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New Statesman
a day ago
- Politics
- New Statesman
How do we keep the lid on race-related violence?
A police car set on fire by far-right activists in Sunderland last August. Photo by Ian Forsyth / Getty Images 'Shower upon us abundant rain,' goes a Muslim prayer one learns in childhood, 'swiftly and not delayed.' A prayer for rain that makes sense in the desert. Imagine my surprise on learning the Church of England has one too. Whose idea was it to institute such a prayer in this soggy, inclement land? Its diverse uses have, however, recently become apparent: in the middle of an inconvenient hosepipe ban, to foil defeat in the cricket, or – more seriously – to maintain public order in times so tense that the country is being called a 'tinderbox' at risk of exploding again into nationwide rioting. Last summer, a far-right frenzy gripped towns across Britain. Hotels housing asylum seekers were almost burned down. Now, another such hotel in Epping is subject to anti-migrant demonstrations; these are spreading. Fearing another summer of discord, officials have been appealing to the deus ex machina of the weather. It's well known that hot summers provide the perfect conditions for public unrest to germinate. The London riots in 2011 were a summer affair, as were the 1981 England riots, the worst race-related violence the UK has seen. Tempers flare with temperatures. And rain souses the appetite to indulge in outdoor clashes. A historic heatwave also provides the metaphor for simmering conflict in Do the Right Thing (1989), Spike Lee's classic film about racial tension in a predominantly black Brooklyn neighbourhood. Lee saturates the frame – Gauguin-like – with volcanic hues of red and orange. Our eyes are primed – lava will surely fly – and after a youngster is choked to death by a cop, as George Floyd would be, the community at last erupts into violence. What would be the right thing to do in these circumstances? Lee is a dialectical filmmaker. He ends by quoting from two opposing – though equally compelling – schools of thought about political protest: Martin Luther King Jr's contention that violence is 'both impractical and immoral', and Malcolm X's rejoinder, that when violence is 'in self-defence, I call it intelligence'. The film doesn't say which of these courses of action is, in the end, right. I admire Malcolm X's courage. His insinuation that the bullet may ultimately be more effective than the ballot was born of the chronic failure of American democracy. But rewatching Lee's film, I found myself leaning more towards King. I recoiled during the climactic scene, when the amiable protagonist, Mookie, smashes up the Italian-American pizzeria that provides him with employment, a father-figure and a lively communal space (last year's rioters similarly ransacked their own community centres and amenities). Finally, the rioters threaten the local Asian-run grocery. At this moment, seeing such a familiar character threatened, I fully realised where it was that I stand in this debate. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe For all my sympathy with this community ravaged by the violence of an unjust state, I could not accept this rage against blameless bystanders. I recalled the real-life Bangladeshi family in Minneapolis, whose livelihood – a restaurant – was destroyed in Black Lives Matter protests five years ago. 'Let my building burn,' its immigrant owner, Ruhel Islam, proclaimed, 'justice needs to be served.' The restaurant's name still sticks in the mind: Gandhi Mahal, in homage to the man whose still revolutionary doctrine of non-violence King was an adherent of. By overcoming self-interest and standing with a just cause at personal cost, so clearly was Ruhel Islam. The rioters from Do the Right Thing and from last summer have divergent motives: Mookie and his friends in 1980s New York are crying out for racial justice, while last year's rioters were motivated, I do believe, by racial animus. Nevertheless, in distinct ways, they exemplify anxieties and resentments around race that can stew in any 'melting pot' society. Incidents of police brutality or, as has recently been the trigger in UK unrest, sexual assault, can blow the lid off. When that happens, since time immemorial, immigrant communities like mine are the ones consumed in the fury. How, then, to keep the lid on? This, now, is our challenge. Personally, I'd like to spread the Mahatma's teachings in Epping, but alas, that may fall on deaf ears. Severe sentencing was what the courts opted for – on violent demonstrators, deservedly, but also on inciteful or hateful speech. This, on reflection, seems appropriate. Terror was unleashed by the now jailed Lucy Connolly's call to burn down asylum hotels. But such authoritarianism betrays a political establishment increasingly of the view that the country's diverse ethnic and religious make-up can no longer sustain open discussion of topics sensitive to its respective communities. Note the state's recent activity: a superinjunction to prevent media reporting on Afghan refugee resettlement; an Online Safety Act that is concealing from the public controversial footage; making it a crime even to voice support for Palestine Action; penalising the burning of a Koran. Here, then, is a government that thinks segments of the population are so vexed by migration, or so offended by criticism of Israel, or Islam, that these conversations must be suppressed to keep the peace: ignorance coerced for the sake of bliss. If this is the cost of being tolerated, I don't really feel like paying it. I refuse to believe the country is such a tinderbox. Social cohesion will come, but only by having and withstanding difficult conversations, not by avoiding them. That's how to do the right thing. Failing that, I have my prayer for rain. [See also: One year on, tensions still circle Britain's asylum-seeker hotels] Related
New York Times
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The curious career of Malcom – Barcelona, Russia and now a Club World Cup star for Al Hilal
