June 08, 2020 Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, I, like many black children, was raised by my single mother. Our fathers weren’t there for us; some by choice, and others in prison or dead. Since childhood, I have...
Category - Let’s Talk About It
When speaking out directly against injustice, our white counterparts are perceived as brave, while Black leaders see our anger weaponized. Like most of us, my inbox has been flooded for weeks with pointed statements from...
George Floyd, gasping for air, uttered a desperate final plea that was heard around the world: “I can’t breathe.” The image of a black man dying under the knee of a white cop is horrific — and symbolic of the racism...
Dr. Jay Wamsted was on Citizen Education with Chris Stewart and discussed white racism in schools – particularly schools serving Black and Brown children. He also discussed his blog below. A few years back, I was in...
Four weeks ago, a Black man was lynched. In 2020. I remind myself of that fact each day so that I do not forget what we saw, what happened—that we witnessed a man take his last breath. In the days following, we watched...
Dear Freedom School Literacy Team 2020, Across the nation, we started the summer of 2020, lighting up the streets with rage. We rage for George Floyd’s senseless strangulation. We rage for Ahmaud Arbery, who was hunted...
As I look at the world right now, I see a lot of belief statements and acknowledgment of past hurts—a reckoning to finally accept that we have much work to do as a nation where it pertains to racism and social justice. Some of...
My name is Erin Brown and I am the executive director of the Philadelphia Urban Riding Academy (PURA). We are in search of a new, permanent home for the Urban Black Cowboys, their beloved horses and most importantly for the youth...
Good people, it looks like the smoke rising from Minneapolis has inspired so many “allies” to ask: “what can we do to help.” And, as a matter of solidarity, folks have focused intently on defunding or reforming or lightly...
I am finding it difficult to get through most days without crying, without feeling like water is rising above my head, without feeling a great sense of despair. I feel a heaviness in my chest. Watching 400 years of abuse...