logo
What We Are Reading Today: Freedom Season by Peniel E. Joseph

What We Are Reading Today: Freedom Season by Peniel E. Joseph

Arab News21 hours ago

In Freedom Season, Peniel E. Joseph offers a stirring narrative history of 1963, marking it as the defining year of the Black freedom struggle.
By year's end the murders of John F. Kennedy, Medgar Evers, and four Black girls at a church in Alabama left the nation determined to imagine a new way forward. 'Freedom Season' shows how the upheavals of 1963 planted the seeds for watershed civil rights legislation and renewed hope in the promise and possibility of freedom.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Military Commander Says 200 Marines Moved into Los Angeles to Protect Federal Property and Personnel
Military Commander Says 200 Marines Moved into Los Angeles to Protect Federal Property and Personnel

Asharq Al-Awsat

time26 minutes ago

  • Asharq Al-Awsat

Military Commander Says 200 Marines Moved into Los Angeles to Protect Federal Property and Personnel

About 200 Marines have moved into Los Angeles and will protect federal property and personnel, a military commander said Friday. Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, commander of Task Force 51 who is overseeing the 4,700 troops deployed, said Friday that the Marines have finished training on civil disturbance. Sherman said the Marines would take over operations at noon local time at the federal building in downtown Los Angeles. The development comes a day after the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked a federal judge's order that had directed President Donald Trump to return control of National Guard troops to California, shortly after a federal judge had ruled the Guard deployment was illegal and both violated the Tenth Amendment and exceeded Trump's statutory authority. The Marines will join some 2,000 National Guard troops that have been on the streets of the city since last week when immigration raids set off protests. Over the past three nights the demonstrations have been largely peaceful with only a handful of arrests, mostly due to people failing to disperse. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has called the troop deployment a 'serious breach of state sovereignty' and a power grab by Trump, and he has gone to court to stop it. The president has cited a legal provision that allows him to mobilize federal service members when there is 'a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.' Under the Posse Comitatus Act, active-duty forces are prohibited by law from conducting law enforcement. Sherman said the National Guard soldiers at that location will transition to provide protection to federal law enforcement agents but not participate in law enforcement activities. Sherman said the US Marine Corps is responsible for guarding US embassies overseas so they are well-trained on how to defend a federal building. Some National Guard troops have protected immigration agents making arrests but Sherman said that 'we have had no soldier or Marine detain anyone.' The National Guard troops that were protecting federal property will transition to providing protection to more federal law enforcement officials, Sherman said. 'I would like to emphasize that the soldiers will not participate in law enforcement activities,' he said. With more demonstrations expected over the weekend, and the possibility that Trump could send troops to other states for immigration enforcement, governors are weighing what to do. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has put 5,000 National Guard members on standby in cities where demonstrations are planned. In other Republican-controlled states, governors have not said when or how they may deploy troops. A group of Democratic governors earlier signed a statement this week calling Trump's deployments 'an alarming abuse of power.' Hundreds arrested in LA protests There have been about 470 arrests since Saturday, the vast majority of which were for failing to leave the area at the request of law enforcement, according to the police department. There have been a handful of more serious charges, including for assault against officers and for possession of a Molotov cocktail and a gun. Nine officers have been hurt, mostly with minor injuries.

Report: Trump Says US Was Aware of Israel's Plans to Attack Iran
Report: Trump Says US Was Aware of Israel's Plans to Attack Iran

Asharq Al-Awsat

time2 hours ago

  • Asharq Al-Awsat

Report: Trump Says US Was Aware of Israel's Plans to Attack Iran

US President Donald Trump told the Wall Street Journal on Friday that he and his team had known about Israel's plans to attack Iran. The Wall Street Journal said that, when asked what kind of a heads-up the United States received before the attack, Trump said in a brief phone interview: "Heads-up? It wasn't a heads-up. It was, we know what's going on." Trump said he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday and planned to speak with him again on Friday. Trump called the operation "a very successful attack, to put it mildly," the Wall Street Journal said. Earlier on Friday, he urged Iran to make a deal over its nuclear program, saying that there was still time for the country to prevent further conflict with Israel. "There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Israel launched strikes against Iran on Friday, saying it had targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders during the start of an operation to prevent Tehran from building a nuclear weapon. Israel's strikes come days before a sixth round of talks were planned between Iran and the US over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program this Sunday in Oman. Trump's new administration has been seeking a deal that would halt Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. It wasn't immediately clear how the strikes would affect plans for the talks.

US Shifts Military Resources in Middle East in Response to Israel Strikes and Possible Iran Attack
US Shifts Military Resources in Middle East in Response to Israel Strikes and Possible Iran Attack

Asharq Al-Awsat

time2 hours ago

  • Asharq Al-Awsat

US Shifts Military Resources in Middle East in Response to Israel Strikes and Possible Iran Attack

The United States is shifting military resources, including ships, in the Middle East in response to Israel's strikes on Iran and a possible retaliatory attack by Tehran, two US officials said Friday. The Navy has directed the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, which is capable of defending against ballistic missiles, to begin sailing from the western Mediterranean Sea toward the eastern Mediterranean and has directed a second destroyer to begin moving forward so it can be available if requested by the White House. President Donald Trump is meeting with his National Security Council principals Friday to discuss the situation. The US officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public. The forces in the region have been taking precautionary measures for days, including having military dependents voluntarily depart regional bases, in anticipation of the strikes and to protect those personnel in case of a large-scale response from Tehran. Typically, around 30,000 troops are based in the Middle East, and about 40,000 troops are in the region now, according to a third US official. That number surged as high as 43,000 last October amid the ongoing tensions between Israel and Iran as well as continuous attacks on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen. The Navy has additional assets that it could surge to the Middle East if needed, particularly its aircraft carriers and the warships that sail with them. The USS Carl Vinson is in the Arabian Sea — the only aircraft carrier in the region. The carrier USS Nimitz is in the Indo-Pacific and could be directed toward the Middle East if needed, and the USS George Washington just left its port in Japan and could be directed to the region if so ordered, one of the officials said. Then-President Joe Biden initially surged ships to protect Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas that launched the war in Gaza. It was seen as a deterrent against Hezbollah and Iran at the time. On Oct. 1, 2024, US Navy destroyers fired about a dozen interceptors in defense of Israel as the country came under attack by more than 200 missiles fired by Iran.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store