On Dr. Davis, Domestic Terrorism, Misogynoir, and Wondering Where The Energy Went

TW: Mentions of murder, domestic terrorism, anti-Blackness, misogynoir, racism, xenophobia.

Dr. Linda Davis, a special education teacher in her first year at Herman W. Hesse K-8 School in Chatham County in Savannah, Georgia, was killed Monday morning on her commute to school by a person fleeing ICE agents in a high-speed chase. The Chatham County Police Department wasn’t part of—or aware of—the federal “immigration operation” happening in their county until after the crash.

Shocker.

This man, who crashed into and murdered Dr. Davis in an act obviously driven by fear and desperation, will bear the responsibility and burden of taking her life for the rest of his days. But this is not his burden and responsibility to carry alone. He shares that burden and responsibility equally with the ICE agents who initiated this high-speed chase and who have fomented over a year of violent domestic terrorism in this country disguised as immigration enforcement. But another group also bears some responsibility for this horrific incident: people who benefit from systems of pallor.

A whole bunch of y’all stormed the streets when ICE murdered Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Y’all marched and flooded your social media channels with every image and update you could muster.

But y’all are quiet as hell about Dr. Davis.

Where’s the outrage? Where’s the defiance, the marching in the streets? Where’s that “F--- ICE” energy now? Let me guess: most of y’all view Dr. Davis’ murder as something that was “ICE adjacent,” meaning that ICE didn’t directly kill her, so it “doesn’t count,” or you haven’t heard about Dr. Davis’ murder because your newscycle is somehow still centered on mainstream media outlets who have been practically silent about this incident.

Let’s say you didn’t know about Dr. Davis’ murder. Well, you know now. Where’s that anger you had when ICE murdered people of pallor? Does it not carry over to this? Is this not “directly ICE” enough for you to demand accountability like y’all did for Renee and Alex? Or is that your misogynoir and anti-Blackness talking?

Things that make you go hmm.

Rest well, Dr. Davis. I hope your family and community get the closure and justice they and you deserve.

[Image description: An image of Dr. Linda Davis, smiling while resting her face in her palms. A whimsical holiday wreath surrounds her.]

Image description: An image of Dr. Linda Davis, smiling while resting her face in her palms. A whimsical holiday wreath surrounds her.

This Week's Opening Thought: February 17, 2026

This week’s opening thought: I’ve spent this month trying to protect my peace, embrace rest, and take care of myself. That has primarily meant keeping my thoughts to myself, processing my feelings, and moving them out of my body. It’s gone fairly well, but honestly?

Being Black, legitimately trauma-informed, actively anti-racist, and actively anti-oppressive while working in HR is not helpful in my pursuit to prioritize all of the aforementioned things for myself.

Truth be told, the years I’ve spent developing and continually learning about my body, my brain, my emotions, my personal, professional, and generational traumas, and the weight of the world around me have lessened how much I end up carrying in my brain and body. But there are days where I watch Black and Brown folx, Black women, people of color, folx with disabilities, and folx from LGBTQIAA+ communities get mistreated or ignored and then get equally ignored, disregarded, or told I’m being “unprofessional” when I amplify their voices and stand with them in real time that literally make me want to punch the air like Tre in Boyz n’ the Hood. And some days it hits like a brick when I’m attacked or mistreated, and no one who witnesses my harm is willing to stand with me in solidarity.

Today has been one of those days.

Real talk? HR, when you’re not doing it “by the book” and upholding white supremacist workplace culture, is a lonely profession.

It’s doubly so when you’re doing it as an empathic, empathetic queer Black person.

If you’re marginalized, invisible, and/or melanated, and living authentically in a world where you don’t fit? I want you to know that I see you. I know there are many days when it’s hard, when this world seemingly finds glee in doing you harm. Please know you’re not alone. Please take care of yourself. Please do not prioritize these workplaces or anyone who claims to love and care about you over your health and well-being. You deserve to be able to be openly, verbally, and physically you. Don’t let them dim your light.

WHEW. Just needed to get that out of my system.

Back to mindin’ my Black business and resting as the ancestors would want me to rest.

Take care of yourselves and each other.

On Y'all's President, Racist Depictions of the Only Non-White U.S. President and his Wife, and Apologists

“I think the president might be racist.”

Oh, really? Y’think so? What clued you in?

“I’m sure the president made a mistake in posting that video.”

You sure about that? Are you new to the world of this man posting hateful and racist memes online? Did you miss the two other times he posted pictures of Barack and Michelle as apes?

“I’m not sure if I can support this administration anymore after seeing this.”

Oh, I see. This was your breaking point, huh? THIS was your breaking point after giving this man your vote for 12 years and watching EVERYTHING he has done to the country. THIS was your breaking point?

Y’all make my brain tired.

