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14. Black Men

We are committed to building a Black men affirming space. We reject the over sexualization, criminalization and mass incarceration of our black boys and men. Furthermore, we are committed to dismantling the school to prison pipeline, adultification of black and brown boys, and the senseless killing of unarmed black and brown men.
https://www.buffaloschools.org/cms/lib/NY01913551/Centricity/Domain/9000/BLM%20at%20School%2014%20Principles.pdf

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Black men deserve their due. That is why we are celebrating the best of who they are at the 2 nd Annual Black Men XCEL Summit from Aug. 29-Sept 2.There is no other national event out there tailored for professional black men that is as dynamic as Black Men XCEL and we'll put money on that!

For the second year in a row, we will be linking up at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, presented by FedEx. Over the course of four days, we will host engaging sessions and timely conversations on corporate leadership, mental health and wellness, and the state of black men in professional sports.

It goes without saying that we are rooting for every black man who has changed the game from the boardroom to the pulpit and everything in between. Therefore, it's only right that this year's 2018 XCEL Award Honorees are Kenneth Chenault, chairman and managing director at General Catalyst; T.D. Jakes, bishop of Potter's House Ministries and CEO of T.D. Jakes Enterprises L.L.P.; and the incomparable U.S. Olympic gold medalist Tommie Smith. We will also be celebrating our second class of BE Modern Men and all of their greatness.

If you were at the event last year you know that we party just as hard as we work on building our professional skills. Needless to say, Wyclef Jean, rapper, musician, and humanitarian; Chris Spencer; producer of Out Too Much Prods; comedians/entertainers Capone and Jonathan Slocomb; and Grammy Award-winner and producer DJ Nasty are going to bring down the house along with actor, educator, and musician Malik Yoba who will also be joining us. So, get ready for the ultimate turn up and for your stomach to hurt because that's how hard you'll be laughing! And the highly anticipated Mars Vs. Venus Challenge is going to be bigger and better. So ladies, come ready!

That's not all we have in store for the ladies; you know we've got you covered too! We will be highlighting the accomplishments and discussing the million-dollar details of black women in entrepreneurship during the Love and Money session. When we aren't on the links, we'll be painting, sipping, getting suits tailored, working out, relaxing poolside, and so much more.

So, mark your calendars and secure your ticket for a good time!

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It's Time to Celebrate Black Men and their Excellence

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Black men deserve their due. That is why we are celebrating the best of who they are at the 2nd Annual Black Men XCEL Summit from Aug. 29-Sept 2. There is no other national event out there tailored for professional black men that is as dynamic as ours and we'll put money on that!

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Lizzo talks diversity, self-confidence and femininity

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MEXICO CITY (AP) - Fresh from winning three Grammys, singer Lizzo visited Mexico City for a private concert, surprising her fans with acoustic versions of her hits and a toast with tequila.

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Beyoncé and Lamar show what it means to be ‘unapologetically black’ | CNN

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Beyoncé rocked Coachella and Kendrick Lamar grabbed a Pulitzer. But they also gave us a lesson on being “unapologetically black.”

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When I was presented with the opportunity to write about being Black, queer, and proud I was extremely ecstatic, but I knew I had the responsibility to illustrate what it's really like to be Black and queer. This means including the challenges along with the triumphs we face daily.

A common misconception people have about Black queer people is that we must always be Black first. Personally, there is no first, both identities influence me equally. Both identities shaped my life and experiences, one no more than the other. So, I would like to tell Black LGBTQ+ youth that you don't have to decide, this is your life. Live it to the best of your ability and embrace yourself always.

Growing up, I was constantly stuck in this battle with myself, knowing I was gay at a very young age, while going through the constant struggles of being a young Black male in America. It was a challenge trying to find my identity and my place in each of my communities, sometimes feeling like I sat at the outskirts of both. I had no real role models who looked like me and were queer on television, movies, or in music.

Growing up, I went on this journey of discovery alone, a reality I know many Black LGBTQ+ people face; growing up without anyone to talk about the lifestyle, feelings, thoughts, and hardships you know you will face being Black and queer.

The very first person I identified with as I grew older was James Baldwin, a creative, writer, and social justice activist who identified as gay. In a lot of ways, I saw myself in Baldwin. His work primarily explored race, sexuality, and classism in Western society. Unapologetically himself, extremely intelligent, and he rarely filtered his personality for the comfort of others. For that reason, I was drawn to everything he created, said, and took part in.

Today, I live my life free to be myself and represent others like me who were just as lost as I was. So, to me being Black and queer now means strong, compassionate, loving, creative, beautiful, and unapologetic.
Check out below to learn how these 10 GLAAD Campus Ambassadors celebrate their Black and LGBTQ identities. Ose Arheghan Ohio State University How do you identify?
I identify as gender non-binary and queer and as a Nigerian American I represent both the African and the African-American communities.
What about your LGBTQ Black identity makes you proud?
I'm proud of my queer Black identity because of the legacy that queer Black leaders have left behind. When I look at what queer Black people like Audre Lorde and Bayard Rustin and Marsha P. Johnson did, I know that there's precedent for the advocacy and activism I see queer Black folks doing now. I'm proud of all the positive change my people have enacted in the United States and all across the globe. That sense of pride is something I've been able to share in with other queer Black folks and we're able to share in such a beautiful community.
What do people get wrong about your identity and/or communities?
There's this misconception that my Black identity, my African identity, my queer identity, and my trans identity can't exist in one body. There's no inherent conflict within my identities. There's the misconception that the Black community is more homophobic or transphobic that other communities and that's wholeheartedly untrue. There have and always will be queer people in the Black community creating culture and history. I belong in both communities and there is space for me in both communities without me having to compromise any one part of my identity.
Rodney Bethea Lake Forest College How do you identify?
I identify as a gay cis Black male.
What about your LGBTQ Black identity makes you proud?
The one thing about my LGBTQ Black Identity that I love the most is the fact that I have two large backgrounds of history to pull from. In times when I am feeling lost and not sure how to carry myself, I often refer to Black or LGBTQ+ history to reflect on those that came before me. All of the brave activists, artists and role models give me the materials to really walk in my skin with a sense of pride as they did.
What do people get wrong about your identity and/or communities?
Considering there is a lot of stigma that surrounds LGBTQ+ issues within the Black community, the one thing that people miss the mark on is always thinking that sexuality and masculinity are black-and-white. A lot of people think that there is no wiggle room for sexual expression and physical presentation when you are a Black man which can be severely limiting and detrimental to one's self esteem. The fact that I can continuously play around with my sexuality and how I present myself is very freeing and what ultimately led me to come out in the first place. I can define myself as "me."
Dion Copeland University of Louisville How do you identify?
I identify as bisexual.
What about your LGBTQ Black identity makes you proud?
I am proud that I hold two marginalized identities. Being a person of color and belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community allows me to serve as a liaison between the two communities through my work as a campus leader at the University of Louisville.
What do people get wrong about your identity and/or communities?
People assume that I am gay instead of taking the time to genuinely inquire about my sexual orientation. Although I don't approve of asking such an intrusive question, I would rather be asked than have someone assume.
Mei Eyre Cascadia College How do you identify?
I identify as a queer biracial Black woman and I use they/them and she/her pronouns.
What about your LGBTQ Black identity makes you proud?
I'm proud of my identity because I am living proof of the resilience of my ancestors. I will always appreciate the ground that has been laid by those who came before me and I'm proud to bring their hopes and dreams for the future to fruition.
What do people get wrong about your identity and/or communities?
There's a clichéd assumption that Black people's interests are only limited to what's included in Black culture, and that's simply not true. Mainstream media tells a story that does not recognize the diverse interests of Black people. Nerdy fandoms and rock music are among the many interests left out of this narrative.
V Green Georgia State University How do you identify?
I identify as queer and non-binary.
What about your LGBTQ Black identity makes you proud?
I'm proud every day because of the unique experience of my culture I get to experience as a black queer non-binary African American. I love that I'm able to create new spaces with people like me, who know my struggles and my triumphs and see me as I am first and foremost before assuming anything about me. I think that my life would be duller and altogether less worth all the effort I put into living it without the support and friendship of so many Black queer people in my inner circle and those I admire for their creative endeavors.
What do people get wrong about your identity and/or communities?
I think that there's this idea about black people all being so much more homophobic than any other race and that really bothers me. Before anyone accepted me it was cisgender heterosexual black people in my community who understood me and supported me. People even outside of my family who've always pushed me when I felt like I couldn't push myself. I'm not foolish enough to say that people could never pose a danger or threat to me and my queer peers but I know that there's a lot of love in my community and I believe more than enough to accept me and anyone else for all that they are.
Briannah Hill University of Colorado-Boulder How do you identify?
I identify as everyone's favorite friendly, radical, loving, emotional, extra Blaqueer, non-binary femme.
What about your LGBTQ Black identity makes you proud?
Me being queer and nonbinary makes me proud because, even though I have sacrificed my safety I am happy. I'm proud that my identities have given me the confidence to stand up for myself and demand respect.
What do people get wrong about your identity and/or communities?
So many people get it wrong that I and many other Blaqueer/Trans folks can't be both Black and queer/trans at the same time. Also, people get it wrong that Blaqueer/trans people even exist, we exist, and we are here thriving.
Kayla Iman St. John's University How do you identify?
I identify as a queer Black woman; more specifically, bisexual. I choose to say queer before Black because my blackness is visible, my queerness is not, and both are equally important to me.
What about your LGBTQ black identity makes you proud?
What makes me proud about my LGBTQ Black identity is being able to support LGBTQ Black youth. Since being gay is still frowned upon in many Black communities, young Black gay kids are often forced into being closeted, given wrong and toxic information about sexuality or relationships, or are beaten just for stepping outside of the toxic masculinity norm. It makes me proud to be able to combat that and stand up for them. It makes me proud to be able to dispel stereotypes about what it is to be both Black and gay.
What do people get wrong about your identity and/or communities?
Something people get wrong a lot about my identity or my community is they assume I'm bisexual to attract men, or that my being queer makes me less Black. None of those things are true and they are some of the things that make me angriest to hear in 2019.
AJ Lawrence Berklee College of Music How do you identify?
I am non-binary.
What about your LGBTQ Black identity makes you proud?
I love my identity because I can carry myself, personality, and identity like a banner of victory, displaying with pride that this is who I am as a whole.
What do people get wrong about your identity and/or communities?
People misunderstand that queer people and Black people are separate and isolated, they are not. They intersect and I happen to be one of those people who embody both identities.
Dane Scott Vaughn College of Aeronautics How do you identify?
I identify as a gay Afro-Jamaican man.
What about your LGBTQ Black identity makes you proud?
LGBTQ people unfortunately have the disadvantage of being one of the only minority group not raised by their own people. To make things worse our history is rarely taught in schools, so it's left to gay youth to seek out our history. It's common knowledge that the Gay Rights Movement struggled against their oppressors (that alone made me proud to be gay and Black) but as I read more, I discovered LGBTQ icons who worked in the Civil Rights Movement like Bayard Rustin and James Baldwin. Along with inspiring me to do the work, they showed me that when it came to activism, I didn't have to choose "black first" or "gay first."
What do people get wrong about your identity and/or communities?
Due to lack of education, whether purposefully or incidentally, I think people are mistaken about what LGBTQ activist had to go through to get where we are today and what they have to go through today. We, as a community, often get accused of being "sensitive" but if there were places they could get fired, evicted, beaten or murdered for being who you are, I don't think they'd take everything so lightly.
Ryan Wagstaff Washington University How do you identify?
Black American of Afro-Latinx/Afro-Guyanese descent.
What about your LGBTQ Black identity makes you proud?
Being Black Queer makes me proud of where I am from and I know that queer people have existed in African history long before colonization. Black queer people are resilient, we lead, push change, and organize.
What do people get wrong about your identity and/or communities?
Being Black, many in my community believe that my sexuality is a choice when it is how I was born. Being gay, my community of other queer folks who are white do not speak to my racism or believe in colorblindness. Because of this colorblindness from my peers I am also vulnerable not only to homophobia from my Black community but anti-Black racism in my queer community as well. Having this intersectional identity I believe is important for my family of white LGBTQ+ to advocate not only for queer liberation but also Black liberation. Because inherently we all are a part of a larger struggle.
D'antae Johnson is a GLAAD Campus Ambassador and sophomore at Prairie View A&M University studying communications. D'antae is from Dallas, Texas.

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11 students explain what being queer, Black, and proud means to them

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When I was presented with the opportunity to write about being Black, queer, and proud I was extremely ecstatic, but I knew I had the responsibility to illustrate what it's really like to be Black and queer. This means including the challenges along with the triumphs we face daily.

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COLLEEN LONG, MICHAEL BALSAMO and ZEKE MILLER

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Biden nominates Jackson, first Black woman, to Supreme Court

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday nominated federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, the first Black woman selected to serve on a court that once declared her race unworthy of citizenship and endorsed American segregation.

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In recent years, scholars and social movements have brought the issue of mass incarceration into public consciousness in the United States. Many now know that the U.S. has the world's largest prison population, or have heard alarming figures, like an incarceration rate for Black men that is 6 times that for white men. At the same time, although crime is down, disproportionately high rates of violence continue to impact the same communities hit hardest by mass incarceration. Restorative justice brings responsible parties and survivors together to repair the harms caused by crimes, and it may offer a way out of this vicious cycle.

Ayoola Mitchell and Troy Williams came to restorative justice by different paths, but a shared commitment to healing and accountability drives their work with Insight Prison Project, a California-based organization that works with men, women and youth in prisons and jails in California and two other states. Insight Prison Project's approach to restorative justice is unique and effective, and researchers from the UW Center for Human Rights' Rethinking Punishment project are currently exploring the possibilities for implementing its restorative justice curriculum in Washington State. Mitchell and Williams shared their stories during a September 30th panel at UW, at the invitation of Prof. Katherine Beckett, the Law, Societies & Justice Program, and the Law School.

Ayoola Mitchell has lived every mother's worst nightmare-twice. In 2009, her eldest son was shot 17 times. He survived, but just over a year later her step-son, whose life she had been a part of since birth, was shot and killed. Neither of her sons' shooters were ever identified. Despite a family background in law enforcement and a career in the justice system, Mitchell's experiences with the police and medical systems left her unsatisfied. "I knew that something different had to happen," she says. "I made the decision to work harder, and [find something] to get involved with so that another mom doesn't have to bury her son, or another son doesn't pull the trigger."

At a friend's urging, Mitchell became involved in a Survivor Speaker Panel facilitated by the Insight Prison Project in San Quentin prison. As a "victim surrogate," she described how violence impacted her family in a group with incarcerated participants and facilitators. "The more I spoke the more I healed," she says. Mitchell now works as IPP's Community & Survivor Outreach Specialist.

Troy Williams joined Insight Prison Project's Victim Offender Education Group program during the twenty-five years he spent in California prisons for an armed robbery. For six of those years he participated in, and later facilitated, VOEG curriculum. "Before VOEG, I couldn't understand what victims of my crime had gone through. When people said, well you caused them to be in fear of their lives, I thought, well I've feared for my life my whole life."

Hearing from a person who had been harmed by a similar crime led Williams to both understanding and empathy. "I saw how traumatized and paralyzed her life had been as a result of her being a victim of a robbery. That's when I was able to see how my life had been paralyzed by fear." Outside of prison, Williams continues to work with IPP as a Youth Development Specialist and Trainer/Facilitator.

Restorative Justice for Social Change in Washington State

UW researchers Prof. Katherine Beckett and 3 rd-year law student Martina Kartman are studying the impacts of restorative justice practices and working to bring IPP programs to Washington State. The Center for Human Rights supported the research presented in their recent report, Violence, Mass Incarceration and Restorative Justice: Promising Possibilities, which offers a deep dive into the transformative work of the Insight Prison Project. They describe IPP's holistic curriculum, which, uniquely among restorative justice programs, is available to prisoners who are not able to interact directly with those they have harmed, thanks to surrogates like Ayoola Mitchell. IPP also takes on cases involving violent crimes-often excluded from other programs, despite evidence that restorative justice may have the biggest impact in such cases.

Even restorative justice practices that are more limited than IPP's can have a powerful impact. Studies suggest that the overwhelming majority of participants are satisfied with victim offender mediation, a staple of many programs. Researchers have also found significant reductions in both the frequency and seriousness of repeat offenses by participants. Despite these benefits, access to restorative justice remains limited -for example, few prison facilities in Washington State offer such programs.

How can communities and decision-makers in Washington State take action to advance restorative justice practices? "We need to build practical strategies to hold people accountable for harm, secure community safety, and support healing and justice for survivors," says Kartman."At the same time, we must collectively address the historical and structural violence that underpin the interpersonal harms we so quickly condemn."

"Ultimately, we need to create programs in which restorative processes and reparations serve as a substitute for incarceration," adds Professor Beckett. "These diversion programs can, and should, include cases in which violence occurred."

While recognizing the track record of success presented in Prof. Beckett and Kartman's report, Ayoola Mitchell and Troy Williams say that we shouldn't focus only on statistics about restorative justice. What's more important are the stories of lives that have been changed. "I believe in the redemption of people; I believe that nobody should be known by the worst thing that they've ever done," says Mitchell.

For Williams, restorative justice implies not just individual transformation, but social change: "In the same sense that I had to be held accountable for the wrongs that I did... the system has to be held accountable for the wrongs that it's doing."
Watch the full Sept. 30 panel discussion, "Beyond Violence, Crime and Punishment: Toward Transformative Justice" via Talking Stick TV.

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Exploring Restorative Justice Models for Washington State - Center for Human Rights

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In recent years, scholars and social movements have brought the issue of mass incarceration into public consciousness in the United States. Many now know that the U.S. has the world's largest prison population, or have heard alarming figures, like an incarceration rate for Black men that is 6 times that for white men.

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Comedy routine

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Being Black in Canada versus America | Alonzo Bodden

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Definitions

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13 Principles and Definitions for Middle High.pdf

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At Visit Seattle, we share in the pain, sorrow, and anger felt by our Black neighbors, partners, visitors, and colleagues and we stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

We have made a conscious effort to share voices and stories from across our diverse community. We recognize, however, that this is not enough. While we do not pretend to have all the answers, Visit Seattle is committed to actively seeking to dismantle and eradicate the systematic and institutionalized racism embedded in our workplace and messaging and we are taking steps to support the community in hopes of change. We pledge to approach this initiative with renewed awareness and open, humble hearts.

We are taking the first step. Below, we have compiled resources and ways to support Black lives in Seattle, now at this critical moment and always.

ZOOM BACKGROUNDS: BLACK LIVES MATTER

Show your support of Black lives in your virtual meetings. Click on either of the images to the left to enlarge and download.

SHAKIAH DANIELSON
Artistic Director & Hip Hop Teacher | Northwest Tap Connection
As a race and social justice-oriented dance studio, Northwest Tap Connection uses dance to enrich the lives of students while also helping them develop self discipline and to instill self confidence.

DAVID RUA AND PRIYA FRANK
Equity Team | Seattle Art Museum
The Equity Team at Seattle Art Museum promotes inclusivity and accessibility in the arts and is a key component of SAM's participation in the city's race and social justice initiative.

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Support for Black Lives in Seattle | Visit Seattle

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We have made a conscious effort to share voices and stories from across our diverse community. We recognize, however, that this is not enough. While we do not pretend to have all the answers, Visit Seattle is committed to actively seeking to dismantle and eradicate the systematic and institutionalized racism embedded in our workplace and messaging and we are taking steps to support the community in hopes of change.

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In honor of Black History Month, the Diverse Elders Coalition is featuring stories relevant to black aging during February. A new story will be shared every Wednesday, with additional posts shared throughout the month. Be sure to visit diverseelders.org regularly during the month of February.
As a tribute to Black History Month and this year's theme, Civil Rights in America, we have pulled together quotes from various prominent African American older adults to motivate you and to help guide your life.

1. Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it. - Rosa Parks

2. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

3. If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress. - Barack Obama

4. We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

5. How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these. - George Washington Carver

6. Living in the moment means letting go of the past and not waiting for the future. It means living your life consciously, aware that each moment you breathe is a gift. - Oprah Winfrey

7. The whole world opened to me when I learned to read. - Mary McLeod Bethune

8. Whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you'll find that when you're free . . . your true self comes out. - Tina Turner

9. Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. - Harriet Tubman

10. Have a vision. Be demanding. - Colin Powell

11. In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe. - Michael Jackson

12. If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in the struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolute night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

13. Greatness occurs when your children love you, when your critics respect you and when you have peace of mind. - Quincy Jones

14. I really don't think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don't mind the failure but I can't imagine that I'd forgive myself if I didn't try. - Nikki Giovanni

15. I think education is power. I think that being able to communicate with people is power. One of my main goals on the planet is to encourage people to empower themselves. - Oprah Winfrey

16. It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength. We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of that tapestry are equal in value no matter their color. - Maya Angelou

17. It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it. - Lena Horne

18. Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations. If you adopt their attitudes, then the possibility won't exist because you'll have already shut it out...You can hear other people's wisdom, but you've got to re-evaluate the world for yourself. - Mae Jemison

19. You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it. - Malcolm X

20. As long as there is poverty in the world I can never be rich, even if I have a billion dollars. As long as diseases are rampant and millions of people in this world cannot expect to live more than twenty-eight or thirty years, I can never be totally healthy even if I just got a good checkup at Mayo Clinic. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the way our world is made. No individual or nation can stand out boasting of being independent. We are interdependent. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

21. I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood. - Audre Lorde

22. The outside world told black kids when I was growing up that we weren't worth anything. But our parents said it wasn't so, and our churches and our schoolteachers said it wasn't so. They believed in us, and we, therefore, believed in ourselves. - Marian Wright Edelman

23. It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences. - Audre Lorde

24. You're not obligated to win. You're obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day. - Marian Wright Edelman

25. No one should negotiate their dreams. Dreams must be free to flee and fly high. No government, no legislature, has a right to limit your dreams. You should never agree to surrender your dreams. - Jesse Jackson

26. Our nation is a rainbow - red, yellow, brown, black, and white - and we're all precious in God's sight. - Jesse Jackson

27. I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear. - Rosa Parks

28. Just don't give up what you're trying to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong. - Ella Fitzgerald

29. One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don't invest any energy in them, because I know who I am. - Michelle Obama

30. Do not bring people in your life who weigh you down. And trust your instincts ... good relationships feel good. They feel right. They don't hurt. They're not painful. That's not just with somebody you want to marry, but it's with the friends that you choose. It's with the people you surround yourselves with. - Michelle Obama

31. I think if we are actually going to accept our generation's responsibility, that's going to mean that we give our children no less retirement security than we inherited from our parents. - Carol Moseley Braun

32. Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated. - Coretta Scott King

33. If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. - Maya Angelou

34. Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. - Barack Obama

35. Yes we can! - Barack Obama

Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music Video, song by will.i.am
READ OUR OTHER BLACK HISTORY MONTH STORIES: On the Shoulders of our Black Elders: Powerful Images from our Past (Black History Month: Civil Rights in America) You won't believe what I learned from our black elders (Black History Month) 10 things Black Americans should know about HIV/AIDS (Black History Month)
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35 quotes to help guide your life from famous African American older adults

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In honor of Black History Month, the Diverse Elders Coalition is featuring stories relevant to black aging during February. A new story will be shared every Wednesday, with additional posts shared throughout the month. Be sure to visit diverseelders.org regularly during the month of February.

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Dear white Seattle: Young Black leaders want to talk about racism

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Beyond the Capitol Hill protests, young activists are finding creative ways to engage more people in the fight for change.

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Reflections on Race and Disability

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In 2016, Vilissa Thompson created the hashtag #DisabilitySoWhite to shed light on the ways Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) are consistently marginalized and often silenced in disability justice spaces. Today marks the 29th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA,) and Vilissa's battle cry rings out truer than ever before.

The ADA was a Godsend for most disabled people/ People with Disabilities (PwD). It set in place policies that required employers, schools, and public places to become accessible - Meaning, workplaces, classrooms, parks, and more would need to make accommodations to their structures and operations so as many people who had been figuratively and literally left out of these spaces could be included. The law allowed for millions of disabled people/ PwD to enter the workforce, get an education, attend events, enjoy nature, etc. However, like nearly all social movements that become established without an Anti-racism lens from the start, disparities among disabled people/ PwD along intersecting identity lines began to increase - especially along lines of race, ethnicity, and citizenship.

In a Diverse City LLC Learning Series video on Race and Disability released earlier this week, I briefly shared how my spirituality, race, and disability coalesced into a moment of singularity where my mostly White, South Jersey, public high school called a D.A.R.E. officer to remove me from school and placed me in involuntary institutionalization after a battery of investigation. There were several reasons the school cited as the basis for this reaction: My socialization didn't seem up to par, I wasn't speaking as much in class, I hid out in bathrooms and closets throughout that day, my hygiene and eating habits were not the greatest. All of these instances were likely due to intense bullying, poverty, othering by faculty and staff, and - most of all - I was an autistic kid with no insurance and therefore without support services. Fifteen years later, the moment is still fresh and throbbing in my mind. It felt like the message I got as a disabled BIPOC was: Take them to the juvenile detention center, take them to the hospital, or take them to an institution; But just get them out of here. All my guidance counselor told my mom was that I "crashed and burned."

My story is not rare. In a recent AP News Article, research from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights showed that disabled BIPOC/ PwD are disproportionately disciplined or removed from schools, and that the intersectional discrimination has "plagued education across the United States for decades." The commission went on to say that "zero-tolerance polices and school level factors like a principal's perspective are often behind the disparities," or in my case, a guidance counselor. In the commission's report, they state "Many schools, especially in low-income and urban communities, rely on policies that have students of color with disabilities removed from classrooms for even minor infractions... Students with disabilities are about twice as likely to be suspended as those without disabilities, and Black, Latino and Native American students receive harsher and longer punishments than their White peers for similar offenses."

This sort of racialized ableism - Intersectional discrimination based on racism and ableism - not only traumatizes, but can be a carpool lane on the School-to-Prison pipeline. In 2015, Black and Latinx folks made up 32% of the US population, and 56% of all incarcerated people. It is also important to mention here that the United States makes up around 5% of the world's population, and holds 21% of the world's prisoners. Intersectionally, a report from the Center on American Progress in 2016 found that people in state and federal prisons are nearly three times as likely to report having a disability, and four times as likely to have a cognitive disability like Down Syndrome, Autism, Dementia, Intellectual Disabilities, and Learning Disorders; Those in jails are four times as likely to be disabled, and six times as likely to have a cognitive disability. One in five prison inmate have a serious mental illness. And while these statistics are startling, they don't stop there. A follow-up report by the Prison Policy Initiative shared how the intersection of Race and Disability affects one's involvement with the criminal justice system on the whole. They highlight the story of an Ethiopian Deaf man who was denied an Ethiopian Sign Language interpreter, which led to six weeks of jail time for a crime he didn't commit. They also speak to the intersectional barriers to re-entry once released from prison.

All people who have a documented criminal history face incredible barriers to surviving, let alone thriving, due to legal discrimination in some of the very areas the ADA aims to protect: Access to education, housing, employment, and access to public services and spaces. The additional lenses of racism and ableism can create triple jeopardy when trying to access vocational and release planning programs, (or quadruple or quintuple jeopardy with more marginalized identities onboard like gender, class, citizenship, or sexual orientation.) T he 2018 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium showed that, out more than 3 Million Disabled Black people/ PwD, less than one-third are employed, and the rate of employment for this intersection is decreasing in 28 states. A review of this data by RespectAbility featuring disabled, Black women speak to the multiple layers of marginalization and the importance of antiracism and intersectionality in the Disability Justice and Inclusion movement. Dr. Donna Walton shared, "The impact of the triple jeopardy syndrome cannot be overstated, as an African American with a disability, [one] can never can be quite sure if their race, gender or disability is hurting their chances for advancement. My experiences-being denied employment and facing financial planners who make false assumptions about my income status and earning potential because of my disability, for instance-prompt my suspicions that triple jeopardy is working against many African Americans with disabilities."

So, you may be asking yourself what to do at this point. Whether you are a disabled person or ally, amplify the narratives and experiences of disabled BIPOC/ PwD when you see injustice. This past month, a protest was held at the annual awards luncheon for the National Council for Independent Living to denounce racist and xenophobic comments made by their President, and amplify the narrative of those who expressed their outrage in it's wake, (Content Warning for this encapsulation by Disabled POC Activist Alice Wong.)

Which leads to the next point of what to do: If you are a Non-BIPOC disabled person/ PwD or ally - brush up on antiracism, cultural humility, Disability Critical Race Theories (DisCrit), and self-evaluate your power-over privileges. What made Bruce Darling's comments so painful was the othering and invisibilizing of disabled people/ PwD at the border being detained, becoming increasingly ill, and dying. To hold that level of power-over, to be in top leadership of NCIL and ADAPT, the co-founder of the center for Disability Rights, Inc., and encourage disabled people to lobby lawmakers on the talking point that "Democrats care more about people who are illegally in this country than their own citizens who are disabled," is incredibly cruel, racist, and xenophobic. It is why when his apology fell flat, with people following him calling for his resignation, which eventually came with a unanimous endorsement from the NCIL's Board of Directors.

These actions create both inaccessible and non-inclusive spaces for Disabled BIPOC/ PwD. The way to address some of the structural issues of this leads to my final point of what to do: Put Disabled BIPOC/ PwD in positions of leadership. Fund and support us. Fiercely defend their leadership and dismantle constructs or dismiss people and groups who refuse to respect and uphold the leadership of Disabled BIPOC/ PwD. Reflect on how you regard, communicate, and interact with us. But most importantly, don't speak for us. The latter issue I call being an "Ursula Ally," inspired by the relationship dynamic in The Little Mermaid where Ursula made a devil's bargain with Ariel to seal her voice in a locket to win the heart of her paramour, only for Ursula to use Ariel's voice to take Eric for herself. Do not use the voice of marginalized populations for clout or virtual likes. That doesn't make you woke, it just makes you an inequitable and injust person.

In the blog Tales of the Angry Negro, the anonymous author shares their experience of moderating a panel on the intersections of race and disability at the recent Netroots Nation Conference. In the middle of their panel discussion, they were interrupted by conference staff who told the group that they needed to speed along their programming so they can take the lift from the stage that was being used by one of the panelists. They were told to either end earlier or leave their panelist stranded on stage. When they pushed back, the staff loudly protested. ending their live feed, and began heckling the group until they ended. After reflecting on the situations involving Darling and others, they shared that these instances of racism, xenophobia, antiblackness, and more within the disability community "will rightly note that these events - though shocking to some - are not new thought the attention shone on them is, and that this is indicative of a disability community that marginalizes the voices of people of color and a mainstream community that equally silences disability advocacy. We as a community must come to terms with the fact that while we face discrimination, we do not have the market cornered on righteousness. We have as much as a responsibility to provide the inclusion that we demand from the mainstream community.." They went on to say, "One cannot create an inclusive community while excluding people of color or using tactics that are specifically designed to be divisive....At the same time, one cannot give a pass to leaders who blatantly violate the trust of multiple parts of our community....In this context, they would be noted as one time faux as or slip ups that are not indicative of the greater good and service that they have done or could continue to do for the community. If we do that, however we provide a justification to their actions and not only communicate the loathsome idea that the ends justify the means, but also that certain groups of individuals with disabilities are disposable in order to make justice for others."

When I turned 29, I made it a point to undergo a year of self-reflection, recalibration, and restorative justice. I made the effort to lean into my forthcoming 30th birthday as a major chronological milestone to also incorporate benchmark and goals for emotional, social, and developmental milestones. I reviewed my social narrative identity, spoke to close friends and family members about my impact, underwent a self-audit of who I was and who I wanted to be. Three years later, I still have not completed my praxis - and I never will. I encourage those who support and benefit from the ADA to do the same. I encourage those who have been at the front lines of the disability movement and have not seen Black and Brown faces there with them to do something about it. I encourage those who are sitting at tables of power, privilege and leadership who look around and do not see any Disabled BIPOC/ PwD to speak up and say something. I encourage folks to embrace the social and intersectional models of disability, and incorporate universal design and community integration into everything they do. We have come far, but we have also barely made a dent in what is left to be done so all Disabled people/ PwD can survive and thrive. Where it seems it needs to start is dismantling and deconstructing the stubborn dynamic Vilissa Thompson called out three years ago: Disability Justice and Leadership is too White!

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#DisabilitySoWhite: Reflections on Race and Disability on ADA Day - Epiphanies of Equity LLC

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In 2016, Vilissa Thompson created the hashtag #DisabilitySoWhite to shed light on the ways Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) are consistently marginalized and often silenced in disability justice spaces. Today marks the 29th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA,) and Vilissa's battle cry rings out truer than ever before.

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The Black Lives Matter movement has changed the country and shifted conversations about police, social justice and structural racism.

Nowhere is the impact as great as it is for Black families, especially those with children. NPR spoke with five couples about how their family conversations have changed and how they try to support and inform their children in the face of police violence and racism.

The parents spoke about how painful it is to have these issues rupture the innocence of childhood, and the importance of having these discussion proactively. They say they try to model a measured optimism about the future, teaching their kids "to stand up and speak out", as one mother, Dr. Rhea Roper Nedd puts it.

She says she and her husband's message to their children right now is hopeful, despite their own misgivings about the slow pace of progress. "This is the time for us to move forward," she says. "This is the time to change."
'Exercise your right to say what you think'
When Chris and Eriade Williams decided to take their children to participate in peaceful protests near their home in Silver Spring, Md., their daughter Marley, 9, told them she was scared. Eriade, an attorney and lobbyist, had to explain that violence wouldn't be likely. Chris, who works in pharmaceutical sales, talked to both the kids - their son Hunter is 6 - about managing fear. And he told them: "These are things that we're protesting because they've never been dealt with appropriately in the past."

Marley remained skeptical, telling her parents she was afraid there would be violence or police brutality. Her parents told her, "You still have to exercise your right to say what you think about things and you can't be scared and stay in your house," recalls Eriade.

The protest turned out to be a positive, empowering experience for the children. There was no violence. Marley was interviewed by local TV and even made up a dance to go with a chant. "When they came home they were exuberant," says Eriade.

The Williams say they have a sense of relief that, after George Floyd's brutal killing, the whole nation began discussing police violence and racism. It means, they said, that as parents "we are the ones who can explain all this to our kids and that their friends in school will have a similar baseline of experience now to understand these issues better."

As Black parents, Derek and Barbara Ford knew they would have to have "the talk" about racism at some point with their sons. Chandler, who is nearly 1-year-old, is too young to understand. And for Alexander who turns 5 this month, the Fords hadn't thought of starting at such an early age. But as the Black Lives Matter protests took off in late May, they realized it was time.

Derek, a human resources manager in the oil and gas industry, says they didn't try to tackle the whole topic at once. "We talk about certain aspects that he can comprehend at this point. And then through the years, that conversation morphs" he says. They have started with storytelling and books that portray individuals with brown skin so the children will "feel comfortable in their own skin" and have a positive image of themselves.

In the future, they'll have to tackle harder issues head-on. "I mean you have to have hope, but you also have the reality that he will become a Black man; right now, he sees police officers and cops as superheroes." Derek says. "It's a shame that this frame of mind will likely change over time to where he no longer sees public servants as superheroes, but he sees them as something else."

They try to strike a balance, Barbara says, between exposing their children to the reality of racism while instilling confidence in them as individuals. "We grew up and understood that everything in life wasn't going to be fair; so we want to raise the children with a sense of reality, but we don't want to poison them and we don't want them to be blindsided by anything either."
Preparing children for the future
When Maryam Jernigan-Noesi and Mariano Noesi were expecting their first child, they recall playing a trivia game at their baby shower. They were asked what they feared most about becoming new parents.

They answered without hesitation. "We were both on the same page and it was 'the world,'" says Mariano, a national accounts manager for an environmental firm. "It was the systems created outside of our homes that were not made for him, although he'd be forced to live in them for now."

Along with the joy of having a child, says Maryam, a licensed psychologist specializing in children and adolescents, "there is an intergenerational fear about your ability to protect Black children and help keep them alive because of the pervasiveness and, frankly, the danger of racism."

The family lives in a suburb of Atlanta. Today, when they talk with their son Carter, now 4, about racism, a major goal, Mariano says, is "reducing the amount of trauma that I pass on to him. Reducing it being key because some trauma is inevitable in the life of a Black person in this country."

