For all Americans who are going to be suddenly interested in Iran in the coming days, learn a bit of history about what the US did in Iran in 1953. We consider it ancient history, if we remember it at all. But Iranians have never forgotten.
My heart is breaking for Afghanistan. But let's not forget: Kabul has been rocked by explosions and unacceptably violent attacks for many years. If you think the past 15 years has been relatively peaceful there, you weren't paying attention.
In 2017, Lee Carter made us wonder: What happens when a dues-paying Democratic Socialist gets elected to
#Virginia
's house of delegates? Now we know the answer. He gets re-elected. My piece about
@carterforva
's first year in office:
#DSA
Andrew Yang *might* be the Democratic candidate mostly likely to peel away Trump voters. He talks about Rust Belt issues and doesn't have the same baggage of support for free trade deals, etc. that other candidates have.
Andrew Yang's UBI plan could distribute purchasing power back to left-behind rural and post-industrial communities. It's a civic benefit, not an entitlement program. It might not - *might* not - be so far off from conservatism.
James Bennet has resigned as editorial page editor of the NYT. I will always remember him as the editor who gave Ta-Nehisi Coates the space to write the groundbreaking Case for Reparations. when few would entertain the idea. That's the James Bennet I know.
even most MEN In Afghanistan don't get to choose their own spouses. Their parents do, as I noted this summer. Americans would be much more successful in their efforts to change/liberate/occupy a place if they actually took the time to understand it
Another thing people should know: the liberal order that folks are talking about -- of women working, choosing their spouses, etc. -- simply did not exist for millions of ordinary people even under the US-led occupation. I have been to Gardez, Kandahar, Jalalabad.
I was always the only woman on the street. The only place outside Kabul that I saw lots of women driving, shopping, working was Herat, where many Afghans had been refugees in Iran, a more liberal place than Pashtun parts of Afghanistan. Americans seem oblivious to the fact that
My latest piece is about a photographer who's spent the last 4 months with "black bloc" anarchists in Denver, Portland, Seattle, Tulsa, Rochester and DC. He joined them to better understand who was setting fires/looting outside racial justice protests.
#5
) There was more anger at the black elite at the ADOS conference than anyone else. Immigrants were hardly mentioned. Cornel West told the audience that after MLK + Malcolm X died, black leaders that replaced them were “polished professionals” who stopped fighting for the poor
WILBUR ROSS downplays 800k workers missing checks as "a third of a percent on our GDP. So it's just like it's a gigantic number."
ROSS then says this about fed workers going to homeless shelters to get food: "I don't quite understand why." Says they should just go take out loans
#11
As much as I love a good conspiracy, I also know black women are fully capable of making up their minds without funding from white men. Unless I see evidence, I accept Yvette Carnell as a true believer in what she is saying.
I want to thank everyone who took time to speak to me. I spent hours talking with supporters and critics. 1,800 words can't scratch the surface of complex topic. I hope to do another piece about how and why we reported the story.
Should black Americans who descended from slavery have their own ethnic category, separate from those who hail from abroad? My latest piece was probably the most polarizing subject that I have ever attempted to write about.
The promise to secure reparations is a powerful lure in communities where so many are one paycheck away from eviction. Those folks say they are tired of hearing that reparations are a pipe dream, or that DACA should be their most important priority.
#1
ADOS is more than a hashtag. I interviewed people who said they had started chapters in LA, Atlanta, Ohio + elsewhere. They were mostly new to politics, but started monthly meet-ups after watching YouTubers Yvette Carnell (former DNC staffer) + Antonio Moore (lawyer).
This was hands down the most inspiring movie I have seen in years. If you are a journalist, or someone concerned about democracy, check out Writing With Fire. If it wins an Oscar it will be the first movie about India, directed BY Indians, to do so.
I followed this emergency room doctor of
@Vot_ER_org
for six months. I could have written 5,000 words, but here is a small slice of what I learned: In Era of Sickness, Doctors Prescribe Unusual Cure: Voting
#10
This has led a lot of people to conclude that the group is a puppet of the right. Citizen investigators have tried to prove that ADOS is funded by conservatives. So far, I haven't uncovered or seen any proof of this. No one I spoke with who said they had proof really did.
#2
ADOS has a populist flavor. Carnell is the child of factory workers. Moore’s parents were teens when they had him. They attack the black elite for failing the poor. They attack Democrats for caring more about new immigrants than blacks who've been here for centuries.
