Authors listed by last name A-H
This “letter” requires some imagination. It is purposefully direct, graphic, hard hitting and may cause some discomfort. The reader is urged to read it carefully, several times perhaps, then pass it along and maybe even make it the focal point of a small group discussion (family, classroom, fraternity, etc.)
Continue reading An open letter to the college student – by Terry Howard
I went 12 rounds with Donna, a “bout” that started eleven months ago when I settled into Douglasville, Georgia. You see, Donna, a full-size middle age white woman, and me, a full-bellied middle age black man, first came into contact with each other in the convenient store a mile from my house, a tiny place reminiscent of the bucolic town of Mayberry in the old Andy Griffith Show. This is the place I stop by early mornings for coffee and a newspaper. Donna works there.
If only you could see the vision
Now deeply living inside my mind
Feeling the peace which now stays
Knowing your love is only mine.
If only you could feel the passion
Which each new day is on the rise,
Then you would never worry at all
For you will never face lonely times
I truly love you deep within my heart
With a pure power that never ends
And every time I awaken to your smile
Its life essence selflessly begins
For I feel what you have given me
With the love you allow me to seize
Binds me tightly to a fervent need
To have your love always next to me.
My daughter came home from Middle School where they were studying the Holocaust and asked me “Mommy, was grandpa a Nazi?” How do you answer such a question? Easy! I said “No”, because all of my life I had heard my parents rail against the Hitler regime. They sent my father to the Russian front and my mother to the basement for shelter from the Allied bombers attacking Berlin. But thirty years later, a fifth-grader in my French class, who was also learning about the Holocaust, asked me, “Why are the German people so awful?” Now the answer was not so easy, because the student unwittingly used a stereotype painting all present-day German people as Nazi criminals. Without going into the history of WWII, I briefly explained that not all Germans are awful, just like not all Americans are awful. Still, seeing an opportunity for a lesson, I taught the French words for “war and peace” (la guerre et la paix) and went on with class.
Continue reading Creating Cultural Tolerance, One Meal at a Time – by Elisabeth Falcone
PROLOG: It’s 11 PM and from our living room we could hear the cranking sound of the garage door opening. Seconds later we heard his Mazda pull in. And a minute later he walked into the room, smile on face, and greeted us: “Hi mom, hi dad, I’m home!” From the perspective of African American parents of a young black male, there’re no sweeter sounds than those six words…. “Hi mom, hi dad, I’m home!”…., particularly given the current dangerous state of race relations in the USA.
Continue reading Don’t get mad, get home safely – by Terry Howard
I’m often asked to suggest some conferences to attend, good books to read and other ways to learn about diversity. Here’s a glimpse of some of it.
“Who are the contemporary thought leaders on diversity, Terry?” queried one. “Someone suggested “Dr. So-and- So’s” book; would you recommend it?” surfaced in a recent e-mail.
Continue reading Great diversity leaders of letters – By Terry Howard
Lush jade jungles
Tracks un-trodden
Lead into the anonymity.
Silence drizzles dew
The grass is still wet
The sun sets on the back of the camel
Deserting daydreams.
Guess what readers? It took me 25 hours to go from Dallas to Germany a while back.
But don’t feel sorry for me because that trip was one of my best ever. Now before telling me to get a checkup from the neck up, bear with me for a moment. I’ll get to the rest of the story further down. I first need to come clean with you on a revelation.
Continue reading Learn to Relish the Inconvenience – by Terry Howard
There’s no escaping the lack of trust these days from local officials to world powers. Whether we get our news from television, newspapers or the internet, we’re inundated with highly emotional trust issues. Take the examples of the turmoil around a third bailout for Greece, the fear over a nuclear arms agreement with Iran, and the disgust with declared international truces in Ukraine, Korea, and Yemen and undeclared domestic truces in Ferguson and Charleston. In the US, trust issues will be a dominant theme in the presidential campaign as candidates accuse, blame, and attack. Reporters rely on phrases such as “can’t trust,” “lack of trust,” “trust but verify,”and “rebuild trust.” For most of us, these phrases are just diplomatic talk for “What were you thinking?” and “No, and Hell no!”
Hello there! I sincerely hope that you and yours are doing well and are in good health. I’m being very nice. That’s the stage-setter for where I’m about to take you, some willingly and others, the civility-deficient, perhaps begrudgingly.
Continue reading A Wake-up Call for the Civility-Deficient – by Terry Howard
