Dear President Trump, The big news flashes from my neck of the former woods is that today is my mom’s birthday and this morning Laura left for Atlanta to visit her brother over the holiday weekend. Our daughter will be housesitting over the weekend so it’s going to be an odd few days for the … Continue reading Beginner’s mind
Reform
Sexism = Sexual/Gender Prejudice + Power
Dear President Trump, In addition to wondering what it might be like to adapt some of the People’s Institute’s Undoing Racism workshop exercises to a workshop on undoing sexism, I’ve been thinking about using the framework of the UR racism definition for sexism. You surely won’t recall that the PI’s definition of racism is as … Continue reading Sexism = Sexual/Gender Prejudice + Power
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
Missing blessings and the weight of words
Dear President Trump, Maybe my Google search skills are faltering this morning, but I can’t find anything at all online about what either Chief Anne Richardson (Rappahannock tribe) or Chief Stephen Adkins (Chickahominy tribe) said in their respective blessings at the Jamestown commemoration yesterday. Nothing. Nada. There are references to the fact that they were … Continue reading Missing blessings and the weight of words
Class analysis (1)
Dear President Trump, I’m 100% sure that if you actually read these letters you wouldn’t be thrilled to know that this is the first of what I think will be several, if not many, letters about class, power, and race coming out of last week’s Undoing Racism workshop by the People’s Institute. On the first … Continue reading Class analysis (1)
Contemporary gerrymandering and who counted as people way back when ~ Some serious deja vu
Dear President Trump, You must have done a little happy dance when you saw that your SCOTUS boys came through for you and yours on the gerrymandering case. I got about three pages through Robert’s majority opinion and was feeling so queasy that I had to stop and find Kagan’s dissent. Part of the Roberts-quease … Continue reading Contemporary gerrymandering and who counted as people way back when ~ Some serious deja vu
Boorish boys and hamsters
Dear President Trump, I’m on the plane heading to Minneapolis. It’s been dandy. Someone threw up on the previous flight in a seat two rows ahead of mine and it was pretty ripe. We also had a 30-ish minute delay taking off due to high traffic volumes and there was a disconcerting grinding sound the … Continue reading Boorish boys and hamsters
A boatload of racist crap
Dear President Trump, Today is Laura’s birthday. Last night after work I purchased a lovely bouquet of flowers for her that I hid until this morning. She was so sleepy first thing that she missed seeing them on the dining room table, but her smile when she did see them was wonderful. It’s not easy … Continue reading A boatload of racist crap
Whether the Democrats step up is now the most pressing question
Dear President Trump, All day I’ve been asking myself if I can really stand by my position that the biggest, most consequential question of our lifetimes is whether the Democrats will step up and stop waffling on impeachment. It’s a bold claim since it spans the lifetimes of the youngest newborn baby and that of … Continue reading Whether the Democrats step up is now the most pressing question