March 5, 2025- I will leave the analysis of President Trump’s State of the Union address to journalists who will either normalize what we heard last night in neatly packaged political stories or activate to properly dissect the abnormality of this moment in American history.
This edition of Fortify is a listening experience to not only sound the alarms (for the umpteenth time) on clear and present danger, but to settle in the wisdom of history, confront the journalism’s industry’s need to hold itself accountable and become comfortable with calling this era what journalist and author Adam Serwer so succinctly detailed as The Great Resegregation.1 To do this, I joined The Emancipator, a digital magazine that serves as “a reimagining of the first abolitionist newspaper in the United States.”
Below is the full hour-long conversation between publisher Amber Payne, scholar and anti-racist activist Ibram X. Kendi, sociologist and author Victor Ray and myself-a veteran journalist and educator. Our conversation was a part of “The State of the People”-a 24-hour livestream featuring strong Black voices including civil rights leaders, human rights advocates, journalists, and elected officials. The town hall was the brainchild of Native Land Podcast host and legal analyst Angela Rye, who saw an urgent need to counter the president’s address. To help do this she called on the likes of our panelists, analyst and host Joy Reid; NAACP Legal Defense Fund president and general counsel Janai Nelson; Rev. Marc Thompson of BlackPressUSA.com; pastors Dr. Jamal Bryant and Dr. Frederick T. Haynes III; former Georgia state representative, gubernatorial candidate and voting rights champion Stacey Abrams, CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, Fatima Gross Graves, and many, many more. I was especially delighted to see the likes of Esosa Osa, whose brought clarity and tangible next steps to Black journalists and voters throughout the United States facing an existential threat to our democracy: mis-, dis- and misinformation campaigns.
“The official State of the Union will be filled with empty promises and misinformation, but the State of the People is our answer—a 24-hour livestream elevating the voices that truly reflect our community’s needs,” Rye said ahead of last night’s affair.
Throughout our exploration of The Great Resegregation, Payne, Kendi, Ray and I explored the parallels between the current moment and rise of racial terror from Enslavement to Reconstruction and through the Civil Rights movement. We looked at the critical role of the historic Black press in democratizing America and holding a mirror up to this nation to show its citizens a much fuller, accurate depiction of itself. We talked about how complacency and inaction-in the journalism industry, academia and our lives, period- lead to places darker than the darkest times we’ve lived to see thus far. Finally, we each ended on what we can do in this time to fortify ourselves because as Ray pointed out, we all must do SOMETHING.
“You’ll find my answer to be steeped in the traditions of the historic Black press and directed toward all our storytellers-keep writing, keep documenting, keep archiving. The most accurate first draft of history depends on us.”-Nicole Carr
You’ll find my answer to be steeped in the traditions of the historic Black press and directed toward all our storytellers-keep writing, keep documenting, keep archiving. The most accurate first draft of history depends on us. Do what you know how to do-no false equivalences, no alternate realities, no refusing to sound the alarms in the most abnormal and dangerous of times. Truth-telling is resistance.
Watch the full hour with The Emancipator above, and watch or scroll through numerous State of the People addresses here on The Breakfast Club YouTube Channel. Below, you can also read Serwer’s piece for The Atlantic, along with Emancipator essays that Ray and I have written about segregationist policy and Black press traditions.2 3 You can follow The Emancipator’s work here.
Let me know if any of this helps you to Fortify.
Serwer, A. (2025, February 27). The Great Resegregation. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/02/trump-attacks-dei/681772/
Ray, V. (2025, January 29). Eliminating Dei isn’t just racist - it’s segregationist. The Emancipator. https://theemancipator.org/2025/01/28/topics/u-s-politics/eliminating-dei-isnt-just-racist-its-segregationist/
Carr, N. (2024, December 20). The Black Press Democratized America. The Emancipator. https://theemancipator.org/2024/11/09/topics/movements/the-black-press-democratized-america/
Share this post