Gov. Ned Lamont released his plan to reopen Connecticut schools one day before the New Haven Public Schools released a first draft of our Road Map to Reopening, an ambitious commitment to make students’ physical, social, and emotional well-being “our highest priority.” The recommendations project a new direction for our schools centered on community building, culturally responsive practices, and authentic, performance-based assessment.

There are hopeful signs that substantive changes are possible that will address police brutality and accountability, and more systemic changes for communities of color such as access to economic opportunity, education, health equity and affordable housing. Equally important is tackling the crisis of gun violence, especially as it impacts Black and brown communities.

When we talk about racial injustice, we must put environmental injustice near the top of the list of concerns. Connecticut’s urban communities of color are burdened with pollution from traffic congestion, aging housing, toxics from manufacturing, and the dumping of the state’s trash to be incinerated in their neighborhoods. Eighty percent of U.S. waste incinerators are located in environmental justice communities. The aging MIRA waste incinerator in Hartford is a prime example.

Allowing an employer to refuse birth control coverage for their employees if they themselves are morally or religiously opposed to birth control is sexist — plain and simple.

Is it three months of social distance, the horrible job market, a half century of #BlameAmericaFirst in college humanities departments, or the lingering effects of racial prejudice and hardship? No doubt a combination, but at this point anyone not seething with bitterness has to be saying, “enough is enough” to this crazy #monumentremovalmovement, which started – with justification – back in Charlottesville and is now a double-barrel assault on monuments to confederate generals, especially in the public sphere where, most seem to agree, they do not belong.

The legislation constraining the behavior of Connecticut police should include psychological training, assessment and reassessment of officers to give them the skills and composure they need to de-escalate potentially violent encounters and to enable them to treat everyone with equal respect.

The current opioid epidemic began 20 years ago as people’s lives were ruined by the very substance that was supposed to relieve their pain. With the rise of synthetic opioids, we have seen an alarming and continued increase in drug overdose deaths.

From Nixon to Trump, Republicans have been appealing to white racial dislike. And, while 23% of white American adults think that it is bad to have a growing multicultural society, I argue that young white Americans are not falling for it and they are the hope.

Recent police actions have forced Americans to look at racial discrimination at its ugliest – dying from being black. Black Americans are fed up and furious; white Americans are joining protests throughout the country. Even in Fairfield County, demonstrators have taken to the streets in affluent Greenwich, New Canaan, and Westport. But the anger will ebb, the demonstrators will go back to work, the beaches and the bars will fill. For sure, some things may change. Police practices may come under greater scrutiny and accountability.

During the Academy Awards in 2017, the New York Times aired an ad with the motto: “The truth is hard to find.” This slogan was not only part of a marketing initiative by the Times to increase digital subscribers, but it echoed a message of awareness towards truth’s importance in an era where honesty has become a luxury, and lies run rampant.
However, despite honesty now becoming a commodity, the word “truth” itself has been continuously mishandled.

Across the country, activists are tearing down the visible symbols of white supremacy. Confederate monuments are one symbol. Like the statues of Confederate generals, Native American mascots of many schools are another. These mascots must fall.

Coming out of the long dark tunnel of the COVID-19 shutdown, everyone wants to get back to normal. I suggest getting back to better – especially in education. And much better.

Hi. My name is Sharon, and I have white privilege (WP).  A mere color gene passed unknowingly to me by both parents has smoothed my life’s path to a degree I can no longer ignore.  Fact is, I could just as easily have been conceived by two Black parents. And a Black me would predictively have a different life trajectory in America, one less fair, more constricted, perhaps less valued, and very possibly more dangerous.