PerspectivesNikesha Elise Williams Jacksonville Today Contributor
Nikesha Elise Williams is an Emmy-winning TV producer, an award-winning author, and host/producer of the Black & Published podcast. Her latest novel, Beyond Bourbon Street, was awarded Best Fiction by the Black Caucus of African-American Librarians in the 2021 Self-Published eBook Literary Awards, as well as the 2020 Outstanding Book Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. Nikesha’s debut novel Four Women received the 2018 NABJ Outstanding Literary Work Award and the Florida Authors and Publishers Association President’s Award for Adult Contemporary/Literary Fiction. Her bylines include The Washington Post, ESSENCE, and Vox. Nikesha lives in Jacksonville with her family.
Featured image for “OPINION | The playground is the battleground ”
March 13, 2024

OPINION | The playground is the battleground 

We’re giving over the health, safety and the sanctity of public education to those who only have their own power interests at heart. 

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Featured image for “OPINION | Joy is not an afterthought”
February 14, 2024

OPINION | Joy is not an afterthought

I write a lot about the ongoing injuries to Black people to connect the dots of history to this present moment. But in life I lean heavily into joy.

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Featured image for “OPINION | American fiction ”
January 10, 2024

OPINION | American fiction 

Opinion writer Nikesha Elise Williams reflects on an encounter with a police officer in Murray Hill Friday night.

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Featured image for “OPINION | The ‘Black tax’ ”
December 6, 2023

OPINION | The ‘Black tax’ 

What’s happening in Brentwood is an extension of the long history of redlining that cut off Black and Brown communities from investment.

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Featured image for “OPINION | My son was called the N-word at school”
November 8, 2023

OPINION | My son was called the N-word at school

Now that it has happened to my son, so much earlier than when it first happened to me, I am only sad. 

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Featured image for “OPINION | I won’t lie to you ”
October 25, 2023

OPINION | I won’t lie to you 

The only opinion I have and the only solution I support is cease fire. 

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Featured image for “OPINION | 2 images that show the work we need to do”
October 11, 2023

OPINION | 2 images that show the work we need to do

In the images of Woods and Deegan, the degradation of one, and the praise of another, is how much further we have to go toward equity.

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Featured image for “OPINION | Living with the past”
September 27, 2023

OPINION | Living with the past

Throwing money at a problem is easy. What is not is remaining committed to creating equitable communities for all people months or years after tragedy has happened.

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Featured image for “OPINION | This American life”
September 13, 2023

OPINION | This American life

Though it it comes as an affront to the immoral imbalance of white supremacy, disenfranchisement and early death be damned.

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Featured image for “OPINION | This hate is ours to hold ”
August 28, 2023

OPINION | This hate is ours to hold 

I didn’t want to write this, but here I am using my words to process a pain that runs too deep in my bones, my bloodline, for me to ignore.

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Featured image for “OPINION | Resiliency begins with us ”
August 16, 2023

OPINION | Resiliency begins with us 

Will we look back and say we did our best on an individual level to fight climate change?

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Featured image for “OPINION | New African American history standards eschew context  ”
July 19, 2023

OPINION | New African American history standards eschew context  

The prevailing narrative of Florida’s new social studies standards, and in our country writ large, is that Black Americans are not “real” Americans.

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Featured image for “OPINION | Invest in safety, not police”
June 14, 2023

OPINION | Invest in safety, not police

We cannot police ourselves out of crime. The JSO budget has been at or above half-a-billion dollars for years, and the crime numbers remain high.

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Featured image for “OPINION | On the come up ”
May 17, 2023

OPINION | On the come up 

I criticize this bold new city of the South consistently, but I’m not above applauding when ovation is due. And, Jacksonville, ovation is due. 

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Featured image for “OPINION | The body is the crime scene”
April 19, 2023

OPINION | The body is the crime scene

Recent legislative measures target the very existence of marginalized groups.

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Featured image for “OPINION | Ring the alarm ”
April 5, 2023

OPINION | Ring the alarm 

Florida Republicans are stripping people of safety, bodily autonomy and dignity while masquerading as choice.

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Featured image for “OPINION | Don’t close your eyes”
March 22, 2023

OPINION | Don’t close your eyes

College DEI programs provide safe space and solace for those of us looking for community in a dominant culture that’s hostile to difference.

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Featured image for “OPINION | Look beyond the top of the ticket”
March 6, 2023

OPINION | Look beyond the top of the ticket

The real change lies in who’s elected to the down ballot races. We have 19 seats on our City Council, and only four incumbents are running unopposed or against a write-in candidate, guaranteeing their return to the Council.

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Featured image for “OPINION | The real life implications of erasing history”
February 15, 2023

OPINION | The real life implications of erasing history

What came home from school was a list of people, places, or things the students could portray. Out of two dozen options, only four were Black people.

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Featured image for “OPINION | Rinse and repeat”
February 1, 2023

OPINION | Rinse and repeat

The hashtags that now date back a decade, and centuries of crimes against humanity, are the reason A.P. African American Studies is necessary.

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Featured image for “OPINION | We don’t have a labor shortage”
January 18, 2023

OPINION | We don’t have a labor shortage

The U.S. workforce suffers from the unwillingness of corporations to pay workers a wage that signifies value, worth, dignity and respect.

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Featured image for “OPINION | The lie of invisibility”
January 4, 2023

OPINION | The lie of invisibility

Banning books eliminates an opportunity for students to expand beyond their own surroundings and worldview.

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Featured image for “OPINION | Remember, reconcile, repair”
December 14, 2022

OPINION | Remember, reconcile, repair

“Take ‘Em Down!” is an ineffectual narrative strategy to effect change.  Is it a demand of adamance? Absolutely.  A passionate plea for empathy? Of course.  A spirited rallying cry, pithy enough for posters and T-shirts, and to fit into the mouths of young protesters who chant the phrase while elder dissenters offer themselves to the law as a martyr for

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Featured image for “OPINION | Silence is not assent”
November 30, 2022

OPINION | Silence is not assent

As a child I would sometimes get in trouble in school, and then again at home, for trying to express my point of view when I disagreed with something my teachers or parents did or said. To my insistent protestations I was rebuffed with standard parenting quips: “Stay in a child’s place” or “Stay out of grown folks’ business.” At

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