Time to check ourselves on why some souls matter more than others — As the debate over abortion rages in America, many of us are left wondering what the term pro-life really means. I’ve always had a tough time reconciling people who passionately want to save unborn children, yet cheer on Kyle Rittenhouse when he guns down people protesting police-sponsored racism. It’s been…

Understanding generational trauma — Since middle school, many of my Black friends have always been afraid to swim. I didn’t understand back then. Even though my family had no money, my parents still signed me up for lessons.. I still remember going from Tadpole to Whale status with my swimmer patches. Well into adulthood…

Fix the classroom for Black kids and watch more bloom — There’s been enough studies that unequivocally demonstrate that teacher bias against Black boys and girls is rampant. And even more studies that show that this bias directly causes lower achievement in some students. Obviously not for everyone but for enough. I’m not talking about the more easily confrontable overt racial…

How a mostly Black men’s retreat in the mountains changed lives — You see the ads all the time. Women’s Yoga Retreat 2022. Women’s Wellness Getaway: Five Days in Costa Rica. Women’s Empowerment Summit. Entire journals and articles are devoted to women’s mental health. Women have had to overcome monumental challenges in a male-dominated society, so these mental-health-building programs are much needed.

End critical race theory hysteria and instead, let’s educate — America is in a bit of a frenzy these days to abolish books and ideas that might in any way challenge our ingrained thinking on race. More guns. Fewer books. Got it. The scholarly, decades-old framework known as critical race theory is mostly taught to law students and holds that…

Progressives also need to address their biases — Many of us White fighters for social justice spend so much time combatting racism that we forget to reflect on our own biases, microaggressions, voting decisions and thoughts. We ignore how we also have miles to go to become more evolved humans. To become part of solutions rather than unintentional…

What’s wrong with positive stereotypes — About ten years ago, a kind, 18-year-old Korean kid sat next to me on an airplane. He was moving to the United States to attend college in Kansas City, Missouri. Curious and excited, he bombarded me with question after question. About America, about politics and about me personally. I was…

Extreme adversity creates extremely great people. — Very deep in the Earth, in a layer known as the mantle, diamonds are formed. Under 2,000- degree heat and overwhelming pressure that exceeds 725,000 pounds per square inch. The intense heat and pressure together create a crystalline carbon, which then forms a hexagonal sheet pattern into a triangular shape…

While we fight society’s injustices, we can in the meantime free ourselves of personal bondage — It sometimes seems endlessly tiring to try to change so many unjust systems. For many, it must feel overwhelming and even downright depressing to think about how long we’ve begged for profound societal changes only to keep coming up short. Mention Critical Race Theory, and it sends so many people…