Their approach, says Maryam, is to start with an understanding of racial differences."We want him to first notice and appreciate human differences, not avoid or condemn what is different," she says.

From there, they are gradually introducing the history of racial injustice and the civil rights movement.

"The key is to be consistent and proactive and to not wait until there is a blatant example that we are trying to explain after the fact," says Maryam. She also gives her son room to express his feelings, like when she first explained the history of segregation to him and "he was visibly upset."

She says these early lessons paid off when he saw some footage of protests on TV and wanted to know what was going on. " And I said, well, remember Martin Luther King? You know, we're still fighting for people to be able to be treated equally."
'It's up to the next generation'
After George Floyd's killing, the Roper Nedd family who live in Silver Spring, Md., a suburb of Washington, D.C. went into "protective mode" toward their two sons, Christopher and Noah, says Dr. Rhea Roper Nedd, associate director of the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program at the University of Maryland.

"We didn't want them to see this on TV and to internalize this," she recalls. "But then there came a point in time when we knew ... as much as we tried to protect them ... we had to start talking about it."

Husband Wilton Nedd II, an attorney, says it's imperative "for us to instill in our children that they are equal to their white counterparts in every respect but they may not be viewed that way by everyone they encounter."

They want their children to feel proud of who they are. They watch movies with strong Black characters, they enjoy and "move to hip-hop, soca, afro-beats, gospel music and Chelsey Green's violin."

"Conversations about race within the four walls of our home are intentional messages about the beauty of blackness," says Rhea.

She says they have worked to balance realism and hope in their conversations about racial justice. When they went as a family to one of the recent protests, one of their sons questioned why they were bothering when violence against Black people keeps getting repeated.

"It's hard to hear a young child at the age of ten already aware of the history of this country, of how racism has been institutionalized, and to already know that the change that is happening, it's so slow," Rhea says.

But she said they told their kids, "Things are changing. There is something about the movement and we have to be part of it."

During the protests and candlelight vigils the family attended, Wilton told his sons that as they grow up, they have a role to play "in changing narratives and outcomes in society."

"Our generation has made incremental progress but it is up to the next generation to take it even further," he says.

Both Albert and Quinetta Latham remember when their own parents had "the talk" with them years ago. And while some of the nuances have changed, Albert, a regional asset protection director for a national retailer says, the conversations they're having with their own children, Albert III, 18, and Maria, 12, are, unfortunately, familiar.

But Quinetta, a certified life coach and transformational speaker, says the Black Lives Matter movement has given the family a sense of hope. "While our 12 year old daughter might not necessarily be able to wrap her entire mind around systematic racism, both she and our son realize and understand the power and the pain that is attached to the three words Black Lives Matter."

The support for the movement is "very visible for our children to see" she says, whether it's on the news, hashtags, t-shirts, or TikTok. Albert says in the movement today he sees more allies of all races.

"We're not walking alone," Albert says. "And while these occurrences and conversations aren't necessarily new for our household I do realize... George Floyd's untimely and unfortunate death was certainly a tipping point for the nation."

But seeing repeated examples of police brutality weighs on their children, the Latham parents say. And even when they went out to protest recently, the family encountered racism and profanity from people passing by. One man in a truck deliberately blew his exhaust into the crowd. "My children looked at me in disbelief," recalls Quinetta. "We're out here trying to stand up for what's right and here's what we're still having to face."

"So you know, it's hard not to see it, it's hard not to experience it, and it's almost impossible not to fear it," she says. "For us as parents, it's important to just create a safe haven, a safe space for our children to feel they're accepted when the world rejects them. A place where they can come and be lifted when the world knocks them down."

And, when talking to their children, Albert says,"we've got to be very careful to not preach doom and gloom all the time - to not talk about the history of Black folk as starting in slavery or in the Jim Crow south; our history is much, much richer than the misfortunes that we faced."

"And so another way that we try to reduce the stress for us and our children is to make sure that we understand there's still greatness that courses through our veins."
This story was produced by Meredith Rizzo and Ryan Kellman with editing by Carmel Wroth of NPR. Design and development by Alyson Hurt of NPR.

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'Change Can Happen': Black Families On Racism, Hope And Parenting

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The Black Lives Matter movement has changed the country and shifted conversations about police, social justice and structural racism. Nowhere is the impact as great as it is for Black families, especially those with children. NPR spoke with five couples about how their family conversations have changed and how they try to support and inform their children in the face of police violence and racism.

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Being around people who are different from us makes us more creative, diligent, and hard-working.

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United Nations Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (1963)

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United Nations Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (1963)

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What a Company that is anti-racist looks like. 

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What a Company that is anti-racist looks like. 

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https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/15/what-it-means-to-be-an-anti-racist-company.html

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How do trans people affirm their gender?

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How do trans people affirm their gender?

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https://www.transhub.org.au/101/gender-affirmation

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Gender affirmation is an umbrella term for the range of actions and possibilities involved in living, surviving, and thriving as our authentic gendered selves.

What gender affirmation looks like for every individual trans person is unique and based on what is personally affirming, what feels safe to do, and what is accessible and available.

The 'Gender Affirming' model of healthcare is about recognising and acknowledging that trans people tell the truth about who we are. Unfortunately, this approach to care is sometimes wilfully misconstrued as meaning an immediate race to hormones and surgery for all trans people, particularly young people. The reality is very different though with many trans people reporting significant barriers to accessing this medically necessary healthcare.

For trans young people, gender affirmation means being able to socially affirm their gender (with name, pronouns and expression), medical intervention for pre-pubertal trans young people does not occur in Australia, ever.

How do trans people affirm their gender?

There's a common myth that gender affirmation (or transition) is a linear experience from A to B, when in reality we affirm our genders in many different ways. There is no right or wrong way to affirm your gender.

TransHub also uses the term gender affirmation instead of transition or gender transition, to reflect the breadth of actions and possibilities that can be involved in living and thriving as our gendered selves.

While transition is used both linearly and non-linearly by trans people, our use of affirmation is intentional - many people, trans and cis, observe the trans experience through a lens of medical intervention. For more information about this, go to our language page.

On TransHub, we've divided this up into the sections Social, Medical and Legal affirmation.

Social affirmation describes how we introduce our authentic selves to the world around us, whether the world notices or not. This might mean forms of affirmation you can do without involving anyone else, and which you can change your mind about later, including: starting to use your chosen name and pronouns, coming out, wearing new clothing, or modifying the shape of your body, cutting or shaving your hair, playing around with how you use your voice, and more. Social affirmation also includes playing sport, going to work, and participating in life as our true selves. This can be really liberating and also scary for trans people, and we need allies around us, particularly when we start coming out

Medical affirmation describes forms of affirmation we might do with the help of doctors or health professionals, including: taking some form of hormones such as estrogen, testosterone, or progesterone, or puberty blockers or having affirmative surgeries, such as chest surgery, genital surgery, facial surgeries, or more.

Legal affirmation describes affirming your gender when working with legal and legislative systems, including: updating your name or gender marker at work, school, or on forms of ID, your rights in various settings, and being affirmed while working within systems like the police, prison, and immigration.

Trans people also affirm our gender in many other ways throughout our lives, such as when interacting with health services, people we don't know out in the world, or just for ourselves.

Do only trans people affirm their gender?

While we describe many things as ways that trans people can affirm their gender, for many people they are simply being their gender.

While 'gender affirmation' as a term is usually only used by trans and gender diverse people, cisgender people are constantly doing things that make them feel better, comfortable, or supported in their gender too.

This might be buying clothes or makeup that make them feel good, going to the gym, getting plastic surgery or beauty treatments, accessorising living and work spaces, and more. These aren't traditionally seen as a form of 'gender affirmation' because unlike trans people, cis people aren't required to affirm their gender for it to be seen as real or valid.

Access to free and timely health care that respects self-determination, autonomy, and the medical necessity of gender affirmation for those who seek it, is a life saving and affirming right for all trans people.

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Gender affirmation is an umbrella term for the range of actions and possibilities involved in living, surviving, and thriving as our authentic gendered selves. What gender affirmation looks like for every individual trans person is unique and based on what is personally affirming, what feels safe to do, and what is accessible and available.

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This explains how black villages are being reduced in Seattle.

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This explains how black villages are being reduced in Seattle.

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https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/seattles-vanishing-black-community/

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The Central District’s African-American community is moving away, and people like Patrinell Wright, who moved to the neighborhood in 1964, are feeling a sense of loss.

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https://www.theroot.com/how-to-be-unapologetically-black-1822522165

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On Tuesday, I was at Google's New York City office for a panel titled " Breaking Through The Noise: Making Our Voices Visible, Scalable And Impactful." For roughly 90 minutes, (founder of The Grio), (Senior VP, Chief Diversity Officer at Omnicom Group/Founder & President, ADCOLOR®), (Black Voices Editor at Huffington Post) and I spoke to the audience about our respective challenges and successes, and our thoughts about the state and direction of Black media. We each (obviously) had different backgrounds and stories, and even disagreed with certain subtopics, but we were all fully committed to and in possession of a grade of unapologetic Blackness that informs, inspires, centers, and directs the work we do.

Afterwards, I got the opportunity to finally meet , , , and in person and hang out. We toured Google's LEGOLand wing ( Yes. The New York Google office has an approximately 2000 square foot LEGOLand.), had an exceptionally Black moment in a hotel elevator involving a nice White couple who assumed I was a doorman, and ate burgers and nachos. It was a beautifully Black-ass night.

During the panel, one theme repeated throughout the night is the reality that unapologetic Blackness isn't easy. Perhaps its a bit more trendy now than it has been, historically. But we exist in a place where much of what we've been taught and most of what we encounter aims to prevent us from feeling that way, and getting to a place where you're both unscared to be your Black-ass self and embracing of that Black-ass self can be an arduous journey. A journey towards freedom and rapture, but a painful journey nonetheless.

So, how exactly does someone get there? I don't have a textbook to pull from to provide a universal answer, but I do know what has seemed to work for me.
1. Give Blackness a positive association
This is the first and most important part. In order to be unapologetically Black, you have to be proud of and unembarrassed by Blackness. And this doesn't just mean embracing yourself. It means removing negative connotations possessed with entities associated with Blackness. You can not be unapologetically Black if you still assume that if something happens to be "Black" - whether its a public university or a publication or a person - its inherently less than. Perhaps you never gave Blackness the benefit of the doubt before. Well, now you need to start.
2. Surround yourself with people connected to and in favor of unapologetic Blackness
Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have parents who instilled this in me pretty early. But I recognize that many of us just haven't been around enough Black people who believe unapologetic Blackness is a thing to be desired. And, if you're attempting to get there yourself, it's vital to seek out people who are either already there or down to make the journey with you. Basically, remove all people named Taye and Stacey and from your crew.
3. Give negative infinity fucks about what White people think
Now, this doesn't mean you stop caring about what the White people you personally know and like/love think. Nor does it mean to release all basic human kindness and dignity. If you see a White person about to get hit by a truck, don't say " Man, fuck what that White dude who doesn't know he's about to get hit by a truck thinks." Say, " Hey man who happens to be White, there's a truck coming and it might hit you if you don't move."

Instead, stop crafting your thoughts and actions around what White People (collectively) might think if you thought or acted a certain way. Step outside of the White Gaze, and stay there.
4. Embrace Blackness...even Blackness that happens to be unlike your Blackness
Your Blackness can not truly be unapologetic if it cherry-picks; deciding to withhold love from other unapologetically Black people.

From " I'm In Love With Black People Who Love Being Black People. And Love Black People." Because everything said below could also be applied to the unapologetically Black journey.

Your love for Black people doesn't mean shit if it doesn't include Black women. Or Black men. Or Black homosexuals. Or Black atheists. Or Black Christians. Or Black...you get my point. If your love subjugates and discriminates, it's not love. It's vanity. Naturally, you can not love every single Black person. But while you can - and probably should - put conditions on that love based on what that particular Black person happens to do if it directly damages other people (sexual assault, murder, putting kale in the potato salad, etc) you cannot put conditions on that love based on who that particular Black person was born to be. And still claim to love us.

Of course, there are Black people who believe that making Blackness inclusive is inherently anti-Black because it "weakens" us. Whatever and whoever doesn't fit their ideal of what makes a stronger Black community - whether its feminism or atheism or being Christian or being queer - are cancers that need to be eradicated. But what they don't get is that this journey includes all of us. If it doesn't, there's no journey. No community. No love. No point.

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On Tuesday, I was at Google's New York City office for a panel titled "Breaking Through The Noise: Making Our Voices Visible, Scalable And Impactful." For roughly 90 minutes, David Wilson (founder of The Grio), Tiffany Warren (Senior VP, Chief Diversity Officer at Omnicom Group/Founder & President, ADCOLOR®), Lilly...

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A woman works at a distribution station in Staten Island, New York, February 2019. (Getty/Johannes Eisle/AFP)

Author's note: CAP uses "Black" and "African American" interchangeably throughout many of our products. We chose to capitalize "Black" in order to reflect that we are discussing a group of people and to be consistent with the capitalization of "African American."
Black Women's Equal Pay Day arrives around this time each year, marking the estimated number of extra months-roughly eight months-that a Black woman working full-time year-round in the United States must work into the current year to have earned what her white male counterpart earned during the prior year. This year, Black women will have to work well into the month of August to catch up to the wages that white men earned in 2018 alone. In concrete terms, this means that Black women experience a pay gap every day-and this gap adds up. In 2017, for example, Black women earned 61 cents for every dollar earned by white men, amounting to $23,653 less in earnings over an entire year. In the span of a 40-year career, this translates into an average lifetime earnings gap of $946,120 between Black women and white men.

The earnings chasm between Black women and white men is not new. Closing the divide, however, requires widening one's focus beyond numerical differences that tell only part of the story. It requires developing a deeper understanding of the different factors driving the wage gap for Black women, some of which consistently devalue their experiences and work and limit their future opportunities. It requires prioritizing reforms that specifically address the unique discrimination that Black women face at the intersection of race and gender. And it requires creating greater accountability and transparency in pay practices in order to surface and tackle the most persistent problems.

Connecting the dots: Why equal pay matters to closing the wage gap

The gap in earnings between women and men, known as the gender wage gap, is fueled by multiple factors. Some of the gap can be attributed to factors that are measurable, such as differences in seniority or experience, but these types of observable factors cannot explain a portion of the gap. It is this unexplained portion of the gap that is often ascribed to reasons that are harder to quantify and detect such as discrimination. There is also a racial wage gap that has led to persistent wage disparities between workers of color and white workers. Similar to the gender wage gap, this racial wage gap is driven by explainable factors such as education levels as well as unexplained factors that could stem from bias.

Black women experience both a race and gender wage gap that reflects the intersectional reality of their daily lives. The sharpest earnings differences are between Black women and white men, who are benchmarked as the highest earners, but Black women also experience wage disparities when compared with white women and Black men. As experts have noted, it is important to understand that this race-gender wage gap consists of more than simply adding the separate numbers associated with each gap. Rather, it reflects a unique effect that results from how the combination of race and gender are perceived together.

While the wage gap refers to the gap in earnings between groups of workers, equal pay refers to the legal principle of equal pay for equal work. This principle embodies our nation's overarching commitment to equality and is the cornerstone of legal protections aimed at combating pay discrimination and ensuring fair pay. The vast majority of employers have a continuous legal obligation to ensure equal pay for equal work in their hiring and pay practices, and this obligation does not shrink or waver based on the size, scope, or presence of a pay gap within their workforce. Actions taken to promote equal pay play an important role by helping to tackle the unexplained and perhaps most stubborn portion of the wage gap that is frequently attributed to discrimination. These efforts must work in tandem with other strategies to close the wage gap in its entirety.

How biases about Black women and work affect wages

Achieving equal pay for Black women, which will begin to close their overall wage gap, requires a deeper and more comprehensive understanding Black women's work and the context in which they perform that work. The reality is that how work is viewed is frequently based on who is doing the work and what type of work is being performed. Whether the work is done primarily by women versus men or by white workers versus workers of color; whether the work is highly paid, low paying, or unpaid; whether the work is full time, part time, or seasonal; and whether the work requires physical labor, specialized skills, or research and analysis are all factors that influence how work is perceived and valued. Identifying factors that affect how Black women's work is viewed and valued is key to pinpointing where discrimination is occurring and implementing strategies to ensure fair pay practices.

Today, Black women work in a variety of jobs and industries at all different levels. Yet, many Black women still confront the same misperceptions about their work that have formed at the intersection of racial and gender biases for decades. As a result, Black women face unfair expectations, unique challenges, and biased assumptions about where they fit in the workplace that differ from the perceptions held about women from other racial and ethnic groups as well as men. Black women have had to navigate and at times confront competing, flawed, or incomplete narratives about their work ethic, family responsibilities, and overall value that influence decisions about what they should earn. When sexism and racism intersect in the workplace, the effect is devastating.

Black women have always been expected to work and have had the highest labor force participation among all women for years. This work expectation is deeply rooted in longstanding racial and gender biases that have been present since the nation's founding-extending back to the nation's dehumanizing history of slavery and continuing into the post-slavery era, 20th-century workforce expansions, and the present day. Historically, Black women's work was tied, in part, to their less-privileged status in comparison with white women, who were elevated within the societal hierarchy and expected to represent a paternalistic feminine ideal focused exclusively on the home. From the 19th century, and well into the 20th century, Black women worked but were frequently relegated to the lowest-paying jobs. Legal restrictions were used to exclude all women-regardless of their race or ethnicity-from many high-paying jobs reserved exclusively for men. Although these outdated views were rejected over time, Black women still face the potent remnants of this historical narrative that devalued their status as women and as workers. As a result, Black women's greater labor force participation has not always translated into higher wages. It has also not quelled negative stereotypes about Black women's attitudes and work ethic that assume that Black women do not work hard, resist hard work, must be pushed to perform well, and should be satisfied with any job rather than deserving of the best job.

Black women frequently encounter a workplace narrative that deemphasizes the importance of their personal caregiving responsibilities or suggests that their caregiving roles should be secondary to their paid work. This narrative has historical roots dating back to the era of slavery, when Black women faced sexual violence and exploitation to produce free labor without rights to their children. In later years, this narrative was also visible in Black women's disproportionately high rates of work in domestic and caregiving jobs, where they received low wages and little consideration for their own family obligations. Yet, today, Black women disproportionately work in caregiving jobs, and Black mothers with young children have the highest labor force participation rates among all mothers. Minimizing the importance of responding to care needs has practical consequences that affect Black women's earnings, job success, health, and well-being. Black pregnant workers, for example, who are denied accommodations such as additional water breaks or access to light duty positions may have to choose between jeopardizing their health or losing their job. Moreover, this traditional preference in favor of paid work also reflects the historically male-centered view of work that obscures a more holistic perspective about how work should be valued. Unpaid work in the home-which, in most cases, is performed primarily by women-is frequently ignored but increasingly important to families. While women overall work fewer paid work hours than men, they spend more time than men doing unpaid work around the home and caring for children. On top of these responsibilities, Black women are the most likely among all women to spend the most time continuing to do paid work. The skepticism about the importance of caregiving responsibilities means that Black women may face a wage penalty when trying to be more responsive to their work and family roles.

While Black women have moved into more diverse fields over the years, they have also faced extensive occupational segregation, meaning they are concentrated in jobs that pay lower wages with limited mobility. Even when they have moved into jobs traditionally held by men or white workers and moved up the career ladder into managerial or leadership roles, Black women often encounter resistance because they are not perceived as fitting the traditional, typically male standard of success. This narrow view perpetuates a narrative that limits Black women's job options and erects barriers to their future career advancement.

Black women's unique challenges are often ignored or not raised at all. Too often, the public narrative about women has focused primarily on the experiences of white women as opposed to those of Black women and other women of color. While it is increasingly common for employers to tout the steps that they have taken to respond to women's challenges in the workplace generally, there is less conversation about specific, targeted efforts to address how different types of biases play out for women across race, ethnicity, and other factors. The lack of intersectional analysis can result in an incomplete picture that excludes crucial perspectives and gives little attention to why disparities, such as those between white women and Black women, in earnings, advancement opportunities, unemployment rates, and other areas continue to persist.

Left unaddressed, these different narratives and workplace dynamics will continue to have real consequences for Black women's earnings. They also reveal how discrimination and stereotypes become entrenched in workplace structures and practices.

Reforming equal pay to combat race and gender biases

In order to secure equal pay for Black women, policymakers must focus on the range of actions needed to respond directly to the race and gender biases that affect wages. This means providing Black women with stronger legal protections and better information about pay practices, promoting greater transparency and accountability, and identifying new tools to target discrimination, including:

Strengthening legal protections to make clear the availability of intersectional legal claims to address pay discrimination and adding new protections to better guard against caregiver discrimination.

Promoting transparency by requiring public reporting of employer pay gaps broken down by race and gender to provide greater visibility into employer pay practices.

Establishing a right to request for all job applicants to allow them to receive information about a potential job, including the salary range, the employer's equal pay policy (with explicit protections covering intersectional pay discrimination claims), the employer's pay gap by race and gender, and the frequency of the employer's compensation analyses.

Creating a new federal glass ceiling commission tasked with undertaking a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of strategies to improve Black women's earnings and advancement as well as those of women overall. The 30th anniversary of the original federal Glass Ceiling Commission, established by the Civil Rights Act of 1991 for a four-year period, will occur in 2021.

Targeting employers who are federal contractors with heightened accountability and enforcement measures such as updated federal contractor glass ceiling reviews to analyze progress for Black women-and women more broadly-across industry in advancing into upper-level management. Such reviews should include an examination of attrition rates by race and gender and the prevalence of workforce segregation. Future research should explore ways to incorporate race and gender equity assessments into the contractor selection process to reward high-performing companies that have succeeded in expanding opportunities for women and people of color.

Providing new funding for worker advocates to assist workers with questions about pay and other forms of discrimination as well as legal counseling about their rights.

Supporting economic policy changes to improve access to paid family and medical leave, affordable and high-quality child care, and caregiver stipends.

Requiring employer reporting of steps taken to address pay discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicity, and other factors in Securities and Exchange Commission filings. This includes anti-bias training for all levels of staff, including leadership, managers, and supervisors.

Increasing funding for enforcement to ensure compliance with equal pay protections and to undertake targeted efforts to examine the prevalence of race and gender bias in pay discrimination cases.

Initiating comprehensive research on the state of the workforce by industry broken down by race and gender to gain a better understanding of Black women's workplace experiences.

These measures can complement other actions aimed at improving workplace conditions for women such as the Paycheck Fairness Act, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, and the Domestic Worker's Bill of Rights.

Conclusion

Black women's work is vital to the success of their families, their communities, and the overall economy, yet Black women are confronted by unique workplace and societal barriers that undermine their ability to thrive. Disparities in Black women's wages stem from a mix of interconnected factors, including the devaluing of the work that Black women do, the prevalence of entrenched biases rooted in race and gender bias, perceptions about the relative importance of certain types of work, occupational segregation, resistance to structural change, and more. To be effective, equal pay measures must focus on pursuing new strategies and reforms that acknowledge and tackle these problems head-on. Black women deserve more than one day of recognition about the pay gap. They deserve concrete action steps that prioritize fair pay and economic stability for themselves and their families. Equal pay for Black women is long overdue-and it cannot afford another year's wait.
Jocelyn Frye is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

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Racism and Sexism Combine to Shortchange Working Black Women

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The fight for Black women's equal pay must address race and gender biases that erode Black women's wages and undermine their ability to thrive.

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Why celebrating diversity is important and how to do it. 

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https://www.charthop.com/blog/dei/celebrate-diversity-inclusion-workplace/

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Greater diversity and inclusion in the workplace fuels a wider range of ideas, expertise, and life experience, helping evolve any organization's collective knowledge and overall mindset.

In fact, there's plenty of tangible evidence pointing to the fact that diversity is better for business. Studies reveal that more diverse companies produce 2.3 times as much cash flow per employee. Meanwhile, companies with higher female representation in top management positions deliver greater returns to their shareholders.

Finding these successes isn't simply a matter of assembling diverse talent, though. It's vitally important to celebrate diversity and inclusion and assure that every employee feels supported and appreciated for the contributions they make to the organization.

Simply put, a better employee experience will ensure that you get the most out of each individual. With that, no company should consider themselves successful if their employees don't feel celebrated and confident that they can succeed.
Four terrific ways to celebrate diversity and inclusion in the workplace are to:

Pay close attention to pay equity

Cater strongly to employee advancement

Build a company culture event calendar

Promote diversity education and resource groups to employees

1. Pay close attention to pay equity

Pay equity is extremely important when it comes to maintaining the integrity of your organization. And not just from the standpoint of compliance. Pay equity is as much a cultural issue as it is a law-abiding issue or a matter of dollars and cents.

Without equitable pay, can you honestly say you're celebrating the diversity that your employees bring to your organization?

Auditing your team's pay will help you identify any pay gaps between employees based on different factors like gender or race.

The first step of this audit should be to determine which groups you will evaluate and the factors you want to consider. From there, you can bring together data in a people analytics platform to compare pay relative to employees' job duties, experience, education, background, and quantitative performance to identify any discrepancies.

This type of audit will also help you communicate your approach to pay equity to employees and build a more evolved compensation plan-not to mention the fact that it will ensure you're abiding by the Equal Pay Act and any state laws in place.

2. Focus carefully on employee advancement

Another way to celebrate diversity within your company is to support the advancement of underrepresented groups and minorities. As part of this, management should advocate for team members of all backgrounds equally while making decisions on promotions and new hires.

To keep tabs on whether management is effectively advocating for every member of their team equally, your organization needs to facilitate constant communication between your HR team and senior management.

One of the best ways to do this is by connecting the data from your HRIS, ATS, equity, and performance management tools. That will enable you to centralize all of your employee data to more easily identify any gaps and measure how key contributing factors to DEI differ across genders, ethnicities, ages, and so on.

You can bring all of this data together by overlaying each factor on an org chart. This view allows you to visualize any variable in full context-including pay, performance rating, and experience level-to more easily identify trends.

The visual nature of this approach also makes the findings more powerful when sharing with leadership and board members, bringing more life to the data than a spreadsheet.

Centralizing data in this way and allowing for direct collaboration can also improve communication between hiring managers and your HR team to know when to promote from within or potentially move to an outside hire.

It will also help you efficiently audit employee advancement and salary bands and build headcount and compensation plans to meet certain diversity standards as your organization continues to grow.

3. Build a company culture event calendar

A company culture event calendar is a great way to bring some energy to celebrating specific dates and events. It serves as a way to stay organized, gives you ample time to plan worthwhile events, and allows you to properly prepare for and accommodate employee time off.

To do so, create a calendar space where employees can see and/or add days of observance or celebration. It might help to have an accompanying messaging channel (in Slack, for example) where you can vocalize and share information and news regarding diversity and inclusion events.

For your calendar, religious holidays are an obvious starting point, but be sure to include monthly observances, events, and holidays that celebrate gender and racial inclusivity as well as historical events.

Though there are many diversity and inclusion events throughout the year, some examples might include International Transgender Day of Visibility (March), Juneteenth (June), Hispanic Heritage Month (September), and National Indigenous Peoples' Day (October) to name a few.

Gender, race, and religious affiliation are not the only contributing factors to diversity and inclusion in the workplace, either. When deciding how you'd like to celebrate diversity and inclusion events, you also need to account for different personalities and social types. Happy hours, game nights, potlucks, international movie nights, and sporting events all serve as examples of how you can meet the expectations of everyone in your organization.

All in all, your company event calendar can be an exciting way to build internal traditions while driving more visibility to the mix of holidays, cultures, and backgrounds represented in your organization. With increased visibility, you'll create a more sensitive environment attuned to celebrating all cultures.

4. Provide diversity education and fund employee resource groups

Of course, you can't properly celebrate and understand diversity if your employees aren't all well-educated and trained on awareness of diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Either within your culture calendar or separately, share a list of educational events and resources with your team. For example, there are roundtables and workshops held on a regular basis across many denominations and cultures that seek to educate the working population on better inclusivity.

You can also schedule in-house events during work hours-"lunch and learns," for example, serve as a great way to bring in guest speakers, thought leaders, or even members of your own organization to share stories and teach others about their cultural experiences.

Make sure you're empowering your team with the time and resources to get educated. You can give employees days off throughout the year to volunteer or attend diversity and inclusion trainings, and you can offer stipends for employees to spend on diversity and inclusion courses and certificates throughout the year.

Additionally, employee resource groups (ERGs) serve as another way to further educate and support members of your organization by celebrating diversity and inclusion. These employee-led groups are often comprised of people of like-characteristics, providing a safe space for them to share thoughts and experiences and have an open discussion around inclusivity. Employee resource groups also help identify and develop internal leaders and build a more diverse talent pipeline. Importantly, these ERGS need funding and support from organizational leaders to be successful.

Celebrating Diversity Means Celebrating Success

Regardless of your company size, you should always put a great effort into celebrating diversity. Creating an equitable environment where all cultures, genders, and races are lifted up will make employees much happier and more energized.

With energized employees and tangible equity built into your company's culture, diversity can serve as a primary competitive advantage as you hire and continue to grow your organization.
Ready to learn more about how you can celebrate diversity and inclusion in your organization? Watch our HR Tech Talk on taking action on DEI data.

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4 Ways to Celebrate Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace | Blog | ChartHop

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Greater diversity and inclusion in the workplace fuels a wider range of ideas, expertise, and life experience, helping evolve any organization's collective knowledge and overall mindset. In fact, there's plenty of tangible evidence pointing to the fact that diversity is better for business.

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restorative Justice and Racial justice amongst schools.-

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Restorative justice and racial justice, it's creating something; there's nothing to restore when we've always been oppressed. This is the story of the kids in our schools-they've always been oppressed.

For the past three years, the Center for Court Innovation has run restorative justice programs in five Brooklyn high schools. All five schools are overwhelmingly Black, and all five had some of the highest suspension rates in New York City.

The programs' staff are embedded full-time in the schools. Their small offices have become outposts-where students drop in unannounced to talk about their problems. When the staff walk the halls between classes, it can feel like they're exchanging greetings with everyone they pass, stopping to check in with teachers, as much as students.

The approach has paid off. As will soon be documented by Center for Court Innovation researchers, over the project's three years, the number of incidents reported by the schools plummeted, as did suspensions. Along with improving the overall culture of a school, that goes a long way toward interrupting what is often called the school-to-prison pipeline-the relationship between suspensions and later justice-involvement.

But the project had even bigger ambitions. Restorative justice is about accountability and repairing harm. What about accountability for the system that has produced these underserved and essentially segregated schools, and then punishes the kids for reacting to that neglect?

The work was also motivated by a feeling that, with all of the buzz over restorative justice, the challenge of its insistence on everyone's humanity risks being lost-much as the radical King is often forgotten on Martin Luther King Day. For Black Americans, and for the students at these five high schools, what is there to be restored to?

To talk about why there is no restorative justice without racial justice, eight of the members of a very close-knit team sat down with host Matt Watkins for what became a very special episode of New Thinking.
The following is a transcript of the podcast:
Kellsie SAYERS: Our five schools would be classified as underserved schools, so a really high-needs population. A lot of our schools had a lot of students with high levels of IEP, so students who need additional support in order to academically thrive in a standard school.

Our schools were filled with high levels of immigrant populations, so the communities that we worked in were communities that were largely Caribbean-American communities, so a lot of first generation kids from the Caribbean, and with that, we found that our students often were living with people who weren't their birth parents.

They may have been sent to this country, and they're living with the aunt, or cousin, or friend, so not your traditional family environment. Our students often lack the kind of support that you would see in a standard family home, just because of the transient nature in which they were sent into this country.

In addition to that, these are schools who don't have the appropriate number of students to properly run a school, so most of our schools didn't have a social worker. We didn't have many guidance counselors. There weren't a lot of additional services that would be needed for the population that I just described.

Matt WATKINS: And you've got some of these schools are at a poverty level approaching 90 percent.

Kellsie SAYERS: We have schools where, overwhelmingly, our kids qualify for free school lunch. In addition to that is, because they're these underserved schools and underfunded schools, we also had issues in terms of staffing. These are schools with high teacher turnover, so you come to school one year, and 50 percent of the teachers that were here your first year of high school are gone your second year.

And with that said, because you have high turnover and you're underfunded, you have a lot of burnout for teachers. Then you have older teachers who are just on their way out, and they've been educators for 25 years, and they're exhausted from this experience, and they're exhausted from working in underserved schools, and they don't really have much to offer.

There was a lack of adults in the building who I think had the capacity to provide the kind of support this particular population needs.

WATKINS: And then there's also a problem with how "misbehavior" is responded to. These were all schools that had elevated suspension rates.

Kellsie SAYERS: One of the reasons why these five schools were identified for our intervention was that they were amongst some of the highest suspending schools in New York City. In working in the schools, we understand where that suspension came from.

You're underserved, you're understaffed, you're under-resourced. When a child is acting out and you don't have the capacity, the training, or the time to deal with it, then your result is that they have to leave the school community because I can't deal with them. I don't know how to deal with them. I don't have the resources to deal with them, so the best thing to do is to give them time away.

WATKINS: Which can though, in the same way that jail as a response to an offense can make the prior behavior worse, suspension can have the same effect.

Kellsie SAYERS: Exactly, because you're not dealing with the core concerns for why this young person is acting out. Because you feel like even if you ask why-one, you think you know why, because I think some of our schools felt some of our kids were just inherently bad, and they didn't have anything else to offer but this sort of misbehavior. Or, if you ask the question, there's nothing I can actually do about it, so there's no reason for me to ask a question that I can't actually solve.

WATKINS: You guys have now been in these schools for close to three years. Can we talk about how you went about trying to, I guess, change the culture a little bit, if that's the word?

I was struck, when I visited you guys, by how much it just was so apparent that you were all very embedded in the schools in which you were operating in. When I walked the halls with you guys, it's talking to all the students, them coming up to you, the teachers coming up to you, the principal coming up to you and saying, "Hey, I want to flag this for you."

Was that a kind of initial strategy of really showing, "Hey, we're here, we're here to stay," and getting embedded?

Kellsie SAYERS: The approach was a threefold approach for our project. It was community-building, intervention, and investment.

When I say community-building, we use the restorative process of circles to build community in the schools. At each of our schools, there was an advisory program that was developed, which was a class in which it was nonacademic where kids could sit in circle and build community with each other. And build community by talking about their lived experiences, sharing their stories, and a place to really just be themselves without the pressure of a standard academic environment.

In addition to the circles that took place in advisory, we created a bunch of voluntary spaces, which were clubs that included Girls Group, and Men in Color, and the Gender and Sexuality Alliance, and a variety of just different voluntary spaces where young people could be themselves and build community with each other.

Then in addition to building community with young people, we also thought it was important for the adults to build community with each other. Sometimes that was in professional development, sometimes that was a happy hour that we organized, sometimes that was an event that we invited them to on the weekends, just so that they could build community with each other.

In terms of intervention, when that harm actually occurred in the community or when somebody was in need, then we wanted to provide the support to focus on healing and give the individuals who were experiencing this harm or this trouble the ability to process that in what was often a restorative process. Sometimes it was just a conversation. Sometimes it was a mediation using a variety of different skills.

Then the third focus of the project was just investment. We came in with capital, something that the school didn't have. With that capital, we were able to host carnivals, and pep rallies, and take the kids on trips, and provide them with food and parties and all of these things that were unavailable to them because they went to underserved schools.

WATKINS: The day I was there, one word I heard more than once was "grace." How is that a concept that we're trying to introduce into, I guess, the stories that people are telling themselves about themselves?

Xavier CORNEJO: I'll speak on that. I think grace plays a huge role in how we offer forgiveness to students, in ways that systems have just not given them, time and time again.

Grace, to me, is taking into account everything that you've lived and are living through and how that factors into the decisions you make-recognize that you're valid to make mistakes. It's okay for you to make mistakes when, let's say, you threw a pencil at a kid, or you said something out of turn, your anger took over you.

We all do that. We understand you as a human being, as a teenager. When we offer students that grace, it's a way of just recognizing your human capacity to learn.

Maxine GETZ: I think another part of it is that when the teachers are allowed to just feel isolated and feel shame, they then act harmfully towards the kids. Teachers mess up all the time, and if they're just told that it's okay and worked with through whatever they messed up on and given that grace, I think it's so much easier for them to be like, "I'm human. I can apologize to this kid. I can apologize to my co-teacher, whatever. I can apologize to myself for falling short in that moment."

You see that sometimes with specific teachers or students, who for whatever reason have learned how to treat themselves more kindly, are way more able to treat each other with that.

