Professor of African American History at Northwestern University
Chicago, IL
Joined April 2014
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@nhannahjones MLK speech, below, should be required reading every MLK day. Should be published in every newspaper in the land. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Leslie Harris retweeted
Fox: Why are you here this morning?
Trump rally attendee: Well, in the late 70s, I was a little too young to go to South America for the Jonestown Massacre. But this is as close as I'll ever get, so that's why I'm here. There's nothing like seeing a cult right up front.
Leslie Harris retweeted
In 1943, the Gestapo finally caught Raymond Aubrac, one of France’s most wanted Resistance leaders. The German secret police sentenced him to death, and his execution was only days away.
At the same time, his wife Lucie was six months pregnant with their second child. Most people in her position would have gone into hiding, grieved quietly, and prayed for a miracle.
Lucie Aubrac decided to do something completely different.
She got her hands on forged identity papers, created a believable cover story, and walked straight into the office of Klaus Barbie. History would later remember Barbie as the brutal Butcher of Lyon, but Lucie did not let fear stop her.
She looked him in the eye and successfully convinced him to grant her a final visit with her condemned husband.
But Lucie did not risk her life just to say a tearful goodbye. While she was inside the prison area, she was secretly memorizing the positions of the guards, counting the minutes between patrols, and mapping out the exact route the prison truck would take.
She was treating a desperate situation like a military operation.
On October 21, 1943, that prison truck rolled through the streets of Lyon. It was carrying Raymond and several other prisoners toward what should have been their final destination.
What the German soldiers did not know was that Lucie had spent weeks quietly assembling a dedicated team of Resistance fighters.
She planned an ambush with absolute precision.
When the truck finally reached the chosen ambush spot, her team struck fast, coordinated, and without a single moment of hesitation.
In the middle of the sudden gunfire and chaos, Raymond Aubrac was pulled free from the truck. Lucie, who was visibly and unmistakably pregnant, had organized every single detail of his dramatic liberation.
Right after the rescue, the couple had to go into deep hiding. A few weeks later, Lucie gave birth to their daughter in a secret safe house while German forces searched frantically for them across France. They managed to evade capture until the war ended.
When liberation finally came, the Aubracs did not just try to sit back and recover from their trauma. Instead, they rebuilt their lives and continued to serve their country.
Raymond became a celebrated engineer and entered public life to help rebuild France's infrastructure. Lucie became a respected historian, pouring decades of her life into making sure that the women of the French Resistance were never forgotten.
She wanted to make sure these women, who were so often unnamed in the history books, were written permanently into the record. Together, the couple raised three children, traveled the world, argued, laughed, and grew old side by side.
Years later, journalists asked Lucie what had compelled her to risk everything on that dangerous October day. She did not hesitate for a second. She looked at them and said, "He was my husband. What else would I do?"
In his final years, he continued speaking publicly to young generations about the Resistance, the power of memory, and the absolute obligation to tell the truth about history.
When Lucie passed away in 2007 at 94, and Raymond followed her in 2012 at 97, they left behind a 64 year marriage that was a testament to the ultimate triumph of life and family over hatred.
Their love didn't just survive a war it blossomed into a lifetime of shared smiles, proving that the greatest force in the world is a heart that refuses to give up on the one it loves ♥️♥️
Leslie Harris retweeted
בצלם קורא בדחיפות לקהילה הבינלאומית, לממשלות ולמוסדות בינלאומיים לפעול מיד, בכל האמצעים העומדים לרשותם לפי המשפט הבינלאומי, כדי לעצור את מסע הטיהור האתני שישראל מנהלת בחברון ולמנוע עקירה בכפייה של אזרחים פלסטינים, ענישה קולקטיבית והרס נרחב ובלתי חוקי. מנהיגי ישראל מכריזים בגלוי על כוונותיהם, והצעדים בשטח כבר החלו.
בעקבות אירוע הירי סמוך לחברון ב־23 באוקטובר, שבו נהרגו שני חיילים ישראלים, הודיעו ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו ושר הביטחון ישראל כ״ץ בגלוי על תוכניות לעקור בכפייה תושבים פלסטינים מבתיהם ולבצע הרס נרחב באזור.
בהצהרתו אמר נתניהו: ״ניישם בערים את המודל ההתקפי המוצלח שהפעלנו במחנות הפליטים״.
אותו מודל כבר הוביל לעקירתם של יותר מ־33 אלף פלסטינים במחנות הפליטים בצפון הגדה המערבית. כעת, מנהיגי ישראל מאיימים להחיל את אותה מדיניות של עקירה המונית והרס גם בחברון.
