Featured
When Fani Willis took the stand, her fury was precise and laser-focused. By Robin Givhan / Wash Post
Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) walked into the Georgia courtroom Thursday afternoon where lawyers were arguing over whether she would have to take the stand.
It was the back half of the long day’s hearing on whether Willis should be removed from the sprawling election tampering case her office has brought against former president Donald Trump and his associates. But the debate between the dueling teams of lawyers became moot when Willis announced that she wanted to testify. Willis settled into the high-backed witness chair. And then she loosed her fury.
The hearing had been taken over by Willis and her outrage. Whether her anger was defensive or righteous, it was something to behold. Read more
Related: Fani Willis’ Father Says Threats Prevent Him From Knowing Where She Lives. By
Related: Judge on Trump Case Once Worked Under Fani Willis.
Political / Social
The Florida Fraudster and the Russian ‘Killer.’ By Maureen Dowd / NYT
Just as Trump has remade the Republican Party in his own nasty and selfish image, he wants to remake America in his own nasty and selfish image.
If American values get in his way — like our distaste for authoritarians like Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban — he mocks those values. When Putin and Orban flattered Trump, that seemed more important to the Mar-a-Lago megalomaniac than our nation’s proud history of facing down autocrats. Read more
Related: Authoritarianism Expert Exposes Cruel Tactic Used By Both Donald Trump And Vladimir Putin. By
Related: The Trauma of the Trump Years Is Being Rewritten. By Charles M. Blow / NYT
Prominent NYT Columnist Tells Biden To Step Aside: ‘He Is Not Up For This.’ By Lydia O’Connor / HuffPost
Ezra Klein laid out an alternative plan for Democrats on his popular podcast
Ezra Klein, a prominent liberal columnist for The New York Times, published an audio essay Friday making his case against President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, saying he should withdraw from the race and allow delegates to pick from a slate of candidates with a better shot at defeating Donald Trump in November. “We had to wait till this year — till now, really — to see Biden even begin to show what he’d be like on the campaign trail. And what I think we’re seeing is that he is not up for this,” Klein said on his popular semi-weekly podcast, “The Ezra Klein Show.” Read more and you can listen to the episode and read a full transcript of it here.
Related: Biden’s support for Israel may cost him Arab American vote in 2024. By Michael Collins / USA Today
Haley Says She Is Going the Distance Against Trump. Here’s Her Plan.
The former South Carolina governor is expected to lose big in her home state. Beyond that, it’s an even steeper climb.
Kamala Harris: Inside her quiet effort to break through the Biden campaign’s information bubble. By Dovere / CNN
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks onstage at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on February 16, 2024. Johannes Simon/Getty Images
More than two dozen sources tell CNN that Harris has been gathering information to help her penetrate what she sometimes refers to as the “bubble” of Biden campaign thinking, telling people she’s aiming to use that intelligence to push for changes in strategy and tactics that she hopes will put the ticket in better shape to win. Read more
Related: Rep. Jim Clyburn to step down from House Democratic leadership post. By and
Our Society is Not a Bee Hive. By Jamelle Bouie / NYT
This week in The Texas Monthly, I read a troubling profile of Tim Dunn, a 68-year-old billionaire Texas oilman and lavish financier for right-wing extremists in the state.
“In the past two years,” Russell Gold writes, “Dunn has become the largest individual source of campaign money in the state by far.” He has spent, through his political action committee, millions of dollars targeting Republicans who don’t meet his ideological litmus tests of opposition to public schools, opposition to renewable energy and support for tax cuts and draconian anti-abortion laws. Read more
Texas ban on university diversity efforts provides a glimpse of the future across GOP-led states. By Acacia Coronado / Independent
As Texas public university students returned to the classroom in January, a new law in Texas banning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives from state funded higher education institutions took effect
The dim lighting and vacant offices were the first clues. Other changes struck Nina Washington, a senior at the University of Texas, when she returned to her favorite study spot from winter break. The words “Multicultural Center” had been taken off the wall, erasing an effort begun in the late 1980s to serve historically marginalized communities on campus. The center’s staff members were gone, its student groups dissolved. “Politics, behaviors and emotions are returning to the old ways,” said Washington, who as a Black woman found a sense of community at the center. Read more
Related: Giving Students the Tools to Fight Hate. By Shauna Taradash / The Progressive
Struck from a jury for being Black? It still happens all too often. By Stephen Bright / Wash Post
The Supreme Court has long held that the Constitution prohibits prosecutors from striking Black people from jury service based on their race. Yet the practice continues: Nearly every study of jury strikes has revealed that prosecutors disproportionately use their strikes to exclude Black jurors.
