Journalist – Historian – Speaker
I’ve been out of town so haven’t been commenting directly on the Laquan McDonald killing. Two major points. First, I believe that the elected officials of Chicago tried to cover this up and delay justice for political gain. The Cook County prosecutor, Anita Alvarez, must have had probable cause to indict Officer Van Dyke for …
Disability continues to be a largely ignored issue in the presidential primaries except for when it comes to gun violence, when the candidates get things entirely wrong. Here’s 100% of what Sanders or Clinton (the only candidates that actually might get nominated) said about disability last night. SANDERS: Let’s begin, Anderson, by understanding that Bernie …
Bruce Holsinger is a medieval literary scholar, a novelist, a public intellectual, and a friend. Here’s my review of his novels, political thrillers set in medieval London, with John Gower as the protagonist. You should read them. Holsinger has a piece in the New York Times today on Fiorina, extending the conversation about her regular invocation …
Rick Perstein, a foremost historian on the rise of the American right, has a long piece on Donald Trump and fascism, comparing his emergence to the politics of other demagogues and fascists throughout the 20th century. It’s a thoughtful, detailed, assessment of the risks and the process. When Trump emerged, many folks started to compare …
Image Description: Me on CNN. Michigan Ave/Chicago River behind me. David Perry: Associate Professor, Dominican University Headline: Oregon Massacre, Campus Shooter Kills 9, Wounds 9 I went on CNN on Friday, 10/1, to discuss the terrible shooting on a community college campus in Oregon. CNN hasn’t released a clip so I can’t show it to …
Say goodbye to the Illinois History Museum. Bruce Rauner has pulled the plug. There’s something populist about museums like this. They tend to be free or cheap, they serve school kids from across the state, and they make our history accessible and interesting. Naturally, Billionaire Bruce isn’t going to permit that sort of thing to …
I have a bunch of pieces out in various stages of edits, and hope to have 3 or 4 pieces published next week. This week I had only one, a new Game of Thrones piece for Vice. I think the changing relationship between the books and the show is interesting. Eventually, the show will become canon, …
This is a collection of links about Republican cuts to programs serving people with disabilities, as well as comments from Republican officials/candidates questioning the rationales behind such programs. Resource pages offer collections of links for pieces I am writing, usually without comment. The comment comes in the piece I write later. Please suggest other links …
Over the border from me, the Scott Walker experiment to dismantle the state of Wisconsin continues. He wants to create Kansas-North. Conservatives are loving it, and he’s just the kind of boring white guy with an allegedly criminal past that the GOP establishment might nominate for president. Not long after President Obama unveiled his ideas for …
Basic principle: The fight for basic economic justice for everyone is the fight for better lives for people with disabilities. #SOTU4PWD — David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) January 21, 2015 Yesterday President Obama mentioned “Americans with mental illness or physical disability” as part of his long list of inclusive terms. This is not my preferred language. …