The 37th Best Place to Live in America

by with 3 Comments CultureFeaturedhighlight

In the late ’90s, my parents brought me home to a suburban town in northern Connecticut near the Massachusetts line. The town was quaint, with old houses touting 18th century New England, and a community that seemed to protect and serve one another. This was the town I always wanted to be a part of, and in many aspects today would like to have felt nostalgic for. However, when we celebrate the past, we always seem to glorify the beautiful parts, the memories that make us feel good rather than the brutal truth – and the truth is if I had grown up in 18th century New England, I would have been a slave – one of 5 in the town at the time.

But instead, I grew up in a town that was 92% white. The seemingly perfect town filled with church members, soccer moms, lovers of their community, has a glaringly dark past with racism. All that to say – that the town where I grew up is a place where black people make up only 2% of the total population and no one seemed to care.

We don’t talk about what it means to be such a small minority in a place that is reportable “safe” and a great place to live. I don’t disagree that it is “safe”, but these statistics are made by and for white people. My memories of the town are distorted but I know of the trials and tribulations that my family went through and other Black people, even if they try to hide behind high-end cars and responsibility politics. The truth is that towns like mine are “perfect” in theory because they intentionally exclude others who threaten their collective identity. They run away from the issues at hand and instead put on a shiny smile like parents attending their kid’s fundraising event, to deflect that they are in fact not perfect and sustained oppressive systems. If you are “perfect” then issues such as mental health, poverty, sexism, racism, and more don’t exist.

I went to school from kindergarten to high school here. I only had one black teacher in middle school who wanted to make me feel like I belonged. I didn’t. I knew it. And he did too. But he tried because he knew what I would be facing throughout my life. But the other teachers and neighbors were stronger, using their polite demeanors to constantly surveil and harass me into knowing my place. The racism tied with sexism, wealth discrimination, and prejudice because of my family’s status as black immigrants was psychological warfare served with a smile.

Fast forward to today while black men and women are killed constantly and our ideals of democracy for all are crumbling. I’m bombarded with fake activism on my social media feed and then puppies or someone’s trip to Long Island. It’s a weird type of dystopia. Justice still has not been served – not to Breonna Taylor, not to Trayvon Martin, not to George Floyd, and not to the 2% of Black alumni who attended these primarily white institutions alone. They all deserve better. We deserve better and I am empowered by the lives of other Black alumni and people of color across the nation; whose parents worked to put them into systems that would benefit them, only to realize those systems were not created for them. We are resilient, and we won’t be held to the standards of the systems that oppressed us. Now is the time to act. We are the 2%. Support black alumni in Connecticut and across the nation by signing the petition now.

Petition: Improve Racial Inclusivity in Tolland Public Schools

There is Joy at Night

by with One Comment CultureFeaturedPolitics

History will be made on July 20, 2020. MSNBC‘s weekend host of AM Joy will officially be the first African-American woman to anchor a show during primetime on cable television. Many of her viewers and followers, many of whom have been following her for years, feel like they’re a part of this history. And as a result, many have shared their strong views in celebration of this historical moment. African-Americans specifically feel like their sister or their Aunt Joy has made history. She has recently been praised by CA Rep Maxine Waters who made it clear how huge this was for African-American women. Many women have shared that this is a great opportunity and door for all women that Joy is walking through. 

You also have a number of esteemed journalists coming forth to congratulate her on this historic accomplishment and great promotions, such as Dan Rather, former anchor of “CBS Evening News”, and iconic Carole Simpson, the first African-American woman in history to host a show on a major news network. Simpson, who anchored “NBC News” in 1975, became the first African-American woman to anchor a major network newscast.

Joy Reid’s Journey…

Many people don’t know that Joy has been working for this moment for nearly 25 years. According to Wikipedia, Reid began her journalism career in 1997, leaving New York and her job at a business consulting firm to begin working in southern Florida for a WSVN Channel 7 morning show.[10] She left journalism in 2003 to oppose the war in Iraq and President George W. Bush, but returned to broadcasting as a talk radio host, and then worked in the Barack Obama presidential campaign.[1] From 2006 to 2007, Reid was the co-host of Wake Up South Florida, a morning radio talk show broadcast from Radio One’s then-Miami affiliate WTPS, alongside “James T” Thomas.[7] She served as managing editor of The Grio[11] (2011–2014), a political columnist for Miami Herald (2003–2015), and the editor of The Reid Report political blog (2000–2014).[12] From February 2014 to February 2015, Reid hosted her own afternoon cable news show, The Reid Report.[13] The show was canceled[14] on February 19, 2015 and Reid was shifted to a new role[15] as an MSNBC national correspondent.[16] Since May 2016, Reid has hosted AM Joy, a political weekend-morning talk show on MSNBC, and is a frequent substitute for other MSNBC hosts, including Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow. As of 2018, Reid’s morning show on Saturday averages nearly 1 million weekly viewers.

