Welcome back to Everything’s Political, Capital B’s news, culture, and politics newsletter! Every Thursday, I’ll take a look at recent stories that seem particularly noteworthy. Here’s what I’ve got for you this week. TikTok Might Be on Borrowed Time The clock is ticking for TikTok. Pointing to alleged national security risks, President Joe Biden on […]
Brandon Tensley
Brandon Tensley is Capital B's national politics reporter.
‘Project 2025’ and the Movement That Could Erode Black Equality
Reporting from Axios this month revealed that one of the main goals of a second Trump administration would be to redirect the federal government’s focus to what the former president and his supporters believe is the problem afflicting our country: “anti-white racism.” In particular, they would seek to erode 1960s-era policies that have nourished economic […]
Everything’s Political, Including Your Voice
Welcome back to Everything’s Political, Capital B’s news, culture, and politics newsletter! Every Thursday, I’ll take a look at recent stories that seem particularly noteworthy. Here’s what I’ve got for you this week. Black Dissent Under Siege in the Deep South Exactly 60 years ago this month, organizers in Mississippi — including Fannie Lou Hamer, […]
Everything’s Political, Including Your Body
Welcome back to Everything’s Political, Capital B’s news, culture, and politics newsletter! Every Thursday, I’ll take a look at recent stories that seem particularly noteworthy. Here’s what I’ve got for you this week. Trump Tries to Muddy the Waters on Abortion Rights Smoke and mirrors. That’s one way to describe former President Donald Trump’s recent […]
Are We Really in the Middle of a ‘Racial Realignment’ in Politics?
The claim that Black voters are bolting to President Donald Trump’s Republican Party seems premature — and fuels a narrative that places the responsibility for the presidential election outcome on Black voters. This notion of realignment has gotten more attention in recent months, as political observers try to make sense of polls showing that some […]
Black Residents Battle Against Tennessee GOP’s Effort to Ban Reparations
The Rev. Earle J. Fisher, an activist and longtime resident of Memphis, Tennessee, is battling against yet another assault on Black economic and political progress by state Republicans. Since the murder of George Floyd in 2020, these efforts have ramped up, particularly in majority-Black Shelby County, the largest county in the state. Just last month, […]
Everything’s Political, Including a Promise
Welcome back to Everything’s Political, Capital B’s news, culture, and politics newsletter! Every Thursday, I’ll take a look at recent stories that seem particularly noteworthy. Here’s what I’ve got for you this week. Biden’s Promise to Black America Janet Jackson put it best in 1986: What have you done for me lately? Today, Black voters […]
Federal Court Strikes Major Blow to Black Voting Rights
A federal district court’s order on Thursday allowing South Carolina to use a racially discriminatory congressional map for the 2024 election cycle is a gut punch to Black voters. “For over a century, the NAACP has worked fervently to protect Black Americans’ access to the ballot box. Make no mistake — these discriminatory maps are […]
Everything’s Political, Including History
Welcome back to Everything’s Political, Capital B’s news, culture, and politics newsletter! Every Thursday, I’ll take a look at recent stories that seem particularly noteworthy. Here’s what I’ve got for you this week. When the Anti-DEI Movement and Memory Politics Collide DEI advocates suffered a one-two punch over the past week. Punch one: Alabama Republican […]
The GOP’s Long-Shot Bid for Black Voters
When Kermit Williams hears a new pro-Donald Trump radio spot that’s supposed to draw in Black voters, his mind sprints in the opposite direction: He thinks about the former president’s history of aggression toward marginalized communities. “I can’t unsee the Central Park Five and what Trump did to try to get a group of innocent […]

