Issac Bailey, a 2014 Nieman Fellow, is a journalist, race relations seminar creator and facilitator, and the author of “Why Didn’t We Riot? A Black Man in Trumpland” (Other Press, October 2020). He is also the author of “My Brother Moochie: Regaining Dignity in the Face of Crime, Poverty, and Racism in the American South” (Other Press, 2018). He has contributed to Politico, CNN.com, Time, and The Washington Post. He is a former columnist and senior writer for The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and he was a 2011 recipient of a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism for stories about a child protection case. The state subsequently revamped the way it handles such cases.
last June, I traveled to Ghana for the first time. For most of my life, I wanted no connection to the dark continent. I had been convinced, by whom or what I don’t know, that the American in my … Read more
The more I read about Tara Reade’s story, the less I know about her sexual assault allegation against Joe Biden. That’s a problem, not just for Reade but for every serious journalistic attempt to litigate decades-old … Read more
Was it reasonable to wonder if President Donald Trump began restricting, but not banning outright, travel from China on January 31 because of xenophobia rather than to avert the spread of the coronavirus to the United States? If context means … Read more
I can’t say with any certainty whether Joe Biden, the current front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president, is in “cognitive decline,” as many journalists and critics have begun to ponder aloud. I can say with certainty that what you … Read more
When The Washington Post tried to silence reporter Felicia Sonmez, it was likely guided by a tradition bias — a preference for the way things have been over how they should be — that has caused numerous news organizations to … Read more
I have no interest in re-litigating why you chose to apologize for simply doing your job as a journalist. Plenty of others have already done so, some condescendingly, some empathetically. Instead I … Read more
It’s tempting to fall back on journalistic defaults during confusing times like these, such as making political ramifications the primary focus of the unfolding scandal involving President Donald Trump and his attempts to influence the 2020 elections by pressuring … Read more
The optics were flawless. The best Hollywood screenwriters and directors could not have produced a better performance. There he was, a black Republican, a decorated war hero and general, a secretary of state who was one of the most trusted … Read more
White racism flourishes in the United States in America for a variety of reasons. Its historical roots stretch back hundreds of years, to even before there was officially a USA. But it has staying power in a rapidly diversifying nation … Read more
I can’t imagine standing in the middle of a Walmart and having a fellow customer repeatedly calling me racial epithets as the manager silently watches from a corner of the store, politely refusing to intervene, for ill-defined reasons. It would … Read more
