Black student discrimination ignored, Nicki Minaj embraces MAGA, RIP Betty Reid Soskin
Happy holidays! This newsletter turns 3 years old on January 1st. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber! See you in 2026.
What I’m Reading
Monkey sounds, “White Power” and the N-word: Racial harassment against Black students ignored under Trump, ProPublica
According to ProPublica, the Education Department’s civil rights office hasn’t resolved a single racial harassment investigation since Trump’s return. The department is ignoring egregious reports of discrimination against Black students — to no one’s surprise, of course. “The message that it sends is that the people impacted by racial discrimination and harassment don’t matter,” an attorney told the outlet.
It’s the ‘season of the Black chef’ in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times
Black-owned restaurants in L.A. are experiencing an unprecedented “blossoming” despite the COVID pandemic, wildfires, and tariffs, Los Angeles Times senior food editor Danielle Dorsey reports. She spoke with 13 experts about why this is the “season of the Black chef” in Los Angeles.
This Mississippi Delta home could collapse before help arrives, Capital B News
For 40 years, Malissa Whitehead has lived in her home in Sidon, Mississippi. She fears it could collapse on her at any moment. For decades, she sought help. Now, she’s turning to her community, Aallyah Wright reports.
What’s In The News
Across America
Alabama: In Selma, Willie Palmer Jr. is suing his white neighbor and others, alleging trespassing and a conspiracy to take his land…
District of Columbia: Tyra Banks is facing a $2.8 million lawsuit over a failed flagship location for her “hot ice cream” shop…
Florida: Raisa Habersham spoke with Black women who helped build the small, predominantly Black South Dade community over the years…
Georgia: WSB-TV obtained a recording in which disgraced former DeKalb County Sheriff Sidney Dorsey admits to orchestrating the assassination of sheriff-elect Derwin Brown in 2000…
Illinois: The owner of Sanders BBQ Supply in Chicago allows kids to run the restaurant for the day…
Maryland: A final report produced by a commission established to investigate the history of lynchings in Maryland calls for payments of up to $100,000 for every descendant of a known lynching victim, among other recommendations…
Michigan: A community-owned grocery store has opened in Flint, marking the end of a longtime food desert…
Mississippi: Denise Jones Gregory, interim president of Jackson State University, is now eligible to apply for the permanent position…
New York: A video of Damar Fields being tased, kicked, and struck by police has prompted an official investigation into the Peekskill Police Department’s use of force…
North Carolina: An ex-UNC Charlotte employee is suing the university for discrimination after a viral video of her suggesting DEI policies were still taking place on campus led to her termination…
Ohio: “A steep rise in criminally charged people with severe mental illnesses has all but halted patients’ ability to get care in Ohio’s state psychiatric hospitals”…
Texas: South Carolina running back Oscar Adaway III filed a criminal complaint against the Texas state trooper who elbowed him and his teammate during a game…
Wisconsin: Two of Milwaukee’s most enduring Black-owned media institutions will no longer be Black-owned…
What’s Happening
Above: A must-watch short documentary about the Black artists and activists who called for a nationwide Christmas boycott in the 1960s…
The Trump administration has effectively dropped enforcement of the Fair Housing Act, a central Civil Rights-era achievement, the Nation reports…
The National Association of Black Journalists is facing an unprecedented lawsuit against the organization, Richard Prince reports…
The New York Review examined the Elaine massacre, a little-discussed mass killing of black people in rural Arkansas in 1919…
Timothy Loehmann, the ex-police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice, has been fired from his position as an armed ranger in West Virginia…
An Atlanta-based church announced it will eliminate $1.5 million in medical debt for those in need…
The San Antonio City Council has approved renaming a portion of a street on the city’s East Side in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen…
Stephen Buckley, a professor of journalism at Duke University, has resigned from the institution following a sexual misconduct investigation…
Rep. Joyce Beatty accused the White House of lying about having unanimous support to rename the Kennedy Center after Trump, saying she was “not allowed to speak or voice my opposition”...I made a TikTok about this!...
Entertainment News
Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, brought out Nicki Minaj at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest event…The rapper’s embrace of MAGA has left many asking questions, Capital B’s Christina Carrega reports… Dr Stacey Patton argues this isn’t a pivot, but rather, her embrace of the right is who she’s always been…
Charlamagne signed a five-year, $200 million extension with iHeartMedia, locking him in with the company after it struck a deal with Netflix to stream “The Breakfast Club”... Related: For Vulture, Craig Jenkins examined New York’s shifting radio landscape…
Imani Smith, who played Young Nala in Disney’s “The Lion King on Broadway,” was allegedly killed by her boyfriend…
“Across film (“Sinners,” “One Battle After Another”), theater (“Ragtime”) and TV (“The Lowdown”), four works suggested what achieving racial equality in America would take,” New York Times critic Salamishah Tillet writes…
For the New Yorker, Niela Orr examined the classic “Waiting to Exhale,” 30 years later…
Pam Oliver was recently inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame…
Check out a collection of photographs from 30-year-old Tyler Mitchell, the first Black photographer to shoot a cover for Vogue…
At a “Sinners” movie screening hosted by Denzel Washington, Delroy Lindo told the story about how Washington stopped him from leaving New York when they were young actors …Read the full screenplay of “Sinners” here…
A federal judge overturned the conviction of a man jailed for the murder of Jam Master Jay of Run DMC…
Diana Ross will be the headliner on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” which will air on Dec. 31 live on ABC beginning at 8 p.m. EST…
Obituaries
Betty Reid Soskin, the National Park Service’s oldest ranger who devoted her life to telling the true story of America, has died. She was 104…For Danyel Smith, she was Aunt Betty…I made a TikTok about her life…
Elder Goldwire McLendon, a legendary gospel singer who became a finalist on Season 3 of BET’s “Sunday’s Best,” has died. He was 95…
Kevin Arkadie, the writer and two-time Emmy-nominated producer who created “New York Undercover,” has died. He was 68…
Don’t Miss
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 2 minutes and 2 seconds…
Narrated by Jewel Wicker, listen to “how Atlanta artists, from T.I. and Jeezy to Anycia have used mixtapes to define the city’s sound” on “Atlanta Is…”
Have a high school or first-year college student interested in journalism in the DMV area? Please encourage them to apply for the Urban Journalism Workshop! The program is free, and the deadline is Jan. 12…
Historian and author Dr. Jeanne Theoharis will give a talk about her newly published book “King of the North: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life of Struggle Outside the South” with Amber N. Mitchell, curator of Black history at the Henry Ford Museum, Jan. 18 in Dearborn, Michigan…
Solid roundup. The ProPublica reporting on theCivil Rights office ignoring racial harassment cases is basically the predictable endgame when enforcment becomes discretionary. I saw something similar play out at a school district where I used to work, complaints stacked up and priorities suddeny shifted, everyone knew who was getting protected. The long-term cost is gonna be years of rebuilding trust, assuming that even matters to the people letting this happen.
Thank you for including me and always supporting my work, Phil!