COLORLINES - Kai Wright

Kai Wright

Editorial Director
New York, NY

Kai Wright is editorial director of Colorlines.com and a reporting fellow of the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute. His investigative reporting and news analysis appears regularly in The Nation, The Root and The American Prospect, among other publications, and he is a regular commentator on National Public Radio and in other broadcast media. His work explores the politics of sex, race and health. He has closely covered the foreclosure crisis and the ensuing economic collapse.

Kai is author, most recently, of Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York. He is also the author of two books of African-American history: The African American Experience: Black History and Culture Through Speeches, Letters, Editorials, Poems, Songs, and Stories, and Soldiers of Freedom: An Illustrated History of African Americans in the Armed Forces, which explores America's struggle with race as it has been dramatized by the need to staff a viable military.

You can follow Kai on Twitter at @kai_wright, or look for him in his Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn neighborhood. Check out Kai's media appearances here. For more information, check out KaiWright.com.

Obamas to Black Grads: Good Job. Now Stop Being Such a Failure

by Kai Wright on May 21 2013, 8:48AM

Once again, the president uses his pulpit to browbeat black people for the failings he sees.

Topics: Economy, Kai Wright, Schools & Youth

Did Somebody Say Malware? Bring on the Colorlines Community!

by Kai Wright on March 5 2013, 10:43AM

We were attacked by the evil demons of the Web. But with our community’s help, we have slain them. Take that, demons!

Topics: Kai Wright, /NOW Blog

Welcome Akiba Solomon to Colorlines’ Leadership!

by Kai Wright on February 6 2013, 12:04PM

Our community’s steadily growing at Colorlines, so our team is as well.

Topics: Kai Wright, /NOW Blog

Full Text of President Obama’s Second Inaugural Address

by Kai Wright on January 21 2013, 2:30PM

“You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course,” the president concluded. “You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time.”

Topics: History, /NOW Blog, Politics

Colorlines Needs Your Help Changing the News

by Kai Wright on December 28 2012, 11:54AM

We strive to both keep up with the fast-moving news cycle and alter its focus. That’s hard work—and it costs a lot of money. We need your help staying on the beat.

Topics: /NOW Blog

Breaking News: Colorlines Believes in Racial Justice (Or, Why the Right’s Scared of Us)

by Kai Wright on December 5 2012, 9:59AM

Our voting rights coverage has prompted some right wing muckraking on our publisher. We’ll save them the effort: We’re proud to be part of a racial justice movement.

Topics: Kai Wright, Politics

Voter ID Confusion and Tea Party Poll ‘Monitoring’ in Pennsylvania

by Kai Wright on November 6 2012, 3:04PM

Election Protection watchers are hearing lots of reports about conflict over voter ID requirements at Pennsylvania polling sites.

Topics: 2012 Election, Voting Rights 2012, /NOW Blog

AP: Strong Turnout in New York and New Jersey Despite Sandy’s Chaos

by Kai Wright on November 6 2012, 11:29AM

But some troubling reports emerging about access, particularly in Pennsylvania.

Topics: 2012 Election, /NOW Blog, Politics

Anonymous Funder Pulls ‘Voter Fraud’ Billboards Rather Than Reveal Itself

by Kai Wright on October 22 2012, 11:54AM

After widespread outrage, Clear Channel finally invoked its policy against anonymous political ads.

Topics: Voting Rights 2012, /NOW Blog, Politics

LIVE CHAT: Colorlines.com Reporters on the Threat to Voting Rights in 2012

by Kai Wright on August 23 2012, 10:12AM

Watch—and join—a conversation about the 2012 elections and the growing rightwing attack on the right to vote.

Topics: 2012 Election, Voting Rights 2012, Politics

Romney: Israeli ‘Culture’ Makes It More Wealthy Than Palestine

by Kai Wright on July 30 2012, 10:09AM

Palestinians ask the obvious question about the presumptive GOP nominee’s analysis of poverty in the Middle East: “Isn’t this racism?”

Topics: Economy, Global Affairs, Kai Wright, /NOW Blog

Progress on Condom Use Among Youth Slows, Drops Among Black Teens

by Kai Wright on July 24 2012, 12:36PM

After a decade of squabbling over sex ed and access to condoms, a federal health study shows a trend line suddenly inching in the wrong direction.

Topics: Health, Kai Wright, /NOW Blog

AARP: Black and Latino Seniors Losing Homes at Twice the Rate of Peers

by Kai Wright on July 19 2012, 1:28PM

An AARP poll shows 16 percent of borrowers over 50 are underwater, and that black and Latino homeowners are the hardest hit.

Topics: Economy, Kai Wright, /NOW Blog

What’s in Your Wallet? Capitol One’s Predatory Lending, Apparently

by Kai Wright on July 19 2012, 12:05PM

Capitol One Bank has deceptively sold needless add-on products to credit card holders who are unemployed or have poor credit, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Topics: Economy, Kai Wright, /NOW Blog

Wells Fargo Settles for $175M Over Steering Blacks and Latinos to Subprime Loans

by Kai Wright on July 12 2012, 12:38PM

The bank has been a standout bad actor, both during the subprime lending boom and during the recession that it created.

Topics: Economy, Kai Wright, /NOW Blog

What Today’s Ruling Means for the Health of People of Color

by Kai Wright on June 28 2012, 10:39AM

The conversation about health care reform has been steadfastly colorblind from the start. But to the degree we’re talking about the uninsured, we’re talking in starkly racial terms.

Topics: Health, Kai Wright, /NOW Blog

Supreme Court’s Arizona Ruling Hurts the Economy, as Well as People

by Kai Wright on June 25 2012, 11:49AM

The longer we go without creating sane immigration policy, the longer we rob the economy of $150 billion in economic activity a year, says Imara Jones.

Topics: Economy, Immigration, /NOW Blog

Wanna Help Make New York City a Just Town? Here’s How

by Kai Wright on April 25 2012, 8:45AM

Colorlines.com editor Kai Wright will join a remarkable celebration of grassroots organizing on May 8—and he’s asking the Colorines community to help him support that vital work.

Topics: Kai Wright

Is ALEC on the Ropes? As Companies Flee, Critics Target IRS

by Kai Wright on April 23 2012, 11:37AM

Another bad day for the secretive conservative group that’s spread pro-corporate and Tea Party-style legislation around the country. Common Cause challenges its tax exempt status.

Topics: /NOW Blog, Politics, Schools & Youth

Taxes, Poverty and Predatory Lending—a Knot That’s Finally Unraveling

by Kai Wright on April 18 2012, 9:25AM

Throughout the so-called boom years, poverty was good business for tax preparers and the banks that financed their deceptive “refund anticipation loans.” That shady market is finally collapsing, but have banking regulators learned anything from it?

Topics: Economy, Kai Wright

Kai Wright

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