She is dead and her killers walk free. They murdered Breonna Taylor in the dead of night, in the supposed safety of her home, in her own bed. They fired more 32 times through her apartment door, without care for who was behind it. In essence, these police officers charged and convicted her of her…
Cultivating anger
On Friday night, I heard the news -- Ruth Bader Ginsburg had passed away. I momentarily felt disbelief, and then a surge of anger. Congressional Republicans would surely use her passing as an opportunity to jam through a right-wing justice. That would further skew the Supreme Court, which may decide on and influence the processes…
Cultivating joy
I read a book. I eat a good meal. I travel with my family. I dig into a challenging task at work. I take a walk in nature. Which of these things bring me happiness? Which create joy? The relationship between these two emotions is a complicated one. There are experiences that bring me happiness,…
The next 55 days
There are 55 days until the election on November 3, 2020. 55 days to shift the outcome, to change the narrative. This is not just about Trump. This is about moving our national story toward one of community, of support, of justice. What can we each do in those 55 days? We must answer that…
Action and reaction
This essay is also published in the local Oak Park newspaper, Wednesday Journal. Every action has an equal, opposite reaction. It is a law of physics, and we have taken it as a law of racial progress in this nation. Whenever Black people have won some small advancement, we white people have lashed back against…
Here’s what child development can teach us about growing into an antiracist white identity.
This essay is a remix of some of the ideas I pondered earlier in my series of essays: Racial development, Antiracist white identity, Racial agency, and Antiracist competencies. I grew up in the suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the white son of white parents -- a teacher and an engineer. My parents, my sister, and I…
Excavating white anxiety
As humans, our brains are attuned to expect the worst. This adaptation has helped us thrive in the world as it is. We look for the negative effect, the deficit, the problem that needs addressing so that we can survive. We also have developed a tremendous intellect, an ability to manipulate abstract information, to extrapolate…
When will “Black Lives Matter” no longer matter?
Store windows were smashed. Merchandise was stolen. Black people were blamed. "This won't help their cause," white people said. "I support Black Lives Matter, I'm against looting, and I support good cops," white people said. "When will this chaos be over?" white people said. We white people always have a way of twisting things around…
Reflections on the Cicada, Part 2
Last August, I had an encounter with a cicada and recorded my thoughts in this blog. With the return of the cicadas this summer, here are my thoughts on another encounter. As we walked through the yard outside our building, we noticed a cicada shell hanging from a tree branch. We had noticed a number…
Living into change: A vision for pandemic schooling
It is the first day of school, 2020. This year has not been like other years. This school year will not be like other school years. Jonathan is a sophomore in high school, and his freshman year was upturned by the arrival of the coronavirus, which shuttered his school, as it did schools across the…
Entwining 