afraid

4Apr

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IN OTHER NEWS

Michelle Obama: ‘I can’t make people not afraid of black people’

Michelle LeVaughn Robinson Obama Why the GOP march of mad hatters poses a threat to our Democracy Michelle Obama, Elizabeth Dole call for national unity at Heroes and History Makers event Obama to deliver remarks at Cummings's funeral MORE says she "can't make people not afraid of black people," but can "pick away at the scabs of discrimination" through her life's work. "As people doubted us coming through — 'Are you Princeton material? Can you really make the grade?' Can you cut it?' — what do you do in those instances? All you can do is put your head down and do the work and let the work, your truth, speak for itself," the former first lady said Tuesday at the Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago. "I can't make people not afraid of black people. I don't know what's going on. I can't ex...

Traveling while black: Why some Americans are afraid to explore their own country

Her mom always smiled - except when the family made its annual summer drive to visit the grandparents in Magnolia, Arkansas. “The smiles were gone while we were traveling,” said Gloria Gardner, 77. It was the 1940s, and traveling to her parents’ home town was not approached lightly after the family moved to Muskegon, Michigan, during the Great Migration. Stopping for food or bathroom breaks was mostly out of the question. For black families, preparing for a road trip required a well-tested battle plan in which nothing could be left to chance. There were meals to cook and pack in ice. Sheets were folded and stacked in the car to use as partitions if they were left with no choice but to take bathroom breaks roadside. And there was another item that Gardner recalls her parents never forgo...

Afraid of the Dark – Working With Black Men in Corporate America

I've worked on-and-off in corporate America for 12 years as a consultant, independent contractor, and an employee. In that time, I've had the dubious distinction of being the only black man, and many times, the only black person, at the companies where I was employed. The thing about being the only black person in the office is that it comes with responsibility. Not job responsibility, because that's a given, but psychosocial responsibility. Many times, I, and other black men in similar situations, represent the lone intimate contact that our white colleagues will have with other black people, and black men in particular. The extent of these interactions will be largely determined by their comfort level and acceptance. While many (white people) find it shocking that a black man can stil...