When it comes to confrontations with the police, Black people are asked to do something strange — Fight or flight is an “automatic physiological reaction” to a stressful or fearful situation. You will start to breathe faster, and your blood pressure and heart rate will rise, preparing your body for a possible fight. According to Professor Karin Roelofs, people and animals have various defensive modes that trigger…

We’ve all been there. Here’s how to get to the other side — “Hello, hello, is anyone there?” We’ve all been there — you work hard on a draft of something, post it, and then…no one seems to be reading your work. But don’t take it personally — you are not necessarily being ignored. Readers don’t know your writing from a can of…

To communicate effectively, you have to control your tone. Here’s how to do that. — A couple of months ago, I read a story about blackface. Initially, I felt relieved that someone was bringing attention to this issue. Then, sentence after sentence, I realized my initial assumptions, based on the title, fell short. To my surprise, this article supported blackface. As a Black writer, I…

Here's how Henry 'Box' Brown shipped himself to Philadelphia — “When there's a will, there's a way," the old English proverb says, reminding us that determination is powerful. And what better example can be found than Black abolitionists who, against all odds, found unique paths to freedom? For instance, a Black man named Henry "Box" Brown shipped himself from Virginia…

Why other groups have been successful at addressing grievances — Historically speaking, the United States has not been opposed to restorative justice. For instance, in 1862, President Lincoln signed a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia through the Compensated Emancipation Act, which also guaranteed slave owners would receive financial restitution for their "loss of property." This policy, while…

The prejudicial enforcement of laws is the problem — The over-policing of black communities turns seemingly race-neutral laws into tools of racial oppression. Jaywalking, for instance, is a crime that Black pedestrians are disproportionately charged with violating, even though there’s no evidence that Black people jaywalk any more than White people. Even truancy laws designed to stop children from…

In heartbreaking case of Britanny Watts, prosecutors cast blame — When Roe v. Wade, the legal precedent that established women's reproductive rights for fifty years, came crashing down, Black women knew they would be the group most impacted by the Supreme Court's decision. Already, Black women were three times as likely as White women to die during childbirth, and this…

Even though solidarity should not be transactional — Did Black Americans take a pledge of blind loyalty that I'm not aware of? Based on comments made by some in the Jewish community, Black people owe them solidarity for their role in the civil rights movement. And after many Black scholars expressed solidarity for Palestinians in Gaza, some have…

This terminology implies a level of consent never given — From a Black American perspective, this country has a duplicitous nature, like Thalia and Melpomene, the Greek comedy and tragedy mask. How else can you explain that Thomas Jefferson, our country's third president and "founding father," who claimed "all men are created equal" in The Declaration of Independence enslaved hundreds…