A biweekly column in which various contributors from both sides of prison walls explore common ground for effecting change. “I'm not saying I'm gonna change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world.” —Tupac Shakur I remember hearing this quote as an adolescent and thinking to myself that my life mattered and I had to protect my … [Read more...]

On July 6, 2016, St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez radioed to his partner that he thinks he spotted a suspect in a recent armed robbery. His only identifier: “‘Cause he has a wide-set nose.” After shooting Philando Castile, he told the supervisor on the scene, “I don’t know where it was” in reference to a weapon. Those two statements sum up this case as well as any … [Read more...]

June is Pride Month for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities across the country — and parades abound. While we all rev up each June for Pride Month, so, too, do the fault lines of race and class in our larger White LGBTQ community. With advances such as hate crime laws, legalization of same-sex marriage across the country, and with homophobia … [Read more...]

  When he was running for President of the United States, “45” asked African-Americans what we had to lose by electing him. Embracing the most dystopian view of the African-American community, he attacked our schools, our streets, crime rates, and unemployment and suggested that we were so far down, that electing him could only improve things. Curiously, he never … [Read more...]