Author: Staff

  • The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

    By Michelle Alexander

    The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
    The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander – Available from Amazon.com

    Seldom does a book have the impact of Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. Since it was first published in 2010, it has been cited in judicial decisions and has been adopted in campus-wide and community-wide reads; it helped inspire the creation of the Marshall Project and the new $100 million Art for Justice Fund; it has been the winner of numerous prizes, including the prestigious NAACP Image Award; and it has spent nearly 250 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

    Most important of all, it has spawned a whole generation of criminal justice reform activists and organizations motivated by Michelle Alexander’s unforgettable argument that “we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.” As the Birmingham Newsproclaimed, it is “undoubtedly the most important book published in this century about the U.S.”

    Now, ten years after it was first published, The New Press is proud to issue a tenth-anniversary edition with a new preface by Michelle Alexander that discusses the impact the book has had and the state of the criminal justice reform movement today.

  • Nau, Arlo Joel

    Connert Media loves to honor those who have nurtured our staff through the years.

    Arlo J. Nau
    Arlo J. Nau

    [September 12, 1928 – September 4, 2018] Dr. Arlo J. Nau was the Administrator of the Arizona Ecumenical Council and an “Arizonaphile,” having married an Arizonan and traveled to the Grand Canyon State many times over the past thirty years. He has resided with his family in Phoenix. Most of Dr. Nau’s professional life was spent in Lutheran Campus Ministry at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, and at the State University of New York at Buffalo. In the early ’70s he completed an interdisciplinary Masters Research Project in Anthropology and Sociology at SUNY-Buffalo focusing on Pima Cultural and Social Change with special reference to the contribution of the Pima Presbyterian Church. His Doctor of Theology degree in New Testament Studies was received from the University of Toronto and the Toronto Scholl of Theology.

  • Vote: Virginia

  • Terry McAuliffe for Virginia’s Governor

    Terry McAuliffe
    Terry McAuliffe

    August 13, 2021 – MCLEAN, VA – On Monday, Terry for Virginia announced that it will require all campaign staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and released a new digital ad, “Our Future,” highlighting Glenn Youngkin’s fight for Donald Trump. Terry also made campaign stops in Brunswick, Greensville, Franklin and Suffolk. On Wednesday, Terry McAuliffe visited Inova Hospital in Fairfax and called on all Virginia health systems to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for employees. On Thursday, Terry joined the Democratic National Committee’s “Build Back Better” bus tour in Alexandria. Terry for Virginia also released a new ad, “Enough,” featuring lifelong Republicans who will vote for Terry McAuliffe for Governor. Terry also received the endorsement from the Virginia Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy. On Friday, Terry for Virginia released a new digital ad, “Don’t Florida Our Virginia,” highlighting Glenn Youngkin’s admiration for Ron DeSantis’ failed right-wing COVID-19 response. Terry McAuliffe also received an endorsement from Equality Virginia Advocates.

    References:

  • The American War in Afghanistan: A History

    The American War in Afghanistan: A History by Carter Malkasian
    The American War in Afghanistan: A History – Available from Amazon.com

    The American war in Afghanistan, which began in 2001, is now the longest armed conflict in the nation’s history. It is currently winding down, and American troops are likely to leave soon ― but only after a stay of nearly two decades.

    In The American War in Afghanistan, Carter Malkasian provides the first comprehensive history of the entire conflict. Malkasian is both a leading academic authority on the subject and an experienced practitioner, having spent nearly two years working in the Afghan countryside and going on to serve as the senior advisor to General Joseph Dunford, the US military commander in Afghanistan and later the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Drawing from a deep well of local knowledge, understanding of Pashto, and review of primary source documents, Malkasian moves through the war’s multiple phases: the 2001 invasion and after; the light American footprint during the 2003 Iraq invasion; the resurgence of the Taliban in 2006, the Obama-era surge, and the various resets in strategy and force allocations that occurred from 2011 onward, culminating in the 2018-2020 peace talks. Malkasian lived through much of it, and draws from his own experiences to provide a unique vantage point on the war. Today, the Taliban is the most powerful faction, and sees victory as probable. The ultimate outcome after America leaves is inherently unpredictable given the multitude of actors there, but one thing is sure: the war did not go as America had hoped. Although the al-Qa’eda leader Osama bin Laden was killed and no major attack on the American homeland was carried out after 2001, the United States was unable to end the violence or hand off the war to the Afghan authorities, which could not
    survive without US military backing. The American War in Afghanistan explains why the war had such a disappointing outcome.