What does the word patriot mean to you?
I have always thought it simply described someone who loves their country. Not just Gadsden-flag-waving white men who whine about paying taxes, but anyone who loves their country, recognizes its flaws, and strives to make it better.
Erica L. Green of the New York Times published an article this past Sunday that told the story of Dr. Andrea Kane, the first Black superintendent of Queen Anne’s County Public Schools here in Maryland. I...
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Anti-Racism
<p>Howard County (Maryland) blog posts covering the topic of anti-racism, which is the practice of not just remaining neutral on race issues, but actively opposing racism and promoting racial tolerance.</p>
Open Letter to White Women
White women, let's have a chat.
Earlier this week, I wrote Dear White Women out of frustration with the many white women whose ignorance of the Black American experience gave them permission to cast a vote to re-elect a racist like Donald Trump.
Since writing that piece, the country has been hanging on tenterhooks waiting for election results. What's become clear in that time is that Black Americans got out the vote to defeat Donald Trump. Full stop. And the Twitter commentary of bri...
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Drawing Red Lines
The esteemed moderator of Howard County Neighbors United, who is locally famous for his verbosity and pedantry, recently posted this uncharacteristically terse criticism of District 4 Board of Education candidate Jen Mallo. He took issue with Ms. Mallo’s statement in a recent candidate forum that “During redistricting, we saw groups that wanted to draw red lines around certain communities,” his objection being that the use of a phrase that describes racist housing policy perpetuates the “divis...
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Who Are We Really Policing?
If you haven’t seen Ava DuVernay’s Netflix documentary 13th, and if you haven’t read Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow, they’re both excellent, eye-opening resources for anyone looking to form an opinion on police officers in Howard County public schools.
Some of you may be wondering why I didn’t suggest resources having to do with Columbine, Sandy Hook, or Parkland. That’s because I don’t necessarily believe that school shootings are the reason why there are police officers in HCP...
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Hollow Victories
Imagine a track race. The contestants are lined up, ready to give it their all. When the gun goes off, they take off running, except for the Black man; someone has put heavy weights on his ankles. He struggles to run as the others pull farther and farther ahead. As the other contestants reach the home stretch, a race official finally stops the race and points out that the Black man has been wrongly and unfairly handicapped. The race officials take the weights off the Black man’s ankles, pa...
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