Steven Thrasher
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Articles by Steven Thrasher
“We Live Inside the Sun.” Who Studies the Universe Changes How We See the Universe
Steven W. Thrasher on New Books by Alfredo Carpineti and Chanda Prescod-Weinstein On Wednesday, the small slice of humanity which is scattered across rural Russia, northern Spain, eastern Portugal, Iceland and Greenland will experience (and, if we’re lucky, actually see) a total eclipse of the Sun.
There’s a New Coalition in the Democratic Party—and the Price of Membership is Criticizing Israel
A little over a week ago, Brad Lander—fresh off his recent ousting of incumbent Dan Goldman as the Democratic Party candidate for New York’s 10th congressional district—endorsed Dr. Abdul El-Sayed for the upcoming August 4 primary to become the Democratic Party’s Senate candidate in Michigan.
When We Fight, We Win: Why I Am Suing Northwestern University—and the US Government
Steven W. Thrasher on the Fight For Academic Freedom Yesterday, I filed a lawsuit against Northwestern University and—in his official capacity as Chairman of the US House of Representatives House Committee on Education and the Article continues after advertisement Workforce—Michigan Congressman Tim Walberg.
The Elite ‘OK’ To Police Our Every Thought And Move
Above photo: Pro-Palestinian protestors set up camp at Northwestern University’s Deering Meadow in Evanston, Ill., on April 25, 2024. Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images. Adam Johnson joins Steven Thrasher to deconstruct the functions of liberalism. A theme deeply explored in each of their new books. Over the last year and a half, the United States under Donald Trump has seen a deluge of brutal, targeted repression.
The Elite 'OK' to Police Our Every Thought and Move
Over the last year and a half, the United States under Donald Trump has seen a deluge of brutal, targeted repression. The administration now has a long record of using Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to abduct and deport those fighting oppression, from union organizers in Washington to pro-Palestinian activists in New York.
Memoirs of a Black Cop: Reading Zohran Mamdani’s Newly Appointed Sheriff, Edwin Raymond
Last week, on May 29, New York City Mayor Mamdani fired New York Sheriff Anthony Miranda and appointed Edwin Raymond as his replacement. This caught my eye for a few reasons, the first being that Raymond is the author of a book called An Inconvenient Cop: My Fight to Change Policing in America.
Excerpt: In Defense of Uncle Tom
Excerpted from “The Overseer Class: A Manifesto.” Reprinted with the permission of the publisher, Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins. Copyrighted 2026 by Steven W. Thrasher. Available now where all books are sold. We encourage you to buy from Black-owned or independent bookstores.
On Copaganda, Pinkwashing, and the Time I Almost Became an NYPD Cop
When I told my mother in 2003 that I was going to apply to join the NYPD, she had three reactions: relief, shock, and fear. Relief because my father had recently died, I had zero job prospects of any kind (my film degree was meaningless, I had been rejected from teaching fellowships, and 5,000 cold resumes I had sent out were met almost entirely with silence), and at least someone was showing interest in hiring me.
On the US-Israeli Coalition’s Continued Acts of Scholasticide in the Middle East
Steven W. Thrasher Considers How the Threats of Empire Are Themselves Acts of Violence With the killing of 175 school girls, educators, and parents in Minab, Iran, the latest chapter of the US-Israeli war in the Middle East began with a cruel act of scholasticide—a term many of us were not familiar with before the US-Israel coalition began waging it against Palestinians in Gaza in 2023.
Giving Alice Wong Her Flowers
I met Alice five years ago, at the start of the hardest point in my life. My brother was sick and passed away months later. My parents became ill, and I was under the weight of that, as well as starting a new career in disability journalism advocacy. Alice reached out and welcomed me to the disability community. She supported me through my brother’s death and the chaos of grief afterward. She also taught me how to be in community. Alice is quintessential Generation X.
The Real Cancel Culture: NYU Has Put an End to Live Student Graduation Speeches
“The ruling class knows that if you give the smartest person in the room a microphone they’re probably going to say Free Palestine.” Though New York University contingent faculty’s ongoing strike is the biggest news of late from campus, the institution’s suspect labor practices aren’t the only recent damning headlines: NYU is also attempting to silence its students.
