A staggering new finding from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies: since 2001, the money left over each month for lower-income renters—after paying rent and utilities—has fallen 60 percent to a record low of $210. $210 left over for food, healthcare, childcare, and everything else.

We’re talking anti-Blackness + structural racism in healthcare at this year’s Bay Area Book Fest. The panelists are brilliant researchers, providers. Honored to join them+explore the themes in each of our books.Takes place just ahead of The Price of Exclusion’s pub day.Full schedule: baybookfest.org

“Investigative reporting is at the heart of “The Price of Exclusion.” Carr travels domestically and internationally in order to dive into what it took for Black physicians to break into the field.” Thank you to The Atlanta Voice for this unexpected, early review: theatlantavoice.com/nicole-carr-...

Civil Rights icon, @doloreshuerta, made a brave move today, revealing a secret she had been holding for 60 years for the sake of the Farm Workers movement. You can read her letter here: medium.com/@dolores_hue...

Just reposting one of my old newsletters in honor of Sinners to remind us that Misty Copeland has always been a Real Black One. Ballerina en Noir: open.substack.com/pub/nicolefc...

Here’s the thing with Target: A lot of us started the boycott before it became “official.” Then, we learned we could ABSOLUTELY live without it. Then, we learned how much money we’d saved. So, no. It’s unlikely coming to an end.

In 2024, I investigated a powerful film studio/real estate executive and his racist, antisemitic communications. He exchanged messages about the stench of Black people. Now he’s running for Congress in Georgia to support Trump. I wrote about it here: open.substack.com/pub/nicolefc...

This is the guy I reported on in ‘24 for ProPublica + AJC. We had a bunch of his racist, anti-Semitic text exchanges w his ex-gf. They text about how Black ppl smell…He didn’t respond to the story until The Hollywood Reporter picked it up: bit.ly/4cstvq6 + Apology/reax, No paywall: bit.ly/4b67Oty

Spent the weekend reeling over war, preserving Black history on the final leg of our four-city film festival tour with our children in tow, and committing to our ancestors’ exercise of call and response at the ASALH Black History centennial celebration in Washington. What a time to be alive.

I think they’re closer to Lucifer than Jesus Christ, Brother. Don’t take the rhetoric for face value. Rip off the masks.

Stop trying to make this make sense. It never did. It never will.

The richest man owns X. The second and third richest men control Google. The fourth richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The fifth richest man owns The Washington Post. And now the sixth richest could soon take over both Paramount and Warner Bros. See the problem here?

Spent the last few days in community with Black memory workers contributing their genius via multiple disciplines-librarianship,archiving, oral histories, storytelling, museum curation and much more.The historic convening of the Black Information Futures Symposium in Seattle. #blkinfofutures2026

@nicolefcarr.bsky.social spitting FACTS. #BLKINFOFUTURES2026 “Black Information Networks” ‘Preserving the Black press to democratize America’

Our short doc, Through the Years, screened in D.C.’s Lincoln Theatre last night. It joined thirteen other films that document the Diaspora’s rich history. Thank you to film lovers who showed up, and the sisters who always show out. Hope I did you one good. 💕💚 Next Stops:Oakland, Miami and Atlanta. ✊🏾

i think jesse jackson was one of the most important american political figures of the post-war era and i think that his 1984 and 1988 campaigns for the democratic nomination still have a great deal to teach about forging a path to a more egalitarian world. RIP.

BREAKING: The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader from the era of MLK to Black Lives Matter, has died at 84, his family said.

Hey Y’all. ✨I’m late posting this, but there are 5 days left to enter the Goodreads giveaway for The Price of Exclusion. Ten readers will receive a free copy of the book. I see 1100+ interested in reading the work that tells us much about America & the world. TY. 🙏🏾 www.goodreads.com/book/show/23...

Trump has been espousing racist foolishness for decades, even as a presidential candidate and president. Stop with the pearl clutching over monkey images, and ask why this vile behavior has been tolerated and left unchecked for so long.

A reminder that I wrote about the dangers associated with Bezos’s WaPo, while musing on the historic Black press, circa 2024: theemancipator.org/2024/11/09/t...

I have family affected by today’s assault on the free press. What you don’t understand is how these institutions are being devalued, and the renaissance that will rise from the ashes of this conundrum.

Democracy dies in broad daylight.

“I’d encourage anyone who thinks that being silent, and they think that neutrality on human rights issues is going to save them, to think again.”- Some of my thoughts earlier this week…Via the National Association of Black Journalists/ Black Star Network “Not on Our Watch” town hall.

