregard, the very Confederate his office is avoiding by name, went on to support Black suffrage. After the Civil War, General P.G.T. Beauregard, yes, the same man who ordered the first shots at Fort Sumter, actually did a political about-face. By the early 1870s, Beauregard became a prominent supporter of the Unification Movement in Louisiana. In 1873, he joined forces with a group of white and Black citizens to promote racial reconciliation and political cooperation, publicly advocating for Black suffrage and biracial governance. He gave speeches urging white Southerners to accept the political reality of Black citizenship and warned that continued resistance would doom the South to economic and moral ruin. Source: Win McNamee / Getty In fact, Beauregard's postwar rhetoric was so conciliatory that it drew criticism from former Confederates and Lost Cause diehards. He openly denounced Jefferson Davis and distanced himself from efforts to resurrect the Confederacy's ideology, calling instead for peace, unity, and pragmatic cooperation between the races. So yeah, it's wild that Jeff Landry and his people are bypassing that Beauregard, the one who tried, however imperfectly, to reconcile with reality, and instead resurrecting the plantation-owning father, Jacques Toutant Beauregard. But I get it. The son doesn't play well on Fox News. That Beauregard doesn't troll the libs. Landry needed a name that wouldn't complicate the white nationalist narrative. The general who advocated Black suffrage doesn't work for MAGA optics. So, what does this tell us, really? It tells us that we're in a new era of historical gaslighting. That the erasure we were warned about isn't coming from activists tearing down statues, it's coming from the state, putting them back up under different names. It tells us that white supremacy no longer needs to shout to be heard. It just needs to legislate. It needs to rename, reframe, and wait for the news cycle to move on. The press, for the most part, is missing the point. The coverage frames this as another skirmish in the culture war, a 'controversial renaming' or a 'reversal of a federal decision.' But too few are asking the deeper questions. Why make this move now? Why pour state resources into resurrecting the name of a man who profited from the forced labor of Black bodies when Louisiana remains one of the poorest, most underfunded states in the country? The answer is simple: trolling liberals and appeasing racists is more important to Jeff Landry than solving real problems. Bigotry is his budget. Spite is his agenda. This isn't just about one man's nostalgia or a misplaced reverence for 'heritage.' It's a coordinated strike in a broader campaign to whitewash American history. We are living in a moment where Black history is under siege. School curricula stripped of truth, DEI programs dismantled, and Critical Race Theory demonized as if it were some contagious affliction rather than a framework to understand systemic inequality. Naming a military site after a man whose fortune was built on human bondage isn't a tribute to courage. It's a provocation, a middle finger to those fighting for historical clarity and racial justice. This renaming is happening in the shadow of a larger, more sinister project: the attempt to rewrite the American story from the top down. Under Donald Trump's revived influence, we are watching the rise of a new Confederacy, not one built on cotton and cannons, but on false memory and white grievance. From banned books to curriculum whiteouts, from the demonization of 'wokeness' to the glorification of insurrectionists, we are being led down a path where historical violence is repackaged as patriotism, and those who name it are branded as enemies of the state. It's all a cowardly sleight of hand, a shell game played with history, and it tells us everything about where America is headed under Trumpism. If future generations judge us harshly, it'll be because we allowed men like Donald Trump and Jeff Landry to resurrect white supremacy and call it 'heritage.' Dr. Stacey Patton is an award-winning journalist and author of 'Spare The Kids: Why Whupping Children Won't Save Black America' and the forthcoming 'Strung Up: The Lynching of Black Children In Jim Crow America.' Read her Substack here . SEE ALSO: Why White Folks Are Grieving Over Destroyed Relics to White Supremacy 'What Up, My Nazi?' Is Fox News Mimicking Black Reclamation SEE ALSO From George Floyd to Jacques Beauregard: America's Racist Rebound was originally published on
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Carol Moseley Braun, first black female senator: 'Sexism is harder to change than racism'
'Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton … ' Carol Moseley Braun was riding a lift in the US Capitol building when she heard Dixie, the unofficial anthem of the slave-owning Confederacy during the civil war. 'The sound was not very loud, yet it pierced my ears with the intensity of a dog whistle,' Moseley Braun writes in her new memoir, Trailblazer. 'Indeed, that is what it was in a sense.' The first African American woman in the Senate soon realised that 'Dixie' was being sung by Jesse Helms, a Republican senator from North Carolina. He looked over his spectacles at Moseley Braun and grinned. Then he told a fellow senator in the lift: 'I'm going to make her cry. I'm going to sing Dixie until she cries.' But clearly, Moseley Braun notes, the senator had never tangled with a Black woman raised on the south side of Chicago. She told him calmly: 'Senator Helms, your singing would make me cry even if you sang Rock of Ages.' Moseley Braun was the sole African American in the Senate during her tenure between 1993 and 1999, taking on legislative initiatives that included advocating for farmers, civil rights and domestic violence survivors, and went on to run for president and serve as US ambassador to New Zealand. In a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian from her home in Chicago, she recalls her history-making spell in office, argues that sexism is tougher to crack than racism and warns that the Democratic party is 'walking around in a daze' as it struggles to combat Donald Trump. As for that incident with Helms, she looks back now and says: 'I had been accustomed to what we now call microaggressions, so I just thought he was being a jerk.' Moseley Braun was born in the late 1940s in the post-war baby boom. Her birth certificate listed her as 'white' due to her mother's light complexion and the hospital's racial segregation, a detail she later officially corrected. She survived domestic abuse from her father, who could be 'a loving advocate one minute, and an absolute monster the next', and has been guided by her religious faith. In 1966, at the age of 19, she joined a civil rights protest led by Martin Luther King. She recalls by phone: 'He was a powerful personality. You felt drawn into him because of who he was. I had no idea he was being made into a modern saint but I was happy to be there and be supportive. 