Honestly, I was surprised my Black Lives Matter yard sign made it as long as it did. After three months, it finally met its first round of vandalism. You can see in the photos below that someone decided to write the word All all over the word Black with a permanent marker: Having the […]
Props to Lansing Police Chief Mike Yankowski for Attending #BlackLivesMatter & Justice Events
I attend a fair number of #BlackLivesMatter and local justice events in Lansing. This morning I was at Action of Greater Lansing‘s Martin Luther King prayer breakfast held at Union Missionary Baptist Church. Lansing Police Chief Mike Yankowski was in attendance at the breakfast this morning. He didn’t have to be there, he was there […]
Finding Balance in Race Issues: Not Easy, but Necessary
We are naturally drawn to extremes when it comes to race issues; I am no exception. I wrote an article a few months back after University of Cincinnati (white) police officer Ray Tensing shot and killed unarmed (black) man Sam Dubose at point blank range. I was trying to make a point. I went to […]
4 Essential Points Misunderstood by Whites in the #BlackLivesMatter Movement
I posted somewhat of an emotional rant a few days ago after watching the body camera footage of unarmed black Sam Dubose being shot in the head by white police officer Ray Tensing at point blank range…followed by Tensing blatantly lying to his fellow officers about what happened as a way of trying to make […]
Body Cameras Protect the Good Cops and Bring Justice to the Bad #BlackLivesMatter
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 […]