A call to action for civic engagement and empathy to pursue a more perfect union following the 2024 US election

Last week, Donald Trump secured a second term in the White House by winning the 2024 presidential election. At a time when many in America are feeling concern, while others feel a sense of expectation, about what the next four years may bring, Keith Magee writes on the need to recommit to civic engagement and civil dialogue and to speak truth to power.

BY KEITH MAGEE - November 12, 2024 - lse usapp

Why you should pay attention to the role of race in sport during this summer’s Olympics

For many nations — not least the US — the upcoming Paris Olympics will take place against a background of deep political and social division.

BY KEITH MAGEE - July 23, 202 - CNN

A Black man’s view on what Biden should do for the White working class

As a Black American academic with a keen interest in US politics, I’m often asked during this fractious, deeply worrying time in our democracy why a small but not insignificant number of Black voters appear to be turning to former President Donald Trump. I always point out that that is entirely the wrong question.

BY KEITH MAGEE - March 6 , 2024 - CNN

Meeting someone with radically different views from mine taught me this important lesson

It was a car ride that changed my life. I took an Uber in Cleveland, Ohio, years ago focused only on getting to my destination, and found myself quite by chance being driven by a man whose politics were radically opposed to my own.

BY KEITH MAGEE - December 2, 2023 - CNN

What’s stopping King Charles from saying ‘sorry’ for slavery?

The reign of King Charles III has been marked so far by growing calls that former colonizing and slave-trading nations like Britain recognize and atone for the harm they inflicted on Black and brown people in vast areas of the world.

Now in the second year of his reign, Charles has a unique opportunity to show leadership on reparatory justice — I pray he will have the courage to take it.

BY KEITH MAGEE - November 8, 2023 - CNN

Why we should all care about Black men’s mental health

The theme of this year’s World Mental Health Day observed on October 10 is “Mental health is a universal human right.” I want myself and my fellow Black American men to claim this right, for the sake of ourselves, our families, our communities and our society.

BY KEITH MAGEE - October 4, 2023 - CNN

The myth of a colorblind France

On Tuesday morning in a suburb west of Paris, a 17-year old French driver of Algerian descent was shot dead at point-blank range by a police officer for failing to comply during a traffic stop.

France has long claimed to be color blind. In reality, the myth of the colorblind French Republic amounts to the state-level gaslighting of ethnic minorities, and the nation’s victims of systemic racism know it.

BY KEITH MAGEE - June 30, 2023 - CNN

Why I won’t take my young Black son to a European soccer game

My little boy, who is not quite 9, would like to go to a professional football game here in Britain where we live. I have often felt an overwhelming sense of community when sitting in the stands at football tournaments.

But I’m reluctant to take my son along. I can’t help but worry about the attitudes he might encounter there toward people of color like us. That’s because the “beautiful game” we both love has a shameful racism problem.

BY KEITH MAGEE - June 1, 2023- CNN

What King Charles should do now

Can the first coronation in 70 years inspire patriotism in a nation facing a vastly reduced role on the global stage and a growing awareness of the ongoing harmful legacy of imperialism in the United Kingdom and beyond?

BY KEITH MAGEE - May 13, 2023 - CNN

The Remarkable Response of RowVaughn Wells After Her Son Tyre Nichols' Death

As America reels from the impact of yet another Black man’s murder by police caught on camera, a valuable lesson in empathy and hope has come from perhaps the most unlikely source—the mother of the young man who never made it home.

BY KEITH MAGEE - January 30, 2023 - TIME

As a Black American, I say the UK needs new thinking on race. The royals could lead that

The monarchy’s link to slavery is glossed over in Britain. Despite their differences, William and Harry have a chance to do better.

BY KEITH MAGEE - dECEMBER 14, 2022 - THE GUARDIAN

With the leaked draft opinion overturning Roe vs. Wade, conservatives are telling us they want to eradicate minority rights in America – and we must start listening

Last week, a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion showed that the Court is likely to overturn Roe v. Wade, removing the right to an abortion in the United States. Keith Magee argues that the move, which will have the largest negative impact on poor Black women, may signal that other civil rights, such as same-sex marriage and contraception are also now under threat.

BY KEITH MAGEE - May 10, 2022 - lse usapp

The stakes are high – America must take radical action now to guarantee equal voting rights for all

As the world veers worryingly towards a situation in which western democracies are pitted against a burgeoning anti-democratic Sino-Russian alliance, it is the worst possible time for US democracy to appear to be in decline.

By KEITH MAGEE - March 22, 2022 - lse usapp

It’s time for America to do some ‘nation building’ at home

After witnessing the earth-shattering 9/11 attacks on US soil, many of us felt we would never be the same again. The world order had somehow changed, and so had we as Americans.

BY KEITH MAGEE - september 8, 2021 - cnn

If you think this fight is only about Black voters, you are sadly mistaken

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, along with the For The People Act, may offer US democracy a lifeline, should enough of our lawmakers choose to take it. But Congress and government do not function in a vacuum -- they reflect wider society. If we, the people, fail to vociferously defend what is left of our democracy now, we risk losing it.

BY KEITH MAGEE - august 6, 2021 - cnn

My 6-year-old just had his first encounter with racism

A short while ago, my little boy told me something that shattered my world. I had been preparing breakfast for him, watching the early morning sunlight dappling his head, bent in concentration over the card he was busy making. Our companiable hush was only broken when he enquired how to spell "because," and then, several minutes later, "people." I looked over his shoulder -- the carefully inscribed message was poignant but full of kindness.

