Former President Donald Trump faces a slew of state and federal charges, including most recently charges brought against him by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., relating to the 2020 election. In the run-up to the contest and in its aftermath, when it was clear that Joe Biden would win the White House, Trump’s […]
Brandon Tensley
Brandon Tensley is Capital B's national politics reporter.
Posted inRural Issues
Alabama and the Politics of Retribution
Alabama is becoming fertile ground for the dilution of Black voters’ political power, experts say. Last week, the state’s Republican leaders refused to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s order to redraw a congressional map to include two majority-Black districts. Gov. Kay Ivey approved a map with just one majority-Black district. While Black Alabamians make […]
Posted inCulture, History
The Next Phase of the Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors’ Legal Battle
The three known survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre refuse to stop fighting for restitution, even after a Tulsa County District Court judge tossed out their lawsuit seeking reparations. “The dismissal of this case is just one more example of how America’s — and specifically Tulsa’s — legacy of racial harm, racial distress, is […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
When White Nationalism and Patriotism Collide
White nationalism often leverages the language of patriotism and love — “protecting” the U.S., “reclaiming” the U.S. — as a vehicle for racial bigotry. And the dangers of the ideology show no signs of shrinking this year: the throngs of “patriots” marching through cities, the gunman who turned a mall into a slaughterhouse, the plots […]
Posted inEducation, Higher Education
Tips From a College Admissions Dean on Applying in a Post-Affirmative Action World
The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision on Thursday to gut affirmative action in college admissions has left many Black applicants and their families wondering how to navigate new higher-education terrain. In his opinion for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that Harvard University and the University of North Carolina’s race-conscious admissions policies “cannot be […]
Posted inEducation, Higher Education
Supreme Court Strikes Down Affirmative Action
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action, a practice that’s opened up higher-education opportunities for Black students for nearly half a century. The decision, which severely limits colleges and universities’ ability to consider race as a factor in admissions, has unsettled civil rights advocates, who now fear for the future of campus […]
Posted inEducation, Higher Education
Texas’ College DEI Ban Is the Latest to ‘Turn Back the Clock on Racial Equality’
Texas’ ultimatum that its public colleges and universities either ban diversity, equity, and inclusion — or DEI — efforts or lose state funding has Black educators such as Dwonna Goldstone, the director of the African American studies program at Texas State University, on edge. Though the law goes into effect six months from now, she […]
Posted inCulture, LGBTQ
This Black Trans Filmmaker Highlights the Joy in Her Community
For Kristen Lovell, simply picking up the camera is a revolutionary act. Being in the director’s chair allows the Black transgender filmmaker to extend empathy and dimensionality to members of her community in a world resistant to their mere presence. Just a few days into Pride Month, the Human Rights Campaign, for the first time […]
Posted inEducation, Higher Education
What an Affirmative Action Ban Could Mean for College Diversity
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to wipe out affirmative action in higher education any day now. If the erasure of a decades-old precedent occurs, the crucial question will be: How to bolster diversity on college campuses without the help of race-conscious policies? Universities will have to be creative, experts say, and consider approaches that […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
Supreme Court Upholds Voting Rights Act in Victory for Black Political Power
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a ruling that protects Black voting power, shocking court watchers who feared that the court’s conservative majority would use the case to further weaken the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In its 5-4 Allen v. Milligan decision, the bench affirmed a lower court ruling that said that Alabama’s […]