From Ida B. Wells' anti-lynching campaigns to Nolan Wells today—white violence in America never went away, it just evolved

In this episode of Fearless Politics, Dr. Avis examines the death of Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old who went missing on the 4th of July after heading to an island enclave with friends, and connects his case to what she argues is a long, unbroken pattern of violence against Black Americans.

Drawing on the pioneering anti-lynching journalism of Ida B. Wells and the contemporary research of civil rights attorney Jill Collen Jefferson, Dr. Avis lays out a recurring template she sees repeating across more than a century.

She walks through the troubling findings of the independent autopsy funded by Colin Kaepernick, the questions surrounding what evidence was and wasn't turned over, and the cases of Rasheem Carter, Dexter Wade, Trey Reed, and Tamla Horsford as part of the same story.

With her signature fearless commentary, Dr. Avis makes the case that "lynchings never ended" — and reveals the most powerful tool we have for changing this reality.

In this episode:

• The weaponization of whiteness

• The Nolan Wells case and its red flags

• The independent autopsy findings

• Ida B. Wells and the historical pattern of lynching

• The four-part template that repeats across cases

• Modern-day lynchings in Mississippi and beyond: Rasheem Carter, Dexter Wade, Trey Reed, and Tamla Horsford

• Why Black children aren't always safe in all-white spaces

• How elected local offices shape who gets justice

• Why voting down the ballot matters

• The ongoing fight for justice in the Nolan Wells case

Sometimes justice is about a single case. Sometimes justice is about a century-old pattern. And sometimes justice comes down to how we wield our power.

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