Civil Rights

THE HILL 10/16/15 By Michael Shank and Lindsay Schubiner This month, North Carolina state lawmakers voted to prohibit so-called sanctuary ordinances in cities and counties throughout the state. While a sanctuary ordinance may sound esoteric enough, the reality is much more harsh. Among the myriad consequences, under the new law […]

HUFFINGTON POST 06/17/15 By Michael Shank New York City is infamous for its unaffordable and undignified housing. Not only is the city’s housing a clear and present danger to residents, as I’ve detailed before, but renters in Manhattan pay, on average, over $4,000 a month. This is untenable for the […]

HUFFINGTON POST 05/21/15 By Michael Shank It’s official. The Department of Homeland Security has placed me on a travel watch list. Every time I travel abroad, I now have “SSSS”, which stands for Secondary Security Screen Selection, on my boarding documents. That means I get an extra rigorous full-body screening, […]

HUFFINGTON POST 03/28/15 By Michael Shank In the wake of New York City’s devastating gas explosion and fire in the East Village, which destroyed residential buildings and injured dozens of New Yorkers, there couldn’t be a more critical time to take a serious look at New York’s housing situation. In […]

CNN 03/12/15 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Hank Johnson Editor’s Note: “Hank Johnson represents Georgia’s 4th Congressional District and serves on the House Judiciary and Armed Services committees. Michael Shank, a former congressional staffer, is adjunct faculty at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. The views […]

HUFFINGTON POST 03/12/15 By Michael Shank Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent attack on the West for “hate speech” and misattributing terrorism during the Paris attacks is ironic. Erdogan is erroneously doing both already: labeling the Gulen movement a terrorist organization and using hate speech to characterize it. In fact, […]

NPR 11/25/14 By Laura Sullivan For weeks, Ferguson police and local leaders met with community groups and activists to work out a plan for the aftermath of the grand jury’s decision whether to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. But any results of that […]

HUFFINGTON POST 11/18/14 By Michael Shank and Peter J. Hammer The post-industrial dystopia emerging on the streets of Detroit may be shocking, but it is not surprising. The crisis results from the convergent forces of fiscal austerity and structural racism in a region defined by its extreme segregation of race, […]

HUFFINGTON POST 11/03/14 By Michael Shank and Erica Marshall On November 4 the voters in the District will turn out to choose our City’s next mayor. On the same ballot, after casting a vote for David Catania, Muriel Bowser or Carol Schwartz, voters will be asked to choose between five […]

THE HILL 10/29/14 By Michael Shank and Peter Hammer The post-industrial dystopia emerging on the streets of Detroit may be shocking, but it is not surprising.  The crisis results from the convergent forces of fiscal austerity and structural racism in a region defined by its extreme segregation of race, wealth […]