Addendum to this article: I first wrote this article after viewing the video of Officer Ray Tensing shooting and killing Sam Dubose at point blank range. It’s title was “Dear White Police Officers, Please Stop Murdering Black Men.” My emotions flared at such on obvious case of black lives not mattering and how if it […]
Systemic Solutions to America’s Systemic Racism Problem
Having a black friend or making cookies for a black person (a.k.a. “love”) is not going to end systemic racism and systemic injustice. Systemic problems require system solutions. I asked my friend Joseph Harris (his “Boiling Points” poem is featured here) for some wisdom from an African American perspective on systemic solutions to racism. Below […]
Ignorance to Racism: Geraldo Rivera’s Comments on LeBron’s “I Can’t Breathe” Shirt
I’m not sure if Geraldo Rivera doesn’t know, doesn’t want to know, or simply doesn’t care. In a Fox News “Race in America” discussion, Rivera made the statement regarding the “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirt LeBron James recently wore in pregame warmups: “I wondered to myself,” Rivera said, “what if LeBron James instead had a shirt, […]
Love is not the Answer to America’s Race Problem
The sociological research book Divided by Faith by Michael Emerson and Christian Smith shows how white evangelical Christians see the solution to America’s race problem coming at an individual level, not a systemic or legislative level (p.115, “Let’s Be Friends” chapter). The predominant thought is that if everyone became a Christian, the race problem would […]
Why the (White) Church Needs to Care About Eric Garner’s Death
Eric Garner, an unarmed African-American man, was choked to death by white police officers in New York City on July 17th. Yesterday a grand jury decided that no criminal charges would be brought against Daniel Pantaleo, the police officer who choked Garner to death. Garner was suspected of selling untaxed cigarettes. What is so unique […]