I still remember the hot, sticky spit sliding down my frozen face. School had just let out at the elementary school in Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The year was 1963, give or take. I was standing beside a big…
Is it now illegal to mention the Tulsa Race Massacre in the classrooms of Oklahoma?
On June 1, 1921, the Greenwood district of Tulsa, home to more than 10,000 Black residents, was intentionally destroyed by a white mob. An estimated 300 Black residents died; close to 1,000 were seriously injured. Every home in the 30-block…
If you’re not concerned about the Southern Baptists, you ought to be!
“I just ran into some weirdos in the airport,” Uncle Eugene reported. “You know, the kind with their heads shaved except for a little ponytail at the back.” “I think they’re Hare Krishna,” I said. “Well, whatever,” Uncle Eugene continued…
The righteous and the wicked: The progressive Baptist quest for a new gospel
For decades, progressive white Baptists have opened leadership roles at the highest level to women and people of color. But Black Baptists have shown a greater willingness to affiliate with the conservative Southern Baptist Convention than with more moderate groups…
Trying to make sense of January 6: Jesus wept
I watched the bizarre assault live on television as I rocked an infant in my arms. I have spent every waking minute reading eyewitness accounts, listening to podcasts and watching cable news. I’m trying to understand. I’m asking myself if…
How 300 children lost their fathers to lynching on a single day because of a conspiracy theory
At last count, 73,923,495 Americans have voted for Donald Trump. Trump eclipsed Barack Obama’s previous record by more than 4.5 million votes. Trump topped his own 2016 performance by 11 million votes. That’s huge. Trump lost the election; but he…
‘The Critique’ versus ‘The Heroic Narrative’ defines the debate in America today
In 2015, 37% of Republican voters told pollsters that “colleges have a negative effect on the United States.” By 2019, 59% of Republicans said they believed that. Among non-white voters, educational level had no effect on political preference in the…
Is the Kentucky attorney general a sell-out?
“There is always a place for posers who are willing to sell out their own people,” my Facebook post read. “Gain the world, and lose your soul.” The reference was to Daniel Cameron, the Kentucky attorney general, who had just…
After 23 years in prison, Curtis Flowers is free
I have been working to free Curtis Flowers for 12 years. He’s been locked up twice that long. Yesterday, Sept. 4, after six flawed murder trials, Lynn Fitch, attorney general of Mississippi, dismissed the charges against Curtis with prejudice. That…