Yesterday, Senate Republicans filibustered the For the People Act, escalating the GOP's battle against a multiracial democracy. This week on my podcast #BeAntiracist, I speak w/ @AriBerman, one of the foremost reporters covering voter suppression. 1/5 podcasts.pushkin.fm/be-antiracist-…
I've seen this GOP battle my entire adult life. I was a freshman @FAMU_1887 in Tallahassee during the 2000 election that was marred by voter suppression. Like other Americans in history, voter suppression opened my eyes to racism and set me on the journey to be antiracist. 2/5
There was so much to discuss with @AriBerman, especially as Senator McConnell says the electoral system isn't broken right now. The For the People Act "is a solution in search of a problem," he said. 3/5 podcasts.pushkin.fm/be-antiracist-…
Senate Republicans see no problem with GOP state legislators pushing laws that make it harder for people to vote, so it can be easier for GOP candidates to win elections. They see a problem with state officials no longer having the power to suppress votes. 4/5
They are telling us what type of electoral system they need to ensure they have power. But Ari and I discussed what type of electoral system American people need to ensure we have power in a functioning multiracial democracy for our multiracial nation. 5/5 podcasts.pushkin.fm/be-antiracist-…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Over the last few months, more and more people have been saying this nation is "not-racist." Let's add some context. “America is not a racist nation” is the new “America is a postracial nation.” We're witnessing the birth of the new postracial project. 1/7 theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
The postracial myth is a distraction. Because the signposts of racism are staring back at us in big, bold racial inequities. But many Americans ignore the signposts and believe the nation is post-racial; that systemic racism doesn’t exist. 2/7 theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
These believers in the postracial myth are saying racial inequity and injustice and violence aren’t the racial problem. To them, critical race theorists, Black Lives Matter activists, and the 1619 Project are the problem. 3/7 theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
A century after a racist White mob devastated #BlackWallStreet in Tulsa, I keep reflecting on the vicious cycle of anti-Black racism.
Mobs of racist policies silently roaming structures stopping Black people from rising and stopping the rise of their resistance. 1/4
When racist policies failed to stop the rise, racist mobs violently knocked Black people down. When Black people were downed, racist ideas chalked up the plight of Black people to their inferior behaviors, and denied racist mobs ever knocked them down. 2/4
I can’t stop picturing this enduring history—and the antiracist resistance that battled at every rotation. I can’t stop thinking about what this all means from us today. 3/4
Our kids are trying to make sense of the different skin colors and cultures they see, and the racial inequity they see. They hear verbal and non-verbal messages that some certain groups are better or worse; that certain groups have less because they are less. 2/5
These messages are harmful. We can’t protect our kids from these harmful messages by *not* talking to them about racism, by *not* telling them the truth about the nation’s past and present, by *not* actively talking to them about racial equality. 3/5 bookshop.org/books/stamped-…
Working on this new podcast has been uncomfortable and challenging. But I feel a sense of criticality, a sense of urgency to embark on this new project. 2/5 podcasts.pushkin.fm/be-antiracist-…
Now, I have a forum to sit down each week with some of the boldest and bravest and clearest thinkers, writers, and activists to discuss the antiracist policies and platforms we can rally around to construct an antiracist society. 3/5 deadline.com/2021/05/ibram-…
I invite you, Bryan, to read this study @Cell_Metabolism by experts Sara N. Bleich and @drard who found “structural racism is a common root cause for COVI9-19 and/or obesity among communities of color.” 1/4 sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you are misinformed, and you are not one of those propagandists trotting out the obesity argument to blame Black people for higher COVID infection and death rates. 2/4
These are propagandists who know this argument resonates in our fatphobic nation where people look upon obese people—especially obese Black people—as irresponsible, lazy and undisciplined. 3/4
In my latest @TheAtlantic, I reflect on the year of the racial pandemic within the viral one. In sum: People of color were infected, hospitalized, impoverished, and killed at the highest rates, while receiving the fewest medical + economic protections. 1/4 theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
I’ve been working on this piece for some time. I didn’t expect it to drop after a week of politicians denying the existence of structural racism. But here we are, and the racial pandemic of disparities is the product of structural racism. 2/4 theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
I outline the structure of data inequality and policy inequity that have marked this pandemic—and the US. Many of the people who suffered the most did so almost completely out of the view of data, specifically the incarcerated, unhoused + undocumented. 3/4 theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…