Voter ID laws have become a hot-button issue over the past few election cycles.  “We are witnessing a concerting effort to place new obstacles in front of minorities, low-income families, and young people who seek to exercise their right to vote. A poll tax by another name would smell as vile” said Maryland Representative Steny […]

This week I was reading the news and came across the following headline: “Demi Lovato says they forgive those misgendering them. Others say consequences could be dire.” I had to read it a couple of times, very confused as to what I had just read. Then I realized what was going on—what I thought was […]

Many people, myself included, have become so caught up in the issues of our time that we’ve forgotten just how good we have it.  In the last half-century, the average life expectancy rose from 56 years to 72, an increase of 29%. In 1966 out of every 1000 infants born, 113 died before their first […]

Last week the Washington Post published an article called “The Racist Legacy many Birds Carry” with the subtitle “The birding community faces a difficult debate about the names of species connected to enslavers, supremacists and grave robbers.” The piece makes the case that birding is riddled with racism and describes how many in the community […]

Can equality exist in a society that encourages pride? June is pride month—a celebration which began as “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month,” quickly became “LGBT pride month”, and is now “LGBTQ+ month” as more and more identities have been included over the years. It’s part of a wider movement that is said to be fighting […]

Last week Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot sent a letter to local media outlets offering sit-down interviews exclusively to black and brown journalists. “By now, you may have heard the news that on the occasion of the two-year anniversary of my inauguration as Mayor of this great City, I will be exclusively providing one-on-one interviews with […]

What is currently going on when it comes to the topic of police and racism is nothing short of mass delusion. And I don’t mean that in a pejorative sense, I mean it quite literally. A large percentage of people in this country have come to firmly hold beliefs that are contradicted both by reality […]

The moral case for less empathy, not more.