I started reading in English in 2002. I studied Puritan Literature in undergrad. I used to wholeheartedly want to write my PhD dissertation on the Civil War poetry of Melville and Whitman; my twin heroes of a time, at the
Commemoration of the 40,000 women and children who, August 9, 1956, presented themselves in bodily protest against the “dompass” in the capital of apartheid. Presented at The United Nations, August 9, 1978. Read the poem here. And in
Thank black people for goodness in the world. They don’t owe it to anyone, have to rise against widespread structural/systemic and white supremacist odds to achieve it, too often aren’t paid enough or at all for it, but they still
“The jury took less than 10 minutes to acquit me. But the experience made a man out of me. It made a black man out of me.” -Paul Butler on his experience getting arrested, read the whole interview here. To
How easy it is to ignite human bias. Nothing special about the perpetrator or the victim is required. Ordinary human functioning–maintaining one’s self-esteem–is enough.