After helping to send Manchester City home from the Club World Cup in a spin, Al Hilal winger Malcom joined his wife Leticia, two sons and wider family for a trip to Walt Disney World on Wednesday. Having walked off the pitch in the 64th minute looking exhausted after his quick-fire goal and de facto assist stunned City, the player's recovery came in the form of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Cinderella. Advertisement For the 28-year-old Brazilian, the latter's story arc is perhaps rather fitting. Al Hilal certainly seem the perfect fit for him at this stage in his career, anyway. Named after his father's hero Malcolm X, a prominent figure during the civil rights movement in the U.S., Malcom has excelled in the same land at this tournament. He performed well against Real Madrid, Pachuca and Red Bull Salzburg, going close to scoring with his left foot from the edge of the box in the latter two group games, but it was against City, in the 4-3 victory that sealed a place in the quarter-finals, where Malcom found top gear. In the 20 minutes after half-time, Malcom almost single-handedly changed the game. Within 30 seconds of the restart, he turned Rayan Ait-Nour on the halfway line and drove past another two players before playing the ball wide for a cross. The ball fell to him and his shot was parried straight to Marcos Leonardo to equalise. Less than five minutes later, he spotted City's openness at their own corner and won a 60-yard sprint against Ait-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders before sliding the ball under Ederson. Although he had to come off just after the hour mark, Malcom's conviction to drive towards goal with every dribble spread belief to his team-mates and the thousands of Saudis in the stadium. It was a reminder of the ability he possesses, the talent that won him a €41million (£35m/$48m at current exchange rates) move to Barcelona in 2018. His year there can be viewed as a misstep, a brief spell that was unmemorable from the off. Barcelona's manager at the time, Ernesto Valverde, was having breakfast one day with his assistants when they read in the newspaper Sport that a deal to sign the Brazilian from Bordeaux was practically done. When the club confirmed, Valverde was shocked and inquired what the plan was. They had stolen in on Sevilla and Monchi at the eleventh hour and Malcom had jumped at the chance to play at the Camp Nou alongside Lionel Messi. He scored four goals in 24 appearances in all competitions, starting only six times in La Liga. Malcom's potential was clear as a 16-year-old at the 2014 Copinha, the biggest youth tournament in Brazil. He shone for his hometown club Corinthians, winning admirers among the scouts in attendance — and, he later revealed, from hundreds of school girls who were messaging him after his name became known. He broke into the first team soon after he turned 17 and became a regular the next season. Advertisement His Corinthians under-20s manager Osmar Loss described him as a 'responsible irresponsible' character, whose desire to improve saw him study clips of Romario as he worked on how to become more efficient in the final third. Malcom helped Corinthians win the league in 2015 but, after just 70 games, he was destined for Europe. He chose to move to France with Bordeaux, who acquired half of his player rights for €5million. It represented guaranteed regular football in a top-five league while still a teenager and he adapted quickly, scoring long-range strikes against Lyon, Toulouse, Saint-Etienne and Dijon. However, the player showed some naivety when he and his family posed for a photo with Neymar immediately after Bordeaux had conceded six goals against Neymar's Pari Saint-Germain. Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal were credited with interest in him but Barcelona won the race and Brazil honours arrived a few months later. After his first goal for Barcelona against Inter Milan in the Champions League in November 2018, he declared his story as just getting started. Valverde hoped it would be a 'launchpad'. In reality, it was to be a premature exit from Europe's main stage at the age of 22. Since 2019, his career has been spent in the petrostates of Russia and Saudi Arabia, playing for the dominant clubs in both leagues — Zenit Saint Petersburg and Al Hilal. Malcom saw it as a 'bridge', an experience at one of the world's biggest clubs which automatically inflated his status when he arrived at Russia's richest club Zenit for a fee of €40m. It was a productive time in Russia, winning four league titles in a row and being named the league's player of the year in 2022-23, when he scored 23 goals in 27 games. As Al Hilal strategised where to splash the cash handed to them by the Saudi state's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Malcom's exploits and Russia's invasion of Ukraine made him a realistic target. It reunited him with Neymar, the idol he had once been too eager to get close to back in France, but Brazil's record scorer suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture to his knee which meant they barely shared the pitch together. Instead, Malcom is the Brazilian forward who has gone on to lead the club's revolution, scoring in the last 16, quarter-final and semi-final in the Asia Champions League. He won the Saudi Pro League with Al Hilal, for whom he scored a hat-trick on his debut, signalling that he was going to be one of the top players at that level. But many saw it as an unambitious move, a sign he may have given up on earning a regular spot in the Brazil squad despite scoring the winning goal in the final against Spain to win gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Malcom has certainly not been taking it easy in Saudi. He has taken his personal physiotherapist, Igor, with him to live full-time there and help ensure he is in the best shape possible. Advertisement 'Malcom is truly a big-hearted guy, very family-oriented,' says Igor. 'He truly believes in the project, which is ambitious and involves some of the biggest names in world football. Malcom would never have taken on this challenge if he didn't see real purpose and commitment in the mission to strengthen the league. 'Financial considerations are certainly part of any high-performance career. But beyond that, the opportunity to be part of a growing league, one that's undergoing a remarkable transformation, was also a strong motivator. 'We've seen clear evidence of that in the high-level matches being played, including the game against Manchester City. This is a new era for football in the region, and Malcom is playing an active role in shaping that future.' If Malcom can inspire Al Hilal to victory against Fluminense on Friday in Orlando, Florida, they will be just two wins from staging the kind of upset that could make some people think differently about those big-name players who joined the Saudi project in the early stages.
