Rahawa Haile
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rahawahaile.bsky.social
Rahawa Haile
@rahawahaile.bsky.social
7.2K followers 700 following 680 posts
Eritrean American writer from Miami. Books, housing, immigration, climate. Probably thinking about sound. @coyotemedia.org co-founder.

📚 In Open Country forthcoming

Oakland, CA | she/her
www.rahawahaile.com
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rahawahaile.bsky.social
Reposting with alt text because yeah, I remember the discourse around what Black voters would and wouldn’t go for
A screenshot of results from the NYC mayoral election broken down by race across precincts: —Cuomo +14 for mostly white residents went for —Mamdani +4 for mostly Asian residents —Mamdani + 26 for mostly Black residents —Mamdani +20 for mostly Hispanic residents Source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/11/04/us/elections/results-new-york-city-mayor.html
November 5, 2025 at 5:03 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
Bumping this essay for the weekend crowd.
A screenshot from the quote posted article that reads: “A month later, some questions remain. Namely, what is so monstrous about monster trucks in 2025? I have seen Cronenberg’s Crash, and Titane, and all manner of weird things happening to and around vehicles in media. Monstrous wasn’t seeing grinning kids standing in front of 66-inch tires at Monster Jam; monstrous was realizing the front hood height of the Ford F-250 parked on the street was just 11” shorter. Was my closest comparison for Freestyle Mania actually the Roman Colosseum? Had I come for the acrobatic feats as much as the fiberglass gore? It left me distraught, this suspicion: that someone who hated trucks might have found an outlet for gleeful destruction among them.”
November 1, 2025 at 5:08 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
Casually sneaking short stories into COYOTE's newsroom like
www.coyotemedia.org/more-teeth-t...
A frame from the film Phantom Thread (2017) where a woman smiles while watching her husband eat the slightly poisoned meal she's cooked for him
October 29, 2025 at 5:21 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
I know the dude behind the AP’s overcrowded refugee boat NFT from 2022 must be fuming.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Screenshot of an article in The Guardian with the headline “‘Profiting off suffering’: AP cancels sale of migrant boat NFT amid backlash” from February 2022
July 10, 2025 at 4:25 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
“You’ll be visited by three spirits.”

The three spirits:
Left to right: Courtney B. Vance, Whitney Houston, and Denzel Washington pictured chest up in a promo for The Preacher’s Wife (1996)
December 24, 2024 at 11:32 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
I was off the grid near Big Sur last week and missed Nikki Giovanni’s passing. Having some quiet feelings about it and some too loud to post.
A view of the Pacific Ocean from a coastal bluff in Big Sur. Feathery pampas grass can be seen in the foreground.
December 16, 2024 at 5:48 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
It’s difficult to revisit the statement of sanctions by the US against Ethiopia during the Genocide in Tigray without wanting to scream.
www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-roo...
A screenshot from the US State Department’s declaration of sanctions on Ethiopia on September 17th, 2021 that reads “The United States has imposed defense trade restrictions for exports to Ethiopia amid the ongoing conflict and reported human rights abuses. The United States urges other countries to implement similar measures to stop the flow of weapons to any parties to the conflict and support a negotiated ceasefire.”
December 6, 2024 at 8:24 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
The fact that Miami Democrats on the County Commission could have blocked this and chose not to is incomprehensible to me. What cowards. www.miamiherald.com/news/local/c...
A Miami Herald article published today with the headline “Miami-Dade County approves Donald J. Trump Avenue, with help from Democrats” A screenshot from the linked article that reads: “Miami-Dade will honor President-elect Donald J. Trump by adding his name to an avenue in Hialeah, a tribute that Democratic members of the county board declined to block. The County Commission voted 9 to 1 on Tuesday to approve Hialeah’s request for county recognition of the city adding Trump’s name to Palm Avenue. Democrats on the County Commission could have blocked Tuesday’s approval because Democratic commissioners hold seven of the officially nonpartisan board’s 13 seats. But only one chose to vote against: Marleine Bastien, a Haitian American who represents areas in northern Miami and nearby communities.”
December 3, 2024 at 9:46 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
Reposting with alt-text.
In my experience, this second point is the one that usually surprises people most: the idea that “affordable units” could have a time limit on their affordability. What’s more, the third point below echoes what tenant advocates have been saying for years.
