Justified Anger Blog
White or Black? The children of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings wrestle with racial identity
By Phil Haslanger Imagine that you were a child of Thomas Jefferson – author of the Declaration of Independence, the nation’s third president, a giant in American history – and Sally Hemings, the slave who gave birth to six of Jefferson’s children. Do you claim your heritage? Do you hide it? How will that…
Read MoreDr. Gee Reflects on Race Conversations
Last Saturday, September 16th, Rev. Dr. Gee participated on a panel titled, “Moving Past Fear – How to Talk about Race in All Your Spaces,” which focused on the challenges to discussing race in public spaces and strategies for overcoming those obstacles. Dr. Gee has some specific thoughts and reflections on the experience and conversation afterwards…
Read MoreExperiencing History at Home
Experiencing History at Home By Phil Haslanger It’s been a year since the National Museum of African-American History and Culture opened its doors in Washington D.C. to massive crowds and intensely emotional experiences. The museum captured both the pain and the possibilities of life in America for those enslaved in Africa, shipped…
Read MoreNever Forget
Last night, my daughter interviewed my wife for a school report she’s working on about September 11th. As my wife and I told our stories about where we were, and what we remembered, it made me think of the fear that ran through our country years all those years ago. I remember listening to…
Read MoreDantrell Cotton – An Encounter with Whiteness
This week, we have a blog coming from a recent University of Wisconsin-Madison Master’s Graduate. Dantrell Cotton spent 7 years in Madison attending UW obtaining both his Bachelors in Community and Environmental Sociology and Masters in Environment and Resources degrees. Dantrell also participated in Nehemiah as the Choir Director and an Empowerment Coach for…
Read MoreGroans and Birthpains
3 years ago Michael Brown was shot dead in Ferguson, Mo. 3 years ago we witnessed the divide of a nation, the exasperation of a people. Is today different? Have we learned anything from the past 3 years? I recently read an excerpt from Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings” and…
Read MoreWalk a Mile
By Harry Hawkins Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Personal responsibility. These are some of the phrases that often come up when whites in Madison and elsewhere talk about the symptoms of racial disparities and the racism that spawned it. The idea is that the problems many African Americans face are self-inflicted, and as such,…
Read MoreBlack History for Our Day
By Phil Haslanger It’s relatively easy to sit in a large room with 250 folks – most of us white – and listen to the stories of slavery and segregation and civil rights and to feel horrified and then ashamed and then inspired. It’s not so easy when all that history bumps up against…
Read MoreBuilding a Legacy
By Phil Haslanger When Lilada Gee starts talking about the sexual assault of black women, she brings a personal passion and a depth of knowledge that illuminates the many facets of this stark reality in our nation. On the personal side, as she explained to the Black History for a New Day class…
Read MoreBlack History for a New Day
By Phil Haslanger Over the course of three evenings in Justified Anger’s “Black History for a New Day,” I ventured into the west African coast prior to the beginnings of the slave trade. Then the Portuguese launched what would become a huge – and immoral – enterprise in collusion with African rulers. I…
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