Now the court has an opportunity to send a message to prosecutors across the country that this abhorrent practice is unacceptable — and it should not hesitate to do so. Read more
Mistrial declared in murder case of ex-Ohio deputy who shot Casey Goodson Jr. By AP and NBC News
Jason Meade sits with his defense team in his trial at the Franklin County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio. Brooke LaValley / The Columbus Dispatch Pool via AP
Jason Meade was charged with murder and reckless homicide in the December 2020 killing of Casey Goodson Jr. in Columbus. Meade, who is white, shot Goodson six times, including five times in the back, as the 23-year-old Black man tried to enter his grandmother’s home. Read more
Black women may prefer Black OBs due to fear of discrimination, dying during pregnancy. By / NBC News
Women in the study showed a clear preference for Black obstetricians but told researchers how difficult it was to find them.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill conducted a series of interviews and focus groups with 32 Black women ages 27 to 34 about their past experiences with obstetric care, along with their perspectives about having a Black obstetrician. Women who spoke to the researchers brought up their fear that their pregnancies may kill them. Read more
HBCUs Show Highest Financial Payoffs For Black Graduates In 2024. By Rafael Pena / Black Enterprise
HBCUs have emerged as institutions where alumni tend to earn more than other Black graduates in their respective states.
This revelation is a testament to the enduring impact of these institutions on the economic success of their graduates. Among the top performers are Spelman College, Xavier University of Louisiana, and Hampton University, each showcasing substantial financial payoffs for their alums. Spelman College in Atlanta takes the lead in offering the highest economic return, with graduates earning an impressive $16,404 more than alumni of other schools in the state. Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
Christian-nation idea fuels US conservative causes, but historians say it misreads founders’ intent. By Peter Smith / ABC News
The U.S. Constitution doesn’t mention Christianity or any specific religion. The Declaration of Independence famously proclaims that people’s rights come from a “Creator” and “Nature’s God” — but doesn’t specify who that is.
Yet large numbers of Americans believe the founders intended the U.S. to be a Christian nation, and many believe it should be one. Such views are especially strong among Republicans and their white evangelical base. Already such views are being voiced by supporters of Donald Trump amid his bid to recapture the presidency. Read more
Can evangelical Christianity be saved? I still believe — but only if it dumps Trump. By Nathaniel Manderson / Salon
Liberal mockery will never break the spell. My fellow evangelical believers have to look within themselves
Trump is the “bad boy” that many liberals have been warning Christians about — and now, the more dangerous he seems. the more they like him. Another way to look at this is that someone only ends an unhealthy relationship if they can come to that conclusion on their own. Evangelicals will never dump Trump because of some clever argument by Rachel Maddow, or a brilliant takedown by Bill Maher. Such a breakup, if it ever happens, must come from within the evangelical movement itself. Read more
Related: Trump’s questionable morality gets a pass from evangelical voters. I decided to ask why. By Chris Brennan / USA Today
Related: White Evangelical Racism: Anthea Butler. By Ray Kirstein / RNS
Prominent Black Church Leaders Call for End of U.S. Aid to Israel. Audra D. S. Burch and
The African Methodist Episcopal Church Bishops Council says American financial assistance to help Israel fight its war in Gaza supports “mass genocide.”
Leaders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the country’s oldest and most prominent Black Christian denominations, called this week for the United States to end its financial aid to Israel, saying the monthslong military campaign in Gaza amounted to “mass genocide.” The statement was issued by the church’s Council of Bishops, its executive branch, and signed by four senior bishops, including the council president, Bishop Stafford J. N. Wicker. Read more
‘Black Liturgies’ book offers prayers for Black-centered spiritual liberation. By Kathryn Post / RNS
The Sunday after the murder of George Floyd, the liturgies of Thomas Cranmer weren’t cutting it.
In her latest book, Cole Arthur Riley describes logging in to an online Episcopal church service that day, grapes and hot Cheetos close at hand. “And I waited, knowing what I’ve always known: that there are days when it is particularly difficult to pray words written by a white man,” she writes. The Book of Common Prayer, penned in the 16th century by Cranmer and used in many Anglican traditions, was not crafted with Black people in mind, Arthur Riley said. Read more
Related: How the Church Can Help Black Women Heal. By T.K. Floyd Foutz / Christianity Today
Related: Black Americans Who Leave Church Don’t Go Far. By Kate Shellnutt / Christianity Today
Historical / Cultural
Yale University apologizes for its role in slavery. By Susan Svrluga and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel / Wash Post
The school also announced new initiatives to reckon with the last legacy of slavery
A Black author takes a new look at Georgia’s white founder and his failed attempt to ban slavery. By Russ Bynum / AP
Michael Thurmond thought he was reading familiar history at the burial place of Georgia’s colonial founder. Then a single sentence on a marble plaque extolling the accomplishments of James Edward Oglethorpe left him stunned speechless.
