Aisha Harris is an American writer, editor, and podcaster. She was a staff writer, editor and podcast host at ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'' before moving to the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' in 2018 as an editor. Since 2020, she has been a co-host and reporter for the

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

show ''Pop Culture Happy Hour''.

Early life and education

Harris was born and raised in Connecticut. Her father, Frank Harris III, is a professor and former journalist for the ''

Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...

''. Her sister is author Zakiya Dalila Harris. Harris earned a bachelor's degree in

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

from Northwestern and a master's degree in

cinema studies Film theory is a set of scholarly approaches within the academic discipline of film or cinema studies that began in the 1920s by questioning the formal essential attributes of motion pictures; and that now provides conceptual frameworks for und ...

from

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...

Career

Harris was a staff writer and editor at ''Slate'' from 2012 through 2018. She hosted the ''Slate'' podcast ''Represent'' from 2016 to 2018; the podcast covered media created by and/or about women, people of color, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ community. Harris moved to the ''

'' in 2018; first working as an assistant editor TV at the culture desk, and later as an editor and contributor to the Opinion section of the paper from 2019 to 2020. While at the Times, she joined a number of her colleagues at both the NYT and the ''

Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'' in a one-day walkout over issues in the newspapers' coverage of racial justice protests in 2020. Since 2020, Harris has been a co-host of the

podcast ''Pop Culture Happy Hour'' with

Linda Holmes Linda Holmes (born March 16, 1959) is a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 42nd District since January 2007. The 42nd district includes all or parts of Aurora, Boulder Hill, Montgomery, Naperville, North Aurora and O ...

, Stephen Thompson, and

Glen Weldon Glen Weldon is an American writer, cultural critic, and podcaster. He has written for publications such as ''The Washington Post'', ''The New York Times'', '' Slate'', ''The Atlantic'', and ''McSweeney's''. Weldon currently writes for the NPR Arts ...

Santa Claus and Megyn Kelly

In December 2013, Harris wrote a piece for ''Slate'' examining the cultural origins of

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

and suggesting that the near-ubiquitous representation of Santa as

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

could be eschewed in favor of a wider symbol, such as an animal. In response to Harris' piece,

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

anchor

Megyn Kelly Megyn Marie Kelly (; born November 18, 1970) is an American journalist and media personality. She currently hosts a talk show and podcast, ''The Megyn Kelly Show'', that airs live daily on SiriusXM. She was a talk show host at Fox News from 200 ...

responded by asserting on her program ''

The Kelly File ''The Kelly File'' was an American news television program hosted by journalist and former attorney Megyn Kelly on the Fox News Channel. The program was a spinoff of ''The O'Reilly Factor'', and focused on late-breaking stories in a live format ...

'' that "Santa just is white", and stating that the same was true for

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. Kelly's comments drew heavy criticism from a variety of news outlets; in response, Kelly accused her criticizers of "

race-baiting Incitement to ethnic or racial hatred is a crime under the laws of several countries. Australia In Australia, the Racial Hatred Act 1995 amends the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, inserting Part IIA – Offensive Behaviour Because of Race, Colour ...

". Harris appeared on

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

and criticized Kelly's response, stating that Kelly's statements simultaneously played the role of victim and that Kelly downplayed the comments as a joke after the initial backlash.

References

External links

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New York Times archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Aisha Living people 21st-century American women writers American film critics American women film critics American women podcasters American podcasters American television critics NPR personalities Northwestern University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)