Allah supreme: how Pharoah Sanders found freedom and rebellion in Islam
The legendary jazz musician Pharoah Sanders left us in 2022, moving me to write this piece on the influence of Islam on …
Division Is America’s Natural State
Did the War on Terror, with its brazen contempt for existing institutions and established rule of law, launch the USA’s latest creep …
Journey to Guantánamo
I went to the American penal colony in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. I was there as a journalist, to cover pre-trial motion hearings …
America is steeped in violence. And the roots of that violence go deep
It’s not just about guns. I wrote this essay for The Guardian reflecting on how America’s obsessions with guns and violence terrifies …
The alleged Buffalo shooter was also inspired by Islamophobia. That’s telling
I wrote this essay for The Guardian on the shooting in Buffalo. Few may realize that the alleged shooter copied the manifesto …
The US government is deploying robot dogs to the Mexico border. Seriously?
As if the border isn’t surveilled and militarized enough, the Department of Homeland Security wants to go full Black Mirror. I wrote …
Can the K-pop boyband BTS … save the world?
I wrote this essay for The Guardian on the South Korean megastar boyband BTS. Their sunny pop-optimism and ‘Army’ of fans are …
Justice for Ahmaud Arbery
Recognizing that jury reached the right verdict – even as the criminal justice system did everything it could to exonerate the three …
About that new University of Austin and free speech…
For The Guardian, I wrote this essay, in which I congratulate Bari Weiss and the other founders of a brave new university, …
Men on horses chasing Black asylum seekers? Sadly, America has seen it before
Horrified by the images of Haitian asylum seekers being met violently by men on horses? I know I was. I wrote this …