'When it got violent, they put the women and children close to Dr King in concentric circles and so I was close enough to touch him. I had no idea at the time it was going to be an extraordinary point in my life but it really was.' Moseley Braun was the first in her family to graduate from college and one of few women and Black students in her law school class, where she met her future husband. In the 1970s she won a longshot election to the Illinois general assembly and became the first African American woman to serve as its assistant majority leader. But when she planned a historic run for the Senate, Moseley Braun met widespread scepticism. 'Have you lost all your mind? Why are you doing this? But it made sense to me at the time and I followed my guiding light. You do things that seem like the right thing to do and, if it make sense to you, you go for it.' Moseley Braun's campaign team included a young political consultant called David Axelrod, who would go on to be a chief strategist and senior adviser to Obama. She came from behind to win the Democratic primary, rattling the party establishment, then beat Republican Richard Williamson in the general election. She was the first Black woman elected to the Senate and only the fourth Black senator in history. When Moseley Braun arrived for her first day at work in January 1993, there was a brutal reminder of how far the US still had to travel: a uniformed guard outside the US Capitol told her, 'Ma'am, you can't go any further,' and gestured towards a side-entrance for visitors. At the time she did not feel that her trailblazing status conferred a special responsibility, however. 'I wish I had. I didn't. I was going to work. I was going to do what I do and then show up to vote on things and be part of the legislative process. I had been a legislator for a decade before in the state legislature so I didn't at the time see it as being all that different from what I'd been doing before. I was looking forward to it and it turned out to be all that I expected and more.' But it was not to last. Moseley Braun served only one term before being defeated by Peter Fitzgerald, a young Republican who was heir to a family banking fortune and an arch conservative on issues such as abortion rights. But that did not deter her from running in the Democratic primary election for president in 2004. 'It was terrible,' she recalls. 'I couldn't raise the money to begin with and so I was staying on people's couches and in airports. It was a hard campaign and the fact it was so physically demanding was a function of the fact that I didn't have the campaign organisation or the money to do a proper campaign for president. 'I was being derided by any commentator who was like, 'Look, this girl has lost her mind,' and so they kind of rolled me off and that made it hard to raise money, hard to get the acceptance in the political class. But I got past that. My ego was not so fragile that that it hurt my feelings to make me stop. I kept plugging away.' Eventually Moseley Braun dropped out and endorsed Howard Dean four days before the opening contest, the Iowa caucuses. Again, she had been the only Black woman in the field, challenging long-held assumptions of what a commander-in-chief might look like. 'That had been part and parcel of my entire political career. People saying: 'What are you doing here? Why are you here? Don't run, you can't possibly win because you're not part of the show and the ways won't open for you because you're Black and because you're a woman.' I ran into that every step of the way in my political career.' Since then, four Black women have followed in her footsteps to the Senate: Kamala Harris and Laphonza Butler of California, Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware. Moseley Braun says: 'I was happy of that because I was determined not to be the last of the Black women in the Senate. The first but not the last. That was a good thing, and so far the progress has been moving forward. But then we got Donald Trump and that trumped everything.' Harris left the Senate to become the first woman of colour to serve as vice-president, then stepped in as Democrats' presidential nominee after Joe Biden abandoned his bid for re-election. Moseley Braun comments: 'I thought she did as good a job as she could have. I supported her as much as I knew how to do and I'm sorry she got treated so badly and she lost like she did. You had a lot of sub rosa discussions of race and gender that she should have been prepared for but she wasn't.' Trump exploited the 'manosphere' of podcasters and influencers and won 55% of men in 2024, up from 50% of men in 2020, according to Pew Research. Moseley Braun believes that, while the country has made strides on race, including the election of Obama as its first Black president in 2008, it still lags on gender. 'I got into trouble for saying this but it's true: sexism is a harder thing to change than racism. I had travelled fairly extensively and most of the world is accustomed to brown people being in positions of power. But not here in the United States. We haven't gotten there yet and so that's something we've got to keep working on.' Does she expect to see a female president in her lifetime? 'I certainly hope so. I told my little grandniece that she could be president if she wanted to. She looked at me like I lost my mind. 'But Auntie Carol, all the presidents are boys.'' Still, Trump has not been slow to weaponise race over the past decade, launching his foray into politics with a mix of false conspiracy theories about Obama's birthplace and promises to build a border wall and drive out criminal illegal immigrants. Moseley Braun recalls: 'It was racial, cultural, ethnic, et cetera, backlash. He made a big deal out of the immigration issue, which was racism itself and people are still being mistreated on that score. 'They've been arresting people for no good reason, just because they look Hispanic. The sad thing about it is that they get to pick and choose who they want to mess with and then they do. It's too destructive of people's lives in very negative ways.' Yet her fellow Democrats have still not found an effective way to counter Trump, she argues. 