Dear Mr. Morton: I read your article today, “When Will Black Historical Films Focus on Triumph, Rather Than Plight” and I have some questions for you. First, why are stories of slavery not triumphant? Are […]
Movies about black history shouldn’t be expected to foster racial reconciliation between blacks and whites or start feel-good “conversations on race.”
Dear Readers: I wrote the following poem over ten years ago, after listening to John Coltrane’s “Alabama,“ a song he wrote in response to the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, […]
A few hours ago, I saw a public service ad online about doing something meaningful for September 11th, which, of course, was a horrible day in American history. So on this day, I’ve decided to […]
For the last few days, I’ve been reading about Miley Cyrus’s VMA—ahem—performance, which included her attempt at the African/American dance called “twerking,” and which apparently convinced a lot of people that it was okay for […]
Hey Y’all: Two days ago, Twitter was all aflutter with online discussions concerning inequality towards women of color in the mainstream feminist community. In light of that discussion, I’d like to repost a piece I […]
Most of y’all know that I am writing a book of poetry on Phillis Wheatley. I’ve been talking about it forever, and I’m furiously working on it right now, along with my novel. Wondering how […]
First, this blog post is not to curry favor with conservative, extremely right-wing white folks who don’t like African Americans, but who suddenly are pretending to take interest in “black community issues” so they can […]
Dear Mr. Cohen: I’m writing you to discuss your latest column, “Racism vs. Reality” dated July 15, 2013 and to parse a point of logic with you—your considerably flawed logic concerning racial profiling. The gist […]
Today is the day after Father’s Day, and this is the first year that I thought I would get past it without having an emotional meltdown. I’m married to a nice guy, and I gave […]
