Publisher and author Meredith Coleman McGee writes about her journey through life’s ups and downs and how she continues to push forward despite it all.
“The holiday season is meant to be filled with joy, connection and celebration of rituals,” Mandy Doria writes. “Many people, however, are starkly reminded of their grief this time of year and of whom—or what—they have lost.”
Jasmine Williams is a creative producer, which encompasses not only writing, film and storytelling, but also captures the experiences of southern Black folks.
Dr. Terrence Z. Johnson shares several life lessons that he learned in 2022 as he reflectively springs into a new season of self-awareness and self-care in 2023. “Don’t overlook what is going on around you now. Although it may not seem like it, you are getting prepared for your greater future,” he writes.
“This historical trauma must be addressed. It functions as a persistent sickness, a deadly virus—in the family, in the African-American community and in the larger society,” Psychologists Taasogle Daryl Rowe and Kamilah Marie Woodson writes. “The establishment of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice begins a long-awaited process of healing from the unspeakable and unacknowledged acts in our history, whose echoes can still be heard today.”
“The deadly shooting of at least 19 children and two adults in Texas on May 24, 2022, is the latest in an ever-growing list of national tragedies, leaving families and friends of the victims gripped with grief, anguish and despair,” Dr. Arash Javanbakht writes. “I am a trauma and anxiety researcher and clinician, and I know that the effects of such violence reach millions. While the immediate survivors are most affected, the rest of society suffers, too.”
Oresa Napper-Williams is the founder of Not Another Child, a nonprofit organization that she founded after her son, Andrell Daron Napper, was killed by gun violence in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 2007. One mission of her work is to ensure that parents who lost children to violence are treated with respect and dignity, and get the resources they need. She both collaborates with NYPD on violence prevention and is frank about problems within policing, including respect for Black community members.
Dr. Terrence Johnson reflects on the loss of his father, Zebedee Johnson, while cherishing the memories and lessons he left behind.
Fallon Renee reflects back on her personal bouts of death—her grandma Varice, aunt Maple Lee, father William and brother Andre—and gives herself and the Black community permission to heal properly by making time and space to appropriately grieve lost loved ones.
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