James Snowden Walker is an award-winning columnist and the retired senior editor of the New Haven Register in New Haven, Connecticut. He hosts the weekly podcast Real talk, Real people, which centers on issues affecting the Black community. He attended East Tennessee State University and was the first African American man to intern with the Special Assignment Unit at CNN. In his work as a journalist, including a stint as a TV reporter in Knoxville, Tenn., he has met three presidents: Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush.