This week our class looked at lynching in the United States. Not an easy topic to grapple with. We read Langston Hughes’s story Father and Son for class. In it the half white half black son of the white plantation owner kills himself rather than letting the white mob lynch him. Thinking about how the […]
Read more "Resistance?"Before relocating from Brooklyn to upstate New York, I read and studied lots about Sanford Biggers’ upcoming exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. I read reviews about his works, and I explored interviews and videos about his methodologies, travels, and inspirations. Biggers’ exhibition was highly anticipated, and I must admit that I was disappointed to learn […]
Read more "The Unexpected Nature of it All: The Legacy of Lynching in America"Throughout my life, my mother has often said to me that she “won’t allow someone to cry alone in her presence.” With such a role model in my life, it’s no surprise that I grew up being a person who is acutely sensitive to the pain of those around him. It is very easy for […]
Read more "Brutality on Display"In 1998, when James Byrd, Jr. was chained to the back of a pickup truck and dragged to his death, the press exploded. The American public was outraged, and rightfully so. His captors and killers, three men between the ages of 23 and 31, and two of the men were known to be associated with […]
Read more "Information Overload"After reading the selections for this week’s class (Wright, “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow,” “Big Boy Leaves Home,” “Down by the Riverside,” and “Long Black Song” in Uncle Tom’s Children; Selections from Langston Hughes, The Ways of White Folks, “Home” and “Father and Son”; and, Gretchen Sorin and Mary Aimonovitch, Through the Eyes of […]
Read more "As Texas goes, so goes the Nation?"
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