Republicans in southern states are gerrymandering the return of Black voters, Theodore R. Johnson writes. https://wapo.st/4elFJBh

The Black people coming to the South are not the same as the ones who left in the Great Migration. If the region’s leaders continue to apply a 20th-century playbook to 21st-century voters, they may find that in drawing up an advantage, they’ve painted themselves into a corner. wapo.st/4o614SI

I’m a North Carolina boy through and through, but I’ve now lived in Virginia longer than anywhere else. Visiting its towns and hamlets always leaves an impression. My @postopinions.bsky.social column today, from Farmville & Appomattox (🎁 link) wapo.st/4uiAhEl

I’m a North Carolina boy through and through, but I’ve now lived in Virginia longer than anywhere else. Visiting its towns and hamlets always leaves an impression. My @postopinions.bsky.social column today, from Farmville & Appomattox (🎁 link) wapo.st/4uiAhEl

In practice, colorblind constitutionalism has come to mean Redemption without "racism of the heart."

“The court’s jurisprudence has effectively ended protections long afforded by the Voting Rights Act,” @drtedj.bsky.social writes.

The latest from @drtedj.bsky.social:

The Court’s revanchist approach to voting rights is following a familiar playbook. wapo.st/4tOBgfc

We all knew the moment in partisan gerrymandering was coming. This, from last September: wapo.st/4trKI7N (🎁 link)

“The threats to democracy and voting rights have not passed — they never do,” @drtedj.bsky.social writes. https://wapo.st/4d3JyL7

Five years ago, the woman who gave me life passed away in the hours after Mother’s Day. For 20 years, she’d beaten cancer; she was a walking miracle, an answered prayer. But her death caused me to do the previously unthinkable: doubt the existence — and the utility — of God. wapo.st/42UShZR

The threats to voting rights havent passed — they never do. Roberts was right: history didnt end in 1965. The problems of previous generations will resurface unless the present one is vigilant. The founders knew that. Congress once knew that. The people can’t afford to forget(🎁 link) wapo.st/4cS9IQK

Since the Voting Rights Act of 1965, just 10 Black Republicans have served in the House — only one served more than three terms. Time runs out on them quickly, so they must act while they can. That means they must prioritize moving up before the party or voters move them out. wapo.st/4teeixO

The latest from @drtedj.bsky.social:

Voting against Virginia’s measure on principle only helped gerrymandering elsewhere. Pragmatic support for it required voting against your conscience. And not voting at all meant abandoning convictions and the democratic process. You’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. wapo.st/4e3BcnA

With 80% of votes counted, this redistricting referendum in Virginia is much closer than the polls suggested. I think "yes" will win, but a margin this slim means late night column tweaks lie ahead

In today’s @postopinions.bsky.social, I shared some reflections on meaningful coincidences, synchronicity, and making sense of the world around us. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Cover drop and I'm in love press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

"Nations, like individuals, have egos — and each will wage war to protect its own." The latest from @drtedj.bsky.social: https://wapo.st/4squY4G

Us@250’s @drtedj.bsky.social and @mjrp.bsky.social discuss the complexities of modern American patriotism, past anniversaries, and how America's upcoming 250th anniversary can spur change. 🇺🇸 https://go.newamerica.org/america-turns-250-democracy-is-shaky-5

The US and Iran reached a temporary ceasefire yesterday, but the conflict wasn't just about shipping lanes—it was a crisis of national identities. The real measure of success in the Strait of Hormuz is based more on 🚨ontological security🚨than national security. wapo.st/3O5HxUY

"While their right to vote is no more sacred than anyone else’s, their service is a distinct claim to that right," @drtedj.bsky.social writes. "And casting a ballot should be easier for them than it is for the commander in chief." https://wapo.st/4vkMZ7c

"Why push for a law that will hurt your voters, too?" @drtedj.bsky.social writes. "Making the electorate smaller and more exclusive pushes power up to the few; making it larger and more diverse spreads power out to the many." https://wapo.st/4t7XkBg

On this 60th anniversary of Harper v. Virginia, ending the poll tax, Congress is debating the revanchist “Save America” Act. A truth about our democracy: Making the electorate smaller & more exclusive pushes power to the few; making it larger and more diverse spreads it to the many. wapo.st/4tb7z8b

Trump’s tinkering with the White House would be better spent expanding the legislature’s chambers; we don't need a 1,000-person ballroom — we need a 1,000-member Congress. But that would require building something bigger than himself, and that seems to be the one deal he can’t close. wapo.st/4cUcxRO

