Featured
On Race, Mike Johnson Says His Views Were Shaped by Raising a Black Child. By Adam Nagourney / NYT
When Mike Johnson, the new House speaker, talks about race in America, he often draws a striking personal connection, telling the story of how he and his wife, Kelly, “took custody” of a Black teenager 24 years ago and raised him as a son.
Mr. Johnson’s remarks on race have drawn criticism from the right. In a 2020 interview on PBS, he spoke with the journalist Walter Isaacson about racial tensions in America in the immediate aftermath of the killing of George Floyd.
At the time, Mr. Johnson noted that his oldest biological son, Jack, was now the same age as Michael was when he came into the house. “And I’ve thought often through all these ordeals over the last couple of weeks about the difference in the experiences between my two 14-year-old sons,” he said in the PBS interview. “Michael being a Black American and Jack being white Caucasian. They have different challenges. My son Jack has an easier path. He just does.” Read more
Related: New Speaker Mike Johnson’s Long History With The Religious Right. By Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost
Political / Social
Joe Biden Knows What It Actually Means to Be President. By David French / NYT
If Biden can persevere in the face of the chaos and confusion of war abroad and polarization at home, all while preserving a level of economic growth that is astonishing in contrast with the rest of the world, he’ll have his own story to tell in Chicago, one that should trump the adversity of any given moment or the concern generated by any given poll. If Biden can do his job, then he can take the stage in Chicago with his own simple pitch for re-election: In the face of disease, war, inflation and division, the economy thrives — and democracy is alive. Read more
Forensic psychological expert: MAGA “victimhood” is a major recruitment tool for violence. By Chauncey Devega / Salon
One of the defining features of the rise of American neofascism is violence. This is in no way surprising: violence is one of the primary tools that enemies of democracy use to impose their will, undermine institutions, and prevent the types of consensus-seeking that’s foundational to a healthy democracy and society.
In an attempt to better understand why so many Americans have succumbed to radicalization and extremism in the Age of Trump and beyond, the psychological processes involved, how this is a global problem, and what can be done to escape the spiral of radicalization in American, I recently spoke with Dr. Emily Bashah, a licensed psychologist and author. She is the co-author of Addictive Ideologies: Finding Meaning and Agency When Politics Fail You. Read more
Cornel West’s Improvisational Run for President: ‘It’s Jazz All the Way Down.’ By Charles Homans / NYT
“It’s jazz all the way down, brother,” he said.
Even by the standards of outsider politics, Mr. West’s presidential campaign has been uncommonly chaotic. He has embraced and discarded political parties the way other people try on outfits before going to work. He has predictably infuriated Democrats, who fear that his campaign could draw a decisive number of voters away from Mr. Biden in 2024. But he has also irked activists from the Green Party, whose nomination he sought before announcing this month that he would run as an independent instead. Read more
Why race and colonialism matter in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. By karen Attiah / Wash Post
A woman attends a demonstration in New York on Thursday to express solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)
Since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, and Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza, I’ve been thinking about solidarities, allegiances and the unique yet precarious space that Black people in America fill in discussions of these horrible events within the context of Western colonization and liberation. Read more
A judge says Georgia’s congressional maps must be redrawn. By Sam Gringlas / NPR
A federal judge has ruled that Georgia’s congressional and state legislative districts must be redrawn before the 2024 election, reshaping the fight for control of Congress and the Georgia legislature.
“The Court reiterates that Georgia has made great strides since 1965 towards equality in voting,” Jones wrote in the ruling, referencing the year the VRA was passed. “However, the evidence before this Court shows that Georgia has not reached the point where the political process has equal openness and equal opportunity for everyone.” Read more
New Clarence Thomas ethics questions about forgiveness on luxury RV loan. By Nina Totenberg / NPR
The drip, drip, drip of new ethics questions about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s ethics continued Wednesday. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., disclosed that documents turned over to the committee indicate that Thomas benefitted by having some or all of a $267,000 loan forgiven in order to purchase a luxury RV.
