Preview

In 2016 before a New York real estate tycoon became president, I wrote: “The post-Ferguson violence in black communities is a reaction to a long and historic list of grievances beginning with the misapplication of police power. Trump's African American agenda…is a nightmarish fusion of tactics that fail to get to the root causes of the deaths of unarmed civilians at the hands of police officers or the killings of police officers by individuals bent on avenging those deaths.”

Nearly four years and a global pandemic later, the violence many people feared has pushed the social contagion of racism right up against a biological one. African Americans and their allies took the streets demanding end to the lip service about racial justice that our country enjoys promoting but can never quite deliver in the neighborhoods, schools, boardrooms, and workplaces where ordinary Americans live their everyday lives.

Taking in the scenes around the White House, Lafayette Square, and Black Lives Matter Plaza over the past few weeks has been one of the high points in my career as a journalist as I continue to report on and analyze the civil rights issues of our times in a portfolio that includes the myriad issues facing our cities and states.

The American Prospect is ready for this historical moment: I am proud to be a part of the leadership team of this journalistic enterprise and its staff of committed journalists and contributors providing a daily regime of right-on-time reporting, sharp commentary, and deft news analysis.

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