'The Democratic party doesn't know what to do. It's walking around in a daze. The sad thing about it is that we do need a more focused and more specific response to lawlessness.' Five years after the police murder of George Floyd and death of Congressman John Lewis, there are fears that many of the gains of the civil rights movement are being reversed. Over the past six months Trump has issued executive orders that aim to restrict or eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. He baselessly blamed DEI for undermining air safety after an army helicopter pilot was involved in a deadly midair collision with a commercial airliner. Meanwhile, Washington DC dismantled Black Lives Matter Plaza in response to pressure from Republicans in Congress. None of it surprises Moseley Braun. 'It should have been expected. He basically ran on a platform of: 'I'm going to be take it back to the 1800s. Enough of this pandering and coddling of Black people.'' But she has seen enough to take the long view of history. 'This is normal. The pendulum swings both ways. We have to put up with that fact and recognise that this is the normal reaction to the progress we've made. There's bound to be some backsliding. More than 30 years have passed since Moseley Braun, wearing a peach business suit and clutching her Bible, was sworn into the Senate by the vice-president, Dan Quayle. Despite what can seem like baby steps forward and giant leaps back, she has faith that Americans will resist authoritarianism. 'I'm very optimistic, because people value democracy,' he says. 'If they get back to the values undergirding our democracy, we'll be fine. I hope that people don't lose heart and don't get so discouraged with what this guy's doing. 'If they haven't gotten there already, the people in the heartland will soon recognise this is a blatant power grab that's all about him and making a fortune for himself and his family and has nothing to do with the common good. That's what public life is supposed to be about. It's public service.'
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Carol Moseley Braun, first black female senator: 'Sexism is harder to change than racism'
'Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton … ' Carol Moseley Braun was riding a lift in the US Capitol building when she heard Dixie, the unofficial anthem of the slave-owning Confederacy during the civil war. 'The sound was not very loud, yet it pierced my ears with the intensity of a dog whistle,' Moseley Braun writes in her new memoir, Trailblazer. 'Indeed, that is what it was in a sense.' The first African American woman in the Senate soon realised that 'Dixie' was being sung by Jesse Helms, a Republican senator from North Carolina. He looked over his spectacles at Moseley Braun and grinned. Then he told a fellow senator in the lift: 'I'm going to make her cry. I'm going to sing Dixie until she cries.' But clearly, Moseley Braun notes, the senator had never tangled with a Black woman raised on the south side of Chicago. She told him calmly: 'Senator Helms, your singing would make me cry even if you sang Rock of Ages.' Moseley Braun was the sole African American in the Senate during her tenure between 1993 and 1999, taking on legislative initiatives that included advocating for farmers, civil rights and domestic violence survivors, and went on to run for president and serve as US ambassador to New Zealand. In a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian from her home in Chicago, she recalls her history-making spell in office, argues that sexism is tougher to crack than racism and warns that the Democratic party is 'walking around in a daze' as it struggles to combat Donald Trump. As for that incident with Helms, she looks back now and says: 'I had been accustomed to what we now call microaggressions, so I just thought he was being a jerk.' Moseley Braun was born in the late 1940s in the post-war baby boom. Her birth certificate listed her as 'white' due to her mother's light complexion and the hospital's racial segregation, a detail she later officially corrected. She survived domestic abuse from her father, who could be 'a loving advocate one minute, and an absolute monster the next', and has been guided by her religious faith. In 1966, at the age of 19, she joined a civil rights protest led by Martin Luther King. She recalls by phone: 'He was a powerful personality. You felt drawn into him because of who he was. I had no idea he was being made into a modern saint but I was happy to be there and be supportive. 'When it got violent, they put the women and children close to Dr King in concentric circles and so I was close enough to touch him. I had no idea at the time it was going to be an extraordinary point in my life but it really was.' Moseley Braun was the first in her family to graduate from college and one of few women and Black students in her law school class, where she met her future husband. In the 1970s she won a longshot election to the Illinois general assembly and became the first African American woman to serve as its assistant majority leader. But when she planned a historic run for the Senate, Moseley Braun met widespread scepticism. 'Have you lost all your mind? Why are you doing this? But it made sense to me at the time and I followed my guiding light. You do things that seem like the right thing to do and, if it make sense to you, you go for it.' Moseley Braun's campaign team included a young political consultant called David Axelrod, who would go on to be a chief strategist and senior adviser to Obama. She came from behind to win the Democratic primary, rattling the party establishment, then beat Republican Richard Williamson in the general election. She was the first Black woman elected to the Senate and only the fourth Black senator in history. When Moseley Braun arrived for her first day at work in January 1993, there was a brutal reminder of how far the US still had to travel: a uniformed guard outside the US Capitol told her, 'Ma'am, you can't go any further,' and gestured towards a side-entrance for visitors. At the time she did not feel that her trailblazing status conferred a special responsibility, however. 'I wish I had. I didn't. I was going to work. I was going to do what I do and then show up to vote on things and be part of the legislative process. I had been a legislator for a decade before in the state legislature so I didn't at the time see it as being all that different from what I'd been doing before. I was looking forward to it and it turned out to be all that I expected and more.' But it was not to last. Moseley Braun served only one term before being defeated by Peter Fitzgerald, a young Republican who was heir to a family banking fortune and an arch conservative on issues such as abortion rights. But that did not deter her from running in the Democratic primary election for president in 2004. 