GRIEVING IN FRONT OF THE WORLD
We didn’t know their names before tragedy and cruelty took their loved ones from them. George Floyd’s siblings – Philonise, Terrance, LaTonya, Bridgett. Daunte Wright’s mother, Katie, who stood in front of microphones and told the world about the last
THE LONG REACH OF RACISM
In my novel The Earth Breaks in Colors, which I published in 2015, two eleven-year-old girls – one black, one white – start out with a clear, innocent view of their different skin tones. It’s just one of God’s many
STREET TIME
She sits on the sidewalk near the place where I get my mail. Sometimes she’s on the other side of the street, sometimes I have to walk around her. It’s obvious she hasn’t bathed in a long time. She is
WHAT UNITES US
On the same day the Senate voted to acquit Donald Trump for inciting the deadly riot that he obviously incited, I waited with a small group of people for my first Covid vaccine. It was in a local CVS Pharmacy.
LEARNING TO EXHALE
You could almost hear it on January 20th, as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in – the sound of an entire country (or most of it) exhaling. Friends, both male and female, told me how they watched the
TO BRIAN SICKNICK’S FAMILY
To the Sicknick family, a family who has lost someone precious, a son and brother who was killed in a violent rampage: you put out a statement shortly after Brian’s death, asking that his death not be politicized. You’re right
AMERICA THE BROKEN
They were images we’ve seen before — an out of control mob breaking into a government building, storming through halls and invading offices. But it’s always been somewhere else, far away, in countries we felt sorry for, superior to, places
THE CHRISTMAS STAR
On the night of December 21st, I stood out in my garden and looked up at the brightest star in the heavens. Of course it wasn’t really a star, it was the convergence of two planets — Jupiter and Saturn
THANKSGIVING 2020
Thanksgiving has, for most of my life, been a difficult holiday. Growing up, the tensions and turmoil in my home didn’t take a break when the holidays rolled around. In fact, they often got worse. Thanksgiving, being an occasion that
WHAT MY FATHER WOULD SAY TO AMERICA
It’s been a common occurrence in my life for years – people telling me they miss my father. But from the rancor of the campaign to the new dawn of Biden’s win, I’ve heard it much more often. I’ve always