Commentary

Rural America and a Tale of Two Columnists

Last week’s New York Times columns by Paul Krugman and David Brooks offer textbook examples of the unhelpful frames that define our conversation about rural America. Americans have a couple of ways they tend to think about rural America. On one side of the coin, we see it as a […]

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The Star Student With a Drug Problem

The stigma of drug addiction means people in small towns may keep secrets to themselves – until it’s obvious something is wrong. Fighting addiction means talking honestly about the problems confronting our rural communities. The first time my drug use came to light, it was because of a random drug […]

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I Pledge Allegiance to Affrilachia

I am a Black Southerner and my experience, though it defies the white hillbilly stereotype, is assuredly Appalachian. Being a Black person from Appalachia can be summed up in that old Facebook relationship status: It’s complicated. During my childhood, I enjoyed The Waltons, a popular 1970s TV show about a hardscrabble […]

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3 Things Schools Should Teach About America’s History of White Supremacy

When it comes to how deeply embedded racism is in American society, blacks and whites have sharply different views. For instance, 70 percent of whites believe that individual discrimination is a bigger problem than discrimination built into the nation’s laws and institutions. Only 48 percent of blacks believe that is […]

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Growing Up Black in Appalachia: An Open Letter

Growing up, it was difficult to grasp why people who looked like me were tortured because of a trait about themselves they were incapable of changing. It was even more difficult to understand why people who had skin a bit lighter than mine were treated with more respect than my […]

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