Catherine Anderson: Diana’s Arrow
Nearby, I saw oak leaves
had settled like a helmet of ash on a statue
of Diana—protector of children,
women, all living things—the deity
whose arrow never misses.
Ellen Bryant Voigt | At the Movie: Virginia, 1956
When finally we got our own TV, the evening news
with its hooded figures of the Ku Klux Klan
seemed like another movie
Desne A. Crossley: My Cousin’s Suicide
The first lesson in keeping secrets came in 1962, when I was eight.
Desne A. Crossley: Rolling in the Aisle
In Nashville in 1950, my mother boarded a city bus. She didn’t go to the back. She didn’t act like her place was the outermost fringe of a world ruled by whites.
Bernardine Watson: Freedom
the colored hotel was named for Crispus Attucks
a runaway slave, and the first man to die
for the America dream
Abby Zimet: Y’all’s Racism Is Showing
. On the anniversary of the murder of Malcolm X – “Culture is an indispensable weapon (to) forge the future with the past” – we salute Rep. Justin Pearson, a … Continue reading
Bill Lueders: Beyond Good and Evil | On Wendell Berry’s Brave New Book
A book by the celebrated author, poet, and farmer that takes on racism, the Civil War, and his life’s work.
Abby Zimet: America’s Right Wing Is Some Stoked To Erase Our Historical Sins
Biden: “Great nations don’t hide from their history. They acknowledge their past, both the triumphs and the tragedies.”
Video: Why We Must Confront the Painful Parts of US History | Hasan Kwame Jeffries
Revisiting a significant yet overlooked piece of the past, Hasan Kwame Jeffries emphasizes the need to weave historical context, no matter how painful, into our understanding of modern society — so we can disrupt the continuum of inequality massively affecting marginalized communities.
George Yancy: If the State of the World Makes You Want to Scream, You’re Not Alone
We must face the weight of such social evils and be prepared to also face the ways in which we are complicit with them, especially when we are often indifferent.
James Baldwin: A Talk to Teachers
The obligation of anyone who thinks of himself as responsible is to examine society and try to change it and to fight it—at no matter what risk. This is the only hope society has. This is the only way societies change.
Terry Blackhawk: My Father Goes to Sunday School
What are you doing here?
an elder asked, a deacon perhaps, or prayer leader.
Robin D.G. Kelley and George Yancy: The Tulsa Race Massacre Went Way Beyond “Black Wall Street”
The 1921 Tulsa race massacre wrought widespread destruction. In addition to acknowledging the horror of that particular event, we must confront the systemic, genocidal, state-sanctioned, racist violence that is pervasive in the United States.
Video: James Baldwin debates William F. Buckley (1965)
Here is the full 1965 debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley Jr. at Cambridge University on the question: “Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro?”
