Feature –  Andrew Gillum and the Extent of the Progressive Revolution. Gillum—the thirty-nine-year-old, outspokenly progressive, African-American mayor of Tallahassee, Florida—is running for governor this year, in a state that has been run by Republicans for nearly twenty years, and where Democrats usually nominate moderates. In the past few weeks there has been a change. The local newspapers have been acknowledging that Gillum is “consistently the Democrat who can fire up crowds” as the Tampa Bay Times put it last week. Could a new-model Democrat win in an old and conservative state like Florida? Read more 

Still Processing – A culture conversation with Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham.  We Spy Two BlacKkKlansmen — and One is Omarosa. This week, we realize we have two black klansmen on our hands — one on the big screen in the form of Spike Lee’s new film “BlacKkKlansman,” and one on the small screen in the form of America’s most notorious reality show villain turned ex-White House employee, Omarosa Manigault Newman. Both the film and person showcase black people infiltrating hostile white institutions and coming out the other side to tell us about it. Listen here 
With His South Africa Tweet, Trump Became a Megaphone for a White-Supremacist Talking Point. Taking his lead from Tucker Carlson, the president is spreading the myth of a global “white genocide.” He ordered the full weight of America’s top diplomat, Secretary of State Pompeo, “to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and the expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers,” the Internet far-right erupted in applause. Read more 
How Far America Has Fallen. The thing with every shocking revelation about Trump is that it’s already baked into his image. I’ve never met a Trump supporter who did not know exactly who he is. No part of the country today is immune to American fracture or the squalid Trump wars, to cultural confrontations over identity and gender and race, to the effects of stagnant incomes over decades, or to the narcissism of modernity. Read more 
The answer to GOP dog whistles? Democrats should talk more about race, not less. Since Donald Trump’s ascension to the White House, various political insiders have warned Democrats not to talk about race issues or what they term “identity politics” — a phrase that intentionally downgrades a raft of critical concerns. Read more and See Texas Democratic Senate candidate, Rep. Beto O’Rourke on the NFL kneeling controversy. Watch here 
The Double Standard for Black Athletes Began Long Before Trump. Just Ask Tommie Smith and John Carlos. President Trump keeps lashing out at black athletes, trying to change the subject from his inner circles’ guilty pleas and verdicts back to NFL players protesting the anthem, calling Colin Kaepernick, who wouldn’t kneel for the anthem, a “son of a bitch” and LeBron James dumb for good measure. Trump is a very new kind of president, but he’s tapped into a long tradition of black athletes using their prominent platforms to speak up about American injustice, and powerful fans then telling them to keep quiet and just play. Read more 
Mitch Landrieu: Racial reconciliation will help us live up to our nation’s values. Our nation was founded upon the idea that diversity is our strength. The country is getting more diverse by the year. Rather than fear what is coming, I try to assure my white friends that African-Americans and Latinos will be far better to us than we have been to them. We just have to show people that we have more in common than not. Read more 
Prisons Are Already Retaliating Against Inmates Protesting ‘Modern Slavery.’ Inmates are already experiencing retaliation for alleged participation in the nation-wide prison strike that launched August 21, representatives from the prison labor advocacy group Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) told The Daily Beast. Read more 
‘America to Me’ shows why all the black kids sit together in the cafeteria. A new 10-part documentary series from Starz has found a way to answer an old question about integrated schools: Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? The series begins airing Sunday night on Starz. Read more 

America Soured on My Multiracial Family. When my wife and I adopted our daughter from Ethiopia in 2010, we did so full of hope. In the years since, we’ve faced ugliness that has robbed us of our optimism—and left us fearful for the future of our country. Read more 

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