BY KEITH MAGEE - june 23, 2021 - cnn

A year after George Floyd: A letter to my Black son

Dear son,

We are upon the first anniversary of a deplorable killing. Last May, outside of a grocery store in Minnesota, George Floyd -- a Black man -- was slowly, casually murdered by a White police officer. Floyd's daughter, Gianna, is the same age as you -- you could be playmates. That is how I know that Floyd certainly didn't choose to "sacrifice," as one politician put it, his life to the cause of racial justice, leaving her traumatized and fatherless. Sometimes, when I look at your beautiful face, I think of that little girl and my heart breaks.

BY KEITH MAGEE - MAY 25, 2021 - cnn

If neither justice nor mercy, then what will save us?

I am completely baffled. I cannot understand why Black people continue to be killed without every single American demanding that all police officers across the country just stop it. Stop killing Black people! Can we not collectively insist that those who have sworn to protect us focus on public safety first, and law enforcement second? And why, why, do these police officers’ minds not equate Black bodies with the inalienable right to live? Who accidentally shoots another person? Who doesn’t think at least twice about their own actions while kneeling on a dying man’s neck?

By Keith Magee - April 21, 2021 - The Washington Informer

How the American church can find true unity

From last Monday’s national Martin Luther King Day and Wednesday’s inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, our country remains woefully divided. On 6 January, even as they hid from the mob laying siege to the Capitol, the chasms between our lawmakers reflected those in our society: they were split into mask wearers and mask refusers, those who saw a domestic terror attack and those who saw a patriotic protest, those who feared for the very future of America and those who refused to condemn the president who had incited the violence. Many terrified lawmakers sought comfort in their faith.

By Keith Magee - march 17, 2021 - relevant

Spare our children’s children: Ending the cycle of racial trauma

When the managers at Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial showed video footage of the Capitol riot some of our lawmakers must have relived the visceral panic they experienced that day. Millions of citizens watching at home will have been overwhelmed once more by fear and disgust. It must have been especially hard for Jewish people, reminded of the thug in his ‘Camp Auschwitz’ T-shirt, and for Native Americans, for whom marauding white men brandishing firearms conjure up ancestral horrors. Black Americans were shuddering – for us, noose-bearing mobs bring to mind brown bodies hanging from trees.

By Keith Magee - march 17, 2021 - keep the faith

The truth sometimes is black and white

Before I belong to a race, party, or gender, I belong to God. I believe that we’re all made in the image of God…America has long suffered from the sin of racism. Race is a social construct that was designed to create powerlessness, division, and fear amongst those who had been enslaved and deemed soulless. Today, as the election approaches, we stand at what I hope will be a key turning point in history. In the midst of the terrible division, sickness, fear, and grief we have experienced in recent months, we have a real chance to unite all America’s people in the causes of civility, healing, hope, and justice.

By Keith Magee - August 24, 2020 - the seattle medium

The soul of a nation: “Black men” vote too

It appears that for Biden soul is neither homage to his Roman Catholic upbringing nor a nod to having enjoyed a Chicago Southside Sunday dinner prepared by Marian Robinson (Michelle Obama’s mother). Instead Biden asserts that his presidency will create policies that reflect our shared values. It is also a commitment to return integrity to the office of the President of the United States. 

By Keith Magee - spring 2020 - CODE M Magazine

The paradox of love: Trump’s United States of hate

“America is experiencing the most perilous of times in recent history as the result of its president, Donald Trump.”

By keith magee - august 12, 2019 - IBW21

The gospel of White supremacy: America’s brewing Holy Race War

The election of Donald Trump embodies White supremacy theology that is hostile toward non-whites Black—in particular Black men. He began spurring flames of discord, as the driving force of the birther movement, and also called Mexicans rapists and targeted Muslims with a travel ban. These are underpinnings of the hate of the Ku Klux Klan and a deeply seeded Evangelical apocalyptic theology of a Holy Race War.

By keith magee - november, 2018 - New Pittsburgh Courier

Hate thy neighbor colors sessions’ immigration practices

Reports show that thousands of children are being tragically and traumatically separated from parents and held in cage-like structures, according to Democratic U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley. Some have traveled thousands of miles to flee death threats, gangs and rapes in their countries.

By Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds and Rev. Dr. Keith Magee - july 27, 2018

MLK birthday sermon: The Negro is your brother

King refers to himself, Jesus and other great reformers as extremists: “So, the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be? Will we be extremists for hate or for love?

By keith magee - january 17, 2018 - The Washington Informer

Memory: Rebirth of a racist nation

In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson hosted a special White House screening of D.W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” a film based on The Clansman, by Wilson’s friend Thomas Dixon. The film was a racial marker of the time – it portrayed Black politicians as drunken buffoons and set the stage for the Ku Klux Klan’s savage attempts to remove them from office.

By keith magee - october 12, 2018 - The AFRO

Why did Jesus weep: Because #BlackLivesMatterToo?

For the last four visible years America has endured, once again, the polarizing effects of racism and injustice. Yet, instead of the perpetrators wearing white sheets and lynching African Americans with coral ropes as they did decades prior, they now wear blue uniforms and use issued firearms.

By keith magee - october 4, 2016 - Radical Discipleship