This country was founded on two atrocities: the displacement and massacre of indigenous people and the abduction and enslavement of Africans. The arguments that Native Americans would still be living in teepees or mud houses if it wasn't for "us" or that African Americans can "go back to where they came from," are astonishingly racist, … Continue reading The strategy for beating Trumpism: Learn from the past and reach out to the future →

We've watched it hundreds of times: the verbal chess match between reporters and politicians. One trying to corner the other into admitting something the audience already knows. The purpose of these interviews is less about substance and more about gamesmanship. As long as the politician keeps arguing - no matter how disingenuous or irrational the … Continue reading “America is Not a Racist Country:” The politics of semantics →

Senator Diane Feinstein received a lot of criticism yesterday for calling the hypothetical retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer "a great loss." She is quoted as saying, "My general belief is if a person serving with integrity and working hard and producing for whatever the constituency is, that's what these jobs are all about." … Continue reading The Age of Ageism →

Take it from someone who worked on Capitol Hill: DC Statehood was always one of those causes every Democrat in congress would get behind knowing it had zero chance of passing. The question is if 2021 is any different. With the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement and increasing engagement of Black voters, along … Continue reading Demonizing Joe Manchin →

de•es•ca•late [de-es-kuh-leyt] verb (with or without object), to decrease in intensity, magnitude, etc. As a Social Work Officer at Fort Bragg, my primary mission was the Family Advocacy Program, the Army's solution for addressing domestic violence. When recounting a domestic incident, I was struck by how Soldiers described what happened. They never said, "I was … Continue reading The Art of De-Escalation →

I'm the last person in the world who believes in conspiracy theories. So if anyone had told me what I read in Joshua Kendell's article, "Muzzled by Psychiatry in a Time of Crisis: The Man in the White Coat, The New York Times and The Stifling of the Public Debate about Donald Trump's Fitness to … Continue reading The New York Times Owes Americans an Apology: Shutting Down Mental Health Experts Amounts to Journalistic Malpractice →

If I sound desperate, I am. I've tried everything I can think of - reason, confrontation, repetition, humor - to reach you. It's not in my nature to give up. In fact, just thinking about it, depresses me. So, this time, I'm writing to ask for help. But it's not the usual kind of help … Continue reading Dear America: an unusual plea for help →