Michael Leo Owens

@milophd.bsky.social

1523 Followers 1792 Following

A pluviophile, melomaniac, gardener, karaoke fiend, & academic. Atlantan by labor; New Yorker by birth. Coauthor of Deadly Force: Police Shootings in Urban America (Princeton University Press, 2025).

"A stylized parody image shows a stern-faced man with long, flowing blond hair centered in front of glowing golden light rays and metallic Art Deco columns. Below his face is the large metallic word "MAGA-DO" in a decorative 1980s fantasy-style logo, echoing the title design of the movie Xanadu. The image uses dramatic lighting and an airbrushed aesthetic to create a satirical, album-cover-like composition." ALT Text Credit: ChatGPT
"The Roberts Court sees only white. It refuses to acknowledge who the Equal Protection Clause was written to protect. The freed people, their descendants, and all others denied equal citizenship. It turns its back on what is in plain sight. The Fourteenth Amendment is not colorblind. It never was. The Court calls the Constitution colorblind while engineering the dilution of Black votes, the unraveling of hard-fought civil rights remedies, and the erasure of Black history. That is not blindness. That is white sight, by design. A Constitution interpreted this way is not colorblind. It is whatever the Court needs it to be. A way to advance its partisan project."
Photo of a Fauci candle: “A Fauci candle is a novelty pop-culture prayer candle featuring the likeness of Dr. Anthony Fauci styled like a traditional religious saint. These decorative items emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic as pop-culture tributes, and physical examples are housed in the Smithsonian Institution.”
"Thank you for visiting your IRS Online Account and taking the time to let us know what we're doing well and where we can improve. Please take a few minutes to share your opinions, which are essential in helping us provide the best online experience possible. Participation is voluntary and all responses are anonymous. We only receive compiled data, which does not allow us to identify you individually. Please DO NOT provide any personal information (name, Social Security number, phone number, email, etc.) in the "comments" sections of this survey. As a reminder, we are NOT able to answer any tax or personal questions submitted through this survey. All fields with an asterisk (*) are required. Please rate your agreement with the following statements about using your online account:..."
Screenshot of IRS Online Account Survey -- "We'd welcome your feedback!"
Screenshot of message from the IRS stating "We are not able to provide assistance to you [to verify tax return] via the [REQUIRED] identity verification tool [i..e, the bullshit ID.me]."
Photograph of a rained-on, white-flowering scarlet rosemallow aka white Texas star or Hibiscus coccineus “Alba” aka “Lone Star”
Cartoon depicting a US military officer pointing at a map of Iran. Officers states “As our forces advanced this position, we thought, ‘wait, what did we come in here for, again?”
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) screenshot with a quote from "Good Ol' Chuck," that reads "Am I right? I said, am I right?"
Red-capped white man in a red shirt carries one water bottle. It contains 5 gallons of water.
Information sheet from the Japanese Meteorological Agency regarding earthquake early warnings.
Picture shows a wall of a blue cubicle at KIX (Kansai International Airport) in Osaka. A sign on it reads “Calm down, Cool down space.”
Japanese man stands, wearing a white shirt and black pants. His shirt reads “JAPANESE SOLIDARITY WITH BLACK LIVES MATTER.”✊🏾
Laptop screen in the foreground with an electric fan right behind it. A garden and deck with chairs and a planter are in the background.
Two stemless flutes of sparkling rose.
Brown-skinned Black boy in a black sweatshirt and a brown-skinned Black man in a blue Windies Cricket t-shirt eat chocolate-coated donuts, while seated at a table. Main text reads “SON JOINED ME IN CELEBRATING. OH YEAH!” A bag on the table reads “Life is better with donuts.”
National Donut Day ad: “Lige is better with DONUTS! -❤️-“
Two rabbits nibble with abandon..
Michael Douglas acting as Gordon Gecko in Wall Street states “America has become a second-rate power.”
Title page of book NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS AN AMERICAN SLAVE WRITTEN BY HIMSELF”
A figure showing trend lines from a GALLUP question: "Republicans are less likely now than they were in the past to say they are confident in the accuracy of important medical advice their doctor gives them. Currently, 60% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are confident, down from 73% in 2010 and 70% in 2002. Meanwhile, more Democrats and Democratic leaners are confident now (71%) than were in the past, especially compared with the 62% measured in 2002."
Sign outside a cage reads “Silence Please…Retreat In Progress.”
National Guard members wear camouflage for no good reason on US soil while they watch the despicable desecration of a beloved national symbol of democratic values and memories in the District of Columbia…
Card inserted into envelope with back of card showing
“When I first queried Kenneth Mayer, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he replied by email with a largely technical examination of presidential powers. A few days later he added to his comments, writing: ‘What I did not accurately convey is how Trump has obliterated the boundaries and guardrails that we had long thought would serve as meaningful constraints on presidential extremism. He is acting as if his will is law, the government and everything in it belongs to him, and everyone owes their allegiance to him, to the Constitution, the law or the public good.’ What we are seeing now, Mayer concluded, ‘is not normal, is utterly corrosive to principles of constitutional and democratic governance and is extremely dangerous.’”
Brown-skinned Black man sitting comfortably in sweatpants, wearing a very fresh pair of Adidas Samba XLGs
A still of the actor Sterling K. Brown as Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs, standing in front of a statue of a Black Jesus, from the film “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul”
Movie poster for the film 24 Hour Party People
The Urban Affairs Association’s recognition of the value of my scholarship, inclusive of my research, service, mentoring, and teaching, deeply touches me. I sincerely thank whoever nominated me for recognition. I thank the award committee for choosing me for recognition alongside Edward Goetz, whose scholarship has inspired, deepened, and enriched so many of us in the field. Folks, UAA 2026 next month in Chicago is going to be awesome. As Don Cornelius used to say, “you can bet your last money, it's all gonna be a stone gas, honey!”
Text from the National Museum of African American History and Culture: "Oil on linen portrait of Breonna Taylor. Taylor appears standing against a light blue-grey background, wearing a flowing blue dress. Her proper right hand rest on her hip, her left hand at her side. A delicate necklace with gold cross pendant is around her neck and an engagement ring is on her left hand. She gazes directly at the viewer."
A blue Emory University Poli Sci mug with coffee, a “Thin Mint” donut from Sara Donuts, and an eyeglass case from the Paddington Store at Paddington Station in London rest on a desk during a late morning fika in my campus office. Caption on photo reads One of my favorite times of the day is whenever it’s time for a fika.