Combating Racism – Reaching Out Beyond Our Comfort Zone

As this is my last newsletter of 2020, I am taking a few minutes to reflect on the past twelve months. I began this year writing my weekly Best Self newsletters with a variety of personal growth topics and related journal prompts. But after the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 and after reading extensively…

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Combating Racism – Lest They be Forgotten – Part 2

Last week I shared stories of 19th century-born Black inventors, scientists and engineers, many of whom had little or no formal education or training, yet made major contributions to our contemporary way of life. This week, I continue that list with men and women whose names start with L through W. In sharing these stories, I…

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Combating Racism – Lest They be Forgotten – Part 1

Many talented members of the Black community have given much to our country and yet their achievements went unrecognized for a long time. Textbooks and classrooms in the 1950s, ‘60s and ’70s mainly provided the history of Caucasian Americans. Despite being a crucial component in the American story, the lives of many important Black Americans…

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Combating Racism – The Legacy of Lynching

For the past two weeks, I have written about lynchings in both Southern states and non-Southern states. Despite the slowdown in lynchings across the country, racial terrorism created a legacy of new forms of violence, a compromised criminal justice system, and long-term psychological impacts. After the rate of lynchings slowed, violence against Black Americans took new…

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