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hakeemjefferson.bsky.social
Assistant professor of political science. I think about identity, stigma, race, and politics more than any normal person should. Lover of life. Pro-democracy. People should dance more. Not Hakeem Jeffries, the Minority Leader.
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REMINDER: Our TWO No Kings "We The People" events kick off tomorrow 2pm, with the Democracy Parade at the corner of Embarcadero and El Camino in Palo Alto. At the end of the parade, the "We the People" Democracy Fair begins in Rinconada Park. Register: indivisiblepaloaltoplus.org/no-kings-day

submitted 19 hours ago • 2 comments

Authoritarianism, plain and simple.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Honestly shocking to see this

submitted 2 days ago • 4 comments

BREAKING: Gov. Newsom is asking for a restraining order on Trump/Hegseth's use of the military in Los Angeles, saying they are preparing to go on immigration raids with ICE. He wants a ruling within two hours. "They must be stopped immediately." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

submitted 4 days ago • 99 comments

This is a violent, authoritarian government—willing to use state power to cause real material, psychological, and physical harm. It’s been doing so since the beginning. So no, I’m not shocked that its violence has led to more violence. If you want nonviolence, start by being less fucking violent.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

I'm moderating this panel on implications for the US Constitution. June 12 at 3pm PT/6pm ET, come through!

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Governor Newsom: "I have formally requested the Trump Administration rescind their unlawful deployment of troops ... and return them to my command. ... This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed." The letter:

submitted 5 days ago • 120 comments

Yglesias refuses to update his priors with data. It's lazy When the Garcia news broke, these people said that "raising the salience" of immigration would be bad for Dems. But addressing the issue decreased Trump's approval and support for deportations, in both experiments and observational data.

submitted 10 days ago • 45 comments

The child in this trustee’s scenario? Faculty. Who submitted their tenure files for consideration in accordance with the terms of their employment. Both sides have a responsibility in that contract, one to submit and one to review. I hope everyone really hears this.

submitted 10 days ago • 12 comments

"Because in moments like this, silence doesn’t protect us—it only emboldens those working to dismantle what we’ve [worked] so hard to build." THANK YOU, @hakeemjefferson.bsky.social.

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

Aradshar took my intro to American politics course in winter 2024, and I remember thinking in office hours: this is a special student. Smart, yes—but also grounded, confident, & mission-driven in a way that stood out, even here. What sad and tragic news this is. stanforddaily.com/2025/06/03/s...

submitted 11 days ago • 2 comments

“This is a difficult moment. But history is full of difficult moments. It’s full of those who showed courage. And it’s full of those who didn’t.”

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

I was honored to speak at @stanfordaaup.bsky.social's Rally to Defend Education and Research last Friday (May 30). You can watch my speech here: youtu.be/WLyH9JM8CF8 Grateful to Matt Schlege (‪@climatto.bsky.social‬) for sharing it on his channel. @aaup.bsky.social

submitted 11 days ago • 3 comments

Excited to see this new paper building on my work on respectability politics and Black attitudes toward social control—using my respectability measure to explore views on punishment & the justice system. Congrats to Alexander Goodwin & Tony Carey on the new paper! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

submitted 12 days ago • 2 comments

More hummingbird spa time. 🪶📷

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

🎊🎊 Congratulations to Dr. Walker! Her dissertation and book project, When Hard Work Isn’t Enough, examines Black American public opinion and the pursuit of the American Dream. @zoewithoutawhy.bsky.social with Vincent Hutchings, @nickvalentino.bsky.social, Robert Sellers, and Nancy Burns

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

Finally got around to reading this and highly recommend it—not just because my work on respectability politics is cited (as part of a broader set of good, useful descriptive research). Grateful to @dandekadt.bsky.social and @annagbusse.bsky.social for this piece. Add it to your reading list.

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

The Stanford community won’t back down from the fight for academic freedom. “You can’t stomp, you can’t stomp, you can’t stomp on me. We still have rights and we will fight for human dignity!”

submitted 15 days ago • 10 comments

I respond to AEI’s mischaracterization of three of my papers AND discuss the clear evidence that work requirements don’t increase work, but do reduce food assistance for households that need it.

submitted 15 days ago • 6 comments

In The Trouble of Color, I wrote about discovering my grandmother’s hair in Harvard’s Peabody Museum. It still haunts me. I salute Tamara Lanier who persisted in her quest to win control of her ancestor’s images from the same museum — and prevailed! www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/h...

submitted 16 days ago • 2 comments

So excited to have Hakeem as one of our speakers! Let's get fired up!

