OHF’s Top 20 of 2020: Group 5
The editors’ picks
What a year. From the pandemic to the protests to the partisanship, volumes will be written about the 366 days that comprised 2020. Our writers have chronicled this year through the lofty lens of equality in their stories: the highs, the lows, and the crazy range of stuff in-between.
The editors of Our Human Family (OHF) culled this year’s articles for our favorites: the works that best reflect the ideals to which we aspire. While we adore all our writers and their ability to bring the fullness of their humanity to their writing, the twenty writers and their works listed below — none of whom are OHF editors — nailed it. Through their writing, these authors shined a light on the complexities and idiosyncrasies of the human experience that bring us together or sometimes keep us from achieving our fullest potential.
We’re revealing four of our favorites in no particular order each day over a five-day period, and then sharing the full list on New Year’s Eve. So sit back and enjoy the fifth installment of these reflections that explores and illuminates the strength, beauty, shame, and resilience of our human family. Check back tomorrow for the full list!
Love one another,
Clay Rivers
Founder and Editorial Director
Sherry Kappel
Special Projects Editor
stephen matlock
Senior Editor
“The Elasticity of Racism”
by Brian Kean
A New Jersey expat living in Russia for the past twenty-six years, Brian Kean, first caught our attention with one of his sample pieces about what he refers to as “the greatest food in the world” . . . wait for it . . . pizza. His take on matters of racial equality is a mash-up of New Jersey know-how and the gleanings of someone who has seen a lot more of the world than just his hometown. Fluent in five languages, Brian showcases his love for humanity and astute understanding of the ways competition for economic gain in mid-nineteenth century northern American cities not only taught racism, but made it financially advantageous.
Jorge Q is a young Latinx poet whose works captivate hearts far and wide. His poems are spiritual, magical, and mystical, and filled with gorgeous imagery. “Morelia” evokes feelings of being surrounded by the trail of butterflies, and the mournful soul of Father Morelos walking alongside. Although Jorge doesn’t spend a lot of time on Medium, you can follow him at @jorgequintanapoetry on Instagram.
“John Lewis, a Giant in American History and Civil Rights”
by Estacious(Charles White)
We have an educator with us in Estacious(Charles White). Whether building up his students with stories of people who look and live like them, or telling us of the heroes in our own lives, he strives to help us understand ourselves better through the lives of extraordinary people in ordinary situations who took the initiative and facilitated change. In this essay, Charles memorializes the late Representative John Lewis, the great Civil Rights leader who often walked with the confidence of a lion into the fiercest opposition and put his body on the line so that the world might accept the full humanity of Black Americans.
“Microaggressions Were My Family’s Love Language”
by Yoon
In response to our microaggressions Call for Submissions, Yoon shows us via firsthand experience that the perpetration of microaggressions (verbal and physical acts disguised as “slights” intended to denigrate People of Color) is not limited to strangers or acquaintances. Her candid article reveals that even within the environment of a loving family, microaggressions are just as racist and injurious as those committed by complete strangers.
