Bankole Thompson is the Editor-in-Chief and Dean of The PuLSE Institute, a national anti-poverty think tank headquartered in Detroit, the nation’s largest African American city.

He is an opinion columnist at The Detroit News, where he writes a  column on presidential politics, culture, diversity, leadership, equity, and socioeconomics.

Among those who have praised his work include civil rights leaders Dr. Bernard Lafayette and Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., president and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, who awarded him the Let Freedom Ring Journalism Award on the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death.