#10
Although Carnell served on the board of Progressives for Immigration Reform, an anti-immigration group, the IRS paperwork lists her salary as zero. The executive director told me she "never received a dime other than reimbursement for expenses" for attending meetings.
#3
The message resonates with the working-class. Of the 1000+ people who paid their own way to attend an ADOS conference, I met a truck driver, a beautician, a handyman and many veterans. They were tired of being told that if they worked hard + went to college, they'd be ok.
Amazing to see Juneteeth being celebrated by so many companies and so many white people today. I wonder if that means that one day the black veterans who were denied benefits under the GI bill will get their money. I bet folks would rather have that money than the day off...
No allegations that
#KeithEllison
abused his ex-wife in unsealed divorce file. But in a twist, the file contains statements that he was a victim of abuse. He said she hit and bit him. She told reporters she endured depression after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
#MeToo
I wrote this tweet thread before getting the news of who died in the explosion. I am heartsick for the families of the brave service members who gave their lives to rescue others.
My reporting suggests that it is this thirst for recognition as Americans, not hatred for immigrants, that motivates most who identify as ADOS. But the hashtag is also associated with a lot of vitriol against immigrants. And the GOP + Donald Trump are eager to capitalize on it
#4
) ADOS encourages black people to embrace America as their homeland, not Africa. They demand reparations for slavery but hold out the promise that once that debt is paid, blacks will be full citizens. Many ADOS followers have American flag icons on social media.
Should black Americans who descended from slavery have their own ethnic category, separate from those who hail from abroad? My latest piece is about
#ADOS
and the Growing Identity Debate in Black America
Supporters of ADOS spoke of it with spiritual emotion. Critics were equally vehement about its dangers. I'd never had so many people try to talk me out of writing a story. “It’s just a hashtag.” “It’s a front for the far-right.” "It's a hate group" “Why give them oxygen?”
Many black people seem very thirsty for the message that this country values them as full citizens, and that being an American still means something in a globalized age. To many working class blacks (and whites) US citizenship is their sole inherited advantage.
Of course, that only made me more curious. Who are they? What does their existence say about America today? I came to see ADOS as part of a broader debate about black poverty, populist politics, and American identity. Here's what I learned reporting the story:
#9
ADOS is calling on followers not to vote for president in 2020 unless the Democratic nominee supports reparations. I interviewed a lot of ADOS followers who said they planned to leave that part of the ballot blank and that they were prepared to see Trump reelected.
She said it was controversial because ADOS believes that well-off black immigrants take affirmative action slots at jobs and schools that should be for the descendants of slavery. “I’ll check it out.” I said. It turned out to be the most polarizing subject I’ve ever covered.
“ADOS stands for the American Descendants of Slavery,” my sister said. They believe that black Americans should have their own ethnic category, distinct from African and Caribbean immigrants. “What do you think?”
The real question is how many black Americans agree with her. Is American-ness is more central to identity than blackness? Does the path to political power lie in withholding black votes until one party or the other agrees to pay reparations?
Over 20 years, free
#Birthright
trips 2
#Israel
have become a rite of passage for
American Jews. But over the past year, they have also become a target of Jewish protesters who say the trips "hide" the occupation.
#6
ADOS includes immigration in the long list of federal policies they say hurt black people economically, dating back to the Irish/Italian laborers who got jobs that were denied to newly emancipated slaves. Sometimes the tone ADOS strikes on immigration sounds like Trump.
#7
ADOS attracts attention by attacking black celebrities and politicians, including Obama and Kamala Harris. They have promoted boycotts of the Harriet Tubman movie + CBS show Bob Hearts Abishola about a white guy who falls for a Nigerian nurse.
A million-dollar question at the White House this week: How much should Biden talk about the warts and dark side of democracy and antidemocratic forces in the U.S. From
@ThePlumLineGS
The Homestead Acts were the most extensive, radical, redistributive governmental policy in US history. About 46 million people, 25% of the US adult population, descended from pple who got land for free from these acts. Almost none are black. via
@aeonmag
#8
A lot of people are afraid of ADOS. It was heartbreaking to hear a friend of mine who's dedicated her life to civil rights say that she is afraid of being attacked because her parents are Jamaican. ADOS says it wants immigrant allies but a lot of immigrants don’t feel that.