Más de un millón de personas desplazadas en el Líbano
Fuentes: Voces del Mundo [Foto: Personas desplazadas de los suburbios del sur de Beirut duermen en la Plaza de los Mártires, en el centro de Beirut, el 7 de marzo de 2026 (Bilal Hussein/AP)] Es por la mañana frente a la mezquita Mohammed Al-Amin, en el centro de Beirut, y bajo la gigantesca estatua de la media luna, una mujer con un hiyab blanco y un manchado vestido de flores llama a sus hijos. Grita el nombre de uno de ellos, Mohammed, cuando este está a punto de salir a la concurrida calle.
More Than 1 Million People in Lebanon Have Been Displaced. These Are Their Stories.
BEIRUT — It is morning outside Mohammed Al-Amin Mosque in downtown Beirut, and beneath the gigantic crescent moon statue, a woman in a white hijab and dirtied floral dress is calling for her children. She screams out the name of one of them, Mohammed, when he almost wanders into the busy street. Fatima, 45, fled the southern suburb of Bourj al-Barajneh with her family on March 2 when Israel bombarded the community as part of the broadening regional war.
Jesse Jackson Loved Us-Sometimes Before We Loved Ourselves
“Before they came for us, and woke, and us, and power, they came for Jesse Jackson,” Kiese Laymon, the author of Heavy and How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, wrote just hours after the news broke that Jesse Jackson had joined the ancestors. “And they came for Jesse Jackson because he loved us in word, deed and policy.” The “us” Rev. Jackson loved obviously included Black Americans first.
Jesse Jackson Loved Us-Sometimes Before We Loved Ourselves
“Before they came for us, and woke, and us, and power, they came for Jesse Jackson,” Kiese Laymon, the author of Heavy and How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, wrote just hours after the news broke that Jesse Jackson had joined the ancestors. “And they came for Jesse Jackson because he loved us in word, deed and policy.” The “us” Rev. Jackson loved obviously included Black Americans first.
From Gaza to Minneapolis We Are Still Being Told to Disbelieve Our Eyes
Steven W. Thrasher on the Western Establishment’s Deliberate Break From Reality Living outside of the United States, my social media feed from back home over the last three weeks has felt like it is primarily composed of highly analyzed snuff films. These analyses have been necessary because, across the political spectrum, politicians are often telling the public that they should not trust the videos they are seeing—nor should they trust the recent history which they can easily read.
A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness
Michael Pollan. Penguin Press, $32 (320p) ISBN 978-1-9848-8199-1 Journalist Pollan (This Is Your Mind on Plants) delivers an enlightening exploration of what is and isn’t known about consciousness. Noting that scientists have yet to arrive at a sturdy explanation of why “a world appears when you open your eyes,” Pollan takes readers through leading theories, shedding light on sentience, feeling, thought, and selfness.
On Renee Good, ICE, Zohran Mamdani, and the Politics of Domination vs. Vulnerability
Steven W. Thrasher Contemplates the Weakness at the Heart of ICE and the Politics of the Hard Right “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” Gun shots. “Fuckin’ bitch.” By now, you have likely heard Renee Good’s last words, said with great vulnerability to ICE agent Jonathan Ross, right before he shot her in the head and murdered her. Observed from outside the US, this ugly scene was one of two videos which best exemplified for me the span of politics in my home country at the dawn of 2026.
A Fate Worse Than Hell: American Prisoners of the Civil War
W. Fitzhugh Brundage. Norton, $38.99 (464p) ISBN 978-0-393-54109-0 Pulitzer finalist Brundage (Civilizing Torture) chronicles the excruciating suffering of the Civil War’s hundreds of thousands of POWs, as well as the political and legal ramifications of this unprecedented mass incarceration of Americans on U.S. soil. Drawing on voluminous first-person accounts, Brundage tells a story of human misery and political incompetence drifting toward indifference.
Why It’s a Good Thing Zohran Mamdani Can Never Become President
Zohran Mamdan is now either the 111th or 112th mayor of the great City of New York, depending on how you count. Either way, it’s great that he’s finally taking over the Big Apple. And it’s even better than he is doing so as someone who can never, ever be the President of the United States. Of course, most Americans will never be president: a scant 45 of the hundreds of millions of Americans who have ever lived have held the highest executive office.
