Featured
As Long As America Is Racist, Don’t Count Donald Trump Out. Michael Arceneaux / HuffPost
It’s short-sighted to assume that Donald Trump’s time has come and gone. Those who loved his deplorable politics still do. And cults don’t just die overnight.
Much as I like the idea of dancing on the grave of Donald Trump’s political career, I would prefer everyone wait until it’s actually pronounced dead first. Last week, the former president formally announced his third bid for the presidency from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “In order to make America great again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump declared. He has a much better chance at becoming president again than most of these pundits would like to give him credit for, but I agree there are obvious signs of Trump’s fading political star. I want nothing more than for Trump to fade away from politics and fall into the misery he deserves, but if the only arguments against him right now are that he’s not performing at his best and that the rich and well-connected dislike him, that isn’t enough. Read more
Political / Social
Mike Pompeo Boldly and Insanely Claims Teachers’ Union Leader Is “the Most Dangerous Person in the World”—Ahead of Kim Jong Un. By Bess Levin / Vanity Fair
That’s right, folks: According to the former director of the CIA, “the most dangerous person in the world”—the world!—is not a sadistic North Korean dictator who just last week “fired an intercontinental ballistic missile…that showed a potential ability to launch nuclear strikes on all of the US mainland,” nor is it the leader of the nation that the Pentagon said last month is the biggest threat to the US. Instead, it’s the leader of a teachers’ union. Incidentally, Pompeo didn’t say what kind of “filth…they’re teaching our kids,” but we assume he means factually accurate details about American history and the truth that LGBTQ people are not a scourge on society. Read more
Warnock’s Lead Over Walker Widens in New Georgia Runoff Poll. By Susan Milligan / US News
Democrats hope that, with the Senate already under their control, Republicans will be less likely to turn out for Georgia’s runoff election.
The survey, completed by Fabrizio and Associates for AARP, shows Warnock with 51% support – the first time the incumbent lawmaker has garnered more than 50% support in a general election poll this campaign season. Walker has the backing of 47% of voters, the survey found. Since neither man got more than half the vote on Election Day, they will face off in a Dec. 6 runoff election, as directed by state law. Warnock’s lead in the AARP poll is wider than his advantage on Nov. 8, when the Democrat got 49.4% of the vote, compared to 48.5% for Walker. Warnock’s advantage is among Black voters – 89% of whom support him, compared to 8% who back Walker – and voters under 50, the poll found. Voters 18-49 prefer Warnock to Walker, 61% to 37%, the survey found. Read more
Hakeem Jeffries: Will Nancy Pelosi’s successor in House Democratic leadership make nice with progressives? By Alexander Sammon / Slate
Hakeem Jeffries has a reputation for antagonizing progressives. But their caucus is growing.
Technically it will need to be voted on, but Democrats seem to have settled on a new top dog in the House: New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. Come January, he’ll take over for Nancy Pelosi, who has helmed the delegation since 2003. In her remarks announcing her intention to leave her leadership position last week, she did not mention Jeffries by name, but the other members of her octogenarian leadership trifecta, Reps. Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn, both endorsed Jeffries, making his promotion a near certainty. Read more
Why Black women candidates had mixed results in the midterm elections. By Lisa Desjardins / PBS
Shown are Abrams, Demmings and Beasely. All unsuccessful candidates.
A record number of Black women ran for office this year for U.S. House, Senate and governor. And while some made history with their wins, Black women are still underrepresented in public office. Nadia Brown, the Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Georgetown University, joined Lisa Desjardins to discuss the issue. Read more
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer makes historic pick for Michigan Supreme Court vacancy. By Craig Mauger / The Detroit News
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has chosen state Rep. Kyra Harris Bolden to fill a seat on the Michigan Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman to serve on the state’s high court.
First elected to the state House in 2018, she is a member of the House judiciary and insurance committees. Prior to serving in the House, she was a lawyer with Lewis & Munday P.C. in Detroit and worked as a staff attorney for Judge John Murphy in Wayne County Circuit Court and as a court-appointed criminal defense attorney for district court in Southfield. Bolden studied law at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. “As the first Black woman to serve in that capacity, she will bring a long-missing perspective to the deliberations of the state’s highest court,” Johnson said in a statement. “That alone makes this a monumental decision, but Ms. Bolden brings more to the table than her racial identity.” Read more
Rayshard Brooks shooting: Atlanta will pay $1M to family of man killed by police. By Becky Sullivan / NPR
The city council voted unanimously Monday to approve the payment, which will settle a wrongful death lawsuit against the city filed by Brooks’s widow last year. Shown is A still image from Atlanta Police body-worn camera footage showing Officer Garrett Rolfe speaking with 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks during their 40-minute encounter.