והצעדים בשטח כבר החלו. כוחות הצבא הטילו כתר על חברון וחלחול, בעוד שהמנהל האזרחי החל להרוס מבנים פלסטיניים בשכונת פרש אל-הווא. במקביל, הודיע השר בצלאל סמוטריץ׳ על הקמת ארבעה מאחזי חווה חדשים בדרום הר חברון.
מנהיגי ישראל מכריזים בגלוי על תוכניות לענישה קולקטיבית ולמעשים שעלולים להוות פשעי מלחמה. תוכניות אלה מהדהדות את הפעולות ההרסניות שביצעה ישראל במסגרת הג׳נוסייד בעזה, ומהוות הסלמה נוספת במסע הטיהור האתני ובפרויקט המחיקה שהיא מקדמת בגדה המערבית: פירוק שיטתי של הקיום הפלסטיני הקולקטיבי, תוך הרחבת ההתנחלויות וביסוס שליטה ישראלית קבועה.
העולם אינו יכול לעמוד מנגד בזמן שישראל ממשיכה במתקפתה על הפלסטינים, ולהמתין עד ששכונות נוספות יתרוקנו מתושביהן ויימחקו, למרות מה שכבר ראינו בעזה ובצפון הגדה המערבית. ממשלות ומוסדות בינלאומיים חייבים לפעול עכשיו כדי למנוע את הפשעים האלה ולהגן על האוכלוסייה הפלסטינית.
Leslie Harris retweeted
Hats off to MK Pritzker for this amazing statement and action
So love leaders who are standing up for Amy Acton!
Leslie Harris retweeted
I’ve been detained by the IDF, along with a group of rabbis & volunteers. We were simply harvesting olives in a grove near Nehalim in the West Bank.
The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know.
Writers beware—including academics!!
An excellent article on something that anyone who's published a book recently is aware of: There are countless scammers out there who email every day pretending to be book clubs, agents, etc. It's shocking how many of these I receive each week: thedial.world/articles/news/…
Leslie Harris retweeted
It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say. But that’s exactly what the Trump Administration is doing to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
To understand why this is so appalling, it’s important to know the facts. Congresswoman Omar came to this country with her father when she was 12 years old. Five years later, her father became a naturalized citizen. If Ilhan had been 18 at the time, she would have had to apply for citizenship separately. But because she was 17, she became a naturalized citizen automatically.
Congresswoman Omar went on to graduate from college, work as a community organizer, become the first Somali-American legislator elected to public office in the U.S., and win a seat in Congress. There, she has been one of the Trump Administration’s fiercest critics, which has led the president to repeatedly single her out as someone who he believes does not belong in this country.
Now the Administration is actively trying to deport Congresswoman Omar, seemingly based solely on the unsubstantiated theory that she was actually 18 when her father was naturalized, and therefore is not a citizen. Federal agents have raided her home, confiscated personal records, and seized her phone — all to try and uncover a nonexistent smoking gun from 20 years ago that will somehow make their case.
Think about that. The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president. And it’s not the first time this has happened. Under President Trump, the Justice Department has repeatedly gone after those he considers his political enemies — from the Attorney General of New York, to the former head of the FBI, to members of the Federal Reserve.
In those cases, the prosecutions either stalled or were dismissed for having no basis in law, and the same is likely to happen in this case. But not before Congresswoman Omar’s life has been turned upside down, her legal bills have piled up, and she’s been forced to spend time fighting unsubstantiated charges instead of serving the people of Minnesota.
The fact that any president, or any administration, is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans, regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omar’s political views. Because if this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her — or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same.
I saw the film “NAZA” in a movie theater. It was important for me to see it in community, and as a citizen. It will stream for free on The Guardian website in Nov. Below is a moving counterpoint analysis of the film that deepened my understanding. #Naza
Yesterday, I watched Naza.
I did not go to learn what had happened in Gaza. I am from there. I am one of the victims of this war, one of its witnesses, and one of those who have paid a price that will not end when the war does.
I did not need a film to tell me how entire neighborhoods were wiped away, how residential buildings were bombed with the people still inside them, or how families were forced to leave their homes without knowing where they were supposed to go.
Nor did I need anyone to tell me about the famine. I lived through it twice, with all its humiliations, down to the smallest detail. Or about the starving people who were killed while trying to reach what were so absurdly called “food distribution centers.”
I know all of this.
I was there.
