The Pain of the Watermelon Joke
As a child in South Carolina, I spent summers like so many children — sitting on my grandparents’ back porch with my siblings, spitting watermelon seeds into the garden or, even worse, swallowing them and trembling as my older brother and sister spoke of the [...]
After Grand Jury Verdict and Beyond Today Let’s Take Action
Hey Friends of Ferguson, Last night, the world learned the grand jury's unfortunated decision regarding the indictment of Officer Darren Wilson who shot and killed young Michael Brown. The world exploded, especially in our communities of Ferguson, St. Louis (Shaw/Tower Grove), and Clayton. Members of [...]
Open Letter to White Poets from Danez Smith
WE MUST BE THE NEW GUARDS: OPEN LETTER TO WHITE POETS "But when a long train of abuses and usurpation, pursing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw [...]
The Results Are In. An Open Letter from Protestors On The Grand Jury Decision (11.24.14)
In Ferguson, a wound bleeds. For 108 days, we have been in a state of prolonged and protracted grief. In that time, we have found community with one another, bonding together as family around the simple notion that our love for our community [...]
Illustrations; Remembering #MichaelBrown Through his own Words & Music
Two days before starting classes at Vatterott College, a child was killed in our city. “He wanted to own his own business. He’d say, ‘Let’s make something out of nothing,’" said Gerard Fuller who knew the lad since the second grade. Each had attended Pine [...]
My Redneck Past: A Brief Memoir of Two’s
By Paul L. Thomas, Ed.D. | Originally Published at The Becoming Radical. November 13, 2014 | Photograph; Old Store Building Near Enoree, South-Carolina, by Author copyright bearden82 If you’re afraid they might discover your redneck past There are a hundred ways to cover your redneck past [...]
Chicago Police Violence Against Black and Latino Youth Called Out by United Nations Committee Against Torture
CHICAGO NOVEMBER 31, 2014 — After holding their 53rd Session in Geneva, Switzerland earlier this month, during which the United States was under review, on Friday, November 28tth, the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) issued a report titled The Concluding Observations. Leading up to [...]
The Woman Who Beat The Klan
In 1987, my living room could not have been more minimally furnished. A desk. A chair. A wall of books. Only a few items of visual interest sat on the mantel of my fake fireplace. Among them was — horrific image ahead — [...]