A bar chart showing “Ownership Type of Federally Assisted Homes by Start Year” per decade starting in 1950. The four categories are “Public Entity or Nonprofit,” “For Profit,” “Multiple,” and “Don’t Know.” Notably, the percentage of “Public Entity” ownership has gone down from 93% to 16% while “For Profit” has risen from 4% to 57%. Source: NHPD January 2024 Note: Construction date is not available for all subsidy programs, so it is estimated using the earliest subsidy start, occupancy, or construction date. An alarming graph showing “Federally Assisted Homes Reaching the End of Their Affordability Restrictions by Year” between 2024 and 2033. Briefly, the number of units set to “age out” of affordability each year will increase by more than an order of magnitude between now and then, rising from 80,534 to 906,298. Source: NHPD January 2024. Figure 8: “Number and Percent of LIHTC Units Funded to Preserve Federally Assisted Homes” A chart displaying that the percentage of units funded for preservation was consistently higher than the number of units preserved between the years 2011 and 2024. Source: NHPD January 2024; HUD LIHTC Database 2024 Note: Years in the figure indicate when tax credit units were most recently placed in service.
December 3, 2024 at 6:15 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
Girl, same.
A frame from the video game 1000xResist. A character named Healer stands with her back to us while wearing a pink dress. Her arms are crossed over her chest. The caption above her reads “Why do I have to work everyday (sic) in fear….”
December 1, 2024 at 7:10 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
I’m playing 1000xResist tonight to close out a very long month.
A frame from the video game 1000xResist. A woman with blue hair has her back turned to us as she gazes out a window to watch the rain at night from an apartment terrace. Her name is Bang Bang Fire and her dialogue reads “I find myself drawn toward webs of melancholy with this rain.”
December 1, 2024 at 1:13 AM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
Seeing these two posts circulate widely over the past 24 hours marks the first time I’ve felt something like hope for this app.
A post by Osita Nwanevu from yesterday that reads “Just insane that the left treated the tech industry with increasing hostility just because they undermined organized labor, flouted the regulatory state, and bragged that they were going to get rid of everybody's jobs for a decade straight.” A post by Adam H Johnson from yesterday that reads “How do we have 800 of these articles and none contend with the fundamental issue which is rich liberals don't want to fund left media, they want to fund liberal media which is bloodless and partisan, by definition. GOP courts its extremes, liberals discipline theirs.” Below it is a link to a New York Times article with the headline “Republicans Built an Ecosystem of Influencers. Some Democrats Want One, Too.”
November 30, 2024 at 6:30 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
Listen, it’s been two decades of me turning into this dude whenever “At Least That’s What You Said” starts playing. None of us is safe.
A frame from the TV series Atlanta showing a black man in a button-up shirt seated at a dinner table. His hands are folded and his expression is sincere. The caption below him reads “I’m a 35-year-old white man.”
November 28, 2024 at 8:25 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
Revisiting Kentucky Route Zero and having feelings about extractive capitalism in Appalachia for the umpteenth time. Would love to hear what video games are on people’s minds/consoles these days. #blackskygamers
Photo of an eerie scene from Kentucky Route Zero, Act IV. In the lower half, two animated figures are on a boat at night with their backs to the camera. Their flashlight has landed on a sign above a tribute to dead miners whose helmets float around it. The top half of the screen displays the content of the sign which reads “WE CLAIM THESE HELMETS IN THE NAMES OF THE FOLKS WHO WORE THEM AND WE PLACE THEM HERE IN THEIR MEMORY BUT ALSO AS A SPIT IN THE GREEDY GREEN EYE OF THAT POWER COMPANY WHO BOUGHT UP OUR OLD MINE AND TRADED OUR BROTHERS' AND SISTERS' SAFETY FOR A LITTLE MORE YIELD BUT ONLY YIELDED TWENTY-EIGHT GOOD MEN AND WOMEN DEAD WHEN THE WALLS COLLAPSED AND THE TUNNELS FILLED WITH WATER”
November 17, 2024 at 2:54 AM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
It mostly flew under the radar, but Morgan Parker’s You Get What You Pay For is truly one of the best books of the year. I get that book coverage is either in the pits or siloed across two dozen Substacks at the moment. Really hoping Bluesky can change that. bookshop.org/p/books/you-...
A close-up of the cover to Morgan Parker’s essay collection “You Get What You Pay For.”
November 16, 2024 at 8:32 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
As a Floridian, seeing Laila Lalami write about this within the first 10 pages of Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America literally made me fist pump.
bookshop.org/p/books/cond...
