Dear Progressive Reader,

From August 20-23, 1984, the Trindad-born British author V.S. Naipaul covered the Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas. It was the convention that heralded the launch of Ronald Reagan’s second term as President. But it was also a convention that solidified the new right of the 1980s, which in many ways laid the groundwork for the far right campaign that has led to the packing we see today of positions of power from local school boards to the U.S. Supreme Court. “Power was the theme of the convention . . . national power, personal power, the power of the New Right,” said Naipaul in his extensive report for The New York Review of Books. One speaker at that convention was Eldridge Cleaver, the former Black Panther turned Republican and Reagan booster. In the piece, Naipaul quotes from Cleaver’s prescient 1968 statement in the autobiographical book Soul on Ice: “A broad national consensus was developed over the civil rights struggle . . . . The task which the new right has feverishly undertaken is to erode and break up this consensus.”

In countless ways, the leaked draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion on the undoing of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision is emblematic of this agenda of erosion. As Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck told the Texas Standard, “it could open the door to challenges to other decisions.” Past court decisions under threat could include marriage equality, consensual sexual activities between adults, and other equal rights gains won over the past six decades.

Writing for our website, just after the leak was announced, abortion rights activist Steph Black tell us, “With the leaked U.S. Supreme Court opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade, the future of reproductive freedom is looking bleak. But here are some actions you can take.” The article lists nine things that people can do right now to support continued access to safe abortion services. Writer Molly Wadzeck Kraus says, “This year is shaping up to be a devastating time for abortion rights,” and as one abortion fund director tells her, “We are moving toward a mass public health crisis for abortion and health care in this country.” And, as Sarah Lahm reports from Minnesota, “Most people in the United States who seek abortions live in poverty, as documented by the Guttmacher Institute. In South Dakota, the poverty rate among adults and children has risen substantially in recent years, while access to reproductive health care has been thwarted.” In fact, in her neighboring state, as Lahm explains, there is only one Planned Parenthood clinic for the entire state, and that clinic has only one doctor who performs abortions—and that doctor lives in another state!

In other news, this past Sunday was International Workers Day. As Jeff Abbott reports from Guatemala, workers throughout Latin America honored the holiday, often in spite of dangerous conditions and government repression. Here in the United States, workers are making inspiring gains in forming new unions at previously unorganized work places like Half Price Books, as Mike Kuhlenbeck chronicles. And Joe George tells the story of the late comic book artist Neal Adams, who dedicated his life to defending the rights of his fellow workers in the comics industry.

Also, Bill Lueders provides an update on his investigation into the unjust eviction of elderly residents (including his own mother) from Wisconsin care facilities. Jake Whitney recounts the poignant story of a Japanese-American family interned in a camp during World War II through an interview with one of the surviving daughters. And Jackie Abramian speaks with Ukranian peace builder, Olena Zinenko.

Plus, Robert Davis examines the ways in which the U.S. rental market is failing people of color. David Masciotra turns a lens on the rightwing rage over high gas prices. And Daphne Yao takes a look at the coming of genetically engineered “Frankenfish” to the Pacific Northwest.

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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