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Here’s our pick of news, writing, and research this week that investigates political questions at the intersections of gender, race, and region.

1. “White Terrorism Is as Old as America
Brit Bennett: “I’m always struck by this hesitance not only to name white terrorism but to name whiteness itself during acts of racial violence. In a recent New York Times article on the history of lynching, the victims are repeatedly described as black. Not once, however, are the violent actors described as they are: white. Instead, the white lynch mobs are simply described as ‘a group of men’ or ‘a mob.’ In an article about racial violence, this erasure of whiteness is absurd. The race of the victims is relevant, but somehow the race of the killers is incidental. If we’re willing to admit that race is a reason blacks were lynched, why are we unwilling to admit that race is a reason whites lynched them?”

2. “A Tale Of Two Recoveries: Economic Recoveries For Black And White Homeowners
This ACLU and Social Science Research Council study investigates the changes in wealth and home equity for black and white Americans between 1999 and 2011, with a focus on the recent housing market collapse. Included in the findings: “While the typical white household showed a net zero loss in the two years immediately following the crash, black families were still in decline, with a median loss of 40 percent of their wealth—and that’s without including home equity.”

3. “Undocumented Trans Activist Jennicet Gutiérrez Challenges Obama on Deportations at White House Event
“President Obama, stop the torture and abuse of trans women in detention centers!” Jennicet Gutiérrez yelled out during an LGBT Pride Month event at the White House on Wednesday. In this interview, Gutiérrez tells Democracy Now, “I knew that was a big risk to take, but, to me, I’ve always been a risk taker. And the message and giving the voice to my community, that don’t have that voice, was more important than facing any consequences.” Read her op-ed in the Washington Blade here.

4. “MHP: Charleston attack was ‘an act of racial terror’
Melissa Harris-Perry: “To walk into the womb of Mother Emanuel, to worship for an hour with her people, to take their lives in calculating, cold blood, is to strike at the very heart of the black American struggle for freedom.”

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