Nikole Hannah-Jones' Daughter Gives Mom an F - Gracearchy with Jim Babka 170

Nikole Hannah-Jones, who is degreed and able to afford better, chose to send her daughter to underperforming city public schools in New York. She made this decision based on "the collective good and not just our individual advantage."

Now, Nikole Hannah-Jones' daughter gives Mom an F. Ms. Hannah-Jones is the author of a piece in The New York Times, "In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?" We will get to the most devastating line of the piece, and a highly relevant story from Jim's past that involved confronting a black Democrat politician at a town hall.

We discuss whether this mother has redeemed herself through her amazing confessions. We'll also consider Hannah-Jones' hatred of school choice initiatives; Jim will explain why they fail the people they're designed to help, and graciously offer better mentors for Nikole Hannah-Jones to consider - root level solutions for everyone who really wants to help all kids get a better education.

NOTES

Link to NY Times piece we're covering: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/magazine/ny-public-schools-black-students-segregation.html

The original, 2016 piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/magazine/choosing-a-school-for-my-daughter-in-a-segregated-city.html

The friend whose name wasn't occurring to me was Michael Metti, and that meeting occurred roughly 20 years ago.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Not prioritizing her daughter

0:21 Theme

0:34 What we'll cover

1:56 Had the money for options