I teach a class called “Black Male Leadership” in Division 6 at the Cook County Jail in Chicago. With over 9,000 inmates, Cook County Jail is the largest jail in the United States. It’s located in the center of Chicago, a city that holds the unimpressive distinction of having the nation’s highest murder rate—with over… Continue reading What I Learned Teaching Black Men at the Cook County Jail in Chicago
Tag: Police State
Traumatized Bodies, Desensitized Minds
As more footage of the late Sandra Bland’s final hours of life spirals onto the desks of talking heads and news channel producers, I think it’s important to acknowledge the ability of film to distort and desensitize us to the abuse of another human being. We live in an age and culture where we have… Continue reading Traumatized Bodies, Desensitized Minds
I Have a Nightmare
I am saddened to join with you today in what may go down in history as the most depleted cry for freedom in the history of our nation. Two score years ago, a great American stood in the shadow of another great American who, years before that, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. That decree that was… Continue reading I Have a Nightmare
Love in the Time of Curfew
Being from and living in Baltimore, it has been hard to process exactly how the events following the arrest and death of Freddie Gray have appeared to the outside world. Our overwhelmed, Democratic mayor and our Republican governor let the city slip into a state of fear and confusion, embellished by most of the local… Continue reading Love in the Time of Curfew