A Story Worth Looking Beneath When I first heard the debate about Quinta Brunson possibly developing and starring in a Betty Boop movie, I was not surprised by the reaction. The discussion quickly brought the story of Baby Esther back into the spotlight. I understood why people wanted to take another look at the history
Betty Boop, Baby Esther, and the Complicated Story Behind the “Boop” Read More »
The Silence After Love There is a quote that stayed with me: “There is nothing louder than the silence between two people who loved each other deeply but had to walk away.” I understand that kind of silence because it is not really empty at all. It can be filled with memories, unanswered questions, unfinished
When Love Is Real but Still Not Enough Read More »
The Fish Does Not Need Swimming Lessons I heard somebody say that God created fish to swim, and a fish does not need swimming lessons because the ability is already inside it. That simple thought stayed with me because there is something beautiful about creation functioning according to its nature. A fish enters the water
The Gift Is Already in You Read More »
Looking Beyond the Photograph When I first heard about President Donald Trump’s trip to Beijing, what caught my attention was not simply that an American president was meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump traveled to Beijing in May 2026 with an unusually powerful group of American business leaders, including Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Jensen Huang,
When Presidents and Billionaires Sit at the Same Table Read More »
When the Story Begins in Chains One thing that has troubled me about the way Black history is often presented is where somebody chooses to begin the story. Too many lessons seem to introduce Black people when Europeans are putting Africans on slave ships or when enslaved people are already standing in American fields. We
Black History Did Not Begin With Slavery Read More »
The Man Who Attacked Slavery Without Loving Black People One of the strangest arguments against American slavery came from a white Southerner who certainly was no friend of Black people. His name was Hinton Rowan Helper, and he was born in North Carolina in 1829. In 1857, he published The Impending Crisis of the South:
When Slavery Made Poor White Southerners Poorer Read More »
Remembering Africa Before the Wound When I think about Africa, I refuse to begin the story with chains, slave ships, and somebody else’s idea of what Black people were supposed to be. Africa had civilizations, governments, trade networks, mathematics, architecture, medicine, religion, philosophy, agriculture, and scholarship long before the modern Atlantic world existed. Ancient Egypt
When Africa Led With Knowledge, Spirit, and Civilization Read More »
This Was Not Ancient History When I look at photographs of white parents protesting school integration in the 1970s, I have to remind myself that I am not looking at some distant century. These were not people standing outside a schoolhouse in 1865. This was happening during the age of color television, Motown, Muhammad Ali,
When Racism Learned to Change Its Clothes Read More »
The Comparison Needs More Care Than Competition I understand why Black people sometimes look at other communities and ask why we have not achieved the same level of collective organization, wealth, or political influence. That question can open a serious conversation about history, institutions, family networks, education, land, discrimination, and the long consequences of slavery.
Before Politics, There Was the USFL Long before Donald Trump became president, he was already showing the public a style that would later become familiar on a much larger stage. In the early 1980s, that stage was professional football. Trump owned the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League, better known as the
Donald Trump, Doug Flutie, and the USFL: A Football Story That Became Something Bigger Read More »