Randal Maurice Jelks
@drjelks.bsky.social
Ruth N. Hall of African American and African Diaspora Studies, Indiana University. Award winning author, documentary producer, and thoughtful commentator
Reposted by Randal Maurice Jelks
I couldn’t leave Chicago without getting a cut from my old barber, Zariff!
December 11, 2025 at 11:56 PM
I couldn’t leave Chicago without getting a cut from my old barber, Zariff!
Reposted by Randal Maurice Jelks
BIG NEWS: A federal grand jury has AGAIN refused to indict NY AG Letitia James in the Eastern District of Virginia — this time in Alexandria.
This is just a week after the DOJ tried and failed to secure a grand jury indictment in Norfolk.
This is just a week after the DOJ tried and failed to secure a grand jury indictment in Norfolk.
December 11, 2025 at 8:33 PM
BIG NEWS: A federal grand jury has AGAIN refused to indict NY AG Letitia James in the Eastern District of Virginia — this time in Alexandria.
This is just a week after the DOJ tried and failed to secure a grand jury indictment in Norfolk.
This is just a week after the DOJ tried and failed to secure a grand jury indictment in Norfolk.
Technology is as much cultural as it is engineering. I first learned this as high school student walking through Jackson Park on the far Southside of Chicago going to the Museum… open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
Techniques of Democratic Inventiveness
R
open.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Technology is as much cultural as it is engineering. I first learned this as high school student walking through Jackson Park on the far Southside of Chicago going to the Museum… open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
Collectively to give thanks is one of the most humane things we all can do. Offering thanks goes beyond nationalistic myth-making of peaceful Indigenous people and Pilgrims eating turkey together.
open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
Howard Thurman's A Littany of Thanksgiving
On Being Thankful
open.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Collectively to give thanks is one of the most humane things we all can do. Offering thanks goes beyond nationalistic myth-making of peaceful Indigenous people and Pilgrims eating turkey together.
open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
I finally read former Vice-President Kamala Harris’s 107 Days. It is a riveting account of her presidential bid after President Joe Biden’s resignation due to his flubbed debate in Atlanta. open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
107 Days
Kamala Harris and the Future of the Democratic Party
open.substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:07 AM
I finally read former Vice-President Kamala Harris’s 107 Days. It is a riveting account of her presidential bid after President Joe Biden’s resignation due to his flubbed debate in Atlanta. open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
I keep trying to make my way around this expansive continent open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
Africa
Blacker Folk Around the Globe
open.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:41 PM
I keep trying to make my way around this expansive continent open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
Thinking through the future of Black politics open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
Last Tuesday Night Was Grand
What is the Future of Black Political Life?
open.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Thinking through the future of Black politics open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
Perilous times ask us to organize as an act of faith open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
Perilous times requires an Organizing Faith
“Visit of the Ku-Klux” by Frank Bellew (1872) depicts two members of the Ku Klux Klan entering an African American household and prepare to commit violence.
open.substack.com
October 24, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Perilous times ask us to organize as an act of faith open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
Join me! open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
The Struggle Before Us
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress!” Frederick Douglass offered with quintessential 19th century American optimism at the West India Emancipation Celebration in upstate New York in 1857. H...
open.substack.com
October 19, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Join me! open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
Checkout Notes from the Black Bottom open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
The United States is Not Exceptional
Slavery and the Making of Atlantic History
open.substack.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Checkout Notes from the Black Bottom open.substack.com/pub/randalma...
That sound that moment travel 🧳 well, Sly www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Sly Stone, Family Stone Architect Who Fused Funk, Rock, and Soul, Dead at 82
Sly Stone, the wildly inventive musician and head of Sly & the Family Stone who fused rock, funk and soul, has died at age 82.
www.rollingstone.com
June 9, 2025 at 11:38 PM
That sound that moment travel 🧳 well, Sly www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...
Religious pluralism and diversity are realities of the world that humans occupy www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Outrage after Republican representative disparages Sikh prayer in the US House
Mary Miller had first mistaken Giani Singh for a Muslim and said it was ‘deeply troubling’ he was allowed to lead prayer
www.theguardian.com
June 7, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Religious pluralism and diversity are realities of the world that humans occupy www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Lies, lies, and more lies www.currentaffairs.org/news/south-a...
South Africa’s “White Genocide” Is a Lie
The myth’s purpose is to make it seem dangerous to have Black people in control of the government.
www.currentaffairs.org
May 20, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Lies, lies, and more lies www.currentaffairs.org/news/south-a...
Hegseth does it again
April 20, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Hegseth does it again
Senator Booker l appreciate the filibuster speech! How are Senate Democrats organizing?Where’s your alternative policy speech?
April 14, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Senator Booker l appreciate the filibuster speech! How are Senate Democrats organizing?Where’s your alternative policy speech?
