My second book is in production at Cornell University Press. My third book is under review at a leading academic press. My fourth book is on its way to a leading press. My fifth book is fully drafted and in its third round of edits. I'm going to be in these publishing streets for a while, beloveds.

Vanilla Ice, Flo Rida, and C+C Music Factory are slated to perform at the "Great American State Fair" celebrating 250 years of America and Milli Vanili said no. Milli Vanili yall, lol.

The other day, my daughter asked, "When does recovery end, Mommy? I feel like you're always recovering from something." I didn't know what to say. My children have seen me immobile, going in and coming out of surgery, and fighting for my life their whole lives. I still don't know what to tell her.

For my 40th birthday in 2024, I traveled to Colombia with my best friends. While there, I got a tattoo that says "Todavia estoy aqui" which means I'm still here. It was to commemorate 20 years since my first open heart surgery.

Real reading has nothing to do with reading only in-hand books or audio books. It has to do with curiosity. Real readers have a fundamental curiosity about the written word. Real writers do, too. That's the difference.

I don't think we talk enough about class dynamics within Black communities and how those of us who grew up poor and working class have VERY different life experiences and outcomes than those who grew up middle class.

Is disability fatigue a documented thing? Like, other people getting tired of your disability needs and simply ignoring them?

Thank you to everyone who has donated to the Meal Train while I recover from emergency eye surgery. I'm pretty immobile for the next two weeks and can't drive, exercise, swim, fly, or bend over for a month. So, it will be a slow and restful start to summer for me 💝

I'm home from the hospital beloveds. Signing off for a while. Thank you for the well wishes. Gonna get some rest 💜

Disabled folks are some of the most courageous people. We have to do most everything while afraid.

Today is the day! Having emergency eye surgery to save my vision. #MarfanSyndrome #disabledbaddie

Hey beloveds, folks were asking how to support me and my family while I recover from emergency retina surgery next Tuesday. My coparent created a MealTrain where folks can donate 💜 mealtrain.com/2r370m

two things can be true... 1. yes 2. And also there is a scrutiny and surveillance of Black women (because that's what we are talking about in the WNBA Black women) that is not given to any other group of people www.thenation.com/article/soci...

In talking with Black organizers for my next book, so many of them mentioned how concerned they are about Black folks sitting out of the liberation struggle right now. At no point in history have we left our liberation up to other people. Why are we doing it now?

Why are we celebrating a man who hit his partner so hard that she fell unconscious in an elevator and then he dragged her body to the car like nothing happened? This is not a man we should be celebrating. www.blackenterprise.com/ray-rice-rut...

Mother's Day is so complicated for so many of us. Those of us who have lost our mothers. Those of us who are estranged from our mothers. Those of us healing our mother wounds. I'm honored to be a mother despite not having one in my life. I wish us all love and peace today 💜

My dad always told me that people resent those who raise the bar, & I always kept that in mind. I worked in fields largely dominated by men, so, I have been aware of the hurdles that others face on top of doing their jobs well. It shouldn't have to be as hard as it is. And there is a toll.

When Black women are the first to achieve a position previously only held by white people and men, that means we are integrating that space. Yes. Call it what it is. INTEGRATION. In 2026.

My babies are doctors now 🥹

Having the number one school in Public Affairs and Citizenship but having nearly no Black professors (specifically Black women) is a helluva choice.

I am sitting on the stage at the Maxwell Graduate School convocation and I am the ONLY Black woman PhD here. There is one Black man on stage with me. There are at least 40 professors sitting here. Academia is in crisis.

Y'all might be sick of me today! I've only worn my regalia once since graduating from the University of Chicago in 2019. It was to stand with students protesting the ge'noh-side in Gaza. Today, I get to send some of those Black, queer, radical students off into the world to disrupt and f*ck shyt up.

I hope said folks at least paused on hooting and hollering when #SCOTUS killed the Voting Rights Act a few days ago but probably not.

It's strange that white folks will hoot and holler about how racism is over meanwhile Black people are still fighting for our natural hair to be accepted at work, struggling to get hair products that won't kill us, and often don't have public soap dispensers and water faucets recognize our skin.

Now that my field research is established/mostly done, I'm shifting my focus to establishing the Center for the Study of Race, Intersectionality, and Policing. I want to build out a center dedicated to this work. I want to train scholars in qualitative methods that center hardly-reached people.

My son just sent this to me from his group chat 🤣🤣🤣 they made my family the face of admissions. I'M HOLLERING.

ATL is treating me so well. I'm in the field conducting research with Black organizers for the next book. I'm also facilitating focus groups for the Abolishing Patriarchal Violence table at M4BL. One thing I love is FIELD RESEARCH. I'm thankful my body has healed enough for me to get back to it.

