Collin Riggins

Been here, now where: Making sense of November 2021

“My hope is that as we think about where to go from here, we take some of these important lessons from November with us — that way we can heal, prioritize our community well being, and radically create spaces where Black lives do, in fact, matter.”

“My hope is that as we think about where to go from here, we take some of these important lessons from November with us — that way we can heal, prioritize our community well being, and radically create spaces where Black lives do, in fact, matter.”

Mental health is not a product of one’s volition

“The path that Princeton is on is not sustainable. If the University does not start treating mental illness like the illness that it is, they will continue to leave students dejected, unsupported, and alone.”

“The path that Princeton is on is not sustainable. If the University does not start treating mental illness like the illness that it is, they will continue to leave students dejected, unsupported, and alone.”

PART III | Confronting Gerrymandering: An interdisciplinary fight

The fight against gerrymandering is expansive. It is endlessly interdisciplinary. The process of redrawing fair, just voting maps does not work without a confluence of diverse disciplines. 

Confronting Gerrymandering: The Power of Just Data

“It is not enough to take data points as unequivocal truths without questioning the structures that create them. The progress of marginalized communities, from criminal justice reform to electoral reform, rests on being able to achieve this level of contextualization.”

“It is not enough to take data points as unequivocal truths without questioning the structures that create them. The progress of marginalized communities, from criminal justice reform to electoral reform, rests on being able to achieve this level of contextualization.”

PART I | Confronting gerrymandering: A New Gilded Age

“Structural change must be prioritized if we hope to put the New Gilded Age behind us. I urge you to keep gerrymandering on your radar.”

“Structural change must be prioritized if we hope to put the New Gilded Age behind us. I urge you to keep gerrymandering on your radar.”

On being biracial: My lessons and reflections

“If we ever hope to bridge the chasms that colorism has etched, we all need to openly and intently address its murky past. Only then will we be able to truly reimagine a social landscape free of racist thinking, and thus free from the fetters of light-skin privilege.”

“If we ever hope to bridge the chasms that colorism has etched, we all need to openly and intently address its murky past. Only then will we be able to truly reimagine a social landscape free of racist thinking, and thus free from the fetters of light-skin privilege.”

Not scars, but bleeding wounds: A response to Rebekah Adams ’21 of The Princeton Tory

The last thing Black Americans need is one more successful individual to assume a paternalistic role, pointing fingers at the Black community’s faults without addressing why they exist. Being cognizant of discrimination has nothing to do with a “victimhood mentality” as Adams maintains. It has everything to do with breaking free from delusion.

The last thing Black Americans need is one more successful individual to assume a paternalistic role, pointing fingers at the Black community’s faults without addressing why they exist. Being cognizant of discrimination has nothing to do with a “victimhood mentality” as Adams maintains. It has everything to do with breaking free from delusion.

But who’s gonna support Black women?

At the end of the day, no matter how much we express gratitude for Black women, if we fail to acknowledge the ways oppressive forces mold our society against them, we are complicit in their oppression. 

No, liberalism and anti-racism are not the same

If you are anti-racist, there should be nothing uncomfortable about hearing BIPOC voices speak their truth. The fight for racial justice necessitates the shedding of white fragility and the wholehearted embrace of perspectives that are often suppressed.