I have just learned that my teacher and mentor Cedric Robinson (pictured below) passed away last summer. (I was his student at UCSB and was awarded a scholarship named after him.) Dr Robinson was a student and critic of Marxist theory. Among other things, he wrote about “racial capitalism,” and his critique of traditional politics anticipated the organization of “horizontal movements” such as Black Lives Matter, a decentralized political movement without a single, unifying political leader. I will share some remembrances about my teacher, mentor, and friend in my next blog post.