Urban/Global Politics

Here is the recording of the full talk, which happened on September 10, 2020, through the auspices of the Whitney Museum. Thanks again to the Whitneys’ Marcela Guerreo and Megan Haeur! In Latinx: The New Force in Politics and Culture (Verso, 2018), Ed Morales considers the ways in which Latinx identity disrupts binary thinking about race in […]

Perhaps the most emblematic image of Puerto Rico’s encounter with Tropical Storm Isaías last week was one of a National Guard soldier carrying a young boy on his back through Barrio Sábalo in the western town of Mayagüez, rescuing him from a rising torrent of brown water from nearby Caño (Canal) Majagual. That area, as […]

Like most of my friends and family I have Goya products in my cupboard. Adobo, Sazón with Coriander and Anatto, Sofrito (Tomato, though sometimes I’ll get the Recaito Cilantro, and black and pink beans.) Along with strong café con leche, 1970s salsa records, and a dark brown fedora someone gave me for my birthday 15 […]

This Fourth of July weekend, which finds much of America reeling from a rocky first half of 2020, the mainstream and social media hype can be summed up in three words: “Hamilton” is back. The play has won 11 Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize for drama, and, according to Forbes, has generated over $1 billion in income from Broadway/London/United States […]

[Originally published in The Nation June 30, 2020 When considering debates about political formulations as nebulous yet as desperately crucial as “the Latinx vote,” it can be vexing to consider those Latinx who vote Republican. In the age of Covid-19, Black Lives Matter protests, and radical right Trumpism, how could they exist? What common ground […]

Originally posted on cnn.com on June 15, 2020 During one of the most tumultuous weeks in recent American history, massive demonstrations against the brutal actions of Minneapolis police in the death of George Floyd spread across the country in over 700 cities and towns. In response, President Donald Trump called for more police violence against protesters, […]

Originally published on CNN.com on May 18, 2020 Two months into the coronavirus crisis, with many Americans clamoring for a return to business as usual, Latinos are still mourning the terrible toll on their communities. An Ecuadorean bus driver in the Bronx died at 66, months before retirement; an undocumented Guatemalan in Oregon lost his life; and a […]