The Black Church is a stalwart institution in the African American community, serving as a major hub of spiritual enlightenment, social activism, and economic empowerment for Black people. It’s hard to overstate the impact the Black Church has had on the United States, particularly its artistic culture and politics. It’s the institution that gave us the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as well as a rich musical tradition that was foundational to popular culture, impacting everything from “blu...

Kamala (Comma-La) Harris is the Vice President of the United States. She is also the Democratic candidate for president of the United States. Certainly, she deserves to have her name pronounced correctly. Yet, she’s received disrespect from conservatives. During a roundtable discussion on CNN, Congresswoman Nancy Lace (R-SC) blatantly mispronounced the Vice President’s name. The Congresswoman said she would “say Kamala’s name any way that I want to.”

In 1995, New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman considered taking control of specified functions within Camden municipal government. Understandably, she was concerned about a lack of resident buy-in. However, an editorial in the Courier-Post urged Gov. Whitman to press forward, saying:“Gov Whitman, perhaps, is reluctant to take over the entire city ... because some may call her racist; however, she shouldn’t care. Pulling the race card without cause is what desperate people do when they can’t de...

Louisiana is the first state to mandate that a poster-size display of the Ten Commandments be in every classroom; from Kindergarten to higher education classrooms. The state has its republican governor and its majority republican legislature to thank for this new rule. Gov. Jeff Landry said, “If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.” Similar bills requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms exist in other states...

Democrats did their due diligence and achieved a “united” convention. President Biden’s decision to no longer seek re-election could have facilitated a contested convention. However, Democrats — starting with Biden — quickly got behind Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. That was the test before the convention. The test in Chicago was Palestine. The Biden Administration’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the vice president’s ambiguous posture on the campaign trail made for a potential confrontation between moderates and progressives. However, congressional progressives, from AOC to Bernie Sanders, have toed the party line and have backed the Harris Campaign.

The terms/acronyms “woke,” “DEI,” and “CRT” are used in a derogatory way, interchangeably, as a coded language to signify or designate a Black person as either Black or the N-word. Political conservatives use these frequently. They’re not hiding their vitriol for any backlash against whiteness, white supremacy, and racial capitalism. They’re highlighting it and specifically, perpetuating harm done to Black people. Their narrative shaping unfortunately changes not only the use of these but als...

We live in a very results-driven society where finishing isn’t enough. In other words, how one performs often matters more than simply completing a performance. There is something to that. I don’t simply want a meal, I’d like a well-cooked meal. There’s greater satisfaction after eating a well-cooked meal, versus just a cooked meal. However, there is value in finishing the task of cooking. For example, using the same analogy, making a well-cooked dish isn’t a more important endeavor than o...

President Joe Biden approached the 2024 presidential election with a historically low approval rating, and despite his desire to seek reelection, he was forced to drop out of the race, passing the torch to his Vice President Kamala Harris with the goal of keeping the presidency away from former President Donald Trump. It’s no secret that Biden’s trouble with the Black community affected his decision to depart from the race. He couldn’t have made enough visits to Black churches and Black radio...

At the first presidential debate, former president Donald Trump remarked of immigrants that, “They’re taking Black jobs and they’re taking Hispanic jobs and you haven’t seen it yet but you’re going to see something that’s going to be the worst in our history.” His comment prompted myself and other Black people to ask themselves and others what exactly is a Black job. Of course, Black folks are always here for the jokes and social media had a field day, with various comments and a song to boot...

Two months ago, May 17, 2024, marked the seventieth anniversary of the Brown decision, which declared that the doctrine of separate but equal, established in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case was unconstitutional. While the opinion of the High Court failed to properly account for how racist structures would adjust accordingly, the decision paved the way for the passage of the Civil Rights Act and even the Voting Rights Act.

What is it about Black people gathering (or loitering) that unsettles white folks, or makes them nervous? It unsettled white folks when enslaved Africans gathered for secret meetings at night. Because those meetings were with the purpose of resistance. Black folk taught each other to read, and planned actions of escape or actions of revolt. When recently emancipated Black folk gathered together, it unsettled white folks. It unsettled them because those meetings were with the purpose of libera...

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, the state of Virginia abolished the observance of Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson (Lee-Jackson Day), which was the same day as MLK Day in January annually. That was done intentionally to, of course, detract from the celebration of Dr. King’s life and work as a civil rights activist—and a true reflection of the gospel of Jesus Christ, unlike the many white evangelicals who don’t align their views with the politically and economically oppressed, b...

The most revolutionary thing any Black person can do is read. Not obtaining a gun license and purchasing firearms. Not voting. Not becoming financially secure. Not having a family… and to be clear, I think we should do those things and I believe all of those are revolutionary acts in an anti-Black society. And, while Malcolm X said, the most revolutionary thing a Black man can do is build a strong, cohesive family unit, I think he would agree that literacy comes first and helps all other revolut...

Juneteenth memorializes the day when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, to announce all enslaved peoples were free upon the surrender of the last Confederate stronghold. More than 150 years later, in 2021, President Joe Biden made Juneteenth a national holiday. Holidays and memorials remind us of who we are as a country—our past and who we hope to become in the future. Juneteenth celebrations provide the opportunity to remember the real national Independence Day.

It must be a practice of every educator to improve for the next school year. Each year should serve as game tape for the next year. We must reflect on the highs and lows of our praxis. We should continue with what worked and meet the challenges of what we must improve upon. Teachers and administrators must reflect on their praxis to improve as they plan for the next school year. To give an example, I turn to basketball. A great example is a fan favorite of the Delaware Valley, Tyrese Maxey.

A few weeks ago, a Black man teacher posted a video on his social media account, TikTok to be specific. The video was of his primarily female students taking out his braids as he sat at his desk. He offered context to the video; speaking over the video recording saying that he needed help taking out his braids before his hair appointment after school. He cited his relationship with students to explain why those ladies unbraiding his hair was okay. He also shared that he had parents sign release

Every single month is an opportunity for students to, in the spirit of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, review, reflect on, and recite all the Black history they learned the year prior. This was the original intention of Black History Month, originating as Negro History Week. However, due to the war on Black studies in the form of anti-woke and anti-CRT (Critical Race Theory) legislation around the country, it’s no guarantee that students are receiving an authentic version of Black history in the classroom

Years ago before I began teaching, I became friendly with a maintenance crew member on the job. He was a brotha, but what connected us was our shared religious beliefs. We would engage in water cooler talk about faith, sports, the weather, and current events. But after about a year of this, the conversations stopped. Soon after, I no longer saw him. Before his departure, we had a conversation in early 2010 lamenting the situation in Haiti. The nation had just experienced a devastating earthquake

Thankfully, we have the data that backs up that truth. Not that the words of students and parents aren’t enough. But for some, data is the most meaningful; subjective at best but I digress. Education Week highlighted the data that exposes the positive impact of Black teachers, specifically in the academic success of Black students: “Black students are more likely to graduate from high school and enroll in college when they have just one Black teacher in elementary school. Black students are also

I find it somewhat fascinating, as I find it infuriating, that there’s a lack of sensitivity concerning anti-Black racism in education spaces. Certainly, our society should be very sensitive to the way anti-Black racism shows up directly and indirectly in the experiences of Black people, considering the history of this country. But in 2024, that isn’t the case. The constant attempt to prevent the teaching of Black history in schools is a common example. What’s worse, however, is when educators