Husband. Black dad. Stutterer. Davidson College Professor of Practice. McClatchy News columnist. Harvard Nieman Fellow. Sweet tea drinker. CIDP survivor.
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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/
Nov 27, 2023 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
This is just sad. A cold-hard fact: The overwhelming majority of students who can do the work at top colleges won't get in to their top choices - because there are not enough slots. But they've been convinced getting one of those rare slots is the only way to be successful. 1/
For parents and ambitious students everywhere: You can get a great education at any number of colleges and universities, public and private, no matter where they are ranked compared to other institutions. That's just fact. Really. Seriously. 2/
Nov 27, 2023 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
I’ve done a good deal of work in the free expression space the past few years and will be heading to Duke in a week to do more. Here’s something people must know: nothing will work if you give into bullies smearing you as something you aren’t. 1/
We can cobble together the greatest commitment to free expression statements, like the one I helped Davidson write and adopt, and have all the protections in the world. But if you allow people to bully you into silence because they don’t like what you’re saying, it won’t work. 2/
Oct 28, 2023 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
I absolutely (respectfully) disagree with this. That thread is an extension of the “liberals made me do it” narrative that all but exempts conservatives from the consequences of their obviously bad behavior. 1/
You can tell liberals to do better without suggesting that the conservative push for censorship laws, book bans and the like is a reasonable or inevitable response to liberal imperfections. Those threads don’t do that. 2/
Oct 23, 2023 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
What Norman says here is absolutely true, even though many in media don't want to admit it. Also, there's this: In times of crises, Democrats have been willing to compromise even when it hurt their political prospects. The GOP has not. A few examples... 1/
When we faced the steepest economic decline since the Depression, the GOP prioritized efforts to regain power. They refused to work with Obama, even convinced "moderate" Republicans Obama wanted in his administration to not take the job. They didn't want Obama to get a "win". 2/
Oct 12, 2023 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
The importance of free expression, safe spaces and diversity on college campuses at a time like this, a thread. 1/
I hope it's obvious to everyone why it's important for Jewish and Palestinian students, and others with a direct-personal stake in what's happening in Israel and Gaza, to have a safe space to grapple with all that's going on right now. 2/
Sep 8, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
This is why I grieve for my industry, because of these types of reports, as well as the reporter's decision to head off people questioning her. First, the shoplifting charge: If there's evidence she actually did what she was accused of, of course that should be reported. 1/
But read the "objective" article and you'll notice that it takes the cop's point-of-view pretty much hook line and sinker. We already had two bodycam videos released, and in them you can clearly see Young turning the steering wheel hard to the right - away from the officer. 2/
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