“Although the children of Mr. Brooks have lost their father, settling the case will undoubtedly assist them with future plans as they come of age,” the family’s lawyers said in a statement, adding that they continued to hope for intervention by the U.S. Department of Justice. Brooks, 27, had fallen asleep in his car as he waited in a Wendy’s drive-through lane on the night of June 12, 2020. A call to authorities brought two Atlanta police officers to the scene. Read more
Related: 3 White Georgia jail guards arrested in violent assault of Black inmate. CBS News
Reparations for Black Americans can work if they are reimagined. By Andrew Delbanco / Wash Post
Reparations — the idea that a decent society must accept responsibility in the present for injustices perpetrated in the past — have been imagined in various ways through the course of American history. But until now, the idea of reparations for the crime of slavery, as well as for its long aftermath of racial subjugation, has run into objections — both principled and practical — that have shut down any effort to turn the idea into reality. Reparations must be reimagined in a way that could turn aspiration into action. Read more
VMI’s first Black superintendent under attack by conservative White alumni. By Ian Shapira / Wash Post
Virginia Military Institute Superintendent Cedric T. Wins speaks during a change-of-command ceremony at the school in Lexington, Va., last year. (Parker Michels-Boyce for The Washington Post)
“This is about a bunch of rich, older White guys who are losing power,” said Chuck Rogerson, 61, a White retired Army colonel who roomed with Wins during their four years together at VMI. “They can’t handle the change because they’ve never had to deal with it before — a man of color leading the institute. Did they ever question prior superintendents’ salaries? Whatever they’re paying Wins, they ought to pay double, given all the crap he’s dealing with.” Read more
Unhealthy food ads targeted at minorities carry serious consequences. By Tiffany Cusaac-Smith / USA Today
Black and Hispanic consumers are targeted with a disproportionate amount of TV advertisements for sugary drinks, snacks and other high-caloric but low-nutrient items, making them prone to more diet-related diseases such as diabetes, researchers found.
In 2021, candy, as well as sugary drinks, savory snacks, gums, mints and cereals made up 75% of Spanish-language and Black-targeted TV advertisement spending, according to a study from the University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health. In 2017, that figure was about 50%. Black youth and adults see between 9% to 21% more food and beverage advertising than their white peers. And on Spanish-language TV, fast-food advertisements increased by 33% from 2017 to 2019, according to a separate report from the Rudd Center. Read more
HIV treatment, prevention efforts must target Black women, experts say. By Nada Hassanein / USA Today
Though men remain the largest group of people diagnosed with HIV, Black women make up the majority of new HIV cases among women. Seven thousand women diagnosed with the virus in 2018, and Black women made up more than 4,000 cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reports transgender women in a separate category. Despite the staggering rates, experts say, there is less awareness of Black women’s burden of the virus, which is associated with men who have sex with men. One in 9 women are unaware they have the virus, the CDC reports. Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
On Racial Justice: The Question Is, Do We Want to Get Well? By Jenny Potter / Christianity Today
If we want better action, we may need to start asking better questions.
“But, what should I do?” might be the most common question I hear in circles with White people concerned about racial injustice. For many White folks, they are earnestly seeking wisdom and practical steps to engage. The trouble is, I think they’re asking not just an incomplete question (what should you do about what exactly? The school-to-prison pipeline? The fact that Black women are three to four times more likely to die in labor than White women? Racial profiling and environmental racism? The list could go on and on)—they’re asking the wrong question altogether. Read more
The Growing Religious/Secular Rift on the Illiberal Right. By Joshua Tait / The Bulwark
Christianity’s emphasis on forgiveness, suffering, the meek and poor runs totally counter to the tendencies of the New Right and National Conservatism.