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

The federal district courts deserve our praise and thanks. They are slowing and often halting the march of MAGA fascism.

submitted 18 days ago • 56 comments

Stanford folks: I’ll be one of the speakers at the Rally to Defend Education and Research this Friday (May 30), 12–2 PM in White Plaza. If you care about academic freedom and the role of universities in a democracy, now’s the time to show up. Hope to see many of y’all there!

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

My lived experience has taught me a couple of these lessons but if you’re Black and you’re feeling any sort of imposter syndrome for being successful, this is gold. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

“Decades of political science research show that societies that are open & pluralistic, w/ high levels of both individual & political rights, are more prosperous, more peaceful & more effective than autocracies that are closed and stagnant.” Winners of poli sci top prize speak out.

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Covering these meetings in which the president pushed white supremacist conspiracy theories, told blatant lies, and engaged in other unseemly behavior like Real Housewives nonsense rather than international diplomacy travesties is certainly an editorial choice one could make

submitted 20 days ago • 11 comments

Tomorrow marks 5 years since George Floyd’s murder. I was skeptical then that protest and performative solidarity would lead to lasting change. I share some thoughts in this @washingtonpost.com piece, alongside others reflecting on the moment: wapo.st/43DsEgq

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

Tomorrow marks 5 years since George Floyd’s murder. I was skeptical then that protest and performative solidarity would lead to lasting change. I share some thoughts in this @washingtonpost.com piece, alongside others reflecting on the moment: wapo.st/43DsEgq

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

This. Precisely this.

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

Persisting in Hard Times 🗓️ June 3 | 🕒 3–4:30PM | 📍Stanford (Psych 420-041) Featuring: – Alison Kamhi (immigration lawyer) – Antonio López (poet & public servant) – DeCarol Davis (workers’ rights advocate) – Pam Karlan (constitutional law scholar) 🔗 Register: cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/events/persi...

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

Such a crucial point. Whenever someone says “democracy,” the first question we need to ask is: What kind of democracy, and for whom? Everyone, across the political spectrum, talks about defending “democracy” – but the MAGA Right obviously means something very different by that.

submitted 25 days ago • 8 comments

It’s really important to keep saying the obvious part out loud: this administration is advancing a white supremacist project that’s been long in the making. Their problem isn’t just with democracy. It’s with multiracial democracy, specifically.

submitted 26 days ago • 1 comment

The market economy for celebrity journalists is part of the problem. Book deals, TV spots, becoming a household name—it all rewards spectacle & the coverage of spectacle. Democratic erosion isn’t scandalous enough. If saving democracy requires a press that understands its role, we might not make it.

submitted 26 days ago • 1 comment

Yeah. This is such a classic Washington pundit-brain thing to think matters. It combines “the thing that is in the news now will matter in 3 years” with “swing voters really care about internal party score-settling and drama.”

submitted 26 days ago • 26 comments

New post! goodscience.substack.com/p/academic-c...

submitted 27 days ago • 2 comments

So good to have @dbgreenwald.bsky.social visit at Stanford! One thing I’ve always admired about Diana is that she does rigorous work without compromising her principles—and she brings a kind of moral clarity to her work that’s far too rare in this space. A real light in these very dark times.

submitted 28 days ago • 1 comment

How did we get here: Afrikaner Refugees edition. A 🧵 (backed up by research)

submitted 31 days ago • 4 comments

I know that we’ve had a month worth of further constitutional crises but Kilmar Abrego Garcia is still in custody in El Salvador and that central crisis is a continuing fact.

submitted 31 days ago • 28 comments

Amazing timing, though. Today’s lecture is about white identity politics and its implications for American democracy.

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

The black folks in academia (like Hakeem) have been so clear-eyed about Trump/Trumpism over these 10 years. Their “reward” for being prescient is GOP officials trying to ban their work and center-left pundits attacking anyone who reads them as too woke.

submitted 32 days ago • 4 comments

I couldn’t write a more eye-opening lecture on race and white identity politics than what this administration is offering in its differential treatment of Afrikaners versus every other refugee or immigrant group.

submitted 32 days ago • 1 comment