By Way of Prologue Anyone wanting an easy listening overview of a city’s attractions knows exactly what to do: climb aboard a climate-controlled tour bus. For the price of a ticket and minimal mental effort, you get to sit back, relax, and get an infotainment version of local history. Those were the likely expectations […]
In gratitude and memoriam for Erica Garner, Heather Heyer, Fannie Lou Hamer, Coretta Scott King, Dorothy Parker, Ida B. Wells, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg I know. I can hear the indignant objections now. Somehow in the past two years, what was a “comical” media meme is now loaded with racialized invective, evoking everything from
A “Karen” by Any Other Name . . . Read More »
All this talk about history and statues reminded me of my third-grade lessons in Mrs. Bennett’s class. It was there that I learned to recite this little ditty: In fourteen hundred ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue… October 12 their dream came true You never saw a happier crew! At seven
Whose Story Is It? Read More »
Try to imagine this scenario. You walk into your home and see that it has been plundered by burglars. You even know who the burglars are; after all, they have ransacked your home and stolen your property many times before. Since you know who the burglars are and how they operate, you decide that it’s
“Sir, Can We Talk About Your Knee on My Neck?” Read More »
Sometimes when bad things happen, the need to do the right thing becomes all the more urgent. The election of the 45th president (which I unequivocally experienced as a bad thing) shattered any illusion that just “getting along” as racialized beings is enough. “Just getting along” does not and cannot foster an expansive imagination of
When Getting Along is Not Enough Read More »
Among polite circles, there seems to be an agreement that there is no such thing as a stupid question. While I remain wholly unconvinced of that notion, one thing I know for sure: There is such a thing as a useless question. How anyone of any political stripe can ask if Donald Trump is a
Spelling Chrysanthemum Read More »
There are some images that leave an indelible imprint on the brain. As they should. One that is burned into my consciousness is that of the young student-athlete – standing frozen and stoop-shouldered in a posture of parasympathetic surrender while his head is shorn of his precious locks. He had only two options: to submit
What Shall We Do about the Negative Space? Read More »
Why bother? Why even try? Given a cultural climate, these are not unreasonable questions. Increasingly, they are asked by professionals in health care, environmental justice, education, and clinical services. This asking perhaps signals the onset of heartbreak, or maybe attempts to stave off relational vulnerability and despair. They reveal the fragility of good intentions and
It’s 2018, and you might think that headlines such as these would be uncommon. Florida Middle School Teacher Hosts White Nationalist Podcast Report Finds US Civil Rights Gains Stalled or Reversed Police Officer Fired for Stomping Handcuffed Man Is Reinstated Terror on Doorsteps: Blasts Unnerve Austin African-American Historic Site on Nantucket Defaced by Racist Graffiti
Lift Every Voice (or Towards a Spirituality of Hope) Read More »
All the ruckus about monuments this past year got me thinking. Having spent my formative years in the American South, I remembered that these massive concrete structures, icons of the Confederacy, were simply part of the landscape. No one paid too much attention to them. It was only as an adult that I decided to
Speaking of Monuments . . . Read More »
