New here? The Evening Edition lifts headlines from today’s Morning Edition Liberty Blackout Brief and explains why they matter. Expect a short commentary in the Xplisset voice, with the lens on Black communities and the public interest.
Lincoln University should have been drumlines and barbecue smoke and aunties pressing ten-dollar bills into palms. Instead, Homecoming ended in sirens. One person dead. Six wounded. A yard built for joy carried the weight of another vigil. Classes paused. Counselors called. Students texting, “You good?” over and over like a liturgy. A campus gathers its breath and chooses to show up again, because showing up is how we keep each other alive.
Across New York City, Zohran Mamdani stepped to a mosque doorway and chose to show up too. He named the slurs. He named the fear. He named his faith. A frontrunner for mayor stood before West African aunties and kids in fresh sneakers and said, I belong here, we belong here, this city is ours to steward. The smears keep coming. The echo keeps answering. A people who have buried enough dear ones do not mistake courage for theater. They hear the timbre of a spine when a man speaks from it.
Here is the pattern. Black spaces of learning and prayer carry burdens that others never see. Headlines flatten what community remembers in detail. A quad becomes a crime scene in a sentence or two. A mosque becomes a campaign prop in a chyron. So we refuse the flattening. We say the full name of the school. We say the full name of the candidate. We honor the mothers who still bring foil pans to fellowship halls. We honor the students who still paint banners for the step show. We honor the aunties who still save seats in the second pew.
Church truth time. Keep watch. Keep witness. Keep working. Keep singing. Keep the cameras on, the questions sharp, the neighbor close. Safety grows where presence is stubborn. Dignity grows where lies get met with daylight. Democracy grows where people stand in their place and claim it without apology.
Keep the candles lit, keep the doors open, keep the watch. If this brief helped you see the day more clearly, cast a vote for independent reporting with a paid subscription, $8/month or $80/year.
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"Black spaces of learning and prayer carry burdens that others never see. Headlines flatten what community remembers in detail. A quad becomes a crime scene in a sentence or two. A mosque becomes a campaign prop in a chyron."
I unabashedly love this newsletter. Xplisset is indeed one of the Voices of America, the kind of voice that so often goes unheard. He helps those of us who do not share these experiences understand them better. And the writing is superb.
Keep doing what you do best my friend. This is a fine thing that you do. Shine a bright light and erase the darkness of indifference.