“The United States can win wars, celebrate gold , commemorate the nation’s founding, but if its president and politics reap rewards by sowing division, Americans are more likely to rally to a party’s pennant than around the nation’s flag.” wapo.st/3Nd0tAE (gift link)

SCOTUS operates in months and years; the executive, in days and hours. The Constitution made the branches equal in power, not in speed. That asymmetry is a feature of the system, but in the hands of defiant presidents, it becomes a loophole readily exploited. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

I have a new essay out this morning about Black History Month, remembering in a moment when those in power want us to forget, and the importance of seeing people in the past as people www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"Like most of MAGA, many Black voters who backed Trump expected an exit from foreign entanglements and to reap dividends from a bustling economy," @drtedj.bsky.social writes. "They’re getting neither." https://wapo.st/4kG7XIN

"In the 2024 election, Trump proved there were Black voters willing to give him a shot, and he convinced enough of them that MAGA held a place for them. But their experience in it — and the lack of anything to show for it — did not meet expectations. The honeymoon is over." wapo.st/4s0qeD5

I had a fascinating conversation with Ted Johnson, Senior Fellow at @newamerica.org and columnist at @washingtonpost.com, on civic bravery and how its incumbent on us as ‘moral patriots’ to call out our nation’s institutions when they fall short. open.substack.com/pub/thebeaco...

"The lesson of Black history is that preventing republican institutions from clawing back democratic gains and making government more responsive requires vesting more authority in more citizens," @drtedj.bsky.social writes. https://wapo.st/409mq6g

This year is the 100th anniversary of Black History Month. America’s values are tested when it must share power with the people it once excluded. In this way, Black history is a definitive measure of the nation’s progress and capacity to live its creed - and evidence of the urgent work that remains

This year is the 100th anniversary of Black History Month. America’s values are tested when it must share power with the people it once excluded. In this way, Black history is a definitive measure of the nation’s progress and capacity to live its creed - and evidence of the urgent work that remains

Most people cannot fathom the amount of racist, hateful things that Black columnists routinely receive.

“The most visible symbol of our thinning republic is ICE, whose actions have become shorthand for unaccountable federal power … it’s a democratic republic in structure, but it governs with diminishing regard for the people and behaves like it’s afraid of the president — a republic in name only.”

It’s a democratic republic in structure and process, but it governs with diminishing regard for the people and behaves like it’s afraid of the president — a republic in name only. Today’s precedents set the baseline for tomorrow, leaving the republic intact in structure but brittle in essence.

"In practice, citizenship's legal meaning and the rights it confers have been eclipsed by partisan judgments about who belongs," @drtedj.bsky.social writes. https://wapo.st/4sHdoKT

Citizenship did not protect Renee Good from those who wear the shield. Democracies can survive policy fights and constitutional debates. But they cannot survive when citizenship no longer imposes obligations — on institutions, on the state, or on those who wield force in its name. wapo.st/49AsFEv

My column made it to late night!! 😂

"Grappling with the morality of a mission is part of life in uniform," @drtedj.bsky.social writes. "Questioning the legality of operations shouldn’t be." https://wapo.st/3LgHiVF

"Sometimes service requires acting in gray areas — moral ones, certainly, but democratic ones, too. Increasingly, the military is asked to conduct operations w/o congressional authorization or public debate. The democratic costs of that arrangement are real, as are the human costs." wapo.st/3YppRVR

The “Redemeers” in the South were proficient at this. See Massacres at Colfax, Tulsa, Elaine, and so on.

They telegraphed the whole thing months ago. The operation in Venezuela wasn't a policy choice - it was an ego stroke. (gift link) wapo.st/4ptASAy

I was *just* briefing some folks on why I think this matters for organizing.

"The country has yet to understand these changes and runs the risk of collapsing distinct histories into a singular Black experience, exacerbating rather than reducing racial tensions, and clinging to a caricature of what it means to be Black in America." Very informative piece.

“The country has yet to understand these changes and runs the risk of collapsing distinct histories into a singular Black experience, exacerbating rather than reducing racial tensions, and clinging to a caricature of what it means to be Black in America.”

When the pursuit of glory is a preoccupation...

🧵Ecstatic + GRATEFUL to share the cover of my first book, The Price of Exclusion: The Pursuit of Healthcare in A Segregated Nation (HarperCollins June 2026). I can’t wait to share this in community with you. Pre-orders are available today, wherever books are sold : bookshop.org/beta-search?...