Yesterday, I encountered two kids who were just talking so openly about mental health struggles and therapy and all that and giving themselves the grace to be like, "I've experienced depression"-and publicly, with a whole big group of 15 kids or something-and they're like, "I've experienced depression. This is how I deal with it. This is what I've been taught to deal with it."

In a way that they were letting themselves be broken. I think that to be able to do that, someone had to have really taught them how to do that, and we don't teach them how to do that ever, and I think that that's an important part of the grace element of it is how they can model that for themselves and each other and how, without that, they don't know how to be kind to each other at all or themselves.

Mischaël CETOUTE: I think that a lot of people who go into this work have this idea that the power holder is the people with the titles-the principal, assistant principal-and the first thing that I realized was the people who the children talk to and respect were the people who are most disrespected by the established hierarchy in the school.

School safety agents, the paras, the people who serve them food, the custodians, those were the people who were able to do things and move things and tell you what's going on with X kid, because they were the closest to the kids. But those were the people who the grantees completely neglected in identifying as stakeholders.

When you come into these communities and you try to learn, as opposed to saying, "You're doing this wrong, and here's how you should be doing it," I think it opens you up and opens up the people that you're working with to actually be receptive to what you have to say.

I think our approach on day one, or at least I can say, speak for myself, my approach on day one was literally asking, "What do you need? How can I help?" And for the first year-and-a-half, that was literally just picking up trash in the cafeteria, something that none of the teachers wanted to do, something that none of the students wanted to do, but somebody needed to pick up trash in the cafeteria.

And that action of doing the thing that nobody else wants to do, doing the thing that needs to be done, I think is at the heart of what we're doing, which is paying attention to the actual human beings in front of us and what they need in that moment and long-term.

WATKINS: Well, it's a demonstration of commitment, too, right? It's communicating that message that we're here. We're going to do the shit work that nobody else wants to do if that's what needs to be done.

Mischaël CETOUTE: I think that, and I also think that it's a demonstration of humility in a really important way. When we started this project, Kellsie said something over and over that really grained into my head, which was, "We're guests in this house. This is not our house. This is not our school. We cannot just walk into these people's offices and say, 'You have to do this this way, and you're racist, and you're bad, and you're suspending too many kids.'"

Because in reality, you don't know what's going on in the house. You just got there, you are a guest. And I think that that philosophy and that orientation to focus on the needs of the real people on the ground was really helpful in us getting started in building the community and ingraining ourselves into the preexisting structure.

Quaila HUGH: I think also on that point, you asked about how we went about changing culture. Often, we forget these schools aren't all bad. It's not all terrible. There are lots of people who are working very hard to build culture.

I think something we often talk about on the team is: what is that tipping point of the teachers, or this staff in general, that are working to build a positive culture, but it's just one person here or two people here.

What we did, much like Misch was saying, is just look for where we can help and support so that there is enough energy behind it, so that other people-who maybe started with that energy and don't have it anymore-tap back in to do all the good stuff for this school.

WATKINS: Can we talk a little bit-just so that people have a concrete sense of what some aspect of the work looks like, because the work you're doing is not just about conflict resolution, for example; it's not just about finding an alternative to suspensions-but could we talk a bit about maybe a hypothetical or anonymized scenario, which, in the past, might have been responded to with a suspension, with all the attendant harms that we know about, and then what this alternative, more restorative response actually looks like in practice?

Erica WRIGHT: Specifically, in the second year of the program, my office essentially became a therapeutic office for a lot of kids. It got to a point to where, when kids were on the verge of, if they had reached their peak-maybe they got into an altercation with the teacher or something happened at home and they brought it to school with them, or they got into something with one of their friends-a lot of times our offices were the first places that they would go to, to say, "Let me tell you," you know, the kids they say, "Let me put you on," where they let you know everything what's happening with them.

Because a lot of the times what you see is that these kids don't really want to fight. They just want to be heard. They want to feel like someone is there for them. They want to feel like, "Okay, this thing happened to me, and I need to tell somebody," but when they don't have people there to listen, then it comes out in a violent or an aggressive manner, so our offices became kind of a safe space for them to come to say, "These are all of the things that happened to me."

And then we'll say, "Okay, do you want to talk to that person?" "Yeah, I'll talk to him." And so we were able to sit with them, I'll be like, "Okay, I'm going to put you in another office. Let me go pull this other student, have a conversation with this other student to get what their side of the story is," and then we could bring them together.

And this is pre-them having a fight, or even having a big altercation in the hallway, or anywhere in the school, or even outside of the school. So, a lot of the times we were able to get these situations before anything could even happen, but that was because we had built a sense of community and a sense of trust with the kids.

They knew that we were there for them, and that what happened in our office, as long as it's not anything harmful, it wasn't going to leave there, and in a lot of spaces in their life, that was not a real situation. Even at home, a lot of the kids, a lot of my students in particular, did not feel like they could talk to their parents or whoever the guardian was that they lived with.

We become like these pseudo-parents and older siblings and these guardians, essentially, for these kids. That was kind of a space that we provided them, outside of doing mediations or harm circles, anything of that sort.

Mischaël CETOUTE: And to add to that, I think another way that we did that-that was on an individual level-but at the community scale, we just amplified the efforts, like Quaila was saying earlier, we amplified the efforts that teachers were making to build positive community already.

In the second year we had a group of teachers who were veterans who wanted to do something fun for the students on the day before break. And they called it Sports Fest, and it was dividing the school into ninth and 12th versus 10th and 11th, and playing basketball and having it be a competition. And we were like, "yes, let's do it! What do you need?"

And it turns out that what they needed was a tug-of war rope, and hacky sacks, and potato sacks for their kids to do potato sack races. And Sports Fest has become a major part of the school culture. Kids look forward to it. It's a recurring thing and they've increased the times that they do it.

And it's also boosted attendance. And it's the kind of thing that, if you're only looking at suspension numbers, you're never going to think about how Sports Fest will prevent fights, Sports Fest will encourage kids to come to school, and you don't have to have it wait until someone does something.

Erika SASSON: Just to highlight that point. What we're talking about, obviously you can hear it in here, is harm reduction in a big, comprehensive, holistic way. And I want to just talk about some of the numbers that show that.

So, in one of our schools the year before we got there, there were 166 incidents and 115 suspensions. And into our third year in that same school, there are 14 incidents and the same amount of suspensions, more or less.

And it's not just about the response, again, to harm. It's about deviating a huge amount of that harm and helping these students build a muscle. A lot of the students will say to Maxine, for example, "If I don't talk to you right now, I'm going to punch somebody."

And that's, for me, gold on this project, because it means that they have built that muscle to verbalize their feeling about it without actually taking the action. And once you have that happening, someone on this team is going to talk them out of it in some way, and talk to them about something else, and help them move forward from it.

But we really want-that's the social-emotional learning that doesn't really seem to happen in these environments. And that's how you get the huge reduction in incidents and suspensions.

Omar CYRILLE: One of the more exciting things that we will see is-and this actually happened a couple of times, where we'll walk into a room and you'll see kids in a circle and they're just doing their own circle process. And we're like, "okay, we'll just step out, we'll see how they get it done."

There are times we allow students to, it goes back to having students have equity in the process, just as much as we do. And sometimes we'll not only have conversations in the office, we'll have conversations in the hallway.

We reposition ourselves to become smaller and allow the students to become bigger. Therefore, we get more information, they become more comfortable, and they feel like they can really come to us and share a number of details.

And they have their pride as well, just like anybody else. But when you don't really have enough money to purchase a bacon, egg, and cheese, you don't have enough to be able to go to the school store, and you're going to go through a nine-hour day and sit through eight to seven classes where you're being lectured at. It's not easy.

You could ask anybody on the team if they didn't have their breakfast or their coffee, how they would react to certain stressful situations. There would probably be tons of suspensions, but, in this case, firings!

So, it is coming with that understanding and realizing: I was 15 at one point, and this is exactly, I'd do the same thing that they would. But now that I do know certain things now that I am older, I can be able to give some game and be able to drop some gems for them.

WATKINS: So to pick up on the holistic aspect of restorative justice that Erica was talking about, I doubt there was a moment for any of you in this room where you were in one of the schools and suddenly realized, "Hey, what we're doing in here is actually racial justice!"

But I'm wondering in what ways doing this work in the schools made the link between restorative justice and racial justice-and the link between what students are bringing in from the outside world and into the school-started to make those links, stronger or more pertinent for you.

Kellsie SAYERS: I think that when we think about these young people and the things that they face inside of school and outside of school, it's directly linked to the history of racism in this country. So, to say that we're going to come into these schools and we're going to support these young people and we're going to invest in them, to me is inherently racial justice work.

These are Black and brown kids who are suffering the consequences of a history of racism within this country and within the larger world. Because we do have kids, a lot of our kids, their roots aren't in America, but the racism experienced by people of color in America is not any different than what they experienced back home in their countries.

So I think for me in thinking about doing racial justice work, I think it is providing these young people with the space to heal with traumas that are beyond them, that are in their bloodlines, that are things that were beyond their lived experience here.

And I think particularly in our schools, in addition to wanting to promote positive school culture and wanting to reduce discipline, I found myself doing this work as wanting to give kids the skills to be better, and to be better beyond the academic environment, but to be better for themselves, and their families, and the families they haven't had already.

Being able to build these social, emotional skills with these young people, I think is inherently racial justice work for these Black and brown kids in which investments like this aren't usually made in their communities.

Erica WRIGHT: Something that, probably a year and a half into doing this work, I was really disgruntled with this idea of restorative justice. I really didn't quite understand still what it was. And for me, I didn't understand it because in this country, the history of Black people in this country, has always been tied to oppression.

So my thing was: if Black people in this country, the history of it-slavery, and you go from slavery to the Reconstruction era, and Black Codes, and Jim Crow, all of these different things-what are we restoring to?

WATKINS: America has never been America to me, right?

Erica WRIGHT: I mean, essentially. So, thinking of this idea of restorative justice and racial justice for me, I feel like restorative justice to me is essentially getting back to humanity. And like Kellsie talked about, Erika talked about, the social-emotional learning that a lot of our kids, they don't get in schools.

And a lot of times they don't actually get in homes in their communities. So I feel like for them to sit in circle and, there's no phones in the schools and you have to talk and have conversations, it's been one of those things to where it's-you see them actually be able to come alive and be able to see their own personalities and create the people that they want to be.

So, I think for me, restorative justice and racial justice, it's creating something; there's nothing to restore here when we've always been oppressed-and this is the story of the kids in our schools, they've always been oppressed.

I had a class, and this was actually a class with students. It was a self-contained class. So, all of the students in my class all had IEPs. So, they had an educational plan. Favorite class.

And these kids literally talked about everything under the sun. And I mean, first sexual experiences, everything. And they would tell some things that me and the teacher would be like, "Uh, I don't really, like..."

But they were so comfortable with doing that with each other. And the kids would laugh. When they left that classroom, they knew that that it wasn't leaving the classroom with them and we can come back and have... We literally talked about everything.

So, the fact that these kids were so comfortable, and the teacher said that, prior to us doing circles in her classroom, she had some kids in her class who never- she'd had them for four years-they never said a word in class!

For them to go from that, to be able to share all of these things about themselves with each other. So, like I said, I think for me, it is just a matter of creating the type of community, the type of space that you want, even when everything around you is contrary to that.

Mischaël CETOUTE: I actually remember that Kellsie asked me that question of: how do I see racial justice as a part of, or in relation to, restorative justice during the interview.

And I remember telling her in that moment that I didn't think that you could extract the two from each other. I don't think you can possibly be doing restorative justice work in the world, or even America, and not be doing racial healing work, because the entire premise, as I understand it, of restorative justice is about connecting humanity, it's about this shared kinship, and the entire premise of racism is the opposite.

If you are trying to build community, then you have to address the divisions within that community. And it made me think a lot when we started this project, just about how racism was this distortion of community, and what we were seeing in the schools was the impact of that distortion.

When you tell people that they're not good enough, when you tell people that they're disconnected, when you tell them it's all "me, mine, and whatever you got going on is your problem," the result is an environment where everybody has their knives out, ready for the next person. Because if we're all in it on our own, then I got to get you before you get me.

And I think that that piece of it-what the product of racism is, is violence-I think is often lost on people because they have these insular lives in these privileged bubbles, where they get to discuss these issues from an arm's length.

In their mind, restorative justice is a fancy centerpiece, and it's a specific sequence of questions, and it's a specific sequence of seating, and it's not about the fact that there are no Black people in this room because no Black people feel welcome at Columbia University. Or no Black people feel welcome in this particular space.

For them, they're doing restorative justice because they're doing all the steps. And I feel for me, it's really important that we push back against this sort of corporatization and the mainstreaming of Indigenous practices that were originally for and by communities that were discarded.

This idea that you can be doing restorative justice work with all White people, or with all people who live in middle-class backgrounds, or with all people who went to college, and everybody there makes a certain amount of money... That's not restorative justice in my opinion, that is: we want to feel good about ourselves, so we're talking. That's not the same thing.

WATKINS: So, in terms of doing something more than just feeling good because we're talking, it occurs to me, accountability is a big concept that you hear associated with restorative justice.

But you guys don't just want this program to be about accountability for the young Black and brown students that you're working with, who are really the most powerless actors in the system.

You're trying to expand the notion of accountability-expand it into the staff, expand it into the administration, expand it into the Department of Education, which again, I mean, we're talking about deep seated problems in America. So, daunting to say the least. But how do we go about expanding this notion of accountability?

Erika SASSON: I just want to put one piece on that is that we don't really want to expand it to the staff and expand it to the administration. We want to start with the staff and start with the adults in the room. And it should be modeled then for the kids. Like that's all backwards, that we basically start and end with the kids, and we never get to the systems, and we never get to the power brokers.

If it's not there first, then the rest of it is kind of meaningless. So, I've come to this point where I've started to say: I don't want to hear about individual accountability anymore. I want to hear first about system accountability. I want to hear first about adults, adults in the room who are doing their share, and it's going to come from the kids as soon as the adults do it.

But to start with the reverse and expand up is in a way a recipe for a tweaking.

WATKINS: For the same thing happening?

Erika SASSON: For the same thing, I think so.

WATKINS: Well, so, how do you build a perch in order to change the power relations?

You have a little foothold in these Restorative Justice in Schools' classrooms you have in these high schools, these safe spaces. How do you build the perch to be able to do that?

Kellsie SAYERS: I think that that's been a huge challenge of this project. I think that we have tried in lots of ways to bring in the adults in the building to be accountable for their actions. And we've had some amounts of success with that, but I think it's incredibly difficult.

I think it's for the adults in our schools who were excited for RJ work, they were excited that kids would finally take accountability for the things that they were doing. And I think that we've struggled with holding the adults accountable. And I think that we've been able to do it on an individual level. Maybe we'll convince a teacher to apologize about something or to acknowledge a harm that they caused.

But I think we've not figured out how do you hold an entire system accountable. And I think part of it was partly the design of our project is, this was a randomized study. So, the five schools that we launched our project in, did not decide to be there. So, leadership in the school didn't decide that they believed in the principles of restorative justice and in the principles of holding everyone accountable.

So, I think that in an environment where a school is saying, "I want to sign up for RJ," maybe we would have more success with adults taking that kind of accountability. With that said, I think we had some success on accountability in the fact that we acknowledged to the young people, that it's not just you, this isn't just your fault.

And I think for a lot of our young people, that's the first time that they heard, "yeah, and they shouldn't have responded to you that way. You shouldn't cuss at your teacher, but also that was incredibly disrespectful, what happened to you in the classroom, and I want to acknowledge that."

And I think even if we weren't able to hold each of those teachers accountable, those young people being able to hear that what they're feeling and what they're experiencing is real, and it's wrong, is a powerful form of accountability that they haven't had before.

Erica WRIGHT: I also think it's a situation to where, when you think about school districts in general and you go to the headquarters, there are no children in these buildings. They're a bunch of adults. A lot of them who are much older, which is perfectly fine.

But in that sense, they never act, a lot of times they actually don't get to go to the schools. And if they do, it's to do a walkthrough, when you do a walkthrough all of the principals are going to make sure that everything is laid out so nice so that you can think that we're doing this awesome job.

In a lot of the schools that are doing really good jobs. But when you do that, you don't actually get to see what's happening. And they are going to put their best students to go and talk to the superintendent or talk to the chancellor. And of course, they're going to be like, "Oh my God, everything is like rainbows and sunshine. And like our little pots of gold," and that's not real.

So, when you have a system, or when you have a group of people, who run a system that's supposed to be for the betterment of children, but they don't actually interact with children, they don't actually work with these kids. You don't really know what they need.

And so, I think it's very difficult to change those systems because they hear about RJ, or they hear about like a particular behavior plan or something, and it's, "Oh yeah, we're going to give these to the schools! You guys are going to do that!"

But it's like, you don't actually know what these schools need. You've not actually spent time with these kids to see, this is what they need. And then, with that, you're not actually giving them the resources to be able to implement these systems into the school.

And so, in order for us to do this, and to have people in the DOE really understand, they're literally going to have to come and sit in these circles with these kids. They're going to have to actually sit in circles with each other so that they know that, "wow, okay, this is what this is. This is what this is about."

It's theoretical. It's a paper that they read, or a study that they saw or heard about, and now we're going to do it. But, it's like ... This is something that you have to do yourself. And, if you're not doing it, then how do you know that it's being done effectively, that it's being done right, that it's actually being done? And, like I said, until that happens, who knows?

Omar CYRILLE: We've looked at how to create certain processes, because we do have individuals in these buildings that are really, really great. We can use them to be able to help us as well. And, they tend to sometimes leave. And then all that work we've done just leaves with them.

And so, we've tried to create something to where, whenever we get somebody new, they can slide right in seamlessly. Therefore, we can create that culture, but not have it leave with all the people we created it with.

There are some schools that really want RJ, but they look at it as another way to restore order amongst students and not have accountability within themselves. For example, sometimes we'll get teachers come into the room about a student, but it's more-so a "can you fix this student? Can you talk to this student? And then, we'll write them a pass, and then you'll send them back."

But, I'm like, "You could probably talk to him and figure out there's something you did." Because when we talk to our students ... "This teacher yelled at me when I wasn't doing anything. This teacher cursed when I was just asking another student for a pencil."

It's just little simple things like that, that teachers are not understanding and not taking the time to ... Now, whether it's capacity, whether it's having 30 kids in your class at 8:00 a.m., and you're not able to really get any type of time, or you're not able to have anybody help out, and sometimes maybe something boils over.

Regardless, that needs to come out with that actual student, because not only have you embarrassed him in front of his or her friends, but now we don't know that you've said sorry. We don't know that this student also wants to be able to fix a relationship that they had prior to you. And, when they send him to us, we're just like, "Okay, we'll talk to the student." But, now you go back to class. What is actually fixed? Is it going to happen over and over?

Mischaël CETOUTE: I think that, if we want to get to a place of system-accountability, we have to start at the top. It cannot be a situation where the kid who throws a fit because their needs aren't being met is being punished, and the people who are systemically denying his parents a living wage, systematically denying his community of the resources that all the other communities get, they get to go home and say, "Well, we gave them a restorative justice program, so if they don't make it work, that's because they're just inherently deficient."

And it completely misses the point that there's no possible way that you can begin to heal the harm that's going on in the schools without acknowledging the harm that's happening to the principals and to the teachers who work in the schools.

When I came in, I came in as a teacher, so I was really sensitive to teacher-bashing, because that's the number one go-to for the last 20 years. And so, my approach was: I'm not going to criminalize and demonize the adults who actually show up every day, because, guess what? They're showing up every day. Yeah, they're problematic. Yeah, sometimes they say things that make me irk and think, "oh, my God, I can't believe someone said that."

But, at the end of the day, they are showing up every day, and they're not awful to every kid all the time. They're awful to some kids some of the time. And, sometimes I'm awful. I don't know what to tell you. Everybody's kind of awful sometimes.

If you start from this place of, "okay, well, what are you good at, and how do we make you better at what you're good at," then it's much easier to help the culture shift than coming from this place of, "well, here's all the places where you're deficient."

Erika SASSON: I was just going to add something, going back to the question of racial justice on this point. We're at the Center for Court Innovation. We do a lot of work in the criminal justice system and the civil justice system. That is the backdrop from which we entered into this work.

So, there's a lot of questions about interrupting the school-to-prison pipeline. But, for me, personally, I'm an attorney, and I was a prosecutor right out of the gate out of law school. I just thought it was interesting that when I was practicing law, and I was prosecuting a lot of drug and gun and gang types of crimes... And, this is in our native Canada, Matt.

WATKINS: You're outing me!

Erika SASSON: This one's for you and me. We don't get to blame America on this one!

But, literally, when you're a prosecutor, most of your time you're making deals with the defense counsel, so it's not a lot about litigating in court, it's a lot about coming up with a deal. So, mostly there were a lot of Black defendants. But, every time there was a White defendant, and almost without fail, the defense lawyer would say to me, "But, if you proceed with this, this is going to ruin my client's life."

And, I was like, "Well, I met with you this morning about a different case, and you didn't say that at all. You basically never say that to me when there's a Black defendant, so what's going on here?"

I felt that when it came to Black defendants, there was just this expectation that the defense said if I gave a good deal-because I was some kind of soft prosecutor-so, if I gave you a good deal, that's as good as you're going to get, and you should really take it.

That was the kind of advice that I would see given to Black defendants all the time: "Oh, take this. This is a really good deal." But, if it's a White defendant, there is all kinds of outrage about the harm of the system, and the harm of the prosecution, and all of that.

And you cut to a decade later, and I'm walking around these public schools. Meanwhile, my child's also in public school, but in a public school that looks really different than the public schools that we're working in. And, this public school that we're working in is filled almost entirely with Black children.

It just felt to me that there's this really similar expectation, that this is as good as you're going to get, even if that's an overwhelming mediocrity, even if it's baseline neglect. It's just something that I think connects to what we see in our justice systems.

Maxine GETZ: Part of how that plays out, and connecting to the racial justice side of it, is the immediacy of, kind of like, anticipatory punishment for the kids. The act of them being in school every day and the fact of it is that they're just constantly being anticipatorily punished.

So that when they have the opportunity for a couch for the lunchroom, or a speaker, or improving the water fountains because there's so much lead in the water-the kids have the idea already that they don't deserve it because they'll mess it up, because they've been told so many times that they're the ones who are going to mess it up, when that's just a complete issue of racism.

They are children. They deserve water. They deserve a couch in the lunchroom. They deserve literally everything that the kids at the school that I went to on the Upper West Side, and the school that your kids go to, Erica...it's just assumed that they'll get.

I mean, to your point, we've talked about this: How do you restore anything that they've never had a clean water fountain in their schools? But, that's also to Omar's point that they just want to maintain order in the schools, and they just want the kids to be well-behaved because they put restorative justice programs in predominantly Black schools because they want the kids to be really well behaved, better behaved in those schools. They want them to be easier to manage.

They're not acknowledging all of the things that they have done that have made it impossible to manage yourself in that daytime because you do not have access to water. You do not have access to a bathroom during the times that you want to go to the bathroom. There's nowhere for you to just congregate and sit. There's nowhere for the teachers to congregate and sit.

Everyone's telling you that the way that you communicate with your family is not how you're allowed to communicate in school. Everyone's telling you that the things that you want to talk about or the music you want to listen to is not okay to be talking about. The way that you're keeping your hair safe in school is not okay to be doing. It just brings all that into really harsh relief when a kid is like, "We can't have a couch in the lunchroom because we'll destroy it."

When I went to visit my high school, that they just built a new building for a few years ago, and it was literally the nicest place I've ever been to. They gave tons of couches to those kids, and they give them this insane theater because they love doing their productions of The Tempest with an actual pool!

That's a public school in New York City. They did The Tempest when I was in high school, and they broke through and flooded the entire basement, I think, because of the pool.

And, they just give it again, because they're like, "Oh, you're kids, you're going to mess up," instead of being like, "You get $2,000 one time for one couch. If you fuck this up, you never get that again because we expect you to fuck it up," and without them having to say, "because you're Black kids." That's just how they assume that.

Quaila HUGH: Potentially a tangent, but thinking about restorative justice as truth-telling and storytelling, and thinking about these DOE higher-ups needing to sit in the schools and listen to the kids...

They gave them all water bottles. Every child in the DOE school system was given the Swell-fancy water bottles. And there aren't water fountains in these schools with clean water. And that's my tangent.

WATKINS: Not a tangent!

Qualia HUGH: I just think restorative justice is we need to tell the truth and hear the stories of the kids being like, "We need water, not water bottles. We want to save the environment, but we need water first before we can fill these water bottles."

Maxine GETZ: Can I just say in some schools, you only got it if you had good behavior. So, you only got the water bottle for good behavior that you couldn't use to fill up anywhere.

Mischaël CETOUTE: I'd also like to add to that most African Americans are not lactose tolerant. It is generally understood that if you are Black-

Matt WATKINS: That was my next question, actually. I can just cross that one off...

Mischaël CETOUTE: Yeah, you probably should not be drinking cow's milk. What is the only thing that they offer at lunchtime to this school where 99 percent of the children are Black? Chocolate milk and, I guess, vanilla milk?

Omar CYRILLE: Regular.

Mischaël CETOUTE: Is it regular milk?

Omar CYRILLE: I guess so.

Mischaël CETOUTE: And then, what is the only thing that actually kind of tastes good? Pizza, which is cheese. And so, when you think about just this basic level: who is the school designed for? Who decided that all these Black kids need milk at every meal, you know what I mean?

Matt WATKINS: So, you guys are nearing the end of this three-year project now, and you've just taken this trip together as a team down to Montgomery, Alabama. You visited the work of the Equal Justice Initiative, The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration.

I don't imagine that it was news what you guys learned down there, but I'm wondering what the impact was of having this experience together near the end of this restorative justice project in the schools that you've been doing.

Xavier CORNEJO: Going into this work, I had the intention of learning about how to heal intergenerational trauma in communities, because it's something that I was informed about just from my lived experience in my hometown. Just recognizing how my family's history in this country is limited-it only goes back a generation or two, starting with my grandmother who came here from El Salvador.

It gave me a bit more perspective and understanding around what that intergenerational trauma looks like, but also recognizing that my struggle is connected to theirs. My community struggle is connected to the schools that I work with.

And again, I think speaking to the point that my colleagues had mentioned: restorative justice is about unification. It is about connecting to a humanness that is about a shared struggle and a shared liberation.

Quaila HUGH: For me, the trip... It made me reflect on how, obviously, we've moved from slavery to mass incarceration, and slavery is very clear-cut: you are enslaved because you are Black.

And I think the way that they are choosing to capitalize on our bodies now is far more insidious because it's like "you are being locked up because you are bad." And you clearly have a choice over being bad in ways that you don't have a choice over being Black. I think it just breaks up our community in far different ways.

And so, for me, the trip cemented that restorative justice is the only way that we're ever going to achieve any racial justice in this country because we need to continue to build our communities and keep our community strong and keep our faith strong. And I think that's going to be through restorative justice.

Mischaël CETOUTE: I think two things that were really powerful to me is, one, I had this moment where I went to Chick-fil-A right before I left, and it was the most integrated Chick-fil-A that I've ever seen. There were Black people working there, White people working there, Black people eating there, White people eating there.

And this is in Montgomery, Alabama, which, prior to, I don't know if I will be safe there. And my mom was like, "don't get in any cars with any strange White men." And I'm like, "mom, when have I ever done that?" But it was just this thing of: you won't be safe in the South. And I actually found it to be the opposite.

In my experience, I think New York city is one of the most racist cities I've ever lived in. And I think that not because people will scream n****r at you on the street, but because there's this sort of insidious liberal racism where you're constantly being told, "you should just be happy to be here. Aren't we great? Oh my God, we are doing so well."

And so, you're constantly being told how you should be appreciative of how liberal and advanced this place is, but then internally, whoa, this feels bad. I know in my soul that that is not how I feel about this interaction, and the power that you have over me is immense.

Whereas in the South, at least specifically in Montgomery, which is a majority Black city with a Black mayor and doing a lot of really progressive things about documenting the history of racism there, there was an honesty about where they had been, and an honesty about where they were trying to go, that I don't feel in New York, I didn't feel in Miami, I didn't feel that, really, in any other city that I've been to. So, I think that Montgomery, and the South in general, they've got something to say.

I'm really grateful that we took that trip together as a team, because I think that this team, for me, has been a really nice support mat where I feel I can fall into my feelings and somebody will catch me. And I think that that might not have been the case if I had gone with a different group of people or if I had gone by myself. I don't know that I would have been able to feel reenergized by it in the way that I did, as opposed to maybe demoralized.

Kellsie SAYERS: I think the trip, for me, brought up a lot of things. I think it made me think about where, as a Black community, I see us today. And I think it often feels, for me, that our generation thinks we're going to be liberated through our individual talents and gifts in a way that there isn't this larger community effort, and there isn't this investment that in order for people of color to be liberated in this country, it's going to take us working together. And it's going to take us believing in something beyond our personal gifts and talents.

And what does it mean to use restorative justice to build that kind of community again? What does it mean to use restorative justice to tell the stories of how our ancestors overcame, and that them overcoming had to do with community, and had to do with faith, and it had to do in believing that it was going to be something beyond you, and that you won't be saved solely by your gifts and talents.

And it just made me think a lot about our ability to have these conversations with young people, and to model for young people that you can invest in other people, even if they don't have the capacity to give you a lot back. So, I think a lot of the work we did in schools was just investing and we didn't expect anything back. And if people disappointed us, it was okay.

Erica WRIGHT: I've got a lot of feels. I don't even know. So, I am from St. Louis, Missouri, and I was there when the protests happened for the death of Michael Brown, and I participated in a lot of them. I took a lot of photos and was just there. That was the first time since I was a child that I saw communities come together within the city, and it was so much love.

People-the news and media-just showed, "oh, protesters are looting and all of these different things," and that was totally inaccurate. People came together and you could go down there in the morning time and never leave because they set up porta-potties, they had food-people donated food, drinks, water, Gatorade. Anything that you needed was there for you to be a part of this moment.

And so, I know that for our generation, we struggle, like what Kellsie talked about, with having that faith, because we hear the stories about what they went through during the Civil Rights Movement, and we see that we do have certain rights and we have certain freedoms.

But it's like Quaila said, and even Misch said, as far as the ways in which racism shows itself now, it's so insidious because it's like, "Imma smack the shit out of you and I'm going to hide my hand like you don't know it."

As opposed to back in the day where it was like, they served you racism on a platter. You saw it, you know what it was, you know that it smelled like shit, it tasted like shit, but you could see it and now you can't see it. I don't know what it's like to have to be walking in the street and move off of the sidewalk because a White person is coming.

But at the same time, like Misch said, I know what it feels like to be in a space where I'm not wanted. I know what it feels like to be in a space where I have to explain that I'm not here because of affirmative action. I'm here because I'm actually fucking smart and probably I know more than you do.

And so it's like, while so many things have changed, so many things are still the same. And in Ferguson, I saw the people come together for something that was so much bigger than us, but we were missing that spiritual piece so that when that dissipates, when that protest has gone there anymore, people are not necessarily still coming together because "we believe in this thing that is so bigger than us" in the ways in which, in the Civil Rights Movement, they had that.

And to know that they actually lived in a community and the ways in which now we may live, Black people, with each other, simply because segregation is still alive and real, but we're not actually living in real communities where we are taking care of each other. And essentially what we're trying to do in these schools is take care of each other in the ways in which when these kids leave their communities...

And that's not to say that none of these communities are not looking out for each other because that would be false, because they are in a lot of ways. But it's not in the way in which, like when I was a kid, if I was out in the middle of the street, my neighbors telling me to "get your ass out the street." And if you said something to them, if you got smart or you did anything, they were going to tell you, "I'm going to tell your grandmother." "Oh no, don't do that." We don't have that anymore.

And so to be there, in that space, for me it's like, I can visualize a time where Black people, actually, we lived in community with each other, and we loved each other, and we took care of each other in a way in which now we have bought into this very White American ideal that individualism... when it's like, we are a very communal people.

And I need us to get back to that. I want us to get back to that. And I feel like restorative justice is a way for us to get back to that. But we're so limited, because we're in the schools is really limited, and what does this look like for us to do this in whole communities, to bring us together?

And so, I guess, for me, Alabama brought up this idea for me that I've always been very much so about kinship. And I feel like those of us who actually really do want that, we don't actually live in the communities that raised us because we don't feel it. So, I guess I just feel like RJ is a way in which we can get back to that.

WATKINS: So, final question to put the cherry on this amazing conversation: As I said, you guys are near the end of this three years of work. Obviously, somebody can't replicate the work that you guys have been doing, and so much is based on the quality of the people in this room.

But is there advice that you would have, lessons you've learned, that you would share with people who want to try to set up something, at least, sharing in the spirit of what you guys have been trying to do in these schools?

Xavier CORNEJO: Something I would say to someone entering this work is: pay your dues. Coming into communities like the ones that we have, similar to what many of us have been saying now, Kellsie said that we are guests in these houses. And so, don't move in there expecting to be the landlord. Don't believe that you have it all figured out for people because you see it from the outside, looking in.

You have to be in community with people. You have to ask everyone, from the disempowered to the empowered, to understand what the lay of the land is.

Omar CYRILLE: One thing I would say is: don't come into the work to feel sorry for people-just get the job done.

Maxine GETZ: I think my biggest takeaway from this whole thing, agreeing with all of you, is just the importance of listening. I mean, as a White person doing this, the importance of listening and just, I don't know sh... stuff.

The way that they put restorative justice programs in predominantly schools with students of color, you've got to be thinking about how you can grapple with your own stuff so that you can show up for kids in a way that honors and celebrates daily their identities, so that I can be a White person who can talk to kids about what it's like to be Black.

Kellsie SAYERS: I'd say to do this work, you got to do it from a place of love. And I think that that requires a lot of grace. And Erica mentioned this: know when to tap out.

You've got to acknowledge your limitations and step back and say: "that's all I can give right now." And acknowledge you might've tried your best, but this just may not be for you.

Mischaël CETOUTE: First thing I would say to someone who is interested in doing RJ is to find the log in your own eye. That's obviously a reference to what Jesus says about finding the log in your eye before taking out the speck in your neighbors, but I think it works on multiple levels in that, as long as you are in community with other people, there's going to be things that you do wrong, that you have to own.

And if you can't do that piece, then no one's going to want to sit in your circle. They're going to sit in that circle and be like, "ah, last week he did this, and now he's talking all this fancy stuff about being in community and being in love-la la la, I'm not buying it."

The second thing I would say is that healing doesn't take place in isolation. And the wounds that you are trying to heal from can only really begin to breathe when you allow others to see them. And I think we live in a society that often tells us to hide our damage and to hide our wounds, and obviously it's not safe to do that with everyone. But if you find the people who you can show your wounds to, that is a huge piece in actually healing.

And the last thing I have is specifically for my White brothers and sisters: I have always recognized that I have White blood in me. I look in the mirror and I'm a Black man and I'm treated like a Black man, but I do not look like someone who is West African, from the continent.

There is a lightness to my skin, there's a lack of kink to my hair, that I can only attribute to a French slave master at some point. For me, knowing that at some point in my family's history, somebody sold their own kid is really, really paramount to understanding what slavery was about.

And so, the question that I would have for White people who are interested in doing this work is: how many slaves did your family own? If you can't look into that, then it's going to be very hard to look into the eyes of a kid who's suffering, because all you're going to see is your own guilt and your own lack of self-reflection.

Maybe your family's new to the country, you came here in the 1900s, or you've never had slaves. How have you all benefited from the White power structure that exists? That's a question that everyone should be asking themselves, but I think it's a question specifically that if you look in the mirror and you think that you're White and you feel that you are White, you really got to ask yourself a lot: How have I benefited? How have my ancestors benefited?

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New Thinking | Restorative Justice is Racial Justice

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Restorative justice is about repairing harm. But for Black Americans, what is there to be restored to? This special episode of New Thinking features a roundtable with eight members of our Restorative Justice in Schools team.

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Restorative justice is about more than just reducing suspensions

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The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one topic: education. Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get stories like this delivered directly to your inbox. With just two words, a classroom can be thrown into chaos.

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Prioritize educator diversity to address racial injustices

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As states and districts across the country discuss how to recruit and retain an effective teaching force, they should prioritize having a teaching force that's representative of the broader demographics of public school students in the United States.

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Sarah McBride became the first transgender state senator in the US after she won her race in Delaware!!