In August, The New York Times reported that Anthony Welters, a wealthy friend of Thomas’s, loaned him $267,000 to buy the RV. The Times reported that Welters, in response to inquiries, said the loan had been “satisfied,” but he declined to say whether the loan was repaid. Read more
For the 1st time since Covid, anti-Asian hate dropped. What’s behind the 33% decrease. By and
“We don’t have a president saying that the ‘Chinese flu’ has come to the U.S,” one researcher said.”
The decrease from 746 to 499 hate incidents is attributed to several factors, including diminished opportunity for Covid-related scapegoating, less inflammatory rhetoric from leaders and reporting fatigue, experts say. But not every group saw similar drops. But the decrease is likely part of a “cyclical” pattern, experts say, and may not be long term. Read more
SCOTUS struck a ‘blow’ to Black students, but it puts ‘spotlight’ on HBCUs: Advocates. By Arthur Jones II / ABC News
In June, the Supreme Court all but closed the door on the use of race-conscious college admissions, touching off major changes in higher education.
“We’re upset about it, but at the same time, we understand that this provides an opportunity for HBCUs to provide access to education for those who otherwise would not have it,” Clark Atlanta University Dr. George French said on ABC News Live in July. Higher education research analyst Gabriel Montague agreed, saying in a statement that ending affirmative action as it has historically been used could prompt Black students to instead seek schools where they will be “comfortable in their diversity” while still “weighing options of affordability and career goals.” Read more
I studied 1 million home sales in metro Atlanta and found that Black families are being squeezed out of homeownership by corporate investors. By Brian Y. An / The Conversation
In the years since the Great Recession, when housing prices dramatically fell, Wall Street investors have been buying large numbers of single-family homes to use as rentals. As of 2022, big investment firms owned nearly 600,000 such properties nationwide.
In the period I studied, homeownership declined across the Atlanta metro area by more than 5 percentage points, similar to a nationwide trend. For an average neighborhood, home purchasing by large corporate investors explained one-quarter of that decline. But when I broke the analysis down by race, I found that Black families were hit much harder: Large investment firms buying up local properties explained fully three-quarters of the decline in African American homeownership. In contrast, non-Hispanic whites were largely unaffected. Read more
I Teach at Boston University—They Need to Show They Have Ibram X. Kendi’s Back. By Joshua Pederson / The Daily Beast
The layoffs at the Center for Antiracist Research should not negate the vital work it is doing, and its founder shouldn’t be scapegoated for it either.
So let me make something clear right here: it would be a tragedy if Ibram Kendi left B.U., and a catastrophe if his center were to collapse. Right now, my employer needs to fight to keep him—and to renew its support for the CAR and its vital mission. Because if you take a closer look at the charges levied against Kendi, a few are understandable and fixable. And the rest boil away in the hot sun. Read more
Ethics / Morality / Religion
What role Speaker Mike Johnson’s religious views play in his politics. By Sarah Beth Hensley / ABC News
Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson is in his fourth term in Congress, yet many might just be learning about his strongly-held religious views and their influence on his politics.
Johnson — a supporter of former President Donald Trump and a 2020 election denier — told a Baptist newspaper when he was running for Congress in 2016, “I’m a committed Christian and my faith informs everything I do.” In an interview that aired Thursday night on Fox News, Johnson told host Sean Hannity that “Someone asked me today in the media, ‘People are curious, what does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?’ I said, ‘Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That’s my worldview.” Read more
Related: New House Speaker: Soft-Spoken. Mild-Mannered. Raging Theocrat. By Michael Tomasky / TNR
What is antisemitism? How the meaning of an age-old hate has evolved. By Anna Kaufman / USA Today
Arye Ephrath lived a large portion of his first three years as someone else. Born in Slovakia on the day the first Jews in his town were ordered to train stations to be deported to Auschwitz, Ephrath has a unique story of survival.