On the illiberal right, there’s a divide between religiously motivated conservatives and their secular allies. This divide will likely grow, and be felt at both the elite and popular levels. In one sense, this is not new: There has long been a religious/secular fault line in the conservative coalition. But as hypocritical as the religious right can be, religious—generally Christian—impulses have at times tempered American conservatism. Now, however, we already see signs of a cynical irreligious right and how its ideas and attitudes have infected politically minded believers. Read more
Atheist churches and the ‘sacred flower of cannabis’: Americans find spirituality in new places. By Morgan Shipley / RNS
According to a recent Pew Center report, American Christianity remains in a nearly three-decade decline. Responding as “none” or “unaffiliated” on religious surveys, people increasingly identify as humanists, atheists, agnostics, or simply spiritual. If current trends continue, by 2070 Christianity may no longer be the dominant expression of American religion.
As a scholar who studies alternative spirituality and new religious movements in the United States, I believe the reality of America’s diverse religious and spiritual landscape is more complex than often presented. The nones – or those claiming no particular religious affiliation – range from atheists to individuals searching for spiritual answers outside traditional religious groups. This last group commonly identifies as spiritual but not religious – or SBNR. Dissatisfied with traditional religion, these individuals think about spirituality in a more secular way, as representing their pursuit of meaning, healing, purpose and belonging. Read more
Love in a Time of Social Conflict. By Heather Thompson Day / Christianity Today
The cross calls us to sacrificial community, especially during a divided age.
Today, America as a country is at war with itself. And we aren’t just at war with people of other races, and we aren’t just at war with Christianity; our divide seems to be a tribalism so strong that it is separating people of the same family and origin. We are living in a country where Americans feel their political affiliation is their greatest form of identity attachment, more than their race or religion, and yet how that political affiliation plays out in their real-life thoughts, attitudes, opinions, and beliefs is not at all a solitary decision. Our groups are shaping us. I believe, especially after reading King’s speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” that he would point us as a nation to 1 John 4:7–8: “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” Read more
Historical / Cultural
Only three Black governors have ever been elected in US history. By Cheyanne M. Daniels / The Hill
When Democrat Wes Moore won Maryland’s gubernatorial election on Nov. 8, he made history by becoming the state’s first Black governor. It was an honor he said he’d never imagined.
Democrat L. Douglas Wilder was the first Black person to be elected governor in 1990. He served one term in Virginia before leaving office to become a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. Democrat Deval Patrick was elected governor of Massachusetts in 2007 and served two terms. He is now a professor at Harvard University. David Paterson, the only other contemporary Black governor, served as New York’s governor when he finished the remainder of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s (D) term from March 2008 to January 2011. Before those three officials, only two other Black governors served. Both can be traced back to the time of Reconstruction. Read more
In Native American adoption case, Supreme Court explores race and tribal sovereignty. By Devin Dwyer, Sarah Herndon, and Isabella Meneses / ABC News
One family’s fight could upend decades of federal law.
Since 1978, the Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA, has mandated that preference for placement of a Native child must first be given to immediate family members, then another member of the child’s tribe, then to an unrelated tribe, before non-native prospective parents are considered. The Brackeens are white. Congress enacted ICWA as an answer to the forced removal of hundreds of thousands of Native children from their tribes over generations, separating them from families and placing them in government-run boarding schools or in Christian churches through the 1960s. Read more
Margaret Walker’s Business during The Antebellum Era. By Anne Kerth / AAIHS
A class in dressmaking, Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia, c. 1899-1900 (Library of Congress)
Throughout the Antebellum era, the institution of slavery worked to strip Black women of their humanity and human rights and to seize control of their labor and their bodies. Black women resisted this system of racialized and gendered oppression both from inside and outside this institution, fighting for self-ownership, self-determination, and self-respect. This is the story of one of these women—a Greenville, South Carolina, dressmaker named Margaret Walker who, at the height of her success in the mid-1800s, stood at the helm of a thriving business and possessed significant real estate and personal wealth, valued in the thousands. At the moment of her birth, however, such a life would have been unthinkable, since she spent close to half her life in slavery. By the 1850s Margaret Walker found herself in the opposite condition as an independent, wealthy woman and business owner. Read more
The Malaise, Mess, and Art of Black Millennial Womanhood. By Marina Magloire / The Nation
Chantal V. Johnson’s debut novel typifies an emerging genre in fiction, one that interrogates the intimate and creative life of Black cosmopolitan women.
