28 Search results for "race riots"

The most sobering moment in Paul Beatty’s satirical novel, The White Boy Shuffle (1996) occurs just before the L.A. Riots are about to begin. The book’s protagonist, Gunnar Kaufman and his best friend Nicholas Scoby are on their way home from a strangely long basketball practice. During their walk, Gunnar immediately senses something different happening in his […]

Throughout the historical landscape of the United States a dream has been engrained in a pseudo-American identity. Some call this the American dream; others might refer to it as the American fallacy. Unfortunately, people who experience poverty in the United States very rarely have the opportunity to call this dream a reality. The trajectory of […]

Can you imagine being five years old and having three cops bend you over a desk, handcuff you and then carry you out of your school in handcuffs? Can you imagine being face down on the floor, hands behind you, some cops knee on your neck; then to have that knee migrate to your back […]

Like most black children growing up in Houston’s Fifth Ward, I spent most of my life medically uninsured. If you got sick, you stayed home and endured the experimental ministering of your grandmother whose medical knowledge consisted of a spoonful of Castor Oil, two drops of sweet oil in each ear, and effectual prayer to […]