Yadhira Romero Martínez’s life mattered.
Few in the general public noticed the disappearance and death of 19-year-old Yadhira Romero Martínez of Minneapolis as her abduction and savage murder were left largely unreported by local and national mainstream media for days after her body was found in a house in south Minneapolis on April 24th. …
George Floyd’s drug use is somehow different than our own.
Nothing brings out the self-righteous hypocrites like the cold-blooded murder of a Black man. According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, 11.7% of American adults use illegal drugs, and 19.4% have used illegal drugs or misused prescription medication in the last year (NCDAS). That means that almost every American is affected by or knows someone who abuses drugs. Further, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 25.8% of adults binge drink (NIH). And yet, an incredible amount of white men and women have emerged to publicly ridicule George Floyd for his drug use.
It was…
Easter and Derek Chauvin trial intersect in 2021.
George Floyd was/is a martyr, and he died a martyr’s death. To accept him as such — as an essential social icon who died for a necessary cause, whether or not he was directly aware of it, or not — is to understand his death in the context of the digital age and its relationship to racial-inequity awareness in America. Digital connectivity, speed, visualization and information are all essential to how the world relates to George Floyd’s death.
The intimacy and immediacy of the visual and audible information that the videos of Floyd’s death provided, and the connectivity of the…
Why in the hell is that guy wearing a BLM shirt?
As a white man with a red beard, pale skin, a stocky build and a southern accent, I think that there is extra value in me speaking up in support of Black Lives Matter, from a strictly stereotypical perspective. I just do not look and sound like what many would imagine a Black Lives Matter supporter would look and sound like. That puts me in a position to use the element of surprise and my white privilege as a superficial yet effective strategy to build trust among those who are unwilling to listen to women or minorities with similar views.
…
The truth really did set me free.
I write 99% unfiltered personal truth. The remaining 1% is truth that is withheld because of the potential damage that it could do to others. I love that I have that ability, and I feel that my truth will be the reason that people appreciate my writing, if I do in fact gain dedicated readers.
I have not always had this ability. In fact, it was quite the opposite. For most of my life, I presented myself as the person that I thought others wanted me to be — smart and scholarly at school, free and uninhibited amongst friends, responsible…
What would Jesus do?
Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week on the Christian calendar, a day that Jesus Christ rode a donkey into Jerusalem, knowing that he was destined to die for a great cause, (maybe the greatest), or so the story goes. I cannot imagine what he must have felt — a man on a donkey defying the Roman Empire. How brave and just he was. What an inspirational story this is. The imagery and the symbolism, whether one reads it literally or not, are so powerful that its legacy still prevails after all of this time.
I wonder, what…
Race relations in America are the worst they have been since Jim Crow.
The murder trial of Derek Chauvin, the white Minneapolis police officer accused of killing George Floyd last May, is under way and his supporters are proudly lining up in his corner. From right-wing media alphas like Tucker Carlson all the way down to the desolated white Americans from communities outside of the Minneapolis metro, Derek Chauvin is being hailed as a modern-day martyr for everything that America once was and is again.
On a recent broadcast of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Carlson said that the story that America was told concerning George Floyd’s death was an “utter lie,” and “There was…
Playing politics comes back to bite Democrats.
If Democrats want to retain any consistency in their messaging, if they want to be the party of progressive social values, then they must not only denounce New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s alleged actions — for the sexual harassment accusations that have been hurled his way — but they must call for his resignation. Not that they have much of a choice in this regard. Democrats are in a self-righteous jam of their own making concerning sexual assault allegations of any variety, having played their “holier than thou” card one too many times.
Whether Democrats believe the accusations against Cuomo…
Employing mystery shoppers is counterproductive and bad business for restaurants.
If you are one of the millions of people who dine at a corporately owned restaurant each year, you may be surprised to find that servers will soon be replaced by robots. In an effort to appease shareholders, top floor suits — who have likely never worked a day on the floor of a dining establishment — are meticulously crafting monotonous scripts for servers to recite at their tables to help ensure the upsell of every last piece of bacon and avocado. …
When you want something, you will take action.
If you want something and do not have it, then one of the following statements is true:
(1) It is physically or psychologically impossible to achieve the thing you want. For instance, you might want to grow wings or become omniscient. Or, you might want to not be imprisoned, when confined to an unbreakable cell.
(2) You are doing everything in your power to achieve the thing you want, and you have not yet achieved it.
(3) You already, unknowingly, have the thing that you want.
(4) You do not want the thing that you think you want.
The word…
Joshua Gane
Josh has a BA in philosophy from UNC and a MA in English from NC State.
