Jane Stillwater

You know how we all thought that the American economy was going down-hill? It’s not true! We’re just not looking in the right places. Look closer — the 1950s American economic miracle isn’t dead. It’s still going on. People are still getting well-paying jobs. Mortgages are still being paid off. Jobs are available everywhere. You…

In 1975, there was this cute little two-bedroom house for sale on Grant Street in Berkeley. I loved that house! I wanted to buy that house! But I dithered around and missed my chance because I couldn’t come up with a down payment for its outrageously expensive asking price — $25,000. I’d be extremely lucky…

Recently two four-year-old girls were playing in the front yard of a tract house on a quiet street in Hayward, California. A car full of gang-bangers slowly rolled down the street. What happened next? One can only speculate. “Turn around, let’s go back.” “Why? They’re just two stupid little girls playing dolls.” “Target practice.” Punks…

My neighbor is suing me in small claims court, claiming I’m discriminating against her because she drives a Lincoln Navigator! Lots of people have been discriminated against for lots of things but, trust me, this is a first! So. What does this mean? This means that my crime is so unusual, so bizarre, so weird…

My young friend Nathan just got out of juvie after having just turned 18. “So. Nathan. What are you going to do next? Go to community college? Get a job? What have you got in mind for the rest of your life?” Well, it appears that Nathan had already been making long-term plans and already…

Sometimes we get sidetracked by the standard histories we read in grammar school and miss out on some of our country’s true history. I got sidetracked for sure by the all stories of the white “Rosie the Riveters” for whom a national park in Richmond, California was founded and named — but my friend Betty…

I should be in Iraq. I should be in Baghdad. I should be sending back eye-popping stories to The Black Commentator about how our money is being misused, mismanaged, misspent and morally misdirected to kill women and children whose only crimes are to be born in an oil-rich country and to not be born the…

I was NOT a breastfed baby. Would my life have turned out differently if some nurse at the hospital where I was born hadn’t told my mother that it was unsanitary to nurse? Who knows. As soon as I was old enough to get my hand to my mouth, I started sucking my fingers and…

For the African-American community, Section 8 has been a very important way to help people pull themselves up by their bootstraps. I myself can be a witness to this. I live in a HUD-subsidized Section 8 housing project and if there is one thing I have learned from living here, it is that the benefits…