Featured
The economy is roaring. Immigration is a key reason. By Rachel Siegel , Lauren Kaori Gurley and Meryl Kornfield / Wash Post
Immigration has propelled the U.S. job market further than just about anyone expected, helping cement the country’s economic rebound from the pandemic as the most robust in the world. Image NBC News
That momentum picked up aggressively over the past year. About 50 percent of the labor market’s extraordinary recent growth came from foreign-born workers between January 2023 and January 2024, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis of federal data. And even before that, by the middle of 2022, the foreign-born labor force had grown so fast that it closed the labor force gap created by the pandemic, according to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Read more
Related: The Mystery of White Rural Rage. By Paul Krugman / NYT
Political / Social
Michigan primary 2024: Biden, Trump win. By Ashley Lopez / NPR
Both President Biden and former President Donald Trump have won their respective primary contests in Michigan, per a dual race call from the Associated Press.
Biden’s challengers, U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota and writer and spiritual leader Marianne Williamson, have done little to slow his path to the nomination. The president’s most significant challenge in the Michigan primary came from factions of the party protesting his support of Israel – as the country continues to carry out deadly attacks in Gaza. Trump has now won six presidential contests for the GOP nomination. His remaining major challenger – former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley – has not won a single contest so far. Read more
Related: Imagine if Nikki Haley had started out this way. By Jennifer Rubin / Wash Post
Related: Anti-Trump Republicans search for a path forward in 2024 and beyond. By Karissa Waddick / USA Today
Donald Trump’s dominating GOP primary performance doesn’t add up. By Heather Digby Parton / Salon
Trump is weaker than the narrative that’s been laid out would have us believe
There is a substantial faction of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters who simply cannot stand Donald Trump. Yes, he is overwhelmingly popular among his MAGA base which makes up about three-quarters of the GOP and the majority of them are blindly devoted to the man no matter what he does. They are not just enthusiastic about voting for him, they are ecstatic. The media sees this as a sign that he is virtually unbeatable even to the extent of pushing the narrative that he is the frontrunner for the general election and that incumbent President Joe Biden is on the ropes despite the polls saying that the race is very close. Read more
Related: Let’s Just Say It: Trump Is Weaker Than He Looks. By Greg Sargent / The New Republic
Related: Trump the autocrat? This research suggests the odds are against him. By Jason Willick / Wash Post
Does Trump think he can win Black voters by offending us? By Sophia A. Nelson / CNN
At the Black Conservative Federation gala in South Carolina last Friday, Trump received the “Champion of Black America” award. In his lengthy address, Trump went into a monologue of unorthodox — and some would say outright racist — comments about Black people and his supposedlyunique connection to them. Image by Reuters
“I got indicted a second time and a third time and a fourth time, and a lot of people said that that’s why the Black people like me, because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against,” Trump said. “I’m being indicted for you, the American people. I’m being indicted for you, the Black population.” Read more
Related: Why Trump keeps humiliating Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham. By
Related: Donald Trump’s con-man hustle for the Black vote is not going to work. By Eugene Robinson / Wash Post
Related: Gov Wes Moore Warns Black Voters Of Trump’s Divisive Rhetoric. By Bilal G. Morris / Newsone
Judge Scott McAfee, Not Fani Willis, Should Have Known Better. By Lojo / Daily Kos
It’s time for commentators to stop with “Fani Willis should have know better” and start saying “Judge McAfee should know better.”
Let’s be clear — the person responsible for creating this televised smear bizzaro world show trial is Judge Scott McAfee and not Fani Willis. The following exchange between Trump Acolyte Lawyer Ashleigh Marchant and star turned disaster witness Terrence Bradley, from TPM’s summary of the proceeding yesterday, should be game and match over for the case against this Federalist society, Brian Kemp appointed judge. Read more
Related: Key Witness Against Fani Willis Completely Crumbles on the Stand. By Tori Otten / The New Republic
‘Something has gone very wrong’: the truth about DEI. By Steve Pemberton / Business Insider
I used to believe that as America wrestled with a deeply discriminatory past, it would inevitably move on an upward trajectory, leaving only the vestiges of those practices. However, this latest, relentless pushback against DEI efforts, much of it insincere and disingenuous, has given me considerable pause.
