Dear Pearl, As a young woman, a newly arrived immigrant in New York, and a single mother, you worked three low-paying jobs to support yourself and your family, while parenting from a distance – also known as transnational parenting (Best-Cummings, 2009).

When most Americans hear “affirmative action,” they often think the phrase is referring to a policy that protects African Americans. What many Americans don’t know is that affirmative actions are policies that were made by white people, to benefit white people, exclusively.

Historical reenactments have become a thing now. These “living history” activities are often staged performances that bring history to life for public consumption, under the guise of educational and entertainment purposes.

The world is fixated on whether Joe Biden should run for reelection – particularly since he just celebrated his 80th birthday. The argument always begins with whether he is physically or mentally fit to run, and all the media agree that he is fit today, but there are many who are concerned that at 82 years it will be asking too much of him.

Hate crimes or bias-motivated crimes on college campuses are on the rise today. But let’s not fool ourselves: students of color have always been plagued by crimes driven by racism – often relegating them to living in fear on the grounds of higher education institutions. 

Recently, Harvard University appointed Dr. Claudine Gay as its 30th president.  My first reaction was excitement; then after a bit of research, I learned more impressive details about this trailblazer.  A quick review informs us that Dr. Gay not only successfully completes her academic degrees in higher education but this high achiever does it with additional accolades.

Following the riots in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, many asked, “Why are they [Black people] destroying their own neighborhoods?” While clearly misguided and misinformed, questions like this are part of a much larger problem.

Mother’s Day was bittersweet for me. I was haunted by the image of an unarmed black man wearing a white T-shirt and khaki shorts, jogging down the road toward two armed white men, one with a shotgun and the other with a .357 Magnum.

While the issue of microaggressions has been studied for marginalized groups, research on microaggressions directed at Caribbean and Central American immigrants, a population whose identities are merged in the more visible Latinx, African American, or Asian-American identities, is rare.