An excerpt of Laila Lalami’s book Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America from pages 8 and 9. “As presidential candidate, Bush had courted the Arab and Muslim vote. He traveled to Dearborn, Michigan, which has a large Arab-American population, to meet with community leaders, and appointed an Arab-American lobbyist, Khaled Saffuri, as an adviser to his campaign. During one of his televised debates with Al Gore, Bush pledged to end racial profiling in encounters with law enforcement and to stop the use of secret evidence in immigration proceedings, both sensitive issues within the Arab and Muslim communities. At the First Union Center in Philadelphia, where the Republican National Convention was held that year, Bush invited Talat Othman, a Palestinian-American businessman, to deliver a Muslim bene-diction. This marked the first time that an Islamic prayer had been included in a major party's convention, a novelty that pundits highlighted during television coverage of the events. Bush's strategy ultimately paid off. He received more than 45,000 votes from various Muslim communities in Florida, a state he carried, thanks to the Supreme Court's interference in the recount, by just 537 votes. Notably, however, black Muslims remained unconvinced by Bush's claims that he was "a different kind of Republican"—a conservative who would rally "little armies of compassion" to address persistent social problems like drug abuse or teen pregnancy—and by wide margins chose Al Gore instead. The "Muslim vote" was not monolithic, it turned out. Black Muslims had a different perception of Bush than non-black Muslims, many of whom seemed either unaware or unconcerned about the racist flyers that were sent in support of his candidacy during the race for the Republican nomination in South Carolina. Openly pursued for the first time by a presidential candidate, and apparently persuaded by his campaign promises, Arab Muslims cast their ballots for him.”
November 16, 2024 at 4:42 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
It was FutureCat’s 10th adoptiversary this week. My heart, my deeply loved companion.
A tabby cat with green eyes lying comfortably on a black woman’s stomach as she attempts to read on a couch. The woman is beneath a yellow striped blanket; half of her face is visible on the right side of the photo.
November 15, 2024 at 11:55 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
Someone dressed up as the abandoned luxury tower in LA that was graffiti bombed. I repeat, someone dressed up as the abandoned luxury tower in LA that was graffiti bombed.
Screenshot of a TikTok taken at night centering someone’s Halloween costume. They are standing on a street dressed as one of the abandoned luxury towers in LA that were graffiti bombed earlier this year. Their shoes can be seen peeking out from below the costume, which otherwise encases their entire body.
November 1, 2024 at 9:09 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
Given the timing, the most important thing for new folks on Bluesky to know is that you can’t turn off reposts for individual people you follow, so prepare to spend these next weeks before the election staring at the mute button like this.
Wesley Snipes crying while pointing a gun meme
October 17, 2024 at 5:24 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
I've reached the stage of book editing where this is my entire life now.
A joke using The Evil Kermit meme. On the left, the back of the green muppet's head can be seen below the words "I need to cut my word count". Opposite him is his doppelgänger nemesis, dressed in a black hood like a Sith Lord from Star Wars, tempting Kermit to "Add a third footnote about the logging industry in 1830s Bangor, Maine"
June 10, 2024 at 11:26 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
I hope so? Apparently I looked like this a few minutes ago so we’re driving to Briones shortly to try our luck?
A frame from the film Hereditary where Toni Collette sits angrily with her arms crossed
May 11, 2024 at 3:55 AM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
Star Trek meme of a man in a visor with his hand out to say no in one frame and one of him pointing to say yes in the frame below. Next to the first is the text “A Pulitzer to NYT For Best International Reporting” and beside the one below is the text “A Peabody to Bisan and AJ+ for Gaza Coverage”
May 9, 2024 at 8:12 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
Given the recent violence against protestors at Columbia who occupied a green space, let me reiterate that UC Berkeley spent *millions* cordoning off People’s Park with double-stacked shipping containers and razor wire. www.berkeleyside.org/2024/02/28/u... (All photos from Berkeleyside)
Aerial view of People’s Park blocked by a perimeter of shipping containers Rows of police standing with batons in their hands while other police try to fence off the park A photo of police with their backs to the camera tearing down the community kitchen at People’s Park Protestors gathered at People’s Park. Several are standing on an excavator.
April 19, 2024 at 5:08 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
Spain agreeing to declare war on Britain in 1779 in support of the US colonists
The Anthony Adams rubbing hands meme, in which a black man in a yellow jacket peeks out from behind a tree while rubbing his hands in anticipation.
February 8, 2024 at 9:06 PM
rahawahaile.bsky.social
Perfect no notes more please
The cover of the novella Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls
February 5, 2024 at 10:42 PM