Tag: Racism
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Waking Up White: A Book Recommendation
I have been reading and writing a lot about race lately. The Black Lives Matter movement got me going. Trump’s presidency stoked the fire of urgency. Over winter break I finished, Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving. I highly recommend this book. In fact, I wish every…
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Tired of Talking about Privilege
Last Sunday, during a program at my college about how to create needed social change, I observed a few of the white students tuning out. One fell asleep. Another started texting a friend. Another tried to pay attention, but her eyes kept wandering to the floor, the window and the faces in the room other…
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Racism is Wrong
It has been a just-get-it-done kind of month, during which I regret not posting on my blog. But I got some good news today that I wanted to share. The Christian Century just published another essay of mine called “I believe racism is wrong. So what?” It will be published in the May 24th print…
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Getting to Know my White Privileged Self
A new essay is rising up within me. This is what it feels like when I know I have something to write about but don’t know exactly where this “feeling of an idea” is leading. It’s an exciting journey of discovery—exciting because I know I will learn and grow a lot in the process. But…
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What makes a man like Muhammad Ali?
In his essay, Notes of a Native Son, James Baldwin wrote about a chronic disease he contracted as a young black professional after being refused service at a New Jersey diner. Hearing the racist rationale that, “we don’t serve Negroes here,” Baldwin was overcome with: “a kind of blind fever, a pounding in the skull…
Teri McDowell Ott 