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US election 2020: Sarah McBride to be first trans state senator

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Transgender candidates are among those who made history across the country on election night.

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How restorative justice works in a school environment

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How restorative justice works in a school environment

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Restorative Justice Does More Than Solve Conflict. It Helps Build Classroom Community. | EdSurge News

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Restorative Justice Does More Than Solve Conflict. It Helps Build Classroom Community. - EdSurge News

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It’s a dry, hot day in south Phoenix, but my dimly lit classroom is cool and comfortable. Quick footsteps approach outside the door and two-dozen 8- ...

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Black villages throughout history in Oklahoma

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Black villages throughout history in Oklahoma

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The All-Black towns of Oklahoma represent a unique chapter in American history. Nowhere else, neither in the Deep South nor in the Far West, did so many African American men and women come together to create, occupy, and govern their own communities. From 1865 to 1920 African Americans created more than fifty identifiable towns and settlements, some of short duration and some still existing at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

All-Black towns grew in Indian Territory after the Civil War when the former slaves of the Five Tribes settled together for mutual protection and economic security. When the United States government forced American Indians to accept individual land allotments, most Indian "freedmen" chose land next to other African Americans. They created cohesive, prosperous farming communities that could support businesses, schools, and churches, eventually forming towns. Entrepreneurs in these communities started every imaginable kind of business, including newspapers, and advertised throughout the South for settlers. Many African Americans migrated to Oklahoma, considering it a kind of "promise land."

When the Land Run of 1889 opened yet more "free" land to non-Indian settlement, African Americans from the Old South rushed to newly created Oklahoma. E. P. McCabe, a former state auditor of Kansas, helped found Langston and encouraged African Americans to settle in that All-Black town. To further his cause, McCabe established the Langston City Herald and circulated it, often by means of traveling agents, throughout the South. McCabe hoped that his tactics would create an African American political power block in Oklahoma Territory. Other African American leaders had a vision of an All-Black state. Although this dream was never realized, many All-Black communities sprouted and flourished in the rich topsoil of the new territory and, after 1907, the new state.

In those towns African Americans lived free from the prejudices and brutality found in other racially mixed communities of the Midwest and the South. African Americans in Oklahoma and Indian Territories would create their own communities for many reasons. Escape from discrimination and abuse would be a driving factor. All-Black settlements offered the advantage of being able to depend on neighbors for financial assistance and of having open markets for crops. Arthur Tolson, a pioneering historian of blacks in Oklahoma, asserts that many African Americans turned to "ideologies of economic advancement, self-help, and racial solidarity."

Marshalltown, North Fork Colored, Canadian Colored, and Arkansas Colored existed as early as the 1860s in Indian Territory. Other Indian Territory towns that no longer exist include Sanders, Mabelle, Wiley, Homer, Huttonville, Lee, and Rentie. Among the Oklahoma Territory towns no longer in existence are Lincoln, Cimarron City, Bailey, Zion, Emanuel, Udora, and Douglas. Towns that still survive are Boley, Brooksville, Clearview, Grayson, Langston, Lima, Red Bird, Rentiesville, Summit, Taft, Tatums, Tullahassee, and Vernon. The largest and most renowned of these was Boley. Booker T. Washington, nationally prominent African American educator, visited Boley twice and even submitted a positive article on the town to Outlook Magazine in 1908.

The passage of many Jim Crow laws by the Oklahoma Legislature immediately after statehood caused some African Americans to become disillusioned with the infant state. During this time Canada promoted settlement and, although the campaign focused on whites, a large contingent of African Americans relocated to that nation's western plains, forming colonies at Amber Valley, Alberta, and Maidstone, Saskatchewan. Another exodus from Oklahoma occurred with the "Back to Africa" movements of the early twentieth century. A large group of Oklahomans joined the ill-fated Chief Sam expedition to Africa. A number of other African Americans migrated to colonies in Mexico.

White distrust also limited the growth of these All-Black towns. As early as 1911 whites in Okfuskee County attempted to block further immigration and to force African Americans into mixed but racially segregated communities incapable of self-support. Several of these white farmers signed oaths pledging to "never rent, lease, or sell land in Okfuskee County to any person of Negro blood, or agent of theirs; unless the land be located more than one mile from a white or Indian resident." To further stem the black migration to eastern Oklahoma a similar oath was developed to prevent the hiring of "Negro labor."

Events of the 1920s and 1930s spelled the end for most black communities. The All-Black towns in Oklahoma were, for the most part, small agricultural centers that gave nearby African American farmers a market. Prosperity generally depended on cotton and other crops. The Great Depression devastated these towns, forcing residents to go west and north in search of jobs. These flights from Oklahoma caused a huge population decrease in black towns.

As people left, the tax base withered, putting the towns in financial jeopardy. In the 1930s many railroads failed, isolating small towns in Oklahoma from regional and national markets. As a result, many of the black towns could not survive. During lean years whites would not extend credit to African Americans, creating an almost impossible situation for black farmers and businessmen to overcome. Even one of the most successful towns, Boley, declared bankruptcy in 1939. Today, only thirteen historical All-Black towns still survive, but their legacy of economic and political freedom is well remembered. A fourteenth town, IXL, is new, incorporated in 2001.

Copyright and Terms of Use

No part of this site may be construed as in the public domain.

Copyright to all articles and other content in the online and print versions of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History is held by the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS). This includes individual articles (copyright to OHS by author assignment) and corporately (as a complete body of work), including web design, graphics, searching functions, and listing/browsing methods. Copyright to all of these materials is protected under United States and International law.

Users agree not to download, copy, modify, sell, lease, rent, reprint, or otherwise distribute these materials, or to link to these materials on another web site, without authorization of the Oklahoma Historical Society. Individual users must determine if their use of the Materials falls under United States copyright law's "Fair Use" guidelines and does not infringe on the proprietary rights of the Oklahoma Historical Society as the legal copyright holder of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and part or in whole.

Photo credits: All photographs presented in the published and online versions of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture are the property of the Oklahoma Historical Society (unless otherwise stated).

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All-Black Towns | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

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The All-Black towns of Oklahoma represent a unique chapter in American history. Nowhere else, neither in the Deep South nor in the Far West, did so many African American men and women come together to create, occupy, and govern their own communities.

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💌 Love Philly? Sign up for the free Billy Penn newsletter to get everything you need to know about Philadelphia, every day.

This academic year, Philadelphia public school teachers need to fulfill at least 11 days of professional development. These are often courses orchestrated by the district, and led by administrators or outside experts.

A recent training at one school looked a little different: It was led by actual kids.

Students in the gender and sexuality alliance (GSA) at Hill Freedman World Academy in Northwest Philly ran their own professional development workshop in December. The idea was to explain what it's like for queer and trans kids coming up in the public school system, and show how to provide support.

"We don't do a lot of positive learning from one another," said June Freifelder, an English teacher and adviser of the Hill Freedman GSA. "But teachers really respect students' input. Why not have students lead, and talk about their experience and also educate teachers?"

Four students guided teachers through the half-hour presentation. There was praise for what they've done well, advice on what they could do better, and room for questions at the end.

Hill Freedman teachers said learning from students was way more engaging than their usual trainings.

"A lot of the time in professional development, we're hearing what someone who doesn't necessarily interact with students all that often thinks we should do," Mark Paulson, who teaches math, told Billy Penn. "Versus this assembly, where it's straight from the source, so we can really get a sense of what the students want and what the students need from us."

The workshop is especially relevant as trans children come under fire nationwide. Texas is trying to criminalize gender-affirming care for minors. Florida is banning discussions about gender and sexual orientation in the classroom. Philly teachers who understand what their students are going through can be a crucial source of support and protection

"We wanted to show that there are queer students at this school, and there may be situations where they're going to need you," said Andrea Rogers, a senior in Hill Freedman's GSA. "You may want to know how to deal with those issues."

Rogers thinks the workshop should be a model for other schools and other districts to help create welcoming schools.

Hill Freedman students got the idea for the reverse assembly after dealing with some frustrating issues in classes, like teachers using deadnames or the wrong pronouns.

"People are more susceptible to changing their behavior if it's presented in a positive way, rather than feeling targeted," said Freifelder, the GSA advisor. "So we kind of talked about, how can we spin this in a more positive direction?"

Instead of lecturing teachers, students tried to arm them with constructive tips - like what to do if a student misgenders another, and how to help them find the school's gender neutral bathroom.

"It just cut through a lot of the noise that you'll get with a teacher-led, district-approved professional development," Paulson said. "I think it will make teachers realize that it's not just a box to check, that it's something that really changes a student's experience in a classroom."

Students have facilitated other conversations throughout the district on a variety of topics, according to School District spokesperson Monica Lewis, who could not offer specifics on how often this happens, where, or what the subject matter has been. She said the district "encourages all students to understand the power and impact of their voice and fully supports those who wish to help with the development of staff."

Hill Freedman senior Rogers was nervous at first. But after the assembly ended, the school principal celebrated the group's bravery by taking them out to lunch.

Later, Rogers approached the Black Student Union, which is in its first year at Hill Freedman, and suggested they lead a workshop too.

"I talked to them about doing a similar thing, talking to teachers," Rogers said. "It's a school with mostly Black students and almost all white teachers. I was like, 'If y'all want to have a discussion like that, you should.'"

Want to use some of the Hill Freedman GSA's advice? Here are a few of their biggest tips for teachers and school staffers:

Show openness to LGBTQ students from the beginning of the year, including by asking for students' pronouns.

Ask students if they go by different names or use different pronouns at home. If they do, make sure never to out them to their parents or guardians.

Realize that misgendering causes harm.

If a student misgenders another student, determine whether it was done maliciously or by accident. Pull them aside later to correct them (not in front of everyone).

If a student says a homophobic or transphobic slur, ALWAYS address it and correct them.

Incorporate LGBTQ content into the subject matter of your class. The Hill Freedman GSA offered an example of a Spanish teacher who teaches they/them pronouns.

Keep yourself informed on Policy 252 and teach students about it as well. Share concrete tips, like that they can change their names and pronouns in Google Classroom without a parent's consent.

Know where your school's gender neutral bathroom is, and offer to help students find it.

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Northwest Philly students took the lead, organizing an assembly to school teachers on queer and trans issues

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💌 Love Philly? Sign up for the free Billy Penn newsletter to get everything you need to know about Philadelphia, every day. This academic year, Philadelphia public school teachers need to fulfill at least 11 days of professional development. These are often courses orchestrated by the district, and led by administrators or outside experts.

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Caroline Olason

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Clapbacks, fights on social media, and more! Being unapologetically black is multi-faceted.

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Black women owning their sexuality and femininity with African waist beads. Emma h

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Black women owning their sexuality and femininity with African waist beads. Emma h

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https://africanbellybeads.com/blogs/waist-beads/the-ultimate-guide-to-african-waist-beads

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are a customary accessory originating from several parts of Africa. African Waist beads are made of small glass blobs arranged on a string and are worn around one's hips or waist. They are available in various shapes, sizes and colors and are made using a number of decorative charms, stones and crystals.

For centuries, women in a number of cultures in Western and Northern parts of Africa have worn waist beads. They became so popular that in recent years, they found their way to the Western part of the globe. Other terms used to describe waist beads include waistline beads, beaded waist chains and belly beads.

In countries such as Senegal, Cameroon, Nigeria, Mali, Benin, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde and others in West Africa, waistline beads are used to symbolize sensuality, spiritual welfare, fertility and femininity. Nowadays, women in Africa and those in the United States wear waist beads to enhance their beauty and for practical reasons.

Nevertheless, they remain an intricate part of the African culture for several reasons. Some of the uses of waist beads are explained below.

Origin of Waist Beads

Many believe that the history of waist beads can be traced to Egypt as far back as the fifteenth century and was worn by women as a status symbol. In the Egyptian culture, waist beads are referred to as "girdles." In West Africa, historians believe that the tradition of waist beads may have originated among the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria and extended to other parts of West Africa.

What are Waist Beads Used for?
When Ann was asked why she wanted to buy waist beads by her friend who wore them in different colors, her response only came in: " It appears everyone wears one and really, I admire yours."

Indeed just like Ann, many people may not have the idea that there are distinct and different reasons why beads are worn around the waist. As fashionable as it appears, in some parts of Africa, waist beads have specific histories, meanings, and symbols attached to them. While the present-day might refer to some as myths or superstitious, there are several reasons why waist beads are part of the African tradition.

To Symbolize Sensuality and Femininity

Waist beads are commonly described as "femininity strands filled with color." They are truly beautiful and appeal to every eye. There are beads for women of all age groups, body size and body type. The customary Ghanaian culture allows women to wear beads to symbolize their femininity, show off their wealth and for practical reasons such as anchoring clothes used during their monthly cycle.

Waist beads or belly beads are used as a tool of measurement or tracker in determining weight loss or weight gain. Africa waist beads are fitted to the size of the woman's abdomen and slight change in the usual position of the waist beads symbolizes a difference in weight. if you´re reducing size or weight, the beads on your waist will roll lower, and if you´re gaining weight, then they will become tighter. Keep in mind that African waist beads won't keep you slim miraculously they should be used as body trackers to remind you to control weight

Around the world, women use waist beads during intimate setups to enchant their lovers. Some believe that having them on improves their chances of conceiving during intimate relations. The Krobo and Ashanti communities of Ghana add bells and larger beads on waists to ensure that a woman notifies nearby suitors that she is fertile.

Others wear beads under their clothes so that only their lovers see them. Such waist beads are accompanied by special lingerie to make the moment special for their partners

In regions where waist beads have cultural attachments, they are used to show one's growth and maturity. In some West African cultures, girls approaching adulthood are given a pair of waist beads by their mothers when they get their first period. Filling out a pair of waist beads may symbolize getting into another stage of life. In such cultures, the beads may have to be changed to signify that they are no longer in puberty.

When you wear waist beads, you become increasingly aware of your posture. Depending on whether you are leaning or sitting, the beads fit you in different ways. This notifies you whether you need to let your back or stomach muscles relax, sit straight or breathe in a different way.

Choosing the Right Waist Beads to Wear

There are three different types of beads to consider when choosing the right beads to wear.

The Strand or Flexible Bead

The Clasp
The clasp is perfect for that individual that just wants to take their beads off freely. If you don't want to have any restriction this would be your go to.

The Strand or Elastic
The Strand is perfect for the individual that moves around a lot or go to the gym a lot. It just moves with your body. Many people love this one as it´s elastic and easy to adjust.

The Tie on
The Tie on method happens to be the best one for weight loss. You are unable to actually take these waste beads off unless you cut them, so you track your progress by having your waste beads on 24/7. This for those that are serious with tracking their weight.

Waist Bead Colors and Stones
Waist beads are decorated in different colors to add beauty, and the colors are interpreted according to tribe, culture, or locality. It is important to know the meaning attributed to each color when choosing the right shade of beads.
Below are some colors and their meanings of African Waist Beads:

White: purity, truth, and light

Green: healing, prosperity, abundance, hope, and fertility, nature

Blue: harmony, truth, insight, and loyalty

Yellow: clarity, wisdom, joy, energy, and awareness

Red: vitality, confidence, passion, and bravery

Brown: earth and stability

Purple: royalty, wisdom, and spirituality

Pink: Care, beauty, love, and kindness

Gold: Good health, Power, and wealth

Black: Power and protection

Turquoise: Communication and self-awareness

Orange: Courage and vitality

The stones and charms used in making some of the African waist beads include:

Quartz: means clarity, crystals enhancement

Evil eye: protection against negativity or pessimism

Hamsa: waving off evil or bad luck

Rose quartz: love, healing, and compassion

Green aventurine: luck, wealth, and prosperity

Lapis lazuli: insight, peace, wisdom, and truth

Where to buy waist beads?
Waist beads are best bought individually in an African market. There, you can be measured by the seller to know the actual size of waist beads that fit perfectly according to the body size or type. Suppose the quantity and quality of waist beads desired cannot be gotten at the market. In that case, the beads can be purchased on online stores inlcuding this one among many others.

Whether you bought the waist beads, received them as a gift or made them yourself, it is good to know how to enhance your look with them.

Waist beads can be donned under your clothes, or over them as a fashion statement. There isn't much that can be said for waist beads hidden from view because they are only visible to a limited number of people or occasions such as when one is swimming in a suit that displays them.

If you decide to show off your waist beads, you could wear them with a high-cut top or around any other piece of clothing that doesn't display your bare waist line. Either way, an attractive waist bead strand will get you noticed and make you feel good about yourself. It also tells others that you love your body in its shape and size and are bold enough to display it.

While measuring your waist size, opt for a tape or string instead of clothes that have manufacturer's sizes. Get the measurement on your bare skin and wrap the tape snugly.

As African waist beads are personal items worn by individuals for many reasons, the emphasis has been placed on its sensitivity towards fertility, heritage, and cultural identification. Its popularity continues to grow in other African countries and beyond as more and more women are are using it to accentuate their femininity.

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waist beads: the ultimate guide to african waist beads

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Waist Beads: The Ultimate Guide to African Waist Beads

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What are African Waist Beads? Waist Beads are a customary accessory originating from several parts of Africa. African Waist beads are made of small glass blobs arranged on a string and are worn around one's hips or waist. They are available in various shapes, sizes and colors and are made using a number of decorative charms, stones and crystals.

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Skyra Rideaux: The Courage to be Unapologetically Black

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Skyra Rideaux invites you to walk in her shoes as a black woman in predominantly white spaces. Skyra Rideaux is a first generation college graduate and is known among her peers as an idea enthusiast.

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From the start, the founders of Black Lives Matter have always put LGBTQ voices at the center of the conversation. The movement was founded by three Black women, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, two of whom identify as queer.

By design, the movement they started in 2013 has remained organic, grassroots and diffuse. Since then, many of the largest Black Lives Matter protests have been fueled by the violence against Black men, including Mike Brown and Eric Garner in 2015, and now George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery.

But it's not only straight, cisgender Black men who are dying at the hands of police. Last month, a Black transgender man, Tony McDade, 38, was shot and killed by police in Tallahassee.

On June 9, two Black transgender women, Riah Milton and Dominique "Rem'mie" Fells, also were killed in separate acts of violence, their killings believed to be the 13th and 14th of transgender or gender-non-conforming people this year, according to the Human Rights Coalition.

And in 2019, Layleen Polanco, a trans Latina woman who was an active member of New York's Ballroom community, died while in solitary confinement at Rikers Island jail.

"We are a prime target because of our Blackness, and our intersectionality of being trans adds an extra target on our backs," said Jonovia Chase, co-lead organizer of House Lives Matter, a community organization composed of sexual- and gender-minority people of color.

Chase said that although Black Lives Matter was "created by queer folks, [cisgender] privilege has taken precedent over gay and transgender people."

While Chase and other LGBTQ advocates of color clearly condemn the deaths of George Floyd, Amaud Arbuery and countless other cisgender Black men, they're also quick to call attention to other acts of violence against Black LBGTQ people that garner less national media attention.

They often point to Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, a trans woman of color, who helped kickstart the LGBTQ rights movement following the Stonewall uprising of the 1960s only to watch as many hard-fought rights and privileges benefited white gay men and women but weren't extended to people like them.

"It's another example about how the Black queer community has been in the forefront leading, however, we're not being seen or heard or valued," Chase added.

However, organizers say there are clear signs times are changing, and that Black LGBTQ voices are increasingly taking center stage in nationwide conversations about race, discrimination and police violence.

In recent weeks, people have turned out in never-before-seen numbers to support the LGBTQ community of color -- and especially Black transgender people.

Last week in Brooklyn, an estimated 15,000 people turned out for a demonstration called The Black Trans Lives Matter rally, aka "Brooklyn Liberation," making it one of the largest transgender-focused protests in history, according to the organizers.

In Los Angeles, tens of thousands more gathered in Hollywood for the All Black Lives Matter protest, intended to be inclusive and centered on LGBTQ members of BLM.

And on Juneteenth, to celebrate the day the last enslaved people were informed of their freedom, celebrations across the country sought "intersectional" celebrations of the Black experience in the United States

In Harlem, in New York City, hundreds gathered for a massive celebration of music and art intended to "lift up and center Black Queer and Trans folks" in an event co-organized by The Blacksmiths, Intersectional Voices Collective and the Wide Awakes.

"More people are also becoming educated and intentional at this moment," said Niama Safia Sandy, who's on the steering committee of The Blacksmiths, a coalition of artists, curators, culture producers and organizers committed to Black liberation and equality.

"It is just not possible to turn a blind eye away from these things any more," Sandy said.

Clad in face masks and handing out hand sanitizer, hundreds turned out to dance, sing and march along historic Black landmarks on a hot day Harlem.

Eventually, the parade-like crowd landed at St. Nicholas Park, where members of New York City's ballroom community greeted protestors with elaborate voguing performances, a dancing style born in the queer ballroom scene that has since been popularized by Madonna, Rihanna and Ariana Grande.

"It's rare that we get opportunities to come together as a Black community and specifically center the trans and queer community," said Chase, who helped organize the Juneteenth celebration in Harlem.

During one performance, model and poet Linda LaBeija, a member of the House Ballroom community, read a spoken-word poem called, "Vogue, bitch," to a thunderous crowd of more than 300 people.

"How many of those beacons of light must we lose along the way?" LaBeija asked the crowd, referring to the Black trans women who have been the victims of violence.

And as Black Lives Matter protesters continue to remember George Floyd and others killed at the hands of police, LaBeija asked, "Are you including Black trans women in that list of Black names?"

As a Black transgender woman, Deja Smith said she's learned the hard way how difficult life can be for people like her in the United States.

"It has been a struggle most of the way here," said Smith, a founding member of the Intersectional Voices Collective and director of makeup artistry for DDPRO.

"But over the last three to five years things have started to ease up, leading to this moment today where I just thought I would never see a crowd of Black, queer and trans people of like minds, getting along, and speaking to our ancestry."

Smith credits the founders of Black Lives Matter for creating space for LGBTQ voices from the start.

"It has always been part of their cultural movement," she said.

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From the start, Black Lives Matter has been about LGBTQ lives

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Two of three Black Lives Matter founders identify as queer. From the start, the founders of Black Lives Matter have always put LGBTQ voices at the center of the conversation. The movement was founded by three Black women, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, two of whom identify as queer.

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What It Means To Be Unapologetically Black (theodysseyonline.com)

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What It Means To Be Unapologetically Black

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"The best way to fight an alien and oppressive culture is to embrace your own" -African Proverb

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What it means to be unapologetically black

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What it means to be unapologetically black

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Clapbacks, fights on social media, and more! Being unapologetically black is multi-faceted.

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Emma H

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When President Donald Trump paid a visit to the National Institutes of Health last March, the leads at the vaccine research center explained their life-saving mission. The key to that mission was a 34-year-old doctor named Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett.

"I was just there telling the task force about the work that we've been doing," Corbett told "CBS This Morning: Saturday" co-host Michelle Miller.

Two weeks after the visit, Corbett's team began the first stage of clinical trials. She said they took a lot of the knowledge they have gained in the last six years and applied it to a vaccine platform in collaboration with Moderna. The vaccine rolled out 10 months later.

"The vaccine teaches the body how to fend off a virus, because it teaches the body how to look for the virus by basically just showing the body the spike protein of the virus" she explained. "The body then says 'Oh, we've seen this protein before. Let's go fight against it.' That's how it works."

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, credited Corbett during a webinar for her work.

"The vaccine you are going to be taking was developed by an African American woman and that is just a fact," Fauci said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 6.5 million Americans have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. That number is expected to grow daily, though it is well behind what public health experts were hoping to see.

Corbett's interest in science started from an early age, but she never knew the difference she would make.

"To be honest, I didn't realize the level of impact that my visibility might have... I do my work because I love my work," Corbett said.

One opportunity in her life made a key difference. She attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore, as a Meyerhoff Scholar, an aggressive program that mentors minorities and women in science. Graduates of the program include Surgeon General Jerome Adams.

Dr. Freeman Hrabowski has been president at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, for nearly 30 years. He said Corbett had a strong science background but the way she was able to talk to people separated her from the rest.

"She was definitely going to make it in life," Hrabowski said. "We need more scientists who can connect to people. She could do that when she was 17, easily... What we do at UMBC is to support students of color, Black, but also students in general, to make sure they make it in science."

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, only 18% of all students graduate with a STEM degree, among 2% are black - something Hrabowski believes needs to change.

"It's important for people to see people looking like them, like themselves, who can be involved. If it's about women, or if it's about Blacks because it shows that you've got people who understand what you've gone through."

Dr. Barney Graham and Corbett have worked together for over 15 years. Graham is not only her mentor. He's also Corbett's boss as deputy director of the Vaccine Research Center.

"When you recognize somebody has special qualities, you need to do things that can keep those other things out of the way and avoid some of the dismissiveness that often happens not only to minority people but to women," Graham said.

Historically that bias strikes not just professionals in the field but those they serve. In 1931, scientists conducted the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, a study by the Public Health Service and Tuskegee Institute. It examined the progression of syphilis by letting infected Black men go untreated, with no regard to the suffering it caused.

Another example often cited is the removal of special cells of Henretta Lacks, a Baltimore, Maryland, cancer patient. In 1951, a research team at Johns Hopkins University removed Lacks' cells without her permission and used them in medical research worth billions of dollars. Lacks died of cancer and her family was never compensated.

"There are many other examples of supposedly objective scientists who were caring about everyone, who valued people of color less... It's a painful truth," Hrabowski said.

Corbett's understanding of the socio-cultural issues and her knowledge of science has made her an influential person in the scientific community.

In a time where vaccine skepticism is high among African Americans, Corbett hopes Black people will put faith in the vaccine and faith in the scientists working behind the scenes to bring it to the American people.

"Number one is that I get it. And then number two is to really take advantage of the level of transparency that we are attempting... even I haven't even seen before, such as FDA hearings and briefings being broadcast online, and data coming out almost instantly," she said.

As for Dr. Hrabowski, he believes Corbett deserves all the visibility she can get.

"She cannot be a hidden figure," he said. "She needs to be in textbooks. Little girls need to see her - of all races. This is what's possible."

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Meet the Black female scientist at the forefront of COVID-19 vaccine development

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When President Donald Trump paid a visit to the National Institutes of Health last March, the leads at the vaccine research center explained their life-saving mission. The key to that mission was a 34-year-old doctor named Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett.

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rakefet cooperman

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NBA players are taking the court again, with many choosing to wear social justice messages on their jerseys for at least the first four days of the season.

The messages agreed upon by the National Basketball Players Association and the NBA are: Black Lives Matter, Say Their Names, Vote, I Can't Breathe, Justice, Peace, Equality, Freedom, Enough, Power to the People, Justice Now, Say Her Name, Sí Se Puede (Yes We Can), Liberation, See Us, Hear Us, Respect Us, Love Us, Listen, Listen to Us, Stand Up, Ally, Anti-Racist, I Am A Man, Speak Up, How Many More, Group Economics, Education Reform and Mentor.

Of 350 players listed on rosters for the NBA's restart, 300 players will wear social justice messages on the back of their jerseys, while 50 players decided to stick with their last names.

(Notable players who will not be wearing social justice messages include: Patrick Beverley, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, Paul George, James Harden, Tobias Harris, Al Horford, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Nikola Jokic, Kyle Kuzma, Kawhi Leonard, Dejounte Murray, Austin Rivers, Ben Simmons.)

Here's a team-by-team look at what each player is wearing and the reasons for some of their choices:

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Liner Notes

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Social justice messages each NBA player is wearing on his jersey

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NBA players are taking the court again, with many choosing to wear social justice messages on their jerseys for at least the first four days of the season.

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Denise Francis: THE POWER OF THE BLACK WOMAN'S SELF LOVE JOURNEY

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Talk: In this powerful TEDx Talk, Self Love Educator Denise Francis speaks on the relationship between Black Women, Self-love, and Mental health. She aims to bridge the gap to heal Black women from the trans-generational trauma that the "Strong Black Woman" trope has silenced.

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This article shows how difficult it is to be unapologetically black in America

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This article shows how difficult it is to be unapologetically black in America

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Television journalist Tamron Hall aboard Amtrak's Acela on Sept. 15, 2017. (Jonathan Capehart/The Washington Post)

"My family is unapologetically black and supportive of our community, but also unapologetically American and supportive of this country and what we represent."

The right-out-the-gate authenticity of that comment is pure Tamron Hall. It is why the former MSNBC and "Today" anchor was able to connect with so many people. And it is one of the reasons why, in full disclosure, she is one of my closest friends. "I had and have a very inclusive family," Hall said on the latest episode of "Cape Up," recorded at the WNYC public radio studios last week. She credits her mother, grandfathers and great aunts with giving her the "ability to be unapologetic about your community, about your roots, but always embrace others and their journey, and finding this commonality."

For more conversations like this, subscribe to "Cape UP" on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.

Hall's "unapologetic" comments came in response to my very first question about why she was able to connect with a cross section of the American viewing public. So, of course, I asked her to elaborate, starting with what it means to be "unapologetically black."

"Some believe, if you are too pro-your-community, you're anti-someone else's. And we will shrink away from those conversations," Hall explained. "We want to be at the table because of our talent, because of our hard work. We never want to be at the table because we are black. And so sometimes, we shrink away from those things that make us special because of who we are as black people." She told me a comment from someone else crystallized her thinking on this. "I remember it was someone who one day told me," Hall said, "'Listen, Joseph Lieberman is unapologetically Jewish. You can be unapologetically black. That doesn't mean you're anti-anyone.'"

Hall acknowledges that being "unapologetically American" is a complicated endeavor, where race colors the understanding of all involved. "No party, no race owns our military. No party, no race owns patriotism. It means everything different, and everything similar to all of us," said Hall. "When I say that I unapologetically love this country, you can love something or someone, and see all of their flaws, and see all of their beauty at the same time. That's love. That's the unconditional love of this country that my father fought for."

PODCAST: Meet Stacey Abrams, the Yale Law School grad in Georgia who could become the nation's first black female governor

"As black Americans, whether it's through the Black Panther movement, whether it's the civil rights movement, we've been painted as being un-American," Hall noted. "The fact of it is, there are American laws that have been used to oppress us, but we still love this country." Colin Kaepernick is a prime example. "When Colin Kaepernick takes a knee," Hall asked, "why can't we say that is not against America, and listen to what he has to say? You may not agree with it, but to drape yourself in the flag and say he's a bad, evil guy, that's just to me wrong."

Listen to the podcast to hear Hall talk about how famed boxer Joe Frazier helped get her first television internship, what a Chicago taxi driver told her after she interviewed at a station there early in her career, what her mother told her when they visited 30 Rockefeller Plaza as tourists years back, what leaving "Today" has done for her and what's next.

"We're putting together something that I hope will reflect where I am right now, something that I hope will be appreciated by people," Hall told me. "I'm not trying to be little Oprah, medium Oprah, side-eye Oprah. I'm not trying to be anything other than the complete total journalist that ... I am."

"Cape Up" is Jonathan's weekly podcast talking to key figures behind the news and our culture. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts.

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Opinion | Tamron Hall: 'Unapologetically' black and American

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"My family is unapologetically black and supportive of our community, but also unapologetically American and supportive of this country and what we represent." The right-out-the-gate authenticity of that comment is pure Tamron Hall. It is why the former MSNBC and "Today" anchor was able to connect with so many people.

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Manaia

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This article is written by Jasmine Martins, Management Trainee for Young Carers Team at Young Hackney Early Help & Prevention. This article is one of the finalists in Apolitical's 2020 women in government writing competition.

Only 12 of the 220 women elected to Parliament in 2019 are Black. Across local authorities, 7.5% are Black women.

To put this into perspective, 52% of the Black population in the UK are female. Women have long campaigned for equal rights in the workplace but for Black women, fighting for a position when we hold a double barrier is tiresome.

It is as if we have broken a barrier and we should be grateful. But, real substantial change, whereby systematic and institutional biases are broken, can only emerge when we confront them. Women in Government, it is time we embrace an unapologetic attitude to create a society that empowers our communities and inspires a new generation.

In an environment like Parliament where long-held customs and traditions are embedded into everyday working life, it can seem impossible to be a voice of reason. Alongside the long working hours of a parliamentarian, other factors women must consider include childcare facilities, accessibility and the gentlemen's club culture of Whitehall. Why does this matter?

It is important for those who represent us in public life to truly reflect the diversity of the real world. This does not just mean people who look like us, but people we can relate to from lived experience, cultures, even in the way a person speaks. But we have to prepare ourselves and navigate around these barriers, no matter what form they exist in.

There is no doubt being a woman comes with its challenges, but it should be said Black women continue to endure these on top of racial injustice

The weight of responsibilities and the need of the Black community in all its complex history can seem daunting, but an open conversation needs to be had over how these barriers have come to exist and who needs to take responsibility.

When discussing the importance of diversity and inclusion, we are not referring to a tick-box exercise. Policy around crime with stop and search, the disproportionate maternal mortality rate amongst Black women, and the community food aid response for Black communities, are just some of the examples as to why we need more unapologetic Black voices. We need them, not just in national government, but in local government too.

Imposter syndrome is common when you encounter spaces that were never built for you in the first place. They create thoughts like "Am I qualified enough?", "How can I make a real difference?", or "How will I ever fit in?" Psychotherapist, Brian Daniel Norton, notes Black women especially are most at risk of imposter syndrome, stemming from experiences of "systemic oppression", which results from being told either directly or indirectly throughout your whole life that you are "less-than or undeserving of success".

As Black people, we are continually having to justify our existence, because people make assumptions based on the colour of our skin. These assumptions impact how we interact with society, including how we are represented and the ways in which policy affects us, whether that be at a local or national level. It is sad that these thoughts emerge. Yet the truth, Black women, is that we belong!

If we are not actively challenging the biases we experience from others, or even the institutionalised racism, then we become a part of it

Alexandra Wilson, a defence barrister, is an example of the discrimination and prejudice Black women face in their professions daily. Arriving at the magistrates' court to meet her client, she was mistaken 3 times: - as a defendant, and a journalist - by a security officer, a solicitor, and a member of the public.

As Alexandra points out, there are two elements to this. There is how defendants are treated, but also how Black women are treated in the workplace. Is it really so absurd for a Black woman to be a lawyer, or any form of employment that carries a significant position of influence and power?

There is no doubt being a woman comes with its challenges, but it should be said Black women continue to endure these on top of racial injustice. How then can we get comfortable once we secure a seat on the table? First and foremost, we use our position of influence to tackle injustices internally as well as externally. By being present ourselves, we represent the next generation also.

Secondly, we bring to the fore issues that affect our communities and provide practical solutions that can be adopted. This is not to say that one Black woman can advocate for us all, but we can begin to talk about disparities amongst our community such as how Black women are 5 times more likely to die in pregnancy, childbirth or in the postpartum period.

If we are not actively challenging the biases we experience from others, or even the institutionalised racism, then we become a part of it. Black women are often described as being "strong" and having the ability to bear pain, but we are not any different from women of other races. We feel pain, we get tired and we often feel powerless. But we must not feel compelled to be silent on issues that affect our communities. Do not apologise for being there. Do not apologise for speaking on issues that you are passionate about. Above all, do not apologise for being a Black woman.

Being a Black woman comes with its challenges; challenges that are not helped by biases and systemic racial injustices. However, as leaders, it is important for Black women to be unapologetic when we find a seat on the table, be it in Government or other arenas of influence and leadership. - Jasmine Martins
(Picture credit: Unsplash) We want to hear what you think about this article. Pitch an article to us or send your comments to hello@apolitical.co

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Black women in Government must remove barriers to their success

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This article is written by Jasmine Martins, Management Trainee for Young Carers Team at Young Hackney Early Help & Prevention. This article is one of the finalists in Apolitical's 2020 women in government writing competition. Only 12 of the 220 women elected to Parliament in 2019 are Black.

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rakefet cooperman

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School of Education - American University

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The Benefits of Inclusion and Diversity in the Classroom

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Diversity in the classroom benefits students for life. Explore how American University’s online EdD program teaches cultural diversity in the classroom.

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manaia

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December 29, 2017
During his campaign for the U.S. Senate, former Alabama judge Roy Moore answered a question about what it means to "make America great again." According to Moore, America was great "at the time when families were united - even though we had slavery. They cared for one another. People were strong in the families."

The claim that black families are in disarray and were better off under slavery is not new. During the GOP presidential primary race in 2011, candidates Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum both signed a pledge against same-sex marriage that stated children born during slavery were more likely to be raised by a mother and father in a two-parent home than children are today. On the campaign trail in 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump described a nightmarish world for black Americans, rife with poverty, homelessness and crime, and asked for their votes by saying, " What do you have to lose?"

