Early voting must stay I voted early. That way, whatever happens, it’s done. I cannot imagine not voting. It’s not something we should take for granted, especially as the world is experiencing a drift from democratic principles. Whoever you vote for, please vote. Some people say they didn’t vote in an election because there were no good candidates to choose from or the outcome didn’t matter. Outcomes matter. There are...
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) – defined as abuse, neglect and family/household challenges experienced during the first 18 years of life — are not evenly distributed among populations. Members of minority groups and children who grow up in poverty have more of them. ACEs can cast long shadows over lives and affect education, health, income and...
Kavanaugh hearings So much has been said and written about the special session in the Senate last week that was part of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing. It was to be a time during which senators, their staffs and the public would hear from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford about her alleged sexual assault by Kavanaugh when both were in high school. Both would make statements and respond to questions from a seasoned attorney. Whatever the outcome...
One year after Hurricane Maria hits Puerto Rico, Florence strikes the Carolinas Comprehending the death toll in Puerto Rico Sept. 20 was the first anniversary of Hurricane Maria, which struck Puerto Rico as a powerful Category 4 storm and has left thousands of people still without power or with only intermittent service. After Hurricane Fran...
While the President signed an executive order on immigration yesterday, ending his administration’s policy of separating parents and children at the border for detention, the crisis is not over. An estimated 2,342 migrant children, to whom the new order does not apply, are being detained with no clear plan or timeline for reuniting them with...
Thanks to veterans and those in the military As one of three daughters of a brave, honorable, now-deceased WWII veteran who served as a medic in Europe, I salute and honor those who have served or are serving their countries. On a recent flight I shared with more than 20 U.S. Army soldiers, I was...
Movies for life In the past few months, there have been a couple movies that speak to diversity in a way that demands attention and is becoming part of global culture. “Black Panther” is one of them, and I wanted to see it on the big screen. “Black Panther,” produced as part of the Marvel...
[This post is adapted from a memo on sexual harassment sent Dec. 5, 2017, to Gillings School faculty, staff and students. – BKR] Context for discussions about sexual harassment. Over the past several months, complaints about sexual harassment, assault and sexual misconduct have reached a crescendo in the news, calling out well-known individuals in a...
Why historical context is critical I am reading Freedom Struggles: African Americans and World War I (Harvard University Press, 2009), by historian Adriane Lentz-Smith, PhD, associate professor of history at Duke University. Dr. Lentz-Smith is an alumna of Yale University who completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UNC-Chapel Hill. I found this book because the author...
In the past few days, I said I wasn’t going to write about Silent Sam, the Confederate memorial statue on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus since 1913, unless there were new events. That was before a day filled with multiple conversations with people in our school, email exchanges with a student and an argument about the statue with my husband.
College towns not insulated from violence Saturday, the news was barely out about clashes in Charlottesville, Va., between white supremacy groups and demonstrators against them before we started hearing from people who were anxious and upset about the events. Then, when violence erupted, and Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old local woman, died tragically after a man...
In this post, I do not speak for the Gillings School or for UNC-Chapel Hill. Questions about the roles, rights and responsibilities of the Center for Civil Rights (CCR) Over the past several months, students and others have asked me, on several occasions, to comment about the impact of a UNC Board of Governors policy upon...