Since 2015, the idea of ending birthright citizenship has been on my radar. Those favoring anti-immigration, view the bestowal of citizenship on children of foreign citizens as a problem. In their mind, pregnant women are invading the United States specifically to have children and force the country to keep the parents. (It may delay, but the…
Read an article about pay disparities by gender in the system by which I am employed which mentioned research that students get along best with faculty members who look like them. It made me laugh out loud. I cannot recall a teacher who looked like me: male, tall, and half-white / half-black. Or at least…
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book is a couple hundred pounds of chains bearing down on the reader. A father who writes about the race in America in the time just before #BlackLivesMatter attempts to put into words what it means. This stands out as…
So, out of the many books I read this prior year, here are the ones I gave five stars. To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science by Weinberg, Steven Thinking: The New Science of Decision-Making, Problem-Solving, and Prediction in Life and Markets by Brockman, John The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Isaacson,…
White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son by Tim Wise My rating: 5 of 5 stars Back in college, I was part of an anti-racism group. We worked with a local group and took their People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. Tim mentioned them near the end of the book, which made…
Ran across this video series on “Exploring black mixed identity in the 21st Century.” More than just discussing the offensiveness of mulatto, they discuss the doting on whiteness, family, and symbology. One part I keep coming back to ties to where I’ve seen some stuff online on people who rail against calling yourself mixed. In…
Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup My rating: 3 of 5 stars An autobiography about a mixed race free man kidnapped into slavery hit a little too close to home. His experience being free made acclimating to the difficult masters more challenging. More amazing me is he did not break under the weight of…
This seemed appropropriate to re-post today, the tenth anniversary of the event which inspired its need. The problems we are to overcome seem more prevalent and prominent today. This statement was issued by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States in December 2001 as a response to the terror attacks of…