December 2020 Blog – On “The Voices of Black Women”
As we prepare to welcome the first Black woman VP vice president, expectations will be extremely high for Kamala Harris. Although she is praised by author Bettina Love for talking truth to power – like when she challenged Joe Biden on his bussing record – Love predicts Harris will not have a “honeymoon period” simply […]
November 2020 Blog – On “Voting”
In 1972 John Lewis co-authored a Notre Dame Law Review article documenting how, “[t]he history of black political participation in the United States has been one of struggle – pitting blacks against those forces which would continue to enslave and exploit minority groups.” It told how in 1876 more than 700,000 Black citizens registered to vote, only to […]
October 2020 Blog – On “Double Standards for Black Women”
Democratic VP nominee Kamala Harris deals simultaneously with both racism and sexism. Hillary Clinton, who faced misogyny campaigning for the presidency, warned Harris to “be prepared…to have the most horrible things said about you.’’ When Barack Obama ascended to the presidency, some declared that America had become “post-racial,” yet our first Black president was contantly attacked […]
September 2020 Blog – On “The Talk”
Most parents are challenged by having to have “the talk” with their teenagers. For many parents of Black children, however, “the talk” is not about the wonders, dangers, and responsibilities of sexuality. It’s about staying alive when interacting with police. Thirty years ago, Peggy McIntosh taught me how I avoided having to have such conversations with my […]
August 2020 Blog – On “Embodied Trauma”
New studies in epigenetics strongly support what Black Americans already know: white supremacy is passed down generation after generation. They inform Resmaa Menakem’s book, My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. Menakem was struck by the embodied nature of racism, realizing that picking cotton beginning at the age of four left his grandmother with “thick, […]
July 2020 Blog – On “Patriotism”
Almost four years ago Colin Kaepernick took a knee to protest the blatent police killing of Black people. Retired Army Green Beret Nate Boyer, someone who most Americans would call a patriot, suggested to the 49er quarterback that kneeling was respectful. But many attacked Kaepernick as unpatriotic, and for that his career was derailed. Kaepernick insisted, “I’m not […]
June 2020 Blog – On “Police Force”
How can we make sense of the last words spoken by George Floyd? With a law enforcement office kneeling on his neck for eight minutes and other officers looking on, Floyd pleaded, “please, please, please I can’t breathe, please man, please somebody…I can’t move, mama, mama, I can’t, my knee, my nuts, I’m through, I’m through, I’m […]
May 2020 Blog – On “Employment”
Following April’s 400 Years blog about the pandemic disproportionally harming communities of color, let’s acknowledge an historic lack of choice regarding employment for Black Americans. Indentured service and slavery did not allow Black workers any choice in their creation of $14 trillion dollars worth of labor in today’s dollars. After slavery, Jim Crow segregated workers of color into the least […]
April 2020 Blog – On “Coloring the Pandemic”
During these difficult times we are all struggling. Those in relatively comfortable circumstances might say, “We’re all in this together. After all, the coronavirus is blind, right? It’s an equal opportunity killer, right?” Personally, I can socially distance, shelter-in-place, and telework. No problem. My white collar job allows me to avoid possibly contaminated public transportation. […]
February 2020 Blog – On “Space”
400 years of racism affects how many navigate space in America. Some who identify as white may be blissfully unaware of this reality. They feel at home in public spaces and enter commercial establishments with comfortable entitlement. Most would not expect a security guard to challenge them with a stern, “May I help you?” – […]
