In January The Washington Post published a powerful three-part series looking at the plight of the black middle class in America. The series focuses on Maryland’s Prince George’s County—the most affluent majority-black county in America, as well as one of the counties hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis. At the heart of the series is a singular, vexing question: “Why don’t […]
race
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
Seven Stories for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Below are seven stories about (or by) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., exploring different facets of his life and legacy.
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
Seven Stories for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Below are seven stories about (or by) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., exploring different facets of his life and legacy.
Posted inNonfiction
The Cost
“I want to tell you something: it is nearly impossible for a young black man to stay out of trouble in a country where skin color is the marker for suspicion and violence and grief.”
Posted inNonfiction, Story
The Cost
“I want to tell you something: it is nearly impossible for a young black man to stay out of trouble in a country where skin color is the marker for suspicion and violence and grief.”
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Southern Music’s Racial Double Standard
We believe automatically that Chris Knight is not — could never actually be — that homeless man with a gun. Put the same lyric in Killer Mike’s mouth, though, and you think something different, don’t you? You do not assume instantly that Mike is merely inhabiting a character. No, in your mind, he is the […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
A Step Back for The Civil Rights Movement
Over the next three decades, Hank Sanders became a fixture in the statehouse, ascending to the chairmanship of the Senate’s Finance and Taxation Education Committee. From his expansive office just off the Senate floor, he controlled Alabama’s Education Trust Fund, the largest operating budget in state government. Sanders tried to exercise his power to represent […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Ta-Nehisi Coates Calls for Reparations, and a 'Spiritual Renewal' for America
We must imagine a new country. Reparations—by which I mean the full acceptance of our collective biography and its consequences—is the price we must pay to see ourselves squarely. The recovering alcoholic may well have to live with his illness for the rest of his life. But at least he is not living a drunken […]
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
The Fault in Our Canon: A Reading List About Problems in the Literary Canon
This brief list is but a glimpse of the complex, crucial and ongoing discussion about the importance of inclusivity and the problems with privilege in the literary canon. Please share your recommendations: essays and articles in this vein, books you wish the canon could accept, etc. 1. “On ‘The John Green Effect,’ Contemporary Realism, and […]
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
Experiences of Black Americans: A Reading List
As a white woman, my role in conversations about race is to listen and learn. This week, I wanted to include pieces about empowerment, stereotypes and intersection in the realm of race. One reading list cannot encompass the vast array of experiences of black Americans; this is not meant to be exhaustive. Send me your […]