It’s middle school. It was long past my first year in a PWI and it was time for a dance. At the time, I refused to dance, so I walked around with friends. I was in the hall when I was startled by my white friends getting excited and flooding toward the gym. Leaving the …
This piece is going to be a bit off the cuff for Obsidian Tea. Remarking on an observation of a trend I think as a culture we need to look at and be careful of: Fetishization and social commodification of oppression and adversity. That’s the fancy way of saying there is a lot of social …
I’ve been asked a question for as long as I can remember. “So, where are you from?” People of all colours, backgrounds, and ages have always been curious about a thing I was bound to disappoint on. “Here,” or “Ohio,” were my confused answers. All the while, I tried to figure out why I was …
When I was a kid, I was taught Critical Race Theory in school. To be fair, no one was calling it that at the time and especially not in non-academic spaces. And yet looking back, it becomes obvious to me that there were three different approaches by my social studies teachers in dealing with race …
When I was younger I read a line in a book that went something like this “ Not making a decision is making a decision.” That line comes up when I consider the in remaining neutral. Who knew a battered copy of Animorphs would be where profound thought arises? Today more people are aware that …
How do we, if we do not have any Black people around us, bring cultural context into a community? With increasing regularity, I find myself being asked by communities all over the world. There are so many people who want to do better and simply don’t know-how. This piece is about starting that process, what …
Trying to be better about being good to minorities but have a bunch of questions no one is answering because “you should know” or look it up yourself. Here is a list of commonly asked race relation questions to raise your cultural competency.
As white people learn that racism is real, there is a waking up to the fact they may also are involved in the system that creates it. When talking about inequality I hear the term White privilege thrown about and it gets a lot of mixed reactions. Some people hate it, more don’t get it, …
What Is White Privilege: An Unconventional Perspective Read More »
I have a gentle soul and somehow I’ve ended up with a livelihood centered around that gentleness and educating. I see so many people expecting and feeling entitiled to that kindness. As though compassion ends when a person isn’t nice to you. That every Black person you know should be able to give you that. …
“Fuckin’ Karen” “Sit down Becky” “ Did you see Sharon on the news today?” “He’s a Chad” Black People have been making nicknames for White people for ages, but in this day it’s become easier for White people to discover them. Then, like so much culture, the language shifts from one meaning to Another as …
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