Qualified at the Intersection: From a Train Between London and Paris.

Today’s edition comes to you from a train heading from London to Paris. Doing this newsletter while traveling is a little tricky, but there is so much to say. When you’re out of the country, reading about the quick escalation and devolution of law feels even worse, not better. I’ll share more about this trip when I’m back, but today’s short version is about what I’ve been watching from abroad.

James Comey and Political Prosecution

James Comey is not a good man. Many don’t realize he is the man who prosecuted Martha Stewart. If you dig into that case, she should not have been prosecuted. Several men were involved, and Martha’s role and the role of her broker did not rise to that level. It was James Comey trying to make a name for himself, taking out one of the first women to have that kind of company on the stock exchange, and he destroyed much of her career.

This would become a pattern. I think he has an issue with strong women. His ill-timed and inappropriate investigation of Hillary Clinton gave us Donald Trump—first as candidate, then as president.

I have no pity or empathy for Comey. But the prosecution of James Comey by the U.S. government should concern all of us. It’s bigger than him. It signals we are at the stage of fascism in the United States where political enemies are persecuted on trumped-up charges. It will escalate. I fear they will try to bring Barack Obama into some sort of tribunal to delegitimize his presidency. We must be concerned not only about Comey but about who is next in line.

The Supreme Court and the End of Precedent

Another alarming sign: the Supreme Court is revisiting voting rights. Clarence Thomas has suggested that precedent should not bind the Court. Without precedent, we no longer have a rule of law. That opens the door to rolling back birthright citizenship, interracial marriage, women’s rights—everything.

If Democrats regain power, they must reconfigure the Supreme Court. There is no other way around it. We are in a danger zone.

Leverage Points and Sophisticated Action

I’ve spoken before about leverage points. Please stop with the hot takes like “How come Jimmy Kimmel can get his job back but 300,000 Black women can’t?” That’s childish. Different issues require different leverage points.

With Kimmel, people called Hulu and canceled Disney. That worked. If we want to address the industries from which those women were fired—beyond the federal government—we have to call those organizations. And one urgent action: mass resignations from SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management. Where is that call?

SHRM is platforming people and colluding with the administration to create hostile work environments for Black folks, women of color, and other people of color. We cannot allow this. SHRM should have tumbleweeds as members. If you’re not working on that, stop talking about Jimmy Kimmel.

Portland, Oregon, and the Antifa Narrative

I live in Portland, Oregon. The Trump administration has been trying to punish Portland for years—punish white people there for being too liberal. They want a confrontation where they can kill a protester.

At the ICE facility in Portland there were, on average, maybe 12–15 people sitting in lawn chairs. That did not require a police or military force. They wanted confrontation. The Proud Boys used to harass our city, but no one talks about that.

Antifa is not an organization like the Klan or neo-Nazis. It is a loose description of people who see themselves as anti-fascists—something that should be a good thing. But the administration uses the broad term “antifa” to label any of us as terrorists for protesting. Another sign we no longer live in a democracy.

A Note of Hope

These are my random thoughts on a train as I try to get this newsletter out. Tomorrow’s edition will hopefully be more coherent. But there are signs of hope. Last night I had a wonderful dinner with Black intellectuals in London representing the diaspora—attorneys, thinkers—people giving me a sense that there is still hope.

It’s going to take all of us working together. It’s going to take all of us pulling every leverage point. The beautiful thing about the Jimmy Kimmel situation is that people became alert and awake. Now that we’re alert and awake, we have to fight it out. There is no way around it.