On Being Called “Nigger”: Open Letter to Naje

Dear Naje I can’t tell you about the sorrow and deep regret I felt when you told me you had just been called a nigger. We were just about ready to leave to meet you for dinner at the home of a friend when we received a phone call. It was you, crying, emotional, a […]

The Magic Ends: Serena is not a thief

This week I wrote about the black girl magic alive among the women of color top tennis players in the world. Today we witnessed the most bizarre of US Opens in recent history. First, Naomi Osaka outplayed Serena throughout the match, most of the time looking like Serena of past times. Serving over 70 percent […]

Politics of Tennis’ Black Girls Magic

After a week of watching with amazement Brett Kavanaugh avoid answering important questions regarding his true positions on racial profiling, Roe v. Wade, and the limits of power of our nation’s chief executive, it was quite refreshing Thursday evening to turn off CNN and MSNBC and sink into my sofa and watch tennis’ Black women […]

“Scared Negro Syndrome”

The late, great Maynard Holbrook Jackson, for whom the Atlanta airport, the busiest in the world, was partially named for often talked about something he called the “scared Negro syndrome.” Many of us would laugh nervously when he would use this term, referring to an African American who was too afraid of pissing off, raising […]

Open Letter to Republican “Brothers & Sisters”

Dear Republicans, You may not know me and, lately, I definitely do not know you. I refer to you as my brother and sister because I do believe, in a biblical sense, we all come from the same God or creative force. I am reaching out to you because I believe you are key to […]

Aretha: The Poem

I don’t know why Aretha’s transition hit me so hard and affected me so deeply. I have never met her. She’s just a pop culture superstar. Right? Marvin, Michael, and Whitney all preceded her in death. When they left I listened to their music and admired their greatness. But now I am in the second […]