Feeling Deep Sadness and Anger For Gaza
Steven W. Thrasher on the Enormity of the West’s Crimes I feel sad about Gaza. This is not a profound thought, nor an unusual one—especially in South Africa, where I’ve been working lately—or even a new thought for me. But it is an honest thought. I feel sad that after tens or even hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives, Palestine is still not free.
Trump Gutted AIDS Health Care at the Worst Possible Time
14 hours ago The wholesaler is the latest company to sue a federal agency over the president's signature economic policy. Costco Wholesale has sued the Trump administration, asking the Court of International Trade to consider all tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act …
Remembering Alice Wong: Writer, Advocate, Friend Original
Though we were in frequent conversation for a decade, I only got to meet my friend Alice Wong in person just once. And when I did, I was a bundle of nerves—and that was before she cussed me out within a minute of our first embrace. It was October 2022, and I had traveled to Alice’s home in San Francisco. By this time, Alice could no longer speak, as she’d undergone a tracheostomy a few months prior.
How Do We Tell the Story of Gaza’s Murdered Journalists?
Since October 2023, I have been closely following the most outstanding cohort of journalists in the world: the mighty but dwindling community of journalists in Gaza. For about a year, I attended protests every Saturday in Chicago, Washington, and later Athens (Greece, not Georgia). Throughout each week, I’d post photos of every journalist who’d been killed. I would then print out their photos and make a sign to carry in that Saturday’s march.
Our Reporter Got Into Gaza. He Witnessed a Famine of Israel’s Making. Original
It was Tuesday, June 10 when Khalil heard from neighbors that an aid truck had arrived a few kilometers from where he lived in Deir al Balah, Gaza. By then he had already lost about 45 pounds since the war began in 2023. With his brothers and a friend, Khalil set off on foot. On the walk over, the 26-year-old could hear intermittent shelling, but the promise of food, he felt, was worth the risk.
What ICE’s Assault on Ventura County California Means for the Rest of America
“Mom is gone. They took her away.” These are the words of an 8-year-old Mexican-American girl I will call Maria, in my hometown of Oxnard, California. She spoke them to her summer school teachers this past week, one of whom is a friend of mine.
Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander Have Shown Us a Way Forward
Steven W. Thrasher on What a Healthy Progressive Coalition Looks Like On Tuesday, voters in New York City’s Democratic primary selected a Muslim state legislator and a Jewish comptroller as their first and third respective choices for mayor. Both men have been critical of Israel and supportive of Palestinians to varying degrees.
Mahmoud Khalil, Zohran Mamdani, and the Politics of Vulnerability
Last Friday, June 20, after 104 days of unlawful incarceration, former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil was released from an ICE prison in Jena, Louisiana. Mahmoud returned to New York City, where he was reunited with his wife, Noor, and where he got to hold his infant son for the very first time. Noor had been pregnant when Mahmoud was kidnapped; his illegal detention robbed him of witnessing the birth of his child.
Urgent Lessons From a Heroic Early AIDS Doctor: On the Legacy of Joseph Sonnabend
Steven W. Thrasher Remembers One of the World’s First AIDS Doctors It’s not at every memorial where mourners are not just handed a program of the service, but also given a pamphlet on how to have safe gay sex in a time of disease. Then again, Joseph Sonnabend (1933-2021) was not just any doctor. Dr. Sonnabend—or “Joe” as most people eulogizing called him—is often referred to as one of the world’s first AIDS doctors.
Stenographers of Empire: Where is the Moral Courage in the American Media?
For Steven W. Thrasher the Absence of Solidarity Among American Journalists Has Made Donald Trump’s Job That Much Easier On February 25, the White House decreed it would decide which journalists have access to President Donald Trump in the press pool, a responsibility which for a century has been handled by the White House Correspondents Association.
Global HIV Care Thrown Into Chaos by Trump: “I Will Be Sick and Maybe Die”
When she saw the news on TikTok and CNN that the United States would halt funding HIV medication, Gwendolyn Dube, a 36-year-old single mother in South Africa who was diagnosed with AIDS as a child, thought to herself, “People are going to die.” In his first week back in office, President Donald Trump’s administration announced it would exit the World Health Organization and implemented, via an executive order on “Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid,” a 90-day pause on the...