Now, he spends his time educating others on the teachings of hatred that permitted the atrocities of the Holocaust. “I am perhaps one of the youngest of the survivors who was actually alive at the time − and the generation is disappearing,” he said. “It really is not just a need to tell the story but a duty.” Read more
Related: On Tree of Life anniversary, US Jews say they feel more isolated. By Harry Bruinius / CS Monitor
Poll: More religious Americans support the use of political violence. By Fiona Andre’ / RNS
One-third of white evangelical Protestants support the idea, significantly more than any other religious group.
Support for political violence and concern over the state of American democracy are both on the rise, with 75% of Americans believing the future of democracy is at risk in the next presidential election, according to a report released Wednesday (Oct. 25) by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution. Read more
Historical / Cultural
Robert E. Lee Confederate statue in Charlottesville melted down. By Debbie Elliott / NPR
Communities across the American South have removed Confederate monuments from public spaces in recent years. Some have gone to museums, others are locked away in storage.
The massive bronze sculpture of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, in uniform, astride his horse Traveller, stood in a downtown Charlottesville park for nearly a century. It was at the center of a deadly white nationalist rally in 2017, when Neo-Nazis and white supremacists tried to stop the city’s plans to remove the statue. It came down to cheers in July of 2021. “Today the statue comes down and we are one small step closer to a more perfect union,” said then-mayor Nikuyah Walker. Read more
Septima Clark and the Fight for Civil Rights. By Tara Kirton / AAIHS
Southern Christian Leadership Conference President Joseph E. Lowery (right), Andrew Young (left), and Walter E. Fauntroy present Septima Clark with a Drum Major for Justice Award. (The Joseph Echols and Evelyn Gibson Lowery Collection/Digital Public Library of America)
Septima Clark’s involvement in the Civil Rights Movement began after the end of World War II upon her return to Charleston in 1947. Black men were returning home from fighting in the war and they were finished with segregation, even if segregation was not yet finished with them. This was around the same time that Clark began to get involved in local civics through her involvement with the Young Women’s Christian Association. Read more
Stop Messaging Me, a Black Journalist, About White Irish “Slaves.” By Garrison Hayes / Mother Jones
Every time I broach the subject of slavery, for example, there it is, the inevitable comment: “What about the Irish slaves in America?” Often, it feels like an attempt to divert attention, to steer viewers away from the pressing issues surrounding Black subjugation. But, I thought, why not tackle this exact question directly?
To get answers, I turned to an authority on the subject: Dr. Nell Irvin Painter, a distinguished history professor from Princeton University and the author of numerous books on race and history, including The History of White People. Read more
The Killing of Breonna Taylor Still Reverberates in Kentucky Politics. By Grace Panetta / Capital B
Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the GOP nominee for governor, didn’t prosecute the officers who fatally shot Taylor. Activists haven’t forgotten.
But the contest between Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Black Republican, and incumbent Gov. Andy Beshear, who is White and the rare Democrat to lead a red state, is, for many, an inflection point in a yearslong fight for racial justice. The March 2020 police killing of Breonna Taylor forever changed Kentucky, particularly the city of Louisville and Jefferson County, the state’s most populous. Activists are still seeking justice for Taylor, the 26-year-old Black woman who was fatally shot by officers executing a no-knock raid of her Louisville apartment. That quest is activating Black voters who may not otherwise have been motivated by Beshear, they say. Read more
Back in the 1960s, the push for parental rights over school standards was not led by white conservatives but by Black and Latino parents. By Jerald Podair / The Conversation
But while Youngkin and other GOP politicians campaigning for offices from local school boards to state legislatures in the 2023 cycle have hitched their political success to parental rights and banning books deemed offensive, they do not own those issues.
In fact, the very thing that parental rights advocates are fighting to exclude is the very thing that parental rights groups of the 1960s fought to have included: an accurate reflection of the role that Black people played in the shaping of American history and culture. Read more
Black Music Sunday: Tricking and treating to the ‘Zombie Jamboree’ for Halloween. By Denise Oliver Velez / Daily Kos
There is a wealth of Halloween music in multiple genres that make a great soundtrack for the holiday, much of which we’ve explored here in the past. Today, let’s explore a song about “jumbies” or “zombies.”
