From the Derek Chauvin trial to the killing of Daunte Wright, it is a hard time to be an African American patriot.

My father used to read an entire Perry Mason book every day; Perry Mason is a fictional American criminal defense attorney authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. The series was a chance for my father to escape his reality as a child living in poverty in a rural region in Nigeria. He eventually gained an American green card and worked at a Stop & Go gas station for upward of two years while studying at Los Angeles Community College…

So there is this “compliment” that well-meaning people lob at me when I write conscientiously about social ills that infuriate me. I write about something deeply painful, troubling and/or problematic in our society in my own fairly measured way that feels innate to me and is not in any way meant to say anything about the deservedness of my politeness as it relates to thing that is problematic or people supporting or engaging in problematic behaviors and without fail someone, sometimes many someones, will thank me for being, “so polite.”

Instead of sharing my outrage at the initial and underlying…

Your Politics

In 2010, the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case changed corporate influence in politics forever. After nearly a century of guidelines that prohibited corporations and wealthy donors from having outsized power in our democracy, the Supreme Court ruled that limiting corporate spending in politics was akin to limiting free speech — except the First Amendment and its protections of free speech were meant for actual people, not corporate entities.

Since then, we have seen political races whose candidates are raising mega money to the tune of billions, making it all but impossible for regular people to run for office…

The Senate vote

On February 13, the U.S. Senate voted 57–43 to acquit former President Donald Trump of inciting the terrifying and violent attack on the Capitol that occurred on January 6. Although 57 votes were “guilty,” and 43 votes were “not guilty,” a total of 67 votes, or a two-thirds majority, was required to convict. This means that 10 additional GOP senators would have had to cross party lines and vote “guilty.” This, we know, was not going to happen.

This could have been the first step toward healing the racial divide that exists within this country.

According to MSN, President Joe…

There is no doubt that President Biden and Vice President Harris are doing an outstanding job so far in their new roles as the leaders of this nation. In his short time in office, according to the Federal Register, President Biden has signed 29 executive orders at the time of this writing. These orders cover the climate crisis, the Covid crisis, the privatization of prisons, immigration, LGBTQI+ anti-discrimination, racial equity, and more.

While we know that Biden and Harris have just begun, we must keep the pressure on them to ensure that they continue to act on behalf of the…

Politics

“I thought I was going to die.”

When Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez uttered those words on her Instagram Live last week, it immediately invoked the once unthinkable scene of our Capitol building under siege by White domestic terrorists. As the world watched the images of violence and terror unfold, Ocasio-Cortez was living through it—hiding in a bathroom, holding her breath, and hoping to God that she wouldn’t be found by the people hunting her.

American carnage. This is the America Trump and his sycophants delivered on January 6, 2021.

As a result of the insurrection, five people died and others were…

We all know the stats: Black folks are more susceptible to Covid-19 but currently have less access to the actual vaccines. The reasons for both of these things can be boiled down to systemic racism, so we don’t need to delve into that for the millionth time. What is curious to me though, is the idea of vaccine shaming Black and Brown folks who have the opportunity to get their own.

I mean, if the vaccine needs to be administered and there are extras and you are taking grandma to get her shot and you are the last folks of…

For months prior to 45’s departure, speculation ensued that as soon as disgraced former President Donald J. Trump was out of office, the Republicans would run from him like America did his bleach injection comments. In almost every off-the-record political piece written there was a consistent theme of some type of quiet objection from the GOP. Murmurs of their fears of retribution if they dare object to his willful ignorance, blatant racism, and overall authoritarian whims allowed for the creation of empathy for their cowardice.

We read comments like, “this isn’t who the Republican Party is — they are being…