Outrageous, yes, but not surprising. If your impression of black families comes mostly from what you see in the news - and not just Fox News - then you might think black families have it worse today than when they were enslaved.

Scholars have long documented how news and opinion media warp public perceptions of gender and race by reinforcing myths and stereotypes about women and people of color. And they play a dangerous role in spreading debunked stereotypes about black families.

Our organizations, Color of Change and Family Story, commissioned a research team at the University of Illinois that studies media patterns to examine what an average news consumer might have "learned" about black families (and white families) during the last election cycle. The results were disturbing.

The study found that, at best, media outlets promoted racially biased portrayals and myths that pathologize black families and idealize white families with respect to poverty and crime. At worst, media outlets amplified those inaccurate depictions for political and financial gain. Such reporting reinforces debunked narratives, helping to justify actions from police brutality to economic policies that will hurt not just black families but all families for generations.

The research team examined more than 800 relevant stories published or aired from January 2015 through December 2016, encompassing coverage from national broadcast and cable news outlets such as ABC, CBS and MSNBC; national mainstream newspapers like The Washington Post, the New York Times and USA Today; and online news sites. In both written and television reporting, the researchers found that the news media systemically misrepresented black families.

When the media outlets examined in the study reported stories about poor families, they chose to feature black families in their coverage 59 percent of the time, even though only 27 percent of families living below the poverty line are black. Similarly, in coverage of welfare, 60 percent of families portrayed were black, even though only 42 percent of families receiving welfare are black. This pattern was widespread across numerous sources - among the worst offenders for networks were Fox News and CNN, and the New York Times and Breitbart for national print and online news organizations.

Additionally, the news media habitually reinforced the myth that black fathers are less involved in their children's lives. We found that photos and videos in the study showed black mothers, white mothers and white fathers interacting with their children at the same rate. Black fathers, however, were shown with their children half as often, and the news media regularly perpetuated the conventional wisdom that missing black fathers explain social inequity. On "CNN Tonight," for example, conservative commentator Larry Elder said, "The primary problem with the black community in this country is absentee fathers."

Though black children are disproportionately born to single mothers, that does not mean fathers aren't involved. A 2013 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that black fathers spend more time engaged in parenting than fathers of other races, participating more often in bathing, diapering, taking their kids to activities and helping them with their homework.

Our study also found that media outlets reinforced the idea that black families are sources of personal, cultural and societal instability - that responsibility for poverty and crime lies with them, rather than with those who shape the economic and social environment they live in. On "The O'Reilly Factor," Bill O'Reilly commented, "The root cause of poverty . . . as 'Talking Points' has reported over and over again, that is the dissolution of the African American traditional family." There is no evidence to support this claim and much evidence to debunk it. At the same time, the news media promotes white families as the model norm, a source of social stability. This extends beyond the loud claims of O'Reilly to a steady stream of reporting, including the images that mainstream news producers, editors and reporters choose to include when covering families and family life.

This coverage has real-life consequences. Prior research has shown that when the news media constantly associates black people with crime, it increases racial stereotypes among viewers, leading the public to disproportionately favor punitive criminal justice policies. In addition, when the poor are depicted as overwhelmingly black, it leads the public to support heavier restrictions on welfare because of a perception that undeserving black people benefit from it. Backers of corporate and right-wing policies gain when the news media blames black families for social conditions, while their own role in destabilizing society remains invisible.

Federal poverty solutions such as welfare, food stamps, Supplemental Security Income and earned-income tax credits were not stigmatized when white people were correctly understood to be the main beneficiaries of them. This was especially true during the Great Depression of the 1930s. As Martin Gilens documents in his book, "Why Americans Hate Welfare," this started to change in the 1960s following the Civil Rights movement and the War on Poverty. Reporters who had covered Martin Luther King's quest for civil rights continued to follow him as he turned his attention to abject poverty in both rural and urban areas where blacks and others were deeply affected. This turn toward urban black poverty became an obsession of the media, over time leading to a distorted view of who is poor in our country. Over time, the media and politicians began "othering" the poor by putting a black face on them to undermine the promise of the New Deal and justify policy changes. Today, we continue to see politicians deploy coded racism as economic populism to distract and inflame the public, and to create cover to further right-wing and corporate interests. News outlets are their best partners, echoing these myths in ways big and small, exceptional and routine, serving as validators.

How do we work toward more accurate and responsible media coverage? By publicizing these findings, for one. And pressuring advertisers to withdraw their support from the worst offenders, whether Fox News or CNN (two of the worst across all measures in the report), could force news outlets and the corporations that control them to end these practices and reshape their standards.

If our country hopes to close cultural divides and create solutions that make all families strong, the media cannot continue to perpetuate false narratives that cause so much harm, while allowing the truth of the economic and social forces that drive family dynamics to remain invisible. The news media must help the public understand the systemic barriers that impede well-being for so many families and the policies that could improve them. The time for the media industry to reckon with how it covers families is long overdue.
Twitter: @nsrodgers, @rashadrobinson
Read more from Outlook and follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter.

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Perspective | How the news media distorts black families

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December 29, 2017 During his campaign for the U.S. Senate, former Alabama judge Roy Moore answered a question about what it means to "make America great again." According to Moore, America was great "at the time when families were united - even though we had slavery. They cared for one another.

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-Elle McCormick

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National Museum of African American History and Culture

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The photography and art of black women in the 1960s and 1970s created a new space of recognition. These images of black women presented an opportunity to both celebrate and immortalize their contributions while making clear the necessity of black women's voices to movements for equality.

As you walk up the ramp to the Museum's exhibition, A Changing America: 1968 and Beyond, you can see the raised fists of a group of Black Panther women from Sacramento, California. They are surrounded by the bright orange of the exhibit's larger Black Power mural.

The image captures an intense moment of protest. These women, Mary Ann Carlton, Delores Henderson, Joyce Lee, Joyce Means and Paula Hill, represent black women's voices at the forefront of sociopolitical movements. They show the intense political participation that women demonstrated during the 1960s and 1970s. This political participation remains strong to this day.

Women's participation in the Black Panther Party represents one example of this era's political participation. Women were "tough revolutionaries," who, by the 1970s, made up nearly two-thirds of the Black Panther Party's membership. The Black Panther Party embraced gender equality in its organization, but there were still issues with " Panther male chauvinism." However, many women involved in politics during this era demonstrated the growing realization that women's voices were integral to sociopolitical progress in the continuing campaign for equal rights.

The photograph also represents the power of images in communicating the importance of these women in political movements. The dissemination of this image, and ones like it, created a new cultural memory. Visuals of black women employing language and voice to demonstrate political power and engage in activism are integral to our understanding of not only this era of political change but our current one as well.

The above images represent a fundamental change in gender dynamics during the 1960s and 1970s. These images exemplify the power and position of women who were closely involved with the struggle for black equality during this period. Their style was revolutionary: with their afros and African-inspired dress, they resisted norms of white American beauty. Kathleen Cleaver, Angela Davis and Sonia Sanchez exemplified the motif of black women refusing to be silenced.

Each woman achieved this in different ways. Cleaver and Davis opted to work through grassroots and radical organizations, operating within communities where their activism created new educational opportunities and tangible programs for economic change. Sanchez, on the other hand, operated in artistic circles through her poetry which often reflected the unique experiences of black women. Language is one of the strands which binds these three women together. By employing language structured in a variety of forms, they became advocates for both black women and black communities.

Kathleen Cleaver was a Black Panther and activist who is currently a professor of law at Emory University. As an advocate for political prisoners and a frequent lecturer on Black Panthers issues, she continues to campaign for equality.

Angela Davis was also closely involved with the Black Panthers, although not as a formal member. In the above image, she is advocating on behalf of prisoners who were on trial for the murder of a guard at Soledad Prison.

Both women are educators whose work has enabled others to look closely at their worlds, motivating them to take action and change their own worlds.

I think the importance of doing activist work is precisely because it allows you to give back and to consider yourself not as a single individual who may have achieved whatever but to be a part of an ongoing historical movement.
Angela Davis, spring 1977

Sanchez's work, though not political activism like that of Cleaver and Davis, demonstrated the connection between language and politics for black women. As a poet in the early 1960s, Sanchez was an integrationist, supporting the view that African Americans could merge into American society. She then encountered Malcolm X's philosophy, which maintained that white America would never truly tolerate black presence. Her poetry moved toward appreciating and celebrating black identity as being distinct and independent from white America. Her work is an integral part of the Black Arts Movement, which saw a blossoming of politically motivated literature, drama, music, and art by black individuals. It was also an artistic extension of the Black Power Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Sanchez use of language, particularly the vernacular speech of African American women, was effective in portraying their unique challenges. Her empowerment of these women was an essential part of the rise of black women's voices during this era.

All poets, all writers are political. They either maintain the status quo, or they say, 'Something's wrong, let's change it for the better.' That's what my life has really been about. Sonia Sanchez Conversations with Sonia Sanchez, ed. Joyce A. Joyce (University Press of Mississippi, 2007)

Jarrell Sr. was a part of the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists ( AfriCOBRA), founded in 1968 to encourage and support black artists and their varied artistic styles. By creating positive portrayals of black identity, AfriCOBRA complemented the Black Panther and Black Power Movements. Known for their "Kool-Aid" colors, AfriCOBRA artists were unapologetic about the importance of black voices, especially black women's voices. The examples of Davis, Cleaver, and Sanchez reveal the trend of black women's political voice as iconography.

This theme continues today within the Black Lives Matter movement, which includes an array of black women at the forefront. It also demonstrates the continuing necessity of movements for equality for African Americans. As part of her #1960Now portfolio, photographer Sheila Pree Bright shows the similarities between modern social-justice movements and justice movements of the Civil Rights era. Bright makes her photography inclusive by incorporating images of movements across the spectrum, including images of protests against the Dakota Pipeline and images of queer and trans activists.

Whether they are photographs or works of art, images create a memory of certain people and places that we may hold with us forever. For black women creating a new space of recognition during the 1960s and 1970s, photography and art presented an opportunity to both celebrate and immortalize their contributions. In addition, the presence of similarly styled photographs in our modern era, such as those by Bright, make clear the continuous presence of black women's voices in political movements throughout time. Black women's voices are a necessary and central aspect of these movements, and their images help to inspire and embolden individuals today.

Browse Objects Relating to Black Power in the NMAAHC Collection

Written by Meera White, Robert F. Smith Fund intern
Published on July 28, 2017

The above media is provided by YouTube

The above media is provided by YouTube

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The photography and art of black women in the 1960s and 1970s created a new space of recognition. These images of black women presented an opportunity to both celebrate and immortalize their contributions while making clear the necessity of black women's voices to movements for equality.

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National Museum of African American History and Culture

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Race does not biologically exist, yet how we identify with race is so powerful, it influences our experiences and shapes our lives. In a society that privileges white people and whiteness, racist ideas are considered normal throughout our media, culture, social systems, and institutions. Historically, racist views justified the unfair treatment and oppression of people of color (including enslavement, segregation, internment, etc.). We can be led to believe that racism is only about individual mindsets and actions, yet racist policies also contribute to our polarization. While individual choices are damaging, racist ideas in policy have a wide-spread impact by threatening the equity of our systems and the fairness of our institutions. To create an equal society, we must commit to making unbiased choices and being antiracist in all aspects of our lives.

Being antiracist is fighting against racism. Racism takes several forms and works most often in tandem with at least one other form to reinforce racist ideas, behavior, and policy. Types of racism are:

Individual racism​ refers to the beliefs, attitudes, and actions of individuals that support or perpetuate racism in conscious and unconscious ways. The U.S. cultural narrative about racism typically focuses on individual racism and fails to recognize systemic racism.
Examples include believing in the superiority of white people, not hiring a person of color because "something doesn't feel right," or telling a racist joke.

Interpersonal racism​ occurs between individuals. These are public expressions of racism, often involving slurs, biases, or hateful words or actions.

Institutional racism​ occurs in an organization. These are discriminatory treatments, unfair policies, or biased practices based on race that result in inequitable outcomes for whites over people of color and extend considerably beyond prejudice. These institutional policies often never mention any racial group, but the intent is to create advantages.
Example: A school system where students of color are more frequently distributed into the most crowded classrooms and underfunded schools and out of the higher-resourced schools.

Structural racism​ is the overarching system of racial bias across institutions and society. These systems give privileges to white people resulting in disadvantages to people of color.
Example: Stereotypes of people of color as criminals in mainstream movies and media. ​

No one is born racist or antiracist; these result from the choices we make. Being antiracist results from a conscious decision to make frequent, consistent, equitable choices daily. These choices require ongoing self-awareness and self-reflection as we move through life. In the absence of making antiracist choices, we (un)consciously uphold aspects of white supremacy, white-dominant culture, and unequal institutions and society. Being racist or antiracist is not about who you are; it is about what you do.

To be antiracist is a radical choice in the face of history, requiring a radical reorientation of our consciousness. Ibram Kendi "How to be an Antiracist"

The quality or state of being aware especially of something within oneself.

Being Antiracist at the Individual and Interpersonal Level
When we choose to be antiracist, we become actively conscious about race and racism and take actions to end racial inequities in our daily lives. Being antiracist is believing that racism is everyone's problem, and we all have a role to play in stopping it. In " The Racial Healing Handbook," Dr. Anneliese A. Singh reminds us of the importance of being purposeful: "You need the intentional mindset of Yep, this racism thing is everyone's problem-including mine, and I'm going to do something about it."

Being antiracist is different for white people than it is for people of color. For white people, being antiracist evolves with their racial identity development. They must acknowledge and understand their privilege, work to change their internalized racism, and interrupt racism when they see it. For people of color, it means recognizing how race and racism have been internalized, and whether it has been applied to other people of color.

All racial groups struggle under white supremacy. People of color groups are not always united in solidarity. People of color can act by challenging internalized white supremacy and interrupting patterns of prejudice against other racial groups. For everyone, it is an ongoing practice and process.
As a White Person or a Person of Color, Read More About Becoming Antiracist

Stop and Think!

Why do you want to be antiracist? Considering the breadth and depth of racism, committing to being antiracist may feel overwhelming yet small choices made daily can add up to big changes. Reflect on choices you make in your daily life (i.e., who you build relationships with, what media you follow, where you shop). How do these choices reflect being antiracist?

A Questioning Frame of Mind
A commitment to being antiracist manifests in our choices. When we encounter interpersonal racism, whether obvious or covert, there are ways to respond and interrupt it. Asking questions is a powerful tool to seek clarity or offer a new perspective. Below are some suggestions to use in conversations when racist behavior occurs:

Seek clarity: "Tell me more about __________."

Offer an alternative perspective: "Have you ever considered __________."

Speak your truth: "I don't see it the way you do. I see it as __________."

Find common ground: "We don't agree on __________ but we can agree on __________."

Give yourself the time and space you need: "Could we revisit the conversation about __________ tomorrow."

Set boundaries. "Please do not say __________ again to me or around me.

A trigger is something that causes an emotional and or physical reaction which impacts how you respond and or interact with another person or group of people.

As you practice, take note of your responses and ask: How am I processing the experience? What body sensations do I have? What is my emotional reaction? Notice what triggers your response and how it manifests in your body.

Another practical step is to uncover your own bias. In the video below, Verna Myers talks about acknowledging your biases in her Ted Talk:

Being antiracist on the individual and interpersonal levels is only part of the work. To end racism, we must also work to dismantle racist policies at the structural and institutional levels.

Example of Being Antiracist at the Institutional Level
Institutional racism is the policies and practices within institutions that benefit white people to the disadvantage of people of color. An example of institutional racism is how children of color are treated within the U.S. education system. On average, children of color are disciplined more harshly than their white peers. They are also less likely to be identified as gifted and have less access to quality teachers. Racism in schools can and does have severe consequences for students and our future.

When I say antiracist education, I am talking about equipping students, parents, and teachers with the tools needed to combat racism and ethnic discrimination, and to find ways to build a society that includes all people on an equal footing.

Antiracist education is a theory of learning and action to help us do the important work of dismantling racism in schools. It explicitly highlights, critiques, and challenges institutional racism. It addresses how racist beliefs and ideologies structure one-on-one interactions and personal relationships. It also examines and challenges how institutions support and maintain disadvantages and advantages along racial lines.

Antiracist education, while considering class, race, and gender inequity, places race at the center of its analysis. Focusing on race exposes direct links to unequal power, a system of oppression and privilege, and institutional practices.

One of the early formulations of antiracist education was developed by social science researchers, Carol Tator and Frances Henry, in Canada. It lists nine key traits.

Developing routines to make antiracist choices is a daily commitment that must be carried out with intention. The continued efforts of each of us individually can add up to a lasting change in our society. Since racism operates at multiple levels, we have to make antiracist choices at the various levels - individual, interpersonal, and institutional - to eradicate racism from the structures and fabric of our society. In "How to Be an Antiracist," Dr. Ibram Kendi writes, "[We must] believe in the possibility that we can strive to be antiracist from this day forward. Believe in the possibility that we can transform our societies to be antiracist from this day forward. Racist power is not godly. Racist policies are not indestructible. Racial inequities are not inevitable. Racist ideas are not natural to the human mind."

Let's Think

How have racist ideas impacted your daily life? Reflect and process - you may choose to sit in quiet reflection or write in your journal.

EDUCATORS: Read "The Urgent Need for Anti-Racist Education," by Christina Torres. She writes that antiracist education has an important role to play in fighting against hatred and violence. What benefits do you think could result from having discussions with young people about current events involving race and racism?

Let's Talk

The Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University contends that racist policies fuel racist beliefs and behaviors and keep us divided in society.

By yourself, divide two pieces of paper into 4 sections. Write the following categories, one in each section, on the page: Education, Healthcare Treatment, Neighborhoods/Housing, Criminal Justice. Do this for both pages.

On the first sheet, jot down 2-3 racial groups of people you think get the best service/experience/outcomes in America for each category. You can repeat groups.

On the second sheet, jot down 2-3 racial groups of people you think get the worst service/experience/outcomes in America for each category. You can repeat groups.

Now, with a partner discuss what old and newer, you believe might account for these groups' experiences.

With your partner, return to each racial group you've listed, one at a time. Search the internet, look up the racial group, one of the four categories, and the word "policy" (limit your search to U.S. policies and seek out fact-based sources). Browse through the results for things that strike you.

Discuss with your partner:

Was it easy or difficult to find useful information on policies in these categories having to do with race? Why do you think that was?

For those racial groups that you thought had the best service/experience/outcomes, were you able to identify specific policies that helped them? Why yes? Or why not?

How do you think policies can be hidden or difficult to see in operation?

What did you discover that was new to you?

Were you wrong about anything you thought? How did you find out?

Was there anything uncomfortable about this exercise? Why yes? Or why not?

How can our learning about policies, racial groups, and outcomes help support anti-racism efforts?

Let's Act

Watch these two videos on Implicit Bias:

How can you hang out authentically with folks of some common interest, across racial lines?

EDUCATORS: Consider your current classroom or academic space. What one small shift can you do to strive to be more antiracist?

Visit the "Antiracism and America" web series developed by American University's Antiracist Research and Policy Center and The Guardian news outlet.

Pick a story to read. As you reflect on the story, think about what you learned that was new, how the story made you feel, how race shaped the experience of the storyteller and your response. You may choose to process this mentally, with a friend or in writing.

The above media is provided by YouTube

The above media is provided by YouTube

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No one is born racist or antiracist; these result from the choices we make. Being antiracist results from a conscious decision to make frequent, consistent, equitable choices daily. These choices require ongoing self-awareness and self-reflection as we move through life.

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Stonewall Riots and Marsha Johnson -Pearl Khastou       

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Stonewall Riots and Marsha Johnson -Pearl Khastou       

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Marsha Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and the history of Pride Month

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The first Pride parades marked the anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.

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Louise Derman-Sparks, Julie Olsen Edwards, Catherine M. Goins

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Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, Second Edition

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This classic resource, now expanded and updated, is your guide to building a strong anti-bias program, including learning to know yourself.

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Redlining’s Legacy Of Inequality: Low Homeownership Rates, Less Equity For Black Households

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Redlining remains a major factor in today’s wealth gap between black and white families across the country.

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Kanye West "ain't even supposed to be here", and he knows it, even if it was Jay-Z who said it. Like most successful black Americans, his story begins in adversity. One of his early hits, "Through The Wire", was recorded through his recently shattered jaw - still wired shut - just two weeks after the responsible car crash.

It is rare that an artist has found their voice with their first hit, but Kanye announces his goal from the start with " Through the Wire":

What if somebody from the Chi that was ill got a deal
on the hottest rap label around?
But he wasn't talking about coke and birds / it was more like spoken word
Except he's really putting it down?
And he explained the story about how blacks came from glory
And what we need to do in the game

Being just that "somebody", Ye smashed expectations - standing in contrast to the gangster rap of the time by reinventing the sound, feel, and scope of rap.

West claimed that the resulting album, The College Dropout, was the medicine to his pained jaw, and it dropped to massive critical success. He has since gone on to win 21 Grammys - the 10th most in history, and the most for any rapper ever. And were that his whole story, we would call Kanye a genius.

Musically, he helped to popularize soul record samples - sped up - to serve as the backdrop for lyrical stories. The revolutionary nature of Kanye's unique sampling style would be seen again and again, perhaps most notably in his collaboration with Daft Punk on " Stronger ", which ushered in an era of electronica-boosted hip-hop.

It may be easy to dismiss him as just another rapper, but Kanye harkened back to the lyrical roots of rap and hip-hop, the art of using spoken word to illuminate and criticize societal shibboleths. His mother was an English professor, and the family resemblance shows in the incisive and critical nature of his words, probing and questioning our basic assumptions. As he puts it:

I'm Socrates, but my skin more chocolatey

Along the way, he was unapologetically black; a preacher for his own (black) greatness with an eye for the social injustices he had overcome. In the aptly named " Murder to Excellence ", a summary of West's social arc points out the irony of his success.

In the past if you picture events like a black tie
What's the last thing you expect to see, black guys?
What's the life expectancy for black guys?
The system's working effectively, that's why!

But there is an important theme in the black American climb from systemic oppression to exemplary success, a theme which must be cleft to with meticulous consistency. If you are the son of a wealthy businessman (or a president), and you go on to yourself be a wealthy businessman (or a president), you can maintain that your success was built on your talents.

On the other hand, if you came from nothing - or are black - it is assumed that you acknowledge your benefactors: the society that allowed you to rise. Nowhere was that more clear in Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling's rant about his players, which framed them more as his capital than as athletic geniuses in their own right:

"I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them? Do I know that I have - who makes the game? Do I make the game, or do they make the game? Is there 30 owners that created the league?"

This benefactor trickle down economics holds that the poor rise to wealth not by a preponderance of talent, but by the benevolence of the wealthy. Far from unaware of this, plutocratic corporate slavery is a common theme in Kanye's music, most present in " New Slaves ", where he rails against corporations and the prison industrial complex:

Fuck you and your corporation / Y'all niggas can't control me
So go and grab the reporters / So I can smash their recorders...
Meanwhile the DEA / Teamed up with the CCA
They try'na look niggas up / They try'na make new slaves
See that's that privately owned prison

Kanye's clashes with authorities and power were not limited to his music, however. After Hurricane Katrina, while presenting for A Concert for Hurricane Relief, Kanye deviated, going unscripted with a quavering voice and a meandering thesis.

Um...I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, 'They're looting.' You see a white family, it says, 'They're looking for food.' And, you know, it's been five days because most of the people are black.

After co-presenter Mike Myers returned to the script for his lines, Kanye blurted out:

George Bush doesn't care about black people

His awkwardly delivered emotional interjection was only one in a series of actions that might well be considered PR mistakes if Kanye didn't seem so consistent in his message, and so clairvoyantly prophetic.

His words on racially biased media portrayal only feel more relevant now, with recent attention brought to the double standard for riots against police brutality, or the representation of gunned down black teenagers. Ye wants us to "face it" that "Jerome get more time than Brandon" and "at the airport they check all through my bag and tell me that it's random".

Of course, it is not black America he wants to face this fact. In his mind, the swelling of black discontent is a sort of gestalt wisdom, and gang violence in the inner city is a reflection of the violence inherent in the disenfranchising inception of blacks into America via slavery:

Inter-century anthems based off inner city tantrums
Based off the way we was branded

Just a year prior to that outburst, he had rapped about police brutality, a topic which is increasingly relevant amidst recent light shone on racially-informed hyper policing, violent police reactions to protests, and police brutality like so-called rough rides.

Getting choked by detectives, yeah yeah now check the method
They be askin' us questions, harass and arrest us,
Sayin' "We eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast"

In his first album, he railed against the declining value of a college education on " All Falls Down", suggesting that he only ever went to college because he felt society wouldn't take him seriously without a degree. However, when he realized that his degree wouldn't make money anyway, he dropped out of college to pursue music - what he had wanted in the first place.

She's so self-conscious / She has no idea what she's doing in college
That major that she majored in don't make no money
But she won't drop out, her parents will look at her funny
...The concept of school seems so secure
Sophomore, three years, ain't picked a career
She like, fuck it, I'll just stay down here and do hair

Fast forward ten years to questions about the employability of recent college grads and their growing student debt and you have to wonder: should we be listening to Kanye West when he says the system is broken?

The system broken, the school is closed, the prisons open
We ain't got nothin' to lose, mothafucka' we rollin'

While he has occasionally made shows of contrition for the blunt presentation of his views, he rarely retreats from his positions, even in retrospect. While being "real" had come to mean being "street" or "hard" in the rap of Kanye's time, he sees being "real" as never having to front.

Everything I'm not made me everything I am
I never could see why people reach a
fake-ass facade that they couldn't keep up

As he put it in an interview after his Hurricane Katrina improvisation:

It wasn't a matter of being selfish. It's more like I was being selfless - that I would risk everything to express what I felt was the truth

However, his honesty has met with plenty of resistance. Much as Richard Sherman was branded a thug for aggressively self-labeling himself "the best corner in the game", Kanye West has been criticized for his ego, an image he seems to not only be aware of, but to actively embrace.

In " Gorgeous" (from the same album as Power), Ye expresses his desire to be the best now. He doesn't want to rest on his laurels or be compared to the past because even being a Beatle (one of the most loved musical groups of all time) would be tainted by racism.

I was looking at my resume feeling real fresh today
They rewrite history, I don't believe in yesterday
And what's a black Beatle anyway, a fucking roach?

However, in " Power ", an aggressive diatribe from the same album as "Gorgeous", he calls the "screams from the haters" his "superhero... theme music", absorbing their criticism as confirmation of his greatness.

And I embody every characteristic of the egotistic
He knows, he's so fucking gifted
This pimp is at the top of Mount Olympus
Ready for the World's game, this is my Olympics

He has even gone so far as to adopt the name Yeezus (an obvious parallel to "Jesus"), a name he shares with his 6th and possibly most political album. The album starts with " On Sight ", a song which sounds like it owes more to Nine Inch Nails' screeching riffs than to hip-hop, and sets the tone for any blowback the political album might have, asking

How much do I not give a fuck?
Let me show you right now 'fore you give it up

before continuing with his superhero theme with a Batman reference:

He'll give us what we need / It may not be what we want

From there, he transitions into " BLKKK SKINHEAD", a minimalistic drum, bass, and breathing backed rap anthem that would have been right at home alongside Marilyn Manson's " Rock is Dead" or " Beautiful People ".

"BLKKK SKINHEAD" turns white supremacy on its head with a video featuring a black KKK and snapping German Shepherds shrouded in darkness as an intro for a video that consists solely of Kanye West's stumbling, jumping, and flailing black body.

While in "Gorgeous" he had lamented the effect of blackness on his critical acclaim, in "BLKKK SKINHEAD" he appears to have found his stride: why try to hide from his blackness when even one drop of blackness will taint his image?

I'm doing 500, I'm outta control
But there's nowhere to go / And there's no way to slow
If I knew what I knew in the past
I would have been blacked out on your ass

The imagery of black supremacy is quickly replaced by Ye Supremacy in " I am a God". In an interview with Rolling Stone, Kanye explained that his motives for his song "I am a God" were simple: by blurring the lines between rap and rock (like Marilyn Manson or Nine Inch Nails) as he did in Yeezus, he is - as he said in "Power" - doing "it better than anybody you ever seen do it". Ssince "no one man should have all that power", his sway over the future of music proves his status as a musical deity.

I made that song because I am a god. I don't think there's much more explanation. I'm not going to sit here and defend shit. That shit is rock & roll man. That shit is rap music. I am a god...
My ego is my drug. My drug is "I'm better than all you other motherfuckers. Kiss my ass!"

If Yeezus sees himself as a god, what are his teachings? It seems quite clear that he sees hip-hop as having the potential to be a sort of gospel, asking:

Is hip-hop just a euphemism for a new religion?
The soul music of the slaves that the youth is missing?
This is more than just my road to redemption.

It is absolutely irrefutable that Kanye West wants the world to recognize his greatness. However, this is only part of the whole: his dedication to recognizing all greatness. While he is perhaps best known for storming the stage to voice his opinion that Taylor Swift's music video award should have gone to Beyonce, it's important to note that he has given up several of his own awards that he felt belonged to other people, even talking over the music that attempted to usher him off stage.

If there is one commandment in the church of Yeezus, it is the recognition of greatness. As he asks in " No Church in The Wild ":

What's a mob to a king? What's a king to a god?
What's a god to a non-believer?

In the metaphysics of Yeezus, there is no point to greatness that is exceeded or unrecognized: a mob may have power, but a king can rule; a king may rule, but a god is supreme. However, a god has no power over a non-believer, and thus greatness must be practiced and lived, not merely rested on. Even in "I am a God", he acknowledges that he will only retain his position "until the day I get struck by lightning" - that is to say struck down by another god.

Even when he had only produced albums, he had set his sights on being the greatest rapper in the world, telling an early interviewer (well before his first album):

America, y'all have to see me. Gonna have to get used to that face.

Kanye West is aware that - much like the Clippers' players - he is an entertainer, unintentionally filling into a historical racial story of " black as entertainer ", but trying to subvert that by defying expectations. He promotes his image as an entertainer knowing that it gives him a platform from which to preach his gospel.

As long as I'm in Polo smiling, they think they got me
But they would try to crack me if they ever see a black me
I thought I chose a field where they couldn't sack me
If a nigga ain't shootin' a jump shot, running a track meet

Embracing this position, he invokes imagery of King Kong, a story which may allude to the kidnapping of Africans from Africa via slavery, and their historical position in American society as objects of spectacle, especially in violence and death.

They see a black man with a white woman
At the top floor they gonna come to kill King Kong
Middle America packed in / Came to see me in my black skin

It's not all about recognition of Kanye's own greatness, however. Kanye West's music is aimed at recognizing the otherwise invalidated.

I won't be satisfied 'til all my niggas get [the cash]

Ultimately, we know what Kanye is about, and it's the recognition of the unapologetic self. The metaphor he speaks through may be his own, but just like the "she" in "All Falls Down" is actually Kanye, the voice of Kanye is actually just the voice of his audience.

Go listen to all my music; it's the codes of self-esteem, it's the codes of who you are. If you're a Kanye West fan, you're not a fan of me, you're a fan of yourself. You will believe in yourself. I'm just the espresso. I'm just the shot in the morning to get you going, to make you believe that you can overcome that situation that you're dealing with all the time.

Kanye West is the voice of self-esteem, the recognition of self-greatness, the voice of an America that has lost its confidence, the voice of a black America that is struggling to hold onto its feelings of validity in an America that seems intent on forcing it out like so many white blood cells hunting after a foreign invader.

When we hear critically acclaimed rapper Kendrick Lamar say "I love myself", we are hearing a commandment that has been fostered by Kanye West for years: Love Thyself.

If you value what you've read here, please like and recommend this piece, and follow me on Facebook. If you want to further support me, check out my Patreon and consider becoming a patron!

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Unapologetically Black - Kanye West as Philosopher, Prophet, and God of Self-Love

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Kanye West "ain't even supposed to be here", and he knows it, even if it was Jay-Z who said it. Like most successful black Americans, his story begins in adversity. One of his early hits, "Through The Wire", was recorded through his recently shattered jaw - still wired shut - just two weeks after the responsible car crash.

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Zoe Hoffenberg

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What it means to be unapologetically black

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Zoe Hoffenberg

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Will we as educators blaze a new trail or continue on the paths of injustice? An open letter to my colleagues.
Dear Fellow Educators,

I don't have to tell you, the demands on us are great. We juggle planning and grading; we strive for our students to show academic growth; and perhaps, most importantly, we push ourselves to create inclusive classrooms where our students can do more than become just founts of knowledge -- spaces where they can grow in empathy and compassion towards one another. At times, these lofty aspirations can feel daunting. But I wholeheartedly believe that if we truly want to see a better, more just world, the work begins now -- and with the children that we teach each and every day in our classrooms. After all, they'll eventually be the citizens, artists, innovators, and policy makers of tomorrow. So we must ask: will we be complacent and let them continue down the current paths of injustice we see within our country or will we empower them to blaze new trails of growth, healing and justice?

How do we start on a new path?
Such a goal, or even moral responsibility begs many questions, mainly: How can it be done?

The reality is that the work of promoting empathy and tolerance begins the moment we, ourselves, are ready to face it and tackle it with as much passion as we put towards improving their scholarship. It starts when we as educators are willing to lean into the difficulty and discomfort of social teaching and embrace the complexities that surround topics like race, equity and social justice in 2020. Children need far more than academic prowess to succeed in the world. It's our job to help them navigate social situations and to dismantle the systems that make it difficult for students to understand and show love and respect towards one another.

Accept implicit bias to create change
First and foremost, before we can confront intolerance with children, we must confront it within ourselves. For me, being a member of the LGBTQIA community and in an interracial marriage, I believed that I completely understood the challenges of being a member of a marginalized group and that I wasn't capable of subscribing to painful stereotypes. This thinking stayed the same until I began participating in training with my colleagues where I listened to the experiences of other educators, and even shared my own. It's imperative that we learn from one another, collaborate on solutions, and most importantly, take the time to engage in necessary conversations around racism and the inequities that exist in America's education system. I now accept and better understand implicit bias because, whether we like it or not, we live in a world that feeds us harmful and often dehumanizing ideas and generalizations about specific groups. So we must recognize and dismantle our own unconscious biases because they affect our perceptions of our students. Dismantling these falsehoods (or at least noticing that they exist and working towards undoing them) gives us the ability to break down the cycles and systems that discriminate against and oppress many of our students.

Normalize diversity to thrive in a multicultural world
After beginning the work within myself and accessing valuable resources, I spent much of this past school year with the notion that we cannot simply celebrate diversity, but we must also normalize it. Normalization for children helps them grow into adults who accept and thrive in a vibrant, multicultural world rather than fear it or resist it. We can hope that children who are taught how to be open-minded, collaborative, and accepting become adults who possess these same characteristics. When multiculturalism is recognized and prioritized in our classrooms during children's most formative educational years, naturally the ability for them to empathize and practice anti-racism is done sooner than later in their lives. It's unacceptable for college or the workplace to be the first space where a person faces, learns about and works alongside someone of a different race, sexuality or belief system.

Change thinking and remove ingrained systems
Making the commitment towards equity and anti-racism at school involves a shift in thinking, changes in practice and removing policies and systems that create barriers. Our journey is one of continual growth, learning and improvement. As a first step, we can actively diversify our storybooks, read-aloud texts, and canons of literature to reveal the lives of Asian, Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ, Jewish, Latinx and Muslim characters. We can acknowledge annual holidays outside of the Christian tradition. And we can evolve our teaching practice to include digging into (rather than avoiding) open conversations when we witness bullying and microaggressions; validating the opinions and emotions of students when they experience both the joys and trials of their individuality; participating in different alliances and student unions for the students that don't feel represented within the school community at large; talking to our students and families about their school experiences; communicating with school administrators about improving school policies around equity and providing teachers opportunities for continued professional growth and learning.

Expand diversity learning throughout the year
The best part of this work is that it's not "seasonal," but rather all-encompassing. Specifically, the teaching of Black history must not start and end in the month of February and should not be limited to the topics of slavery and the Civil Rights Movement, just as Asian, Latinx, or LGBTQ history is not linked to an isolated month of the year or to one notable individual within that specific culture. Further, the best education around these cultures highlights the historical obstacles, but more importantly, the joys and triumphs too. Similarly, it doesn't have to exist apart from your academics as a separate entity -- it can be intentionally woven into your academic lessons to both supplement and enrich them. Always consider and offer your students alternatives to the prevailing, dominant narrative because this is often the white narrative which sometimes carries incorrect notions of supremacy that are tied to systemic racism.

