The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois My rating: 4 of 5 stars I read this during the George Zimmerman trial for his shooting of Trayvon Martin. What disappoints me while reading this book is how the central problems of that time still somewhat exist. Sure, the overall is much better. But this…
I will have to try this the next time someone asks me, “Where are you from?”
Apparently Rush Limbaugh made a statement that armed marchers of the Civil Rights Movement would have not been physically assaulted during “Bloody Sunday” on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. He said African Americans, but if I recall my history correctly there were a Caucasian Americans there who were also assaulted. Perhaps armed marchers might not have been…
Two major recurring political issues in the United States are related, I think, to issues of mixing cultures. There is an instinct to trust those like us more implicitly and consider those who do not look or act like us as bad. Coming to trust people as members of our “tribe” can reverse this instinct.…
At around 16-17 years old I did not have a car. So I rode my bike or walked anywhere I wanted to go. Store managers sometimes searched my backpack or my person only to find I had not in fact shoplifted anything. Loss control or security guards would follow me around the store. Neighborhood watch…
I read about the commemoration of the attack on Fort Sumter which launched the Civil War (north of Mason-Dixon Line) or War Between the States (south of the same line). This was defining event for the United States as a country. Millions of people went from holding the status of property to being… well… human.…
At a party last night, a woman asked where I am from. I told her my hometown. She said, “No, no, no, where are your parents from.” I thought, “Oh, boy, I know where this is going.” So I told her my father is black and my mother white. She wanted to know what part…
Passing is a term for a person with both black and white ancestors who encourages others to think he or she is white. I recall a blonde woman talking about her father having told people he was Greek in order to pass. Has anyone really seen members of the black community excluding people who admit…