Jaweed Kaleem is L.A. Times’ new race and justice reporter

Jaweed Kaleem is joining the national staff of the Los Angeles Times, covering race and justice issues.

Kaleem comes to The Times after five years at the Huffington Post, where he was the senior religion reporter. Kaleem’s work includes reporting on the persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan, how Americans talk about death, and a series about how demographics, politics and culture are changing religion in America. He previously was a reporter for the Miami Herald.

At The Times, Kaleem will examine the ways in which race and ethnicity shape our evolving understanding of what it is to be American. He will be looking at persistent inequality in our schools, neighborhoods and workplaces; at why citizens’ experiences with the police, the courts and the prison system continue to vary with skin color; at the ways in which race helps shape the political debate and transform the culture.

Kaleem’s beat will expand on the work Dexter Thomas is already doing, covering race and identity.

A graduate of Emerson College, Kaleem grew up in a Muslim family in Washington, D.C., and speaks Hindi/Urdu and Punjabi. He was a 2014 Senior Fellow at the East-West Center and 2013 fellow at the International Center for Journalists.

Kaleem will be based in Los Angeles and starts work in April.

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