Milwaukee is my home. I was born and raised there. My family home is in the Sherman Park neighborhood, half a block from the location of the unrest that happened the weekend of August 12th, 2016. My parents still live there. Until recent history, Sherman Park was a bastion of black success, the heavily sought… Continue reading The Black American Dream and Milwaukee
Year: 2016
The Desire to Drown
I knew from the way she set her schoolbag down that the argument wasn’t over. Usually it sat on the floor next to her desk in our shared office, but tonight she’d left it out in the hallway. A habit that had taken me some time to decipher. The office was where I worked and… Continue reading The Desire to Drown
The Baltimore I See
I grew up in the suburbs, about 10 miles west of Baltimore City, went to predominately white schools and only knew of “the city” as the Inner Harbor. My lens was very limited. Shielded by my own blindness, it wasn’t until I entered high school that I started becoming more aware of the other Baltimore.… Continue reading The Baltimore I See
Dreams Deferred: Fostering Healing in Black Men and Boys
Let’s take a peek at the Black male over time: [1903] W.E.B. DuBois in The Souls of Black Folk: The Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world—a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation… Continue reading Dreams Deferred: Fostering Healing in Black Men and Boys
Fatherless Boys Transition into Black Men
I grew up without the father I always wanted. Most of the time I struggled with that, other times I tried not to think about it. But that emptiness I felt was always there and always affected me. And at the same time, I used it as a tool to tell my story of growing… Continue reading Fatherless Boys Transition into Black Men
Rogue’s Rules: Chapter 4 Part II
Rogue’s Rules is a work of fiction by award-winning, bestselling author Jervey Tervalon. Read the other chapters in the series here. I watch her disappear into the sea of white faces at round tables. Wonder what she had in mind to do? Maybe she’d get Grummett so high he’d run naked down California Blvd. and… Continue reading Rogue’s Rules: Chapter 4 Part II
Eradicating Patriarchy From Movement Spaces
This is article two of five in a patriarchy series—from the mouth of a Black man to the ears of Black men—written by the multi-talented Daniel Johnson. Subscribe via email. Over the long history of Black resistance and social revolution in America, there has concurrently run a simultaneous vein of Patriarchy which has informed these… Continue reading Eradicating Patriarchy From Movement Spaces
Vol 3: Think Happy Thoughts While Catching Hell
Peace. Black folks have been catching hell since we’ve been in this country, and we keep catching hell today. There’s a perpetual pressure and need for black folks to find a way to balance our mental anguish and rage—born of micro-aggressions, aggressions, and disrespect—with positivity in order to function. Thank God (love) black folks have… Continue reading Vol 3: Think Happy Thoughts While Catching Hell
Thinking of Baby Future, and Myself
I’m an expert at avoiding celebrity gossip. I don’t go to any of the popular sites to read it; I scroll by it with all the speed I can muster when I see it on social media. I honestly don’t care enough about it–the drama itself, or the people involved. But sometimes, things hit me.… Continue reading Thinking of Baby Future, and Myself
The War Inside Education
Abraham Lincoln once quipped: “Teach the children so it won’t be necessary to teach the adults.” I became involved in education in my Georgetown University undergraduate career at two local high schools: Duke Ellington High School and Ballou High School. After graduation, I felt an urge to make a greater impact by taking teaching full… Continue reading The War Inside Education