Read the whole Thread below :
#Naza @yuval_abraham
“…Saudi, and the entire Gulf, are pulled further into the relentless storm….The Houthi resurgence represents a new reality in a region that is…stuck between old alliances that no longer work and new hostilities that are too calamitous to confront.”
theguardian.com/commentisfre…
No one deserves this, and we are all harmed by this:
America’s Elected Officials Are Living in Fear nytimes.com/2026/10/11/us/po… via @NYTimes
“Ms. Greene reached out to Mr. Trump, hoping for compassion from a president she had stood by for years….hoping that seeing the threats against her family would be enough to tone down the attacks.
She got a five-word reply from the president: ‘Your fault, you deserve it.’”
Leslie Harris retweeted
Hahahhahahahahahahaahhaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah <breathe> hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahaha.
This is RICH.
Russian plague lab reportedly received $800k in research funding from RFK Jr's Health and Human Services trib.al/IGMKSxh
“Pentagon officials said…that the Army officer convicted in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting would be executed in public, a practice that ended in the United States nearly a century ago….” nytimes.com/2026/10/08/us/po…
Leslie Harris retweeted
AP story that gives some history on all of these detentions from start to now apnews.com/article/immigrati…
Video at the end of the article gives a short history of the water crisis rooted in apartheid practices that precede the war on Gaza.
theguardian.com/world/2026/s…
Leslie Harris retweeted
Barack Obama at his last press briefing with reporters, 2017:
"I have enjoyed working with all of you. That does not, of course, mean that I've enjoyed every story that you have filed, but that's the point of this relationship. You're not supposed to be sycophants. You're supposed to be skeptics. You're supposed to ask me tough questions. You're not supposed to be complimentary, but you're supposed to cast a critical eye on folks who hold enormous power."
👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
Bloomberg just dropped the most disturbing investigation I have read this year, and every AI builder should read it and take it seriously.
On February 28, two Tomahawk missiles hit an elementary school in Minab, a small town in southern Iran. 156 people died. At least 123 were children. The Pentagon knew within hours that it had bombed a school.
The school had its own website. It was labeled on Google Maps. You could see the soccer pitch from a satellite view. You could see the brightly painted walls. Any 12-year-old with a browser could tell what the building was.
The AI system could not.
Inside US Central Command, personnel were using Palantir's Maven Smart System. It is an AI targeting platform running on a $1.3 billion Pentagon contract, and embedded inside it is Anthropic's Claude.
On day one of the war, more than 1,000 targets went through it in 24 hours. Work that used to take a team hours per target got compressed into minutes.
The satellite imagery Maven was pulling from was seven years old. The site was still tagged in the database as an Islamic Revolutionary Guard facility.
The system spat it out as a recommended day-one target. Humans signed off. The first missile flew. Then a second one landed minutes later to hit the people who came to help.
Investigators later found that some Central Command staff had assumed Maven would flag stale intelligence for them. It did not. Nobody had told it to.
Palantir told Bloomberg the government is responsible for the underlying data. The Pentagon's civilian harm mitigation team, the people whose actual job is to catch a target like this, had been cut back before the war started.
This is not AI going rogue. This is the opposite.
This is AI doing exactly what it was built to do at exactly the speed it was built to do it. And a school full of little girls got vaporized because the humans in the loop trusted the machine more than they trusted their own eyes.
I keep thinking about the version of this story that comes next. What happens when the system is faster. When the target list is not 1,000 in a day but 10,000. When "review" becomes a button the operator has three seconds to hit before the next target loads. When there is no human left slow enough to notice that a soccer pitch is not a helipad.
We are not talking about a spam filter mislabeling an email. We are talking about a system that turned a seven-year-old database entry into two cruise missiles landing on children in the middle of a morning class.
A UN-backed panel has now called it a potential war crime.
In terms of children killed, it is the deadliest American targeting error of the entire 21st century. And according to Bloomberg, some of Defense Secretary Hegseth's own advisors are worried that too much public scrutiny of Maven might slow down its adoption inside the Pentagon.
Read that last line again.
If you build this stuff, you own what it does. You do not get to hide behind "the government owns the data." The whole pitch of your product is that speed and integration save lives. When it takes them instead, that is also on you.
I am not against AI in defense. I am against AI in a hurry. Speed is the entire mechanism that made Minab possible. Every guardrail we already know how to build takes time, and time is exactly what the system was designed to eliminate.
So here is the question I have not been able to stop asking, and I genuinely want to know what you think.
If a piece of software helped kill 123 children in a single morning while behaving exactly as designed, what does "responsible AI" even mean anymore?
Powerful testimony on behalf of Black history and the NMAAHC
facebook.com/share/v/1GynKjX…