Kaila Philo on Muck Rack

Kaila Philo

(She/Her)
  • Social Media Manager, Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival
Washington, D.C.
As seen in: Medium, Yahoo News, Red Bull, The Atlantic, Noisey, POLITICO, Slate, Substack, VICE, Smithsonian Magazine and
Covers:  Race, law, history and culture.
Writer and researcher @AAPolicyForum // BK-born, DMV-bred 🇧🇧🇱🇨🪷 // 🗣️ (KAY-luh FEE-low)

Get in touch with Kaila

Contact Kaila, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.

Learn more about Muck Rack

Actions

Share this page

Kaila Philo’s Biography

Read Full Bio →

Kaila Philo is a writer based in Washington, D.C., focusing on cultural memory, race, law, history and power through research-driven storytelling.

Her writing has been published in Talking Points Memo, POLITICO, The Atlantic, The New Republic, Washington Monthly, Washingtonian Magazine, Vice News, The Appeal, Jewish Currents, The Baffler, The Fader, and more.

She’s been chosen as a 2025 Action Fund Fellow for the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Fund…

Kaila Philo’s Journalist Portfolio

See all →
No Breakthrough in Sight | Kaila Philo

No Breakthrough in Sight | Kaila Philo

On a cool spring day in April 1968, President Lyndon Johnson walked into the White House's East Room, where h…

View article →
Lawsuit Alleges What Victims Of DeSantis' Sham Election Crimes Force Suspected - They Were Pawns ...

Lawsuit Alleges What Victims Of DeSantis' Sham Election Crimes Force Suspected - They Were Pawns ...

As Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) readies his impending presidential run, he's built a brand largely off of former …

View article →
How A Rural California County Became A Petri Dish For the Big Lie

How A Rural California County Became A Petri Dish For the Big Lie

A deep red enclave in rural Northern California has recently seen the balance of its local governing body shi…

View article →
Plight of the Squeegee Kids | Kaila Philo

Plight of the Squeegee Kids | Kaila Philo

In 1982, political scientist James Q. Wilson and criminologist George Kelling published an essay in The Atlan…

View article →
A GOP Governor and BLM Activists Agreed on Restoring Voting Rights to Felons. Will It Last?

A GOP Governor and BLM Activists Agreed on Restoring Voting Rights to Felons. Will It Last?

But in reality, the story is more complicated, and the future of felon voting rights in Iowa remains uncertai…

View article →
How Reparations Went From the Fringe to the Headlines

How Reparations Went From the Fringe to the Headlines

Early incarnations of H.R. 3745 aimed to acknowledge the role U.S. government played in slavery and examine h…

View article →

Articles

How the Conservative Legal Movement Became Obsessed With Killing the Voting Rights Act

|
By Kaila Philo
| Balls & Strikes
On April 29, the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Louisiana v. Callais, stripping the Voting Rights Act of its remaining effectiveness. Callais stands beside the Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder and its 2021 decision in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee as watershed moments in the conservative legal movement’s efforts to rig elections in their favor.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

How Historically Black Schools Create and Preserve Their Own History Through Amazing Artifacts, From Paintings to Marching Band Hats

|
By Kaila Philo
| Smithsonian Magazine Verified
For nearly 200 years, HBCUs have educated Black Americans. Now, a new exhibition highlights special objects from five universities In February 1837, the African Institute was established in Cheyney, Pennsylvania, at the bequest of Quaker philanthropist Richard Humphreys.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Saving America’s First Black Incorporated Town

|
By Kaila Philo
| Preservation Magazine Verified
Brooklyn, Illinois isn’t famous. It’s a little-known small town east of the Mississippi River, spanning a modest 518 acres and bordering St. Louis, Missouri. As of 2025, the town’s population stood at around 650, and about a third of that population meets the federal definition for poverty. But Brooklyn, Illinois is also the first incorporated Black town in America.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?
See all 505 licensed articles (517 Total)

Interview

How is social media changing news?

Social media has both democratized the mic and proliferated disinformation campaigns.

When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?

At the yoga studio!
 •  Privacy  •  Terms  •  Security and Legal  •   •   •   • 

© 2026 Muck Rack

SOC 2® Certified