But there is a way forward for DEI. When done right, DEI programs not only give companies a competitive edge but also can be the very means of mending a broken America. Read more
Related: Why Diversity, Equity And Inclusion Are On the Way Up, Not Out. By Heather V. MacArthur / Forbes
Supreme Court offers possible road map for schools to diversify top programs. By Laura Meckler and Karina Elwood / Wash Post (Image by USA Today )
Related: The Right’s Long Game to End Public Education. By Jeff Bryant / The Progressive
Blaxit: More Black Americans Are Leaving The U.S. To Live In Africa. By Faith Katunga / Travel Noire (Image USA Today)
In recent years, a notable development has emerged: a growing number of Black Americans are choosing to leave the United States to start anew on the African continent. This movement, sometimes called “Blaxit,” is driven by various factors ranging from the search for a deeper connection to ancestral roots. There’s also the desire for a life free from systemic racism and economic limitations.
The quest for a deeper understanding of one’s origins is a powerful motivator. For Black Americans, whose histories are marred by the brutality of slavery and colonialism, connecting with the African continent offers a pathway to reclaiming lost heritage. As such, Countries like Ghana, Senegal, and The Gambia are becoming popular destinations. These countries provide historical sites and cultural experiences that help individuals trace and celebrate their ancestral lineage. Programs like Ghana’s “Year of Return” have successfully tapped into this desire. They have invited the African diaspora to explore their heritage and consider Ghana a home base. Read more
Historically Black college with Episcopal roots loses appeal, faces loss of accreditation. David Paulsen / ENS
Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, North Carolina, has lost its appeal seeking to maintain accreditation, a decision that adds to concerns about the viability of the historically Black college, one of two such schools with Episcopal roots that receive financial support from the church.
Its accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, or SACSCOC, first ruled in December that Saint Augustine’s had failed to meet six of the agency’s requirements and standards, including those relating to the university’s governing board, its financial resources and financial documents. The agency said it planned to remove the university as an accredited member institution, but it gave Saint Augustine’s time to pursue an appeal. Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
What Is Christian Nationalism, Exactly? By David French / NYT
If you’re alarmed by the rise of Christian nationalism, the single worst thing you can do is define it too broadly.
If you define it too broadly, then you’re telling millions of ordinary churchgoing citizens that the importation of their religious values into the public square somehow places them in the same camp or on the same side as actual Christian supremacists, the illiberal authoritarians who want to remake America in their own fundamentalist image. The sociologists Samuel Perry and Andrew Whitehead define Christian nationalism as a “cultural framework that blurs distinctions between Christian identity and American identity, viewing the two as closely related and seeking to enhance and preserve their union.” Read more
Related: Christian nationalism’s support is strongest in rural states. By Lisa Hagen / NPR
Alabama justice’s ties with far-right Christian movement raise concern. By Odette Yousef / NPR
In the days since Alabama’s Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be considered “extrauterine children,” the involvement of that court’s chief justice with a once-fringe Christian Nationalist movement has come under renewed scrutiny.
Tom Parker, a Republican who joined the court in 2005, wrote a concurring opinion that quoted at length from sources such as the Book of Genesis, the Ten Commandments and Christian thinkers of centuries ago, such as Thomas Aquinas. But comments he has made in other media have raised questions about his seeming espousal of “Seven Mountains” theology, a concept that some experts consider to be Christian extremism. Read more
“I’m a very proud Christian”: Will religion be enough to save Donald Trump? By Chauncey Devega / Salon
Trump is going to extreme lengths to shore up the white Christians who make up his MAGA base before the election
Do you accept Donald Trump as your personal lord and savior? Most people, be they Christians or not, would laugh at such a question given that Donald Trump does not attend church, and has repeatedly shown himself to be a cruel and wicked man – if not evil. But many of Donald Trump’s MAGA people see a divinely ordained messiah figure. Why would they believe such a thing? Their religious leaders – and Trump himself – has repeatedly told them it is true. Read more
Related: Trump Gave Evangelicals Dobbs. They Don’t Seem Satisfied. By Jamelle Bouie / NYT
Michigan Church Keeps Its Promise To Pay $100K In Reparations To The Local Black Community: ‘We Want Everyone To Know This Is Possible.’ By Tomas Kassahun / Blavity
The First Presbyterian Church in Lansing, Michigan has kept its promise to pay reparations for the Black community. The church most recently provided a $40,000 check to the Justice League Of Greater Lansing, an organization that collects reparations for the city’s Black community. The latest contribution comes after the church previously raised $18,000 for the Justice League in 2023.
