“We can live in a world where the police don’t kill people by limiting police interventions, improving community interactions, and ensuring accountability.” So reads the hopeful, matter-of-fact vision statement of Campaign Zero, a momentous, sweeping initiative focused intently on ending police violence in the United States. Organized by four social justice leaders from around the country… Continue reading Campaign Zero
Tag: Ernest White II
Of Gods and Men
“As an artist, you have to get outside of the concern with what other people think of what you do. I don’t do what I do to appease people. I do the opposite. I do stuff that makes you uncomfortable, that makes you get up and say ‘What are you saying? James, did you read… Continue reading Of Gods and Men
Blood Brothers: Haitians in the Dominican Republic
One could say that the whole mess started in 2013, when the Constitutional Court, the supreme judicial body of the Dominican Republic, immediately rendered some 200,000 of its citizens stateless. “The ruling retroactively stripped Dominicans of Haitian descent of citizenship back to 1929,” says France François, spokesperson for the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Haitian Professionals… Continue reading Blood Brothers: Haitians in the Dominican Republic
Black Like Me
Once upon a time, I lived in Colombia. And one day, I posted this as my Facebook status: Acabo de caminar del gimnasio. Hoy es un día brillante de sol tropical. Y bajo de ese sol iluminante, se me dió cuenta que yo era el único negro/moreno/mulato en la calle que no era obrero, vigilante,… Continue reading Black Like Me
Douchebaggery and the Great Wall of China
“Hey you,” the vending lady barked at us. “You buy souvenir.” “No, no, thank you.” I said, as politely as I could, pressing my lips together in that unintentionally patronizing, very American way. She stalked off, muttering not quite under her breath. I didn’t understand the words, but I understood the meaning. We were being… Continue reading Douchebaggery and the Great Wall of China
Together, We Are Better
My mother and father grew up in segregation. Mickey and Miami have fooled people into thinking otherwise, but Florida is and always was a Southern state. My father was born during the Baby Boom and lived in a shotgun house on the brother side of Jacksonville, the youngest of four siblings. His older brother, Julian, made… Continue reading Together, We Are Better
Going Native
“Where you from?” the driver asks in Spanish after a few minutes in the air-conditioned cab. He had picked me up on the corner near my apartment, sweating under the morning sun in my khakis and button-down dress shirt with the sleeves rolled-up to the elbow. He is running me to the university, but it… Continue reading Going Native
Brothers, Do You Love Yourselves?
Fat faggot was what they called me from eighth through twelfth grades. It had been just plain faggot before then. And sissy and sweet thang and Oreo and mutt and sometimes halfbreed and once or twice even cracker. But it was fat faggot that stayed. It stayed after I had graduated high school and lost… Continue reading Brothers, Do You Love Yourselves?
My Fellow Black Americans: It’s Time to Get—and Use—That Passport
Brothers, if you don’t have one already, you need to get yourself a passport. If you do have one, it’s time to use it. As a 37-year-old black man from Florida, I can honestly say that now, more than ever in my lifetime, I am mortally afraid of inadvertently pissing off some over-eager, trigger-happy jackass… Continue reading My Fellow Black Americans: It’s Time to Get—and Use—That Passport