No less than three different people have commented to me today about witnessing ostentatious displays of aggressive patriotism in the form of American flags flown with what could only be described as hateful intent.
I Feel The Tide Turning
One of the more bizarre side effects of life on social media, specifically on Facebook, is how it’s allowed us to track our lives over the course of time. We are constantly reminded about what we thought or said in years past, how we looked, what we wore, what upset…
America’s Gift To The World Is Hope
We talk a lot in this country about the American Dream. This idea of transcending our station in life. Of doing better than the generation before. Of meritocracy that would allow one to go from pauper to prince. It is, in a sentiment, optimism. In a word, hope. The writer…
Code Switching
The sociolinguist Einar Haugen coined the term “code-switching” in 1954 to describe language alternation, or the mixing of two or more languages, or dialects. In the 1970s it was adopted by Black academics to describe communication between the Black community in relation to white society at large. W.E.B Dubois, world-renowned…
The Value Of Two Cents
Years ago my parents made the decision not to offer unsolicited advice to their adult children. If asked, they would tell them exactly what they thought, but they would no longer offer unless asked. It seemed like a pretty wise approach to me at the time. I believe this was…
Independence Day Has Lost Its Sparkle
There was a time when I used to enjoy the Fourth of July as much as anyone. As a kid growing up in a small, suburban town in America, it was a highlight of the summer. This was the 1970s and we lived at the corner of Main and Broad,…
The Lion and the Lamb
In American culture, we have a tradition of equating power with heartlessness. We have grown to expect our leaders to have a no-nonsense, logical approach to solving problems without allowing their emotions or personal histories to influence them. The accepted theory is that it takes strength to make the hard…
It’s Not Our Party
Many of us want to be good allies in the fight for racial equality, but we don’t always seem to have a good handle on how to do that. Black comedians have done a pretty good job of lampooning the white character, too eager to join in and be one…
All Uniquely The Same
Here in America, where individualism is the true national religion, we demand the freedom to be different and then work tirelessly to get everyone to follow suit. We fight for our right to be uniquely homogenous, and fight legislation that allows anyone to be different than what we’ve collectively decided…
The Calculus of Cruelty
I never understood the calculus of being cruel. Could never grasp the return on the investment of time and energy. It always seemed like you really had to go above and beyond what was worth one’s time. Had to go out of your way to be unjustifiably cruel. Greed might…