My first news poem - Arc in Public Square
Photo by Marjan Blan on Unsplash The arc of the moral universe bendsIt doesn't bend on its ownIt has, historically, only been bent by the weight of Black and...
Is OpenAI just Uber all over again?
Some thoughts on how OpenAI is just the Uber monopoly scam all over again
Open Letter on Immigrant Trust Act and IHRA
Sharing the open letter I wrote to my LD27 NJ State Representatives
Does anyone win when children are bombed? - My latest piece on Public Square Amplified
My working title for my latest piece was Gaza, Alabama. But in hindsight Birmingham, Palestine would have been a better fit. I enjoyed writing something that...
Public Comment to the Board of Education 3/17/2025
Our district is facing an $11M shortfall. Some Board Members are suggesting we should not raise taxes to soften the blow.
Public comment from 02/11/2025 asking the West Orange Town Council to debate and vote on a Resolution Against Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Racism
Photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash I'm here tonight to ask that as elected representatives of the residents of West Orange you work together to consider the...
From “Man” to “Resistance," Oppressors Always Fear Words
Stories, and the words that compose them, change the world.
Scale funding is poison when you're actually growing
Non-profits often can't influence enough of their problem space to create scale, so we must fund them for growth not scale, which means the funding can't just end.
My latest piece on Ceasefire in Public Square Amplified
I wrote about how the US failure to achieve ceasefire is both unsurprising, and a distraction from the real problem.
Biden ain't it
The best time to step aside would have been right before or after Trump's speech. The second best time is NOW.
There are no both sides to our political violence
The Republican vision for our country is violence across the entirety of our society, in all its forms, and all its manifestations.
8 years
And for most of those 8 years, it feels good to think about him, even though it still hurts.
Ceasefire Resolution Public Comment West Orange Town Council 2/13/24
But right now in Gaza, kids aren’t the future, because they’re dead.
Palestinian Lives Matter
But what do we do when our elected officials and a minority of our neighbors refuse to acknowledge that?
My written testimony to the Assembly Community Development and Affairs Committee on Strong Civilian Complaint Review Boards
A1515 is finally getting a committee hearing, almost 2 years after it was introduced and assigned to committee
My Op-Ed on my journey on police violence and how it applies to occupation, apartheid, and genocide in Palestine
Our world has been consumed by atrocity, slaughter, and decimation many times before, but what’s changed in the last few years is the ability for everyone to watch it happen in real time.
My Op-Ed on the County Line as a voter suppression tool
Every single Democratic voter who cast a vote in the primary election would have been disenfranchised if the Essex County Democrats leadership had gotten their way...
#Justice4Bernard - Englewood Council Public Comment 06/13/2023
My public comment on obtaining justice for Bernard Placide, Jr. at the Englewood Council Meeting
Open Letter to Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin
When your State Attorney General quotes Letter from Birmingham Jail you'd probably expect good results. New Jersey's AG seems to be on a different path.
Testimony on Community Crisis Response - A5326
Paterson Healing Collective staff member Najee Seabrooks (center) who was murdered by Paterson Police during a mental health crisis. Photo from Paterson...
Policing, Whiteness, and My Journey of Understanding
A racist system will always produce racist outcomes. We need to break down that racist system.
New Jersey is governed by white moderates
Those people who are quoting Dr. King's Letters are the same people he was talking about, and they either don't see that, or they don't want to see that.
Public Comment - Englewood Council Meeting - 03/30/2023
Six months after an Englewood Police Officer murdered Bernard Placide, Jr by shooting him while he was incapacitated by a taser, the Council isn't taking residents concerns with policing seriously
#JusticeForNajee 3/7/23
Living into my own theory that sharing pictures of protest is important to spreading the change we hope to accomplish
Public Comment on Medicare for All - Newark Municipal Council - 02/28/2023
My public comment in support of a Newark Council Resolution supporting a Mayor Baraka letter calling for passage of Medicare for All
First Op-Ed in Public Square Amplified
My first piece has been published in what is hopefully a series of 3 Op-Eds in Public Square on Organizing, Democracy, and Public Engagement
More Police Funding Won't Make Us Safer!
It's bad enough when police unions lie about increased funding leading to safer communities. It's worse when your Congressional Representatives repeat it as fact.
The fall of Roe is a terrible beginning, not an end
We must ensure access, not just the right, in the states while limiting the damage nationally
Public Bank Implementation Board Testimony 4/5/2022
NJ needs to focus its public bank efforts on equity and racial justice
My testimony to the Apportionment Commission 1/26/22
New Jersey is reshaping it's Legislative Districts. Let's take the opportunity to eliminate the legacy of White Supremacy
Further thoughts on white protest
When the protests end, the media gets distracted, and conversations about the issues we care about fall to the wayside
A call for white people to protest against white supremacy
When we joined our Black and brown neighbors it set the stage for the change we seek. When we stopped, things returned to the status quo.
Testimony to the NJ Redistricting Committees
Photo by Aaron Burson on Unsplash Good morning and thank you to the commissioners for agreeing to serve in this role and to the staff facilitating these...
What do we do with the bad takes of our youth
The internet never forgets, even if we have
Chauvin Verdict
It might not be much of a step forward, but at least it's not yet another step backward
McConnell may be at his most dangerous
McConnell has a clear path to not alienate his donors, keep the filibuster to block voting reform and set the stage to take back the Senate and the White House
Email to West Orange Township Council supporting Medicare For All Resolution 57-21
Councilmembers, I'm writing to urge you to support Resolution 57-21 highlighting the need for a federal health insurance program and larger healthcare...
Cuomo's white male privilege shows how far we have to go
Photo credit: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/01/nyregion/cuomo-harassment-anna-ruch.html If you're reading this, you've undoubtedly seen that 91 women have...
I’m not Brett Kavanaugh and that’s not an accomplishment
I could have been Brett Kavanaugh. The fact that I’m not is not something I deserve praise for. It’s just that I’m a remotely decent human being, because that’s who I was raised to be.
Democracy dies without accountability
In an age when politicians can act with impunity with seemingly no cost to themselves, how can voters hold them accountable?
Amanda Gorman's poem "The Hill We Climb" just needs to be in more places on the internet
When day comes we ask ourselves,where can we find light in this never-ending shade?The loss we carry,a sea we must wadeWe've braved the belly of the...
What happened at the Capitol was not a riot
White male angst is regularly heard and acted on. The confederate flag shows this for what it was, a white insurrectionist mob.
The argument for a Works Philanthropic Administration
This has a lot of words, and I’m not convinced they’re right, or complete, or that I’m not just another white dude on the internet spouting off on crap I...
I write many words
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