'It was terrible,' she recalls. 'I couldn't raise the money to begin with and so I was staying on people's couches and in airports. It was a hard campaign and the fact it was so physically demanding was a function of the fact that I didn't have the campaign organisation or the money to do a proper campaign for president. 'I was being derided by any commentator who was like, 'Look, this girl has lost her mind,' and so they kind of rolled me off and that made it hard to raise money, hard to get the acceptance in the political class. But I got past that. My ego was not so fragile that that it hurt my feelings to make me stop. I kept plugging away.' Eventually Moseley Braun dropped out and endorsed Howard Dean four days before the opening contest, the Iowa caucuses. Again, she had been the only Black woman in the field, challenging long-held assumptions of what a commander-in-chief might look like. 'That had been part and parcel of my entire political career. People saying: 'What are you doing here? Why are you here? Don't run, you can't possibly win because you're not part of the show and the ways won't open for you because you're Black and because you're a woman.' I ran into that every step of the way in my political career.' Since then, four Black women have followed in her footsteps to the Senate: Kamala Harris and Laphonza Butler of California, Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware. Moseley Braun says: 'I was happy of that because I was determined not to be the last of the Black women in the Senate. The first but not the last. That was a good thing, and so far the progress has been moving forward. But then we got Donald Trump and that trumped everything.' Harris left the Senate to become the first woman of colour to serve as vice-president, then stepped in as Democrats' presidential nominee after Joe Biden abandoned his bid for re-election. Moseley Braun comments: 'I thought she did as good a job as she could have. I supported her as much as I knew how to do and I'm sorry she got treated so badly and she lost like she did. You had a lot of sub rosa discussions of race and gender that she should have been prepared for but she wasn't.' Trump exploited the 'manosphere' of podcasters and influencers and won 55% of men in 2024, up from 50% of men in 2020, according to Pew Research. Moseley Braun believes that, while the country has made strides on race, including the election of Obama as its first Black president in 2008, it still lags on gender. 'I got into trouble for saying this but it's true: sexism is a harder thing to change than racism. I had travelled fairly extensively and most of the world is accustomed to brown people being in positions of power. But not here in the United States. We haven't gotten there yet and so that's something we've got to keep working on.' Does she expect to see a female president in her lifetime? 'I certainly hope so. I told my little grandniece that she could be president if she wanted to. She looked at me like I lost my mind. 'But Auntie Carol, all the presidents are boys.'' Still, Trump has not been slow to weaponise race over the past decade, launching his foray into politics with a mix of false conspiracy theories about Obama's birthplace and promises to build a border wall and drive out criminal illegal immigrants. Moseley Braun recalls: 'It was racial, cultural, ethnic, et cetera, backlash. He made a big deal out of the immigration issue, which was racism itself and people are still being mistreated on that score. 'They've been arresting people for no good reason, just because they look Hispanic. The sad thing about it is that they get to pick and choose who they want to mess with and then they do. It's too destructive of people's lives in very negative ways.' Yet her fellow Democrats have still not found an effective way to counter Trump, she argues. 'The Democratic party doesn't know what to do. It's walking around in a daze. The sad thing about it is that we do need a more focused and more specific response to lawlessness.' Five years after the police murder of George Floyd and death of Congressman John Lewis, there are fears that many of the gains of the civil rights movement are being reversed. Over the past six months Trump has issued executive orders that aim to restrict or eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. He baselessly blamed DEI for undermining air safety after an army helicopter pilot was involved in a deadly midair collision with a commercial airliner. Meanwhile, Washington DC dismantled Black Lives Matter Plaza in response to pressure from Republicans in Congress. None of it surprises Moseley Braun. 'It should have been expected. He basically ran on a platform of: 'I'm going to be take it back to the 1800s. Enough of this pandering and coddling of Black people.'' But she has seen enough to take the long view of history. 'This is normal. The pendulum swings both ways. We have to put up with that fact and recognise that this is the normal reaction to the progress we've made. There's bound to be some backsliding. More than 30 years have passed since Moseley Braun, wearing a peach business suit and clutching her Bible, was sworn into the Senate by the vice-president, Dan Quayle. Despite what can seem like baby steps forward and giant leaps back, she has faith that Americans will resist authoritarianism. 'I'm very optimistic, because people value democracy,' he says. 'If they get back to the values undergirding our democracy, we'll be fine. I hope that people don't lose heart and don't get so discouraged with what this guy's doing. 'If they haven't gotten there already, the people in the heartland will soon recognise this is a blatant power grab that's all about him and making a fortune for himself and his family and has nothing to do with the common good. That's what public life is supposed to be about. It's public service.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Uranus in Gemini Will Affect Each Zodiac Sign From 2025-2033
