Jonathan W. Gray
@elmcitytree.blacksky.app
Professor at CUNY, scholar of Blackness, comics, music, & popular culture writ large, leftist & left handed. 🇰🇳 🇺🇸 🇵🇸 🏳️⚧️
I maintain the Blackademics feed, the scholarly side of #Blacksky
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:w4xbfzo7kqfes5zb7
Personal account
I maintain the Blackademics feed, the scholarly side of #Blacksky
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:w4xbfzo7kqfes5zb7
Personal account
Pinned
Updated the Blackademics starter pack again (!) to include Vincent Brown, Imani Perry, the Harare Review of Books and others. Stay tuned for more developments coming soon....
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life. Electric word, life. It means forever & that’s a mighty long time. But I’m here to tell you there’s something else - the afterworld. A world of never ending happiness. You can always see the sun, day or night.
November 23, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life. Electric word, life. It means forever & that’s a mighty long time. But I’m here to tell you there’s something else - the afterworld. A world of never ending happiness. You can always see the sun, day or night.
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
a VERY busy Tuesday ahead.
Quick reminder about this Tuesday's (12/2) Special Elections:
#TN07*
Atlanta, GA City Council & School Board
Roswell, GA Mayor*
Sandy Springs, GA Mayor
South Fulton, GA Mayor/City Council
Jersey City, NJ Mayor/City Council
Hoboken, NJ Mayor
*Races deemed 'flippable'
boltsmag.org/whats-on-the...
#TN07*
Atlanta, GA City Council & School Board
Roswell, GA Mayor*
Sandy Springs, GA Mayor
South Fulton, GA Mayor/City Council
Jersey City, NJ Mayor/City Council
Hoboken, NJ Mayor
*Races deemed 'flippable'
boltsmag.org/whats-on-the...
The 25 Elections to Watch This December - Bolts
On the heels of their sweeping wins in November, Democrats have opportunities to gain further ground in December runoffs and special elections. They’re hoping for upsets in conservative territory, fro...
boltsmag.org
November 30, 2025 at 9:18 PM
a VERY busy Tuesday ahead.
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
Here's the link to my upcoming workshop: keithknight.bigcartel.com/product/keef...
November 27, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Here's the link to my upcoming workshop: keithknight.bigcartel.com/product/keef...
Just got back home after visiting family out of state. I’m so glad to live in this place.
How 200 New Yorkers Foiled an ICE Raid Before It Even Began
New Yorkers thwarted an ICE raid before it could begin. The incident highlights the challenges ICE will face in the city
www.yahoo.com
November 30, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Just got back home after visiting family out of state. I’m so glad to live in this place.
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
This. Is. Amazing. ✊
November 30, 2025 at 4:16 PM
This. Is. Amazing. ✊
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
I criticize all the time so credit where credit is due. Just state the plain, damning facts, without any euphemisms or both sides double speak. More please.
November 30, 2025 at 3:49 PM
I criticize all the time so credit where credit is due. Just state the plain, damning facts, without any euphemisms or both sides double speak. More please.
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
I think often of the time a bunch of murder victims’ families showed Trump treasured photos of their loved ones and he signed them
Q: Do you plan to attend Sarah's funeral?
TRUMP: I haven't thought about it yet, but it's certainly something I can conceive of. I love West Virginia. You know, I won West Virginia by one of the biggest margins of any president anywhere.
TRUMP: I haven't thought about it yet, but it's certainly something I can conceive of. I love West Virginia. You know, I won West Virginia by one of the biggest margins of any president anywhere.
November 28, 2025 at 2:50 AM
I think often of the time a bunch of murder victims’ families showed Trump treasured photos of their loved ones and he signed them
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
It is a long, proud, red-blooded American tradition:
Punch a nazi today.
Punch a nazi today.
November 28, 2025 at 2:24 AM
It is a long, proud, red-blooded American tradition:
Punch a nazi today.
Punch a nazi today.
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
Feel like Jack White is too big an act for the Detroit Lions Thanksgiving halftime show. This is typically the domain of the Mike Posners and Big Seans of the local music scene.
November 27, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Feel like Jack White is too big an act for the Detroit Lions Thanksgiving halftime show. This is typically the domain of the Mike Posners and Big Seans of the local music scene.
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
Today - and every day - is a good day to read Justice Stevens’ dissent in Heller v DC. The bonkers 5-4 decision that not only made it legal to carry firearms in DC but also declared that the first 13 words of 2A were “merely preferatory”. www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/0...
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA v. HELLER
www.law.cornell.edu
November 27, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Today - and every day - is a good day to read Justice Stevens’ dissent in Heller v DC. The bonkers 5-4 decision that not only made it legal to carry firearms in DC but also declared that the first 13 words of 2A were “merely preferatory”. www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/0...
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
It seems impossible that Alan Moore actually exists but I am thankful that he does—and for this incredible piece, which, this is the opening www.metropolitanreview.org/p/giant-of-t...
November 27, 2025 at 12:19 PM
It seems impossible that Alan Moore actually exists but I am thankful that he does—and for this incredible piece, which, this is the opening www.metropolitanreview.org/p/giant-of-t...
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
Buying new shoes after two very tough years was pure joy.
November 27, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Buying new shoes after two very tough years was pure joy.
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
Do not steal books, I beg. Borrow from a library. Libraries lend e-books!
November 24, 2025 at 5:31 AM
Do not steal books, I beg. Borrow from a library. Libraries lend e-books!
