Finding courage
Last week, I saw a thread on twitter that got me thinking about Black people, white people (especially women), and the concept of courage. In the stream of tweets, Dr. Jenn M. Jackson wrote, “Courage...
View ArticleThe progressive movement and its racism problem
To be in anti-racist work is to understand that none of us are above reproach and that, regardless of our identity, we have to be willing to continue learning and expanding. Part of that learning is...
View ArticleThe permanence of racism—is there any hope? 
In the years prior to my dad’s untimely death in 2020, our relationship was tense at times. To be frank, Dad—while he was proud of my professional accomplishments—struggled with the context of my...
View ArticleProgressive racism and local politics, or Get me out
It was well over a year ago when I made the decision to run for a seat on the Portland Charter Commission. At the time, I thought it would be a great way to make a difference in my local community...
View ArticleWhite discomfort causes harm
I am not certain when I discovered that life was not always going to be a comfortable experience for me. But if I had to guess, I suspect it was when I started kindergarten and was seated in the back...
View ArticleLeaning how long racism has been harming white people, too
My co-producer Florence Edwards and I have spent the last 18 months or so working on a podcast. It’s called 99 Years and it’s a Black exploration of the deliberate creation of the whitest state in the...
View ArticleI have a confession
When my then-husband and I moved to Maine in 2002, the plan was to only be here for eight years. As soon as my son turned 18, and I no longer needed to be in the same vicinity as his father, I would be...
View ArticleCalling All White People, Part 60: Misunderstood white men
TODAY’S EPISODE: The challenge of being a modern white man One of the great burdens of the 21st century is carrying the massive weight of being a white man. The strain of carrying all that...
View ArticleThe dehumanizing effect of dominant culture
In the years since the Great Racial Awakening of 2020, the number of white-bodied folks who can spot dog whistles and give a general overview of white supremacist culture has grown. Recently, I saw...
View ArticleRacism strikes, my blood pressure spikes
There was a time that pretty much whenever I had a racist encounter, I would write about it. Over the years though, as I have gotten older, I made the conscious choice to not always write about...
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