-
Are You Aware? The Same Privilege
This is part II in our “Freedom of Religion” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. Yesterday was the first day of fasting for the Islamic religious holiday Ramadan. I woke up this morning at 4:30 to prepare breakfast for my husband and my children who are old enough to fast. For 30 days, our Muslim-Mormon family will refrain from food and drink from sunup to sundown — approximately 16 hours a day by the end of the fast. During Ramadan, I am always more acutely aware of the religious differences not only in my own household but between my family and the rest of the community…
-
Are You Aware? Founding Faith
This is part I in our “Freedom of Religion” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. It is a common misconception that the United States was founded as a “Christian nation” and that the founders intended it as such. It is true that the American colonies were largely established by Christians and that Christianity had a profound effect on the architects of the nation. But history does not support the claim that our government ever was, or was intended to be, Christian by those who conceived of and orchestrated its emergence. It was, in part, the oppression felt from both the British monarchy, with their supposed “divine…
-
Are You Aware? A Convergence of Crises — The Opioid Epidemic
This is part V in our “Rural America” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 841,000 people in the U.S. have died of drug overdose since 1999. Drugs are the leading cause of death from injury in the U.S., by a significant margin. In 2019, 29% of injury-related deaths were caused by drug poisoning. The next closest causes of death by injury were falls, firearms, and motor vehicle-related deaths, at around 15-16% each. That same year, about 70% of all drug overdose deaths were caused by opioids. Opioids, opiates, and opiums — what are they? An opiate is a derivative of the…
-
Are You Aware? News from the Heartland
This is part IV in our “Rural America” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. It is almost a golden rule of campaign journalism: Find a small-town restaurant packed with white conservative voters, and ask what their hopes are for America. The restaurant patrons enthusiastically support the Republican candidate and bemoan the direction of our country and her values. After the pancakes are eaten and the coffee cups drained, the intrepid reporter books it back to the big city. We watched this scenario play out in the election of 2016, where a majority of rural Americans voted for Trump, many of them expressing the thought that big…
-
Are You Aware? Bridging the Divide
This is part III in our “Rural America” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. I grew up in a rural part of Pennsylvania. One of our homes was on a “rural route” for mail, and our property consisted of about an acre of land in the middle of some woods. There was an old covered bridge and a small creek just down the hill from us. It was a child’s paradise. Later we moved to a small town, where our address was simply the name of the town and the state. We picked up the mail by walking a couple of blocks to the small post…
-
Are You Aware? How Farmers Survive
This is part II in our “Rural America” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. Do you know how farmers survive? They have relied for decades on USDA loans. Every year many farmers apply for loans to buy or rent farmland, to buy seed or stock or equipment or fertilizers, and even to cover living expenses. Many farmers could not operate without loans. It’s an annual cycle of borrowing at the beginning of the crop year to purchase the needed items, and then paying up at harvest and not having enough cash reserves to start the next growing season — and then beginning the cycle again. Timing…
-
Are You Aware? A Pandemic in the Country
This is part I in our “Rural America” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. When my family goes on road trips, we often measure our progress relative to population centers — sometimes pulling off the highway, briefly, to stop at a convenience store or a fast food joint along the way. Yet, sometimes, I find myself thinking about what life is like in the space between. My mother was born and raised in the mountains on the border of Washington and Idaho. We laugh at stories of her and her three sisters waking each other to venture out to the outhouse in the middle of the night,…
-
Are You Aware? Made in Detroit
This is part IV in our Awareness Wednesday series for Black History Month 2021. Read the other posts in the series here. In the 1920s, Detroit was the fourth-largest city in the United States, and there was considerable tension in the city. The city — which in 1910 had a population of 456,000, with fewer than 6,000 Black people — had a population of 990,000 in 1920 with nearly 41,000 Black people. The tension created by this phenomenon gave rise to a relatively large Ku Klux Klan presence by the mid-1910s. This was fueled by southern whites and European immigrants competing with Blacks for housing and jobs. The automotive industry, although in…
-
Are You Aware? Black Entrepreneurship and Obtaining an Economic Foothold
This is part III in our Awareness Wednesday series for Black History Month 2021. Read the other posts in the series here. Booker T. Washington said Blacks should obtain an economic foothold before trying to tear down social and political barriers. There have been, throughout our history, Black people who have prospered as free people — who made a living that allowed them to buy their own freedom or those of other Black family members. But for most, there have been enormous barriers of prejudice and scant means to overcome in their pursuit of success. This post is about those who have worked to secure an economic foothold. The result…
-
Are You Aware? The Destruction of a Dream and the Race Massacre of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street
This is part II in our Awareness Wednesday series for Black History Month 2021. Read the other posts in the series here. After the Civil War, Blacks availed themselves of the opportunity to buy land. During the 1889 Land Rush, the “Unassigned Lands” (ceded Native territory) were the only lands approved to be sold to Blacks. In 1868, John and Rosanna Gurley lived in Huntsville, Alabama. That year they welcomed their firstborn son — Ottowa. Eight years later, John and Rosanna relocated their family, including Ottowa and his three younger siblings, to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. During this post-Civil War era, Black families were quick to take advantage of their newly…