Willye Bryan, a member of The First Presbyterian Church and founder of the Justice League, said churches have a responsibility to provide reparations. “Churches have been just as complicit in slavery as any other group in the country and sometimes even more so,” Bryan said in an interview with the Lansing State Journal. Read more
Historical / Cultural
Advocates decry what is lost as the teaching of Black history faces growing restraints. By Cheyanne M. Daniels / The Hill
Advocates are sounding the alarm about growing pushes from conservative-led states to downplay the impact of slavery and racism on U.S. history and change the way Black Americans’ stories are taught in classrooms.
As Black History Month nears its end, they say it’s a subject that should be getting more attention, warning the shift will wind up hurting students. “We should be scared of undercutting the future of America by not endowing our students with the knowledge they need to not only compete in this society but in global society,” Ashley White, the NAACP’s inaugural education fellow for equity access and opportunity, told The Hill’s “The Switch Up.” Read more
God Save Texas: HBO documentary excavates Texas’ dark past—and the hopes for its future. By Sam Adams / Slate
The three-part HBO documentary brings filmmakers Richard Linklater, Alex Stapleton, and Iliana Sosa back to their hometowns.
The Oscar-nominated filmmaker Richard Linklater has been associated with Austin, Texas, since the release of his breakthrough feature, Slacker, in 1990, and despite the occasional flirtation with Hollywood, he’s never really left. But his new documentary Hometown Prison takes him back to the East Texas city of Huntsville where he spent his formative years, and reveals how its influence is threaded through his entire 40-year career. Read more
San Francisco Apologizes To Black Residents For Decades Of Racist Policies. By Janie Har / HuffPost
Supervisors in San Francisco have formally apologized to African Americans and their descendants for the city’s role in perpetuating racism and discrimination.
“On behalf of the City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors offers its deepest apologies to all African Americans and their descendants who came to San Francisco and were victims of systemic and structural discrimination, institutional racism, targeted acts of violence, and atrocities,” the resolution reads in part. Read more
Biddy Mason Helped Build Downtown Los Angeles. Her Descendants Want You To Learn More. By Christina Carrega / Capital One
Mason was one of the first Black people to legally fight her way out of slavery and later became one of the wealthiest people in California in the 19th century.
“Biddy Mason is an American hero. She’s a pioneer. She’s a trailblazer. And because of these qualities, she was a living legend,” Cox, the CEO of the foundation, says. Mason created a legacy of excellence during a time when being Black and a woman was not legally considered a whole human being. She was one of the first Black people to legally fight for her and her family’s way out of slavery. Yet, her name isn’t as well known as Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, nor is it printed in history books that are currently under threat of being banned. Mason may have been born into slavery, but she died an entrepreneur, philanthropist, real estate mogul, midwife, nurse, and one of the wealthiest people in California at age 73 in 1891. Read more
Don Lemon Signs $24.5 Million Separation Deal With CNN After Being Ousted From Network. By Whitney Vasquez / Radar
Don Lemon is even richer after being fired from CNN almost a year ago. The ousted anchor signed a $24.5 million separation deal with his former employer, officially ending their years-long relationship, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Insiders with direct knowledge about the situation shared details on Lemon and CNN’s agreement. The $24.5 million allegedly covers the complete pay from his final contract, which was meant to extend for more than three years beyond his April 2023 firing, The Wrap reported on Monday. Read more
At Dance Theater of Harlem, a New Lease on History and Ballet. by Gia Kourias / NYT
Robert Garland, the artistic director of Dance Theater of Harlem, surrounded by the company. “I love these dancers,” he said. “They’re in a moment now where they are wanting to express their joy.”Credit…Dana Scruggs for The New York Times
Robert Garland has held many positions at Dance Theater of Harlem over many years — principal dancer, resident choreographer, school director, archivist and company webmaster. At long last, he has caught the prize title: artistic director. Read more
Related: Dancing on the Rooftops of New York in a Rediscovered Short Film. By Richard Preston / NYT
Smithsonian Latino museum sued over internship’s ‘pro-Latino discrimination.’ By Julian Mark / Wash Post
The lawsuit is the latest challenge to a diversity program filed by conservative activist Edward Blum’s American Alliance for Equal Rights. An exhibit at the National Museum of the American Latino in Washington. (Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post)