Queer, HIV-Positive, and Running Out of Medication in Gaza
Life in Northern Gaza is precarious enough without having to worry about AIDS. Airstrikes and ground raids are a constant threat that keep people from leaving their homes to find food. “We have to conserve,” said E.S., a 27-year-old who lives with his mother and younger brother in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in southwest Gaza City. “People are fighting each other to get the aid boxes.” And then there’s the issue of medication.
Queer, HIV-Positive, and Running Out of Medication in Gaza
3 hours ago Moroccans reenact Israeli atrocities against Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital Moroccans in Tetouan protested Israel’s atrocities in Gaza by reenacting the attacks against Kamal Adwan hospital and the detention of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya. On 27 December 2024, Israeli forces stormed the hospital, forcibly evacuating patients and medical staff and arresting over 240 people, including the hospital’s director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya.
What If the Covid Safety Net Had Been a Starting Point For Change?
What if the pandemic safety net cobbled together in 2020 had been a new beginning? Article continues after advertisement What if when Joe Biden came into office in 2021, the Covid-19 safety net he was handed had become a new floor? What if that was his baseline—and the newly elected Democratic president, sold by his most ardent supporters as FDR 2.0, had used our Covid-19 response as the bare minimum of a new social contract with Americans?
A Letter Supporting Six Honorable Journalists in Northern Gaza
Steven W. Thrasher and Alice Wong in Support of the Palestinian Reporters Unjustly Targeted by Israel Dear Anas al-Sharif, Hossam Shabat, Ismael Abu Omar, Talal Arrouki, Ashraf Saraj and Alaa Salameh, This letter is written with gratitude for your honorable work. Journalists and readers around the world are grateful to you for your reporting from Northern Gaza.
In American Empire, You’re Either Invading or Being Invaded
Steven W. Thrasher on the Pernicious Narratives That Fuel the Status Quo Whether it’s via lies told about immigrants, the ongoing violence of borders, the justification of exploding pagers, the expansion of the Overton Window to include once nearly unimaginable horrors, racist myths of home invasion, or the cheerleading of colonization, our political conversations in western news media are saturated with narratives of invasion.
False Profits: Why I Am Not Teaching in the Classroom This Fall
Steven W. Thrasher on American Campus Crackdowns on Free Assembly This week, my colleagues at the Medill School of Journalism are returning to Northwestern University’s campuses in Chicago, Evanston, Qatar, and Washington to begin teaching and learning with our brilliant students for the fall term. Article continues after advertisement While I am still being paid and continuing with my research projects, I will sadly not be returning to the classroom with them.
Occupy Wall Street National Day of Action: Live Updates From Downtown Manhattan
Good afternoon, and welcome to the evening edition of the Village Voice liveblog of Occupy Wall Street’s Day of Action. Today, November 17, marks the two month anniversary since Occupy Wall Street began in Zuccotti Park. Protesters did not succeed in stopping or even delaying the New York Stock Exchange as they’d hoped to this morning, but it’s still been an eventful day all the same. We’ll be updating you through out the evening as the after work events begin.
Why American Journalists Should Be Outraged About the Dozens of Palestinian Journalists Jailed in Israel
I’ve noticed that many storied journalists at legacy publications who fancy themselves to be “objective” display a significant and obvious exception: they openly embrace the cause of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been held in Russia on charges of espionage for more than a year. Article continues below They are right to be visibly angry. Gershkovich’s detention is outrageous.
America’s Campus Witch Hunts Are Only the Second Worst Thing Happening to Professors Right Now
Steven W. Thrasher on the Importance of Global Academic Solidarity Make no mistake: There is an ideological witch hunt happening on college campuses right now, the likes of which has not been seen since Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un- American Activities Committee tried to ruin people’s reputations in the middle of the last century. Students and professors are being targeted by university administrators, assaulted by police, and investigated for their politics by Congress.
