Independent since 2002 Issue No. 1102 Week of November 7, 2026 Get the free email dispatch →

Category: Inclusion

Commentary

Will Smollett’s Hoax Affect Public Perception of Hate Crimes?

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

How will Smollett's hoax affect public perception of hate crimes, significantly impacting people of color in the LGBTQ+ communities?

Former "Empire" actor, Jussie Smollett, was found guilty on five of the six counts of felony disorderly conduct for concocting an elaborate racist and homophobic assault…

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Commentary

Recent Trials Reflect White Fragility

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

White fragility is shown in the discomfort and defensiveness when whites are asked to address front and center racial injustice—whether in the Deep South or the urban North.

When a predominately white jury found the McMichaels and Bryan guilty of felony murder among other charges in the Ahmaud Arbery case, many assumed justice was…

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Commentary

Celebrating Thanksgiving’s 400th Anniversary of Revisionist History

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

as Americans, we should focus on creating this nation as a solid rock that rests on a multicultural and democratic foundation.

Before this year’s national celebration of Thanksgiving, the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts, just 43 miles southwest from Cambridge, where I reside, will celebrate its 400th Thanksgiving…

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Commentary

Halloween Unmasks Our Troubled History With Race

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

Some feel Halloween no longer brings joy and laughter in a “woke” culture where the tyranny of political correctness and identity politics police behavior.

Halloween is one of America’s favorite yearly activities. Unfortunately, Halloween can be America’s scariest, too-especially for those of us seen as costumes you wear rather than…

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Commentary

The Black Church Was One of R. Kelly’s Enablers

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

Black women have decried how black pastors have used self-serving theological reasoning in supporting Kelly and the deleterious effects it has had on them, reporting sexual abuse and rape, especially by their male parishioners, deacons and pastors.

The long-awaited justice for R. Kelly’s survivors finally came last month when a New York federal jury found him guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking. For…

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Commentary

Archbishop Carl Bean’s “I Was Born This Way”

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

Archbishop Bean worked tirelessly for the liberation of the underserved and for LGBTQ people of faith and, in doing so, helped many around the world find their way back to spirituality and religion,"

This May, when Lady Gaga celebrated the 10th anniversary of her hit album "Born this Way," she gave an acknowledgment shoutout to Bishop Carl Bean (May…

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Commentary

Olympians Are Swimming Upstream Against Bias Toward Black Hair

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

The least of the Olympics’ concerns should be that of swim caps for Black hair. But the International Swimming Federation of the IOC said the design of the swim caps does not fit “the natural form of the head,” a statement eerily reminiscent of the eugenics movement’s propaganda to substantiate Black anatomical and intellectual inferiority.

The Olympics begin Friday in Japan. There is a lot on the International Olympic Committee’s docket to be concern about in this pandemic: 83 percent of…

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Commentary

The Topic the Black Church Dares Not Speak of Honestly

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

The Black Church purported to preach and practice a prophetic social gospel. However, in truth, it preaches and practices a heteronormative conservative gospel tethered to a model no longer relevant to a younger generation that embraces LGBTQ+ social justice issues.

Every once in a while a reader will ask me to please respond to their question in my column. This reader asked, "What should be the…

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Commentary

After Juneteenth, What Does This 4th Of July Mean?

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

Black patriotism is exhibited not only on the battlefields of America's wars but also in America's streets and sports arenas.

This July 4th, America will celebrate 245 years of independence from British rule. However, when President Joe Biden signed into law Juneteenth as a federal holiday,…

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Commentary

Should Cops Be at Pride Parades?

By The Reverend Irene Monroe Editorial Board

Transmisogyny and racism put transgender women of color, in particular, at a high risk of police violence.

Over the weekend, the second annual Trans Resistance March (TRM) and Rally took place. Noticeably missing guiding and participating in the march from Nubian Square in…

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