Racism to Reconciliation Archives - Page 9 of 11

I Bet You do it Too

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on November 16, 2017. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation, Writing. 6 Comments on I Bet You do it Too

The first Community Writers Retreat I put together for Door of Hope Writing Group, the panel of facilitators was white. Every writer I’d identified to come and teach us about writing in an all-day conference was Caucasian. I wasn’t being racist. I was asking for favors: will you come—unpaid—to the Retreat and teach a workshop on writing? Of course...

Writing as Hope

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on October 14, 2017. Posted in GOD, Racism to Reconciliation, Writing. 12 Comments on Writing as Hope

Romans 8:24-25 24 But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. I am working on a trilogy. The first novel is in the hands of my agent. He’s had it for two years. He hasn’t sold it . . . yet. This novel is THE BONE TRENCH. Here’s the “elevator...

I Would Have Been A Confederate Soldier

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on August 17, 2017. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 16 Comments on I Would Have Been A Confederate Soldier

If I had lived during the 1860s, I probably would’ve done exactly what my mother’s grandfather did. Cursing, I would’ve picked up a gun and left my Mississippi family to protect my homeland. I would’ve fully understood I was fighting for a cause I did not support—preserving the right to own people. But the irresistible...

Tearing Apart Your Manuscript

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 15, 2017. Posted in Racism to Reconciliation, Writing. 9 Comments on Tearing Apart Your Manuscript

I know, I know—I’ve been missing as of late. For two months, I’ve been holed up inside my novel doing everything I can to meet a self-imposed deadline for revision. The first of March, I received a reader’s report from my paid editor on JAZZY AND THE PIRATE. As you, my readers, know, I’ve been working on this novel since...

It’s Not Anyone’s Fault Our Jails are Racist

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on February 20, 2017. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation. 4 Comments on It’s Not Anyone’s Fault Our Jails are Racist

The exploitation of Black Americans in my lifetime shows itself as mass incarceration. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not calling those working in the judicial system racist. I don’t blame the white woman who confused my Black friend for a purse snatcher months after the actual mugging took place. I don’t blame the police officer who arrested my...

Don’t Fall for the Ewing Effect

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on February 5, 2017. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation. 4 Comments on Don’t Fall for the Ewing Effect

Cast your mind back to 1982. The time is the NCAA Basketball Championship. The game pits the Georgetown Hoyas, coached by the brilliant John Thompson, against Dean Smith’s Carolina Tar Heels. The Hoyas’ star is the new phenom center Patrick Ewing. As the game opens, Carolina puts up a shot. The seven-foot Ewing soars to the rim and knocks it...

Small Things I Do FWIW

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on January 30, 2017. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation. 10 Comments on Small Things I Do FWIW

I shop at the Family Dollar or Dollar Tree or the downtown Walgreens rather than the ritzy Walgreens because one does not have to exercise class privilege just because one has it. I choose to place myself in situations where I’m the only white person around—such as my Ob-gyn’s office—because I need to be constantly reminded of what it’s like for...

How to be a Winner in the New Normal

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on November 12, 2016. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation. 11 Comments on How to be a Winner in the New Normal

I’ve never been with a winner. Well, except that streak when the North Carolina Tar Heels won the NCAA Basketball tournament and the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series and Peyton Manning and the Colts won the Super Bowl. That was an outlier. The problem is, I don’t tend to pick my “teams” based on winner criteria....

We Can Fix Police Shootings

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on September 24, 2016. Posted in Racism to Reconciliation. 12 Comments on We Can Fix Police Shootings

Those cities in the US experiencing dramatic declines in police shootings, how did they do it? Did they round up the citizenry and instruct them on the proper way to react during a police encounter (“Nope, nope, nope—hands on the wheel”)? Or did they go into African-American neighborhoods and distribute fliers (“When stopped...

How to Fail at the Race Talk

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on August 2, 2016. Posted in Featured, General, GOD, HOMELESSNESS, LOVE, Racism to Reconciliation. 4 Comments on How to Fail at the Race Talk

I failed at the conference for racial justice this weekend. I gave racially tinged advice to a perfectly innocent question that had no race element to it. I mistook one African-American woman with glasses and short hair for a different African-American woman with glasses and short hair, because all African-Americans look alike to us white folks. Multiple...