To achieve equitable systems in the world, start in the classroom
With all of this in mind, I accept and do this work the best that I can and with as much energy and fidelity as I can bring given the highs and lows of a typical school year. Even with the challenges, I would argue that if we want equitable systems in the world, we must create equitable systems and conditions in our classrooms first. Intentionally becoming a better model, initiating more anti-racist interaction, and creating room for all of your students to bring something personal and valuable to the table are easy ways to get the changes started. We must accept that we as teachers are agents of change in the minds of students, parents, colleagues and the community. I've seen how even a small shift in our practices can make a monumental difference. We as teachers must own our impact, embrace this work and break away from the systems that diminish the diverse students we serve. With that power, I invite you to join me so that we can know better, be better and do better by all of our students together.

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prioritizing empathy and anti-racism in schools

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Prioritizing Empathy and Anti-Racism in Schools | PBS Education

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Will we as educators blaze a new trail or continue on the paths of injustice? An open letter to my colleagues. Dear Fellow Educators, I don't have to tell you, the demands on us are great.

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‘Hidden Figures’: 10 of the Film’s Stars and Their Real-Life Inspirations

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The untold story of the three African-American, female mathematicians who helped win the Space Race even as they dealt with sexism and racism from their colleagues.

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Best Practices

Encourage and affirm self-identification

Use "updated" in the place of "preferred" when referring to a name transition.

Use "pronouns" in place of "preferred pronouns."

Do NOT assume gender or pronouns.

Introduce yourself with your pronouns. By doing so you acknowledge that pronouns and names matter and individuals are more likely to feel comfortable doing the same.

If you do introductions, suggest that individuals say their names and pronouns. However, never insist someone say their pronouns. Insisting is counter productive to self-identification.

Do NOT assume: Gender Is NOT Obvious

Avoid stereotyping gender roles i.e. asking "women" to clean up or "men" to move boxes.

Use inclusive, gender neutral, language. Avoid calling a group "guys" or "ladies and gentlemen." "Students," "folks," and "ya'll" are great alternatives.

Apologize if you mis-gender someone

If you make a mistake, correct yourself. Going on as if it did not happen is actually less respectful than making the correction. This also saves the person who was misidentified from having to correct an incorrect pronoun assumption that has now been planted in the minds of any other participants in the conversation who heard the mistake.

If someone else makes a mistake, correct them. It is polite to provide a correction, whether or not the person whose pronoun as misused is present, in order to avoid future mistakes and in order to correct the mistaken assumption that might now have been planted in the minds of any other participants in the conversation who heard the mistake.

Do NOT read names off of rosters. Use alternative attendance taking methods:

Ask the individuals present to identify themselves. Then settle any discrepancies with printed or electronic materials in private.

Pass around an attendance sheet, asking individuals to write their names, their roster names (if different), and their pronouns.

Bring supplies for individuals to make name tents for their desks. Make it clear that you're asking that they write their name (which you know is not necessarily their roster name). Invite them to also include their pronouns. Collect the name tents at the end of class & hand them back at the beginning of all subsequent meetings. Be sure to make one for yourself as well.

This list was compiled using a variety of sources including Mount Holyoke College's Supporting Trans and Non-Binary Students webpage.
Name Update Information for Transgender and Non-Binary Students

If you ever wish to connect in person about this process or anything else, contact us at intercultural [at] emerson.edu .

Emerson recognizes that transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming students may not use the name that they were assigned at birth, as it does not reflect their identity. We also recognize that for a variety of reasons students may not wish to go through a legal name change or may be in the middle of doing so, but wish to have their records reflect their chosen name before the process is complete.

There are three types of names that the college can have on file for one individual:

Legal Name: the name that appears on your current government identifications such as your birth certificate, social security card, or passport.

Preferred Name: which is your "Updated Name" is meant to be your proper name.

College Recognized Name: which is your "Nickname" is meant to be a substitute for your proper name (if you have one that you like to go by).

Example
Note: without a court documented legal name change, ONLY first names may be updated.
Legal name - Joseph Doe
Preferred Name - Jennifer Doe
College Recognized Name - Jen Doe

For name updates that do NOT require legal documentation complete this form and note the following:

For verification purposes, all correspondence about your name update request will be made via your current emerson.edu email account.

Mail sent to your home address will typically use your updated name; please keep this in mind when determining if it is safe for you to update your name with the College.

Your legal name will still be used for such items as a transcript and anywhere else that your legal name is required, including but not limited to insurance claims, medical records, immigration information, tax forms and loan documents. Visit this table to learn where you should expect to see your college recognized name (nickname) or preferred name (updated name).

Your legal name does NOT have to appear on your diploma or be called as you cross the stage at graduation. In your final semester you will receive a Declaration of Intent to Graduate form where you may designate your name as you would like for it to appear on your diploma.

Emerson College transcripts and diplomas do NOT specifically reference gender.

We are working to include pronouns where helpful, but we do not have the capability at this time.

To receive an updated Emerson Identification (EID) at no cost, you will have to turn in your current EID; the ID Office is located on the first floor of Piano Row in the near the Piano Row laundry room. Note: The first reprint of an ID Card, requesting a name update, will be free of charge for Students, Faculty and Staff. There will be a $25.00 reprint fee associated with any additional name update requests. Legal name changes will continue to be free of charge.

Please complete this short survey to provide feedback about your experience with this process.

If you ever wish to connect in person about this process or anything else, contact us at intercultural [at] emerson.edu .

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Best Practices Encourage and affirm self-identification Use "updated" in the place of "preferred" when referring to a name transition. Use "pronouns" in place of "preferred pronouns." Do NOT assume gender or pronouns. Introduce yourself with your pronouns. By doing so you acknowledge that pronouns and names matter and individuals are more likely to feel comfortable doing the same.

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South Africa was as surprised as the rest of the world at the popular uprisings in the United States in 2020, even though it had seen the 2015 student protests in support of decolonising South African education on various university campuses.

These highlighted the fact that despite two decades of democracy, systemic racism and exclusions were still rampant in education and every other sector of South African life. Rallying behind the call of #RhodesMustFall, they demanded the taking down of the statue of the arch-imperialist at the University of Cape, among whose vices was the formal introduction of the colour-bar into South African sport in 1894. The events in the northern summer of 2020 mirrored in many ways these earlier South African student protests, the impact of which have been particularly powerful because of the large-scale economic marginalisation of most black South Africans and the perceived failure of the democratic government to redress the situation. Rhodes's statue was duly removed and South African students at Oxford University subsequently demanded the same treatment for a Rhodes statue there, too.

When Black Lives Matter generated US and British acts of solidarity in July 2020, it had an immediate, dramatic impact in sport in South Africa. Before a special post-lockdown match to mark 102 years since the birth of Nelson Mandela, Lungi Ngidi, voted South Africa's best one-day and T20 player in the previous season, was rolled out for the obligatory press conference. Asked what he thought about Black Lives Matter the young fast-bowler commented: "It is definitely something we would be addressing as a team. And if we're not, it's obviously something that I would bring up. It's something that we need to take seriously, like the rest of the world is doing."

Players take a knee before a 3TC Solidarity Cup cricket match at SuperSport Park, Pretoria, in July. Photograph: Kim Ludbrook/EPA

Ngidi's calm response to a routine question ruffled the feathers of a cohort of former white Test players. Tapping into language codes that said more than words, they took issue with him on social media, with Rudi Steyn opening the batting. He was against racism, but if the Proteas stood for BLM "while ignoring the way white farmers are daily being 'slaughtered' like animals, they have lost my vote". Boeta Dippenaar said BLM was nothing more than a leftist political movement, started by Marxists whose aim was to break down family life and "if you want me to stand shoulder to shoulder with you Lungi, then stand shoulder to shoulder with me with regard to farm attacks". He also suggested Ngidi should do some reading: Milton Friedman and others.

Pat Symcox, known as a bullish anti-transformation and change voice, charged in: "What nonsense is this. He must take his own stand if he wishes. Stop trying to get the Proteas involved in his belief. Besides the fact that right now Cricket South Africa should be closed down. A proper dog-and-pony show with cricket being dragged through the mud daily. Buy popcorn and watch. Now when Ngidi has his next meal perhaps he would rather consider supporting the farmers of South Africa who are under pressure right now. A cause worth supporting."

These responses drew straight from alt-right perspectives in the US and South Africa. The right-wing lobby group AfriForum had developed close relations with the US alt-right, who took up its narrative that the democratic government was callous to a genocide being levelled against white farmers in South Africa. The commentator Ashwin Desai described the idea that the movement was part of an international left conspiracy sucking in LeBron James, Lewis Hamilton, the Premier League players who took the knee and the South African cricketers as "Monty Pythonesque" thinking, noting also that Symcox was consistent with "his call that his [white] contemporaries should be running South African cricket". The former all-rounder Brian McMillan then wheeled in to bowl with hardly a thought, dismissing the whole issue as "a load of crap", making one wonder if he could have witnessed the killing of George Floyd.

Siya Kolisi, the South Africa captain, sings the national anthem with Tendai Mtawarira (right) before the 2019 Rugby World Cup final. Photograph: David Rogers/Getty Images

These comments invited outrage and the debate soon reached tinderbox proportions on social media. Cricketers, led by South Africa's first black captain, Ashwell Prince, were among those to respond. He said the system in cricket and the country was broken and that it was time for honesty and for black players to speak up. He and former teammates started conferring about a collective statement on the matter. Soon 31 ex-Proteas and five senior coaches had signed up, supported next day by a powerful statement from Hashim Amla, South Africa's highest-scorer in Test matches, with 311 not out. Top of the list was Makhaya Ntini, the first black African player to represent South Africa, who played 100 Tests in a stellar career, which saw him take the fourth-highest number of wickets for his country. Ngidi's fellow players commended him for his actions and came out "strongly in support in support of #BLM". They noted the views by Symcox and others and said they needed to be challenged:

We are not surprised at their comments. Given South Africa's well-known past, black cricketers have borne the brunt of subtle and overt racist behaviour for many years, including from some colleagues. Consequently, there is a need to understand how white privilege feeds into the perpetuation of these old attitudes and assumptions. Our attitude, mistakenly, we now believe, has always been to say: 'These are teething problems, and that these will be resolved if we are patient.' But after almost three decades of cricket unity, the views expressed from one side of the racial divide are still very much part of our lives, and we now believe: 'Teething problems cannot be allowed to continue for this long.'

"All the signatories to the release stated that they have stories to tell about the racism they have had to endure as they strove to get to the top of their sporting careers. Sadly, these have often been at the hands of teammates."

They asked for Cricket South Africa's support in helping to bring these stories into the open, also for that of their colleagues in women's cricket.

Their statement observed that transformation from apartheid was forever given the blame for problems and poor performances, but when South Africa won the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan: "We cannot recall anyone suggesting that the victory was due to transformation."

This after rugby was said to have been "dead - killed by transformation" just two years earlier.

Can there be equal treatment, please, the group asked, underlining that they had represented South Africa on merit: "Far too many white South Africans cannot accept that black cricketers have proved, time without end, that they are good enough to play at the highest level."

Underlining Robin Petersen's observation that this action was about "leadership, strategy, non-racialism and love for our country", the players made a point of inviting "our fellow white cricketers to join in this move to defend human dignity" and said:

We live in a beautiful, diverse country, but where the playing fields are still far from level, and the transformation of cricket and people's lives should be of paramount importance. We are determined that future generations should not have to experience the pain we have had to endure, and that no South African cricketer should be discriminated against in the future. Racism is a global problem and, as the great Michael Holding explained, we can no longer just keep on laughing, grimacing and moving on.

Calling on the name of Mandela in the week of his anniversary, the players stressed finally that lingering racism in cricket "can be tackled once and for all - for the sake of every child and every cricketer in South Africa' if there were 'honesty and sincerity all-round'".

The cricketers now started talking about their personal experiences. Ntini explained how he was dropped after his 100th Test - no series to bid farewell to the fans at each home ground as usually happened. He lost his contract within a month, "from A+ to nothing".

Makhaya Ntini revealed how isolated he felt when playing for South Africa. Photograph: Stéphane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images

But nothing was as powerful as when he spoke about being "forever lonely" during the time he played for South Africa: seldom would a teammate knock on his hotel room door to chill or check in on how he was; there would be dinner-table chat about where people were going out without an invite to come along; or he would just be left to sit alone. He mentioned it was this feeling of isolation that explained his legendary running between hotel and stadium during international matches - "the best weapon of my life"; getting air in his lungs and "running away" from the paradoxical loneliness of the team bus.

Cricket South Africa and its provincial affiliates, as well as the media and civil society, rushed to support the former players and their call for action. When the first match after the lockdown took place on 18 July 2020, a charity event to celebrate Mandela's birth and raise funds for Covid-19 relief, all 36 players and the few officials in an otherwise empty stadium wore BLM armbands and took the knee together.

This breaking of the silence by top players was a catalyst psychologically, shifting South African cricket to the next phase of substantive change. One of those moments where everything changes. The players, acting in solidarity, broke the silence to speak about how the system and old attitudes held black people back. The self-assumed authority and unspoken power that Symcox enjoyed until that moment was gone. A new narrative was replacing the old.

Next day, the newspapers announced that 49 of the top black rugby coaches, including six who had played for the Springboks, were backing the cricketers and BLM. They pointed out the facts: "100% exclusion" of black coaches at the strategic national and professional rugby levels, and the same "100% exclusion" for CEOs and high performance managers. Thirty-nine black sportswomen followed next day.

Cover of Pitch Battles by Peter Hain and André Odendaal. Photograph: Rowman & Littlefield

They were joined by the World Cup-winning captain, Siya Kolisi, after his fans questioned his silence. In an Instagram post, he spoke of the language and cultural alienation he felt growing up, and how he was made to "feel grateful" rather than valued on making the Springbok team in 2013. He said that his silence was now over, even if it meant losing his place in the team.

Thus, the death of a US citizen at the hands of a policeman in Minneapolis reverberated powerfully across the globe to the sports fields of South Africa. There is no gainsaying that top of the agenda in South African sport now is that black lives matter.
Pitch Battles by Peter Hain and André Odendaal is published by Rowman & Littlefield International, £25. To order a copy for £21.75 go to guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

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How Black Lives Matter exposed old wounds in South African cricket

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South Africa was as surprised as the rest of the world at the popular uprisings in the United States in 2020, even though it had seen the 2015 student protests in support of decolonising South African education on various university campuses.

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Celebrating Variety’s Changemakers: The Necessity of Diversity in the Entertainment Industry

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We are thrilled to bring you the Changemakers Issue, honoring the annual Juneteenth holiday and celebrating diverse voices who have a significant impact on the culture through their art, storytelli…

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ost bios begin, "Toni Morrison was an American writer", and indeed the nation should thank her for a body of writing that held a mirror to its soul and social order. The nation should also thank her for being unapologetically black. Without anger, apology or explanation, she moved black life from the margins of American history to the center of stories that excavated American truths. In the process, she reshaped a literature, making it more reflective of the nation that generated it.

We should be grateful to Morrison for undoing storytelling that placed whiteness and maleness at the center of American letters. Instead, she recognized that narratives formerly relegated to silenced fringes can be revelatory. In her first novel, The Bluest Eye (1970), an 11-year-old black girl convinced by an American world of Shirley Temple movies, Mary Jane candies and Dick and Jane primers that she needs blue eyes to be loved anchors a heartbreaking portrait of the devastation caused by personal, familial and societal rejection.

In her Pulitzer prizewinner Beloved (1987), black mothers weary of having their babies taken from them and sold - one mother willing to commit filicide rather than see her child enslaved - demand that we confront slavery's legacies at the human level and feel their full meanings.

A Mercy (2008) is an epic that through the voice of a black female slave reconstitutes the narratives of a multiracial prenational community to counter the mythohistory that whitewashed America. Rather than being exclusionary, Morrison's writing from a black place makes space for many American stories. We should thank her for an example of inclusivity that shows rooting narratives in one experience need not mean the exclusion of others.

In an interview with Paul Gilroy, Morrison once spoke of her desire to "develop a way of writing that was irrevocably black", not because of an author's race or because of its themes, but because of "something intrinsic, indigenous, something in the way it was put together - the sentences, the structure, texture and tone". She envisioned a strategy of writing stemming from the cultural traditions of a race. Across her novels she realizes this aim with nods to jazz, blues, folklore and the folk. These forms and entities made American culture American, and made her fiction incredibly expansive.

Morrison was an avid reader, and one of the things she read best was the United States. The astuteness and eloquence of her nonfiction made her one of America's keenest cultural critics. Her dissection of the ways whiteness as an ideology was ill-suited to a nation that was multiracial from the start points to how supremacist thinking only deepens cultural stratification. Her criticism reminds us that when fear becomes the state of the union, when we are encouraged to be afraid of the very diversity that makes us strong, democracy and social justice become endangered species. Playing in the Dark (1992), The Origin of Others (2017), and The Source of Self-Regard (2019) are now must-reads in a cultural moment trying to comprehend the current incarnations of supremacist ideology.

In the opening of Playing in the Dark, Morrison writes: "I want to draw a map, so to speak, of a critical geography and use that map to open as much space for discovery, intellectual adventure, and close exploration as did the original charting of the New World - without the mandate for conquest." Morrison's New World is the one that might have been, one where difference wasn't viewed as a negative but as a source of wonder. As a nation the United States may need that map now more than ever.

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Unapologetically black: the vision of Toni Morrison | Valerie Babb

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ost bios begin, "Toni Morrison was an American writer", and indeed the nation should thank her for a body of writing that held a mirror to its soul and social order. The nation should also thank her for being unapologetically black.

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How to Be An Anti-Racist, Reading Guide Part 2 - Diversity and Community Engagement

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As part of the Stronger Together initiative, the Office of Community Engagement is hosting book discussions this summer based on Ibram X. Kendi’s book How to Be an Antiracist. These small groups discussions are now closed for summer 2020. For those who are reading along, here are some reflections qu…

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The brute caricature portrays black men as innately savage, animalistic, destructive, and criminal -- deserving punishment, maybe death. This brute is a fiend, a sociopath, an anti-social menace. Black brutes are depicted as hideous, terrifying predators who target helpless victims, especially white women. Charles H. Smith (1893), writing in the 1890s, claimed, "A bad negro is the most horrible creature upon the earth, the most brutal and merciless"(p. 181). Clifton R. Breckinridge (1900), a contemporary of Smith's, said of the black race, "when it produces a brute, he is the worst and most insatiate brute that exists in human form" (p. 174).

George T. Winston (1901), another "Negrophobic" writer, claimed:

When a knock is heard at the door [a White woman] shudders with nameless horror. The black brute is lurking in the dark, a monstrous beast, crazed with lust. His ferocity is almost demoniacal. A mad bull or tiger could scarcely be more brutal. A whole community is frenzied with horror, with the blind and furious rage for vengeance.(pp. 108-109)

During slavery the dominant caricatures of blacks -- Mammy, Coon, Tom, and picaninny -- portrayed them as childlike, ignorant, docile, groveling, and generally harmless. These portrayals were pragmatic and instrumental. Proponents of slavery created and promoted images of blacks that justified slavery and soothed white consciences. If slaves were childlike, for example, then a paternalistic institution where masters acted as quasi-parents to their slaves was humane, even morally right. More importantly, slaves were rarely depicted as brutes because that portrayal might have become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

During the Radical Reconstruction period (1867-1877), many white writers argued that without slavery -- which supposedly suppressed their animalistic tendencies -- blacks were reverting to criminal savagery. The belief that the newly-emancipated blacks were a "black peril" continued into the early 1900s. Writers like the novelist Thomas Nelson Page (1904) lamented that the slavery-era "good old darkies" had been replaced by the "new issue" (blacks born after slavery) whom he described as "lazy, thriftless, intemperate, insolent, dishonest, and without the most rudimentary elements of morality" (pp. 80, 163). Page, who helped popularize the images of cheerful and devoted Mammies and Sambos in his early books, became one of the first writers to introduce a literary black brute. In 1898 he published Red Rock, a Reconstruction novel, with the heinous figure of Moses, a loathsome and sinister black politician. Moses tried to rape a white woman: "He gave a snarl of rage and sprang at her like a wild beast" (pp. 356-358). He was later lynched for "a terrible crime."

The "terrible crime" most often mentioned in connection with the black brute was rape, specifically the rape of a white woman. At the beginning of the twentieth century, much of the virulent, anti-black propaganda that found its way into scientific journals, local newspapers, and best-selling novels focused on the stereotype of the black rapist. The claim that black brutes were, in epidemic numbers, raping white women became the public rationalization for the lynching of blacks.

The lynching of blacks was relatively common between Reconstruction and World War II. According to Tuskegee Institute data, from 1882 to 1951 4,730 people were lynched in the United States: 3,437 black and 1,293 white (Gibson, n.d.). Many of the white lynching victims were foreigners or belonged to oppressed groups, for example, Mormons, Shakers, and Catholics. By the early 1900s lynching had a decidedly racial character: white mobs lynched blacks. Almost 90 percent of the lynchings of blacks occurred in southern or border states.

Many of these victims were ritualistically tortured. In 1904, Luther Holbert and his wife were burned to death. They were "tied to trees and while the funeral pyres were being prepared, they were forced to hold out their hands while one finger at a time was chopped off. The fingers were distributed as souvenirs. The ears...were cut off. Holbert was beaten severely, his skull fractured and one of his eyes, knocked out with a stick, hung by a shred from the socket." Members of the mob then speared the victims with a large corkscrew, "the spirals tearing out big pieces of...flesh every time it was withdrawn" (Holden-Smith, 1996, p. 1).

A mob lynching was a brutal and savage event, and it necessitated that the lynching victim be seen as equally brutal and savage; as these lynchings became more common and more brutal, so did the assassination of the black character. In 1900, Charles Carroll's The Negro A Beast claimed that blacks were more akin to apes than to human beings, and theorized that blacks had been the "tempters of Eve." Carroll said that mulatto ¹ brutes were the rapists and murderers of his time (pp. 167, 191, 290-202). Dr. William Howard, writing in the respectable journal Medicine in 1903, claimed that "the attacks on defenseless White women are evidence of racial instincts" (in blacks), and the black birthright was "sexual madness and excess" (Fredrickson, 1971, p. 279). Thomas Dixon's The Leopard's Spots, a 1902 novel, claimed that emancipation had transformed blacks from "a chattel to be bought and sold into a beast to be feared and guarded" (Fredrickson, p. 280).

In 1905 Dixon published his most popular novel, The Clansman. In this book he described blacks as "half child, half animal, the sport of impulse, whim, and conceit...a being who, left to his will, roams at night and sleeps in the day, whose speech knows no word of love, whose passions, once aroused, are as the fury of the tiger" (Fredrickson, 1971, pp. 280-281). The Clansman includes a detailed and gory account of the rape of a young white virgin by a black brute. "A single tiger springs, and the black claws of the beast sank into the soft white throat." After the rape, the girl and her mother both commit suicide, and the black brute is lynched by the Ku Klux Klan. This book served as the basis for the movie The Birth of a Nation (Griffith, 1915), which also portrayed some blacks as rapist-beasts, justified the lynching of blacks, and glorified the Ku Klux Klan. Carroll, Howard, and Dixon did not exceed the prevailing racism of the so-called Progressive Era.

In 1921-22 the United States House of Representatives and Senate debated the Dyer Bill, an anti-lynching bill. This bill provided fines and imprisonment for persons convicted of lynching in federal courts, and fines and penalties against states, counties, and cities which failed to use reasonable effort to protect citizens from lynch mobs. The Dyer Bill passed in the House of Representatives, but it was killed in the Senate by filibustering southerners who claimed that it was unconstitutional and an infringement upon states' rights (Gibson, n.d., p. 5). The following statements made by southern Congressmen during the Dyer Bill debate suggest that they were more concerned with white supremacy and the oppression of blacks than they were with constitutional issues.

Senator James Buchanan of Texas claimed that in "the Southern States and in secret meetings of the Negro race [white liberals] preach the damnable doctrine of social equality which excites the criminal sensualities of the criminal element of the Negro race and directly incites the diabolical crime of rape upon the white women. Lynching follows as swift as lightning, and all the statutes of State and Nation cannot stop it." (Holden-Smith, 1996, p. 14)

Representative Percy Quin of Mississippi, spoke of lynch law, "Whenever an infamous outrage is committed upon a [Southern] White woman the law is enforced by the neighbors of the woman who has been outraged? The colored people of [the South] realize the manner of that enforcement, and that is the one method by which the horrible crime of rape has been held down where the Negro element is in a large majority. The man who believes that the Negro race is all bad is mistaken. But you must recollect that there is an element of barbarism in the black man, and the people around where he lives recognize that fact." (Holden-Smith, 1996, p. 15)

Representative Sisson of Mississippi said, "as long as rape continues lynching will continue. For this crime, and this crime alone, the South has not hesitated to administer swift and certain punishment....We are going to protect our girls and womenfolk from these black brutes. When these black fiends keep their hands off the throats of the women of the South then lynching will stop..." (Holden-Smith, 1996, p. 16)

Representative Benjamin Tillman from South Carolina claimed that the Dyer Bill would eliminate the states and "substitute for the starry banner of the Republic, a black flag of tyrannical centralized government...black as the face and heart of the rapist...who [recently] deflowered and killed Margaret Lear," a White girl in South Carolina. (Holden-Smith, 1996, p. 14) Tillman asked why anyone should care about the "burning of an occasional ravisher," when the House had more important concerns. (Holden-Smith, 1996, p. 16)

Senator T.H. Caraway of Arkansas claimed that the NAACP, "wrote this bill and handed it to the proponents of it. These people had but one idea in view, and that was to make rape permissible, and to allow the guilty to go unpunished if that rape should be committed by a Negro against a white woman in the South." (Holden-Smith, 1996, p. 16)

Despite the hyperbolic claims of those Congressmen, most of the blacks lynched had not been accused of rape or attempted rape. According to the Tuskegee Institute's lynching data, the accusations against lynching victims for the years 1882 to 1951 were: 41 percent for felonious assault, 19.2 percent for rape, 6.1 percent for attempted rape, 4.9 percent for robbery and theft, 1.8 percent for insulting white people, and 27 percent for miscellaneous offenses (for example, trying to vote, testifying against a white man, asking a white woman to marry) or no offenses at all (Gibson, n.d., p. 3). The 25.3% who were accused of rape or attempted rape were often not guilty, and were killed without benefit of trial. Gunnar Myrdal (1944), a Swedish social scientist who studied American race relations, stated:

There is much reason to believe that this figure [25.3 percent] has been inflated by the fact that a mob which makes the accusation of rape is secure from any further investigation; by the broad Southern definition of rape to include all sexual relations between Negro men and white women; and by the psychopathic fears of white women in their contacts with Negro men. (pp. 561-562)

Lynchings often involved castration, amputation of hands and feet, spearing with long nails and sharpened steel rods, removal of eyes, beating with blunt instruments, shooting with bullets, burning at the stake, and hanging. It was, when done by southern mobs, especially sadistic, irrespective of the criminal charge. Most white southerners agreed that lynching was evil, but they claimed that black brutes were a greater evil.

Lynchings were necessary, argued many whites, to preserve the racial purity of the white race, more specifically, the racial purity of white women. White men had sexual relations -- consensual and rape -- with black women as soon as Africans were introduced into the European American colonies. These sexual unions produced numerous mixed-race offspring. White women, as "keepers of white racial purity," were not allowed consensual sexual relations with black men. A black man risked his life by having sexual relations with a white woman. Even talking to a white woman in a "familiar" manner could result in black males being killed.

In 1955, Emmett Till, a black fourteen year old from Chicago, visited his relatives in Mississippi. The exact details are not known, but Till apparently referred to a female white store clerk as "Baby." Several days later, the woman's husband and brother took Till from his uncle's home, beat him to death -- his head was crushed and one eye was gouged out--and threw his body into the Tallahatchie River. The men were caught, tried, and found innocent by an all-white jury. The case became a cause celebre during the civil rights movement, showing the nation that brutal violence undergirded Jim Crow laws and etiquette.

There were black rapists with white victims, but they were relatively rare; most white rape victims were raped by white men. The brute caricature was a red herring, a myth used to justify lynching, which in turn was used as a social control mechanism to instill fear in black communities. Each lynching sent messages to blacks: Do not register to vote. Do not apply for a white man's job. Do not complain publicly. Do not organize. Do not talk to white women. The brute caricature gained in popularity whenever blacks pushed for social equality. According to Allen D. Grimshaw (1969), a sociologist, the most savage oppression of blacks by whites, whether expressed in rural lynchings or urban race riots, has taken place when blacks have refused or been perceived by whites as refusing to accept a subordinate or oppressed status (pp. 264-265).

The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s forced many white Americans to examine their images of and beliefs about blacks. Television and newspaper coverage showing black protesters, including children, being beaten, arrested, and jailed by baton-waving police officers led many whites to see blacks as victims, not victimizers. The brute caricature did not die, but it lost much of its credibility. Not surprisingly, lynchings, especially public well-attended ones, decreased in number. Lynchings became "hate crimes," committed secretly. Beginning in the 1960s the relatively few blacks who were lynched were not accused of sexual assaults; instead, these lynchings were reactions of white supremacists to black economic and social progress.

The brute caricature has not been as common as the Coon caricature in American movies. The Birth of a Nation (Griffiths, 1915) was the first major American movie to portray all the major anti-black caricatures, including the brute. That movie led to numerous black protests and white-initiated race riots. One result of the racial strife was that black male actors in the 1920s through 1940s found themselves limited to Coon and Tom roles. It was neither socially acceptable nor economically profitable to show movies where black brutes terrorized whites.

In the 1960s and 1970s "Blaxploitation" movies brought aggressive, anti-white black males onto the big screen. Some of these fit the "Buck" caricature -- for example, the private detective in Shaft (Freeman & Parks, 1971) and the pimp in Superfly (Shore & Parks, 1972) -- but some of the Blaxploitation actors were cinematic brutes, for example Melvin Van Peebles' character in Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (Gross, Van Peebles & Van Peebles, 1971). Sweetback, the main character, is falsely accused of a crime. On the lam he assaults several men, rapes a black woman, and kills corrupt police officers. The movie ends with the message: A BAADASSSSS NIGGER IS COMING BACK TO COLLECT SOME DUES. That frightened whites. Young blacks, tired of the Stepin Fetchit portrayals, flocked to see the low-budget movie. Although dressed in the clothes of a rebel, Sweetback was as much a brute as had been the lustful Gus in The Birth of a Nation.

American Gigolo (Bruckheimer & Schrader, 1980) had a poisonous and despicable black pimp. He was one of the many black sadistic pimps who have abused and degraded whites in American movies. Mister---, the husband in The Color Purple (Jones, Kennedy, Marshall, Spielberg & Spielberg, 1985), is an angry and savage wife abuser, and so is Ike Turner in What's Love Got To Do With It? (Chapin, Krost & Gibson, 1993). Both are brutes whose victims happen to be black. Turner's real life criminal behavior (which predated the movie) was used to give credibility to his character's portrayal as a brute and, more importantly, to reinforce the belief that blacks are especially prone to brutish behavior.

In the 1980s and 1990s the typical cinema and television brute was nameless and sometimes faceless; he sprang from a hiding place, he robbed, raped, and murdered. He represented the cold brutality of urban life. Often he was a gangbanger. Sometimes he was a dope fiend. Actors who played the black brute were usually not on screen very long, just long enough to terrorize innocent victims. They were movie props. On television shows like Law and Order, Homicide: Life on the Streets, ER, and NYPD Blue, nameless black brutes assault, maim, and kill. On October 2, 2000, NBC debuted Deadline, a drama involving an irascible journalism teacher. In the first episode two young black males brutally kill five restaurant workers. They kill without remorse.

The recent depiction of black males as brutes is not limited to television dramas. Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight boxing champion, has embraced the brute image. Tyson was marketed as a sadistic and savage warrior who was capable of killing an opponent. His quick knockouts bolstered his reputation as the world's most feared man. Joyce Carol Oates wrote, "Tyson suggests a savagery only symbolically contained within the brightly illuminated ring" (Souther, n.d.). She wrote this a decade before Tyson was convicted of several criminal charges, including the rape of a beauty pageant contestant, and later, the battering of two motorists. After his boxing skills had diminished, Tyson gained greater notoriety by biting the ear of an opponent during a bout. In a news conference Tyson said, "I am an animal. I am a convicted rapist, a hell-raiser, a loving father, a semi-good husband." Referring to Lennox Lewis, the heavyweight boxing champion, Tyson said, "If he ever tries to intimidate me, I'm gonna put a fu--ing bullet through his fu--ing skull" (Serjeant, 2000). Tyson benefited from the brute image. His boxing matches were "events." Spectators paid thousands of dollars for ringside seats. Tyson became the wealthiest and best known athlete on earth. In his mind, he was a twenty-first century gladiator; to the American public, he was simply a black brute.

Tyson is a violent and emotionally unstable man, but he is more than a one-dimensional brute. He has donated thousands of dollars to civic, educational, and humanitarian organizations. Without media fanfare, he has visited hundreds of hospitalized patients, especially seriously ill and injured children. He is smarter than his public image, and has worked diligently to "deepen" his intellect. Yet, he was marketed, with his permission, as a crude savage. Americans see him as an affirmation of the black brute caricature, and he has, especially in recent years, embraced the stereotype outside the boxing ring. Tyson can no longer distinguish the (Iron Mike) myth from the (vicious criminal) madness, and many white Americans cannot separate Tyson's criminal behavior from his blackness.

During the 1988 presidential campaign, George Bush's election committee sought to portray his opponent, Michael Dukakis, as weak on crime. Bush's team used television advertisements which showed a menacing mug shot of Willie Horton, a black convicted murderer. Horton, while out of prison on an unguarded 48-hour furlough, kidnapped a young white suburban couple. He repeatedly stabbed the man and raped the woman several times. The image of Horton's threatening face on the nation's television screens helped Bush win the election. It also reinforced the belief that a black brute is worse than a white brute.

My wife's been shot. I'm shot.... He made us go to an abandoned area. I don't see any signs. Oh, God!

This frantic telephone call came into the Massachusetts State Police on the night of October 23, 1989. After a desperate search, using only the sound from the open cell telephone as their guide, police discovered an injured couple. Carol DiMaiti Stuart, seven months pregnant, had been shot in the head; Charles, her husband, had a serious gunshot wound to the abdomen. Hours later, doctors performed a Cesarean section on the dying woman and delivered a premature baby boy who died days later. Charles Stuart told the police that the murderer was a black man.

The city of Boston, which has a history of racial discord, experienced heightened racial tensions as police searched for the black brute. Officers went into black neighborhoods and rounded up hundreds of black men for questioning. The black community was outraged. Charles Stuart picked Willie Bennett out of a lineup; Bennett was subsequently arrested for the crime (Ogletree, n.d.).

Later, police were informed by Stuart's brother that Charles Stuart probably killed his wife for insurance money. The police began investigating Charles Stuart and were building a strong circumstantial case when, on January 4, 1990, he committed suicide.

In 1994 Susan Smith, a young mother in Union, South Carolina, claimed that a man had commandeered her car with her two boys: 14-month-old Alex and 3-year-old Michael. She described the carjacker as a "black male in his late 20s to early 30s, wearing a plaid shirt, jeans, and a toboggan-type hat." A composite of her description was published in newspapers, nationally and locally. Smith appeared on national television, tearfully begging for her sons to be returned safely. An entire nation wept with her, and the image of the black brute resurfaced. The Reverend Mark Long, the pastor of the church where Smith's family attended services, said in reference to the black suspect, "There are some people that would like to see this man's brains bashed in" (Squires, 1994).

After nine days of a gut-wrenching search and strained relations between local blacks and whites, there was finally a break in the case: Susan Smith confessed to drowning her own sons. In a two-page handwritten confession she apologized to her sons, but she did not apologize to blacks, nationally or locally. "It was hard to be black this week in Union," said Hester Booker, a local black man. "The whites acted so different. They wouldn't speak (to blacks); they'd look at you and then reach over and lock their doors. And all because that lady lied" (Fields, 1994).

