Beacon Broadside

recent posts

about

Category: Politics and Current Events

  • We Have to Do Better for Survivors: How the Bill Cosby Mistrial Could Deter Other Rape Victims from Coming Forward

    By Lynn K. Hall: When you Google the name of the man who raped me when I was eighteen, the top hit says, “There are bad men. And then there are bad man. *** is one of the very worst men.” When I publicly accused this man of rape, I stood in a sizeable line…

  • Pride and Criminalized Queers

    By Kay Whitlock | Here’s a thought I keep coming back to during this tradition month of Pride celebrations (and protests by some LGBTQ folks against the growing corporate influence and welcoming of strong police presence in Pride celebrations.) It’s not my thought alone. Any number of people—activists, organizers, scholars—have, over many years, voiced something…

  • Massachusetts Can Lead Our Democracy into the Twenty-First Century

    By Adam Eichen For the last nine months, we have assessed the state of our democracy. In our search, we confirmed the now seemingly intuitive notion that Americans across the country are upset, for they feel increasingly powerless, that their voice does not matter, and that the political system does not represent them. But we…

  • Beacon Press Marches in Boston Pride

    We’re excited to be marching in Boston Pride this year! Will we see you there tomorrow? You’ll see us in bright blue shirts emblazoned with “Publishing with Pride,” handing out buttons and postcards with links to PDF samples of select LGBT titles from our catalog. And it looks like the weather will be cooperative this…

  • Doomsday Vault or Genetic Diversity?: Saving Seeds to Save Humanity

    By Claire Hope Cummings The flooding of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault comes as a warning. Although the seeds are safe for now, this close call should caution us not to assume we can control and predict the natural world. Climate change, natural disasters, and social unrest are ever-present threats to seeds. The best response…

  • The Reverend Dr. William Barber II Steps Down from NAACP to Join New Poor People’s Campaign

    After twelve years of leading the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II has announced that he is stepping down as state chapter president. He’ll be joining activists and faith leaders across the nation to lead them in a new Poor People’s Campaign, envisioned to advocate economic justice for…

  • US Paternalism Still Presumes Power Over Native Lands and Lives

    By Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker Indigenous nations have for many decades negotiated with and litigated against the United States for its unfair and many times illegal dealings with them, dealings that have resulted in the massive loss of land and resources. Beginning with the Indian Claims Commission in the 1940s, the United States has…

  • What the Thirteenth Anniversary of Marriage Equality in Massachusetts Means to Me

    By Nicholas DiSabatino Thirteen years ago, the idea of same-sex marriage was still so alien to people. Even then Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry wouldn’t respond to questions about it in public for fear of upsetting potential voters. Other states would follow eventually, but for me, it felt like forever.

  • Laying Out to Stand Up: How Arkansas Judge Wendell Griffen Has Always Led By Example

    By Rashod Ollison It didn’t surprise me to see him in the news. Back home in central Arkansas where I grew up in the 1980s and ’90s, Judge Wendell Griffen has long been a respected presence in the local press. But this week as he faces impeachment for a Good Friday protest against the death…

  • My Dinner with Tucker Carlson

    By Bill Ayers | And then they arrived. Let the rumpus begin! Spirited greetings and introductions all around, laughter at the improbability of the whole thing, a flurry of separate conversations as wine was poured and glasses lifted. I proposed a toast to Tucker, thanking him for his generous gift to the Public Square and…