New York Times
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Lynn Hamilton, a Steady Presence on ‘Sanford and Son,' Dies at 95
Lynn Hamilton, who became a familiar presence in American living rooms in the 1970s playing Donna Harris, the elegant and unflinching girlfriend of Redd Foxx's irascible Fred Sanford, on 'Sanford and Son,' and Verdie Foster, a dignified matriarch, on 'The Waltons,' died on Thursday at her home in Chicago. She was 95. Her death was confirmed by her former manager and publicist, the Rev. Calvin Carson. Before landing her breakout television roles, Ms. Hamilton had considerable experience onstage and onscreen. She made her Broadway debut in 1959 in 'Only in America,' in a cast that also included Alan Alda. She appeared in John Cassavetes's first film as a director, 'Shadows' (1958); two films starring Sidney Poitier, 'Brother John' (1971) and 'Buck and the Preacher' (1972); and 'Lady Sings the Blues,' the 1972 Billie Holiday biopic starring Diana Ross. Still, almost no experience could have prepared her for working with Mr. Foxx, a hallowed comedian who grew up on the streets — he palled around Harlem with the young Malcolm X during their hustler days — and made his name with nightclub routines that were socially conscious and unapologetically dirty. 'Sanford and Son,' a groundbreaking NBC hit, broke racial barriers. A predominantly Black sitcom, it starred Mr. Foxx as Fred Sanford, a cantankerous and wholly unfiltered Los Angeles junk man, and Demond Wilson as Lamont, his sensible, long-suffering son. Ms. Hamilton was originally cast, as a landlady, for only one episode during the show's first season. She made enough of an impact to earn a regular role later that season as Donna, Fred's girlfriend and, eventually, fiancée. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Arab News
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X'
Author: Alex Haley Malcolm X's posthumously published 1965 autobiography, crafted with Alex Haley, remains an indispensable document of the 20th-century US. Its visceral narrative traces an extraordinary metamorphosis — from street hustler to revolutionary thinker — and offers enduring lessons about systemic injustice and the power of self-reinvention. The opening chapters detail the African American civil rights activist's fractured youth: His father's violent death (officially a car accident, though family attributed it to white supremacists), his mother's mental collapse and his pivot to crime as 'Detroit Red.' What struck me most was how imprisonment became his unlikely crucible. Through voracious self-education and conversion to the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X transformed into one of America's most incisive racial commentators. Haley structures Malcolm's blistering critiques — including his rejection of nonviolent protest and disillusionment with white liberalism — with journalistic precision. Malcolm X's 1964 pilgrimage to Makkah proves the memoir's most consequential pivot. Witnessing racial unity in the holy city fundamentally reoriented his worldview. He began advocating cross-racial coalition-building against oppression, a philosophical evolution abruptly halted by his February 1965 assassination. Haley's contribution deserves note: His disciplined prose tempers Malcolm's polemical intensity, lending the narrative reflective depth without diluting its urgency. While academics occasionally quibble over timeline specifics (notably Malcolm X's early NOI chronology), the memoir's moral core stands unchallenged. What lingers for me is Malcolm X's intellectual ferocity — how his advocacy for education as liberation weaponized knowledge against subjugation. Malcolm X's demand for Black self-determination continues to challenge America's unresolved racial contradictions with unnerving relevance. Half a century later, the book remains essential reading not for easy answers, but for its uncompromising questions.
Boston Globe
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
75 years later, Malcolm X's pardon request resurfaced in Massachusetts. What should the state do with it?
