COLORLINES - Kai Wright

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.

An Interactive History of Arizona's March to SB 1070

An Interactive History of Arizona’s March to SB 1070

by Kai Wright on July 27 2010, 12:19PM

The law was neither a sudden development nor an organic one.

Topics: Immigration, Kai Wright

Preach On It, Rachel Maddow

Preach On It, Rachel Maddow

by Kai Wright on July 23 2010, 11:08AM

Her must-watch riff on how Fox creates race-fright media moments.

Topics: Kai Wright, Shirley Sherrod

Obama: Sherrod Debacle is Media's Fault, Not Mine

Obama: Sherrod Debacle is Media’s Fault, Not Mine

by Kai Wright on July 23 2010, 10:04AM

Never mind the fact that it was his administration, not the media who fired her.

Topics: Kai Wright, Politics, Shirley Sherrod

What's Really Killing Black People?

What’s Really Killing Black People?

by Kai Wright on July 22 2010, 2:44PM

ColorLines commenter Victor points to a troublingly long list of things.

Topics: Health, Kai Wright

Weighing SB 1070s Constitutionality

Weighing SB 1070s Constitutionality

by Kai Wright on July 22 2010, 12:52PM

DOJ asks for an injunction today. Check out our exploration of the larger legal fight.

Topics: Kai Wright

Shirley Sherrod Offers to School Obama on Race

Shirley Sherrod Offers to School Obama on Race

by Kai Wright on July 22 2010, 10:12AM

Sherrod has plenty to say about the administration’s real race challenges.

Topics: Kai Wright, Media, Shirley Sherrod

Jobless Claims Go Up As Sanity Stays Down

Jobless Claims Go Up As Sanity Stays Down

by Kai Wright on July 22 2010, 9:29AM

The unemployment line grows as Washington limps toward restoring benefits.

Topics: Economy, Kai Wright

Three Stories We Could Obsess Over Instead of Shirley Sherrod's Ordeal

Three Stories We Could Obsess Over Instead of Shirley Sherrod’s Ordeal

by Kai Wright on July 21 2010, 6:02PM

Since everybody wants to talk about racism, here are a few ideas.

Topics: Kai Wright, Media, Shirley Sherrod

HIV in Poor U.S. Neighborhoods as Intense as Developing World

HIV in Poor U.S. Neighborhoods as Intense as Developing World

by Kai Wright on July 19 2010, 11:21AM

But neither HIV nor the poverty to which it’s tied is evenly distributed between races.

Topics: Health, Kai Wright

NAACP, Tea Party's Racism and Lost Perspective

NAACP, Tea Party’s Racism and Lost Perspective

by Kai Wright on July 16 2010, 5:06PM

Challenging Tea Party racism: Good. Making it the race story: Bad.

Topics: Kai Wright

The Line Between Involuntary and Voluntary Manslaughter

The Line Between Involuntary and Voluntary Manslaughter

by Kai Wright on July 15 2010, 6:19PM

More clarity on the ruling in Johannes Mesherle’s killing of Oscar Grant.

Topics: Kai Wright

The Truth About the

The Truth About the “Down Low” and HIV

by Kai Wright on July 15 2010, 4:46PM

Researchers have in fact directly addressed this question and there’s no proof they are driving the epidemic.

Topics: Kai Wright

Stop the Presses: NAACP Says Tea Party's Got Race Issues

Stop the Presses: NAACP Says Tea Party’s Got Race Issues

by Kai Wright on July 14 2010, 11:11AM

Really? There seems no better way for the group to invite debates about its relevance.

Topics: Kai Wright

Obama Makes Good on HIV/AIDS Promise

Obama Makes Good on HIV/AIDS Promise

by Kai Wright on July 13 2010, 3:50PM

The White House released the nation’s first coordinated strategy for fighting the domestic epidemic.

Topics: Kai Wright

Profiling's Still the Routine for Brooklyn's Black Men

Profiling’s Still the Routine for Brooklyn’s Black Men

by Kai Wright on July 12 2010, 3:14PM

NYT investigation finds 52,000 stop-and-frisks in four years in one neighborhood.

Topics: Criminal Justice, Kai Wright

Holder: Race Still in Play for SB 1070 Lawsuit

Holder: Race Still in Play for SB 1070 Lawsuit

by Kai Wright on July 12 2010, 10:13AM

Attorney general tells CBS the feds are ready to sue for profiling, if the law ever gets enforced.

Topics: Kai Wright

Don't Call It a Raid

Don’t Call It a Raid

by Kai Wright on July 11 2010, 12:28PM

Another disappointment from the politics of hope: “Silent raids” as immigration reform.

Topics: Kai Wright

Making Sense of the Mehserle Verdict

Making Sense of the Mehserle Verdict

by Kai Wright on July 8 2010, 8:48PM

How’d we get to involuntary manslaughter?

Topics: Kai Wright

Queer Blogger Roundtable: What's the Future?

Queer Blogger Roundtable: What’s the Future?

by Kai Wright on June 29 2010, 1:04PM

A virtual panel discussion on the community’s future, Obama’s politics, hypocrite pastors, rent boys, Tyler Perry and more.

Topics: Gender & Sexuality

Kagan Hearings: Thurgood Marshall Goes on Trial

Kagan Hearings: Thurgood Marshall Goes on Trial

by Kai Wright on June 29 2010, 12:02PM

Reports from Elena Kagan’s Senate confirmation hearings.

Topics: Elena Kagan