Jelani Cobb

Cover of James Q Whitman’s “Hitler’s American Novel”

Not necessarily the “best” summer reread, but an important one. Reading for first time in a few years for research. @jelaniya.bsky.social @clintsmithiii.bsky.social

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I bomb atomically…

Savage.

“The fundamental civic unit in this nation in ‘neighbor.’”

What a powerful historical insight from @jelaniya.bsky.social on the mystical power of proximity — to transcend political noise, and even sometimes smooth the deep neural grooves of race and caste.

I was at the game. I thought it went perfectly. #LGM

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it’s absurd that NYT forced him to delete these skeets, which … convey the factual information that Zohran Mamdani is, in fact, a man of South Asian descent who was born and raised in Africa, and that the pseudonymous source of the hacked material is a white supremacist eugenicist.

Some people get into journalism because they’re skeptical of power, and others do so because they’re impressed by it. Moments like this are clarifying with respect to who’s who.

@jelaniya.bsky.social on historic parallels to the reaction to ICE raids:


"My students are like, 'Oh, so these people who came out against the Fugitive Slave Act were all abolitionists?' I said, 'No, these were people who could not countenance the idea of their neighbors being taken from them.'"

“The fundamental civic unit in this nation is neighbor.” - @jelaniya.bsky.social 🇺🇸

Lessons of Later-in-Life Fatherhood Being an older parent, just like my dad.

Such a lovely reflection on older fatherhood by @jelaniya.bsky.social. The Old Man www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Lessons of Later-in-Life Fatherhood Being an older parent, just like my dad.

@jelaniya.bsky.social‬ reflects on becoming a parent at 47 and the rising average age of first-time American dads, a trend aided in part by growing gender equality, I.V.F. treatments, and other factors.

I think they call their parents old no matter what age you have them at. 😂

Lessons of Later-in-Life Fatherhood Being an older parent, just like my dad.

Ahead of Father’s Day I wrote about being the child of an older father and the older father of children for the New Yorker. Happy Father’s Day!

www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

I remember the first time Ananda and I met at Howard. Such a bright light. Condolences to her fam and all the HU fam who knew and loved her.

CJS is shaping journalism across continents:

🎥 "Gig Workers Rising," by alumni/faculty wins
Telly Awards
🇮🇳 Assoc. Dean Anusha Shrivastava tours newsrooms, meets new students
🎤 Dean @jelaniya.bsky.social delivered the Reuters Memorial Lecture at Oxford

More: journalism.columbia.edu/news/faculty...

@jelaniya.bsky.social, today's thread features your great recent @newyorker.com column. Would you be able to share to get all this scholarship to your followers? Thanks!

bsky.app/profile/amer...

Ryan Coogler on “Sinners” Podcast Episode · The New Yorker Radio Hour · 04/15/2025 · 22m

@jelaniya.bsky.social has been a friend for 25+ years, so I always root for him. But special kudos for this interview with #RyanCoogler in which we are allowed into the circle of Black male trust as the director shows emotional appreciation for mentor #SpikeLee podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t....

A Tumultuous Spring Semester Finally Comes to a Close The biggest mistake that some universities have made is to presume that the White House is operating in good faith. It is not.

"I’ve studied McCarthyism’s impact on higher education for fifty years,” Ellen Schrecker said. “What’s happening now is worse.” @jelaniya.bsky.social via @newyorker.com

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

A Tumultuous Spring Semester Finally Comes to a Close The biggest mistake that some universities have made is to presume that the White House is operating in good faith. It is not.

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

@jelaniya.bsky.social congrats on being named Humanists of the year

@jelaniya.bsky.social congratulations on being named Humanist of the Year! Well deserving!

Plus: @texasmonthly.bsky.social comes to TV, @jelaniya.bsky.social tells a superhero origin story, and @mallarytenore.bsky.social on writing about family.

What are you even talking about? Grace was a gatdamn hero.

Ryan Coogler’s Road to “Sinners” The film represents a departure for the “Black Panther” director, and a creative risk; it grapples with ideas about music, race, family, religion—and vampires.

Loved this Ryan Coogler profile by @jelaniya.bsky.social — and it made me miss Oakland and taking the kids to the Grand Lake Theater.

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

#longreads

Ryan Coogler’s Road to “Sinners” The film represents a departure for the “Black Panther” director, and a creative risk; it grapples with ideas about music, race, family, religion—and vampires.

Ryan Coogler and I passed in a hallway at NBC the week Fruitvale Station came out. Twelve years later I had the good fortune to write this profile of him and delve into his perspectives on music, religion, history and where Sinners came from: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Thrilled to spend some time talking with Ryan Coogler about race, history, music and the amazing Sinners.

Ryan Coogler on “Sinners” The director talks with the staff writer Jelani Cobb about his influences and mentors, and how he made a vampire story “uniquely personal.”

www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-...