Malcolm X pardon file. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Nearly 75 years later, the pardon file for the future civil rights leader surfaced amid a routine renovation of a state government building. The documents provide a snapshot of the budding activist during a formative time. By the time of the report, he had converted to Islam in prison and begun advocating about racial issues. The discovery of the documents also provides an opportunity, according to the Governor's Council member whose staff found them, for the state to take a small step to acknowledge a historic wrong. Related : Advertisement Terrence Kennedy, the council member and a longtime defense attorney, said Governor Maura Healey's office should grant the pardon request posthumously for Malcolm X. The sentencing, Kennedy said, was unduly severe. 'It was excessive, and I cant believe that race wasn't a factor,' he told the Globe. Healey's office did not comment. Members of Malcolm X's family, who still live in Roxbury, said the documents bring an interesting opportunity for a teaching moment. Advertisement 'It was an exorbitantly harsh punishment,' said Malcolm X's grandnephew Arjun Collins. Still, a pardon just for pardon's sake would feel like an empty gesture, he said: 'Too little, too late.' But there's a way of doing this right, he said. The state could use this as an occasion to take a broader look at mass incarceration rather than just one man. Examine how Black people were by the criminal justice system treated before, and how disparities remain. 'In the end, words don't mean anything,' Collins said. 'Only action means something.' Malcolm X speaks to reporters in Washington, D.C., May 16, 1963. Uncredited/Associated Press Malcolm X's pardon request, filed Dec. 4, 1950, contains a small amount of biographical information in what appears to be his own hand. He wrote his name as Malcolm X. Little, adding that he was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 19, 1925. The file also contains reports created by state bureaucrats detailing Malcolm X's personal and criminal histories to analyze whether he should be granted a pardon. He grew up in Michigan until his teenage years when, in 1940, he came to live with his half-sister Ella Collins in Roxbury. He started taking odd jobs, according to reports and his autobiography: a busboy, a shoe shiner, and a soda jerk. He also began doing drugs and gambling. In 1945, according to the pardon file, he began burglarizing homes, a step up from the petty crimes he had been picked up for previously. The pardon board wrote that the 20-year-old Malcolm X, along with with two other men and three women, 'made a practice of driving around, spotting darkened houses that looked like good prospects to rifle, breaking in, and carrying off house furnishings, jewelry, and clothing.' Advertisement The reports in the pardon file lists breaks in Belmont, Milton, Arlington, Brookline, Newton, and Walpole, from November 1945 to January 1946, when he was arrested and admitted to the break-ins. He was arraigned in Quincy District Court that Jan. 16. Over the next several months he was sentenced in three different counties, in effect resulting in a sentence of eight to 10 years in prison. He appealed some of the sentences, the report says, and was denied. Malcolm X filed his sparse pardon request in December 1950. It doesn't appear to make much of an argument, other than citing his half-sister, Ella Collins, as someone who would vouch for him. Another piece of paper lists the name of a political science professor in Texas, but the purpose of that paper isn't clear. Pardon-board staff compiled a report of his personal and criminal history. The report, which is part of the file, says he would be eligible for parole a few months later, in June 1951, though his sentence could run through February 1956. That report ended with a recommendation that the governor deny his request. The application passed through the district attorney's and attorney general's offices. They, too, recommended denial. 'The members of the board have reviewed all the facts in connection with this case, but can find no extenuating circumstances which would warrant executive clemency,' the board wrote in a letter to Dever, the governor, on Jan. 30, 1951. The pardon file does not have any documentation of the governor's decision, though it's clear in retrospect that Malcolm X was not pardoned because he was paroled out in August 1952. Advertisement Over the 14 years after his release, Malcolm X's public persona would rise meteorically as the civil rights movement gained steam. He worked to found the Nation of Islam's No. 11 Mosque in Roxbury, and rose through the ranks of the Black nationalist organization. Related : But after he split with Elijah Muhammad, the Nation's leader, he was assassinated in 1965 at age 39. Three men who were members of the group were charged and convicted, though two of the men have won motions to have their convictions vacated in recent years. The firebrand activist gained fame with a more militant approach to the push for civil rights than his contemporary the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Sixty years after his death, Boston hasn't forgotten the man who lived here, who stole here, who found a purpose here, who preached here. A large street cutting through the middle of Roxbury bears his name, and so does the park near the Dale Street home where he and his sister lived. That home has been The fact that someone in Kennedy's office bothered to recognize the old document and potentially do something with it, Rodnell Collins said, means that people are interested in learning from the past and continuing to seek ways to improve. 'This is what my family and uncle were about,' Rodnell Collins said, clad in a florescent yellow work vest as he labored on the house. 'Teaching, and learning.' Advertisement Sean Cotter can be reached at
