Voting Rights Act in danger, RIP D'Angelo, VIBE layoffs
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What I’m Reading
The Supreme Court Is Going To Gut The Voting Rights Act To The Bone, HuffPost
I met with organizers and concerned citizens from Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama who traveled to D.C. to rally outside the Supreme Court this week as the conservative justices appear ready to gut Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
My colleague Paul Blumenthal wrote about how this decision would have massive consequences for the future of Black political representation in the South.
Related: The New Georgia Project, one of the largest and most influential political groups in the South, is shutting down.
Why Donald Trump wants to erase John Brown’s fiery abolitionist legacy (and why he will fail), Literary Hub
University of Maryland professor Robert Levine visited Harper’s Ferry, where he examined the history of John Brown’s October 1859 raid.
“At a time when many are honoring a Christian nationalist who objected to the Civil Rights movement and Civil Rights laws, it is more vital than ever that we find inspiration in John Brown and Harriet Beecher Stowe,” he writes.
What is Colonial Williamsburg for?, The Atlantic
Thirty-one years ago, a reenactment of a slave auction took place at Colonial Williamsburg. Clint Smith traveled to the historic district of the small Virginia town to explore how the largest living history museum is telling visitors the story of Black life at the time of the country’s founding.
The Underground Railroad’s stealth sailors, The New York Review of Books
Check out this excellent review of “Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea,” which explores how “a large proportion” of enslaved persons escaped in a way you may not have learned about in school.
What’s In The News
Across America
California: Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law for a study on how to confirm an individual’s status as a descendant of an enslaved person. But he vetoed other significant bills the California Legislative Black Caucus championed…
Connecticut: A unique new museum in Hartford is honoring Black contributions to horse culture…
Florida: The Southwestern Athletic Conference has rejected Florida A&M University’s appeal to end announcer Joe Bullard’s suspension…
Indiana: Javonte Anderson visited the Brown Family Ranch in Gary to capture the spirit of the rodeo…
Georgia: The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation announced a $50 million donation to Atlanta’s HBCUs…
Maryland: 20-year-old Kyle Philbert James, a midshipman from New Jersey, was found dead near the Naval Academy campus. An investigation is underway…
Michigan: A reparations program is offering $25,000 in housing support to Black metro Detroiters who are descendants of enslaved people in the United States…
Minnesota: A lawsuit alleges a Black postal worker died after officers ignored clear signs he was suffering from a massive stroke, believing his medical emergency was drug-related. The suit says guards left him helpless on a jail cell floor in his own urine for hours…
Mississippi: For Capital B, Aallyah Wright wrote about how Mound Bayou became an all-Black oasis after Reconstruction and how natives are preserving its legacy through a new museum…
Missouri: Kansas City politicians are pushing to pay $25 million to a company co-owned by an infamous military contractor to build a human caging facility before the World Cup, the Kansas City Defender reports…
North Carolina: The University of North Carolina has ended the Black Student Movement’s 52-year “co-ownership” of a community space for Black students…
Oklahoma: Black descendants of the Muscogee Creek Freedmen filed for the tribal nation’s Supreme Court to enforce its prior ruling on citizenship within the tribe…Shoutout to Phill Jackson for his new role with the Tulsa Flyer and this story…
Pennsylvania: The Paul Robeson House and Museum, where the iconic figure lived, has reopened in West Philadelphia…
South Carolina: Four people who were shot and killed at a high school alumni celebration have been identified…
Tennessee: Memphis residents are grappling with “an alphabet soup” of federal agencies making arrests in the majority-Black city…
Texas: Nakia Holmes, the co-founder of Houston’s popular Turkey Leg Hut, was arrested and is facing felony charges…
What’s Happening
The Southern Environmental Law Center announced the launch of “Plantations to Pollution,” a new series that “traces the often-unbroken line from plantation slavery to today’s environmental injustices”…
The New Yorker on New York A.G. Tish James’ indictment: “The question raised by the prosecution of James is: would any other federal prosecutor have brought this case against any other defendant? The answer seems to be no”…
The Grio’s Gerren Keith Gaynor spoke with Black leaders who have denounced the racist texts from a Young Republican group, calling them a reflection of Trump’s MAGA party…
A new study found the share of Black Americans who sit on their local school board has been cut in half since 2001…
A data project that recently turned a decade old centers around mapping Black California to visualize concerns related to racial inequity…
MacKenzie Scott is doubling down on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives with her latest massive donations to HBCUs and nonprofits…
The Tampa City Council has disbanded its Racial Reconciliation Committee…
Congratulations are in order for Astead Herndon, who is heading over to Vox after several prolific years at the New York Times…
Pinky Cole, founder of Slutty Vegan, announced plans to franchise the restaurant chain after regaining full ownership earlier this year…
for : Black riders are finding community, joy and purpose through the booming Slingshot culture, redefining what it means to ride free…
Author Brandon M. Terry interviewed activist and scholar Cathy J. Cohen about the attacks on progressivism, what makes social movements work, and the challenge of the second coming of Trumpism…
Dr. Bernice King is calling on people to stop using AI to create videos of her father, Martin Luther King Jr…
In her debut book “Authentic,” Jodi-Ann Burey argues that the call to “bring your full self” can leave people of color exposed…
The New York Review reviewed Brian Goldstone’s “There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America”: “As housing costs have risen and affordable housing remains in short supply, even Americans with full-time jobs are experiencing homelessness”...
