10 of our top columns this week: ICYMI

In today's fast-paced news environment, it can be hard to keep up. For your weekend reading, we've started in-case-you-missed-it compilations of some of the week's top Paste BN Opinion pieces. As always, thanks for reading, and for your feedback.

— Paste BN Opinion editors

1. There is no epidemic of fatal police shootings against unarmed Black Americans

By Heather Mac Donald 

"Much of modern policing is driven by crime data and community demands for help. The African American community tends to be policed more heavily, because that is where people are disproportionately hurt by violent street crime. In New York City in 2018, 73% of shooting victims were Black, though Black residents comprise only 24% of the city’s population."

2. Don't gorge on polls that show Biden ahead. COVID and voter suppression boost Trump's odds.

By Jason Sattler

"Soon many Americans will begin wearing out the refresh buttons on their browsers, hoping that an overdose of polls, voter data and the mystical models that interpret them will grant us some certainty about what will happen in the Nov. 3 election. And every click will be a waste of bandwidth. You’d be better off washing your hands for the trillionth time." 

3. As COVID cases top 3 million, it's past time to end the catastrophic Trump presidency

By Ira Shapiro

"We are not bound to stand by while thousands of Americans get sick and die, and our country goes down the drain. To paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, the Constitution is not a 'suicide pact.' ... One group of Americans has the experience, credibility and stature to end this catastrophic presidency that is literally killing America. The nation’s governors..."

4. Tammy Duckworth is a war hero and the best vice president for Joe Biden in 2020

By Mike Honda

"It has become urgently evident that presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s vice presidential pick must be someone who can repair the substantial damage Trump has done to the United States and our national security. Now is the time for a war hero to rebuild our defense — morally, physically, technologically, emotionally — and defend our democracy from Trump’s ruin." 

5. Duckworth on Russia bounties: How dare Trump still call himself our commander in chief?

By Tammy Duckworth

"Trump has never understood what words like 'sacrifice' or 'courage' mean. How dare he let his own personal cowardice — his inability, or worse, his disinterest in standing up to Putin — lead to a reality where those Americans actually brave enough to serve are put at greater risk? How dare he let his own personal insecurities endanger our national security?"

6. Lincoln deserves statues but the Emancipation Memorial misleads on him and Black history

By Todd Brewster

"It also appears to suggest that Lincoln freed the slaves all by himself, diminishing the contribution of the slaves themselves and thousands of abolitionist crusaders — Black and white, political and religious — not to mention the soldiers, including the roughly 200,000 Black soldiers, two-thirds of them former slaves, who donned blue Union uniforms and joined the fight. Then, too, it inflates Lincoln’s own sense of purpose. For while he stood firmly against slavery, he did not believe in equality, and his efforts to end the South’s 'peculiar institution' were hesitant at best." 

7. Trump's 'mission accomplished' moment is premature and deadly. We have not defeated COVID.

By Bill Sternberg

"Even as the president trumpets success in the battle against COVID-19, the disease is making a swift and stealthy comeback across America’s Sun Belt.To listen to Trump, the 'invisible enemy' has been routed. He has promoted magical thinking (saying the virus is 'dying out' and 'fading away'), quick fixes (recommending hydroxychloroquine) and quack remedies (musing about bleach and disinfectant)." 

8. Make Juneteenth a national holiday for the American dream of liberty and justice for all

By The Editorial Board

"Juneteenth, a linguistic blend of June and nineteenth, commemorates June 19, 1865, the day a Union general told enslaved people there they were free, after the last of Confederate forces surrendered in that state. It memorializes — if not precisely, because the 13th Amendment ending slavery would not be ratified for six more months — the end of Americans owning other Americans, the original sin of the United States." 

9. As schools prepare to reopen, we must remove cops from campuses to protect Black girls

By Monique W. Morris

"As someone who has written extensively about how Black girls are criminalized in our schools and communities, I am pleased to see the drive for police-free schools gain new traction. Recently, the public school district Oakland, California, decided to eliminate its school police force. The move followed similar actions in places from San Francisco and Portland, Maine, to Denver and Minneapolis." 

10. NEA president: Trump's plan to reopen schools is dangerous for students and teachers

By Lily Eskelsen García

"No one wants to welcome students back to classrooms more than America’s educators. We know that nothing can replace the magic of a student’s curiosity when they are able to learn alongside their peers from a teacher who has dedicated her life to the success of other people’s children. But the Trump administration's plan is appallingly reckless."