Dear President Trump, I was so wrong – we aren’t catching a break at all. Even while on vacation you are quite capable of keeping the horror reels coming. I know your destructive little minions have been working long and hard on both the new rules about the types of social services immigrants will be … Continue reading A long letter about “undoing” rather than “dismantling” racism
Engagement
Caring is risky and hard
Dear President Trump, It’s one of those Sunday evenings when it feels like I’ve been up for two days straight. I slept in until 8 this morning and got plenty of sleep so it’s really not an exhaustion that makes logical sense, but it’s real. My feet hurt and that “please don’t look at me … Continue reading Caring is risky and hard
Mental health projects
Dear President Trump, A few days ago a very large, very heavy box was delivered to our door containing the makings of an 8-drawer wooden bureau that will hold my messiest art materials – the hundreds of dried leaves, flowers, crumpled paper, and random bits of cardboard that I use for printing. All this messy … Continue reading Mental health projects
Righting (or rather “lefting”) this American context
Dear President Trump, Today, in this American context we have dozens of families making funeral arrangements for loved ones killed by hateful young white men with twisted agendas and weapons of war. We have hundreds of children in Mississippi who don’t know where ICE took their parents. We have a biracial couple in Ohio looking … Continue reading Righting (or rather “lefting”) this American context
This American context
Dear President Trump, How about those lists I sent you yesterday? You might have noticed that the lists of things people of color like about being part of their groups had lots of references to food, language, and culture, both generally and with regards to some specifics. Did you catch that the white people’s list … Continue reading This American context
I hope Toni Morrison had a good death
Dear President Trump, Lately, when I learn of very old people’s deaths I have a muddle of thoughts and feelings in response; happiness for them that they’ve been released from our current mayhem right alongside sadness and frustration that they didn’t get to see us come through to the other side. I don’t know what … Continue reading I hope Toni Morrison had a good death
Sitting with the fact of racism
Dear President Trump, How was it for you sitting overnight with the idea that all white Americans are racist? Ok, I know, you haven’t read a single word I’ve written you and even if you had, you wouldn’t have stuck with this run of letters for a nanosecond, and even if there was some rent … Continue reading Sitting with the fact of racism
We need to cut the crap and get real about racism
Dear President Trump, Towards the end of the first day of the Undoing Racism workshop last Thursday the group was asked to define racism and after about 15 or 20 minutes of listing lots of different ideas, we were given the People’s Institute’s understanding of racism. Here’s their definition: “Racism = Racial Prejudice + Power” … Continue reading We need to cut the crap and get real about racism
Jamestown and historical illiteracy
Dear President Trump, I just checked the weather report for Jamestown, VA and it’s already over 80 degrees there at 9am. The forecast is a high of 93. Since you all will mostly be in a huge white, air conditioned tent, none of you is likely to succumb to the heat, but I reckon there’ll … Continue reading Jamestown and historical illiteracy
“Welcome home Ilhan!”
Dear President Trump, There is a minute or so clip that circulated on Twitter and in the mainstream media of Ilhan Omar’s recent arrival at the airport in Minneapolis. The images are blurry and the filming is pretty amateur with lots of herky-jerky movements, as though the person filming is being jostled the entire time, … Continue reading “Welcome home Ilhan!”