As we find ourselves upon the system’s celebration of its independence from England, the 4th of July represents the United States replacing England as the imperialist power trying to control North America—and later the world. Two of the greatest “telling...

By Eric Mann originally published in Colorlines Magazine on June 10th, 2013. Make Demands, Try the System  George Zimmerman will go on trial today for the murder of Trayvon Martin. But let’s be clear, within the defense’s opening arguments, for many who follow...

The Fight for the Soul of Los Angeles: What progressive activists can learn from a grassroots campaign against transit racism. By Eric Mann originally published in The Nation Magazine on May 27th, 2013. On November 6, 2012, as progressive voters cheered the re-election of Barack...

December 2012 Long Distance Revolutionary: a Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal, is a compelling documentary about a riveting historical figure—a passionate, partisan, and persuasive intervention in the not at all “free marketplace of ideas.” Mumia Abu Jamal is the most famous...

Preface to the review which follows below: My work on Stephen Spielberg's film, Lincoln has been transformative. I have gone back to read W. E. B. Dubois’ Black Reconstruction in America, Doris Kearns Goodman’s Band of Rivals, and Fawn Brodie’s...

My thesis is that the film does a great historical disservice by portraying the Civil War as a debate among white people about Black people, who, in the film, hardly exist. I am especially disappointed and baffled by the decisions...