Strap yourself in for a wild and unpredictable ride, because Uranus in Gemini—one of the most exciting transits of 2025—is about to permanently change the world. Starting on July 7, this radical transit will unleash a wave of disruption across the collective, affecting every zodiac sign in ways we have yet to fully understand. Uranus is the planet of rebellion, innovation, and cosmic shockwaves, and when it enters Gemini—the zodiac sign of language, media, and technology—it supercharges the air with electricity. From now until August 3, 2033, Uranus in Gemini will rewrite the rules of communication, challenge how we share and shape information, and force us to reckon with the stories we've been told—as well as the ones we're still telling ourselves. This isn't your average transit. Uranus moves slowly, spending approximately seven years in each zodiac sign, which means its influence builds gradually and leaves a lasting impact. Its arrival in Gemini hasn't happened since the 1940s, and the last time it did, the world underwent a total transformation. From 1941 to 1949, Uranus in Gemini mirrored a world split in two—much like Gemini is symbolically connected to the 'twins.' We saw the Allied powers go up against the Axis Powers in WWII. The same thing happened when Uranus was in Gemini from 1858 to 1865, when the United States underwent the Civil War, and the Confederacy (Southern states) rebelled against the Union (Northern states). Last time Uranus was in Gemini, breakthroughs in communication and technology changed how people connected. We saw the rise of television, the invention of the first computer (ENIAC), the expansion of radio, and the rapid development of air travel. These innovations were both inspiring and irreversible. Uranus in Gemini doesn't just revolutionize how we think; it makes sure we can never go back. Now, these changes are unfolding all over again, but this time, the stakes are totally different. We're stepping into a world shaped by artificial intelligence, deepfakes, social algorithms, and a collective attention span that has been stretched dangerously thin. As Uranus moves through Gemini, it will confront us with questions like: Who controls the narrative? What's real? And how do we know what we know? Gemini governs language, perception, and short-form information. In the age of memes, misinformation, and AI-generated content, Uranus in Gemini will likely dismantle what we think of as 'truth,' replacing it with new methods of recording history and communicating reality. It could even destroy the internet as we know it and turn it into something completely different, possibly even instigating a digital blackout that wipes all the photos, videos, and projects we've spent years accumulating on the cloud. This transit may also coincide with the breakdown of binaries. While Gemini is symbolized by the 'twins,' Uranus thrives on disruption, and together, they'll challenge the way we divide our world into categories like good and evil, real and fake, male and female—and most notably, human and machine. Expect a rise in controversial identities, alternative relationships, multilingual modes of expression, and neurodivergent thinking. The very concept of intelligence is up for redefinition. And while that might sound terrifying, it's also thrilling. Uranus in Gemini offers liberation through curiosity, because once you start asking better questions, the old answers stop being satisfactory. If you're already at the edge of your seat, don't worry. These changes won't all happen at once, but over a long period of time. During the first few years of this transit, Uranus will form several powerful alignments with other outer planets, creating energetic windows that accelerate transformation. These aspect patterns will give us clues about where this revolution is headed and how we can influence it. On August 11, Uranus will form a supportive sextile to Saturn in Aries at 2 degrees, the first of two major alignments between these planets. While Uranus pushes forward, Saturn builds the structure to hold it. This aspect will be active from July 2025 through March 2026, with a second sextile exact on January 20, 2026. It's a cosmic green light for innovation with staying power. New ideas launched during this window could reshape systems like education, transportation, and digital governance for years to come. Shortly after, Uranus forms a sextile with Neptune in Aries at 1 degree on August 28, which will soften some of its disruptive force. Neptune brings dreams, illusions, and empathy to the table. This sextile will repeat on November 20—at 29 degrees of Pisces—and again on July 15, 2026—around 4 degrees of Aries. This will establish a long period—from August 2025 to September 2026—during which inspiration will lead to great innovations. This is an ideal time for visionary folk, such as artists, spiritualists, technologists, and those working to humanize the digital world. That said, progress won't be linear. Uranus stations retrograde at 1 degree Gemini on September 6, 2025, briefly retreating back into Taurus on November 7 before stationing direct at 27 degrees Taurus on February 3, 2026. This retrograde marks a period of integration and recalibration. You might second-guess the ideas you were so certain about, or feel lost in a whirlwind of conflicting information. Trust that this confusion has a purpose. Sometimes, we need to go backward before we can leap forward. When Uranus re-enters Gemini for good on April 26, 2026, the pace quickens once again and the stakes get even higher. Just a few months later, we arrive at one of the most defining moments of this transit: Uranus trine Pluto in Aquarius, which will be exact on July 18, 2026 and again on November 29, 2026, but active from May 2026 through early 2027. This is when things get real. Pluto in Aquarius is already reshaping our understanding of power, technology, and collective willpower—and Uranus in Gemini injects lightning into the equation. Expect massive breakthroughs around AI governance, virtual identity, social networks, and cultural revolutions. This trine is a game-changer, especially for activists, technologists, and whistle blowers. Uranus in Gemini begins on July 7, 2025 and will last until 2033. At the same time, Uranus forms a sextile to Jupiter in Leo on July 21, 2026, opening a dazzling portal for creative expression, courageous leadership, and bold new voices. This aspect will be brief but bright, as its energy spans from June to August 2026 and offers a burst of optimism in the midst of so much mental rewiring. If Uranus in Gemini is rewriting the story, Jupiter in Leo will hand you the microphone. Together, these planetary events form the opening act of an eight-year-long transformation. As we move through Uranus in Gemini, we're being asked to let go of outdated modes of thinking and embrace a