July 2020

Unbecoming an Armadillo By: Victoria F. Burns, PhD, LSW Victoriafrances49@gmail.com Instagram: @betesandbites “When you are traumatized, you are basically in a permanent defensive mode” — Gabor Mate I’m sitting across from Meg on her charcoal grey love seat. My forearms are resting on a velvety mustard-yellow throw cushion and I’m holding crescent shaped pulsers in each hand. Meg’s my psychologist; a rare gem who specializes in chronic illness and trauma. Every two weeks, we spend an hour...

For the leaders of Sarasota Strong (or "SRQ Strong") Florida, anti-racism work isn’t about inviting people of color to tables long-occupied by white professionals fluent in academic jargon and theories of change. It’s about venturing, with humility and openness, into spaces where Black people worship, work and live. Helen Neal-Ali from SRQ Strong. Photo courtesy of Andrea Blanch. Which is why, before SRQ Strong even had a name or held a formal event, educator/minister Helen Neal-Ali launched...

By Lori Carter, July 1,2020, Press Democrat. Santa Rosa police will begin collecting demographic data on people its officers stop earlier than state law requires in an effort to quantify and ultimately prevent racial profiling. Chief Ray Navarro said Wednesday the department is working to begin gathering certain demographic details about pedestrian and traffic stops by 2021, one year earlier than required by the state Racial and Identity Profiling Act. The law, passed in 2015, gave smaller...