Inside my body, I now have molecules that will teach my immune system to recognize the COVID-19 virus. As I sit here waiting in the pharmacy, my body is gaining the knowledge of how to dismantle the threat that has held us hostage for the past year. And my ability to access the vaccine that…
On December 23, 2020, police killed Angelo Quinto by kneeling on his back after responding to a mental health support call at his mother’s home. On June 2, 2020, police shot and killed unarmed Sean Monterrosa as he knelt in front of a squad car. On May 25, 2020, police killed George Floyd by kneeling…
The one-year anniversary of Ahmaud Arbery’s death. The release of an official report confirming that police had no reason to stop, frisk, or choke Elijah McClain. The lack of charges for police officers who killed Daniel Prude. The shooting deaths of two Fort Wayne teenagers in a hate crime. All of these events are happening…
This piece was also published in the Oak Park newspaper Wednesday Journal. If we value humanity, we white people must co-create and work in spaces that aspire towards antiracism. If we work in these spaces, our family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors of color will, at some point, call us racist or white supremacist, will say…
A reckoning means a settling of accounts. I've heard the word numerous times in the past week, since the insurrection in Washington, D.C.: "a day of reckoning", "a racial reckoning", "reckoning with our history". It seems that we need to account for what has been taken in and paid out over the four centuries since…
This piece was also published in the Oak Park newspaper Wednesday Journal. Oak Park resident Kevin Peppard has filed objections against the candidacies of Anthony Clark and Chibuike Enyia for Oak Park Village Trustee in the April 6th municipal election. Over the years, Mr. Peppard has filed numerous objections against various candidates for village offices.…
Some of us wear our moderation like a badge of honor, as if it represents our intellectual fortitude in discerning the true path between opposing extremes. And in some cases, moderation is a virtue -- in our diet, in our exercise, in caring for our bodies. But when discerning a stance on issues of moral…
After the terror of Election Night, the tension of the following days, and the jubilation of Saturday’s call for Biden and Harris, we now contemplate what this election means for our pursuit of justice. We have exiled Trump and his openly racist and xenophobic beliefs from the White House, but more than 70 million Americans…
Darkness, until 2016 4 weeks until Election Day What is the purpose of rest? Is it to reenergize ourselves for the struggles ahead? Neuroscience suggests that during sleep, our brains reorganize our neural pathways and remove toxins. We process our emotions through dreams and file away memories and learning. Our bodies heal and our muscles…
This piece also appeared in a slightly different form in the Oak Park newspaper Wednesday Journal on Wednesday, October 7, 2020. In August, a resolution came before the Oak Park Village Board that would have reduced funding for the police department. The “Freedom to Thrive” resolution did not specify how that reduction would take place,…
Entwining 