The Numbers Made Me Look Twice When I hear somebody say the Latino vote is moving toward an almost even political split, I understand why that gets people’s attention. But before building an argument around those numbers, I have to make sure the numbers themselves are right. George W. Bush did not receive 44 percent
When Black Political Power Is No Longer the Only Prize Read More »
When Life Seems to Line Up There are times in life when something happens so perfectly that I stop and wonder whether it was really just a coincidence. I may be thinking about somebody I have not spoken to in months, and suddenly the telephone rings with their name on the screen. I may be
When Coincidence Starts Feeling Like a Message Read More »
The Experiment That Still Disturbs Me The Milgram experiment is one of those psychological studies that stays with you because it forces an uncomfortable question about ordinary human behavior. Psychologist Stanley Milgram began the research at Yale University in 1961, and the first major results were published in 1963. His work was influenced in part
How Far Will Ordinary People Go When Authority Says Continue? Read More »
The Question Behind the Wealth There is a question about American history that has stayed with me because it sounds simple until I really sit with it. If Black people contributed so much labor to building America’s wealth, why did Black families end up owning so little of that wealth? The answer does not begin
Before There Was a Wealth Gap, There Was an Ownership Gap Read More »
Why So Many Black Texans Are in the East When I look at Texas today, one thing that catches my attention is how much of the state’s historic Black population has been concentrated in the eastern part of Texas. That pattern did not happen by accident. East Texas contained the climate, rainfall, rivers, fertile soil,
Juneteenth, Texas, and the History Beneath the Celebration Read More »
A Story That Stayed With Me There is an old saying that tells us to be careful what we wish for because we just might get it. I have always thought there was wisdom buried inside those few words. Sometimes we want something so badly that we never stop to consider what possessing it might
Be Careful What You Wish For Read More »
The Black Body and the Making of Wealth When I hear someone say enslavers wanted the strongest Black bodies they could find and worked them until they had nothing left to give, I understand the anger behind those words. That anger comes from recognizing the cruelty and exploitation enslaved people endured. The Atlantic slave trade
When Black Suffering Gets Turned Into a Competition Read More »
When History Starts Looking Like a Cycle The older I get, the harder it becomes for me to think about history as something that simply happened and disappeared. I can listen to Black leaders speaking in 1961, 1962, and 1963 and hear arguments that still sound familiar today. They were talking about voting rights, police
There Is No Past When the Same Questions Keep Coming Back Read More »
The Question That Sounds Simple There is a question that sounds simple until someone asks me to answer it without mentioning the usual things about my life. I cannot use my name, job, relationships, accomplishments, or even my personality to explain who I am. Who am I? Most of us answer by describing what we
I Am Not Every Voice Inside My Head Read More »
When Work Friendship Feels Like Real Friendship One thing I have learned about working with people is that spending eight hours together can make strangers start feeling like family mighty fast. You see the same faces every morning, drink coffee together, complain about the same problems, and laugh about things nobody outside the workplace would
Coworkers Are Not Automatically Your Friends Read More »