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
I feel much safer today knowing that we deported a Babson College student back to a country where she hasn't lived since childhood.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
A Babson College student wanted to surprise her family for Thanksgiving. She was deported instead. - The Boston Globe
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza was at Logan to catch a flight to Texas when immigration authorities detained her as she was about to board the plane.
www.bostonglobe.com
November 27, 2025 at 10:47 AM
I feel much safer today knowing that we deported a Babson College student back to a country where she hasn't lived since childhood.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
This really needs emphasizing. The entirety of the UK media ecosystem is utterly fixated on a 100% fabricated "crisis".
Net migration has fallen again to 204,000, the lowest level since 2021 and is forecast to continue falling over the coming years.
Not that you would know it from the endless coverage of Britain's supposed "immigration crisis"
Not that you would know it from the endless coverage of Britain's supposed "immigration crisis"
November 27, 2025 at 12:48 PM
This really needs emphasizing. The entirety of the UK media ecosystem is utterly fixated on a 100% fabricated "crisis".
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
I’ve been running around asking tech execs and academics if language was the same as intelligence for over a year now - and, well, it isn’t. @benjaminjriley.bsky.social explains how the bubble is built on ignoring cutting-edge research into the science of thought www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
November 25, 2025 at 1:54 PM
I’ve been running around asking tech execs and academics if language was the same as intelligence for over a year now - and, well, it isn’t. @benjaminjriley.bsky.social explains how the bubble is built on ignoring cutting-edge research into the science of thought www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
👀
I’ve been running around asking tech execs and academics if language was the same as intelligence for over a year now - and, well, it isn’t. @benjaminjriley.bsky.social explains how the bubble is built on ignoring cutting-edge research into the science of thought www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
November 25, 2025 at 5:23 PM
👀
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
2025 ed. of James Baldwin Review is out #Free
"One can speak of the fall of an empire at that moment when … no one anywhere aspires to the empire’s standards.
This is the charged dangerous moment when everything must be reexamined, must be made anew…" - J.B.
www.manchesterhive.com/view/journal...
"One can speak of the fall of an empire at that moment when … no one anywhere aspires to the empire’s standards.
This is the charged dangerous moment when everything must be reexamined, must be made anew…" - J.B.
www.manchesterhive.com/view/journal...
November 25, 2025 at 3:20 PM
2025 ed. of James Baldwin Review is out #Free
"One can speak of the fall of an empire at that moment when … no one anywhere aspires to the empire’s standards.
This is the charged dangerous moment when everything must be reexamined, must be made anew…" - J.B.
www.manchesterhive.com/view/journal...
"One can speak of the fall of an empire at that moment when … no one anywhere aspires to the empire’s standards.
This is the charged dangerous moment when everything must be reexamined, must be made anew…" - J.B.
www.manchesterhive.com/view/journal...
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
"We know that air and water belong to all mankind and not merely to industrialists." - James Baldwin, 1970.
(The year the US EPA was created.)
(The year the US EPA was created.)
Every paragraph is a banger. I’m so happy right now. Sometimes you find a piece of writing just when you need it.
November 25, 2025 at 8:23 AM
"We know that air and water belong to all mankind and not merely to industrialists." - James Baldwin, 1970.
(The year the US EPA was created.)
(The year the US EPA was created.)
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
Finally. My big 2800 word essay about One Battle After Another and its black women characters is live. www.vulture.com/article/blac...
Black Actresses Are Carrying One Battle After Another
Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti, and Regina Hall propel the film’s most conflicted ideas, for better and worse.
www.vulture.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Finally. My big 2800 word essay about One Battle After Another and its black women characters is live. www.vulture.com/article/blac...
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
Honored to serve on Mayor-elect @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social Transition Committee on Technology. For too long, too many New Yorkers have been left behind. NYC deserves governance that centers affordability, equity, and the public good-looking forward to the work ahead. www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...
NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announces transition committees
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced Monday the creation of 17 transition advisory committees made up of more than 400 people.
www.cbsnews.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Honored to serve on Mayor-elect @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social Transition Committee on Technology. For too long, too many New Yorkers have been left behind. NYC deserves governance that centers affordability, equity, and the public good-looking forward to the work ahead. www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
👀 Alex Vitale is a sociologist who wrote a very good book called The End of Policing.
I'm excited to announce that I have been asked to join the Mamdani Transition Team to work on community safety issues. A New Era for NYC.
November 24, 2025 at 9:45 PM
👀 Alex Vitale is a sociologist who wrote a very good book called The End of Policing.
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
So @alexvitale.bsky.social, who wrote THE END OF POLICING (which I cite heavily in my forthcoming book THE OVERSEER CLASS), has been tapped to join Mayor-Elect Mamdani’s Transition Team to work on “community safety issues.”
This is an extremely promising development.
This is an extremely promising development.
November 24, 2025 at 8:53 PM
So @alexvitale.bsky.social, who wrote THE END OF POLICING (which I cite heavily in my forthcoming book THE OVERSEER CLASS), has been tapped to join Mayor-Elect Mamdani’s Transition Team to work on “community safety issues.”
This is an extremely promising development.
This is an extremely promising development.
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
This is how I look when I see her, so I get it.
November 24, 2025 at 9:03 PM
This is how I look when I see her, so I get it.
Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray
1/2. After California passed a law to curb legacy and donor admissions at colleges and universities, Stanford decided to stop accepting funding from state student aid programs “in order to comply with recent California legislation.”
www.highereddive.com/news/stanfor...
www.highereddive.com/news/stanfor...
Stanford says no to state student aid, yes to legacy and donor admissions
The highly selective university will forgo California financial aid for students to circumvent a new law aimed at curbing the admissions practices.
www.highereddive.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:59 PM
1/2. After California passed a law to curb legacy and donor admissions at colleges and universities, Stanford decided to stop accepting funding from state student aid programs “in order to comply with recent California legislation.”
www.highereddive.com/news/stanfor...
www.highereddive.com/news/stanfor...