An accomplished chef settles in New Hampshire. He breathes new life into an old diner in a struggling downtown district. Mindful of his context, he maintains the former menus and decor. The chef is “Black” but the food and vibe he is serving are “white.” Things are going fine. Five months later, in April of…
Serena Williams: The power, and danger, of a single story
Earlier this month, we joined with millions of other sports fans in watching Serena Williams play the final match of her dazzling tennis career at the U.S. Open. We ooh’d and ahh’d as she served up 11 aces to her opponent’s three, adding to her record stockpile of 4,131 aces since 2008 alone. We cowered in front…
COVID in Black and White: A Juneteenth Reflection
“When white folks catch a cold, Black folks get pneumonia.” We’ve known this old adage for years but never before did it strike so close to home as it did last month when COVID finally caught up with our interracial family. First, a little background. Since the global pandemic began in March of 2020, my…
Don’t whitewash history at our children’s expense
This month, the New Hampshire Department of Education under Commissioner Frank Edelblut released four 3-minute videos which, it claimed, “provide a robust and complete story of American history and the Black American experience.” The taxpayer-funded videos were created in partnership with “1776 Unites,” a collection of essays in the conservative Washington Examiner whose stated goal is to “debunk the myth that present-day…
Will we teach our children facts or fear?
On a recent afternoon drive through Jefferson, New Hampshire, with the majestic Presidential Range in view, my ever-inquisitive 5-year-old son wanted to know about our nation’s third president. I paused and recalled what I had learned about Thomas Jefferson as a boy some 30 years ago. I thought of the towering bronze statue of Jefferson,…
It’s never too late, or too soon, to do the right thing
“Never give in charity what is owed in justice.” – Pope John XXIII We Americans are a generous people. According to the National Philanthropic Trust, we gave over $300 billion to charity as individuals in 2020. That’s nearly 2 percent of our nation’s GDP. And we are not just generous with our treasure: nearly one in…
Does systemic racism exist in ‘snow white’ New Hampshire?
According to Republican leaders in Concord, systemic racism does not exist in New Hampshireand talk of it should be banned in our schools, state agencies, and private entities that contract with the state. Even Governor Chris Sununu, who has pledged to veto the so-called “divisive concepts” language now in the state budget, recently denounced the term “systemic racism” as having “a lot of implicit biases in itself.” He…
We’re better, and braver, than this
In 1645 – decades before the colony of New Hampshire was independently established – historical records show that the purchase and sale of human beings began in the “Live Free” state. In that year, an African man was kidnapped in Guinea and brought to Portsmouth for a life of servitude. His European enslaver would later be punished by the local Puritan authorities…
Antiracist Reader: A New Year’s Resolution
Over thirty-odd years of literacy, I’ve read thousands of books by white people, mostly men. I don’t regret a single one. Here’s what I do regret: As a white man constantly, if unconsciously, fed the standard American fare of white history, white knowledge, and white culture, it scarcely even occurred to me to seek out…
All is not well with our kids
My older son can’t get enough of music. At the tender age of 4, he’s always singing or playing his tambourine at home and asking me to put on music in the car, the louder the better. When I play a favorite track at home, whether Bach or BB King, he sticks his face in…
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