In June 2020, it was announced that Reid would likely be taking over “Hardball with Chris Matthews”. But in July, MSNBC announced that Reid would host “The ReidOut”, a new weeknight show at 7 p.m. EST that was once slotted to replace Hardball and Chris Matthews’s following his sudden retirement. 

Joy Reid was the one that brought us the Trayvon Martin story. She reported this horrific tragic loss of life from its conception to today, as well as countless others who’ve been unarmed and murdered by the police. She is a wife and mother and finds time for family while leading a successful career. Joy is known as the no-nonsense journalist, the one you cannot lie to. She’s quick with follow-up questions and will literally pull out receipts as they call it while live on air. She has been wrongly attacked and made to look bad in the media for previous LGBTQ comments that were taken out of context… an unsuccessful attempt to stop her successful rise. In fact, the LGBTQ community came to her rescue. Trained journalists and everyday citizens know that Reid has been a strong advocate for the LGBTQ community, as well as other marginalized communities. She is someone that everyone loves to hear from, talk to, or take a picture with while attending the annual National Association of Black Journalist Convention (NABJ), where she has held multiple nominations. So I am personally excited about this move by MSNBC to make history with Joy Reid in July 2020. I hope that we support her as she has supported us over the years.

Similar Read: Should Biden’s VP be a Black Woman?

Are We Surprised?

by with 7 Comments CultureFeaturedGen Z

It’s all over the news. Another black man was murdered. Two white men chased and shot Ahmaud Arbery in broad daylight and they sat peacefully in their home for months, without remorse or conviction for what they had done. Ahmaud Arbery’s shooting comes as no surprise to me but I, like many black and brown people across the nation, am grieving.

Amidst COVID-19, black and brown families are suffering – from physical health problems, hunger, distress, and many ailments brought by a long history of inequalities. However, Ahmaud’s shooting hit me hard. I often would try to stay fit by jogging outside my neighborhood. How do I know I won’t be shot like Ahmaud? My brother, a tall skinny runner who recently took up jogging outside, could have been a younger Ahmaud, a Trayvon Martin or Tamir Rice. The black community has no time to grieve. The black community must deal with the current pandemic AND the threat of white nationalism and violence. We are being hunted at the mercy of others, machismo wrapped in the enjoyment of killing prey and the prey happened to be an innocent man jogging. Words cannot describe the feelings surrounding his death. I am concerned but more so angry at those who turn their cheek to injustices. I am concerned that non-black communities are turning a blind eye to murder, with the same lack of remorse and convictions as the killers.

We live in a day and age where social justice is popular, acknowledging the strife of vulnerable communities is popular, and passively advocating for black and brown communities is popular as well. One post for non-black communities “should” be enough to show support. However, those who post are returning to their everyday lives and environments where black lives do not matter. They don’t have to matter and if they do, they are inconvenient and burdensome. The question is how are non-black and brown communities changing the discourse about black men and women in their own communities? What are they doing to curb negative views of black and brown people? How do they truly see us on a day to day basis? As we can see, perceptions are stronger than reality and black folk are perceived as dangerous.

The lives of individuals in power take precedent over ours. Even more so, is the view that racism only happens in the South and the South is to blame for these incidents. Don’t get me wrong. The South has had a long and complicated history with racism. However, I do not believe that racist acts and murders only happen in the South. If anything, Ahmaud’s murderers possess a white identity that is reflective of white people across the nation. That blacks do not belong, are dangerous, and they are beneath that of white folks. No matter their athletic ability and likeability, we are still animals, and nothing will change that. 

Similar Read: Justice for Ahmaud?

How Many More?

by with No Comment CultureFeaturedGen Z

I constantly find myself mourning people I’ve never met. The eulogies are the same, but with different names. This time, his name is Ahmaud Arbery, aged 25 and was about to be 26 on May 8th. 

He too fell victim to his skin, the same color as the chocolate that his murderers probably like to eat. Only in the form of candy is Blackness palatable to racism. 

Ahmaud was just out for his daily run. Many people do this; even through this quarantine people are still outside exercising. But isn’t the perception of Black boys and Black men running that they’re ‘usually running from something’? 

On February 23rd in Brunswick, Georgia, Gregory and Travis McMichael were playing vigilante the way George Zimmerman did. Boy and man alike, neither Trayvon nor Ahmaud ‘could have been up to any good’ just running or going to the corner store. 

The McMichaels saw a Black man running in their neighborhood, which couldn’t have been for a reason as innocent and simple as him exercising. 

There had been a series of burglaries in the McMichaels’ neighborhood. I can understand being suspicious of people coming and going that don’t live there. However, would they have pursued him in a truck with trigger happy fingers and guns had he been White instead? 

The way a person runs for leisure and exercise looks entirely different from someone running from a crime, or their death. I suppose it all looked the same to the McMichaels. So yes, Ahmaud was a Black man running from something alright. 

They were the ones armed and dangerous. The McMichaels grabbed a shotgun and a handgun before jumping in their truck to follow Ahmaud. Ahmaud was armed only with the prayer that every Black parent has: that he returns home the same way he left out. Alive. 