more curious, dynamic, and multifaceted way of engaging with the world. Whether you're a journalist, a coder, a poet, or simply someone trying to keep up with these rapidly changing times, this transit will challenge you to think differently, speak authentically, and listen more closely than ever before. Every zodiac sign will experience this transit in a different area of life, depending on which of the 12 houses Gemini rules in your birth chart. But no matter who you are, Uranus in Gemini will ask you to stay open. Stay curious. Stay flexible. Because the future is speaking to you—and it's using a brand-new language to do it. How Uranus in Gemini will affect each zodiac sign Here's what you can expect from Uranus in Gemini from 2025 to 2033, according to your sun and/or rising sign (and seriously, you're missing out if you don't read these horoscopes for your rising sign): Aries Uranus in Gemini will shake up your third house of communication, intellect, travel, and technology. For the next seven years, this will radically altering the way you think, speak, and interact with the world around you. This is the house of siblings, neighborhoods, and short journeys, which is why you can also expect sudden changes in your local environment, your relationship with learning, or the platforms you use to express yourself. For the next seven years, your voice is being electrified—perhaps even revolutionized—making this a potent time to launch new writing projects, explore unfamiliar topics, or even completely change how you speak or process information. With Uranus forming supportive sextiles to Saturn and Neptune in Aries over the next couple years, your desire to innovate will be met with enough discipline and dream-power to make your visions real. Meanwhile, a trine to Pluto in Aquarius amplifies your influence in social circles, potentially positioning you as a thought leader or rebel among peers. Your ideas carry weight now. Speak with courage, even if your message challenges the system. Just know—the way you think, speak, and relate to your world will never be the same. Read your full 2025 horoscope. Taurus For the next seven years, Uranus in Gemini will revolutionize your second house of money, value, self-worth, and material security. You may begin to see your income, spending habits, and financial priorities in a radically different light. What once felt stable may now feel uncertain, but that instability is also your opportunity. This transit pushes you to liberate yourself from outdated definitions of success, especially if they were rooted in fear or scarcity. Your talents are evolving, and so is your relationship with wealth and personal power. As Uranus dances in harmony with Saturn and Neptune in the coming years, you'll be drawn toward visions that are both grounded and idealistic, helping you craft a new financial reality that honors your integrity. And thanks to a trine with Pluto in Aquarius, this shift may also help you reclaim a sense of control over your long-term path. Whether you're building a brand, investing in your future, or simply learning to believe you're worthy of abundance, this is a time of financial reinvention. Let go of what you've outgrown, because the Universe is offering you a much richer story. Read your full 2025 horoscope. Gemini You're not just witnessing the revolution, because you are the revolution. Uranus enters your sign for the first time since the 1940s, activating your first house of self, identity, image, and initiation. This is a complete energetic makeover. Over the next seven years, you'll undergo profound shifts in how you express yourself, the way others perceive you, and everything you identify with. You may feel more restless than usual and drawn to experimental modes of self expression. You might completely redesign the way you use your voice and the paths you choose to embark on. This is your permission slip to evolve, over and over again. As Uranus aligns with Saturn and Neptune, your internal growth will sync with external structures of your life and the visions that bring you momentum. And thanks to a trine with Pluto in Aquarius, your philosophical and spiritual beliefs will deepen as you find the courage to do things differently. You're no longer meant to fit into the version of yourself you've outgrown. If anything, this is your cue to step into a more electric, liberated version of your identity. You're not just becoming someone new; you're inventing what it means to be you altogether. Read your full 2025 horoscope. Cancer Uranus in Gemini will be working behind the scenes, moving through your twelfth house of the subconscious, solitude, surrender, and spiritual awakening for the next seven years. This isn't a loud or flashy transformation; it's subtle, strange, and deeply internal. You're being called to confront the beliefs, behaviors, and energetic patterns that operate underneath your awareness. Dreams may become more vivid, your intuition more electric. You might even experience spontaneous moments of insight or psychic downloads that guide you through periods of uncertainty. As Uranus forms harmonious aspects to Saturn and Neptune, this inner work becomes a bridge to something larger, allowing you to heal ancestral wounds, trust unseen forces, and learn how to release what you can't control. As Uranus forms a trine to Pluto in Aquarius, it adds intensity to your shadow work, helping you confront the fears and secrets you've buried. It's not always easy to be alone with your thoughts, but something magical happens when you are. Let go of the idea that healing must happen on a timeline. This chapter is about liberation through rest, retreat, and radical self-acceptance. Read your full 2025 horoscope. Leo For the next seven years, Uranus in Gemini will electrify your eleventh house of community, collaboration, dreams, and collective influence. You're being called to reinvent your social life—and maybe even your role within society itself. Friendships may evolve rapidly, unexpected allies may arrive, and long-term goals could shift overnight. If you've felt trapped by groupthink or stuck inside a fixed vision of your future, this transit will set you free. You're meant to find your people now—the ones who challenge your thinking and help you grow. As Uranus aligns with Saturn and Neptune over the next few years, your relationships with others will mirror your deeper transformations, especially around intimacy, trust, and shared vision. As Uranus forms a powerful trine to Pluto in Aquarius, this evolution will be intensified even further, putting you in touch