Every person deserves to be counted and given equal protection, not just some of us.
What is it to be Black and a woman in this country that values neither?
When footage surfaced of a Columbia, SC high school student being flipped in her desk and then dragged across the floor by a school resource officer, there was collective outrage from a community tired of seeing officers abuse their power and Black people being disproportionately on the receiving end of that abuse. Even more disturbing […]
In 2015 alone, there have been 45 school shootings. That doesn't account for other types of gun violence that kill people every day
Gil Scott Heron said in a 1970 poem, “the revolution will not be televised,” explaining in an interview years later that he meant change can’t be captured on film. In the poem, Heron says, “you will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out,” pointing to a movement where people have to […]
When Bree Newsome removed the Confederate flag from a flagpole in South Carolina, it was the duty of an activist who was tired of the rhetoric around removal of the flag and created an opportunity to do it herself. Her act dramatized the need for action by others and shined a light on the pain that […]
There’s an old adage: “take two steps forward, one step back.” At times in the Black community, it seems like we take one step forward and two steps back. No matter which version applies, the reality is, while we work toward progress, we are simultaneously seeing a regression in some aspects. This was no more […]
John Lennon and Yoko Ono had a song titled, “Woman is the N*gger of the World” in 1972. The duo expressed they were using the n-word to mean an oppressed person. Given the historical context of the word typically being used as a racial slur against blacks, what is your reality when you are not […]
Much was made about the Oscars last Sunday. The hash tag #OscarsSoWhite reflected the absence of color among some of the biggest categories of the night. But during the awards, several stars used their moment of recognition to lift up social issues that are being discussed, debated and decided by policymakers in Washington, DC and […]
There’s a line that says, “Don’t tell me what your priorities are. Show me how you spend your money and I’ll tell you what your priorities are.” Earlier this week, President Barack Obama released his 2016 budget. The $4.1 billion budget is aimed at providing support for families – specifically, middle class families. Whether you […]
There’s a famous quote that some people perhaps falsely attributed to Albert Einstein that says, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” The fascination and near obsession with testing has left some students struggling to […]
Two years ago, I had the opportunity to meet with Congressman John Lewis in his Capitol Hill office. I listened intently as he recounted an important moment in American history: crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. That Sunday became known as Bloody Sunday, a day when Black marchers in Selma who were […]
