(left to right, other youth of color dead from police violence: Michael Cho, Anthony Biaz, Ramarley Graham, and then image of Trayvon Martin.) Trayvon Martin and Mumia Abu-Jamal. One is dead. One languished on death row for 30 years. They are separated in age by a generation, separated by different locations and different life-histories, but […]

The essay below has been prepared for a Dictionary, still in progress, about the philosophical terminology of Jean-Luc Nancy. The originating editor of the Dictionary, B. C. Hutchens, summarizes Nancy’s importance:  “Nancy is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Strasbourg, co-founder of the former ‘Centre for Philosophic Research on the Political’ and author of […]

Original Version, Tikkun, January 1, 2009. During two years of supporting Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, I often clicked through his online Blueprint for Change, seeking his views on the proliferation of U.S. prisons. I found them, usually in comments about assisting prisoners re-entering society and altering sentencing and drug laws. Such comments were lodged […]