Entertainment News
Talented writers and Inman were laid off from VIBE after the magazine announced it was merging with Rolling Stone…
Nothing But Caucasians: NBC BLK is no more after NBC News decided to cut its teams dedicated to covering Black, Asian American, Latino, and LGBTQ+ groups…
“Real Housewives of Potomac” star Dr. Wendy Osefo and her husband, Eddie, were booked earlier this week on insurance fraud charges…
NewsOne has partnered with Howard University’s Cathy Hughes School of Communications to create the Bison ONE Newsroom, a collaboration that will help support the next generation of journalists…
ICYMI: Here are 16 banned books by Black authors that America needs now more than ever…
This is an incredible read: Tupac biographer Jeff Pearlman searched for a “key figure in Shakur’s arc—a child thrown down the garbage chute of a Brownsville housing project in 1991, whose story would inspire Pac’s breakthrough solo single ‘Brenda’s Got a Baby’”...
For Stylist, wrote about why we need more Black representation in romantic comedies — and used Love, Brooklyn as the perfect example of why…
For The Cut, talked with Nia Long about the roles that changed her life, preparing to turn 55, and writing a memoir…Nia Long and Larenz Tate are set to team up once again for an upcoming romantic drama…
The USC Thornton School of Music has appointed Solange as the school’s first scholar in residence. She will teach a course on music curation, host student-focused workshops and more…
For Teen Vogue, Amaya Graham spoke with former members of the boy band Mindless Behavior as their debut single “My Girl” celebrates its 15-year anniversary…
NPR’s Michel Martin spoke with “Baldwin: A Love Story” author Nicholas Boggs about how the late writer’s lovers influenced his work…
Obituaries
D’Angelo, the Grammy-winning singer whose 1995 debut album “Brown Sugar” set him on a path to becoming an R&B icon, has died. He was 51…The late artist received an outpouring of love from celebrities and fans alike, including a moving tribute from his “Nothing Even Matters” collaborator, Lauryn Hill…
Stephanie “Tanqueray” Johnson, who went viral on the “Humans of New York” account by sharing stories about her life as a burlesque dancer in the 1970s, has died. She was 81…
Dwight Wells, a beloved activist in Liberty City who established programs and events for local youth, has died. He was 40…
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, an activist and defining figure in LGBTQ+ liberation movements, has died. She was 78…
Don’t Miss
Can you beat my time on Black Crossword? 1 minute, 44 seconds…
Apply for the Change Collective’s six-month fellowship program that aims to “train, connect, and elevate local changemakers in communities across the country”…
“Andrew Young: The Dirty Work,” a documentary about the civil rights icon, will air on MSNBC tonight, October 17, at 9 pm ET. Watch the trailer here…
Justice for Greenwood is hosting its second workshop in its fall genealogy series, which aims to explore the power of census records. The webinar will be held on October 23rd at 7:00 p.m. ET…
On October 25th at 10 am, Fort Bend County will dedicate the tallest Black American monument in the United States at historic Bates Allen Park in Kendleton, Texas...
Houston! I’ll be heading to Afrotech at the end of the month to moderate a fireside chat with the chief content officer of Pinterest. See you there…
The African American Museum in Dallas is offering a semester-long series of free fall classes on African American history. The classes are in-person and virtual…