If there is anyone thing that everyone in our increasingly divided world can agree on, it is that 2020 has been a bizarre year thus far. It has seen the ramping up and full force of the coronavirus pandemic, a new American epoch of antiracist activism, protests and riots, a slew of American lynchings, the […]
A Tale of Two Bens Read More »
\”It would be fatal,\” said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his most famous speech, \”for the nation to overlook the urgency of this moment.\” Dr. King, of course, was referring to the strides being made in the civil rights movement and the importance of recognizing how crucial that moment would be for the future
Death and the American Response Read More »
In 2015, Mayor Bowser and the D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) began working on the \”Homeward DC\” initiative, and its goal of ending long-term homelessness by making it a \”rare, brief, and non-recurring experience\” in the District by 2020. A very ambitious proposition, the goal was not met, but this is not to say
Double Crisis in the District Read More »
I first saw Hancock when it was released in theaters twelve years ago, and my mother led me back outside before it ended because of how much Will Smith was cursing. I remember her surprise at hearing such language in a PG-13 film. I didn’t encounter Hancock again until years later when I caught some
Hancock as Racial Allegory Read More »
Featured photo – Crowd of people gathered to watch the lynching of Jesse Washington, Waco, Texas, May 15, 1916. Immediately after his quick confession based conviction, Washington was castrated and then slowly burned. By Everett Historical. Other photos courtesy of the Library of Congress (LOC) Just over one week ago, the United States House of
Lynching Legislation: Too Little, Too Late Read More »
A recent Washington Post-Ipsos poll confirms what many of us already know: Black voters prefer Joe Biden. The factor most responsible for this, of course, is his attachment to Barack Obama’s presidency and cultural icon-status. Biden and his supporters hope to pivot the nation back to Obama-era politics, and it’s possible that some supporters are
Biden and the Black Vote Read More »
The often-confused sect of activists on Instagram, along with other fair-weather friends of social justice, have recently gotten ahold of yet another provocative storyline. The story and the response it elicited are akin to what critics have dubbed ‘slacktivism,’ or the hasty attachment of social media users to causes without being properly informed about or
Slacktivism in the Season of Protest Read More »
There is palpable friction between Black Americans and the police today. Much of the Black community has grown increasingly distrustful of the police, as another decade draws to a close in America without having eliminated or even palliated the scourge of police brutality. Perennially upset with the disproportionate attention they receive from the police (an
Blue Lives in Black Space Read More »
The Metropolitan Police Department’s penchant for violence against the black community is no secret. Decades of documentation exist for their record of brutality issued disproportionately to black and brown residents. The department’s actions in 2018 alone are enough to prompt concern. Just May and June of last year saw the lawless murders of black Washingtonians
Blue Barrels, Black Targets Read More »
Wednesday, October 16, 2019 Two hours ago at 12:20 a.m., a shooting involving three people occurred outside of Cook Hall at Howard University, my place of education. Any Howard student could tell you of the frequent and fairly homogeneous “crime alerts” delivered expressly to our University-provided email addresses. Howard, located by the Shaw neighborhood in
Trending Violence an Unwelcome Link between The District and Baltimore Read More »
