Another Day, Another Massacre

Another Day, Another Massacre

Yes, it’s happened again. A man with a legally acquired arsenal walked onto a college campus. Moments later, 10 people were dead, and nearly as many wounded. Sick to your stomach? Of course you are. Surprised? Didn’t think so. Like Aurora, Newtown, and a lengthy list...
Urban America’s Slow-Motion Crisis

Urban America’s Slow-Motion Crisis

Baltimore, my hometown, is facing its highest rate of homicides in decades. Along with other cities that are reporting higher than usual violent crime rates this summer, Baltimore’s murder rate is up by 33 percent this year. It’s a terrible reminder that the violence...
Scapegoating Immigrants Isn’t the Answer

Scapegoating Immigrants Isn’t the Answer

About three years ago, my dad was driving the truck he uses for his landscaping business in Phoenix, Arizona when he was pulled over. Two patrol cars cornered him for making a wide right turn. Yes, you read that right: Multiple police officers went out of their way to...
Let’s Talk About Torture

Let’s Talk About Torture

The CIA’s torture-era leadership won’t repent. Even after the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released its report saying in no uncertain terms that the CIA had tortured its prisoners, that torture was official U.S. government policy, and that torture never...
Clear Warning Signs

Clear Warning Signs

For many people of color, it was with a sickening sense of familiarity that we watched the video of yet another routine traffic stop that would come to a tragic end. Two days before authorities discovered Sandra Bland’s lifeless body in her Texas jail cell, the...