President Biden: “We’re facing a defining moment. We must, with one overwhelming, unified voice and speak as a country to say there’s no place for voter intimidation.” Biden: “From the very beginning, nothing has been guaranteed about democracy in America.” Says “democracy is a choice, a decision. We the people must decide whether we’re going to have fair and free elections, if every vote counts.”

More praise for Dunikoski’s subversive strategy in Brunswick, this time as a model for American politics. But there were two more women who also put race front and center in a Southern courtroom and won last week — their case no less high profile. nytimes.com/2021/11/30/bri… Robbie Kaplan and Karen Dunn’s $25 million civil victory in Charlottesville came exactly because — not in spite of — an approach that showed jurors the blatant racism that led to tragedy in 2017 and then asked them to reject it. That also worked, but somehow got less attention.

Last summer as I watched protesters in the streets of Philadelphia, I was reminded that the American Revolution is an ongoing enterprise, that we are still doing the work of expanding our democracy, and that who gets to do that work expands with every generation. I wanted to respond to our national reckoning in a way that felt meaningful to me as a Black woman, an American and a recent Philadelphian — identities in which I take a lot of pride and that also each come with responsibility.

I came to @19thnews because I wanted stories about race and gender in our politics to be THE story, not A story. Here, half the population and the electorate will never be covered as a special interest group. Our work tells a more accurate and inclusive story of America. This journalism does not happen without your support. I could not be more grateful for every tweet, shoutout, Facebook share, and newsletter signup from people across the country affirming our newsroom's mission and vision. We are on a journey together to tell our stories.

On the 56th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, President Joe Biden is expected to announce a new executive order with several measures aimed at expanding the American electorate. The order comes as proposed voting rights legislation faces an uncertain future in the Senate, and voter suppression efforts allegedly addressing a nonexistent election integrity crisis are underway in GOP-controlled statehouses across the country.

Now I'm keeping an eye on the House subcommittee hearing on HR40, the proposed legislation that would create a commission to study reparations for Black Americans. You can watch along with me here: The bill was first proposed decades ago, but the issue gained momentum during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. Then, the crowded field was split on what and whether Black Americans living today and impacted by the legacy of slavery are owed from the federal government.

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the #19thAmendment, for which our newsroom is proudly named — but with an asterisk. This is intentional, because the omission and erasure of black women from the suffrage movement was intentional. In honoring this landmark legislation with our name, we above all honor those who it denied. This tiny but powerful symbol is a daily reminder for us as a newsroom that the work remains unfinished, and that it is our mission to make this democracy more inclusive.

We at @19thnews look forward to marking the centennial of the ratification of the #19thAmendment, for which our newsroom is named -- but with an asterisk in recognition that white women were the main beneficiaries of this milestone, at the expense of women of color. It is important to us @19thnews to tell the truth about the suffrage movement, and to acknowledge the Black women who had to fight twice as hard for their access to the ballot, which they would not win until the Voting Rights Act of 1965, nearly four decades later.

My latest is up now on @19thnews. I got an earful yesterday from the Black women who tell me that for them, a Black woman VP on the Democratic ticket is not a maybe -- it's a must. They say anything less is a rejection of their contributions to the party: 19thnews.org/2020/08/black-… I talked to a dozen women on the record about this issue, which I have watched evolve over the course of the #veepstakes conversation. They are frustrated and fuming over the racial and gendered attacks that have emerged as Black women have been mentioned as leading candidates.

Year after year, @repjohnlewis commemorated Bloody Sunday because he knew the importance of symbolism. He told and retold the story to remind people to remain vigilant, that the hard won gains of democracy over racism must be defended over and over. That symbolism was on display yet again this morning on his final crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. It was on display in March at his final appearance at this year’s Jubilee, in the midst of a primary and ahead of a general election in a racially polarized America.

Since I wrote about the killing of #BreonnaTaylor nearly a month ago, I have referred to the dual ills of coronavirus and racism as “the pandemic within a pandemic.” What if we covered the virus of systemic racism the way we covered COVID-19? Some questions we might be asking: How do people get sick? What are the symptoms?

As today’s Martin Luther King holiday draws to a close, I’m reflecting on how hated he was at the end of his life and how now, on his 91st birthday, there is a federal holiday honoring his life and legacy. There is one reason for this shift, and her name is Coretta Scott King. A still-grieving Mrs. King was so clear that her husband’s life and death must not be in vain, and that she could not let his work be erased or forgotten. A year after his assassination, she started what became @TheKingCenter in the basement of the couple’s home.

A must-read for Americans headed into the King Holiday weekend. Four years into the Trump presidency, many black Americans know that they aren’t living in the beloved community King envisioned. washingtonpost.com/politics/black… I’ve been saying/writing for months: Racism is on the ballot for many black Americans in 2020. And as this poll illuminates, it’s not just about the president; black folks are distrustful of their white neighbors, friends and co-workers this cycle.

So thanks to folks for reading my story on Joe Biden’s staying power with black voters. I’ve been thinking about it for awhile now, as poll after poll, the results have pointed to the same fact: His top-tier status is mainly attributable to his firewall with black voters. As a reporter focused on how race is playing out in this election, this strikes me as notable for a couple of reasons. 1: His entry into the race focused largely on his appeal to the working-class whites Democrats lost in 2016 (who may or may not come back).

As the fifth presidential debate gets underway in my hometown of Atlanta in about an hour, I just really need to take a minute to talk about the significance of this event happening at Tyler Perry Studios. A test of political imagination will play out in a most improbable setting that first required tremendous imagination from a black man who was homeless 30 years ago and is today worth $600 million. There is no more Atlanta story.

Reporting this story was an important reminder about how we’re framing 2020, something I think a lot about as a reporter focused on the intersection of race and politics. apnews.com/bfc3c2a4a3384f… A lot of the narrative coming out of 2016 has been focused on white voters who gravitated to Trump or stayed home after supporting Obama in 2008 and 2012.

.@Morehouse's Class of 2019 got some amazing news at this morning's commencement: Billionaire @RFS_Vista is paying off their student debt, a gift of $40 million for today's approximately 430 graduates. @Morehouse @RFS_Vista Smith is the largest private donor to @NMAAHC. Earlier this year, he donated $1.5 million to @Morehouse to fund an endowed scholarship and develop a new park to give students an outdoor study area.

As most of you on here probably know, I’m focused on how race intersects with the #2020 election. Today I’m out with a story on @SenWarren catching fire with black women voters. Read it here:
apnews.com/7db90b8ea82849… Like many Democrats, by no means are black women committed to any one candidate this early in the primary season. But they are paying attention and Warren has gotten on folks’ radar. (I hear y’all’s 2020 group chats have been 🔥)

Exciting news announced today at #ACES2019: As part of @APStylebook’s latest round of updates for the 2019 print edition, a new umbrella entry called “race-related coverage”: That the entry around race and racism has been updated in @APStylebook is a huge deal and the result of hours of work and honest conversations by several of my colleagues on how all journalists cover issues of race. #ACESAPStyle

Fifty years ago today, two American Olympians showed what it meant to champion justice and equality. It would cost them their careers, test their sanity, and earn them the scorn of their fellow citizens. Their protest inspired multitudes and left a legacy that transcends sport. As a race reporter I am often reminded that so much of our job is to simply state: This Happened. Here is the @AP story from the night of Tommie Smith and John Carlos’ protest on Oct. 16, 1968, as it appeared in many newspapers the following day.