This post originally appeared on http://www.savemainst.com There is a tendency, after instances of violence against black Americans at the hands of white Americans, for people to passionately suggest “we” are one, and that if only “we” loved each other, then, “we” can solve the racism that plagues black bodies in America. When it comes to the oppression and destruction of black bodies in America, there is no “we.” “We” all are not victims of white supremacy, “we” all did not have to endure Jim Crow, “we” all are not shot and killed by police officers at the same rate. “We”…
Category: Race
Opening Remarks at the Urban League Diversity Summit
Below you can find my opening remarks for the Urban League Diversity Summit. I didn’t change much and I only had about 2 minutes. I was addressing the question “How are traditional and charter schools creating models of excellence that achieves Dr. King’s dream of a quality education for our children?” I made a few last minute changes, but I lost the original copy that has the last minute scribblings that I used at the event. Martin Luther King Jr. says education has a two-fold function in society. Dr. King says education should equip us with the power…
Call Me Brotha
It can be difficult to negotiate the tongue through using words that evoke inimical catharsis. As a writer, I’ve had to tame my verbal promiscuity to ensure what I am saying is not circumcised by how I am saying it. When it comes to the craft of prose, writers determine their salt by how they use language to unveil a truth. There are traps to avoid in this, however. Many writers or those who make a living using language can embrace “word porn,” or the obscene just to be obscene, and arouse controversial titillation. The other trap is molesting one’s…
Who has empathy for the victim?
“Should you go to school today?” Not too many 15 year olds are asked whether or not they should go to school at 6:00am on a Tuesday morning. When my mother asked me that Tuesday, there was a level of uncertainty within the question that I never heard before. But, with fire and smoke seeping from one of the world’s tallest buildings on CNN, going out in public, even to get an education, seemed like a risky affair. However the choice was made, I found myself huddled with my peers during a school wide community meeting. Administration confirmed what many…
Freethinking Couples of the World, Unite!
I’ve become both inured and slightly indifferent to the eyes of the intolerant with respect to my interracial dating. I’ve received the stares from the ignorant while in public with a woman of a different race since high school. One should expect a small amount of pestering during high school; however, I’ve encountered the eyes of the intolerant from adults well into their 60s while I was freshly in my 20s. I have occasionally looked the other way, or turned the other cheek if you prefer, to avoid conflict with the racially injured, but when propriety trespasses against morality or…
Tavis Smiley and Cornel West Uncle Toms? and Barack Obama’s one night stand.
The phrase Uncle Tom is a derogatory term that has its origins in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. While the book itself did not coin the phrase as it is used today, nevertheless the phrase Uncle Tom has found itself describing a black person that “sells out” to white people. I will leave it to individuals to define what “selling out” means as the phrase “selling out” is quite abstract and when you ask people for their definition of a “sell out” you will find many definitions. I will not offer what I perceive the definition to be because I think my definition is irrelevant in relation to this story. I shall no longer spend time going over the book or the phrase Uncle Tom. If you would like to investigate further, I strongly suggest going to a library or searching Google for the book. Now that we have a brief context of the phrase we can move on to my “Hit it and quit it” reference and then end with Steve Harvey.
