comfort as an act of social justice
Tag: racism
The real problem with the Belichick texts
View at Medium.com
Why rage now
So yes this is the moment to get into the streets, to harness the power we gain by coming together and to understand that Black folks have always been fighting for all of our humanity, to save our souls now on this earth. The demands for basic respect is to save us all from participating in the dehumanizing impact of being a person who ignores the humanity of others.
Remedial Decency for white people
Okay white people here is our remedial course on being a decent person: We do not call the police because a Black person asks us to leash our dog. We do not call the police because a Black person is wearing a hoodie. We do not call the police because a Black person walks too…
Darwin and fairness
People in positions of privilege and especially white people love to harp on the concept of fairness. It is one of many code words that reveals how little they care about the legacy of racism. This is going to be a sloppy attempt to decipher some of this code. Evolution and thus I am the…
Allies – what it might mean to be PRO-BLACK instead of anti-racist
Unlearning internal and external systems of white supremacy is a complicated and painstaking process. I propose that being pro-Black is shortcut through the maze of the construction of race, the history of rape and murder, the policy and legal systematic attempt to destroy Black people and the resulting fabrication of whiteness. A shortcut may not…
Bigfoot, the Lochness Monster and Institutional Racism
As a historian, a classroom teacher, and aware person I cannot tabulate the amount of time I have spent trying to convince white people that racism exists. I am a white enough person that I had to be educated – but luckily that intervention happened at a young enough stage of development that it became…
OITNB – Season 4 – how may we repent
I postponed watching this latest season of Orange is the New Black because at the end of last season the plot established the role of private prisons, taking over the establishment where the women live in the series, the last scene has the women exuberant in a brief freedom facilitated through a hole in the…
for non-Black folks
A powerful new call for the empowerment and respect of Black people has been issued. It has transcended grassroots activism, permeated discussion of culture and power, made demands on those in political positions, and inspired a creative response from artists. For non-Black folks it can feel alienating, aggressive, “disrespectful”, divisive… But I have never understood…
white people should never be the lead singer
I am going to attempt to lay-out a critical theory to collective redemption. Some weeks ago the mainstream media got ahold of some delicious mangled carcass, and like hyaenas, screamed and pulled and gnawed it apart – I refer to that Dohezal lady. Now the fact that a substantial quantity of people know what I…
one must earn and keep the public trust
Amidst the discussions of relations between police and the public there has been a incongruous parallel made between the actions taken by individuals vs. those of the police. To be police is a profession. The uniform, the academy, the obligations and policies are particular to partaking in that profession. And the actions taken by police…
collective failure 