The case is the latest in a years-long campaign by Edward Blum to eradicate racial preferences in academia and the workplace. Blum’s American Alliance for Equal Rights brought on the lawsuits against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that led the Supreme Court to strike down the use of race-based admissions in June, rolling back decades of precedent. It’s among a slew of legal challenges against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs that have arisen after the Harvard decision. Read more
Sports
Doc Rivers is trying to rescue the Bucks and restore his reputation. By Michael Lee / Wash Post
Doc Rivers, who was let go by the Philadelphia 76ers last spring, is coaching the Milwaukee Bucks after a midseason change. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
He’s chasing that high again, the one that arrived in 2008, when Paul Pierce tossed a bucket of orange Gatorade on his back and he got to inhale the cigar smoke and champagne mist of a championship locker room. Doc Rivers hasn’t had that feeling in nearly 16 years, but he wants it again, even if it means more second-guessing and social media roasting should his pursuit continue to come up short. Read more
At the NFL combine, Black quarterbacks will be in the spotlight. By Jason Reid / Andscape
Will another all-time great signal-caller emerge from this year’s combine participants? Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. warms up before the College Football Playoff National Championship game at NRG Stadium on Jan. 8 in Houston. CFP/Getty Images
Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Michael Penix Jr. are considered three of the best quarterback prospects. Renowned quarterback coach Quincy Avery knows all about them. A counselor at the Elite 11 academy, Avery observed Williams, Daniels and Penix during the prestigious three-day camp for top quarterbacks. Read more
Jordan Chiles stepped up at the Tokyo Olympics — now it’s time for Paris. By Dana O’Neil / The Athletic
Jordan Chiles is smiling, the beam nearly as bright as the green sweatshirt she’s wearing and the Olympic ring flex of a necklace dangling at the base of her neck. This is not necessarily a departure. Effervescence tends to be Chiles’ default position.
Except there are smiles, the ones presented to the public as either a mask or an indulgence of politeness, and there are smiles. This one, bouncing from Chiles’ face a full 25 minutes into a video call, is accompanied by crinkling eyes and hands moving a mile a minute and cheeks soaring toward her ears. This is the genuine artifact. Read more
Dear Coco, You Were Right. By Alexandra Stevenson / Bleav
This past week, at the Dubai Tennis Championships, Coco Gauff was at 4-2 in the second set against Karolina Pliskova. Coco heard the chair umpire Pierre Bacchi, call the Pliskova serve out at deuce – but only after Pliskova returned serve in the net. It was a late call – and Coco should have gotten the point. Instead she had to play the point over.
Coco went to Bacchi at the umpire stand – and had a five minute argument about not getting the point. Coco asked for the Tour Supervisor, while Bacchi talked over Coco’s continued demands. He refused her request – and denied that he had made a late call. Read more
How the first all-Black rowing team went from pioneers to D.C. champions. By Kim O’Connell / Wash Post
The 1964 Howard crew team: James Grant, coxswain, back to camera; Steve McGruder, second from left in the “stroke seat” across from Grant; Harold Sanders; Bill Brown; Bernard Thoms; Frank Thornton; Rudy Smith; Roger Braxton; and Reggie Young. (Courtesy of Bernard Thoms)
The fourth boat stood out. This was the fledgling crew from Howard, a historically Black university founded in Washington in 1867. Only in its fourth season, the Howard crew was the first all-Black competitive rowing team in American history. As newcomers to the sport, the Howard team had mostly put up defeats. Just a month earlier, the rowers had lost to Yale on the Housatonic River in Connecticut. But on this spring morning, they remained determined. Read more
Howard University is making history as the first HBCU to take part in a figure skating competition. By Michelle Miller and Camille Knox / CBS News
Maya James was determined to achieve her goal of starting a figure skating team at Howard University in Washington, D.C., a historically Black college and university.
So James, a junior, turned to Google to find other skaters. She ended up sliding into the direct messages of senior Cheyenne Walker in an effort to break the ice. Despite setbacks that included not having an ice rink on campus and a lack of figure skaters, the duo found others who shared their love of the sport, and they eventually formed a team. On Saturday, their hard work will pay off when the team takes the ice for the first time at a tournament in Delaware. Howard will make history as the first HBCU to participate in a figure skating program. Read more
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