Author: Reggie Jackson

I have spent the better part of the last twenty years of my life immersed in learning American history at a level that few would ever have the time or desire to delve into. People ask me how I talk about the ugly parts of American history without breaking down emotionally. What they don’t know is that I do break down emotionally. This journey, this path down the road of learning so that I can teach, is chock full of heartache. I love learning but I hate what I’ve learned. The story of America I was taught in school...

For so many years in this country I have heard the “personal responsibility” rant used against the Black community, blaming us for conditions that we had little control over. We have been blamed for so long, that some of us even throw out the ridiculous remark that “we are our own worst enemy.” These things infuriate me. I’m wondering where these arguments about “personal responsibility” are for White people in the resurgence of the coronavirus. I agree that all of us have some level of control over our decisions, but we do not control the environment around us. We...

The results of the 2016 presidential election came as a huge surprise for many Americans. It did not surprise me. When I heard definitively that Donald Trump had won the election I was not shocked like many people were. I said in the weeks leading up to the election that people should prepare for the strong possibility that Trump would win. I did not have a crystal ball. I was not a pollster that studied what Americans said they would do on election day. I knew about something more valuable — the white backlash to Barack Obama. Trump prior...

“We do not allow hate speech on Facebook because it creates an environment of intimidation and exclusion and in some cases may promote real-world violence…Sometimes people share content containing someone else’s hate speech for the purpose of raising awareness or educating others. In some cases, words or terms that might otherwise violate our standards are used self-referentially or in an empowering way.” – Facebook Community Standards, October 2020 Update In public post to Facebook I linked my recent article Ignoring Domestic Terrorism and the Propaganda that Blinds Us to Its Threat. As is normally the case, I shared a...