You Are Being Lied to About Gaza Solidarity Camps by University Presidents, Mainstream Media, and Politicians
Welcome to NewsBreak, an open platform where diverse perspectives converge. Most of our content comes from established publications and journalists, as well as from our extensive network of tens of thousands of creators who contribute to our platform. We empower individuals to share insightful viewpoints through short posts and comments.
You Are Being Lied to About Gaza Solidarity Camps by University Presidents, Mainstream Media, and Politicians
Saturday was a gloriously beautiful spring day in Chicago, and as I wandered into the “Liberation Zone” which has taken over DePaul University’s quad, a kind lady asked me if I would like some lunch. I declined because I was headed to a BBQ in a couple of hours, but I took her up on some coffee, thanked her, and asked her if she was affiliated with the Vincentian Catholic university. “No,” she told.
Lekcija palestinskih novinara
Dok je ulazila na set programa The Daily Show na intervju kod Džona Stjuarta, glavnu voditeljku međunarodnih vesti CNN-a Kristijan Amanpur dočekale su ovacije. Snimanje je označilo ponovni susret dve medijske ikone ranog 21. veka – dve ličnosti koje su bile na vrhuncu popularnosti, često svojom oštrom kritikom, u ranim godinama rata protiv terorizma. Publika u studiju bila je više nego voljna za ovo nostalgično putovanje.
What Christiane Amanpour-and the Rest of Us-Can Learn From Palestinian Journalists in Gaza
As she walked onto the set of The Daily Show on eclipse Monday to be interviewed by Jon Stewart, CNN chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour got a standing ovation. The taping marked a reunion of two media icons of the early 21st century—two personalities who were popular, and often critical, in the early years of the War on Terror. And the studio audience was down for this trip down nostalgia lane.
The Social Media Project Humanizing Palestinians Killed By Israel, One Person at a Time
Pictured above, left to right: Luna Husam Abu Nada, Bahaa Al-Masahal, Nahid Abdul Latif, Jouri Ramadan Mohammed Maqdad, Nahil Sami Ma’mar, Mamoud Duwaba. * As the gruesome deaths of Palestinians by hunger or drones fill our social media feeds but go largely unreported by mainstream media, The Martyrs of Gaza project is a needed antidote to the common way journalism dehumanizes the people actually being killed in the Gaza genocide by commission of omission.
The Social Media Project Humanizing Palestinians Killed By Israel, One Person at a Time
Welcome to NewsBreak, an open platform where diverse perspectives converge. Most of our content comes from established publications and journalists, as well as from our extensive network of tens of thousands of creators who contribute to our platform. We empower individuals to share insightful viewpoints through short posts and comments.
Too Little, Too Late: On American Media Executives’ Hypocritical Support Of Palestinian Journalists | Independent Newspaper Nigeria
STEVEN W. THRASHER When it comes to righteous causes, I generally believe it is important to leave space for people to have an onramp to join at any time. If someone has not been actively supporting campaigns against racism, transphobia or injustice of various kinds, I do not want stigma or shame to keep any individual from joining the cause.
Too Little, Too Late: On American Media Executives’ Hypocritical Support of Palestinian Journalists
“Is collaborating with the soldiers killing our Palestinian colleagues a good way to be in ‘solidarity’ with them?” When it comes to righteous causes, I generally believe it is important to leave space for people to have an onramp to join at any time. If someone has not been actively supporting campaigns against racism, transphobia or injustice of various kinds, I do not want stigma or shame to keep any individual from joining the cause.
Covid and Governance: An Exchange | Steven W. Thrasher
To the Editors: In “Tools to End the Poverty Pandemic” [NYR, January 18], Matthew Desmond has made two false claims about my book, The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide: “Inexplicably, The Viral Underclass ignores pandemic aid altogether” and “Thrasher even goes so far as to claim that during the pandemic the government ‘left us to fend for ourselves.’” First, the Biden-backed Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Desmond writes about at...
As Journalists Are Murdered in Gaza Their Counterparts Lose Jobs in America
Steven W. Thrasher Wonders Who’s Left to “Afflict the Comfortable” Last week, it felt like 90 percent of my social media timelines were filled with accounts of Palestinian journalists losing their lives in Gaza or of American journalists losing their jobs in the United States. Abroad, the situation looked especially bleak in the north of Gaza, where few reporters remain and where there is no food.
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