| May 30, 2018 | Rights / DemocracyStarbucks recently closed its stores for a one-day racial bias training for all its employees. Unfortunately, I think there’s a good chance it won’t make much difference. How can I say so confidently that a day of training will have no effect? Because I...
| Sep 9, 2015 | Rights / DemocracyA New York Times obituary for Julian Bond, the civil rights icon who passed away this August, described the late leader as a “persistent opponent of the stubborn remnants of white supremacy.” Remnants? Hardly. Notwithstanding the hard-won gains of the 1960s, race...
| Jun 24, 2015 | Rights / DemocracyWhen I say publicly that I’m descended from slave owners, I almost always hear a gasp. I let the tension hang a moment and then I break it: “Well, someone has to be, right?” This usually gets a laugh, or at least a humph of recognition. Because many...
| Dec 3, 2014 | Rights / DemocracyShortly before Michael Brown’s fateful encounter with Ferguson cop Darren Wilson, I was appointed as a teaching assistant in a class on race and ethnicity. I’m white. I didn’t go to grad school to study race — I study agriculture. When it comes to race,...
