Dear President Trump, After having read her autobiography about getting both a BFA and an MFA in painting while in her 60’s, I decided to read Nell Irvin Painter’s tome “The History of White People.” I’ll admit that the other book was way more my speed. Her observations on age, gender, and race (since I … Continue reading An evil, stubborn legacy
Race
White by design
Dear President Trump, It’s only 1pm and already it’s been another banner bird day. We took the dogs to the Union Bay Natural Area this morning and saw or heard the following birds: redwing blackbirds, seagulls, mallards, song sparrows, wrens, two osprey (plus noisy chicks), and a heron. We also saw turtles sunning themselves on … Continue reading White by design
Racist legacies
Dear President Trump, The other day Laura told her brother and me how awhile back she tried to find out if anyone in their family had owned slaves (their family is from Tennessee). She described how even though she didn’t find any evidence that their family owned slaves there are too many holes in the … Continue reading Racist legacies
It’s hard to enjoy spring when the POTUS is a narcissistic sociopath
Dear President Trump, I know it won’t make it any less of a cheap shot to preface it with an acknowledgment that it’s a cheap shot, but Happy DT Day – who knew (more than two years ago, that is) that we’d ever have a POTUS who is better recognized on April Fools’ Day than … Continue reading It’s hard to enjoy spring when the POTUS is a narcissistic sociopath
Radical empathy (Part 6)
Dear President Trump, You know Mr. President, there are a lot of people out there who toil away at thankless tasks day in and day out, year in and year out. The variety of such tasks is vast; some get undone almost as fast as they are done and some would be squelched if the … Continue reading Radical empathy (Part 6)
“Great men”*
Dear President Trump, Yesterday there was a WP op-ed about the National Portrait Gallery’s new exhibit celebrating the upcoming centennial of women winning the right to vote and how it brings African American women’s suffrage to the fore. The essay particularly highlights Alice Dunbar Nelson, who I figured was probably related to Paul Dunbar in … Continue reading “Great men”*
“The scales of justice ain’t equally weighed out”
Dear President Trump, After reading Barr’s four-page distillation of the Mueller report another line from another Roots song has been playing in my head on continual loop: “the scales of justice ain’t equally weighed out.” The song, “Tip the Scale,” is from an African American man’s perspective and he’s basically talking himself through his various … Continue reading “The scales of justice ain’t equally weighed out”
Sick of sticking to the script
Dear President Trump, This morning on the way to church I was thinking about the HP article by Felicia Harris where she describes how Michelle Obama “crashed” her book club meeting. Really, the book club members won tickets to Obama’s book tour and it happened that Obama had read the love letter they sent her … Continue reading Sick of sticking to the script
Unpacking radical empathy (Part 4)
Dear President Trump, For some reason I didn’t include the phrase “radical empathy” in my letter to you the other day when I told you about Susan Lanzoni’s WP piece about how white people’s failure of empathy significantly contributes to racial bias and racism. I did use it to title several of the letters in … Continue reading Unpacking radical empathy (Part 4)
Radical empathy and more lack thereofs (Part 3)
Dear President Trump, Even though I’d rather fuss at you about any number of things, it feels important to instead tell you about a couple of concrete examples where I’ve caught myself behaving in ways that lacked empathy for black people since there’s little point in just focusing on these issues in the abstract. The … Continue reading Radical empathy and more lack thereofs (Part 3)
Daily Trump Letters 