A white pastor complained to Matt, my husband, and me that people of color visited his church but never stayed. He said he was heartbroken because he longed for a more diverse congregation. In the next breath, he told us … Continue reading Colorblindness, the enemy of diversity.
I grew up in what is Ecuador’s privileged majority: the mestizos, the result of Spanish colonizers mixing with the Indigenous population. Mestizos were the group that achieved independence from Spain in 1822 and has remained the largest ethnic group in … Continue reading The antidote for othering
Since 2021, my two teenagers have met once a week with six other homeschooled kids for what we call our “Friday Friends” co-op. Two classes we offer are: A literature class with novels from around the world, highlighting stories of people dealing … Continue reading The Name of Hope…
As soon as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s tickets opened for sale, we bought them. My children had fallen in love with the mirrors they saw in the characters after the first movie: strong Black men and women of power and … Continue reading A Shared Past Should Unify Our Future
The United States calls itself a country of immigrants, a place where anyone can come and fulfill their dreams if they just work hard enough. I have been in the USA almost 30 years. Twice as long as I lived … Continue reading No room…for you.
I am a brown immigrant from South America with a Spanish accent when I speak English. I am “liberal” by the political definition this country assigns to my life ethos, and, if you ask some conservative folks, I am here … Continue reading The Great Replacement Theory, The Green Eyed Monster of the Resentful
I voted for the first time in my life when I was 30. It’s not that I didn’t want to before. It’s that I could not. I left my country when I was 16, and I did not become a … Continue reading Every vote, a prayer
In the summer of 2021, my children attended a camp near the border of WV and Ohio. We had been warned that there were no cell or internet signals on the grounds, so the kids would be cut off from … Continue reading The Digital (Divide) Chasm
The e-mail brought the news of the ballet’s arrival to our town. We’d been waiting so I got on the venue’s website right away to find information about the school matinee. I noticed the announcement stating that “scholarships” would be … Continue reading Death By a Thousand Cuts
Three-Fifths 