Aaron L. Morrison Profile picture
Race & Ethnicity News Editor for @AP. ✉️: amorrison (at) ap (dot) org | Adjunct lecturer, @newmarkjschool | DMs open. RTs ≠ endorsements. He/him.
May 29, 2021 30 tweets 11 min read
This weekend, people in Tulsa, Oklahoma began marking a grim milestone: 100 years since a murderous white mob razed a Black paradise — the Greenwood district aka Black Wall Street. (A thread.)

Here’s the @AP’s package on the Tulsa Race Massacre. apnews.com/hub/tulsa-race… I, along with journalists across the @AP, explore how the Tulsa Race Massacre’s economic, political and cultural impacts have echoed across generations. It’s a piece of American history hidden for too long in shame, denial and lies. apnews.com/hub/tulsa-race…
Feb 5, 2021 21 tweets 7 min read
It's been a month since the siege on the Capitol, which exposed for many Americans the existence of a domestic terror threat. The thing is, there's been a race war raging for much longer than you realize. Hyperbole? Nope.

A thread, and my @AP analysis: apnews.com/article/f8f793… Today’s battles in the race war are waged by legions of white people in the thrall of stereotypes, lies and conspiracy theories that don’t just exist for recluses on some dark corner of the internet. 1/x
Jan 7, 2021 7 tweets 2 min read
NEW from me, @AP: The race double standard is clear in rioters’ U.S. Capitol insurrection. Lots of folks have talked about it over the last 24 hours. But understanding the why of it is important. Thread. bit.ly/398Nsjn Yesterday's ordeal drew expressions of bewilderment and disbelief from some citizens who believed such a display was impossible in a democracy as revered as America’s. (Black folks have always known this was possible. That's another thread.) Few people should be all that shocked.
Oct 6, 2020 17 tweets 7 min read
NEW: The nation’s top federal prosecutors have become more white under President Donald Trump than under his three predecessors, the @AP found in an analysis of demographic data that goes back to the Clinton admin. (from @JZBleiberg, @JimMustian and me) bit.ly/34wI6w2 Our findings reveal a persistent lack of diversity in the ranks of U.S. attorneys has reached a nadir in the Trump administration. White men lead 79 of the 93 U.S. attorney’s offices in a country where they make up less than a third of the population. bit.ly/34wI6w2
Jul 28, 2020 4 tweets 2 min read
TODAY: Attorney General William Barr to Testify on #BlackLivesMatter Protest Response (via @NYTimes) nytimes.com/2020/07/28/us/… He’s expected to tell Congress that “there is no place in this country for armed mobs that seek to establish autonomous zones...or tear down statues and monuments that law-abiding communities chose to erect, or to destroy the property and livelihoods of innocent business owners.”
Jun 16, 2020 11 tweets 5 min read
I never relish the opportunity to discuss how @TuckerCarlson talks about #BlackLivesMatter, as a movement, or anything related to the humanity of people who exist in Black bodies on this Earth. But here I am. Yesterday, Mr. Carlson discussed the increasing popularity of Black Lives Matter, as a movement, and he warned that BLM supporters are taking over the country. (A clear dog whistle.)

His segment:
My AP story about BLM’s popularity: apnews.com/347ceac3ea0897…
Jun 4, 2020 15 tweets 9 min read
I’m inside of #GeorgeFloyd’s memorial service for the @AP. Floyd’s golden casket flanked by flowers and a self portrait. The now-iconic mural painted at the site of his arrest is projected above the stage. I’ll be tweeting throughout the service. apnews.com/18c41cd260efee… ImageImageImage Based on reserved seat in the auditorium, several dignitaries and celebrities expected to attend the #GeorgeFloydMemorial. They include actors and comedians Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish and Regina Hall; actor and producer Tyler Perry.
May 30, 2020 9 tweets 5 min read
I am on the ground, where a large crowd made up of mostly young people are squaring off with MN state patrolmen, just ahead of the 8pm curfew. #GeorgeFloyd This is at Hiawatha Ave and Lake Street. Police have started firing flash bang grenades, rubber bullets and smoke bombs. #GeorgeFloyd
Apr 5, 2020 23 tweets 13 min read
NEW from me, @AP: "The Tuskegee effect: Amid coronavirus outbreak, black mistrust of medicine and government looms” bit.ly/39LLrIh

A thread. 1/X Preliminary data show Black Americans are contracting and dying of COVID-19 at alarming rates. My colleague @kat__stafford and I, along with our friends at @propublica, are starting to track and document that. bit.ly/349orBV 2/X
May 1, 2019 11 tweets 7 min read
In 2012, Rashad McNulty pleaded guilty to drug and firearms offenses, following one of @PreetBharara’s gang takedowns in Yonkers, NY. Rashad would probably be out of prison today, if he had made it to his sentencing.

New from me @theappeal: theappeal.org/they-sent-him-… In the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2013 — just two weeks before his sentencing — Rashad collapsed at the Westchetser County Jail in Valhalla, NY. He had just complained of chest and stomach pains, worst than he’d ever felt before. (Video first published by @lohud)