family and friends reunion road trip: some things I’ve seen
Seen on many lawns and in many windows: I saw a few in my mother’s senior community, which made me happy. * * * * Seen on a front-yard fence…
abuse of police power
what i’m reading: the skin we’re in by desmond cole
Alternative title: It Happens in Canada, Too. Desmond Cole’s book, The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power may be a difficult book for white Canadians to…
george floyd + 1,000 others annually: justice is not possible, but accountability might help
Derek Chauvin, the police officer who murdered George Floyd, was found guilty on all charges. At long last, after millions protested around the country and the world, a police officer…
which side are you on: the unprecedented strike by nba players is a watershed moment for justice
First of all, it’s not a boycott. It’s a strike. And a wildcat strike to boot. When the players on the Milwaukee Bucks chose not to play in the NBA…
missing nyc: spontaneous political street art in bloom
This story in The New York Times made me miss New York City more than anything has in a very long time. All over the city, artists have created murals…
11 things on my mind about the anti-police-violence and anti-racism protests
1. Most violence is not being committed by protesters. What percentage of protesters are violent? Filter for police provocateurs, filter for white nationalists, filter for random thieves hiding under cover…
kareem abdul-jabbar: you start to wonder if it should be all black people who wear body cams, not the cops
One of the best things I’ve read about the protests rocking in the US and elsewhere is an op-ed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in the Los Angeles Times. In case you…
police resisters: not the solution to systemic racism, but an extremely positive development
I was shocked when Detective Dmaine Freeland, an active duty officer on the NYPD force, publicly condemned the Minneapolis officer who killed George Floyd and the other cops who witnessed…
george floyd, christian cooper, and when will this end?
The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers may be the most shocking disturbing of any I’ve been aware of for a very long time, possibly since the murder…
write for rights 2019 #write4rights
Today, December 10, is Human Rights Day. The date commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948, the first document of its kind. Every…
write for rights 2019 #write4rights
Today, December 10, is Human Rights Day. The date commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948, the first document of its kind. Every…
retro blog part 1: maya moore’s activism
Long ago (in internet terms), in the early days of what we then called the Blogosphere, one of the primary functions of blogs was to share other posts and articles…
maya moore’s quest for justice
Long ago (in internet terms), in the early days of what we then called the Blogosphere, one of the primary functions of blogs was to share other posts and articles…
why do we need to say black lives matter? a brief and partial history lesson
The African American experience in Los Angeles County, California: a brief and selected timeline of sorts.* From 1940-1960, thousands of African Americans migrated from Louisiana, Georgia, Texas, and other southern…
what i’m reading: the new jim crow by michelle alexander
When I first heard the incarceration of African Americans in the United States referred to as a “new Jim Crow,” I thought it must be hyperbole. So did Michelle Alexander,…
what i’m reading: your heart is a muscle the size of a fist, by sunil yapa
If only Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist could be required reading. Everyone who has ever scoffed cynically at protesters. Everyone who has ever seen a…
thank you, colin kaepernick!
Another awesome athlete protest that I have no time to write about. I can only thank Colin Kaepernick for his courage.Joy of Sox speaks for me: To Mookie Betts (And…
what i’m reading: wild by cheryl strayed, zeitoun by dave eggers
I’ve just finished two truly excellent works of nonfiction: Wild and Zeitoun. Both books read like fiction, with clean, clear writing and page-turning suspense. Both document almost unbelievable, out-sized events,…
solidarity forever
Poor neglected wmtc. In addition to having absolutely zero time and mental space to write, I have some kind of head-cold-thing. So instead of trying to string words together in…