Featured image for “OPINION | Jacksonville should act to reverse the legacy of racist housing policies”
September 20, 2023

OPINION | Jacksonville should act to reverse the legacy of racist housing policies

The U.S. government created ghettoes.  Government action produced racially segregated communities in the U.S., including in Jacksonville. This was no…

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August 29, 2023

Black scholars will mobilize in Jacksonville next month

Leaders of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History say they won’t be deterred by racial…

Featured image for “1619 Project founder denounces Florida’s social studies standards”
Nikole Hannah-Jones is the founder of the 1619 Project and the founder of the Center for Journalism & Democracy at Howard University. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
August 10, 2023

1619 Project founder denounces Florida’s social studies standards

As school starts this week in Northeast Florida, Nikole Hannah-Jones says students are getting a whitewashed version of African American…

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Mayor Donna Deegan welcomes Vice President Kamala Harris to Jacksonville on July 21, 2023. | Claire Heddles, Jacksonville Today
July 23, 2023

OPINION | VP Harris exposed DeSantis’ weakness 

VP Harris spoke truths about Gov. Ron DeSantis that Florida’s disempowered Democrats lack the platform to fully get over on…

Featured image for “OPINION | New African American history standards eschew context  ”
Richard Twine Collection
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…

Featured image for “‘You don’t see a lot of Black, female pilots.’ This Riverside graduate aims to be one.”
May 29, 2023

‘You don’t see a lot of Black, female pilots.’ This Riverside graduate aims to be one.

This Riverside High graduate plans to enroll in Jacksonville University’s School of Aviation.…

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…

Featured image for “OPINION | Rinse and repeat”
A group of demonstrators gather at dusk in Shelby Farms Park in response to the death of Tyre Nichols, who died after being beaten by Memphis police officers following a traffic stop, in Memphis, Tenn., Monday, Jan. 30, 2023. Tyre, who had a hobby in photography, frequented the park to photograph sunsets. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
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…

Featured image for “Some Black groups say they were left out of Jacksonville’s bicentennial, so they’re holding their own events instead”
Hazel Gillis is the president of the James Weldon Johnson chapter of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Her organization, and Black-led groups in town, feels left out of Jacksonville's bicentennial celebration that is slated for June. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
May 17, 2022

Some Black groups say they were left out of Jacksonville’s bicentennial, so they’re holding their own events instead

Celebrating the city’s two centuries of history – warts and all – was the challenge the Jacksonville Historical Society was…

Featured image for “Independent Florida water providers are shutting down. American Beach’s doesn’t want to be next.  ”
Bobby Dollison has been maintaining two wells that provide clean drinking water from the Florida aquifer to a few dozen American Beach residents. | Claire Heddles, Jacksonville Today
May 1, 2022

Independent Florida water providers are shutting down. American Beach’s doesn’t want to be next.  

Construction will begin soon on a new water and sewer system in American Beach, the historically African American community in…

Featured image for “OPINION | The value of being”
Byron Leftwich, left, and Alton Brown, right. Photo attribution: All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; JaxStrong, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
February 7, 2022

OPINION | The value of being

There’s a notion that has circulated in the Black community for generations: Black people have to be twice as good…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | 5 Black history sites in Brooklyn”
February 1, 2022

THE JAXSON | 5 Black history sites in Brooklyn

In honor of the beginning of Black History Month, here’s a review of sites in the quickly changing neighborhood of…

Featured image for “OPINION | Erasing Black history does not erase Black people”
Quarters for enslaved people at Jacksonville's Kingsley Plantation.
January 31, 2022

OPINION | Erasing Black history does not erase Black people

In my other life, I write books and host a podcast. I am unabashed about centering the point of view…