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
Visibility
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)
Radical empathy and lack thereof (Part 2)
Dear President Trump, When someone gets hurt in your presence of do you involuntarily wince and feel a zing almost as though it was you who was injured? I honestly don’t know whether narcissistic sociopaths have that capacity, but I rather doubt it so maybe you don’t know what it’s like to feel your stomach … Continue reading Radical empathy and lack thereof (Part 2)
Radical empathy (Part 1)
Dear President Trump, I suppose it doesn’t matter too, too much where I start, no matter what angle one approaches it from, it’s sad, infuriating, and overwhelming. But it does feel important to get the story straight and to tell it reasonably well since it’s one that so many of us white people have a … Continue reading Radical empathy (Part 1)
“Well, those people just don’t listen.”
Dear President Trump, It’s a small story that’s buried several screen scrolls down in the WP, but I thought you might not want to hear about it so it seemed perfect to write about today. It’s about a 10-year old Boy Scout named Liam Holmes who took a knee during his troops’ Pledge of Allegiance … Continue reading “Well, those people just don’t listen.”
Major negatives and a positive
Dear President Trump, Since there are both major negatives related to you that burbled up today, as usual, and a really nice positive development to shine light on, this letter will be a bit of a smorgasbord. Negatives first. Earlier in the day a friend treated me to an indignant retelling of an upstate New … Continue reading Major negatives and a positive
Beloved
Dear President Trump, Today was a churchy sort of day starting with soul choir practice at 9. We’re working on a beautiful song called “MLK” and the last few lines have been playing on repeat in my head for two weeks now, mostly just because of how they sound. I don’t really understand the significance … Continue reading Beloved
“Rise and shine”
Dear President Trump, The overarching theme of yesterday’s church service was “Rise and Shine.” There was a lot of great rise-and-shine music and the guest minister’s sermon along these lines was pretty terrific, but it wasn’t until much later in the day yesterday that I paused and really thought about what it could mean to … Continue reading “Rise and shine”
Adding to your legacy
Dear President Trump, It looks like if I went to a National Park or Monument (or, starting today, any of the Smithsonian Museums) and wanted to send you a postcard to mark the occasion, I’d need to purchase the postcard somewhere other than those places since the visitor centers are closed along with nearly all … Continue reading Adding to your legacy
