In the 1930s, the incomparable Billie Holiday sang about the horror of Black lynchings—the strange fruit hanging from Southern trees, the blood on the leaves that flows from the savage anti-Blackness at the root. Nearly a...
Tag - police
This is a year unlike any other. I am sure you have heard this over and over again as, over the past seven months, our lives have been completely upended. From the way we work, travel, worship, and teach, nothing is the same. The...
Earlier this year, Dr. Tamar Klaiman, member of the Abington Board of School Directors, came under fire for saying the following: We know that the Black and Brown students are much more likely to be shot by the officer...
Do you know how it feels to almost drown? I will never forget that feeling. I was 7 years old and knew that I could not swim; still, I just had to dangle my feet into the pool’s deep end. The neighborhood prankster thought it...
The late, great John Thompson contributed more than college basketball wins. Much more. Black educators are incredibly important to the success of Black students. Black students who have had at least one Black teacher are...
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...
Last week, I watched American cities burn: Minneapolis, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and Philadelphia. And while the murder of George Floyd was the catalyst, Amy Cooper played a role. It’s easy to...
My friends, Ismael and Ashley Jimenez, describe an haunting encounter they had while #ParentingWhileBlack at a movie theater a few days ago. The police were called on them in order to harass and intimidate them. Meanwhile, what...
It has been great to see the activism of students be expanded. While student activism didn’t begin with the Parkland youth, I am still glad to see them join the ranks of students of color who have been on the front lines for as...
I’ve known gun violence. Intimately. An in-law was gunned down at his front door by police responding to a “Black burglar.” He was fortunate to live. In college, my roommates were threatened by shotgun-toting White...