The false allegations of Charles Stuart and Susan Smith could have led to racial violence. In 1908, in Springfield, Illinois, Mabel Hallam, a white woman, falsely accused "a black fiend," George Richardson, of raping her. Her accusations angered local whites. They formed a mob, killed two blacks chosen randomly, then burned and pillaged the local black community. Blacks fled to avoid a mass lynching. Hallam later admitted that she lied about the rape to cover up an extramarital affair.

How many lynchings and race riots have resulted from false accusations of rape and murder leveled against so-called black brutes?

© Dr. David Pilgrim, Professor of Sociology
Ferris State University
Nov., 2000
Edited 2012

1 The tragic mulatto caricature was sometimes treated as an adult; albeit, a troubled, white-identified, self-loathing adult.

References

Breckinridge, C. R. (1900). Speech of the Honorable Clifton R. Breckinridge: In Southern Society for the Promotion of the Study of Race Conditions and Problems in the South, Race Problems of the South: Report of the proceedings of the first annual conference held under the auspices of the Southern Society for the Promotion of the Study of Race Conditions and Problems in the South, at Montgomery, Alabama, May 8, 9, 10, A.D. 1900. Richmond, VA: B. F. Johnson Pub. Co.

Bruckheimer, J. (Producer), & Schrader, P. (Director). (1980). American gigolo [Motion picture]. United States: Paramount Pictures.

Carroll, C. (1900). "The Negro a beast"; or, "In the image of God". St. Louis, MO: American Book and Bible House.

Chapin, D., & Krost, B. (Producers), & Gibson, B. (Director). (1993). What's love got to do with it [Motion picture]. United States: Touchstone Pictures.

Dixon, T. (1905). The clansman: an historical romance of the Ku Klux Klan. New York, NY: Grosset & Dunlap.

Dixon, T. (1902). The leopard's spots; a romance of the white man's burden - 1865-1900. New York, NY: Grosset & Dunlap.

Fields, R. (1994, November 4). Black residents hurt, angered. The Herald-Journal (Spartenberg S.C.). Retrieved from http://jclass.umd.edu/archive/newshoax/casestudies/crime/CrimeSmith1104c.html.

Fredrickson, G. M. (1971). The black image in the white mind: The debate on Afro-American character and destiny, 1817-1914. New York, NY: Harper & Row.

Freeman, J. (Producer), & Parks, G. (Director). (1971). Shaft [Motion picture]. United States: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Gibson, R.A. (n.d.). The Negro holocaust: Lynching and race riots in the United States, 1890-1950. New Haven, CT: Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. Retrieved from http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1979/2/79.02.04.x.html.

Griffith, D. W. (Producer/Director). (1915). The birth of a nation [Motion picture]. United States: David W. Griffith Corp.

Grimshaw, A. D. (Ed.) (1969). Racial violence in the United States. Chicago, IL: Aldine Pub. Co.

Gross, J., & Van Peebles, M. (Producers), & Van Peebles, M. (Director). (1971). Sweet Sweetback's baadasssss song [Motion picture]. United States: Yeah.

Holden-Smith, B. (1996). Lynching, federalism, and the intersection of race and gender in the Progressive era. Yale Journal of Law and Feminism. Retrieved from http://library2.lawschool.cornell.edu/hein/Holden-Smith,%20Barbara%208%20Yale%20J.L.%20&%20Feminism%2031%201996.pdf.

Jones, Q., Kennedy, K., Marshall, F., & Spielberg, S. (Producers), & Spielberg, S. (Director). The color purple [Motion picture]. United States: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Myrdal, G. (1944). An American dilemma: the Negro problem and modern democracy. New York, NY: Harper.

Ogletree, C. (n.d.) The Basic Black Forum with Charles Ogletree.

Page, T. N. (1898). Red Rock: A chronicle of Reconstruction. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons.

Page, T. N. (1904). The Negro: The southerner's problem. New York, NY: C. Scribner's Sons.

Shore, S. (Producer), & Parks, G. Jr. (Director). (1972). Superfly. United States: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Smith, C.H. (1893). Have Negroes too much liberty? Forum, XVI.

Souther, R. (n.d.). Celestial timepiece - The Joyce Carol Oates home page. Retrieved from http://www.usfca.edu/jco/.

Squires, C., & Greer, Jr., R. (1994, October 30). Frustration mounts in search. The Herald-Journal (Spartenberg S.C.). Retrieved from http://jclass.umd.edu/archive/newshoax/casestudies/crime/CrimeSmith1030a.html.

Winston, G.T. (1901). The relations of the whites to the Negroes. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, XVII.

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The brute caricature portrays black men as innately savage, animalistic, destructive, and criminal -- deserving punishment, maybe death. This brute is a fiend, a sociopath, an anti-social menace. Black brutes are depicted as hideous, terrifying predators who target helpless victims, especially white women. Charles H.

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In the mid-1970s, civil rights advocates painted a red line on the street in Seattle’s Central District, running along 14th Avenue from Yesler Way north to Union Street. The protest action aimed to dramatize a longstanding grievance: redlining. Redlining was a discriminatory practice that restricted…

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Fractured, disjointed, broken, steeped in systemic racism. These are all words used to describe the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the American healthcare system long before the COVID-19 global pandemic. Now entering the third year of pandemic life and an unending public health crisis, the problems that existed before have only been magnified.

"Healthcare has always been very disjunctive [and] mental health care has never been involved," said Irnise Williams a registered nurse and health law attorney. "Everything is very pocketed where you can get one service here, one service there, but nothing is holistic. Nothing is coordinated. Nothing is together so it's always been a struggle."

The American public healthcare system is on life support. Facing shortages of both doctors and nurses there are not enough providers and practitioners to take care of all the people who are in need of help. Reasons for the shortages include burnout and lack of access to mental health services. Of the providers who are available, diversity is lacking among the ranks and many are forgoing family medicine for specialties to be able to make a decent living and tackle their hefty burden of student loan debt. Small, rural health systems are also facing bankruptcy and closing.

As for the patient populace most impacted by these tremors, they are Black and Brown communities and people who are one or two missed paychecks or a broken bone away from poverty. People who don't have a way to access the equitable care they need because of lack of adequate transportation. Health literacy is also insufficient due to distrust and misinformation. And finally, discrimination within the medical system itself puts minority communities at a higher risk of death.

Understanding The Problem Before COVID

400,000. That's the number of additional White people who would have to die from COVID to equal the number and rate of death of Black people in an ordinary pandemic year. Mortality demographer and University of Minnesota Sociology Professor, Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, studies how many people are dying and their causes of death. She wanted to know how the pandemic's mortality compared to a normal, typical year. She said the 400,000 number was shocking to her, but that was not all.

"For white life expectancy to fall down to Black life expectancy-this is in normal non pandemic times-would take perhaps 700,000 or up to a million additional white deaths from COVID in one year," Wrigley-Field said.

Her research found that Black and brown communities experienced pandemic levels of death every year before COVID.

Dr. NanaEfua Afoh-Manin MD, MPH, an emergency room doctor in Los Angeles said the biggest and most prominent issue in the American health care system is discrimination and racism: "When certain people of color show up, there is a perception of how their health is perceived, whether they're rich or poor."

When doctors and nurses don't believe Black and brown people when they say they are sick or in pain, this is medical racism in its purest form.

"[But] that's not the only way to think about what racism is doing," Wrigley-Field said. She said that we must consider both the functions of racism classism in our medical system by asking a series of questions:

Why are Black people more likely to be poor?

How different is the treatment of poverty, if you're Black [versus] if you're white?

Why is the U.S. so hostile to people who are poor?

How much of that is about the way racism is expressed through poverty, and reactions to poverty?

Doctor Afoh-Manin said it this way: "There's different people who live in Black and brown communities that are also impacted. But it is the ecosystems that are impacted the most."

In looking at the other issues in the American medical system pre-COVID, issues of class and socio-economic status do become more prevalent in addition to race.

Williams said the public health system in the United States is challenging for anyone to navigate especially if they are impoverished, but even if someone is working class or middle class the system is still a challenge if there's not extra money to supplement health insurance.

"If you had health insurance, many people struggled to pay their co pays or to see a specialist or to connect with the proper care due to the cost," Williams said. "Even when you are on Medicaid or you have Medicare, that doesn't cover dental and a lot of health care issues comes from people not getting access to quality dental care."

Just as much as access to care is tied up in access to insurance, there are people in some communities who might have the insurance but they still don't have the care.

Williams said, "If you go just 10 miles outside of any major city they start to consider those areas rural and there are no providers. There are no healthcare centers there and there's no access so people can't even get care if they wanted it."

This is because some areas of the United States are considered healthcare deserts. According to research from UNC Health Policy and Management Professor Doctor Arrianna M. Planey, there are 1,775 counties in the United States that are either partially or completely health professional shortage areas (HPSA) or healthcare deserts.

This scenario presents another issue of inequity and disparity in the provision of healthcare services. Transportation and getting to the care that you need. This is an issue for people who live in urban metropolitan areas as well as rural areas.

The problem is, if you're taking public transportation to go to the doctor. You're more likely than not also taking public transportation to go to work. Relying on public transportation to swing by the doctor's office or the hospital before work, or before those offices close, is not feasible thus pushing you out of access to healthcare altogether unless in a dire emergency.

In a rural community access to care is compounded by lack of transportation and the lack of providers.

Williams said, "I think last year 10 rural hospitals closed and there's like a projected 250 that are looking to file bankruptcy in the next year or so, so that access there is lost."

But even if you don't fit these descriptions, accessing healthcare and navigating the health care system can still be a challenge.

"They just can't afford it. So they just don't go."

With palpable frustration Williams said, "Anyone who lives in a rural community. Anyone who essentially doesn't have access to transportation, anyone who has a disability, anyone who is limited by any means for any situation all those people are highly affected. Then there's people who live in inner cities who work in inner cities but are impoverished and are living so close on the edge. They just can't afford it. So they just don't go. And then there are people who are even middle class [who] have money but it's like one mistake one broken leg could essentially

Almost everyone could face or deal with some sort of inequity when trying to get to the care that they need. But let's say they manage to overcome all of the aforementioned challenges. When they arrive to a primary care doctor or show up in the ER a new set of challenges arise and they aren't limited to what resources or illnesses the patient is or isn't bringing to the table.

Doctor shortages, nurse shortages, lack of diversity among providers, clinicians, and staff, are all issues that affect patients.

"There has been a nursing shortage for forever," Williams said. "Probably since the 60s or 70s, just due to the volume of patients that needed to be seen over the last 20 to 30 years."

There's also a shortage of doctors and nurses in primary care. That issue is twofold. One, low reimbursement rates by insurance companies to doctors for services provided. The low rates require doctors to see dozens of patients in a day just so they can bill enough services to make a living.

The most in demand areas for providers is in family medicine, pediatrics, endocrinology, and emergency medicine. But those four areas pay the least in terms of physician income. Dr. Afoh-Manin said medical school students weigh that information as they plot their career paths.

She said, "You become more and more informed by where you're going to go by whom looks burned out, who looks happy, who paid off their loans who didn't . . . As much as you have a heart for the community, you're like, I got to take care of [my] family. So that doesn't help us to create that workforce."

Williams said people should't be upset with medical providers who carry half a million dollars in loans going into a specialty area of medicine to become a surgeon.

"That's the only way they can make enough money quick enough to pay off their student loans and afford a life that they deserve."

The second issue affecting the healthcare workforce is student loan debt.

For Williams this is a personal issue. "I was low income, I went to private college, and I owe thousands and thousands of dollars in student loans," she said. "In order for me to get into a field where I'm helping someone I'm never gonna make more than six figures, but . . . I had to then take out $200,000 worth of loans!"

The gargantuan amount of debt also affects what kinds of doctors patients actually see.

"Having Black and brown people as clinicians; we're out here."

"Having Black and brown people as clinicians; we're out here," said Dr. Afoh-Manin. "It's hard for us to get through the pipeline . . . the highest percentage of student loan debt are graduate, Black women professionals."

This is important because research has shown that when Black people see a Black doctor they live longer and have better health outcomes. This is true from on up through old age. A recent experimental study in Oakland by Harvard researcher Marcella Alsan et al., found that Black doctors reduce the gap in death from heart disease between Black and white men by 19%.

"That's tremendous!" Wrigley-Field exclaimed. "Nothing ever makes that big a difference in health research."

The number of doctors and nurses, diversity among the ranks, and the fields providers choose to practice in all affect how people can access care and what kind of care they receive. But the question remains, who's caring for the healthcare providers? Often the unacknowledged fact of the matter is, some providers are simply walking away or worse.

"I think by the end of this year 500,000 nurses plan to leave the bedside," Williams said. "Many of them are either starting businesses or getting into other industries or simply figuring out how to live. . . or working a job that doesn't require so much. Providers are kind of on the same thing."

Williams, herself who is an RN and worked as a travel nurse stationed in New York at the beginning of the pandemic has left the healthcare field to run her own business.

From the provider standpoint, Dr. Afoh-Manin said it's hard for doctors to feel helpless. Additionally, taking care of their own mental health is just as difficult as it is for people outside of the healthcare industry.

"I've known physicians who even before the pandemic, have a burden of . . . taking care of family being looked up to and put up on a pedestal knowing that they're just carrying a lot of weight around and committed suicide," she said.

This was the state of the healthcare before a global pandemic. These problems were only exacerbated by COVID.
This is the first in a two-part series 'A Broken System' on the state of healthcare for Black Americans before and during the pandemic.
And before you go, check out these awesome books that center Black women's mental and physical health:

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A Broken System: There's A Long History of Healthcare Disparities in the Black Community

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Fractured, disjointed, broken, steeped in systemic racism. These are all words used to describe the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the American healthcare system long before the COVID-19 global pandemic. Now entering the third year of pandemic life and an unending public health crisis, the problems that existed before have only been magnified.

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Audrey S

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A yearslong fight against gentrification of Seattle's Central District will reach a milestone Saturday at the groundbreaking for Africatown Plaza, a seven-story affordable housing development on 23rd Avenue at East Spring Street.

"It's another step toward maintaining and developing a future for the Black community that has called the Central District home for nearly 140 years," said K. Wyking Garrett, president and CEO of Africatown Community Land Trust. ACLT is developing the 126-unit project with Community Roots Housing, a public development authority.

Tensions ran high five years ago in the neighborhood as rising rents were forcing longtime residents out of the Central District. White developers who had been building multifamily developments in the area were ready to acquire a coveted, full-block property for an over 400-unit mixed-use apartment project.

Several months later, when the sale of the property to the development company, Lake Union Partners, went through, the company along with land-preservation nonprofit Forterra and Africatown Community Land Trust (ACLT) announced a pioneering plan to sell a fifth of the block for Africatown Plaza.

"That was a big deal then, but the real big deal is getting a building up that will allow people to come back and stay in the community," Garrett said.

The apartments will be rented to people who make up to 60% of area median income, which equals $48,600 for one person and $69,420 for a four-person household. Africatown Plaza will have a community room, Black-made art and ground-floor space for ACLT's new headquarters and a commercial kitchen for culinary entrepreneurs.

Many of the project architects are Black. The design team is partnership of GGLO, David Baker Architects, the Dream Collaborative of Boston and Laurie Allison Wilson. The general contractor is a joint venture of Absher Construction Co. and African American-owned MAD Construction.

Garrett said Africatown Plaza builds on the success of the nearby Liberty Bank apartment development, according to Garrett and Community Roots Housing.

"This project is another step in the direction of building a new normal rooted in equity, literally moving away from the modern-day Jim Crow apartheid that has been the status quo," said Garrett, who grew up across the street from Africatown Plaza.

He added the project will continue the legacy of community building on the site of the former Umoja PEACE (Positive Education, Art, Culture & Enterprise) Center, the Black-led community organization where the Africatown Seattle movement began over a decade ago.

Mayor Bruce Harrell and other leaders are expected to attend the noon event Feb. 5, which will include entertainment featuring DJ Zeta Barber and Javoeon Byrd of Awodi Drumming.

In addition to the $1.26 million that ACLT and Community Roots Housing raised for the project, the city provided $13.4 million in acquisition and construction financing and $1.6 million in Equitable Development Initiative funds, with a further $2 million in construction financing from King County. KeyBank Community Development Lending and Investment is providing $37.4 million of construction financing and $14.2 million of permanent financing, and Key Community Development Corp. is providing $25.7 million of low-income housing tax credit equity.

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After years of work, construction set to commence on Seattle's Africatown Plaza - Puget Sound Business Journal

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A yearslong fight against gentrification of Seattle's Central District will reach a milestone Saturday at the groundbreaking for Africatown Plaza, a seven-story affordable housing development on 23rd Avenue at East Spring Street. "It's another step toward maintaining and developing a future for the Black community that has called the Central District home for nearly 140 years," said K.

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36 Black women who changed American history

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To compile a list of 36 Black women who have changed American history, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed a set of images of “African-American Women Changemakers” — including educators, activists, artists, and writers — assembled by the Library of Congress. For similar lists visit 24/7 Wall St. .

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Nala Toussaint, a trans activist and organizer. Credit... Gioncarlo Valentine for The New York Times

At no point have black trans people shared fully in the gains of the L.G.B.T.Q. or racial justice movements. This may be changing.

Nala Toussaint, a trans activist and organizer. Credit... Gioncarlo Valentine for The New York Times

Transgender women of color were leaders in L.G.B.T.Q. activism before, during and after the uprising at the Stonewall Inn 51 years ago on Sunday, but they were never put at the center of the movement they helped start: one whose very shorthand, "the gay rights movement," erases them.

Though active in the Black Lives Matter movement from the beginning, they have not been prioritized there either. At no point have black trans people shared fully in the gains of racial justice or L.G.B.T.Q. activism, despite suffering disproportionately from the racism, homophobia and transphobia these movements exist to combat.

But now, as the two movements are pulled together by extraordinary circumstances - the protests sparked by the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery; the killings of two black trans women, Dominique Fells and Riah Milton, shortly after a black trans man, Tony McDade, was killed by the police; a pandemic that has disproportionately affected people of color; an economic crisis that has disproportionately affected trans people; and a Supreme Court decision protecting gay and trans people from employment discrimination, all coming to a head during Pride month - black trans people are mobilizing more visibly than ever before.

This moment, advocates say, is long overdue, and they are determined not to let it slip away.

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Protesters dancing and marching in support of black trans people in Brooklyn, N.Y., on June 14. Credit... Demetrius Freeman for The New York Times

For decades, the idea that "we were all minorities was enough for people to just say, 'OK, that's what we have in common, so if I win, that means you automatically are winning, too,'" said Peppermint, a black trans activist who co-hosted the Black Queer Town Hall, a three-night series of virtual performances and discussions this month. "I think that the notion of intersectionality is becoming more readily available for people to understand that a win for one group or one identity doesn't necessarily equal an automatic win for the other."

While L.G.B.T.Q. people have secured many legal rights and protections, black transgender women are still killed so often that the American Medical Association has declared it an epidemic. Last year, 91 percent of the transgender or gender-nonconforming people who were fatally shot were black women, according to the Human Rights Campaign. This year, at least 16 trans people have been killed - almost certainly an underestimate, because many cases go unreported and many victims are misgendered.

"So much money and resources and energy has been put into legislative fights or judicial fights, which is important - those wins are important," the activist Raquel Willis said. "But as a black trans woman, I often have to grapple with the question of, what do any of these protections mean if I am dead, if I am still at risk of literally being killed?"

Violence against transgender people increased after President Trump was inaugurated, advocacy groups found in 2017, and Mr. Trump has singled out trans people in his policies since the beginning of his presidency.

His administration reversed Obama-era protections for transgender students, reimposed a ban on trans people serving in the military and, just this month, erased rules protecting them from discrimination in health care. It also sought to define gender as an immutable trait assigned at birth - an effort that would, essentially, define trans people out of legal existence.

"The attacks on the trans community are at every level, and it's coming from the highest office in this country, and it has from Day 1," said Sarah Kate Ellis, president of the L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group GLAAD. "I think that black trans people and trans people of color are mobilizing and using this platform and this moment because you can't have black lives matter without having black trans lives matter."

In recent weeks, donations to grass-roots organizations that help black trans people, bail funds and individual fund-raisers have surged.

And two weeks ago, 15,000 people showed up for the Brooklyn Liberation march after the killings of Mr. McDade, Ms. Fells and Ms. Milton.

Ms. Willis was one of the speakers at the protest, as was Melania Brown, the sister of Layleen Polanco, who was active in the ballroom scene in New York as a member of the House of Xtravaganza and who died last year after having a seizure in a cell in Rikers Island, where guards failed to check on her.

Ianne Fields Stewart founded The Okra Project, which serves black trans people and has seen a spike in donations. Credit... Gioncarlo Valentine for The New York Times

"Fifteen thousand people should now be the number that always serves as the bare minimum when state-sanctioned violence happens against black trans people," said Ianne Fields Stewart, founder of The Okra Project, a collective that provides black trans people with home-cooked meals prepared by black trans chefs.

Nala Toussaint, the founder of Reuniting of African Descendants, a grass-roots healing initiative for L.G.B.T.Q. people of African descent, said the trans community had always taken care of its own by "making sure that we have food in our stomach, making sure that our folks have housing, making sure that there's lights and building utilities running."

What is new is the national visibility of black trans people as movement leaders, and the prominence of their structural demands.

Calls to redistribute police funding to education and public housing could benefit black transgender people, who because of widespread transphobia have some of the highest rates of homelessness and unemployment in the country. More than one in four transgender people have lost a job because of bias, and more than three-fourths have experienced workplace discrimination, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.

The idea of defunding the police is also tied to efforts to change the criminal justice system more broadly: Peppermint noted, for instance, that decriminalizing sex work could reduce interactions between officers and trans people, especially black trans women, which can be traumatic or even deadly.

A report from the N.C.T.E. found that 22 percent of transgender people who interacted with the police reported harassment. For black trans people, and especially sex workers, the number was higher.

Black trans activists are also calling for the redistribution of resources within mainstream L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy organizations that have usually been led by white, cisgender people.

National nonprofits with strong funding "need to get serious about reallocating resources to black- and brown-led grass-roots initiatives," Ms. Willis said, "and they need to really reorient themselves around who they consider to be a leader."

Historically, mainstream L.G.B.T.Q. rights groups have focused more on white gay people and lesbians than on trans people or people of color. While that has begun to change, there remains a well of mistrust and a conviction that effective advocacy will need to be led by black trans people.

"They don't know the first thing about what it is to live a life like we have, and they have no comprehension as to what it is we suffer and go through," said Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, one of the last surviving leaders of the Stonewall uprising. "So I myself do not participate in groups that are led by white people, because they just don't understand."

That lack of understanding is part of what advocates are trying to address.

Daniella Carter, a black trans woman from Queens, said that in high school, her classmates seemed to be "just learning what L.G.B.T. meant, let alone what transgender meant."

Ms. Carter, now 26, was homeless and did sex work for much of her adolescence. But at times, "it wasn't navigating survival sex work that felt like it was the burden, it was having to go to school and watch an entire classroom move away from me," she said. "Because not only was I a burden to that space, there wasn't even enough language out there yet to talk about what acceptance looked like."

Her life changed, she said, after she saw Janet Mock on the cover of Marie Claire magazine.

It was the first time she had seen a trans woman "who reflected that woman I always dreamed of - the woman who is black, who's powerful, who can present herself chic," she said. "I said to myself, 'I don't know how, but I have to get in touch with this woman.' I'm like, 'That's me, and I need to learn how to be that.'"

Ms. Carter did get in touch with Ms. Mock and other black trans activists, and eventually went to film school. This weekend, she released a video that highlighted trans people and emphasized their resilience - part of an effort to increase the visibility of trans people's stories, and not just the ones in which they are victims.

A similar impulse was behind the Black Queer Town Hall, which Peppermint said stemmed from the many conversations she had with Bob the Drag Queen, her friend and co-organizer, about the killings of black trans people.

"We said to each other, 'We need to do something that is more celebratory,'" she said. "Because all of the conversation around this only focuses on the terrible parts of this, which need to be talked about, but we wanted a moment to celebrate queer black excellence."

The premiere of "Disclosure," a Netflix documentary executive produced by Laverne Cox, has drawn new attention to Hollywood's depictions of trans people. New York City Pride's annual rally on Friday - held virtually this year - was hosted by two black trans people, Brian Michael Smith and Ashlee Marie Preston.

Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera in 1989 or 1990 in Manhattan. Credit... Rudy Grillo/The LGBT Community Center Archive

This sort of public visibility is very much new. Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, trans women who were key figures in the Stonewall uprising, got a monument in New York last year, although neither lived to see it.

But Miss Major, one of their fellow leaders at Stonewall, is still alive, a fact she phrases in defiant terms: "I'm still here," with an expletive.

Miss Major, 79, was executive director of the Transgender Gender-Variant Intersex Justice Project and now runs a house for trans people in Arkansas.

She has been vocal about the erasure of black trans people in the broader L.G.B.T.Q. movement, and said in an interview this week that while she hoped this moment would be different, she did not expect it to be unless her community fought loudly for itself.

"What I tell the girls is that they've got to keep fighting," she said. "They must keep fighting. Because if they don't succeed and do the work, we'll get left behind, and one thing we cannot accept is being left behind this time."

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Black Trans Women Seek More Space in the Movement They Helped Start

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At no point have black trans people shared fully in the gains of the L.G.B.T.Q. or racial justice movements. This may be changing. Nala Toussaint, a trans activist and organizer. Credit... Gioncarlo Valentine for The New York Times Transgender women of color were leaders in L.G.B.T.Q.

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With Pride: Uplifting LGBTQ History On Blackpast •

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BlackPast is dedicated to providing a global audience with reliable and accurate information on the history of African America and of people of African ancestry around the world. We aim to promote greater understanding through this knowledge to generate constructive change in our society.

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Eliminating Microaggressions: The Next Level of Inclusion  | Tiffany Alvoid | TEDxOakland

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3 Black villages still thriving after great migration

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3 Black villages still thriving after great migration

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Aaron Olsen

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Written by: Danielle Dorsey

Often forgotten in our retelling of American history is the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War, when recently emancipated Black people experienced an albeit brief period of hope. It was during this time that efforts were made to address the scars of slavery and help integrate the formerly seceded Southern states back into the Union. One of the initiatives that came forward was the creation of incorporated towns led and occupied by Black people, where residents had the freedom to govern themselves as they saw fit.

Known as "Freedmen's Towns," hundreds of these municipalities sprang up across the country after the Civil War. Unfortunately, many of these towns suffered economically and were abandoned following the Great Migration, when approximately 7 million Black people fled the South for opportunities in big cities where Jim Crow's influence was not as strong. Many of the towns that survived were forced to diversify and much of their history was forgotten.

Still, a few of these places managed to preserve their legacies, providing a living example of Black resilience and strength. In a time of regressive politics where our most basic freedoms are once again being threatened, these remaining Freedmen's Towns offer a glimmer of hope, reminding us of all we're capable of when we rely on and uplift one another.

At one time, Oklahoma was home to more than 20 Black settlements. Perhaps the most famous was the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, an affluent Black community known as "The Black Wall Street" that was destroyed in 1921 when white rioters burned the neighborhood to the ground, killing 300 people and destroying 35 city blocks.

Langston, Oklahoma, was founded in 1890 by Black politician Edward McCabe, who led a migration of Blacks out of the South and into the Midwest with the hope of establishing the territory of Oklahoma as a free Black state. Langston was named after John Mercer Langston, a Black congress member from Virginia. McCabe used traveling salesman and Black newspapers to advertise land for sale in Langston and stipulated within the deeds that the resale of that land could only be to other Black Americans.

The city's most famous resident was Joseph D. Elsberry, a U.S. Air Force captain with the Tuskegee Airmen who struck down three German aircraft in one day. Today, Langston is home to Langston University which holds the distinction of being the only historically Black college in the state of Oklahoma. It remains a small town with a total area of less than two square miles and under 2,000 residents, with more than 93 percent of them identifying as Black in the 2000 census. One interesting fact worth pointing out is that Langston's population grew 3 percent between the 2000 and 2010 census, indicating that the city's profitability has not yet waned.

Eatonville, Florida was incorporated in 1887 and named after white landowner Josiah C. Eaton, who was one of few whites willing to sell enough land so that a self-governing Black town could be created. Located just an hour outside of Orlando, the city is best known for being the birthplace of author Zora Neale Hurston and is featured in many of her works, including Their Eyes Were Watching God.

While readers of Hurston might remember similar towns being referenced in her books, many of them did not survive the expansion of the greater Orlando area. Prior to integration, the local Club Eaton became a popular stop on the "Chitlin Circuit," which was a collection of venues throughout the country that welcomed Black entertainers. The nightclub was responsible for boosting the careers of musical icons like BB King, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and Tina Turner. A plaque outside of the original building recognizes this history and the the club has since been been renamed the Historic Club KOHA, which stands for "Keeping Our History Alive." Eatonville has a popular historic district with many of the original buildings still standing, offering tourists an opportunity to learn more of its unique history.

In 1990, the town founded the Zora Neale Hurston Museum of Fine Arts and in 2004 a library named after her was opened. Eatonville also holds an annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities every January. As of the 2000 census, there were just under 2,500 residents in Eatonville, with almost 90 percent of them identifying as Black.

Oyotunji, South Carolina

Although Oyotunji African Village (OAV) was only established less than 50 years ago, it holds the distinction of being the country's oldest authentic African village. Named after the Oyo empire that was once a Yoruba empire in modern day Benin and northern-central Nigeria, the name translates to "Oyo returns" or "Oyo rises again." The village draws inspiration from Yoruba and Dahomey cultures in West Africa, promoting values of sustainability and celebrating their ancient traditions.

Oyotunji was founded by Oba Efuntola Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi I, who was the first African American to be initiated into the Yoruba religion and crowned Oba (King) of the Yoruba of North America. When Adefunmi passed away in 2005, his son Oba Adejuyigbe Adefunmi II was given the honor of leading the village. Adefunmi II is responsible for leading the village's recent modernization efforts.

Oyotunji is located near Sheldon, South Carolina, in Beaufort country and welcomes tourists who are interested in learning their traditions. The village hosts festivals throughout the year that celebrate various Yoruba deities and holidays. Oyotunji was most active in the 1970's when up to 250 people lived in the village, but in the last ten years the local population has fluctuated between five and nine families.

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Three Predominantly Black Towns That Are Still Thriving After The Great Migration - Travel Noire

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Written by: Danielle Dorsey Often forgotten in our retelling of American history is the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War, when recently emancipated Black people experienced an albeit brief period of hope. It was during this time that efforts were made to address the scars of slavery and help integrate the formerly seceded Southern states back into the Union.

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Aaron Olsen

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More education typically leads to better health, yet Black men in the U.S. are not getting the same benefit as other groups, research suggests.

The reasons for the gap are vexing, experts say, but may provide an important window into unique challenges Black men face as they try to gain not only good health but also equal footing in the U.S.

Generally, higher education means better paying jobs and health insurance, healthier behaviors and longer lives. This is true across nearly all demographic groups. And studies show life expectancy is higher for Black men with a college degree or higher, compared with those who have not finished high school.

But the increase is not as big as it is for whites. This comes on top of the many health obstacles Black men already face. They are more likely to die from chronic illnesses like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer than white men, and their average life expectancy is lower. Experts point to a variety of factors that might play a role, but many say the most pervasive is racism.

Researchers note that while Black men and women face many of the same challenges, Black women generally have a longer life expectancy than Black men. (They also point out that for now it is difficult to draw conclusions about Hispanic people because of a lack of studies on these issues.) As a result, many experts say that these health problems stem from a persistent devaluation of Black men in U.S. society.

"At every level of income and education, there is still an effect of race," says David Williams, a professor of public health at Harvard University who decades ago developed a scale that quantified the connection between racism and health.

The precise difference in health gains between educated white men and educated Black men is hard to pinpoint because of differences in study designs. Some studies, for example, look at life expectancy, while others look at disease burden or depression.

Experts say, however, that the evidence is strong and convincing that these gaps have persisted over many years. A 2012 study published in Health Affairs, for example, found that life expectancy for white men with the most education was 12.9 years longer than for white men with the least education. For Black men, the difference between the most and least educated was 9.7 years.

In addition, other research shows how that gap plays out. A 2019 study examined the difference in years of "lost life" - years cut off because of health challenges - between the groups. Educated Black men lost 12.09 years of life expectancy, while educated white men lost 8.34 years, according to the study, published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

Racism affects Black men's health and it is persistent, experts say.

"No matter how far you go in school, no matter what you accomplish, you're still a Black man," says Derek Novacek, who has a doctorate in clinical psychology from Emory University and is now at UCLA researching Black-white health disparities.

S. Jay Olshansky, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Illinois in Chicago and lead author of the 2012 study, says possible risk factors for various diseases and environmental issues could also play a role.

"I'd be very surprised if this wasn't part of the equation," he says. "The risk of diabetes and obesity is much higher among the Black population, even those that are highly educated."

Among other possible causes that researchers are probing are stress and depression.

"When you follow other groups with more education, depression declines," says Dr. Shervin Assari, who studies race, gender and health and is associate professor of medicine at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science outside Los Angeles. "But when you look at Black men - guess what? Depression goes up."

Depression is often an indicator of physical well-being as well as a contributing factor to many chronic illnesses, such as hypertension, obesity and diabetes.
Isolated at Home and Work
Researchers who study the health of various racial and ethnic groups, as well as the social factors that influence health outcomes, see cause for concern. The findings suggest that the power of discrimination to harm Black men's lives may be more persistent than previously understood. And they could mean that improving Black men's health may be more complicated than previously believed.

"What has surprised me is how powerfully and consistently discrimination predicts poor health," says Williams.

COVID-19 has underscored the issue. As early as last April researchers noticed higher death and hospitalization rates for Black people. The patterns have continued: Black patients are nearly two times as likely as whites to die of the virus, while Black men have the highest rates of COVID deaths.

The COVID outcomes, Williams and others suggest in interviews, helped point out that the health and well-being of middle-class, educated Black men may have been overlooked.

Higher education hasn't brought about the health equity many experts had expected. While Black men have worse health than other groups if they are not educated, the data show they don't catch up to their white peers even when they are.

"What society has done to Black men is to corner them," Assari says.

Black men, even with an education, have less of a financial and social safety net than white men and that brings added stress, experts say. Also, as Black men climb corporate, academic or managerial ladders, many feel isolated. And social isolation is linked to poor health.

Thomas LaVeist, a sociologist and dean of the school of public health at Tulane University, says that in a white-dominated society, Black men are less likely to have accumulated social capital - for example, family members with high incomes or social and business connections - who can open doors for them.

And once hired into the workplace, they are less likely to have mentors, LaVeist says, and that lack of connections is associated with stress, depression and other factors that can lead to poorer health.

"There needs to be a designated effort to provide an on-ramp" for Black men, he says.

No matter what stage of life, or level of achievement, most have experienced an excess of cumulative adversity and continued racism.

"Your high socioeconomic status doesn't protect you from the impact or from the incidence" of racism, says Dr. Adrian Tyndall, associate vice president for strategic and academic affairs at University of Florida Health.

"That is difficult," adds Tyndall, who is Black. "If I were to walk out of this institution and into the community, where people don't know me, I could be called the N-word. And yeah, that's pretty depressing."
The Need to Prove Yourself
The cumulative effect of discrimination takes a toll psychologically and physiologically - but so does the anticipation of it.

"It's not just the actual exposure in dealing with these kinds of experiences, but it's 'What do you do before leaving home?' You're careful about your dress, your behavior, the way you look because of the threat of discrimination, and so you react," says Williams, the Harvard professor.

For example, when Williams, who is Black, first became a professor at Yale University, he wore a coat and tie every day. No one else in his department did that. And yet, he says, he kept up the practice for years.

LaVeist remembers getting onto an elevator at an academic medical center around 1990, shortly after earning his Ph.D., and a passenger wearing a white coat - presumably a doctor - asked LaVeist, who was dressed in a suit, to clean up a spill on the sixth floor.

"When I told him that I was a professor, he didn't speak," says LaVeist. "He simply didn't speak."

Greg Pennington has a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina and an undergraduate degree from Harvard, owns a professional consulting firm in Atlanta, and has worked with hundreds of men individually as well as dozens of Fortune 500 companies.

"It's not so much that [Black men] experience discrimination and depression 'even after' they have advanced degrees," he says. "It's more descriptive to say 'throughout the whole process.'"

Despite their academic credentials, Black men say, they often feel they need to prove themselves, which adds another layer of stress.

