The major difference in the Chauvin case? His fellow officers are not trying to protect him
When I watch the Derek Chauvin trial, I know we’ve been here before. A grieving Black family whose loved one is gone. A criminal justice system with a track record of racism. A community bracing itself for a verdict no one wants to see. Don’t get me wrong. I believe Chauvin will be found guilty…
Read More You want to stop gun violence? Listen to the streets
Gun violence has taken our peace, our prosperity, and our people. It’s left far too many of us in a constant state of fight or flight, wondering if the next moment might be our last. In a city where 499 homicides took place last year, we can’t sit here hoping things will get better. We…
Read More Deadly capitol attack outs Black mental health on the national stage
I watched the first week of former Minneapolis police officer Derrick Chauvin’s murder trial, and listened to the heartbreaking testimony of a 9-year-old witness who said she was “sad and kind of mad” while watching George Floyd’s life slip away under the weight of Chauvin’s knee. Her testimony, like that of so many other witnesses,…
Read More Don’t let George Floyd be the latest victim of America’s War on Drugs
I knew it would come down to this. To the dehumanization of a man who, like all of us, was complicated, and flawed, and real. That’s why, when Derek Chauvin’s lawyers made it clear that they would blame George Floyd’s death on drugs, I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t sad. I was numb. Because I’ve seen…
Read More ManUpPHL begins new push to end gun violence
Darnella Frazier’s video exposed George Floyd’s killing. Her testimony exposed Derek Chauvin
Darnella Frazier. She’s the 18-year-old who filmed then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin as he pressed his knee into George Floyd’s neck. Yesterday, in tearful testimony at Chauvin’s murder trial, she recalled how the horror of that day stays with her, even now. “I stay up at night apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more…
Read More Chauvin murder trial: Don’t lose sight of the fact that George Floyd was somebody
As the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who is accused of killing George Floyd by mercilessly pressing his knee against Floyd’s neck, begins this week, I am convinced that Black people need healing as much as we need justice. There is a persistent heartache that comes with the knowledge that…
Read More As the pandemic slows, do we really want to return to America’s crazy normal?
We wanted to return to normal. Well, here we are. Because in America, normal is anything but. Normal is a social media beef so toxic that it can only end in gunfire. Normal is a mass shooting in a supermarket while people are shopping for food. Normal is an attack on Asian massage parlors and…
Read More Georgia’s Jim Crow voter suppression laws are absolutely American. Stop saying they’re not
Jim Crow 2.0 is coming to a state near you. After Georgia passed voter suppression measures meant to keep Black, brown and young people from voting, we should all be outraged, but we should not be surprised. America has never wanted Black people to have full citizenship. That’s why, after slavery ended, the 13th Amendment allowed…
Read More The Black, Asian and Latino experiences are not the same, so don’t lump us together
As I watch unaccompanied minors cross the border in search of a better life, I feel for their parents. How hard is it to send your child all alone, knowing that they have a better chance without you than they do with you at their side? How hard is it for the Asian community to…
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