For years, the ongoing epidemic of Black people dying at the hands of police has only continued. And the list of names and families becomes longer as police departments across the country and politicians at all levels reject any type of reform. And in the six years...
Violence against Asian Americans has increased exponentially since the coronavirus pandemic. In Texas, many in the AAPI community feel that acutely, heightened by recent attacks in Dallas that were at first overlooked as hate crimes. Last week, the Dallas Police...
Every second Monday in October, Americans across the country have become acclimated to celebrate Christopher Columbus Day, commemorating the explorer commonly taught as discovering America in the 15th century. This routine holiday has been etched in the history...
This past May, I sat in front of legislators to testify against their attempts to ban gender-affirming health care for transgender children in Texas, including my own transgender son. Despite COVID-19 and my aversion to public speaking, I traveled to Austin many times...
It’s been a rough couple of months for Black women in sports and I’m tired of seeing extraordinary Black women being dehumanized for choosing themselves. The world and America needs to understand supporting Black women and normalizing mental health is overdue. It all...
On March 9, The University of Texas at Austin’s The Eyes of Texas History Committee released a report about UT Austin’s official song, “The Eyes of Texas.” Neither the report nor the committee could strip the song of its “Alma Mater” status, per the report....
In the summer of 1997, thousands of Black Austinites streamed to Rosewood Park, a historic space on the capital city’s East Side. They were headed to Jump On It, an event created by rising rapper Nook Turner and longtime civil rights activist Dorothy Turner (no...
As one of the biggest advocates for making Juneteenth a national holiday, Texas native Opal Lee has attracted quite the following around the country to rally around her cause. Yesterday, at a virtual summit sponsored by Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Lee discussed the...
Members of the Texas Senate Committee on Jurisprudence held their first hearing this week over Senate Bill 21, a controversial bail reform bill backed by Republicans. The purpose of the bill according to its author Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston) is to prevent repeat...