A lie repeated for nearly forty years does not become a confession simply because the public wants to believe it and has memorized it. Whenever the Reverend Al Sharpton enters a racially sensitive case, his critics reach reflexively for the same name. Tawana Brawley. They do not merely say that a grand jury rejected Brawley’s […]
There is a lucrative market in America for a Black man willing to tell white audiences that racism is exaggerated, Black distrust is irrational, and the real problem is always Black people themselves. Brandon Tatum has learned how to work that market. The former police officer turned conservative podcaster has built a large platform by […]
A court can issue a gag order. A judge can seal documents. Prosecutors and defense attorneys can stand before the bench, place their hands on a Bible, and swear that they understand the seriousness of protecting a cooperating witness. But in Baltimore City, somehow, the streets can still get the paperwork. According to recent reporting […]
Like so many before me, I made the trek down the long, winding roads leading to the Maryland State Police Training Commission in Woodstock, Maryland. I arrived for state training believing I was beginning a career in public service. I did not yet understand that I was also entering a culture governed by its own […]
America has a white people problem. Not all white people, of course. That disclaimer must be rushed to the front of every racial conversation like a hostage with a note pinned to his shirt. Not all white people. Not even most, some people will insist. Just enough to keep Black folks rehearsing survival scripts before […]
America turned 250 years old, and like clockwork, the same old racist ghost showed up wearing khakis, sunglasses, and a mask. During the nation’s milestone celebration, while politicians wrapped themselves in flags and gave speeches about freedom, hundreds of masked white nationalists marched through Washington, D.C., carrying Confederate imagery and chanting about “reclaiming” America. Reports […]
As a journalist, blogger and advocate, there are some positions I have taken publicly that have cost me applause, comfort, friendships, and sometimes even support from people who otherwise agree with my broader work of being a voice for the voiceless. One of those positions is my unapologetic stance on drugs, drug dealers, and the […]
When Michael Maurice Johnson was convicted a few months ago of rape and first-degree assault in a Baltimore County case, it reopened an old wound that never truly closed. For many people, Johnson’s new conviction did not create new grief. It confirmed an old fear. It reminded people of 16-year-old Phylicia Simone Barnes, the beautiful honor […]
They say history rewards those who are willing to search for it, and as a journalist, a Black man, and a descendant of people whose history was too often stolen, buried, distorted, or deliberately erased, I have developed an endless thirst for knowledge about the story of my people. Black and Indigenous people in America. […]
I’m very angry today and I am certain that I am not alone. The problem is that my anger is two-fold. How does a store owner falsely acuse a 14-year-old kid of stealing bottles of water, chase him out the store off the property, shoots him in the back as he fled, and a jury […]
