When a white person apologizes for having been racially offensive, they often say it wasn't their intention to do that and they didn't intend it to come out that way and they had no intention of offending anyone and it wasn't their intention to upset people. Why do...
Almost six years ago I blogged about my failures as an English PhD candidate and also as a musician (that's here: I'm a failure - y qué?). I've also gone through a divorce since then and now I can add another one to the heap: I'm a failure as a multi-level marketer....
Please don’t culturally appropriate objects and think you’re doing it “respectfully.”
Americans like to believe we're bending towards justice, but we can no longer tell ourselves that now that we've elected Donald (or as my dad calls him, El Payaso) as our president. And those of us who didn't directly cast a vote for him, still allowed him to be...
So I was having lunch with a young white woman in a cafe today, and a middle-aged white man leaned over and interrupted our conversation. "Excuse me. Can I ask you a question? I see you're wearing a Black Lives Matter button and can I just ask you one question?" I...
I call this my "House Bill 56 Bedtime Story." It's the story of how Alabama tried to get rid of their unwanted immigrants back in 2011 and how it all went horribly wrong. Ha! It's a textbook example of the law of unintended consequences. Please read it HERE. It...
I agree with Bernie that if so many other industrialized countries can afford universal healthcare, free higher education, maternity leave and a livable minimum wage, we can, too! It's just a matter of drastically reorganizing our national budgeting priorities and...
It's time to stop saying we can't believe how anyone can support Donald Trump, or as I call him, El Idiota. It's time to stop pointing out his inconsistencies, his rough character, his racist attitudes and how little policy he's actually explained. It's the backlash,...
Some call it cussing. Some call it swearing. Some call it using bad words. It's the use of "four-letter words" and it's very controversial. I understand that such words aren't appropriate most of the time, but I'm puzzled by people who think such words are...
Ta-Nehisi Coates is a journalist and writer for The Atlantic. In this three-minute and 20-second video from PBS NewsHour's Brief But Spectacular series, what strikes me is his use of the word "luxury." He says, "You really can't be an African American in this...
It's a trending Twitter hashtag that some say illuminates the many ways police let white people get away with things they'd never tolerate from Black people. Some say it doubles as a way for white people to brag about the things they've gotten away with. Others say...
My parents, my father's parents and I were born in the U.S; my mother's parents and my dad's grandparents were born in Mexico. I was raised in the very homogeneous Walnut Creek, California in the 1970s and '80s when it was very Anglo and middle class. There were...
Two weeks ago, in response to my January 19th post, one reader commented: Tell me more about ‘English Only bull#$%.’ What does that refer to? Does Mexico publish its voter materials in other languages for the benefit of non-Mexican-speakers? English Only is a movement...