In the Caribbean, the stories of Jumbees are among the spine-chilling tales that have been passed on for generations. Jumbee is the name given to most of the nefarious creatures in Caribbean mythology. There are many different types of Jumbees, each reflecting the Caribbean’s ethnic makeup of African, Amerindian, East Indian, Dutch and English people. Read more and Listen here
Sports
Despite Owning $5.81 Billion LA Franchises, Magic Johnson’s 8YO Venture Lands Him Spot Alongside Michael Jordan. By Prateek Singh / Essentially Sports
Magic Johnson is now a billionaire
Magic Johnson recently joined the elite list of NBA billionaires. The league now boasts three billionaires, the other two are Michael Jordan and LeBron James. While the Chicago Bulls legend has held this title for over nine years now, Johnson is the newest to join him as a retired player. Read more
LeBron’s NBA Is Harder Than Jordan’s Was. By Ross Andersen / The Atlantic
Playing in the NBA really is harder now.
Basketball fans love to argue about the evolution of the game, and whether yesterday’s superstars had it easier. Putting aside the meme-makers’ contempt for tradesmen, they’re right: Today’s professionals do look more athletic and skilled than their predecessors. But then again, today’s fans are steeped in the current visual style of the game, which has changed over the past few decades. We may underestimate former players’ explosiveness, fluidity, and precision. Read more
‘He’s still a player inside’: An oral history of Michael Jordan’s 13-year run with the Hornets. By Mike Vorkunov / The Athletic
On Wednesday, for the first time in 4,970 days, the Charlotte Hornets will play a game without Michael Jordan as their majority owner.
It will be the end of an era for the franchise, one in which the most famous basketball player ever was not only associated with it but also ran the team. When the NBA Board of Governors approved the sale of the Hornets this summer to a group led by Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin, the transaction ended Jordan’s 13-year run at the Hornets’ forefront and under his control, though he will remain a minority owner. Read more
Kanye and Adidas: Money, Misconduct and the Price of Appeasement. By Megan Twohey / NYT
A year ago, after producing hundreds of shoe styles and billions of dollars together, Adidas broke with Kanye West as he made antisemitic and other offensive public comments. But Adidas had been tolerating his misconduct behind the scenes for nearly a decade.
The Adidas team was huddled with Kanye West, pitching ideas for the first shoe they would create together. It was 2013, and the rapper and the sportswear brand had just agreed to become partners. The Adidas employees, thrilled to get started, had arrayed sneakers and fabric swatches on a long table near a mood board pinned with images. Read more
On opening night, one NBA coach could only talk about Maine. By Cindy Boren / Wash Post
“First thing, I would like to say I don’t know everything that is going on,” an emotional Brown told reporters after the Kings beat the Utah Jazz 130-114 in Salt Lake City. “I’m not that smart, but I know we as a country we have to do something.”
He continued, “That is absolutely disgusting and it’s sad. It’s sad that we sit here and watch this time after time after time and nobody does anything about it. It’s a sad day — it’s a sad day for our country. It’s a sad day in this world. And until we decide to do something, the powers that be, this is going to keep happening. And our kids aren’t going to be able to enjoy what the United States is about because we don’t know how to fix a problem that is right in front of us.” Read more
Dusty Baker finally walks away, leaving baseball better than he found it. By Chelsea Janes / Wash Post
Dusty Baker always said if he won one World Series, he would win two. He said it for years, undaunted by the fact that until last October, the story of his otherwise decorated managerial career was that he had not even won the first. On Thursday, as he announced his retirement from managing after 26 seasons, he brought up that promise as a reason he hadn’t given himself much time to reflect yet.
So much of Baker’s managerial career was spent getting over tough losses, of getting up in the morning after one organization or another parted ways with him and looking around and seeing himself as one of few Black managers in a sport in which he was, in that way, the exception from his first spring training with the Atlanta Braves to the day he stepped away. His retirement leaves just one Black manager in the majors — the Dodgers’ Dave Roberts. Read more
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