Toi Derricotte: Black Boys Play the Classics
their slick, dark faces,
their thin, wiry arms,
who must begin to look
like angels!
Carlos Saavedra: Movements and Leaders Have Seasons — It’s Important To Know Which One You’re In
Learning to attune to the cycles of our own leadership can help us know when to do the right thing at the right time.
Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I a Woman?
I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?
Kenyatta R. Gilbert: John Lewis and the masks Black preachers wear on the public stage
Preaching, in their understanding, tells the truth about suffering in the contexts of fear and death. Ultimately it declares that evil and despair have an appointed end. Because of this, as John Lewis said in his posthumously publishe op-ed: “Each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up, and speak out.”
Heidi Matthews: Talk of toxic masculinity puts the blame in all the wrong places
Anti-toxic-masculinity activism is compatible with commitments to protect white female innocence at the cost of Black boys’ freedom.[…] It offloads onto individuals the responsibility for countering the real problems of wealth and power distribution that lie at the heart of gender inequity.
Abby Zimet: Those Pesky Socialists Claiming There’s Anybody Here But White Men
The supposed dangers of truth-telling about history, even when we aren’t the good guys, is bedrock right-wing rubbish, because of course the truth can be a pain and then you have to learn, change, do better and ewww, who wants to do that?
Abby Zimet: Justice, Justice Shall You Pursue
“Justice, justice shall you pursue.” – Deuteronomy 16:18-17:13, as Moses directs the Israelites to appoint officials who will govern justly.
Derrick Z. Jackson: 2020 unmasked the truth about ‘all lives matter’
This is the year when we really learned that not even white lives matter to most white people.
Darrick Hamilton, Naomi Zewde: Truth and Redistribution
How to fix the racial wealth gap, end plutocracy and build Black power.
Dr. Michelle D. Holmes: Black Lives Depend on the U.S. Dietary Guidelines
Black Americans need science-based dietary guidelines in an acute way as they disproportionately benefit from federal nutrition programs that are mandated to follow the guidelines, such as school breakfast and lunch programs.
Vox Populi 