OP-ED

Their concern for personal mental health and well-being may be a newly expressed reason, but the expected “right” of the external control of “our” performance is nothing new. It harkens back to the control exercised throughout our existence in this nation – from slavery through the Civil Rights Era until today.

Tragedy and triumph is a recurring theme in the history of Haiti, the world’s first Black Republic.

Across the country, Republican legislators have sought to make it harder for African Americans and other people of color to vote. The long lines that mark inner-city voting sites are a graphic demonstration of the success of those efforts, for many people can’t take the hours off from work to cast a ballot.

Few events have shaped American history and our national perspective on racial inequity as profoundly as the grief, civil unrest, and economic devastation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic didn’t simply unmask the stark racial inequities in our economic, health care and criminal justice systems and institutions – revealing not one but three pandemics.

Too many Black women have experienced not only unequal pay but also unequal and unreasonable working conditions. And we have been forced to work to facilitate other women's ability to work.

When we look at what is happening in this nation, we see an effort to impose a system of American apartheid on our grand and glorious multicultural nation.

I am grateful that President Biden has called attention to the urgent need for congressional action. Now we need him to use his leadership to get voting rights legislation through the Senate. And if Republicans continue to block it using a filibuster, he must work with Senate leaders to break through that obstruction.

Charter public schools are one policy tool, among many, that can help advance equity in education. The early results for students attending charter public schools here in Washington are promising.

Once more, right-wing justices have written another shameful chapter of judicial ignominy that must simply be overturned. Once more Congress must act to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to counter the brazen efforts of the court’s right wing to neuter it. Once more, those standing in the way of equality under the law will find that the movement for justice will not be deterred.

For instance, from elementary to high school to three years in the U.S. military, I was never taught the real deal about this country’s history, especially when it came to people of African descent.