with magnetic partnerships and mutual empowerment. Whether you're leading a movement, building a new network, or learning to break free from social conditioning, this is your invitation to connect with the world in a bold new way. The future you imagined? It's already shifting. Read your full 2025 horoscope. Virgo Uranus in Gemini is charging into your tenth house of career, reputation, legacy, and public relations, shaking up how you define success and what you're known for. Over the next seven years, you may completely change your profession, pivot your goals, or gain recognition for something you never expected. This isn't about chasing traditional milestones; it's about discovering a path that feels electric, aligned, and undeniably yours. If you've felt boxed in by old roles or expectations, Uranus will break open the ceiling. As Saturn and Neptune offer supportive guidance from across the sky, your partnerships—personal and professional—will help anchor your evolution. As Uranus also forms a trine with Pluto in Aquarius, this reinvention will also be tied to your daily work regimen, as well as your habits and wellness routines. You're building something bigger than a career; you're rethinking the legacy you're leaving behind altogether. It may feel disorienting to be seen in a new way, but this is your moment to rise in an unexpected direction. Trust the disruption, because it's clearing space for a future that actually fits. Read your full 2025 horoscope. Libra Uranus in Gemini is launching a seven-year-long journey through your ninth house of belief systems, higher education, publishing, and long-distance travel. This is your cosmic permission slip to explore new perspectives, challenge what you've been taught, and expand beyond the boundaries that once defined your worldview. You might find yourself suddenly drawn to a new philosophy, spiritual path, academic pursuit, or culture that shakes your understanding of reality. The more curious you are, the more doors will open. As Uranus harmonizes with Saturn and Neptune, your growth may be fueled by creative work, healing practices, or a desire to make meaning out of chaos. As Uranus forms a trine to Pluto in Aquarius, it will also deepen your urge to express what you've learned, whether through teaching, storytelling, or art. This is a time to question everything—your beliefs, your truth, even your identity as a thinker. Just know that this isn't a crisis of faith; you're being liberated from tale and outdated belief systems altogether. You're not losing your compass. You're simply learning how to follow a different kind of North Star. Read your full 2025 horoscope. Scorpio For the next seven years, Uranus in Gemini will activate your eighth house of transformation, intimacy, shared resources, and psychological depth, initiating a powerful unraveling of old attachments. This is where your soul gets stripped down to the truth. You may experience sudden shifts in financial entanglements—like inheritances, taxes, debts, or joint investments—or undergo a radical redefinition of trust, sex, and emotional vulnerability. What once felt too taboo or tightly guarded is now coming to light, asking to be dealt with honestly and authentically. With Saturn and Neptune providing you with the support you need to heal and the tools you need to get organized, this transformation won't happen in isolation, as it's being woven into your daily life, one step at a time. As Uranus also forms a trine with Pluto in Aquarius, these personal shifts will echo through your ancestral roots, your relationship with family, and your living space. You're being asked to release control, surrender your fear, and reclaim your power. Uranus in Gemini will be your initiation—the kind that frees you from the past and opens the door to something so much more alive. Read your full 2025 horoscope. Sagittarius Uranus in Gemini is entering your seventh house of relationships, partnerships, contracts, and oppositions, bringing unexpected changes to how you connect with others. Over the next seven years, your one-on-one dynamics—romantic, professional, or otherwise—will undergo a complete reinvention. If you've been clinging to old relationship models, Uranus will push you to let go. New people may enter your life suddenly, while others may exit just as fast. You're not here to repeat old patterns. You're meant to experience something radically different from everything you've known. With Uranus forming supportive sextiles to Saturn and Neptune, you're also learning to root your connections in honesty and emotional clarity. As Uranus forms a harmonizing trine to Pluto in Aquarius, it will intensify your intellectual curiosity, drawing in partners who stimulate your mind and challenge your beliefs. Whether you're falling in love in a way that defies your past, ending a toxic dynamic, or negotiating terms that finally feel fair, this transit is here to liberate you. The lesson? A true alliance doesn't control one another. Instead, it catalyzes evolution in both partners. Read your full 2025 horoscope. Capricorn For the next seven years, Uranus in Gemini will stir change in your sixth house of work, wellness, service, and daily routine, inviting you to completely reimagine how you structure your life. Your job may shift dramatically, perhaps paving the way for a new career path, a sudden departure, or an unconventional schedule. But this isn't just about work; it's about how you care for your body, your time, and your sense of purpose. What used to feel efficient may start to feel stifling, and that discomfort is pointing you toward liberation. As Uranus harmonizes with Saturn and Neptune, you're crafting a lifestyle that's both grounded and aligned with your dreams. Meanwhile, Uranus will also connect with Pluto in Aquarius, supporting deep, long-term changes in how you earn, value, and invest your energy. This is your moment to question the grind. Is it serving you? Is it sustainable? The systems you build now won't just help you get things done; they'll reflect your values, your evolution, and your readiness to live on your own terms. Read your full 2025 horoscope. Aquarius Uranus in Gemini will energize your fifth house of creativity, pleasure, romance, and self-expression for the next seven years, awakening parts of your personality that have long been lying dormant, waiting to be awakened. This is the house of joy and spontaneity, and Uranus—your modern ruling planet—wants to shake the dust off of your life. You might fall in love with someone completely unexpected, rediscover an artistic talent, or explore