Navigate / search

No Choice is the Goal

Share

The Naked Truth column was published in The Cap City Hues, September 9, 2019

Conservative legislators have been chipping away at Roe v. Wade since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a woman’s right to a safe abortion. That was 1976. Extremists have added their own brand of terrorism to the battleground issue from aggressive protests to the bombing of abortion clinics to the murder of doctors who perform the procedure. Most polls show that most Americans support the right to choose. Yet this law — the right to choose — is not being protected by our government. Read more

We’ve got to get to shooters before they shoot

Share

Published in St. Louis American on September 5, 2019

 

According to its definition, the Gun Violence Archive has documented 251 mass shootings in the U.S. since January. The El Paso and Dayton massacres brought that total to 253. GVA tracks mass shootings of incidents involving at least 4 people being shot. My reaction to the wails of grief and desperation is we know these shooters.

This was the point of a recent conversation with two local community activists, Martha Jane West and Doris Baltimore. Like other conversations in Black and Brown communities across the country, we are wondering what this latest trend of targeted people of color means for our safety.

Read more

400 Years of a mutating enslavement

Share

Published in St. Louis American June 13, 2019

“Historical ignorance.” That was the poignant phrase expressed at the second installment of trilogy held recently at Washington University. Dr. Cornell W. Brooks delivered a powerful address that wove together black and American history, biblical scriptures and contemporary issues. The trilogy commemorates “Blacks in America: 400 Years Plus.” The initiative is being led by Professor Jack Kirkland, a respected faculty member at the Brown School. Read more