Not So Black-and-White

Since 1944, Middle Eastern- and North African-Americans have been legally “white,” having to check the “white” box on demographic surveys like the U.S. census. The reason for this classification can be traced to the 19th century, when MENA Christians who intended to immigrate to the United States identified as “Caucasian” to evade restrictive and racist … Read more

The Rise of the Pynk Vote

When asked whether there was a candidate in the Democratic primary race that she particularly liked, Devin Hoffman, a freshman at Boston College, told the HPR, “Honestly, I’ve been a little disappointed by all of them.” Grace Stewart, a freshman at Providence College, said that she “did[n’t] love any of them.” Jayna Robatham, a freshman … Read more

The Myth of Algae Biofuels

In 2017, ExxonMobil announced an intriguing energy innovation: In partnership with biotech company Synthetic Genomics, it had used CRISPR gene-editing technology to produce a strain of algae that ExxonMobil claimed could pave the way toward a sustainable future and “reduce the risk of climate change.” Ever since then, the company has used numerous social media … Read more

How to Fail at Regime Change

Since 2001, the United States has led three military inventions with the explicit goal of toppling foreign governments. In October 2001, less than one month after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the United States invaded Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban government, which was sheltering and refusing to extradite leaders of Al-Qaeda. In March 2003, the … Read more