I kicked off BHM by centering the assault against Black journalists.Thanks to CNN,Victor Blackwell for the opportunity to join Sunday’s CNN This Morning panel. You can read more, watch the entire segment and get info on tonight’s @nabj townhall in today’s Fortify: open.substack.com/pub/nicolefc...

Last year I began to raise alarms about to potential for the federal government to start arresting journalists for doing our jobs,knowing that the historic Black press had faced this.Today, Don Lemon is in fed custody after a bogus arrest for bearing witness.Resharing from March 2025: bit.ly/45F4LH2

(CNN) - The fast-growing measles outbreak in South Carolina is now the largest in the United States since the disease was declared eliminated in this country more than two decades ago. @cnn.com www.cnn.com/2026/01/27/h...

This is not a new post. I wrote this newsletter almost a year ago. It’s about why it’s often so difficult for media to cover white supremacy. It’s leads with a a story about a fired (now REHIRED) ICE agent. Worth resharing today…: open.substack.com/pub/nicolefc...

This is constantly on my mind (and has always been on my mind as a mother of Black children)- The way that we function-or do not-for the love and protection of our children.

This morning feels like a good time to reshare a piece I wrote last year about ICE Enforcement, children and the “othering” of humanity that distorts our narratives. “What about the children now?” open.substack.com/pub/nicolefc...

The bats$&it racist rhetoric is a feature, not a bug. I’m not reposting that filth.

Grateful for this unexpected mention in the National Book Club Conference email blast. The great Walter Mosley is the featured author. And I’m the new author who’s just giving thanks for all the good things happening while we are in the midst of extreme chaos. Soon: nationalbookclubconference.com

1985 Atlanta: The Klan was burning crosses on Stone Mountain and in front of the AKA sorority house at Georgia Tech, following the King holiday. This was the year my AKA chapter was chartered. My first doc incl. this history has been selected for the 2026 Black History Film Festival: bit.ly/4qtNwko

ICE is holding Native Americans hostage as a bargaining chip to raid reservations, saying they won't release them until the tribes give up sovereignty. www.startribune.com/ice-detainin...

Watch what’s unfolding w the gov’t raid on a WaPo reporter’s home + remember this piece that I wrote last year.It covers a few ways the feds attempted to criminalize the historic Black press. Reminder: The human guardrails to protect these journalists are seemingly no longer in place: bit.ly/3NkLh4g

...in which I end the interview by saluting a few people I think are journalism badasses: @nickimayonews.bsky.social, @nicolefcarr.bsky.social, Jason Strother, and my fellow Boston journalist Meghan Irons.

More than half of Venezuelans identify as having African ancestry, the highest rate of the world’s Spanish-speaking nations. https://capitalbnews.org/us-attack-venezuela-afro-venezuelans/

Black people have been telling you. That’s it. That’s all.

Cooking with my 5502 Peruvian Spice blend from the National Museum of African American History and Culture. ✨ An escape before I return to writing amid the insanity.

Those of who said this years ago were labeled as alarmists or a tad bit insane, despite the evidence before us all…

We still haven’t gotten the investigative report that reveals these people’s identities. Let’s clearly label the illegitimate Army, white supremacists and trained LE, cause trust and believe, this ain’t it. This ain’t the normal F-ups we report on day in, day out.

I give plenty of historical references and context to this white lie in my forthcoming book, The Price of Exclusion. You can pre-order here, read, and wonder whether we’re examining text from 2026, 1926, or 1826: www.harpercollins.com/products/the...

110 new subscribers have joined the Fortify newsletter community in the past week. Thank you. Please enjoy the intersection of history, current events and Black storytellers as I prepare the first post of the new year. Read/Listen/Share/Subscribe: open.substack.com/pub/nicolefc...

You know what’s funny about Dokoupil? We’ve all worked with one. And we’ve all watch people elevate that one into some pseudo-intellectual class disguised as…objective, of good faith and smart.

GERMAN PRESIDENT STEINMEIER: “.. the United States has broken with the values that it helped to establish .. “.. we have now moved beyond the stage where we can lament the lack of respect for international law or the erosion of the international order; we are far beyond that, I believe.”

Our alma mater needs to stop legitimizing and honoring this man.

An afternoon offering: How should reporters cover law enforcement shooting civilians? @stacykess.bsky.social talks to two veteran journalists, @justinfenton.bsky.social and @nicolefcarr.bsky.social, for advice and perspective. the-word.news/2026/0108/la...

Given what we’ve witnessed over the past 6-9 months, it’s disingenuous to assume these folks are “legitimate” law enforcement, much less LE that’s being properly trained or ppl who concern themselves with protocol and the law.