Below is a letter I wrote to the Park District in a nearby Village after seeing a racist act by a Village employee on Sunday, and the response from the Village. I was compelled to write the letter, and I’m satisfied with the response, but I’m surprised and a little annoyed by my biggest concern…
DetailsThank you and welcome to guest blogger Kai-Duc Luong. Kai has lived in the US for the last 11 years, 10 of them working in corporate America. He left the corporate side to fully pursue his dream of being a filmmaker a year or so ago, to devote his attention to finishing the feature-length documentary…
DetailsMy 7 year old son, L, was telling me a story this week about the slip-n-slide at summer camp, and how much fun it was. He said the first time he went so fast he slid off the end and got so covered with mud he “looked like a black man.” It was just the…
DetailsWhile I risk being called a traitor as a St. Louisan defending a possible purchase of Anheuser-Busch by a non-American Company, as the wife of a Brazilian I must defend the fact that there are, indeed, ‘real businesses’ in Brazil. This stems from a conversation I was having yesterday. I can’t remember the genesis of…
DetailsI know, I know, many an ‘anti-racist’ will say that simply enjoying the foods and traditions of another culture as a ‘tourist’ does nothing to combat racism. But, honestly, I disagree. I’m raising a 7 year old, and for now I’m not going to go into in-depth history to explain why there is racism and…
DetailsMy husband and I were talking about the economy over breakfast this morning and he shared that he read in O Globo, Brazil’s major daily paper, that Americans saw a $1.7 trillion first quarter loss in net worth. His commentary on that was that “the U.S. is losing its place as the unchallenged leader of the…
DetailsYou know it’s difficult to talk about intercultural and interracial issues when you avoid talking even to yourself, in private, for fear of being offensive. Certainly I jest, but only sort of. There’s a couple of things I’ve noticed over the past nearly two weeks, and I have a couple of solutions to start. 1. …
DetailsThere have been a rash of articles lately focusing on studies that show that whites are often anxious in their interactions with people of color for fear of coming across as racist, and may avoid interactions with people of other races as a result. The author of one study, Project Implicit, suggested that becoming more…
DetailsThe other night a young man, probably in his late teens, came by our home while I was cooking dinner. I went to the door with the remnant of a head of lettuce that would soon complete our salad still in my hand. After introducing himself quickly and starting his spiel, he stopped short to…
DetailsThe first time my husband and I went grocery shopping together, over 20 years ago now, it looked like the scene from the movie Green Card. Andie MacDowell was putting in fresh veggies and granola on one side of the cart, while Gerard Depardieu added sides of beef and lard on his side. Over time…
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