[Image description: a montage of pictures of the legendary musician Prince giving the viewer the side-eye. These images are captioned with, “Me, watching people of pallor and pallor apologists responding to the video y’all’s president posted of Barack and Michelle Obama being depicted as primates say things like, “I think the president might be racist,” “I’m sure the president made a mistake on posting that video,” and “I’m not sure if I can continue to support this administration anymore after seeing that.”]

Image description: a montage of pictures of the legendary musician Prince giving the viewer the side-eye. These images are captioned with, “Me, watching people of pallor and pallor apologists responding to the video y’all’s president posted of Barack and Michelle Obama being depicted as primates say things like, “I think the president might be racist,” “I’m sure the president made a mistake on posting that video,” and “I’m not sure if I can continue to support this administration anymore after seeing that.”

This Week's Opening Thought: February 2, 2026

This week's opening thought, directed toward people of pallor: It's Black History Month. I usually prepare some knowledge to drop all month, some calls to action, things of that nature. But this year?

Nah, I'm tight.

I don't feel like doin' this with people of pallor this year.

I don't feel like educating y'all, or correcting y'all, or dodging online "debates" with y'all, especially the "well-meaning liberals" out there. At this point, the white supremacy has been white supremacy-ing in such visceral ways on this stolen land that I'm not going to spend my Black History Month dealing with y'all and your "big feelings" and "hot takes" about the abuses even the nicest of y'all inflict on Black bodies, how U.S. history is legitimately Black history (whether y'all want to acknowledge it or not), and how y'all don't want to read a book but want to have us teach you for free about the same concepts over and over again.

Nah. I'm tight.

I've educated enough of you. WE have educated enough of you for centuries. We've shared enough of ourselves with y'all over the years with the hope of getting through to you, even during this most critical of times in this country's racist, hateful history, just to watch y'all butcher Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes while making the concept of "helping" melanated people oppressed by y'all's systems sound like a chore you deserve allowance or restitution for. And through all of that, we're expected to spend an entire month - the shortest month of the year - continuing to hold your hands and "giving y'all grace" as you don't learn or unlearn anything?

Nah. I'm good.

And I know I'm not the only one.

So instead of spending the month of February doing what is essentially unpaid outreach work with people of pallor, I'm gonna spend Black History Month chillin' in my beautiful Blackness and embracing joy, giddily bereft of the need to sit with y'all's messiness as the world burns. Maybe I'll see y'all in March? Who knows?

Try not to homogenize or water down any quotes from Black people to force them to appeal to pallor sensibilities while I'm gone.

On Cities Church, ICE, and a Toxic Situationship

Georgia Fort, Don Lemon, Trahern Jeen Crews, and Jamael Lydell Lundy were arrested this morning at the direction of y'all's president's Attorney General Pam Bondi. This is not even a week after the arrests of Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and William Kelly. All of this is said to be connected to the Cities Church protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which this regime/administration has painted as "an act of domestic terrorism." What actually happened was a protest of the Church's leadership after it was discovered that the Church's pastor, David Easterwood, is the acting field director of the Minnesota branch of the taxpayer-funded slave-catcher domestic terrorist group ICE.

Now, mind you, not one act of violence happened in Cities Church during that protest. Those who entered the building violated no laws. They went in to hold the pastor of the Church - the man who was supposedly leading this congregation - accountable for being an ICE director and selling out members of the community he's supposed to be serving.

Now, some of you may see this protest as a violation of the place of worship. Sure. Why not? I mean, I hope you look at all of the violations of mosques and synagogues in this country by xenophobic "Homeland Security" agents in the same way you're viewing this act of protest in a Western culture-driven church building, but I'm going to guess most folx who view this as a "violation" aren't exactly the most accepting. Take that as you will.

Regardless, seven people have been arrested as "ring leaders" of a "violent coordinated attack", six of whom are Black and two of whom are journalists.

Again, no crime was committed. But we live in a horrifically toxic situationship where the federal government can paint anything as a crime and waste taxpayer dollars trying to prosecute people, especially Black and Brown people, on trumped-up and ridiculous charges ad nauseam if people of pallor who support the white supremacist regime and its leaders are "in danger" of being held accountable for their hatred. I mean, they tried to prosecute Letitia James three times for holding y'all's president accountable for his actions, and they would've tried a fourth time if they weren't shut down by the courts.

And guess what? There's not a lot of media coverage around the optics of this moment or the arrests of respected journalists. Why?

Because people of pallor only care about the optics when journalists of pallor are arrested.

People of pallor only step in when they don't fear for their comfort and well-being.

People of pallor speak up about hate when they can, then move on without giving it another thought.

As for the rest of us? The Black and Brown? The melanated?

I suppose it's just another Friday in the United States, one where we find ourselves sharing information the media and the masses are avoiding, while being tired of asking those who are willfully asleep or faking it to wake up.

Let us know when y'all are done sleeping.