The Article Blacksplained by Nikole Hannah Jones

On Sunday, The New York Times Magazine published “In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray Own?” Written by journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, the article reexamined the family’s decision that Hannah-Jones chronicled in another deeply personal piece in The New York Times 10 years ago. What followed could only be described as a dumpster fire. The essay sparked an eruption of online commentators questioning Hannah-Jones’ parenting, her politics and even the decision to write the article itself. Many of the criticisms came in the form of personal attacks, acts of clout-chasing, and—if we’re being honest—often uninformed opinions by people who hadn’t read the entire article. The firestorm was so furious that it was sometimes impossible to differentiate between Hannah-Jones’ Black critics, white race-baiters and outlets like the anti-Black New York Post, which described the controversy as: “Woke NYT, 1619 Project scribe sent daughter as ‘sacrifice’ to dangerous NYC school dubbed ‘Little Rikers Island’” That’s why Blacksplained exists. Instead of contributing to the uninformed discourse, every week, we ask a scholar, expert or person who just knows things to tackle one question from a Black perspective. And today, journalist and creator of The 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Blacksplains the article that broke the internet.