Politics & Current Events

Why DNA Still Fascinates Me The more I learn about DNA, the more I realize how much scientists have discovered and how much remains unanswered. We sometimes talk about genetics as though somebody has already opened the instruction manual and read every page. The truth is more interesting than that. Scientists understand DNA well enough

The Question Behind the Music I am going to start by saying that, strictly as an R&B artist and songwriter, R. Kelly built one of the most successful catalogs of his generation. His music dominated radio, clubs, weddings, slow jams, and R&B playlists for years. Songs like “Bump N’ Grind,” “Down Low,” “I Can’t Sleep,”

The Argument Behind the Casting Every so often, a casting decision becomes about much more than a movie. Suddenly, people are debating history, race, cultural ownership, and who gets to represent the ancient world. The controversy over the possibility of Lupita Nyong’o portraying Helen of Troy raises those kinds of questions. Some people see a

A Traffic Stop Can Change Quickly I have learned that some of the most ordinary questions can carry more weight than we realize, especially during a traffic stop. An officer may walk up to the window and casually ask, “Where are you coming from tonight?” To most people, that sounds like harmless conversation, and our

A Different Kind of Education I have learned over the years that education does not always come from a classroom. Some of our most important lessons come from family, neighborhoods, workplaces, churches, the military, and the difficult situations we face in life. People who come up around the streets can develop a sharp understanding of

A Claim That Made Me Stop and Think I recently came across a claim that made me stop because it described racism in a way I had never heard before. The speaker said researchers had studied the brain waves of racist white men and women and discovered patterns resembling addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The idea

That Strange Moment With AI If you have spent enough time talking with an artificial intelligence system, you may have experienced a moment that made you sit back and say, “Hold on now, where did that come from?” You ask what seems like a simple question, and suddenly the AI introduces a philosophy, historical connection,

What Younger Generations Were Taught About Racism A lot of younger Americans grew up understanding racism differently from the generations that came before them. They learned about slavery, segregation, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Movement mostly through textbooks, documentaries, museums, and classroom discussions. Those lessons taught them about the struggles Black Americans had faced

We Did Not Always Know What We Were Sitting On I have often thought about what happens when Black neighborhoods that were once dismissed suddenly become some of the most expensive places in a city. Families may have lived there for generations without realizing how valuable that location could eventually become. The houses might have