Tom Adams
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We live in extraordinary times. As Black History Month 2026 comes to a close, I find myself asking: What have I learned? And what commitment do I really have to making the study of Black history a personal priority — and to sharing what I learn, especially with my white friends?
Editor’s Note: This week’s post offers additional reflections from friend and retired nonprofit leader, Greg Cantori. Greg and his family moved from Baltimore to Spain in 2025. In this post, he shares how Spain is approaching immigration and “regularizing” people already there. While the country sizes are different; Spain’s approach offers a fresh possibility as our nation avoids the work of developing a just and win-win immigration policy and focuses on unwarranted punishment and cruel, fear-based enforcement of flawed policies.
Editor’s Note: The repulsive and abhorrent attack of former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michele Obama posted last week on President Trump’s Truth Social account is just one more indication of the overt racism that is overtaking our nation today. The attacks by ICE, the efforts to manipulate the upcoming election and this obnoxious characterization of the Obamas is a national cry for help. Every attack on freedom and justice must be called out and rebutted. Paying attention to Black History and supporting DEI and school curriculums that tell the truth about America’s history are essential to the push back.
How do we respond faithfully to the out-of-control abuse of power and use of violence in Minnesota, our nation, and the world? The urge to turn off the news and ignore everything is strong. Yet history offers endless examples of how that reaction aids and encourages oppressors and perpetrators of injustice. To make it more complicated, many of us have friends and relatives who actually see the current situation and the attack on human rights as good for them—and for America.
This is the eleventh year I have lived in Arizona for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Did you know that Arizona was the last state to start officially commemorating this federal holiday? I didn’t realize that states could decide not to recognize federal holidays, but evidently states’ rights apply here too. Their official reasoning at the time? “Why should the State of Arizona pay employees for a holiday of a non-national leader?”
Donald Trump was elected to office in 2024, months after Tom and I relocated to Durham. We were immediately challenged to participate in activities resisting the administration’s abuse of power and racist policies. Our daughter lives locally and connected us with an amazing network of volunteers and organizations committed to preserving our democracy.
In December, our monthly Racial Justice Conversation focused on the current, abominable mistreatment of immigrants and refugees in the United States. Anna Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), offered a powerful...
In my earlier post, I wrote about how living in Spain has shown me what personal safety actually feels like—the absence of a fear of guns and road violence, a fear I’d carried for decades without realizing it. My granddaughter rides her bicycle to school. We all walk home in the dark. No one is armed. No one will get kidnapped by masked government agents. But there’s another kind of violence here, quieter, and I’m complicit in it simply by being able to afford what young Spaniards cannot.
Editor’s Note: The reflections below come from my personal experience as a member of the Greenbelt Reparations Commission, created after a 2021 citizen referendum directing the City Council to form a 21-person body to “review, discuss, and make recommendations related to reparations for African-American and Native American residents of Greenbelt.” These views are mine alone and do not represent the Commission.
Happy Thanksgiving! This year there is much for which I am grateful; that includes you as a reader of Critical Conversations. Thanks for checking out these posts and sharing your reactions. Knowing that you read and consider my words gives meaning to the creative process!
Tom Adams writes and speaks on topics vital to the intersection of our personal lives with our community and global lives. He has for decades been engaged in and written about nonprofit leadership and transitions, spirituality and spiritual growth, how we each contribute to a more just and equitable world and recovery from addictions and the Twelve Step recovery movement.