Husband. Black dad. Stutterer. Davidson College Professor of Practice. McClatchy News columnist. Harvard Nieman Fellow. Sweet tea drinker. CIDP survivor.
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Aug 9 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
Pieces like this are fine and necessary, and they will likely increase between now and November. That's what a healthy press is supposed to do, question those in power. Why do so many people push back on such an incredibly important function of our democracy? 1/
I don't agree with those who think "leftists" simply don't want any bad thing said about their candidate, or don't want their candidate to face scrutiny. I think it's because the political press has screwed up royally in recent cycles and has refused to do any soul-searching. 2/
Jul 26 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
This is a bad-faith reading of that Zoom call. Disagree or agree, many thoughtful people believed it was necessary. A thread about why the call wasn't designed to encourage "white people to see themselves first and foremost as white people with distinct racial interests." 1/
The call was the opposite of white people getting together for "distinct racial interests." It was built on data from the past few election cycles during which white women were a big source of votes for Donald Trump, and about how to change that reality this time around. 2/
Jul 24 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
About that Fox News clip. Consider the power of priming. Were you primed to hear "college" or "colored"? Priming happens in a lot of ways. What is priming? It's simply tapping into implicit associations we already have. For example. If I said "salt" you will quickly think... 1/
I don't even have to say the word and you know it's "pepper." It's the same with "peanut butter and...," and so on. In this case, the clip came with a description that said "colored." That's one form of priming, not anything nefarious. We do it all the time in journalism. 2/
Jul 9 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
I said earlier the strongest element in media isn't bias, but narrative. That's what I've learned from 25 years in this industry. Let me give you a non-political example. Do you remember how journalists handled a "major" story in 2001? No, I'm not talking about 9/11. 1/
I'm talking about the Summer of the Shark. In early July, an 8-year-old boy was attacked by a shark. That set off a frenzy in media that didn't abate until Sept. 11. I was in a Myrtle Beach, S.C. newsroom at the time. We had no shark attacks as far back as we could remember. 2/
Jul 1 • 17 tweets • 4 min read
My final thread of the day. Biden's stutter:
If he plans to remain the nominee, which he seems to, he needs to get adult stutterers as advisors ASAP. I'm an adult stutterer. He doesn't have to choose me, but somebody. Fluent speakers don't understand the complexities at play. 1/
Here is something counterintuitive: In Biden's condition, the more you prepare, the more pronounced the stutter is likely going to be. Also, it is really easy for non-stutterers to assume mental decline even if it is just a pronounced stutter. 2/
May 21 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
This is a false comparison Tim repeatedly makes. Gore conceded and moved on. The Democratic Party did also. During the campaign, Gore declined to look at a stolen debate prep tape that was stolen from the Bush camp and sent to the Gore folks. Also, here's the huge difference. 1/2
Democrats never violently attacked the Capitol to overturn the results of an election - Trump supporters did, and since then have had help from a ton of Republicans to keep that lie alive, even in court rulings and potential laws. Also... 2/
May 13 • 28 tweets • 5 min read
Thread.
Since Peterson poked his head into things he clearly doesn't understand, I'll do a deep dive on DEI statements here.
A thread on what actually happens in "woke" college classrooms. I mentioned earlier in my racially diverse Debate & Deliberation course, the primary text was Randall Kennedy's "Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word." How did students respond? 1/ tinyurl.com/mv2ws3mk
Throughout the semester, we went through the book. If the students didn't ensure the discussions were challenging, I did. We also watched Chris Rock's 1996 "Bring the Pain." Non-black students were the most uncomfortable while watching it.
2/tinyurl.com/29pa6zzw
Mar 25 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
The most telling thing Luntz says: "Let's not talk about if [the charges] are justified or not."
