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…
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…
In mourning
I mourn for a world that never existed. I remember a time when I had no worries about viruses, imminent disease. I remember a time when I could come and go as I wanted. I remember a time when I moved through the world without recognizing the white supremacy embedded in every institution. I remember…
On writing
About one year ago, I started this blog as a way of sharing my perspective on racial and climate justice. In some ways, it is a self-indulgence for one more white man to project his voice into the world. At the same time, I believe it is important for us white people to advocate for…
Interdependence Day
On July 4th, we are fond of celebrating independence, freedom, liberty. This quality is the logical end-point of the United States' national mythology -- the story of the brilliant architects of our national revolution and Constitution, the story of the brave pioneers who set out on their own to subdue the wilderness, the story of…
Defunding the Oak Park Police
Across this country, an uprising has been ignited by the murder of George Floyd -- one in a long line of unarmed Black people killed by police officers. And yet the tinder for this fire comes from so many sources -- the legal, educational, health, and financial systems that marginalize Black people in this country…
My history can fuel me
Carl Schwarz, my great-great-grandfather In 1848, eighteen-year-old Carl Schwarz set out from Pomerania, Germany. He and his family crossed the Atlantic, settling in Lebanon, Wisconsin. They purchased 40 acres of land and built the house that eventually 5 generations of Carl’s family would inhabit. He and his family spoke German at home and in their…
White fear
What are we afraid of? I want every white relative, friend, and acquaintance to really wrestle with that question. When we see Black people protesting, resisting the violence of white supremacy, what causes us fear? Are we really worried about our own physical safety? The safety of the things we own? Or are we worried…
From 100,000 to 1
Sometimes it feels to me as if the spirit of the world has darkened, and sometimes it feels as if I am just more aware of the darkness that was here all along. In the past week, three stories have intersected to reinforce my perception of this darkness. The United States of America has just…
Entwining 