new forms of pleasure that defy the rules you've outgrown. This isn't about fitting in. It's about feeling alive. As Uranus forms a sextile to both Saturn and Neptune in Aries, it will strengthen your voice and sharpen your perception, allowing you to find ways to express your truth with more clarity and confidence. As Uranus forms a powerful trine to Pluto in Aquarius, you can also expect a boost of intensity and magnetism. You're not just creating for fun—you're channeling something totally transformative. This is a time to take creative risks, reclaim your joy, and allow playfulness to become a form of rebellion. The revolution starts within your heart, and the world is ready for what you've been holding back. Read your full 2025 horoscope. Pisces For the next seven years, Uranus in Gemini will activate your fourth house of home, family, roots, and emotional security, initiating a major transformation in your private life. Don't freak out, but the ground beneath you may feel a bit less stable than usual. Home dynamics could shift, relocations may occur, or ancestral stories might resurface in unexpected ways. This transit often coincides with a desire to break free from inherited patterns and rebuild a foundation that truly supports who you're becoming. What feels like chaos at first may ultimately bring clarity about what (and who) truly nurtures you. With Saturn and Neptune moving through Aries, you're also reshaping your values and priorities, learning what it really means to feel secure—financially, emotionally, and energetically. A trine from Pluto in Aquarius invites you to quietly release what no longer serves your spirit, helping you clear out generational baggage or internalized fears that have been keeping you small. This chapter is about creating a home that reflects your growth, not your past. What once defined you no longer has to contain you. Read your full 2025 horoscope. Best of StyleCaster 10 At-Home Date Ideas That'll Make You Feel Like You're Living in a Rom-Com The 13 Best MasterClass Courses Are 40% Off for a Limited-Time Spring Sale The 11 Best Low-Sugar Wines That Still Taste Delicious Solve the daily Crossword
Black America Web
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Black America Web
Confederate Group Sues Georgia Over Changes To Stone Mountain Confederate Monument
Source: DANIEL SLIM / Getty I will never understand the intellectual dishonesty of white people who still celebrate the Confederacy. The whole reason the American Civil War was fought was because the Confederacy felt entitled to their slaves, yet those who still celebrate the Confederacy get all apoplectic when that fact is brought up. This is what's currently happening in Georgia, where the Sons of Confederate Veterans have filed a lawsuit against the state over adding an exhibit that addresses the history of slavery, segregation, and the Ku Klux Klan to the Stone Mountain Confederate monument. According to AP News, the lawsuit is over the carving in Georgia's Stone Mountain depicting Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Gen. Robert E. Lee, and Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson on horseback. In 2021, the Stone Mountain Memorial Association voted to relocate Confederate flags at the monument and to build an exhibit informing how the monument contributed to the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan and the role segregation played in its creation. So obviously, the Sons of Confederate Veterans had an issue with the Confederate monument being honest about the Confederacy. The group believes that the removal of the flags from the Stone Mountain Confederate monument is a violation of Georgia law. 'When they come after the history and attempt to change everything to the present political structure, that's against the law,' Martin O'Toole, the chapter's spokesperson, told AP. Bro, they're not coming after the history, they're finally being honest about it. The Confederacy waged and lost a war against their own country because they couldn't stand the idea of Black people having the same freedoms as white folks. You can't be mad that this glorified participation trophy is truthful about the cause it was dedicated to. The United Daughters of the Confederacy commissioned the Stone Mountain Confederate monument in 1915. The carving was done by Gutzon Borglum, the same man who later went on to carve Mount Rushmore. The monument, along with the release of the 1915 film Birth of a Nation , were integral to the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan, to the point that the Klan burned a cross on top of the Confederate monument on Thanksgiving night that same year. Source: DANIEL SLIM / Getty Birmingham-based Warner Museums, which specializes in civil rights installations, was hired by the Stone Mountain Memorial Association to build the new exhibit. 'The interpretive themes developed for Stone Mountain will explore how the collective memory created by Southerners in response to the real and imagined threats to the very foundation of Southern society, the institution of slavery, by westward expansion, a destructive war, and eventual military defeat, was fertile ground for the development of the Lost Cause movement amidst the social and economic disruptions that followed,' the exhibit proposal says. The removal of flags is probably not the main reason the Sons of the Confederate Veterans are big mad about the exhibit. One of the planned parts of the exhibit addresses how both the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans helped perpetuate the 'Lost Cause' ideology and contributed to segregation efforts throughout the South. With that context, this whole lawsuit can't help but feel like the legal equivalent of the 'Wait. Is this f-ing play about us?' meme. Over the last decade, Confederate monuments have become a source of great debate. Last year a poll unsurprisingly found that the majority of white people think Confederate monuments should stay up. There have been efforts across the country to preserve Confederate monuments, including a bill that was passed in Florida last year that aims to preserve the monuments in order to 'protect white society.' No matter how hard Confederacy stans try to convince everyone that their 'rebel pride' is not about racism, the truth always manages to reveal itself. SEE ALSO: Poll: White Americans Support Protecting Confederate Legacy Anti-DEI Alabama Celebrates President Of The Confederacy's Birthday SEE ALSO Confederate Group Sues Georgia Over Changes To Stone Mountain Confederate Monument was originally published on