Amazing how little Americans understand about Iran + how much Iranians know about us. Some of our harshest critics in Iran got their masters degrees in Iowa. How many Americans know that US spies overthrew Iran's democratically-elected leader? Because oil. They never forgot.
Awaiting the Chauvin verdict, I'm struck again by the sheer magnitude of SCOTUS's error in inventing qualified immunity out of whole cloth. How many people would still be alive—perhaps even George Floyd—if police were held to the same standard of accountability as the rest of us?
Maybe what we are learning is that being a billionaire is not enough to ensure election. Billionaire doesn't even sound that rich any more. A trillionaire. That's what I'm waiting for.
In a country where capital really counts, lack of capital is what has kept black people back the most. Racism is real. White supremacy is real. Police abuse is real. But black people would have shrugged all of it off if we'd been given our 40 acres and a mule.
The NYT has a new podcast series called The Opinions (one voice, one opinion, in less than 10 minutes. ) Today they produced one of mine: the Sad Missed Opportunity’ of the Democratic Convention, where I talk about how no Palestinian spoke from the stage
#KeithEllison
's statement: “I am extremely disappointed that the Court has gone back on its agreement to seal Kim and my divorce file, agreeing to open it at the request of a far-right propaganda outlet with a history of racism and religious bigotry Alpha News + the Star Tribune"
You can tell the
#coronavirus
relief package was written by the wealthy. It provides for REIMBURSEMENT for COVID-19 diagnostic testing and services provided to those without health insurance. But that means the poor have to come up with money they don't have to pay, then wait.🙄
But as the protests have gone on, the costs of these tactics have mounted. Black leaders working inside the system on practical measures to reduce police violence have been shouted down and criticized by anarchists want to abolish the police, not simply reform them.
In 2017, I followed Shannon Mulcahy, a steelworker in Indiana, as her factory closed down and moved to Mexico. I told the story of how she felt about training her Mexican replacement. Readers wrote me asking what would happen to her next.
So excited to read The Engagement, by my former Boston Globe colleague Sasha Issenberg which is the definitive history of gay marriage in the United States. Sasha's a wonderful writer who never bores. The book has been compared to a Grisham thriller.
I should add, since folks are asking, that I don't believe Trump's promises here. But I do believe that black people would benefit if politicians actually had to compete for their votes. This article was illuminating.
.
@abbydphillip
is a smart, professional, and hardworking journalist. Not only was her question to Pres Trump not stupid, it was asked in public service because it’s what people want to know. We, as journalists, will press on. I’m honored to work and sometimes brunch with Abby.
Thanks for the respect. I try to be respectful to others and hope I get the same in return, even on social media. LOL. I like engaging with ideas, not personal attacks, so hopefully that is a starting point for future discussions about blackness/American identity/wealth.
I was blown away by the amount of evidence that these inmates amassed of their innocence. But no one listened, until these special integrity units got the case.
#KeithEllison
: "Kim and I have rebuilt a strong friendship as parents to our four wonderful children. I am proud of the person Kim is. We are family, and I stand by her.”
@Yamiche
looks calm as all get out. It's not easy to ask that kind of question, over and over, to the most powerful person in the country. It's just not.
WATCH:
@Yamiche
asked President Trump why he held a campaign rally in March as the coronavirus pandemic intensified if, as he says, he "acted very early" to combat virus.
"Did I hold a rally? I'm sorry I hold a rally."
He hung out in chatrooms with the Pacific Northwest Youth Liberation Front, who don’t accept anyone over 25. In Rochester, “black bloc” seemed a teenage fashion fad. In Tulsa, he saw BLM protesters + Trump supporters pray together.
Feeling emotional. I'm grateful to everyone in this great country and all around the world who made this possible. We are going to beat this thing and come back stronger than ever before.
Honored to receive the Julia Ward Howe prize for nonfiction for AMERICAN MADE from the Boston Authors Club, which has roots that date back to 1886 and Oliver Wendell Holmes.
#KeithEllison
:"One of the great regrets of my life is that I did not appreciate the debilitating effects of Kim’s illness until the doctors told us that it was Multiple Sclerosis and major depression."
@davidfrum
The uncommitted movement is made up of delegates. They are absolutely different people than the marchers who breached the barriers. Arab activists are not a monolith.
#KeithEllison
: “I understand perhaps better than most that as a public official my personal life falls under higher scrutiny..But 2 pry into the details of a sealed divorce file that the Court previously ordered closed on the eve of an election is shameful + outrageous"