Dr. Carol Anderson was recently a guest on CBS News, where she discussed the state of American democracy. Anderson offers historical context about both the distant and recent roots to undemocratic practices in the U.S. Anderson is Charles Howard Candler Professor and Affiliated Faculty in the History Department. Watch the full interview here: “Concerns raised about the future of democracy in America.”
Category / Antiracism
Anderson Interviewed on FAIR Podcast ‘CounterSpin’
Dr. Carol Anderson was recently interviewed on CounterSpin, the weekly radio show of the national media watch group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). Anderson discusses the relationship between white supremacy and the struggle for democracy in the United States, including by drawing on her most recent book, The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America (Bloomsbury, 2021). Anderson is Charles Howard Candler Professor of African-American Studies and Affiliated Faculty in the History Department. Read and listen to the FAIR piece here: “Carol Anderson on History, Race and Democracy.”
Anderson Contributes to ‘NYT’ Panel “Where Does American Democracy Go From Here?”
Dr. Carol Anderson recently contributed to a New York Times panel focused on the theme “Where Does American Democracy Go From Here?” The six panelists offer historical and contemporary perspectives on the state of democracy in the U.S., which has fallen in recent rankings that measure the vitality of democracies across the globe. Anderson is Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies and Associated Faculty in the History Department. She is the author, most recently, of The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America (Bloomsbury Press, 2021). Read one of Anderson’s contributions to the panel below and find the full piece here.
“Anderson: What we’re seeing, I liken it to a land, sea and air attack. The land attack is on voting rights. That is one of the ways that you begin to undermine democracy. The sea attack are these attacks against teaching critical race theory and “divisive” topics, so you can erase people from American history and erase the role of various people in American history. And the air attack is the loosening of Texas and Tennessee both passed laws allowing for permitless carrying of firearms in 2021; the Georgia State Legislature passed a similar bill this year. This is a full-blown assault on American democracy that’s going after voting rights, that’s going after education and that is reinforcing political violence as an acceptable method of bringing about your political aims. That’s where we are, and that’s why this moment is so dangerous.“
Klibanoff Comments on Hate Crimes Convictions in Arbery Case for WABE
Hank Klibanoff, James M. Cox Jr. Professor of Journalism and Associated Faculty in the History Department, was recently a guest on WABE’s Closer Look with Rose Scott. Klibanoff discussed the recent convictions – on all counts – of the three men who killed Ahmaud Arbery in a federal hate crimes trial. Klibanoff hosts the “Buried Truths” podcast and serves as the director of the Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project at Emory. He was also recently confirmed to the Federal Civil Rights Cold Case Review Board. Listen to the interview here: “Jury Finds Ahmaud Arbery Killers Guilty On All Counts.”
U.S. Senate Confirms Klibanoff and Dudley to Federal Civil Rights Cold Case Review Board
The U.S. senate has confirmed James M. Cox Jr. Professor of Journalism Hank Klibanoff and Rose library instructional archivist Gabrielle M. Dudley to the federal Civil Rights Cold Case Review Board. Established in 2019 and convened in 2022, the panel has received authorization through 2027 to investigate unsolved cases from the Civil Rights era. Klibanoff is director of the Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project at Emory and host of the award-winning podcast Buried Truths. Read more about the federal cold cases panel and Atlantans’ significant roles within it: “Civil rights cold case board to have unique Atlanta flavor.”
Anderson in ‘The Guardian’: “The US supreme court is letting racist discrimination run wild in the election system”
Charles Howard Candler Professor Dr. Carol Anderson recently published an opinion piece in The Guardian. Titled “The US supreme court is letting racist discrimination run wild in the election system,” the article draws important parallels between contemporary voting restrictions that target minority populations and historical disenfranchisement practices, especially those in the post-Reconstruction and Jim Crow United States. Read an excerpt below along with Anderson’s full piece here.
“This assault on African Americans’ right to vote was an assault on American democracy aided and abetted by the highest court in the land. The results were devastating. By 1960, there were counties in Alabama that had no Black voters registered, while simultaneously having more than 100% of white age-eligible voters on the rolls. In Mississippi a mere 6.7% of eligible Black adults were registered to vote.“
Anderson Quoted in ‘Reuters’ Piece about Arbery Hate Crime Case
Dr. Carol Anderson, Charles Howard Candler Professor and Associated Faculty in the History Department, was recently quoted in a Reuters article about the federal hate crime trial against the three men who killed Ahmaud Arbery. Anderson discusses the significance of the hate crime trial in advancing racial justice for Arbery’s family and the nation as a whole. Read an excerpt quoting Anderson below along with the full article: “Family of Ahmaud Arbery wants racial justice as murderers face new trial.”
Carol Anderson, an Emory University professor of African American studies who has watched the case closely, said the trial was “absolutely necessary” even though the men had already been convicted of murder.
“We must be clear, it was his blackness that put him in the crosshairs of these men,” Anderson said. “And that makes this a hate crime. This is part of the truth telling that society must have.”
Brandeis Awards Anderson the Joseph B. and Toby Gittler Prize
Brandeis University has awarded Dr. Carol Anderson the Joseph B. and Toby Gittler Prize, given to those who have “made outstanding and lasting scholarly contributions to racial, ethnic and religious relationships.” The prize, which comes with a medal and $25,000, recognizes Anderson’s leading work on how racial inequality intersects with public policy in the United States, past and present. Anderson’s books include White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide (Bloomsbury, 2016), One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy (Bloomsbury, 2018), and The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America (Bloomsbury, 2021). Anderson is Charles Howard Candler Professor, Chair of African-American Studies, and Associated Faculty in the History Department. Read more about her work at the Emory News Center here.
Anderson Appears on MSNBC’s ‘Ayman’ and ‘All In With Chris Hayes’
Dr. Carol Anderson, Charles Howard Candler Professor of African-American Studies and Associated Faculty in the History Department, was recently a guest on two MSNBC programs. Anderson discussed contemporary politics, including on issues relating to voting rights, in historical perspective on the shows ‘Ayman’ and ‘All In With Chris Hayes.’ She is author, most recently, of The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America (Bloomsbury, 2021). Watch the MSNBC segments featuring Anderson here: ‘Ayman‘ and ‘All In With Chris Hayes.’
Anderson Describes “Jim Crow 2.0” on ‘Democracy Now’
Dr. Carol Anderson, Charles Howard Candler Professor of African-American Studies and Associated Faculty in the History Department, was a guest on Democracy Now on the one-year anniversary of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Anderson critiques Republican efforts to limit voting access, especially for Black voters, by promoting baseless claims about voter fraud. Watch Anderson discuss “Jim Crow 2.0” with host Amy Goodman here: “‘White Rage’ Author Carol Anderson: GOP Attack on ‘Election Fraud’ Really an Attack on Black Voters.”