April 15, 1947 was the day Jackie Robinson played his first Major League Baseball game. For the past ten or so years, Major League Baseball has celebrated the date as Jackie Robinson Day. It’s a nice day for baseball. There are ceremonies before all the games. All the players wear Jackie Robinson’s number, 42, as…
I wrote a post the other day where I complained that the nature of academic racial language forces the conversations about race to be too self conscious. As an aside, I also mentioned that this same language is polarizing and alienating. Not that anyone asked, since no one ever leaves comments, but I thought I’d…
A couple years ago, a student was working with me on a history paper. She was a regular and I had worked with her often. She always seemed smart and nice. This day she asked me, “What do you call me?” I hesitated and tried to glance at her folder. I figured I had called…