Across genres and mediums, an alternative vision of Black millennial womanhood is emerging. Works like Issa Rae’s television show Insecure and Raven Leilani’s novel Luster revel in depression and precarity—making the young, professional Black woman’s life tragicomic. These works reject the demand for Black resiliency and present an antidote to the strong Black woman: the messy Black girl. Into this genre strides Chantal V. Johnson’s debut novel, Post-Traumatic. Johnson’s spiky antiheroine, Vivian, embodies the archetype of the genre: She is a Black lawyer living in Brooklyn and trying to cope through sex, weed, and (on the rare occasion she allows herself carbs) pancakes. Read more
Two new movies, ‘Till’ and ‘U.S. and the Holocaust,’ help us connect the dots between Jim Crow and fascism. By Soraya Nadia McDonald / Andscape
With Kanye and Kyrie Irving dominating the news, the connections between victims of white supremacy are more relevant than ever
As a correspondent for the Baltimore Afro-American covering the Spanish Civil War and the rise of fascism in Europe, the poet Langston Hughes in 1937 made an astute observation. Fascism, Hughes concluded, was essentially Jim Crow with a foreign accent. “We Negroes in America do not have to be told what Fascism is in action,” Hughes said before a gathering of the Second International Writers Conference. “We know. Its theories of Nordic supremacy and economic suppression have long been realities to us.” This bit of symmetry too often goes ignored in examinations of this period of American history and its harrowing modern parallels. But two recently released films, Till and The U.S. and the Holocaust, help us see how Emmett Till and Anne Frank, children whose lives were famously cut short at age 14, were both victims of the same pernicious and violent ideology of white supremacy. Read more
Sports
How one Black coach is building a pipeline to bypass football’s biases. By Candace Buckner / Wash Post
In Michigan State’s strict but close-knit world of “OGs” and “shorties,” Black coaches learn from former NFL boss Mel Tucker’s successes and shortcomings.
As he denounces flair, seven of the coaches in the room are Black and five are White. This is intentional. Tucker knows as well as anyone that the path to becoming a head coach, in college or the NFL, typically starts in these rooms. In 1997, he was the young Black graduate assistant on Nick Saban’s Michigan State staff. Eventually, he became an interim head coach in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars during the 2011 season, a mirage of an opportunity that came as the league appeared on the cusp of progress with 10 Black men at the top. Read more
Related: Jerry Jones helped transform the NFL, except when it comes to race. By David Maraniss and Sally Jenkins / Wash Post
The NBA’s only all-Black broadcast crew was 16 years in the making. By Ava Wallace / Wash Post
Wizard TV announcers Chris Miller and Drew Gooden are two of the three members of the NBA’s only all-Black broadcast crew. Sideline reporter Meghan McPeak is the third member. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
The trio makes a unique grouping in the NBA: they are the only all-Black local broadcast team across the league’s 30 franchises. They aren’t the NBA’s first all-Black crew — that was Charlotte’s Eric Collins, Dell Curry and Stephanie Ready, according to Miller and the Wizards. But they are the only active all-Black crew, a rarity in an industry still overwhelmingly White and male, especially in the vaunted play-by-play role. Viewers have been able to flip on NBA games for years and watch diverse broadcasters. The majority of the league’s sideline reporters are women; the majority of analysts are Black former players. But in the play-by-play role, the quarterback position on a broadcast crew, progress has lagged far behind. Read more
“It’s Not Gonna Work”: Coco Gauff’s Mother’s Harsh Reality Check in Childhood Stopped Her From Following the Same Goal as Simone Biles. By Radha Iyer / Essentially Sports
Athletes of a particular sport often don’t limit themselves to one particular sport. Usually, they grow up playing multiple sports before they chose one.
Champions like Michael Phelps and Coco Gauff grew up practicing multiple disciplines. In fact, teenage tennis star Coco Gauff was close to becoming America’s next gymnastics superstar. While she dreamed of becoming a gymnast, things, unfortunately, didn’t go as planned. The tennis star’s father, Corey Gauff, once revealed how Coco had plans to make it big in gymnastics. However, the plans ended up being shattered with a good dose of reality. Read more
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