American racial justice leader and nonprofit executive Rashad Robinson is President of Color Of Change, one of the nation’s largest racial justice organizations. Previously, he led program and media strategy at GLAAD. Rashad has a track record, says the Guardian, of leading impactful campaigns that tackle criminal justice reform and big tech accountability, he will be writing about racial justice, corporate power and US politics.
Social justice advocate and MacArthur Fellow, the Rev Dr William Barber II is cochair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival and President of Repairers of the Breach. Rev Barber has emerged as one of the country's leading public figures on social and racial justice in the last few years. He will be writing on economic and racial inequality, the morality of our politics, faith and rural America.
Both will be writing for Guardian US on a monthly basis.
Recently appointed Guardian US columnists Carol Anderson (with a focus on voting rights) and Siva Vaidhyanathan (on the politics of Big Tech) will also be writing on a regular basis.
John Mulholland, editor, Guardian US, said: “Given the divisive rhetoric about race and equality that appears to be increasingly commonplace, we’re pleased that advocates of civil rights and social justice - Rashad Robinson and Rev Dr William Barber II - will be adding their voices to the diverse stable of opinion columnists at Guardian US. We look forward to sharing their views with our readers on subjects as wide ranging as racial equality and US politics to faith and rural America.”
Rev Dr William Barber II, said: “I’m honoured to join the Guardian as a columnist. Their dedication to uncovering stories of often overlooked voices and issues should serve as a North Star for others in journalism today. By shining a light on issues of poverty, systemic racism, militarism, ecological devastation and the distorted values of religious nationalism, together we will work to help shift our nation’s moral narrative.”
Rashad Robinson, said: “I am excited for the opportunity to engage the large and diverse readership of the Guardian in conversations about social justice—not just analysis, but action. To make justice real, we have to identify what needs to change, and also what actually works for changing it. We have to make the causes we care about visible and present, and also build the power it takes to make progress on them. As we enter the next election season, figuring out how to change the rules of politics is one of our key challenges, and I am excited to be part of this dialogue about how we do it."