Let that sink in. Either we believe no one is above the law, or we don't. Which is it? And if more people want to vote for him because of this, that says something awful about us. 1/
@maggieNYT did some amazing reporting months ago, detailing that one of the primary reasons Trump was running for re-election wasn't because he wanted to be prez again, but to avoid legal scrutiny of all the things he had been involved in. Folks need to re-read that coverage. 2/
Mar 16 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
I know I’m just supposed to just accept these things or be labeled a poll truther or someone with my head buried in the sand, but I’m stubborn. Blame my mama. Please read Nate’s analysis before you read my short thread about this analysis. I don’t want to bias you first. 1/
I’ll begin where I always begin. There are only two options for recent voting data about voters of color. Either we are amid a generational voting shift, or these polls are off, and off by a lot. I don’t make predictions or trying to convince you to believe one over the other. 2/
Mar 5 • 35 tweets • 7 min read
I've finished up my reporting on this. I'm a professor at Davidson College, a veteran journalist, and I helped lead the efforts that produced the first Commitment to Freedom of Expression statement for a school like ours in North Carolina. Here's what I found. A thread. 1/
I finally have a time for this today; been tied up with real work since Jesse tweeted. I've had plenty of people send it to me as a massive refutation of the point me and other journalists have made. This "confirmation" wouldn't withstand the standard Jesse has himself set. 1/
Jesse's "confirmation is a two-sentence statement that doesn't deal with the issues at hand. That's literally it! The Atlantic said they fact-check all pieces and got "confirmed" it from contemporaneous accounts from NYT employees. Wow. That settles everything! 2/
Feb 19 • 34 tweets • 7 min read
Awhile back, I promised @Tyler_A_Harper I'd deal with the question of "privilege" for black people such as myself. Here it is. But I'll do it the way I did it for my students. Read this thread THEN decide if Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid) is from a privileged background. 1/
The Little Mermaid, Halle Bailey, is my niece, the youngest daughter of my second-oldest brother Doug who took companies public and was big in real estate before/while managing @chloexhalle's careers. Their mom was a head hunter for some big companies I won't mention. 2/
Feb 6 • 33 tweets • 7 min read
As a black journalist who was born in the Deep South in the shadow of Jim Crow, this resonates with me and is why I empathize with the trans community as a journalist AND as a black man. A thread.
I'll start here. I am in the hospital as I type this. Not sure how long I'll be able to go, between tests and woozy feelings. Why start here? To provide context about how "uncertainty" in trans treatment is not an anomaly but a normal part of 21st century medicine.
Feb 4 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
It is absolutely fair for Muslims in America to be extremely frustrated with and even hurt by the Biden administration. No one with a soul would deny that. And it's also, frankly, healthy, even with the threat of Trump. Black people know these political dilemmas well. 1/
If you vote for someone and go along with everything they do, or quietly accept it, even when it is literally causing great harm to those you love, you'd be a fool, a veritable cult member. That's not healthy for the individual, or our democracy. 2/
Feb 2 • 48 tweets • 8 min read
I invite Caitlin, and anyone else who believes the bullshit in this essay, to come visit one of my classes at @DavidsonCollege. What's interesting is that @TheAtlantic keeps publishing pieces like this but won't publish "the other side" from folks like me. A well-kept secret:
I've had my free expression rights threatened far more often as a journalist than as a professor. I've never had a supervisor/department chair/college DEI official storm into my class and tell me not to teach a particular subject, or in a particular way.
Jan 5 • 24 tweets • 5 min read
A thread:
Looks like a good time to do another installment of occasional threads pushing back on myths about DEI. This one will focus on how to think through microaggressions (and the importance of context).
For the previous ones, go here:
First, the Yang tweet. Given that we have no context for what's happening in that space, it would be unwise to make too many conclusions based on it. In fact, understanding full context - of a situation, about a person, etc. - is a key component of healthy DEI efforts.
Jan 4 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
You mean the propagandist is a fraud? Who knew?!
I know a bit about this subject, about the difference between Harvard, with the exceedingly low acceptance rate everyone knows very well, and the Harvard Extension School," from personal experience. Let me explain. 1/
Every year, Harvard brings in 24 accomplished journalists - 12 from the U.S., 12 from other countries - as part of its Nieman program to study, work, train, etc., for a year. I was a 2014 Nieman fellow. Following that year, I taught a summer course at Harvard Extension. 2/
Dec 18, 2023 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
In an effort to dispel some of the DEI distortions out there, from time to time I'll do a thread showing you what real DEI work/thinking looks like.
Here's how I sometimes handle the issue of implicit bias. A thread. 1/
First, I start by telling people that implicit "bias" is the wrong term, that it's more accurate to talk about "implicit association." It's not a small difference. The former has an automatic negative connotation, the latter is more accurate and neutral. 2/
Dec 14, 2023 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
This isn't a hard question. Take my own situation. I've now owned a house for nearly 2 decades. Even if racism was worse then or now, the value my house has accumulated and is still growing. Homeownership is still the biggest wealth creator for everyday Americans. 1/
Because of that, I can be in a better position than a white person who just bought two years ago. Do we really have to go through the long history of black people literally being denied the opportunity to buy houses? Or white people literally being given land for free? 2/
Dec 10, 2023 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
This is what a lot of folks don't know. These types of exchanges happen often on campuses. And they are healthy. In fact, I made space for such a back-and-forth in my final "Media, Justice & Empathy" course of this semester between a few students with strongly opposing views. 1/
I could hear the hurt, the pain, the frustration, the fear dripping from every word, and even the discomfort from other students who sat and listened to the back-and-forth. I let it go on for awhile, then I instructed students to stop and sit in the discomfort. 2/
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