What baffles me is how long it took for the McMichaels to be arrested. Two and a half months after the incident, these murderers were just arrested on Thursday, May 7th, and charged with murder and aggravated assault. This only happened because a video of the murder was finally brought to light. 

What baffles me is how William Bryan, the man who took a video of the murder, took this long to turn it over to authorities. He let the McMichaels walk around as free men for two and half months more. He let Ahmaud’s murder almost be waved off as “self-defense.” 

I’m not saying that he and his family deserve the death threats that they’re receiving. I don’t know how I feel about him being charged with murder either. Withholding evidence in an ongoing investigation? That is something I’d charge him with because there is absolutely no reason why he felt it to be better to just hold onto this footage of Ahmaud’s last moments for months. 

I understand that he was afraid in the moment the murder occurred. I would be too. Just taking the video was probably the best he could do because he put his safety and his family’s safety first. But what about Ahmaud’s safety? What about the family that Ahmaud won’t be able to create because he is dead? What about the goals and dreams and aspirations that this man had that cannot be fulfilled? 

We have a right to be outraged. Racial profiling is continuing to cut down Black bodies. How many more need to die before it is safe for us to be Black and American? Will we ever be safe in our Blackness? Will we ever be American?

Similar Read: Ahmaud Murdered… What’s Next? Who’s Next?

“American Democracy: A Paradox”

by with One Comment FeaturedPolitics

[In response to I Still Believe In My Country And My Party]

Thank you for your service. 

For the Games of the XXX Olympiad (i.e. 2012 London Summer Olympics), I found myself standing in my living room in Sydney, Australia. I had only been living in the land down under for a few weeks and a strong sense of emotion came over me when I heard the announcers say to cheers, “And here come the Americans!” As I watched this multiethnic delegation process into London Stadium, a tear rolled down my face as I noticed that the Aussie announcer made no mention of a hyphen. There was no mention of the hyphen by which we Americans divide one another on a daily basis. There was no mention of African-Americans, no mention of Hispanic-Americans, no mention of Asian-Americans, no mention of Caucasian-Americans; just Americans. For the first time in my life, I was not African-American or Hispanic-American, I was solely an American; a patriot on foreign soil.     

Over the last six years, I’ve studied to gain a deeper understanding – beyond what I was already taught in school – of American history. I’ve lost myself in various books and documentaries on how we have arrived at this place in history. I too, arrived at the conclusion that the founding documents of this Democratic experiment, known as the United States of America, was truly brilliant as you put it. 

However, as I began to place myself throughout brilliant moments in American history I began to wonder what life would’ve been like then. I wondered what would life be like as a New Yorker in 1776, what would life be like to experience a young nation expand its territory in the early 1800s, what would life be like to see the first photographs in the 1850s, what would life be like to experience a nation take up arms against itself in 1861, what would life be like to witness her began to heal her wounds during the Reconstruction in 1865, what would life be like to hear about human beings taking flight for the first time at Kitty Hawk in 1903, what would life be like to experience this young nation embrace globalism and join its Allies in fighting the first World War in 1914, what would life be like to experience Americans flocking to cinemas to watch the nation’s first blockbuster film, Birth of a Nation in 1915, what would life be like to hear FDR announce the New Deal in the 1930s, what would life be like to experience Pearl Harbor and subsequently increase our participation in World War II in 1941, what would life be like to see my hero, Jackie Robinson, break MLBs color barrier at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn in 1947, what would life be like to see that New Deal become the engine of American prosperity in the 1950s post WWII, what would life be like to experience human beings landing on the moon and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s…

Sadly as I placed myself throughout American history, racism quickly ended my moments of wonderment.

Fast forward to the present and the meteor sized crater of income inequality between blacks and whites, the value of public education in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods, law enforcements disproportionate violence against black bodies, Flint Michigan still not having clean water, 4,645 Puerto Ricans dying in the absence of federal leadership, and the immense pressure that the current President is placing on the cornerstones of this Democratic experiment.

I can’t help but vacillate between being in awe of the brilliance of her ideological words and ashamed of her deeds.

As a black American, I can not bring myself to fully align and endorse Conservative approaches to the antiquated Documents by which we are governed. And with that being said, given that we are still governed by this paradoxical Document, I cannot accept America’s misconception that her values are morally superior to any other nation until she exemplifies those values in not only her words but in her deeds to all her citizens; specifically her citizens of color.    

While this nation has had brilliant moments in its 242-year history, the backdrop has always been and will always be racism and the relentless preservation of white supremacy. So while I wish I could live my daily life in that tearful patriotic moment I had in Sydney; the consciousness of our collective experience impacts my ability to do so. In fact, immediately upon my return from Sydney in 2013, America found George Zimmerman not guilty in the murder of Trayvon Martin. So in a way, I am envious of your privilege to still believe in country and party but I, unfortunately, am unable to join you on that perch.

My patriotism lives in the steely resolve of my community and the soaring indelible impact that we have had on American history and culture. 

How do you define your patriotism?