Bending it, like Beckham.

But what we fought for is a crucial part of the overall story; the terrain was often cultural, centering on identity, dignity, and fun.

--Robin D. G. Kelley, Race Rebels

This issue of ColorLines is about creativity, comedy, drama--the ways that we make sense of our struggles and sustain ourselves through them.

Certainly, these are crazy, critical times. While the level of state-sanctioned violence has only become more surreal (Saddam's sons and slain U.S. soldiers in the headlines every day lately, while rape, looting, and chaos continue to terrorize the citizens of Iraq), within U.S. borders, hypocrisy and cynicism permeate government affairs. June 17 brought the announcement that Bush was ordering across-the-board guidelines against the use of racial profiling by federal law enforcement--except that it can still be used to identify terror threats, i.e. to register immigrants from Middle Eastern countries. More divide-and-conquer.

In this issue, our coverage of the policies and politics of the "homeland" continues with Rinku Sen's report on the dangers of police surveillance (p. 16), signified by such changes as New York City's repeal of the Handschu agreement and similar attempts in Chicago to loosen protections against political policing. Gabrielle Banks contextualizes the politics of a militarized border (p. 29)--which, according to U.S. Commission on Civil Rights testimony, has created "the most acute and the most systematic violation of human rights occurring on U.S. soil today." From the days of blacks riding the rails looking for work during the Jim Crow era, to today's Latino migrant deaths in overheated semi-trailers and cargo train compartments, racism has a history. ...