Ken Makin

1 month ago | csmonitor.com | Ken Makin

Malcolm X is one of the most misunderstood activists in history. There are various examples of how perspectives on the icon can be downright ironic. One is a 1959 documentary titled “The Hate That Hate Produced,” which introduced the country to a form of Black nationalism promoted by the Nation of Islam. In many ways, the documentary contributed to how a significant number of people still see Malcolm X – as a violent and virulent racist.

1 month ago | csmonitor.com | Ken Makin

Stepping foot on Claflin University’s campus in Orangeburg, South Carolina, is walking onto “Freeland,” the name that was given to the campus during the Civil Rights Movement. It is a legacy that endures and that I experienced in Ministers’ Hall at Claflin, when I sat with some of the elders from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Their presence inspired me, because I knew what they had done as teenagers through the sit-in movement and how it changed the world.

1 month ago | csmonitor.com | Ken Makin

In mid-April, the U.S. Department of Justice revoked a settlement that dealt with wastewater problems in Alabama’s Lowndes County. Only a week prior to that decision, which sought to advance “President [Donald] Trump’s mandate to end illegal DEI and environmental justice policies,” I sat in a room with civil rights activists and learned about the contentious civil rights history of Lowndes County. The county, which had an ominous nickname in the 1960s, lies between Selma and Montgomery.

1 month ago | csmonitor.com | Ken Makin

The ascension of University of South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley beyond the realm of basketball might have begun three decades ago, when she won the gold medal as a player in Atlanta with the trailblazing U.S. Women’s Olympic Team in 1996. She would go on to win two more. Between then and now was a moment that nearly slices the 30-year period in half – her decision to coach the Gamecocks on May 7, 2008. She’s led them to three national championships, in 2017, 2022, and 2024.

2 months ago | csmonitor.com | Ken Makin

One of the more grassroots responses to the current presidential administration has been the town hall meeting – a form of protest for some, and for others, the opportunity to hear from elected officials in the midst of sweeping change. I attended a town hall last month and have not since been able to shake the testimony of one gentleman.