Paul Louis Street (born May 23, 1958) is an American radical-left journalist, author, historian, and political commentator. He has a doctorate in U.S. History from Binghamton University.
Street served as both the Director of Research and Vice President for Research and Planning at the Chicago Urban League from 2000 to 2005. He is the author of five books:
Street is co-author of:
Street's articles, essays, reviews, and editorials have been published in numerous outlets, including the Chicago Tribune, Journal of American Ethnic History, Journal of Social History, Mid-America, Chicago History, Review of Education, Pedagogy and Cultural Studies, Studies in History and Politics, History of Education Quarterly, In These Times, the International Social Review, The Greanville Post, Cyrano's Journal Today, Dissent, Capital City Times, Z Magazine, Black Commentator, Black Agenda Report, ZNet, AlterNet, Tom’s Dispatch, History News Network, and Monthly Review. Street has also published a large number of book chapters and project studies, including the widely read reports "The Vicious Circle: Race, Prison, Jobs and Community in Chicago, Illinois and the Nation" (Chicago Urban League, 2002) and "Still Separate, Unequal, Race, Place and Policy in Chicago" (Chicago Urban League, 2005).
Street’s writings, research findings, reviews, and commentaries have been featured and presented in a large number and wide variety of media venues, including The New York Times, CNN, The Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, the Chicago Tribune, The Times of India, Morning Star, Al-Alkhbar (The News in Beirut, Lebanon), Canal da Imprensa (Brazil), Real Clear Politics, WNBC (New York City), WGN (Chicago/national), WLS (ABC-Chicago), Fox News Channel, the Chicago Sun-Times, Illinois Issues, the Capital City Times (Madison, WI), and the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Street has been featured in more than 70 radio and television interviews and broadcasts, ten television interviews, and on the popular live Web book-chat at “Firedoglake.”
He is a regular contributor to the ZNet website, and according to his ZSpace author's profile he "once hit a 25-foot jump shot over the outstretched arm of Michigan Wolverine basketball great and future NBA veteran Ricky Green."
Street cites Martin Luther King's philosophy against the "triple evils" of "racism, economic exploitation (capitalism), and militarism-imperialism" as a primary influence on his life and works.[1]
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Street's 2008 book is about Barack Obama's political and personal history, candidacy, campaign strategy, and political philosophy, as it relates to modern American political culture. The book has received favorable reviews from many journalists, commentators, historians, and intellectuals among the left, including documentary film-maker and journalist John Pilger and M.I.T. Professor Noam Chomsky, along with many others.
According to Pilger:
“All those interested in truth rather than seduction should read urgently this wise book by Paul Street, who peels away the mask of the ‘Obama phenomenon’ and reveals power as it is, not as many of us wish it to be.”[2]
And Chomsky:
“That the Obama phenomenon is of considerable significance in American social and political history should hardly be in doubt. But what exactly is it, and where might it lead? This lucid and penetrating book situates it firmly within the ‘corporate-dominated and militaristic U.S. elections system and political culture,’ explores in depth its substantive content and its limits, and draws valuable lessons about how these might be transcended in the unending struggle to achieve a more just and free society and a peaceful world. It is a very welcome contribution in complex and troubled times.”[2]
Street is a Marxist whose leading influences beyond Marx include Gerrard Winstanley, Edward Palmer Thompson, Eric Hobsbawm, Rosa Luxembourg, Noam Chomsky, and John Pilger. Street is an outspoken critic of pseudo-populism, which is usually engineered with the help of mass media, especially as it perpetuates corporatism and imperialism. Street is also an expert analyst and commentator on contemporary racism in the "post Civil Rights era."
In an October 2008 interview with Little Village magazine, Street said: "We either transcend the corporate-managed profits system or we descend ever further into barbarism, totalitarianism, and ecological ruin over the long haul."[3]