Author: Reggie Jackson

“Weathering is a physiological process that accelerates aging and increases health vulnerability. It is spurred by chronic toxic stress exposures over the life course and the tenacious high-effort coping [that] families and communities engage in to survive them, if not prevail.” – Dr. Arline Geronimus When someone asked me if I’d been watching the trial of Derek Chauvin, who killed George Floyd last year, they were surprised by my answer. I have followed the trial in the news, but I have not watched a moment of it. I still have not watched the video of Floyd’s death last May....

“Do you know I’ve never voted in my life, never been able to exercise my right as a citizen because of the poll tax? … I can’t pay a poll tax, can’t have a voice in my own government.” – Mr. Trout, a Georgia native (1936) “More than 250 bills to curb or complicate access to polls had been introduced in 43 state legislatures as of February 19, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, which is tracking the bills — and bills have since been introduced in at least two more states, North Carolina and Wisconsin.” – CNN...

“The United States must vastly improve the educational outcomes for this new and diverse majority of American students, whose success is inextricably linked to the well-being of the nation.” – Education Week Magazine The 2014-15 school year marked the first time that non-white student enrollment in public schools surpassed that of White students. Babies of color (1-years-old and younger) now outnumber their White peers in the U.S. America is a nation of 330 million individuals that we lump into several groups we call races or ethnicities. The categories have changed a lot over time as each decennial census has...

“You own this. You own his rhetoric. You own his sentiment.” – State Senator LaTonya Johnson to her Republican colleagues Once upon a time I used to joke that because I was born in Mississippi and raised in Wisconsin that I’m from Wississippi. Well, it’s no longer a joke, and it has more to do with the rampant racism here than it does with where I was born and raised. More confirmation comes when the Wisconsin State Assembly “honors” a racist like Rush Limbaugh while also refusing for the second year in a row, to honor Black History Month....

“He was pretty much fed up and kind of at the end of his rope. Yesterday was a really bad day for him and this is what he did.” – Captain Jay Baker, Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office After a gunman in the Atlanta region went on a murderous rampage killing eight people, including six Asian American women, the excuses for him started immediately. Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jay Baker said at one of the first press conferences after the killer was arrested, that the shooter had a bad day. Are you kidding me? A bad day? The victims...