THE New York Times

Japan getting woke.

Opinion

The Real Story of the ‘Draft Riots’

In 1863, mobs of white New Yorkers terrorized Black people. The response has something to teach us.

By Elizabeth Mitchell

Ms. Mitchell is a journalist and the author of four nonfiction books, including “Lincoln’s Lie: A True Civil War Caper Through Fake News, Wall Street and the White House.”

Feb. 18, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET

The Essential Toni Morrison

By Veronica Chambers

Feb. 18, 2021

Looking to read one of her books? Let us help.

Opinion

Foreign Aid Is Having a Reckoning

The Black Lives Matter movement has given leaders from the Global South new traction for change.

By The Editorial Board

The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.

Feb. 13, 2021

Opinion

‘There’s No Natural Dignity in Work’

Punishing mothers for needing help cannot be the answer. A generous child allowance might be.

By Ezra Klein

Opinion Columnist

Feb. 18, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET

THE PROJECTIONIST

Dominique Fishback Gave Her Heart to ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’

Cast opposite Daniel Kaluuya, the actress was given a Black Panther love story that she had been manifesting for a really long time.

By Kyle Buchanan

Feb. 17, 2021

Black, Female and Carving Out Their Own Path in Country Music

Five singer-songwriters discuss the challenges of becoming the change they want to see in a famously homogeneous segment of the music industry.

By Sarah Rodman

Feb. 17, 2021

BOOKS OF THE TIMES

In ‘Liner Notes for the Revolution,’ a History of American Music With Black Women at Its Center

By Jennifer Szalai

Feb. 17, 2021

Father and Son Abducted in Mexico Are Allowed into the U.S.

A Honduran man and his young child were kidnapped for ransom while enrolled in a Trump program that forced thousands of asylum seekers to wait across the border. President Biden is slowly easing the restrictions.

By Miriam Jordan

Published Feb. 17, 2021

Updated Feb. 18, 2021, 9:39 a.m. ET

A father and son who were kidnapped while waiting in Mexico under a Trump-era policy that barred asylum seekers from entering the United States were allowed into the country on Wednesday. They were among the first to be admitted since the Biden administration announced last week that it would begin letting in some migrant families who had been kept out under the policy.

For Black Aides on Capitol Hill, Jan. 6 Brought Particular Trauma

Black congressional staff members said the attack brought back memories of how they had tried to avoid people they felt could be prone to racist violence — only to find them at their place of work.

By Luke Broadwater

Feb. 17, 2021

... Only a small percentage of congressional aides are Black. Since the attack, Mr. McKnight and others who were in nearby offices in the Capitol complex that day have been talking among themselves about how close the violence came to them, what it means to experience such a virulent expression of racism in what is supposed to be a citadel of liberty, and the suspicion they now feel toward other aides, members of Congress and random people they encounter as they go about their business on Capitol Hill.

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House Panel Debates Reparations

February 17, 2021

Lawmakers debated a bill on Wednesday that would establish a commission to study the persisting impacts of slavery and develop a proposal for remedies.

Host of ‘Reply All’ Podcast Steps Down After Accusations of Toxic Culture

The host, P.J. Vogt, and a senior reporter, Sruthi Pinnamaneni, each apologized after former colleagues accused them of working against union organizers and “multiple efforts to diversify.”

By Jenny Gross

Feb. 18, 2021

Updated 9:39 a.m. ET

P.J. Vogt, a host of the popular podcast “Reply All,” took a leave of absence on Wednesday after complaints from former colleagues that he and a senior reporter contributed to a toxic work environment and rallied against union efforts.

Mr. Vogt and the senior reporter, Sruthi Pinnamaneni, each apologized in statements on Twitter.

The allegations at Gimlet Media, which produces “Reply All,” came after the podcast released its second episode in a series about accounts of discrimination at the food magazine Bon Appétit’s popular video series. After George Floyd’s killing at the hands of the Minneapolis police last year, newsrooms and media organizations around the United States, including The New York Times, have grappled with accusations that they have not adequately addressed inequalities within their ranks.

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Opinion

America’s Brutal Racial History Is Written All Over Our Genes

Our country has struggled to reckon with the horrors of the past. Could DNA tests help?

By Libby Copeland

Ms. Copeland is the author of “The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Upending Who We Are.” She has written about the consumer genetics testing industry for the Washington Post, Time and Slate.

Feb. 16, 2021

Opinion

The Way Out of America’s Zero-Sum Thinking on Race and Wealth

The evidence shows we all lose when society’s overwhelmed by white resentment and win when we organize across our differences.

By Heather C. McGhee

Ms. McGhee is the author of “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together,” from which this essay is adapted.

Feb. 13, 2021

Opinion

The Book That Should Change How Progressives Talk About Race

Heather McGhee writes that racism increases economic inequality for everyone.

By Michelle Goldberg

Opinion Columnist

Feb. 19, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET

Imbolo Mbue Has Been Working Toward This Moment

Her novel, “How Beautiful We Were,” is a story about how people respond to environmental destruction. It was delayed by the pandemic and before that by the success of her previous book, “Behold the Dreamers.”

By Wadzanai Mhute

Feb. 19, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ET

CRITIC’S PICK

Black Grief, White Grievance: Artists Search for Racial Justice

An urgent show at the New Museum — both a monument to a resilient culture and a memorial to what’s lost through racism — will surely rank as one of the most important of 2021.

By Holland Cotter

Feb. 18, 2021

In the matter of racial justice, the United States has built up terrible karma over the centuries. And in the past four divisive years, the festering badness, in the form of white nationalism, has been there for all the world to see.

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