It’s Abby Phillip Appreciation Day!
This has been a long, hard election season, but Black journalists like Abby Phillip have seen us through with their hard work and dedication to truth. The 31-year-old daughter of immigrants from Trinidad and Tobago has continued to wow us during her short but outstanding career. Other journalists she’s worked with have praised her work ethic and also her kindness. In a New York Times profile, PBS NewsHour White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor said Phillip has supported her while covering the Trump administration.
“She has your back. She’s a really, really good person,” Alcindor told The Times. “It’s getting me a little emotional. A rough year like this, it puts a lot in perspective.”
Here are a few examples of her excellence in action!
1) She decided during her junior year after President Barack Obama’s election and a trip down south learning about the civil rights movement to become a journalist.
Photo Credit: Harvard University
2) After graduating in 2010, Abby Phillip went on to blog at Politico. Two years later, she started a news fellowship at ABC News, working with George Stephanopoulos on “This Week.”
Photo Credit: C-Span
3) In 2016, she joined The Washington Post as a reporter and helped cover Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. She was hired at CNN in 2018.
4) She’s fielded attacks from the president with grace. In Nov. 2018, when she asked President Trump if he hoped Matthew Whitaker would back off from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, he said, “What a stupid question. I watch you a lot, you ask a lot of stupid questions.” Her response, “I didn’t feel offended in any way,” she said. “I felt like he was lashing out because he didn’t like the question, but sometimes the questions he doesn’t like are the most important ones.” She was chosen to help anchor coverage of the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention.
Photo Credit: Elle
5) She holds politicians accountable for what they say, even if it ruffles feathers. After receiving backlash for questioning then-presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders on why he said he didn’t believe a woman could win the presidency, she said, “If we reported something about Donald Trump, confirmed by multiple sources, we would stand by that reporting. I don’t think it’s any different when it’s Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. I think about this a lot. Democrats, in particular, will have to figure this out. If Democrats will believe reporting from us about Donald Trump, they should believe our reporting about Bernie Sanders.”
6) She traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, this past June for Trump’s poorly attended campaign rally and before the event made sure to file two pieces paying homage to those Black people that lost their lives during the Tulsa Massacre of 1921.
7) She shows grace and poise while also knowing she’s excellent. She had this to say about her election night coverage. “Mostly I feel like I did what I wanted to do, which was to be honest and straightforward and knowledgeable and present and to tell the truth. I didn’t go into things wanting to stand out. I went in thinking I want to be a valuable member of the team, and I feel good that I did that.”
Photo Credit: Refinery29
8) While waiting for the final results of the election, she praised the political power of Black women. “Not only would Black women put Joe Biden in the White House, but they would also put a Black woman in the White House as well…Donald Trump’s political career began with the racist birther lie, it may very well end with a Black woman in the White House.”
9) She and her husband exemplify Black love, being together for nearly a decade and married since 2018 with their dog, Booker T.
Photo Credit: Abby Phillip/Instagram
Keep making us proud, Abby!