Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Tag: racism
This Time is Just One Time
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Where there is one police brutality case that hits the news, there are 10,000 others that no one hears about. We’d be fools to think otherwise. Everything went right to convict Derek Chauvin. Had Darnella Frazier run out of… Continue Reading “This Time is Just One Time”
What was True All Along But I Just Understood Now
I’ve written probably ten essays about police fatally harming unarmed Black men and women. So, that makes one a year for the ten years, going on eleven, that I’ve published this blog. In all of them, my foundation is that the brutality was exceptional,… Continue Reading “What was True All Along But I Just Understood Now”
Murdering is Painful Business
We had no part in this murder, the renegade cop pulling on his black gloves to rip a Black man from his life, we were at home, having dinner, then loading the dishwasher with dirty dishes, scraping the hard parts off the frying pan,… Continue Reading “Murdering is Painful Business”
4th of July 2020
Nothing changes if nothing changes. It’s quiet and sweet on the front porch. Mike, across the street, is setting up his sprinkler. The birds are singing like it’s morning instead of late afternoon. The neighbor’s air conditioner hums but has stopped making the cranking… Continue Reading “4th of July 2020”
This is Where We Are
We are back in the city. Across town, two teen girls went missing yesterday. From there, the story becomes complicated, hard to sort out unless you piece together TV news reports with social media posts from people on the scene. Here is what I… Continue Reading “This is Where We Are”
What To Do? Read
It’s not a sin to be ignorant. Nobody can be informed and knowledgeable about everything. But it is wrong to be ignorant and to act on that ignorance and to assume that your opinions, resting on a solid foundation of ignorance, are as valid… Continue Reading “What To Do? Read”
Inheritance
Once, while she was sitting in a chair in my living room, I reached out and touched a Black woman’s hair. At that moment and without thinking about it in any way, my hand was drawn to her hair, its airiness and resilience. I… Continue Reading “Inheritance”
The Long Process of Making Amends
I think the trick to dealing with terrible stuff in your past is to own it. Virginia Governor Northam wouldn’t be in the fix he’s in if he had Xeroxed the page from his yearbook, kept it in his wallet, and pulled it out… Continue Reading “The Long Process of Making Amends”
Questioning America
The first thing you notice at the National Museum of African American History and Culture is that everyone is trying to be so nice, especially the white people. ‘Excuse me’s’ flutter like confetti, an invisible murmuring of apology for standing in front of someone… Continue Reading “Questioning America”
Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
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