OP-ED

For a period of seven years, Gruden sent racist, homophobic, and misogynistic emails to a high-ranking football executive with the Washington Football Team. His written words are evidence of what is truly in his heart. They also reflect his character as a man.

Sadly, it took the COVID-19 pandemic, and its disproportionate impact on Black and Brown Americans, to unveil another, more insidious epidemic—the crisis of gun violence—which has for too long been ignored while taking a brutal toll on our communities.

White people are not required to recognize the dangerous rot that is white supremacy and systemic racism in America. But for people of color, being able to recognize and avoid or deflect these phenomena is a matter of survival, and all too often, literally a matter of life and death.

We must no longer tolerate this type of devaluation of Black life and society must assume responsibility commensurate with its benign neglect.

We know that President Biden supports voting rights. He has called anti-voting laws being passed by Republican state legislators the biggest threat to our democracy since the Civil War. We need him to act like he truly believes those words.

More police is nice, but Bulkhead truly needs Southside Atlanta to overcome its poverty. This means the wealthy using their business and political influence to support polices that will close the income gap between the rich and poor.

It is time for state and local governments to take the lead in reimagining public safety. And it is time for all of us to support local leaders who are willing to show leadership and take risks to make it happen.

In October of 2021, the mayor of Buffalo signed the Duty to Intervene law which requires police to step in if a fellow officer uses excessive force. This shows that the heart of police reform really comes down to good police officers protecting citizens from bad police officers.

Stopping the flood of bad Trump judges was a huge accomplishment for every organizer and voter who helped elect Joe Biden as president. And that’s only part of the good news. President Biden is making history with the most diverse set of judicial nominees ever.

A recent FEMA Advisory Committee Report, based on a Rice University study, found that federal recovery funding after a disaster disproportionally benefits white entrepreneurs. When major disasters strike and significant federal resources are invested, there is an increase in white net worth and a corresponding decrease in net worth for Black people.