Published in Age of Awareness·PinnedUnderstanding Instagram’s Effect on Teen Girls and What Parents Can Do About ItThe Wall Street Journal is publishing a series of articles critical of Facebook entitled “The Facebook Files.” In its eighth installment at the time of this writing, the series is based on internal documents from the company, including “research reports, online employee discussions and drafts of presentations to senior management.” …Facebook6 min read
PinnedThe Big Smush: Why Everything Is So PoliticalI can remember those first few years, always looking for blazers. I was a newly minted Ph.D., and I wanted to look professorial. I was a member of a category of people called “professors” or “academics.” I wasn’t trying to fake it. …Politics11 min read
Published in Age of Awareness·PinnedConfessions of a Former Colorblind RacistWe see a lot of talk about critical race theory in our educational system these days. These conversations have been brewing for some time. Many online personalities such as Christopher Rufo and James Lindsay have done an excellent job building up a groundswell of concern. …Critical Race Theory8 min read
Published in The Startup·PinnedThinking About Data-Driven Policing in an Era of Social JusticeIntroduction — Over the past several years, police in the United States have come under increased scrutiny. The Black Lives Matter movement and those sympathetic to its cause have charged police with bias against black and brown people. …Racism8 min read
PinnedThe Problem of Privilege Discrimination and The Solution of “Evidence Based Discrimination”I am a professor at a university in the American South. I am in my sixth year there. In that time, I have served on numerous hiring committees. For readers outside of academia, hiring a new faculty member is an extensive vetting process that can take several months. You are…Social Justice14 min read
Feb 15Amir Locke deserved the dignity of a knockAnother week, another state crime. Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man, was killed by police in a Minneapolis apartment building. Shortly before 7 in the morning, a SWAT team approached the apartment door where Locke was staying. According to Interim Minneapolis Police Chief Amelia Huffman, it was assisting the city’s…Amir Locke5 min read
Jan 30Fascist? Authoritarian? Sorta Russian? Whatever you call it, the Republicans don’t want legitimate authority, only powerPower is the ability to get what you want, even in opposition to others. In our two-party system, the party in power can pass legislation the other party may oppose. Democrats thought they were in power, but Joe Biden’s inability to pass his Build Back Better legislation casts doubt on…Republican Party5 min read
Jan 18The leaders of the Democratic Party must be honest about the real effects of immigrationThere are about 50 million foreign-born people in the United States. In a nation of about 330 million, that is around 14 percent of the population. That is a sharp rise from around 5 percent in 1970. Since 2001 nearly 1 million legal immigrants have entered the US each year. …Immigration6 min read
Jan 11What you need to know about drug harm reduction programsAccording to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), between May 2020 and April 2021, overdoses exceeded 100,000 nationally for the first time. In New York City, over 2,000 died of a drug overdose in 2020. It was the most deaths since reporting of overdoses began in 2000. In response, the…Harm Reduction6 min read
Dec 2, 2021Caught between “out of touch” Democrats and a “trickle-down” Republican philanthropist: A political snapshot of a poor Southern townMy hometown, Lake City, South Carolina, is a snapshot of small-town America. It has been in decline since the 1980s, mirroring the trajectory of many small towns across the country. Places in the Rust Belt suffered when automotive and industrial plants moved overseas. …Progressive6 min read