Within a lengthy tribute to the Englishman who died in 1785, the inscription read: “He was the friend of the Oppressed Negro.” Oglethorpe led the expedition that established Georgia as the last of Britain’s 13 American colonies in February 1733. Thurmond, a history aficionado and the only Black member of a Georgia delegation visiting the founder’s tomb outside London, knew Oglethorpe had tried unsuccessfully to keep slaves out of the colony. Historians widely agreed he was concerned for the safety and self-sufficiency of white settlers rather than the suffering of enslaved Africans. Read more
He unearthed his roots. Now he digs up lost stories of enslaved people. By Sydney Page / Wash Post
‘Once I find depths of information, I want to give it to the people I think it was stolen from,’ John Mills said
John Mills never gave his surname much thought — until he learned where it came from. When he was in his late 20s, Mills dove into his family history, which he knew little about at the time. What he discovered disturbed him deeply. Many of Mills’s ancestors were enslaved, he learned. His great-great-grandfather, Ned Mills, was the first to adopt the family surname. It was given to him by the man who enslaved him. Read more
With ‘Gems’ From Black Collections, the Harlem Renaissance Reappears.
The Missing Piece of the Bob Marley Biopic. By Hannah Giorgis / The Atlantic
National Black Movie Day is a celebration — and a call for action. By
After the rallying cry “Oscars So White” emerged in 2015, calling out the general exclusion of Black filmmakers and movies from the annual awards ceremony, Agnes Moss stewed on it for a few years. The dismissal of Black-led films had offended her too, and eventually it led to the creation of National Black Movie Day. Since 2019, Moss has made her own annual “call to action to support Black films,” a grassroots effort that has gained momentum through collaborations with local businesses and social media influencers. Saturday marks the fifth NBMD, and Moss said this year is distinct because filmgoers have multiple strong Black films to check out. Read more
Allow Beyoncé To Remind You Where Country Really Came From. By
The pop star appeared in a Verizon commercial that aired after Usher’s Super Bowl halftime show, in which she tried to “break the internet” and previewed “Renaissance: Act II,” which will be dropping on March 29. As a little treat, Bey gave us the first two singles from her project: “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ’Em,” the latter of which features banjoist Rhiannon Giddens, one of my favorite Black country icons. The two tracks are undeniably country, through and through — I mean, this is a Black woman from Houston’s 3rd Ward who regularly wore cowboy hats in the early 2000s. But a certain Oklahoma country music radio station seemed to think otherwise. That’s when the Beyhive — Bey’s fan base — went on the attack. Read more
New ‘Peanuts’ special will finally let Franklin sit by White friends. By Samantha Chery / Wash Post
Upcoming Apple TV Plus program will focus on the origin story of the first Black ‘Peanuts’ character and attempt to rectify a controversial scene from 50 years ago
Franklin’s isolated seat at the dinner table in “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” riled viewers of the classic that aired 50 years ago. But a new TV special coming out this month about the first Black “Peanuts” character literally gives him a better seat at the table. “Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin,” premiering Feb. 16 on Apple TV Plus, will focus on Franklin’s origin story. The trailer, released Friday, shows that after moving to a new neighborhood, Franklin Armstrong initially struggles to fit in, with kids passing him by as he tries to strike up conversations. He vows to make new friends and win the town’s Soap Box Derby race with his partner, Charlie Brown. Read more
Is It Too Early to Consider Mahomes in the Greatest-Quarterback-Ever Conversation? By Jemele Hill / The Atlantic
This wasn’t supposed to be Patrick Mahomes’s year—that’s the scary part. There were plenty of times this season when the Kansas City Chiefs and their star quarterback looked vulnerable, including a stretch when they lost four out of six games. Yet the end result was the same as it was last season: Mahomes won another Super Bowl, and notched another Super Bowl MVP, and now the rest of the football world is stuck with the gloomy reality that for the foreseeable future, any path to the Super Bowl means upending a generational player who is on a collision course to be the greatest quarterback in NFL history. Read more
Caitlin Clark joins Lynette Woodard, Pearl Moore as scoring champion. By Devan Schwartz / NPR
Lynette Woodard, pictured circa 1990, scored 3,649 points for the University of Kansas and went on to play professionally and for Team USA.
Long live the NBA’s three kings. By Michael Lee / Wash Post
The league’s brightest stars for more than a decade, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry shine on
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