Thread by @lebron_chris, 1/ I have been writing publicly for 5 years. After the death [...]

1/ I have been writing publicly for 5 years. After the death of #TrayvonMartin I felt obligated to speak directly to as many Americans as I could. Below are the 8 pieces I've published with @nytopinion.

2/ My very first piece was a re-imagining of Fredereick Douglass's "What To The Slave Is The Fourth of July?" https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/what-to-the-black-american-is-martin-luther-king-jr-day/

What, To the Black American, Is Martin Luther King Jr. Day?

This holiday does not fully belong in the most profound ways to many Americans, and to some, it does not belong at all.

https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/what-to-the-black-american-is-martin-luther-king-jr-day/

4/ Here I revisit the idea of black radicalism https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/22/time-for-a-new-black-radicalism/

Time for a New Black Radicalism

Conventional tactics have failed. To break the cycle of rage and despair, we need to be clear-eyed about which path the struggle must take.

https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/22/time-for-a-new-black-radicalism/

5/ Black and brown folks have a tragic inheritance in America - disaffection: the idea that we are not a part of this nation in a genuine sense https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/30/the-inheritance-of-disaffection/

The Inheritance of Disaffection

For black Americans, the protests on campus and elsewhere are a refusal to accept the shackles handed down to them.

https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/30/the-inheritance-of-disaffection/

6/ Racism in America has a complex relationship to truth because race presents different realities for black and white folks

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/11/opinion/race-truth-and-our-two-realities.html?auth=login-email&login=email&login=email&auth=login-email&login=email&auth=login-email

7/ How can one plan for life when black life in America is so easily disposed of? https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/26/opinion/im-black-does-america-have-a-plan-for-my-life.html

Opinion | I’m Black. Does America Have a Plan for My Life?

Terence Crutcher was pursuing his ambitions, until the state interfered by killing him.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/26/opinion/im-black-does-america-have-a-plan-for-my-life.html

8/ America is teaching our children that fear and insecurity are more fundamental than life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/opinion/charleena-lyles-philando-castile.html

Opinion | What We Are Teaching Black Children

When the state kills a loved one, remain calm. You are not safe. Somehow, maintain hope.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/opinion/charleena-lyles-philando-castile.html

9/ Here I present in condensed form the key lessons from my book The Making of Black Lives Matter: A History of an Idea https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/opinion/black-lives-matter-philosophy.html

Opinion | Who First Showed Us That Black Lives Matter?

Revolutionary thinkers who insisted on our status as humans gave the movement a meaning that transcends the demand to stop police brutality.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/opinion/black-lives-matter-philosophy.html

10/ My most recent piece reflecting on the parallels between pandemics and racism and my own way of handling #SocialDistancing https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/opinion/black-academia-racism.html

Opinion | White America Wants Me to Conform. I Won’t Do It.

Even at elite universities, I was exposed to the disease that has endangered black lives for so long.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/opinion/black-academia-racism.html

11/ The intention behind all these pieces has been to open civic imaginative spaces for Americans to consider our contemporary racial troubles, both personally and systematically. I take many of my queues from #JamesBaldwin...

12. My main aim is to always hold two things in view: the reality of black anger and the need for civic love and sympathy. I hope you find these piece have succeeded.

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