Drick Boyd's Blog
How Racism Hurts White People
(Adapted from my book Disrupting Whiteness: Talking to White People About Racism0 The Hidden Wound In the wake of the Derek Chauvin trial there has been a great deal of speculation and prognostication that Chauvin’s guilty verdict might signal a shift in the public’s...
What Now?
Like many people, I was greatly relieved at the outcome of the trial of police officer Derek Chauvin, who was found guilty on all three counts for the murder of George Floyd last May. While, like many, I feared the worst – i.e. that Chauvin would be set free or there...
What Has Happened in My Second City?
Minneapolis - “The Most Racist City” In January of 1979 I took a graduate seminar on White Racism with the late Dr. James Tillman and his wife, Mary Tillman. The Tillman’s were residents of Atlanta, Georgia, but traveled around the country offering seminars and...
Addressing Gun Violence – The Way We See the Problem is the Problem
A recent editorial cartoon of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has the heading “Crime under the ‘Watchful' eye of Larry Krasner” and shows him blaming crime, COVID, the court system, police and the Philadelphia Flyers defense for the rise in crime, while a...
The Challenge of Empathy
The Challenge of Empathy In my recently released book Disrupting Whiteness: Talking with White People About Racism, I propose that the best way to engage white folks in conversations about racism is to take a dialogical rather than a confrontative approach. Too often...
Support Black Owned Businesses
I am reposting this article on supporting Black-owned businesses - Check it out! (DB) Support Black-Owned Businesses: 181 Places to Start Online Sophia Conti February 07, 2021 Racial and wealth disparities in the United States have been thrown into sharp relief by...
The Woman Who Shaped Me
Most men I know first learn about the strength and endurance of women from their mothers. During this Women’s History Month I want to take this opportunity to talk about the woman who shaped me, Mary “Sis” Mullins Boyd, my mother. On the 19th of this month, she would...
Why The Devotion To Trump?
The Impeachment As I write these words the U.S. Senate is in its first day of deliberations over whether or not Donald Trump should be held accountable for the attempted insurrection on January 6, 2021. The deliberations on this day are focusing on whether or not a...
What is Your Race Story?
This week I share an excerpt from my forthcoming book, Disrupting Whiteness: Talking with White People About Racism. In this segment I am contending that before white people can talk with others about racism, they need to be able to identify and articulate the...
What is Your Race Story?
This week, I offer an excerpt from my forthcoming book, Disrupting Whiteness: Talking With White People About Racism. Essentially, my contention is that before we can engage other people on their views and feelings about racial incidents, we must be grounded in a...
2042 and the Insurrection
My father died nearly five years ago in May 2016; he was 89 years old and outlived my mother by 11 years. Seeing how long my father lived has caused me to wonder how old I will be when I die; a morbid thought perhaps, but quite natural when one is the oldest living...
After the Failed Insurrection – Now What?
The Call In September 2020 I received a call from an old friend I had not talked to in years. Sam and I first met in 2009 when with ten others we took part in a civil disobedience action against Colisimos Gun Store, which was notorious for supplying illegal guns used...
Epiphany
The Day of Epiphany In the Christian tradition, January 6 is the Day of Epiphany, the day in which we celebrate the arrival of astrologers from Persia who came seeking a Blessed One, the one we know as Jesus. These astrologers have been called Wise Ones, Magi, and...
Shirking the Safety of Our Whiteness
When I awoke on the morning of January 1, a huge cloud seemed to lift. I am sure I was not alone in being glad to put 2020 in the rearview mirror. Even so, the challenges and problems of 2020 have carried into 2021. The pandemic still rages, and thousands of people...
Howard Thurman’s Christmas Reflections
Howard Thurman was a prolific writer on many areas both in terms of social and political concerns, as well as the spiritual life in relationship to those more “secular realms.” He was also the writer of several collections of short reflections and prayers. One of...