Happy New Year, racist AI fakes, RIP Richard Smallwood
Welcome to 2026! Thank you for your support of this newsletter over the past three years.
What I’m Reading
Happy New Year! Let’s be honest — 2025 was a dark year for journalism. With the Trump administration’s assault on the press, billionaires gobbling up newsrooms and hollowing them out, Black journalists bearing the brunt of media layoffs, the complete cowardice shown by the country’s top newsroom leaders, and social media platforms filling your algorithms with fake news and racism, it may seem like there’s no hope for the future of journalism.
While all of these issues pose serious challenges, I remain optimistic. Talented journalists, many of whom have been forced out of newsrooms, are choosing to go independent. There are newsrooms and nonprofits like Capital B News, Baltimore Beat, Outlier Media, URL Media, The TRiiBE, KOLUMN Magazine, Word In Black, Hammer & Hope, The Emancipator, AfroLA News, and more that are doing the reporting people need. On top of that, many journalists are still doing critical work within so-called mainstream news. As social media platforms de-amplify Black storytelling, audiences just have to work a little harder to find and support it. That’s what this newsletter is for — uplifting the stories from Black journalists you may have missed.
In the new year, let’s all commit to shifting our media diet from algorithm-driven content to fact-based, informative reporting. It is more important than ever to support local news and independent journalists.
Also note: This newsletter is read in all 50 states and across 158 countries, according to Substack. Wow! Hello to everyone out there and thank you for subscribing. To my two subscribers in Macedonia, I see you.
I interviewed Brown University student body president Talib Reddick about how his commitment to service, brotherhood, and community guided his response following the school shooting.
How Brown’s student body president stepped up after a devastating school shooting
An exhausted Talib Reddick was napping after he had just wrapped up a final exam for his Urban Politics course at Brown University when he was jolted awake by phone calls from his mother, who was frantically trying to reach him.
I took the National Museum of African American History and Culture for granted. Trump’s threats changed that, Verite News
Drew Costley put off visiting the National Museum of African American History and Culture for nearly ten years, but writes that “the Trump administration’s push to alter the depiction of the more challenging aspects of American history made it urgent for me to go.”
Racist AI fakes are now a business — and a political tool, Axios
For Axios, Josephine Walker explored how trolls are working overtime to create racist fake AI content for a quick buck. “It’s more of the outrage farming that we’ve always seen,” an expert said. “It doesn’t even have to be interesting or accurate content; it just has to generate viewership.”
What’s In The News
Across America
California: A 20-year-old man was arrested after he drew racist slurs and Nazi symbols on a former Harlem Globetrotter’s vehicle, authorities said…
Florida: The Palm Beach County commission approved new funding toward an $80 million Black museum development in West Palm Beach…
Georgia: Alicia Johnson has become the first Black woman elected to Georgia’s Public Service Commission…
Illinois: Advocates and legislators are seeking solutions and accountability for a pattern of Chicago police arresting Black gun owners on firearms charges despite valid FOID and CCL licenses…
Iowa: Democrat Renee Hardman was elected to the Iowa state Senate, denying Republicans’ bid to reclaim control. She is the first Black woman elected to the Senate…
Maryland: Ahead of a brutally cold winter, Baltimoreans honor unhoused residents who have died as advocates worry about the city’s preparedness for the season…
Michigan: Mary Sheffield was sworn in as Detroit’s 76th mayor, becoming the first woman to hold the office in the city’s 324-year history…
North Carolina: North Carolina's first Black-owned children's bookstore, Liberation Station, reopened during Kwanza following threats…
Pennsylvania: A 91-year-old Black woman in Philadelphia is facing eviction after a missed tax application during the pandemic led to the sale of her home, according to her family…
Tennessee: Tennessee State University President Dwayne Tucker has transformed the HBCU from the brink of financial collapse to a $13.2M surplus in just one year…
What’s Happening
Capital B News is building an archive of Black oral history and it is powered by you. Click here for more details on how you can share your family’s stories…
USA TODAY: The Trump administration is investigating diversity initiatives at major companies under the False Claims Act, a federal law the Department of Justice uses to pursue contractors who defraud the government…
Two ex-financial advisers are suing JPMorgan Chase, claiming the bank discriminated against them as Black women by assigning them to less affluent neighborhoods and allowing male colleagues to poach their clients…
University of California, Davis was recently designated a Black-Serving Institution by the state…
Justin Jones’s driver’s license was suspended for a crime that took place two decades ago. However, the crime took place in a state he had never even visited…
Black News & Views, a site hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists that features member stories, has ceased publication…Here’s an example of the reporting it produced: Black real estate developer in metro Atlanta fights extended alleged municipal harassment, part of nationwide trend…
Tiffany Cross recently announced that she is leaving the “Native Land Pod”…
More people are using GoFundMe for help with necessities, an annual report finds…
“Kwanzaa teaches Black folks that they are allowed to build meaning deliberately, community can be centered, and identity does not have to be mediated through whiteness,” Dr Stacey Patton writes for Newsone…
Entertainment News
“Sinners” star Miles Caton appeared on CNN’s New Year’s Eve show and blew everyone away with his singing. Shoutout to Omar Jimenez for sharing…
From andrejgee: “America’s sweetheart meme came from Philly drill rappers depicting gun violence. Does anyone know or care?”...
Beyoncé has officially reached billionaire status, Forbes reports…
For Essence, Okla Jones, III reviews “Black Photojournalism” at the Carnegie Museum of Art, and how the exhibit traces how images shaped by Black publications reached national audiences…
New York Times: Sammy Davis Jr, who would have turned 100 this month, reinvented himself by starring in the musical version of Clifford Odets’s prizefighting drama “Golden Boy”...
Obituaries
Isiah Whitlock Jr, actor perhaps best known for his role as Clay Davis on “The Wire,” has died. He was 71…
Richard Smallwood, the iconic gospel innovator and songwriter known for classics like “Center of My Joy” and “Total Praise,” has died. He was 77…
Carmen de Lavallade, a trailblazing dancer who “defied boundaries of race and age and touched almost every realm of the performing arts in a career of over six decades”, has died. She was 94…
Don Bryant, one of the last great Memphis soul singers and songwriters who wrote “I Can’t Stand The Rain,” has died at 83…
Don’t Miss
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 46 seconds!...
I’m on TikTok! I’m still learning how to use it, but I have a microphone now…
Nicole Carr’s book, “The Price of Exclusion: The Pursuit of Healthcare in a Segregated Nation,” is available for pre-order…
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. I will be on FOX 5 DC on Monday morning to discuss…
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…