Reflections on the cost of self control, movement stress and silence. Reflections on overcompensating for being Black and Male in America.
Race and Ethnicity
Letter to My Niece [and All the Black Girls Struggling in America]
Dear Jadie [and all the other Black girls growing up in a world that erases them and still expects them to carry a nation on their backs], Keep your head up. Keep your back straight. Keep your eyes open. You have your grandmother’s eyes and the world needs that light to guide it out of … Continue reading Letter to My Niece [and All the Black Girls Struggling in America]
Dear Black Women and Trans* People in the Struggle
Dear Black Women and Trans* Activists in the Struggle, I don’t know how to begin this letter. There are so many things I want to say to all the Black women in my life. There are so many things I want to say to uplift, spread and support marginalized voices within this new movement. There … Continue reading Dear Black Women and Trans* People in the Struggle
Mentally Ill Man Fatally Shot In Petworth
*this work is a piece of fiction by the author Aaron Goggans (who is alive), an attempt to process the pain of recent events.* Earlier today DC police fatally shot a mentally ill man in Petworth after a brief stand-off in front of the man’s home. Police are reporting that Aaron Goggans, 26, was shot … Continue reading Mentally Ill Man Fatally Shot In Petworth
#BlackLivesMatter Podcast
There is a movement happening in America... All across America young Black people are articulating the damage, the pain, the fear, the lynchings that come with being one of the backs upon which this white supremacist nation was built. It is important that we all bear witness to this pain. If you are Black, … Continue reading #BlackLivesMatter Podcast
An Argument for Operating with Love
*If you are looking for the speech I gave at Sixth and I please click here* I was reminded today that there is no cosmic scale weighing the oppression of Blacks in America. There is no ledger listing the wrongs that have been done to us. There is no mystic reckoning that will bring wholeness. … Continue reading An Argument for Operating with Love
Dear White People: Ferguson Protests are a Wake Not a Pep Rally
I get it. You’re frustrated. You’re angry. You’re sad. You’re confused. You know that the killing of Mike Brown and the lack of indictment of Darren Wilson are a travesty. You are probably aware that the system you live in, the nation that raised you, the institutions that educate and protect you, commit or support … Continue reading Dear White People: Ferguson Protests are a Wake Not a Pep Rally
I Die a Little Bit Each Day
https://twitter.com/Fox5Wagner/status/535544544193150976 I can barely express the depth of the pain and the anger I feel right now. I feel so helpless and powerless and hated. I feel so constantly plagued by doubt. I am constantly being messaged that I am a problem that society has yet to find a solution for. This world seems … Continue reading I Die a Little Bit Each Day
Translating Gov. Nixon’s “State of Emergency”
I know that some of you are confused by the comments on social media about a “State of Emergency” being declared in the State of Missouri. Many of you expressed disarray and confusion as to why there was a state of emergency being declared and so I thought I would spend some time to … Continue reading Translating Gov. Nixon’s “State of Emergency”
Processing #igotthetalk While in Mourning
It has been a rough week. A week that has forced me to think a lot about family, the bonds we build and the comfort we provide each other. It was also a week of tremendous social upheaval in Ferguson, MO. Already the conversations about Ferguson on Facebook and Twitter were giving me anxiety as … Continue reading Processing #igotthetalk While in Mourning
The Well Examined Life 