Reposted by Randal Maurice Jelks
NEW✨ Humans in Shackles: An Atlantic History of Slavery by @araujohistorian.bsky.social @howard.edu @uchicagopress.bsky.social.
#Review by Jodie Matthews.
#BlackHistoryMonth #BHM
#Review by Jodie Matthews.
#BlackHistoryMonth #BHM
Humans in Shackles: An Atlantic History of Slavery
Ana Lucia Araujo’s Humans in Shackles is a history of transatlantic slavery that decentres the US and English-speaking Caribbean islands, highlights Brazil’s understudied importance and…
buff.ly
February 6, 2025 at 12:56 PM
NEW✨ Humans in Shackles: An Atlantic History of Slavery by @araujohistorian.bsky.social @howard.edu @uchicagopress.bsky.social.
#Review by Jodie Matthews.
#BlackHistoryMonth #BHM
#Review by Jodie Matthews.
#BlackHistoryMonth #BHM
Black History Month celebrates the sons and daughters of Africa in the United States and throughout the Americas
February 4, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Black History Month celebrates the sons and daughters of Africa in the United States and throughout the Americas
My gratitude to Connecticut Public Radio’s #Disrupted for the timely interview regarding #letterstomartin please 👂🏿 in! www.ctpublic.org/show/disrupted
January 31, 2025 at 5:01 PM
My gratitude to Connecticut Public Radio’s #Disrupted for the timely interview regarding #letterstomartin please 👂🏿 in! www.ctpublic.org/show/disrupted
Reposted by Randal Maurice Jelks
PEN America responds to action taken today by the Department of Education dismissing complaints about book bans and referring to them as a “hoax”:
"All students deserve to see themselves and the world around them reflected in the books shelved within their public schools.“ pen.org/press-releas...
"All students deserve to see themselves and the world around them reflected in the books shelved within their public schools.“ pen.org/press-releas...
PEN America Criticizes "Alarming" and "Dismissive" Language on Book Bans by U.S. Education Department - PEN America
Kasey Meehan, director, Freedom to Read, at PEN America, said: "For over three years we have countered rhetoric that book bans occurring in public schools are a “hoax.” They are absolutely not. This k...
pen.org
January 24, 2025 at 10:21 PM
PEN America responds to action taken today by the Department of Education dismissing complaints about book bans and referring to them as a “hoax”:
"All students deserve to see themselves and the world around them reflected in the books shelved within their public schools.“ pen.org/press-releas...
"All students deserve to see themselves and the world around them reflected in the books shelved within their public schools.“ pen.org/press-releas...
Tacky’s War 1760 Jamaica, Haiti 1794-1801, German Coast 1811, NOLA and africasacountry.com/2025/01/when...
When Brazil’s African Muslims scared the world
Taking place 190 years ago, the Malê Revolt in Bahia, led by African Muslim slaves, shook Brazil's foundations and echoed global fears of a new Haiti.
africasacountry.com
January 24, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Tacky’s War 1760 Jamaica, Haiti 1794-1801, German Coast 1811, NOLA and africasacountry.com/2025/01/when...
Reposted by Randal Maurice Jelks
One of the CDC's weekly health publications was not published on its regular schedule, and some data about flu and vaccinations wasn't updated.
Under communications freeze, CDC updates some important health data but not others
One of the CDC's weekly health publications was not published on its regular schedule, and some data about flu and vaccinations wasn't updated.
www.npr.org
January 24, 2025 at 8:42 PM
One of the CDC's weekly health publications was not published on its regular schedule, and some data about flu and vaccinations wasn't updated.
Gaining democratic freedoms are a lengthy struggle l stated yesterday. It is the greater part of the #africanamericanlegacy in the #🇺🇸 USA. Organize locally, remember that the Montgomery Bus Boycott was a local one connected to local struggles everywhere! This continues to be our fight today!
January 22, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Gaining democratic freedoms are a lengthy struggle l stated yesterday. It is the greater part of the #africanamericanlegacy in the #🇺🇸 USA. Organize locally, remember that the Montgomery Bus Boycott was a local one connected to local struggles everywhere! This continues to be our fight today!
Biden posthumously pardons civil rights leader Marcus Garvey
January 20, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Biden posthumously pardons civil rights leader Marcus Garvey
Reposted by Randal Maurice Jelks
Eleven days after the Eaton Fire destroyed much of their community, residents converged in Altadena and Pasadena to find unity and offer support. via @laist.com
A different kind of Saturday for those emerging from the Eaton Fire
Eleven days after the Eaton Fire destroyed much of their community, residents converged in Altadena and Pasadena to find unity and offer support.
laist.com
January 18, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Eleven days after the Eaton Fire destroyed much of their community, residents converged in Altadena and Pasadena to find unity and offer support. via @laist.com
The destruction of Altadena reverberates across Black Los Angeles
January 18, 2025 at 12:56 AM
The destruction of Altadena reverberates across Black Los Angeles