Lisa Maxine Blogs

On Literacy, Inequity, Defensiveness, and What Our Conscience Requires of Us I’ve been following a high school teacher on social media who became emotional while talking about something happening in his classroom: some of his students cannot read. His emotion was difficult to watch because you could see that he cared. I understood the weight of what he was describing. But as I listened, I found myself thinking about something we don't talk about enough when discussing educati

There is a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from constantly being asked to make other people more comfortable with truths that have never been comfortable for you to live through. Not because you are unclear. Not because the harm is imagined. Not because there is no evidence. But because your honesty unsettles people who have spent most of their lives protected from needing to confront what you are describing directly. As a mental health counselor and a Black woman, I

There is a quiet discomfort that enters rooms the moment someone begins to outgrow the role people assigned to them. Not fail. Not collapse. Just outgrow. People will clap for your survival story because survival keeps you relatable. They will support your healing as long as your healing remains aesthetically pleasing and non-threatening. They will encourage your growth until your growth begins to challenge the version of themselves they’ve avoided confronting. That’s the par

Picture yourself seated in a graduate school classroom listening to a professor at the predominantly white institution proclaim, “Poor black children don’t have books in their homes.” As if I were being pranked, I immediately scanned the room for allies / co-conspirators who would aid me in correcting his ignorance. There was only one person, one Latina sista in the struggle who volunteered to join me in an attempt to address his verbal assault on Black families as my remaini

This might be a rant….I'm okay with that. I am endlessly fascinated by human behavior. I had my usual crime-and-mystery shows running in the background when a show came on about a man who murdered his three sons just to hurt his estranged wife. Needless to say, it worked — and now that woman has to spend the rest of her life mourning her boys. Her babies. Unfortunately, her story Is not an isolated event. The first question that any clear-thinking person might ask is how

Trigger Warning: This piece contains discussions of sexual abuse, rape, emotional manipulation, and trauma responses. It includes descriptions that may be activating for survivors. Please take care of yourself as you read — pause, breathe, or step away if needed. Your healing matters more than finishing this in one sitting. Preface: This Isn’t About Blame — It’s About Showing Up Now, Even If You Couldn't Then. If you’re a father reading this, I’m asking you to stay. Sit with

Illiteracy in the Face of “Highly Effective” Teachers Literacy in New York City is often discussed as if it were a technical issue. A matter of curriculum. Of funding. Of access. While those factors matter, they do not fully explain what we continue to see. In a city filled with resources, initiatives, and reform efforts, the outcome remains the same: students who spend years in classrooms—present, promoted, counted—still leave without the ability to read with depth, clarity,

I came across a post recently that read “Ya’ll ask women to expose their abusers, but when it turns out to be your friend, or family member, suddenly she’s lying.” This quote was timely because it arrived on the heels of a conversation that I’d just had with a good friend of mine about accountability. Specifically, the lack thereof in people today. More specifically, amongst men. Our conversation questioned how so many transgressions are constantly overlooked, excused and

This article introduces what I term the Missy Anne Archetype (Johnson, 2025), a framework for understanding aversive racism rooted in perceived innocence, social image, and moral withdrawal. In case most haven’t already figured it out after the 2025 election, Black women are over it — exhausted. We’ve reached the point where the performance, the platitudes, and the carefully curated “solidarity” gestures don’t move us anymore — because we’ve seen the playbook too many times t

This might be a rant… I’m okay with that. I am endlessly fascinated by human behavior. One evening I had my usual crime-and-mystery shows playing in the background when a story came on about a man who murdered his three sons simply to hurt his estranged wife. It worked. Now that woman must spend the rest of her life mourning her boys — her babies. The first question any clear-thinking person might ask is how someone could become so consumed by anger that they would destroy th

“The most powerful stories children inherit are the ones adults decide to tell about each other.” When I first began writing about this topic, I felt a moment of hesitation — a quiet twinge of guilt. Speaking these truths aloud could easily be interpreted as a betrayal of the most sacred community I’ve belonged to for over thirty years: motherhood. I wondered whether holding mothers accountable might somehow mean turning my back on them. But I’ve come to understand something

The Verdict That Sparked Reflection This morning, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, by a jury of eight men and four women, was convicted on two of the five charges he was accused of. The charges he was acquitted of — which I find most disturbing — were counts two and four: sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion. It is here that I’ll begin. The Hidden Crisis of Human Trafficking First and foremost, human trafficking is a hidden crisis in America. Its victims are often lured through

Before We Begin: Let’s be clear about one thing: This is not about the fathers who show up every single day —the ones who are present, consistent, and intentional. The ones who lead with love, who carry their role with care, and who put in the work quietly without needing applause. This is also not about toxic mothers — that’s another conversation, I've address this already. This is about the actors, the manipulators, and the full-time victims — the ones who turn parenting in

I can’t remember when my disdain for To Kill a Mockingbird began, but I suspect it was early in the assault against literature. This time coincided with graduate school — the beginning of my journey into applied psychology and the field of mental health counseling, where conversations about cultural competence and aversive racism took shape. Graduate school professors encouraged me to question everything — whose voice was being centered, and whose comfort was being protected.

In response to Chalkbeat contributor Alex Zimmerman’s article, “Racist comment at NYC parent meeting ignites fury as Black leaders call for accountability” (Zimmerman, 2026), one question immediately surfaces: Why is accountability framed as a Black demand? Why is accountability racialized? When accountability is framed as something Black leaders are calling for, the implication is subtle but powerful: that racism in public schools is primarily a concern of the Black communit