OHF Weekly’s Best of 2023
In This Issue: Our year-end compilation of 2023’s top articles.
Editor’s Letter
From the Supreme Court’s gutting of Affirmative Action and other attacks on civil rights to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, 2023 proved to be a tumultuous year. We culled the articles our readers most read and interacted with for each of the past twelve months. Your favorites include articles by longtime OHF Weekly writers and a few newcomers. Themes of the physical, emotional, and economic costs of racism, its impact, and ways to advocate for racial equity run through these articles.
But two themes in particular dominated our most-read articles: despair and hope. The top article for 2023 came in head and shoulders above the others. Catherine Pugh, Esq.’s “Did Karma Ever Catch the Emmett Till Killers?” takes a frank look back at the lynching of Emmett Till and the fates of the trio responsible for his death. Our second most-read article of 2023, “10 Steps to Being an Ally to Marginalized Groups,” by Sherry Kappel, points out specific actions people can take to jump-start and sustain their activism.
Regardless of where you are in your journey toward equity and equality, each of these articles is worth a read — or reread — for helpful insights into the fight against oppression. We hope you’ll take a look and join us in our ongoing efforts to make this world more equitable. Here’s to 2024!
Love one another.
Clay Rivers
Our Human Family Editor in Chief
Sherry Kappel
Our Human Family Managing Editor
OHF Weekly’s Best of 2023
01 | JANUARY
The Race Massacres They Never Taught Us About in School
By Glenn Rocess
Many would-be allies find themselves in the same place Glenn Rocess once was: informed of only one side of American history, one in which deadly injustices visited upon Black, Indigenous, and People of Color by colonizers are omitted. Rocess’s “The Race Massacres They Never Taught Us in School” deftly recounts his numerous “Wait, what?” moments and subsequent epiphanies when learning of specific race massacres and choosing knowledge or ignorance.
Read the complete article at Our Human Family.
02 | FEBRUARY
With Biases, You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
Zhivi Williams is an author we found on Mastodon, and what a great find! In “With Biases, You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know,” Zhivi starts by defining bias and discussing how biases are a normal part of life. We all have them, and many are unconscious; by exposing them, however, we can begin to see how they influence our interactions with others.
Read the complete article at OHF Weekly.
03 | MARCH
What Does It Say about Policing When Five Black Officers Beat a Black Man to Death
In “What Does It Say about Policing,” Estacious(Charles White) asks if Black officers are immune to systemic racism and bias in their work when dealing with young Black males. With keen insight, he takes readers behind the badge for a critical look at the forces some succumb to and others resist. He also takes a look at work that led him to his conclusions.
Read the complete article at Our Human Family.
04 | APRIL
You Can Know Me
In Christienne Leigh Hinz’s brilliant essay “You Can Know Me,” she begins by pointing out that many Black people are of the mind that white people can’t understand Black pain. Ironically, she notes, Black survival hinges on understanding white people; she then builds the argument that white folks not only can but must make an effort to understand Black people if they wish to fulfill their moral obligations.
Read the complete article at OHF Weekly.
05 | MAY
Bethany Mandel, Wokeness, Intellectual Dishonesty and Perverted Right Wing Politics
It is not unusual for someone on the right to distort a word or phrase with racial or other cultural implications. Even so, conservative activist Bethany Mandel took it to a new level when she couldn’t define “woke” in an interview, after writing a book about it. In “Bethany Mandel, Wokeness, Intellectual Dishonesty and Perverted Right Wing Politics,” Black Studies professor and new OHF Weekly/Our Human Family contributor Elwood Watson, Ph.D. explores why these distortions happen.
Read the complete article at OHF Weekly.
06 | JUNE
Moral Bankruptcy: The Hidden Cost of Privilege
By Walter Rhein
Walter Rhein is the product of small-town (read: conservative) Wisconsin and a relative newcomer to OHF Weekly, demonstrating the power of empathy and critical thinking. In “Moral Bankruptcy Due to the Hidden Cost of Privilege,” Walter uses an interaction with his daughter to show the advantages of prioritizing vulnerability over privilege and then extrapolates those learnings to racism.
Read the complete article at Our Human Family.
07 | JULY
Did Karma Ever Catch the Emmett Till Killers?
Prompted by the death of Carolyn Bryant, Catherine Pugh, Esq. revisits the horrific lynching of Emmett Till and the fortunes and ignominy of the three Mississippians responsible for his murder. In “Did Karma Ever Catch the Emmett Till Killers,” Pugh provides a wealth of source material that substantiates the killing of the fourteen-year-old Till as “one of the most open, notorious, and unambiguous episodes of human depravity in our nation’s history.”
Read the complete article at Our Human Family.
08 | AUGUST
There Is But One Fight
In the deeply personal “There is But One Fight,” Terra Kestrel uses her experiences as a transexual to frame and extend Toni Morrison’s argument that the function of racism is to distract people from the real work of fighting greed and the struggle for power. Focusing on various forms of oppression — such as racism, sexism, homo- or transphobia — keeps us from the singular, more critical goal of tearing down the patriarchy that hurts us all.
Read the complete article at OHF Weekly.
09 | SEPTEMBER
10 Steps to Being an Ally to Marginalized Groups
The author of this article would — and did — object strenuously to inclusion on this list. But the readership (and the editor-in-chief) held sway in the final decision. With “10 Steps to Being an Ally,” Sherry Kappel, Our Human Family managing editor, has put together a practical, no-nonsense list of actionable and substantial steps white people — or anyone for that matter — can take to facilitate a better understanding of racial equity, allyship, and inclusion.
Read the complete article at Our Human Family.
10 | OCTOBER
The Redux: If Not Now, White Folks, When?
By Clay Rivers
In “The Redux: If Not Now White Folks, When,” Our Human Family editor Clay Rivers observes how Black people need to study the thoughts and actions of white people just to get by in this world, while white people — even very good white people — are often oblivious to even the most prominent forms of racism. Here, he discusses the long road to allyship, its cost, and its many benefits.
Read the complete article at Our Human Family.
11 | NOVEMBER
Losing a White Friend Due to His Racism
As a follow-up to his article “When My Best Friend Was White,” fan favorite William Spivey addresses a little-discussed conflict more common to interracial friendships: racism. In “Losing a Friend Due to His Racism.” Spivey shares his experience as a Black man reconciling the boundaries of his self-respect with a longtime friend’s freshly revealed racist views about Black people.
Read the complete article at Our Human Family.
12 | DECEMBER
Why Organizations Fail at DEI
Most of us have been exposed to a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) workshop at one job or another; we sit through a session, promptly forget what we learned, and management does nothing to reinforce it. In “Why Organizations Fail at DEI,” OHF Weekly is excited to welcome back Lecia Michelle 📃 as she explains not only the ways in which organizations fail, but also how they can do better to achieve their goals.
Read the complete article at OHF Weekly.
Final Thoughts