I have often wondered whether misinformation about public health or other fields are due to journals’ paywalls. If people could access high-quality information, they might not have to go through journalists’ and other social media influencers’ (sometimes deliberate) mistranslations.

My dissertation book will be out early next year. I started my dissertation in 2018. I was in the field conducting research until 2022. That book took the life out of me. Literal blood, sweat, and tears. I refuse to let it rot in academia.

In this moment, when folks in the mass public are struggling with navigating misinformation and disinformation, why aren't more academics making our research publicly accessible? What is the point of our work if the people most impacted by it can't see it?

I have an article coming out in 5 mons at a top 3 political science journal. It took me 7 yrs to get that article through edits, reviews, and final acceptance. Seven. Years. Then, they'll put it behind a pay wall so only academics can see it. This is why all of my work is publicly accessible.

This was fitting news to receive on May 1, international workers day. I will be returning to work on Monday after being kept on retaliatory administrative leave for 5 months and 3 weeks. I return along with the brave Katrina Declaration signers from FEMA, also reinstated this week. 🧵1/?

My second book POLICING BLACKNESS: HOW THREAT SHAPES BLACK POLITICS is now done and submitted to Cornell UP. I love this book, y'all. I'm SO happy that it will be in the world soon.

I was in Manhattan this morning and now I'm sitting in pre-op at Johns Hopkins. Life is so strange and winding and I'm just trusting the process 💜

My health issues over the past two years (eg fibroids, pulmonary embolisms, cataracts/glaucoma, and aortic dissections) have really put a lot of things in perspective for me. I have really had to get serious about how I move in academia, who has access to me, and where I place my energy.

My second book "Policing Blackness: How Threat Shapes Black Politics" is now officially under contract at @cornellupress.bsky.social as a part of the Police/Worlds Series. I'm so thankful to the reviewers and editors who have been an absolute joy to work with on this project thus far.

I'm sharing that my vision issues have worsened and I am experiencing the risk of blindness. As such, I will need to have emergency eye surgery on May 19th. I'm scared. I'm sad. I'm overwhelmed. Marfan Syndrome is tough and mostly invisible. But the stakes are high. Please send love 💜

Tesla. Disney. CVS Health. United Airlines. PayPal. Billions in profits. $0 in federal corporate income taxes. That money should be funding schools, healthcare, and public services. This is why people are mad as hell.

My oldest son got into the University of Maryland yesterday and will be transferring from Penn State in the fall. He had an amazing first year at PSU but UMD was his first choice and it's driving distance from home. My baby is coming home, y'all 🥹

Here are a few reliable sources about Black femicide and violence. I use these works in my Black Feminism course: - INTIMATE JUSTICE, Shatema Threadcraft - AMERICA, GODDAM, Treva Lindsey - ARRESTED JUSTICE, Beth Richie

The final draft of my academic book is due on May 1st. I'm SO excited to FINALLY be wrapping this 8yr long project up.

I just submitted a fourth revision for an article I started writing in grad school 11 years ago. Academia is slow as molasses.

I'm so excited to be in conversation with my dear friend L'Oreal Thompson Payton on 4/19 at 6pm CT for the virtual launch of the Black Feminist Book Club with Zora's Place Bookstore in Evanston. REGISTER BELOW! www.eventbrite.com/e/black-femi...

a message for today!

I'm looking forward to May through December when I will be saying 'no' to all book promotion opportunities for BLACK WOMEN TAUGHT US. Starting back at the top of 2027, I'll have two new books to promote.

I just walked to Trader Joe's and back and it's one of the first times I've been able to walk that distance with no nerve pain since open-heart surgery last summer. I'm nine months post-surgery and moments like this make me so grateful to be able to walk again.

My final in-person book talk will be on Tuesday evening at Barnes and Noble in Emeryville on Bay Street (@bnemeryville). This is special to me as I am ending my book tour back home in the Bay where it all began. I would love to see some of the hometown homies at this event.

This semester, four of my grad students defended their dissertations. One queer woman, two Black women, one Black man. I chaired one diss and co-chaired another. I am ASTOUNDED at the brilliance of my students. As an early career faculty member, this has been the highlight of my journey thus far

Last night, I was awarded the inaugural Scholar - Activist Award by the LGBTQ Caucus at the Western Political Science Association Annual Conference. During my acceptance speech, I explained that, for Black women, we are rarely recognized while we are living.

Pam Bondi is another white woman who has aligned herself with patriarchal men and institutions who have a pecking order. When they come for Black women, Latinx people, immigrants, trans/queer folks, and disabled people, these women feel safe. But, that safety is temporary, fraught, and fleeting.