I’m watching Mississippi again. I keep coming back to the same thing. Nolan Wells didn’t drown. The autopsy findings reportedly don’t support drowning as his cause of death, which makes the questions surrounding what happened to him even harder to dismiss. Yet a grand jury declined to indict anyone in connection with his death. That’s the part I’m struggling with. How can there be this many questions surrounding the death of a young man and the response still be that th

I’ve been concerned about the reports of Black people found hanging recently. Some of these deaths were quickly described as suicides. While I understand that Black people do die by suicide, including by hanging, I struggle with that explanation because of the history behind lynchings.

The deaths of Nolan Wells and Kendrick Johnson happened thirteen years apart and under very different circumstances, but the cases share a troubling feature: families confronted official explanations while significant questions remained. Nolan Wells, 18, disappeared during a July 4, 2026 trip to Horn Island, Mississippi, and was found dead two days later.

Who Was Healthcare For? Before Medicare, thousands of American hospitals either excluded Black patients or maintained separate facilities. Although citizenship and legal protections expanded after the Civil War, healthcare access remained deeply unequal. The creation of Medicare in 1965 became one of the most powerful desegregation tools in American history. Hospitals seeking federal funding were required to comply with civil rights standards, leading thousands of institution

In many discussions about racism, the responsibility to explain the issue often falls on those directly affected by it. This creates an additional burden that extends beyond the original harm. The information needed to understand racism is widely available through research, historical records, and policy analysis. Despite this, conversations frequently restart from the beginning, requiring repeated explanations.

Public debates often focus on terms like “woke,” “merit,” and “DEI.” While these words appear neutral, their current usage reflects a broader pattern. Language is being reshaped to redirect conversations about inequality. “Woke” is now used to dismiss discussions of injustice. “Merit” is framed as objective, despite unequal access to opportunity. DEI is portrayed as harmful, even though it is designed to address existing disparities.

Public discussions about poverty often assume that lower income people mainly need better habits, better planning, or better information. But research points to a different conclusion. USDA food access measures focus on income, distance to supermarkets, and vehicle access, showing that healthy eating is shaped by structural barriers as much as personal choice.