The second Monday in October, Columbus Day, is coming up. Italians all over America are gearing up for parades and festivities in honor of the great Italian explorer Christopher Columbus. October 12, 1492: We’re looking at over 500 years of celebration and not once (to my knowledge) has anybody said…”Hey, wait a second. According to […]Read More
Barracoon is the story of how over 100 people were sold into slavery after slavery was declared illegal, their lives destroyed over a bet. Timothy Meaher, a wealthy Alabama steamboat captain, shipyard owner and owner of the ship “The Clotilda,” bet a Yankee from New England that even though it had been illegal to import […]Read More
Did I ever tell you my Basquiat story? He painted the walls for a disco club in my building. When we left, his murals were still up. A corporate office was moving in, so they painted over them. -arm I don’t remember the first time I ever met Jean-Michel Basquiat or IF I ever met […]Read More
When I was in the 8’s* at the Little Red Schoolhouse, a very progressive private school in “the city”, we had projects for Black History Month. I was part of a team of two. Our project was Sojourner Truth. After school, my teammate and I would go to her house and work on our “project”. […]Read More
What principle do you believe in so much that you would risk your life for it? Is America getting better or are we getting soft? I grew up in the “assassination generation”, the turbulent 60’s and 70’s, in the midst of riots, demonstrations and wars which made us angry. People, ordinary people, were so angry […]Read More
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god….I could be the grandmum of the future King of England. I, a lowly, blue-collar, overeducated and undervalued woman from North Portland Ave. in the Fort Greene Projects of Downtown Brooklyn, could have spawned a daughter who would marry a prince who is only five to seven […]Read More
I have celebrated Christmas all my life. I never thought of it as an exclusively “white” holiday. Now that I know the virtues of Kwanzaa, I cannot think of it as an exclusively “Black” holiday. Although it is true that “Santa” has taken the Christ out of Christmas, there is no denying that that siren […]Read More
What do you say to your neighbor when he has been publicly accused of rape, sexual harassment and in general, just being a pig? Do you shun him? Do you say that you ‘re not surprised? Do you act as if nothing has happened? On the tiny island of Martha’s Vineyard, just off the coast […]Read More
