Dear Progressive Reader,
Here at The Progressive we are saddened by the passing of the legendary progressive actor and activist Ed Asner. Asner died last Sunday at the age of 91. In December 2019, Asner performed in a benefit for our magazine at Madison’s Bartell Theater (shortly before the pandemic gripped the nation and shuttered venues). Writing in his memory this week, Ed Rampell says, “Ed Asner was a compassionate, kind man who had a gruff exterior that cloaked a heart of gold, a dedicated champion of the underdog. Hollywood and the social justice movement have lost one of their top talents and staunchest stalwart defenders of human rights.”
For our Public Schools Advocate project, Ashana Bigard writes this week from hurricane-ravaged New Orleans about the “choice” not afforded to parents by the city’s charter schools—safety from exposure to COVID-19. Teresa Albano reports on the new media literacy requirement in Illinois high schools. “While many schools in the state and throughout the country teach media literacy in some way or another,” she notes, “Illinois is the first state in the nation to make it compulsory.” And Paul Von Blum provides a reminiscence of the late scholar James Loewen who sought, through books like Lies My Teacher Told Me, to highlight the stories missing from our educational curricula. “This lack of knowledge about the United States’ radical past severely hinders today’s students by failing to inform them of the long historical tradition of resistance to injustice, racism, homophobia, sexism, and capitalism itself,” says Von Blum.
Two op-eds from our Progressive Perspectives project this week address upcoming holidays. Christopher Cook writes that, “As we celebrate Labor Day and ‘essential workers’ amid a viciously resurgent pandemic, we ought to match our rhetoric with some concrete protections for these workers.” And Deepa Kumar, author of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, notes that as we approach the anniversary of September 11 (designated as Patriot Day), “Twenty years after the attacks of 9/11, anti-Muslim racism is more deeply entrenched in U.S. society than ever. . . . It is not enough to withdraw from Afghanistan,” she concludes. “We must also end the global drone program and instead invest in infrastructure in all of the war-torn countries impacted by the United States.”
The Progressive has two events coming up this week. On Thursday, September 9 at 7:00 p.m. Central Time, we will hold our annual “Fighting Bob Fest” – it will be streamed live on the Internet through our Facebook page and YouTube channel. Featured speakers this year will include: Dennis Kucinich, Mandela Barnes, Laura Flanders, John Nichols, Sarah Godlewski, Greg Palast, Ruth Conniff, Jim Hightower, Tammy Baldwin, Mark Pocan, and Bill Lueders. Plus we’ll have music by Si Kahn, Daniel Libby, David Huckfelt, and more.
Then on Saturday, September 11, at 10:00 a.m. at Madison, Wisconsin’s Forest Hill cemetery (1 Speedway Road), we will hold an event to rededicate the newly restored grave markers of Robert M. and Belle Case La Follette. Speakers will include John Nichols, some La Follette family members, and music by local favorites the Raging Grannies. Their selections will include the debut of a new song about Belle Case La Follette.
Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
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