A Response to “The Nation” Magazine’s Coverage of Protests at Brooklyn College A Response to “The Nation” Magazine’s Coverage of Protests at Brooklyn College
Jeanne Theoharis and Brooklyn College students reply to David Brodsky.
Nov 22, 2023 / Jeanne Theoharis and Ashera Schwartz
One of New York's Most Vital Colleges Is Targeting Muslim Students One of New York's Most Vital Colleges Is Targeting Muslim Students
The Brooklyn College administration has repeatedly shown that it is willing to suppress Muslim and Palestinian speech on campus.
Oct 30, 2023 / Jeanne Theoharis
Brittney Griner Faced Brutal Conditions in Jail—but So Did Viktor Bout Brittney Griner Faced Brutal Conditions in Jail—but So Did Viktor Bout
Amid all the reporting on the Griner-Bout prison swap, almost no one thought to cover what Bout experienced during his 12 years of US imprisonment.
Dec 27, 2022 / Aviva Stahl and Jeanne Theoharis
Why It Matters That Hillary Clinton Championed Welfare Reform Why It Matters That Hillary Clinton Championed Welfare Reform
As poor people suffer without a safety net, it’s time for the two Democratic candidates to start talking about restoring the welfare system.
Mar 1, 2016 / Alejandra Marchevsky and Jeanne Theoharis
Rosa Parks Wasn’t Meek, Passive, or Naive—and 7 Other Things You Probably Didn’t Learn in School Rosa Parks Wasn’t Meek, Passive, or Naive—and 7 Other Things You Probably Didn’t Learn in School
Much of what students are taught, and much of what most Americans think they know, about Parks’s activism is wrong.
Dec 1, 2015 / Jeanne Theoharis and Say Burgin
What Julian Bond Taught Me What Julian Bond Taught Me
Freedom movements don’t just happen, they are made—and not by charismatic leaders, but by everyday people possessing great courage.
Aug 17, 2015 / Lived History / Jeanne Theoharis
Five Years Ago, Obama Pledged to End Torture. He Still Hasn’t. Five Years Ago, Obama Pledged to End Torture. He Still Hasn’t.
Waterboarding may have ended, but the US continues to torture terrorism suspects in American prisons.
Jan 22, 2014 / Editorial / Sally Eberhardt and Jeanne Theoharis
Censored in Colorado Censored in Colorado
America After 9/11 Since 9/11, the Department of Justice has prosecuted more than 500 terrorism cases, yet there remains scant public understanding of what these federal cases have actually looked like and the impact they have had on communities and families. Published by The Nation in collaboration with Educators for Civil Liberties, the America After 9/11 series features contributions from scholars, researchers and advocates to provide a systematic look at the patterns of civil rights abuses in the United States’ domestic “war on terror.” * * * This fall, The Nation introduced a new series of articles on “America After 9/11,” the first of which described the pattern of rights abuses in federal terrorism prosecutions and conditions at the nation’s only federal supermax prison, ADX, in Florence, Colorado. The piece described the case of Fahad Hashmi, a former student of mine at Brooklyn College. Fahad had been charged with providing material support for terrorism after he let a friend use his cellphone and stay in his London apartment with luggage containing raincoats, ponchos and socks that the friend later took to an Al Qaeda leader in Pakistan. After three years in pre-trial solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, Fahad pleaded guilty and was transferred to ADX to serve his fifteen-year sentence. Fahad has been at ADX for more than three years. He has subscriptions to The Nation and The New York Times, paid for by his family. But the prison refused to allow him to have the Nation issue that contained my piece. Last year, a piece in the Times titled “Fighting a Drawn-Out Battle Against Solitary Confinement” was also banned. Opened in 1994 as a behavioral management unit, ADX officially houses the most dangerous prisoners in the federal system. Since 9/11, however, any sort of terrorism conviction can land a person there. Once incarcerated at ADX, there is little effective recourse for challenge. Today, ADX disproportionately houses Muslims. Please support our journalism. Get a digital subscription for just $9.50! In “general population,” prisoners spend twenty-three hours a day in cells that measure eighty-seven square feet. Prisoners eat meals alone, within arm’s reach of their toilet. ADX offers TV “classes,” which count toward good behavior. One is “The Magic of Everyday Communication.” The perverse cruelty of teaching face-to-face communication to people enduring years of solitary confinement boggles the mind. ADX walls itself off from public scrutiny. It has allowed only one visit by human rights groups in twenty years, denied visitation requests from two UN special rapporteurs on torture and turned down nearly all press requests. (One monitored media event occurred in 2007.) With little access for journalists or human rights groups, ADX has a formidable wall of silence around it. The banning of reading material that dares to describe the nature of Fahad’s confinement is a reminder of the repressive conditions that prisoners on US soil continue to face. More in the ‘America After 9/11’ Series: How Tarek Mehanna Went to Prison for a Thought Crime As the government embraces a “counter-radicalization” approach to counterterrorism, prosecutors are turning radical beliefs into criminal acts. by Amna Akbar Guantánamo in New York City Americans remain mostly blind to the abusive treatment of terror suspects on US soil. by Jeanne Theoharis Where’s the Outrage When the FBI Targets Muslims? The FBI employs the same repressive tactics as the NYPD in its broad surveillance of Muslim communities. Why does the FBI get a pass? by Diala Shamas How Mohammed Warsame Became an Accidental ‘Terrorist’ In the wake of 9/11, prosecutors have embraced “special administrative measures” to keep terrorism suspects guilty until proven otherwise. by David Thomas
Nov 6, 2013 / Editorial / Jeanne Theoharis
Guantánamo in New York City Guantánamo in New York City
Americans remain mostly blind to the abusive treatment of terror suspects on US soil.
Sep 25, 2013 / Feature / Jeanne Theoharis
What’s Really Behind Obama’s Praise of Ray Kelly? What’s Really Behind Obama’s Praise of Ray Kelly?
Obama sounds the notes of racial justice at key moments, while asserting unprecedented power to implement policies that are destructive, discriminatory—and embodied by the NY...
Aug 5, 2013 / Amna Akbar and Jeanne Theoharis