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Djeneba Aduayom

The Flawed Genius of the Constitution

The document counted my great-great-grandfather as three-fifths of a free person. But the Framers don't own the version we live by today. We do. The document is our responsibility now.

Hudson Christie

America's Plastic Hour Is Upon Us

The country is at a low point. But we may be on the cusp of an era of radical reform that repairs our broken democracy.

Illustration by Arsh Raziuddin; photographs by Alex Lau; Earl Gibson III; Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times; Getty; Joe Raedle; Library of Congress; niAID; Zaid Patel

The New Reconstruction

The United States has its best opportunity in 150 years to belatedly fulfill its promise as a multiracial democracy.

Illustration by Mark Harris; images from Interborough Rapid Transit Company; National Weather Service; Wiley & Putnam / Artokoloro / Alamy; British Library / Alamy; Thomas Kelly / Library of Congress

Get Ready for the Great Urban Comeback

Visionary responses to catastrophes have changed city life for the better.

Joshua Rashaad McFadden

The New Southern Strategy

How Black mayors in the South are leveraging both the power of office and the power of the street to achieve overdue changes

Arsh Raziuddin

Power Shortage

Women's rights are human rights. But rights are nothing without the power to claim them.

Kirn Vintage Stock / Corbis / Paul Howell / Liaison / Jose Luise Magana / AFP / Pat Greenhouse / The Boston Globe / Getty

We Killed the Middle Class. Here's How We Can Revive It.

By helping one another reach our full potential, we'll help the whole country get its swagger back.

A photo of 'Strike' (2018) by Hank Willis Thomas: a sculpture of one arm holding another arm with a baton
<i>Strike</i> (2018) by Hank Willis Thomas. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Johanna Goodman

America Needs a Rebirth of Public Service

We need every ounce of talent and energy to not only rebuild but reinvent our society.

An illustration of Joe Biden
Tom Brenner / Getty / The Atlantic

If Biden Wins, He'll Have to Put the World Back Together

His post-pandemic agenda will have to be a master class in redesign.