When I told a friend I was writing about freedom for this 4th of July Perspective, she said it was funny I should mention this on June 19th. As an African American, she recognizes this date as Independence Day -- the day in 1865 when word of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation that put an end to slavery reached the last outpost of Texas. I'm proud to live in the Land of Lincoln, but I'm enraged and disgusted by the so-called leaders of our country who model racism and embolden

On June 24, an off-duty Lansing, Ill., police officer was filmed brutally detaining an unarmed 15-year-old African-American boy, Jordan Brunson, and threatening his life. Why? The boy was on his lawn. According to WGN News, two boys -- one white and the other black -- had just escaped a fight with a group of boys. The unnamed white kid was reeling with minor injuries when they randomly stopped at a house and sat on the porch to tend to the wounds. In the moments before the recording, the officer

One year ago, our nation was shocked by another mass murder. This time, it was the killing of visitors to the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. The darkness of senseless violence closed in on the Orlando community just as it has in so many other cities. Questions, blame, suggested solutions, and despair all gather in a mix that asks the unanswerable question, "Why?" But darkness, by definition, is the absence of light. Darkness is overcome when even a single small point of light declares its power to

I jump from a WWII novel, to the best American short stories, to a biography of a poet, to a novel telling the story of the battle of Jakku. I immerse myself in The Last of Us ; I am a man stricken with grief who bonds with a girl who holds the key to saving the world. Or, I am signed by the Royals farm team and, now at six-five with a huge red Afro, begin my journey to the majors. I watch Netflix’s Stranger Things – enamored by the freedom of a childhood where children build entire worlds with

Do I really need to point out that facts are true and “alternative facts” are lies? Real news is not fake and fake news is not real, though both exist. I feel sorry for Fact Checkers these days. They must be exhausted, many succumbing to PFSD (Post-Fact Stress Disorder). The Strategic Pinocchio Reserve has been depleted by the Great Trouser Fire of 2017. There’s an awful lot of smoke coming from burning pants, as well as from burning coal. There’s a cloud of chaos engulfing us from the White

When I was in middle school, I climbed 30 feet up into weeping willow by the banks of the Kishwaukee River. A branch broke, and I plummeted head first to the ground. I broke both my arms, enjoyed whiplash, compression fractures in my spine, and a concussion. I also carved all the gums off my bottom teeth. It was a gory sight. When he came to see me in the hospital, my wiseacre grandpa said, “What were you doing climbing a willow tree? Don’t you know willow trees have soft wood?” Grandpa didn’t

On May 28, Oregon High School graduated 131 students of the Class of 2017. And, like previous graduation ceremonies, I sat on stage and wondered where we had done right by these kids, and where we could have done better. And by “we,” I don’t just mean the adults in the Oregon school district. I also mean the adults in charge of Illinois state government. I’m deeply suspicious of anyone who believes that, when it comes to educating kids, that educators can do the same type of work with fewer