"It's almost like I can't fail; I'm representative of other Black males," says Woodrow W. Winchester III, director of professional engineering programs at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. "Your value and your success are around advancing the collective."
What Can Be Done To Change The Dynamic
The bottom line, experts agree, is that discrimination has a lingering effect on health.

Dana Goldman, director of the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, was co-author of the 2012 Health Affairs study on these chasms in health outcomes. Goldman says he agrees that the underlying cause is racism and adds that he thinks one solution is to improve education.

He and others suggested that schools, starting in the lower grades, need to provide Black students with more culturally appropriate curricula that bolster their self-image and help build social relationships between white and Black youngsters. Those efforts need to continue as students progress into higher education.

"The policy remedy is not just less racism but to improve the quality of our schools, occupational safety and public health," says Goldman.

Others agree that the findings suggest a need to reconsider broad policy changes - in education, housing and the justice system so that Black males feel confident and supported in pursuing better educations and jobs.

It will be a long-term project, says Williams, the Harvard professor.

"We need a Marshall Plan for all disenfranchised Americans," he says, but one that especially addresses implicit biases and how American society views and treats Black men.

Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit, editorially independent national newsroom funded by the Kaiser Family Foundation. is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

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Education Usually Improves Health. But Racism Sabotages Benefits For Black Men

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More education typically leads to better health, yet Black men in the U.S. are not getting the same benefit as other groups, research suggests. The reasons for the gap are vexing, experts say, but may provide an important window into unique challenges Black men face as they try to gain not only good health but also equal footing in the U.S.

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https://www.aclu.org/news/lgbtq-rights/five-things-to-know-about-gender-affirming-health-care/

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Across the country, lawmakers have enacted sweeping attacks on transgender people - particularly transgender youth. After initially focusing primarily on restroom restrictions, opponents of trans rights have switched their target to sports. This year, Arkansas went even further, passing a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth. Four transgender youth and two doctors joined with the ACLU to sue the state.

Arkansas's new health care ban, scheduled to go into effect at the end of July, would not only prohibit healthcare professionals from providing or referring transgender youth for medically necessary health care, it would also allow private insurers to refuse to cover gender-affirming care for transgender people of any age. If it is allowed to go into effect, the law will have detrimental effects on the mental, emotional, and physical health of transgender people across the state.

The first court hearing addressing the constitutionality of a ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth will take place on July 21. Here are five things to know about the Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care, taken directly from the personal testimonies and briefs submitted to the court.

Trans youth know what is best for them.

"[After starting hormone therapy,] I now feel a level of confidence I never knew was possible. I can easily and confidently interact with other people, whether I know them or not. My body is finally beginning to match who I am." - Dylan Brandt

15-year-old Dylan Brandt and the three other transgender youth in our case know who they are.

Dylan has sued Arkansas over a ban on health care for trans youth.

"Having access to care means I'm able to be myself, and be healthier and more confident - physically and mentally. The thought of having that wrenched away and going back to how I was before is devastating."

Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.

"Hormone-therapy treatment has been life-changing. Since starting hormone therapy, I have become genuinely happy and confident for the first time since I can remember. I can finally see a future for myself. My depression has subsided. I have not engaged in self -harm. I have become more engaged with my family and community." - Sabrina Jennen, another transgender youth relying on gender-affirming healthcare.

Parents see what gender-affirming care means to their kids.

"[After accepting Brooke's new pronouns,] it was as if a cloud lifted and Brooke's smile came back. We had a happy, bright-eyed child again, and we were relieved to see our child flourishing once more." - Amanda and Shayne Dennis, parents of 9-year-old Brooke Dennis.

Brooke has sued Arkansas over a ban on health care for trans youth.

"My hope for my future is to go to college, get a good job, and be a good role model for kids and show them that they can be brave and be exactly who they are."

Trans youth belong EVERYWHERE.

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Amanda and Shayne Dennis are just two of the many parents of transgender children who have seen the positive impact that gender-affirming care has had on their children.

"Since starting hormone therapy...she has become more engaged with her family. Treatment has made her happy, confident, and has helped her become the thriving child we love so dearly." - Aaron and Lacey Jennen, parents of 15-year-old Sabrina.

Many young people who are not trans access gender-affirming health care.

"If House Bill 1570 (the "Health Care Ban") takes effect, I will be prohibited from providing these treatments to my transgender patients because they relate to 'gender transition' but I will be able to continue providing the same treatments to my cisgender patients to help bring their bodies into alignment with their gender." - Dr. Michelle Hutchison, one of the doctors suing the state.

Across pediatric practices, cisgender youth rely on this critical care for a variety of reasons - including to treat precocious puberty and polycystic ovarian syndrome. A Harvard Medical School and Fenway Institute study found that doctors have been using these safe medications for decades for cisgender children who go through puberty too early.

"There is nothing inherently harmful about undergoing hormone treatment to sustain one's health and it is a common practice in many non-transgender patients for reasons unrelated to treatment of gender dysphoria. I regularly treat cisgender patients with the same hormone therapy that is provided to transgender patients." - Dr. Deanna Adkins.

Gender-affirming care saves lives.

"Gender-affirming care, including puberty suppression and hormone therapy, is potentially lifesaving."

That's what the Pediatric Endocrine Society made clear in their brief to the court.

"Proper gender-affirming care can mitigate a patient's clinical distress and lead to significant improvements in the overall well-being of youth and adolescents who are at risk of or have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria ... studies show that transgender adults who received appropriate treatment during adolescence had a lower incidence of lifetime suicidal ideation than those who wanted but could not obtain such treatment." - The American Academy of Pediatrics.

In light of this, it is not surprising that child and adolescent psychiatrists have attested that, should the Health Care Ban take effect, "the lives of some of our patients will be put at risk."

Laws attacking trans youth will hurt the Arkansas economy.

"If the Health Care Ban takes effect, the backlash - from consumers and businesses alike - is likely to be fierce, causing a decline in economic activity within the state. This will inflict substantial harm on amici, Arkansas businesses, and all Arkansans, because all benefit from a strong economy." - A group of businesses in a brief to the court.

This is in large part because many of the families who will be affected by the Health Care Ban are considering leaving their homes, their extended families, their communities, and even their jobs to ensure that their children are able to receive gender-affirming care.

The ban could also discourage other LGBTQ individuals and their families from moving to the state altogether, impairing:

"the ability of [Arkansas businesses] to attract and retain a diverse, inclusive, and talented workforce. As a result, it will place Arkansas' businesses at a competitive disadvantage, both domestically and on the global stage." - Liveramp Holdings, Inc. and Additional Business Organizations.

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Five Things to Know About Gender-Affirming Health Care

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Across the country, lawmakers have enacted sweeping attacks on transgender people - particularly transgender youth. After initially focusing primarily on restroom restrictions, opponents of trans rights have switched their target to sports. This year, Arkansas went even further, passing a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth.

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https://www.kent.edu/mdj/mcgruder16okantah

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Racism in this country is nowhere near as blatant or routine as it was 50 years ago. But that doesn't mean it's gone away.

Instead, research suggests that many of us are still prone to more unconscious or "automatic" forms of racism-we can behave in racially-biased ways without even knowing it. For instance, studies show that automatic bias can cause whites to smile less, avert their gaze, and stand further away from people of color.

© Rouzes

But a new study suggests that by simply putting ourselves in another person's shoes, we can significantly reduce our unconscious biases-and significantly improve our real-world interactions with people who look different from us.

In the study, published in the June issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers showed participants a five-minute video depicting a black man named Glen and a white man named John. Both shopped in a department store, tried to buy a car, and interacted with police, but Glen clearly experienced discrimination.

Some participants were then asked to imagine Glen's perspective-what he might be thinking, feeling, and experiencing. Others were asked to imagine what thoughts and feelings they would have if they were in Glen's situation. A third group was supposed to remain objective; they weren't told to consider Glen's thoughts or emotions.

Then the researchers gave the participants' a sophisticated test that measures unconscious biases.

The results show that participants in both perspective-taking conditions were less biased than participants who were asked to be objective. What's more, it didn't seem to matter how the participants went about taking Glen's perspective: Participants who imagined Glen's thoughts and feelings showed the same reduction in unconscious bias as those who imagined how they would feel if they were Glen.

In a variation on this experiment, the researchers found that participants showed less automatic bias even when they were simply shown a picture of a black man and asked to imagine his thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Another experiment in the study showed that perspective taking did not lead participants to ignore racial inequality, as previous studies have suggested.

The study's final experiment showed that perspective taking actually improves real-world interactions between black and white people. First, participants-college students-were shown a photo of an African-American man and were asked either to take his perspective, remain objective, or were given no instructions. Then they wrote an essay about a day in his life.

Afterward, an African-American woman-who was working with the researchers but didn't know what instructions each participant had received-led participants into another room with a hidden video camera and asked them questions about their introductory psychology course; soon afterward she assessed the quality of her exchange with them.

In general, the woman felt she had more positive interactions with participants who were perspective takers. Analysis of the video also showed that perspective takers had more positive body language.

The results identify concrete social benefits of "putting oneself in another person's shoes," according to Andrew Todd, the study's lead author and an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Iowa.

"I think our work provides some much needed first steps toward identifying a practical strategy that individuals can implement during encounters with outgroup members," he says.

Still, he cautions that "it's unlikely that perspective taking is a cure-all de-biasing strategy for everyone or in every intergroup situation."

Todd says that more research is needed to determine under what circumstances, and for which people, perspective taking will be most effective in reducing prejudice.

Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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Racism in this country is nowhere near as blatant or routine as it was 50 years ago. But that doesn't mean it's gone away. Instead, research suggests that many of us are still prone to more unconscious or "automatic" forms of racism-we can behave in racially-biased ways without even knowing it.

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The Four Guiding Principles for Making Our Cities Safer

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The Four Guiding Principles for Making Our Cities Safer

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The Four Guiding Principles for Making Our Cities Safer

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LGBTQ Civil Rights History and LGBTQ Social Movement 

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LGBTQ Civil Rights History and LGBTQ Social Movement 

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Mark Segal: Mark Segal. M-A-R-K. S-E-G-A-L.

Mason Funk: Okay, it just occurred to me a few minutes ago to start with the story of the Philadelphia Gay News. This will be a portion, obviously, but I'd like to hear how the Philadelphia Gay News came to exist, and specifically how you got involved.

Mark Segal: In 1973, I was doing a group of disruptions of TV shows nationally and throughout the country.

Mark Segal: He asked me, Why don't you have a newspaper in Philadelphia? I said, Nobody has done that before. We've had newsletters, mimeograph sheets, but not a real newspaper. He says, Well, why don't we do it together? That's how it came about. We started January 1976 with our first edition. Within nine months, Jim decided I was a little aggressive, more aggressive than he expected and he basically sold the whole chain to me for a dollar.

Mark Segal: Within nine months, I was producing three newspapers in three different areas, which I eventually increased to four areas until I got the brilliant idea and learned that I couldn't be an absentee manager. I was driving myself crazy, and we pulled it back to just Philadelphia.

Mason Funk: Just give me a brief overview of the successes and the longevity of the Philadelphia Gay News. Now, you're mentioning forty years now and some of the high points.

Mason Funk: Start with the Philadelphia Gay News.

Mark Segal: Philadelphia Gay News is a weekly newspaper. It happens to be the single longest-running LGBT newspaper under the ownership of the same owner since the beginning, which is me. It has won more national journalism awards from more organizations than all the other LGBT media combined.

Mason Funk: Were there any low points?

Mason Funk: Tell me about some of the low points.

Mark Segal: Lets see. Death threats.

Mason Funk: Explain what you're talking about.

Mason Funk: Start with, We at the Philadelphia Gay News

Mark Segal: We at the Philadelphia Gay News decided we were going to be different than most other LGBT publications. Gay is in our name, Philadelphia Gay News. We have, in our city, if you go around the city, youll discover vending boxes for the daily newspapers, and next to those daily newspapers, you'll find a Philadelphia Gay News Box. There are 120 purple vending boxes on the streets of Philadelphia.

Mason Funk: Just another day at the office.

Mason Funk: Were you ever scared?

Mark Segal: No. I dont think anyone has ever asked me that question before.

Mark Segal: I don't feel comfortable saying that.

Mark Segal: I'm just digesting it now. Probably you will leave in the next twenty hours, I'm going to be digesting that question.

Mason Funk: Regarding the whole thing about whether youve ever been afraid, you want to just move on from that for now?

Mark Segal: Oh, lots of times, but angry at who? Angry at homophobes? Angry at your own community because they don't understand what you're doing? The hardest line for me to read in my own book, because I didn't realize what I wrote until then when I'm reading it,

Mason Funk: What did they think you were going to ruin for them that was so awesome?

Mark Segal: Two, three or four people were out in each and every one of those organizations. That totals eighty people. 1969, we're talking about 100 out people and forty people at those demonstrations July 4th, 1969. One year later, Christopher Street Liberation Day March happens. According to the press,

Mason Funk: We're going to just backtrack a little bit and then kind of work our way forward to that point, because I want to kind of lay the groundwork for the Gay Liberation Front. Let me look over my notes here real quick. First,

Mark Segal: I like your glasses.

Mark Segal: As an eighteen-year-old living in New York, if you were gay, you hung out on Christopher Street. That was the place to hang out at. Your night was, literally, you come out

Mason Funk: It's the battery.

Mark Segal: Ah thats the battery.

Mason Funk: This is the one right here in his transmitter.

Mason Funk: Sounds like [inaudible].

Mark Segal: It's a good alarm. It's a great alarm system.

Mason Funk: Sounds so much more dramatically [inaudible].

Mark Segal: Sounds like a waterfall or something.

Mason Funk: Oh, great, it does.

Mark Segal: [inaudible], what have you done before this?

Mason Funk: Most recently, I made a documentary about a historic black bar in Brooklyn that predated the Stonewall.

Kate Kunath: The Starlite Lounge.

Kate Kunath: That was really fun to make a contribution to the

Mark Segal: Could I get it online or is

Mark Segal: Oh boy, Id love to see it.

Kate Kunath: Lets see, what else? I worked on a TV doc.

Mark Segal: Was this a gay black bar?

Kate Kunath: Gay black bar.

Mark Segal: Thank you for doing that. Most people don't realize that in our community, we are very segregated. I mean, to this day, to this day.

Mark Segal: There are gay black bars in this city that people in the white community don't even know exist.

Kate Kunath: Thanks. That means a lot coming from you.

Mason Funk: Are we speeding again?

Mason Funk: Okay, so you were saying. Basically, lets start again, as an eighteen-year-old in New York City in 1969.

Mark Segal: If you were eighteen and you lived in New York and you were gay, the place you hung out was Christopher Street.

Mason Funk: Start again fresh, please.

Mark Segal: Made my way to Christopher Street?

Mason Funk: How did you find your way from where you lived? How did you gain consciousness that this is where you belonged?

Mark Segal: Well, I moved to New York in May of 69, about six weeks before Stonewall. All I knew was that there were gay people in New York, because there were no gay people in Philadelphia. I never saw them, so I had to go to a place where there were gay people.

Mason Funk: Thats all right. Thats good. You're kind of hanging out in the neighborhood, and I guess the Stonewall is just probably, it's not famous then

Mark Segal: Oh, it's nothing, no.

Mason Funk: Stonewall is just a bar among many. So then set the stage for basically how this event that we all refer to these days

Mark Segal: My account of it. Everybody has their own account and they're all different.

Mason Funk: Their own account of what?

Mark Segal: Everybody who was at Stonewall has their own account, and they vary widely.

Mark Segal: Oh my God, I looked like the boy next door. You could have taken me out of Ozzie and Harriet, middle-class whatever. Take a look at me six months later, total change, hair down to my back.

Mark Segal: Absolutely, at that period of time, 1969, you have to realize that women were fighting for their rights.

Mason Funk: We'll get to that. I want to backtrack a little bit. One of the things you wrote in your book and this is a direct quote, you said, The community, the gays were finally fighting back. and it felt good.

Mason Funk: The implication being that there was a lot of pent-up energy/anger ready to come out. Can you just talk about that, expand on that?

Mason Funk: You're saying that all of this

Mason Funk: It sounds like a cork coming out of a champagne bottle.

Mason Funk: Okay, let me look here real quick. Lets back track a little bit, prior to this moment in history in 1969 and the birth of Gay Liberation Front, there had existed another organization, fairly prominent, fairly successful called the Mattachine Society. Set that up for me.

Mark Segal: Mattachine Society, one of the oldest gay organizations, and I love that together with ONE incorporated, Daughters of Bilitis. For the most part, they believed in trying to fit in society. Their routine primarily was to say, Hey, we're just like you. We even look like you.

Mason Funk: Let me just have you say, When we formed the Gay Liberation Front, and then just carry on. Just start there.

Mark Segal: We in Gay Liberation Front decided that the rules didn't apply to us and we were going to break them all.

Mark Segal: Because the rules were meant to keep us in our place, and we didn't want to be kept in the places they wanted us to be. We didnt want to be kept in the hospitals. We didn't want to be kept in the prisons. We didnt want to be kept in the institutions. We wanted to live our lives.

Mason Funk: What fault do you find in the Mattachine approach?

Mark Segal: Slow. Too slow, not getting anywhere.

Mason Funk: Can you put that exact tension between this so-called the people who want to kind of not offend anybody, but work within the system, and the people who were throwing rocks and basically saying,

Mark Segal: Oh absolutely. I think that anybody from the LGBT community who doesn't realize that we are on the shoulders of so many other civil rights organizations and moved into this country, hence world, I guess, doesn't understand social justice and movements. I think the best example that I could give is

Mason Funk: Sorry, it takes a brave man

Mark Segal: It takes a brave man to tell this community to do something like that, and he did. The sad part is that even he outlasted what was in vogue at that point, because in Tavis Smileys book Death of a King, the last year of Martin Luther King, he struggled with how to deal with the changes in his community.

Mark Segal: Oh, it caused change across the board. I love to show people or point out to people

Mark Segal: Well, I don't know if I can. I think there's other people who can, because I don't think of myself as a founder. I think I showed up at the second or third meeting.

Mason Funk: Do me a favor, tell me what you're talking about, what organization?

Mark Segal: Okay, I think it's difficult for me to talk about the founding of Gay Liberation Front, because I don't believe I showed up until the second or third meeting.

Mason Funk: You told me people would yell at each other, they called each other names.

Mark Segal: We were reinventing ourselves as a community. Therefore, we were reinventing ourselves and trying to figure out who we were. Society always had told us who we were. We were now going to tell ourselves who we were or find out who we were. We no longer wanted to Were gay men all feminine?

Mason Funk: Wow, so was there something in the middle of all that chaos and all that passion and all that fighting that was also fomenting the power to change, the power to be in front of change within the Gay Liberation Front?

Mason Funk: Your favorite, I'm sorry to interfere, the early days of the Gay Liberation Front was

Mark Segal: The earliest days of Gay Liberation Front were probably some of the most joyous times I've ever had. The fighting... the fighting to learn who we were was over-the-top. We were by far the most dysfunctional organization

Mark Segal: There are other people in Gay Liberation Front who wish they were not there. There are some whore still very bitter, who got into some of those disputes. They really

Mason Funk: Bitter about what?

Mark Segal: We had disputes on issues of sexism. We had issues of politics.

Mark Segal: No, it was for those people. I was lucky that being one of the youngest members, I never got into any of those really heated battles. I didn't want to take sides in any of them. I was learning. I felt like I was a student. I was soaking it all up. People ask me today what university I graduated from and I say, Gay Liberation Front. It's where I learned everything.

Mason Funk: 65, okay. What was Compton's Cafeteria?

Mason Funk: I understand.

Mark Segal: Okay. Everyone thinks Stonewall was the first riot or first mass demonstration by the gay community. It was not. There were two that preceded it. The first was in Philadelphia, which was at basically a lunch counter in a diner in Philadelphia called Dewey's at 17th and Chancellor. There, a gentleman went in, and he wasn't dressed the way a proper gentleman should be dressed at 2 a.m. in the morning,

Mason Funk: Okay, you used [inaudible].

Mark Segal: If you polo shirt and alligator people don't like it, screw you. These were heroes.

Mason Funk: I agree with that 100%. You used the phrase in your book, Oppression within oppression, talk about that. What does that mean?

Kate Kunath: Were you still a group?

Kate Kunath: In 1982, were you still a group?

Mark Segal: No, Gay Liberation Front went to about 1973, 72-73. Yeah, that was the end of it,

Mason Funk: Talk to me because even though she asked the question [inaudible].

Mark Segal: Got it, I'm sorry.

Mark Segal: Then in 1980s, this new radical organization came up called ACT UP, Larry Kramer literally was following the playbook of Gay Liberation Front. Wed done street theatre of all types long before,

Mason Funk: That's a really interesting turn to the story. I want to go back a little bit before we make our way back up there just because I don't want to leave out a couple of stories that I think you can tell us. First of all, you spoke specifically about how within the Gay Liberation Front, for the first time ever you reached out to gay youth. I think that's a really important story to be heard.

Mark Segal: I do what this thing is, which Ill show you. I'm sorry about that. We created Gay Youth because we felt that coming out created lots of problems for many young gay people.

Mark Segal: In 1969, as part of Gay Liberation Front, we decided to create a gay youth organization because nobody was speaking to gay youth, and my feeling at that time was that we had special needs, and most of the other people in the organization didn't want to get into. That was one of the great things about Gay Liberation Front, if you felt there was an area that needed to be taken care of, you could create it.

Kate Kunath: Will you scooch forward for me?

Kate Kunath: Just scooch forward for me a little bit, the chair.

Mason Funk: Just set the frame piece aside also [inaudible].

Mark Segal: Yeah, the [inaudible], so thats one [inaudible]. Theres only about six of these left in the world.

Mark Segal: I didnt mean, I'm [inaudible] for your benefit actually. This is all we could afford to promote the first gay-pride march.

Kate Kunath: It looks cool.

Mark Segal: Yeah, it's a sticker basically. We would let them and put them.

Mason Funk: Who created that?

Mark Segal: Craig Rodwell. The whole idea of the first march was Craig Rodwells.

Mason Funk: Right. That's crazy. That's very cool. Now, you mentioned something in your book. This is a sentence of [inaudible], There was no internet, no cell phones, just feet, and your parents thought you were in school. What I don't know, what you havent told us yet is, what the hell did your parents know or think about what you were doing in New York this time?

Mason Funk: Do me a favor. When I moved to New York

Mark Segal: When I moved to New York in May of 1969, my parents thought I was going to New York to join the RCA Technical Institute and learn how to be a TV cameraman. There was no such thing. It was basically made up. I escaped to New York. It was for me to escape to New York, to be with my people, or to find my people.

Mark Segal: My dear friend Troy Perry, who I love and adore to this day. He just got back from Cuba. He did the first gay wedding in Cuba.

Mason Funk: Start again, in this summer of 1969, [inaudible] Troy Perry.

Mark Segal: During the heyday of Gay Liberation Front in 1969 1970,

Mason Funk: Yeah, it's been one of the funny thoughts I've been having. I haven't actually scheduled or reached out to any people of [inaudible]l Log Cabin Republicans [inaudible]. I realized if I'm not excluding anybody, I'm not excluding [inaudible].

Mason Funk: I want to hear their point of view, I want to hear their story. Their stories are just as valuable as anybody elses.

Mark Segal: We have a few Log Cabin Republicans. This is a very Democratic city, but I asked my editors, I said, You got to go out and find a gay person who supports Trump and either interview them, or let them do an op-ed piece. I don't care. I can't believe that any gay person in their right mind would support, anybody in their right mind support Trump,

Mason Funk: Greater Philadelphia area?

Mark Segal: A zap is very simply a disruption of some sort. Everyone

Mason Funk: Set me in the timeframe.

Mark Segal: Okay, the zaps I did were primarily during 72 to 1976, but there were zaps before

Mark Segal: Kate, are you laughing over there?

Mason Funk: It's all crazy entertaining, but I'm trying to kind of have some sort of

Mark Segal: What I want you to realize is the joy. It took me awhile to realize why I hated the movie Stonewall. First thing was the liberties they took with us. Come on, were in that film! These are my friends and me in that film!

Mason Funk: That's awesome.

Mason Funk: I have no skin in the game. I didnt even see the movie, but I love your observation. Okay, so lets go back to zapping.

Mark Segal: Could we do this off the record?

Mark Segal: No, I don't want to do another.

Mason Funk: Okay, all right.

Mark Segal: Think of the character Danny, have you seen the film?

Mark Segal: Okay, [inaudible].

Mason Funk: Ill see it, I maybe will. Okay, so lets go back to the

Mark Segal: Dont see it. It will totally

Mark Segal: Well, because you know enough about history now that will really anger you. When you see Frank [inaudible] arguing about whether or not homosexuality is an illness and him taking [inaudible], youll want to throw something at screen.

Mark Segal: Well, zapping is demonstration, plain and simple. To me, zapping was more than just a disruption. It was doing an action of any sort.

Mason Funk: Oops. If we were going to change the world

Mark Segal: Oh, absolutely.

Mason Funk: Tell me about that.

Mark Segal: Okay, famous line from 1895, 1900, Oscar Wilde,

Mason Funk: That's awesome. Okay, I want to go back to the very beginning, to begin wrapping this up. You, from what I know... I just want to know what kind of family you were born into,

Mark Segal: Most beautiful thing for me that's come out of the book is I thought when I wrote the book, people would say, Oh, what was it like working with Patti Labelle? What was it like working with Elton John? Whats Barack Obama like?

Mason Funk: Tell me about that. How did she react to all this when she learned that you were getting yourself arrested and disrupting the national news with Walter Cronkite?

Mark Segal: She loved it. She thought it was spectacular. I guess best way to describe her and reaction to it was would be

Mason Funk: Do me a favor, the best way to describe my grandmothers reaction to my gay activism

Mark Segal: That was my grandmother.

Mason Funk: Thats hilarious. I didn't expect that to be what she did, wow.

Mark Segal: My parents, my grandmother, my uncle Stanley never once said one negative thing.

Mason Funk: Wow. There's a story that obviously didn't turn out so well, which is the story of your cousin Norman. Tell us about Cousin Norman and how his life went.

Mark Segal: Well, Cousin Norman probably... I'm sure everybody has a Cousin Norman,

Mason Funk: Kate, do you have any questions?

Kate Kunath: Only like 10 million.

Kate Kunath: We have enough.

Mark Segal: I dont even have pictures of him.

Mark Segal: Rather, his face is etched into my brain.

Mason Funk: Yeah, [inaudible]. It's an amazing story. We're obviously [inaudible].

Mark Segal: Last name was Reber.

Mason Funk: How do you spell that?

Mason Funk: Okay, your turn.

Kate Kunath: I want to go back to Stonewall for a minute and just

Mark Segal: Only if you promise to send me your documentary.

Mark Segal: You asked lots of questions. You don't get one more. That's enough.

Kate Kunath: Well, it's kind of the same, same three part question, then and now.

Mason Funk: Oh, I cant wait.

Mark Segal: Have you seen pictures of the building yet?

Mason Funk: I have seen some. Yeah, Ive been reading some articles online. I think to follow, [inaudible] ...

Mason Funk: Yeah I mean [inaudible]

Mark Segal: Give me another segment if I missed any, whats that?

Kate Kunath: I think theres a lot of ways to answer and you can probably go on and on in different directions about it, but I think [inaudible]... I guess my assumption is that Stonewall was mostly a white bar, and people of color are going there,

Mark Segal: I just thought I just said that.

Kate Kunath: Yeah, you did, yes.

Mark Segal: You got it exactly right. See, people like me felt comfortable going in there.

Mark Segal: People like me felt comfortable going in there because my friends were the drag queens, and a lot of them were African-American or Latino. My friends were people like Jerry Hoose, who was stereotypical. My friends were the young radicals who were trying to figure out what we're going to do to create what was going to be a gay movement. We didn't have that word then. All those people who were the outliers of society,

Mark Segal: We had nothing to lose. I didn't have a job. I had no prospects for the future. I didnt know what I was going to do. Somewhere that light went off in a second in my head, grandmom took me to it, the civil rights march, pilgrims, Holocaust. It all adds up, builds up. It was an instant. I don't know if I said pilgrim, Holocaust, civil rights, gay rights,

Mason Funk: To this day, you find that you can, because you once were a kid who had nothing to lose and so who was willing to fight, to this day can you identify with and do you care maybe on a deeper level about people who still to this day have nothing to lose, whore still trying to piece together an existence? Can you relate to them in a way that large segments just cant?

Mason Funk: Is there a contradiction between the isolation and the creating safe spaces or creating spaces that are cultural institutions, whether it's a gay bar or an LGBT retirement home? Is there a contradiction [inaudible ] the segregation and the safe space?

Mark Segal: Did that answer that question?

Kate Kunath: It does. It's more for economic reasons than cultural reasons for the old folks?

Mason Funk: Well, no because theres also the cultural thing, which is that as I'm sure you know, so many elderly people have to essentially go back in the closet.

Mason Funk: Tell me, give us when you started.

Mark Segal: Let me give you an example of why we need senior homes for LGBT people in the community. When you're working on building a building such as this, a structure such as this, you're often busy dealing with

Mark Segal: You might see her, she's still living in the building, tomorrow when you go over there. Her grandson's name is Tony Singer.

Mark Segal: She is so proud now. She could boast about him, where's in the building before she couldnt. Is that interesting?

Mason Funk: I cant wait. I did not know until I read the newspaper articles even that you had founded this building, I was like so clueless, so anyway

Mark Segal: Yeah, I'm like the energizer bunny, I don't stop. Jerry Hoose before he died, what was his line? I have it on tape somewhere.

Kate Kunath: Have any of them come to live in the building?

Mark Segal: Yes, I'm so proud. Susan Silverman lives in the building. She is a member of Gay Liberation Front New York, and also member of Gay Youth New York. I'm very proud that one of them is living there. Jerry wanted to live there, but I knew he had cancer, and I knew he would never make it.

Mark Segal: Basically, you're asking me to tell you what it's like to be annoying, persistent, and what was the other one?

Mark Segal: Friendly. I remember Gay Liberation Front, I always go back to Gay Liberation Front, where someone said, You have to have high consciousness, okay.

Mason Funk: But you dont let them off the hook.

Mark Segal: Oh, absolutely not. I have a tape of the grand opening of the building and here are governors, senators, congress people, city council people, mayors, one after another coming up here.

Mark Segal: I go over there, no one believed when I said that because of how persistent I am as you just said. I said at the ribbon-cutting that,

Mark Segal: What they give back to the community, I mean, it's phenomenal.

Mason Funk: Okay, four last questions, these are intended to be sort of short and pithy, right.

Mark Segal: He hasn't been listening.

Mason Funk: To a young person or a middle-aged person or an older person who is about to come out in some way, shape, or form,

Mark Segal: To those about ready to come out no matter what age, no matter where they are on the socio-economic, political ladder, it doesn't matter. I have two things to tell you. Number one,

Mark Segal: That wasnt short enough. That wasn't short.

Mason Funk: That was pretty short. By your standards that was short. What is your hope for the future?

Mark Segal: I really don't know. I had a teacher in second grade, Mrs. Rice, never forget her. She gave me one of those lines you live by, which was, Always set your goal just a little out of reach because if you reach your goal, you'll then have to set another one.

Mason Funk: I think more community -wise.

Mark Segal: Community-wise?

Mason Funk: Or just for the world, in other words, what do you hope will exist after you're gone? What do you hope will happen that will outlive you?

Mark Segal: Eileen, don't kill me for telling the story.

Mason Funk: Why is it important to you to tell your story in this format? In other words, why did you agree to participate in this project?

Mason Funk: Incorporate my question in your answer please. In other words, it's important

Mark Segal: I think this project is important

Mark Segal: I think it's important for me to tell my story because it's not just my story. Anybody who accomplishes anything, accomplishes it with partners, people who care about the same issues that work with them on those issues. No one does anything by themselves. In this way, I not only got to tell from my viewpoint, but I also got to give credit to the people who helped me along the way, helped me learn,

Mason Funk: Great. As part two, you were already going there, what is the importance of a project like OUTWORDS?

Mark Segal: If we don't record our history, we will lose it, plain and simple. We can't afford to lose our history because when we don't study our history, you sometimes repeat bad things, and we've done this over and over in our community.

Mason Funk: Sorry just say that again, Gay Liberation Front honored trans people

Mark Segal: Gay Liberation Front honored trans people and after Gay Liberation Front no longer existed, we ignored trans people for many years to come after that.

Mason Funk: Do me a favor, say that last sentence. There was a motorcycle. Gay history needs to be recorded so that, just start there.

Mark Segal: Gay history needs to be recorded so that we have benchmarks on where we were, and where we can go and what the next level can be

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Mark Segal was born in Philadelphia, and raised in the only Jewish household in his public housing project. As a child, he learned of friends and family members who had perished in Russian pogroms and German concentration camps. By 13, he was marching in his first civil-rights demonstration alongside his suffragette grandmother.Almost from day one, Mark knew he was gay.

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John Legend on Creating Content that is Unapologetically Black 

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John Legend on Creating Content that is Unapologetically Black 

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Video John Legend on creating content that's unapologetically Black

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ABC News explores the racial reckoning occurring across the U.S. with John Legend, who talks about his song “Never Break,” his production company Get Lifted and using art to spark change.

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Caroline C

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By Haja Kamara · August 21, 2019

According to data from the ACLU, go to a school with a police officer but no counselor, nurse, psychologist or social worker. This is particularly troubling, as youth experience daily trauma that they carry with them into the classroom. When their trauma is unacknowledged by adults around them, students often find themselves criminalized and pushed into the school to prison-deportation pipeline.
Students Facing Incarceration
The school to prison pipeline pushes students out of classrooms and into the juvenile justice system. One especially impactful set of policies are zero tolerance discipline measures that mandate specific punishments (usually suspension or expulsion) for behavioral infractions. These measures were originally enacted to punish serious offenses; however, they have become used to punish students for minor infractions such as talking back to teachers.

In addition, many School Resource Officers (SROs) are members of law enforcement who do not have any on working with children but are typically allowed to carry weapons and make arrests. The increased presence of these officers in schools has led to heightened student suspension and arrests for behavior that could be otherwise dealt with by school officials.

These policies do not impact all students equally. Data from the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) shows that Black students are 3 times more likely to be suspended or expelled than their White counterparts. Additionally, Black students make up 31% of students arrested in school while they only make up 16% of enrolled students. suggests that school push-out begins for Black students in preschool, with Black children making up 19% of preschool students but 47% of preschool students who received one or more out of school suspensions. Clearly, students of color are disproportionately impacted by policies that push them out of school and into the juvenile and criminal justice system.
Students Facing Deportation
Student criminalization - through a school to deportation pipeline - can lead to a cascade of events that push students out of school and onto the radar of immigration agencies. School arrests can lead to students being for deportation. Arrests can even have effects on students' at gaining citizenship.

ICE has been targeting immigrants suspected of being gang members through programs like Operation Matador in New York. When students are of having gang affiliations or violate a school rule, they are often referred to ICE. Students are often suspected of being in gangs for vague reasons such as wearing certain clothing , drawing in class , and even speaking to certain classmates. This systemic discrimination puts students and their families at risk of being separated and can have serious effects on students' emotional wellbeing.

These discipline strategies have negative effects on students' academic performance - students who had been suspended or expelled were to drop out compared to students who had not been suspended. In addition to the academic impacts of the school to prison pipeline, being suspended and having encounters with police can exacerbate trauma students experience at home and in their communities.
Moving Towards Healing
Even though these policies and practices make school climate tense and degrade relationships between students, teachers, and staff - schools are often not adequately prepared to provide students the care and attention that they need to .

Many grassroots organizations are fighting for schools where students can learn and grow rather than be pushed out. For example, the Dignity in Schools Campaign , a coalition of grassroots organizations, teachers, students, and their families, seeks to dismantle the school to prison pipeline through initiatives such as Counselors Not Cops and Solutions Not Suspensions . These initiatives urge schools to enact strategies that center healing - such as investing in students' mental health and implementing restorative strategies for discipline that do not rely on pushing students out of school.

In particular, 'restorative justice ' describes a wide variety of strategies that have been implemented in schools as an alternative to zero-tolerance discipline. In the restorative justice framework, the goal of discipline is not to be punitive but rather to repair harm by restoring relationships. One of the ways that restorative justice is practiced is through talking circles - spaces where people can move forward from harms caused by community members by holding them accountable without pushing them out of the community itself. In schools, restorative justice has been used in response to everything from vandalism to physical altercations between students.

When asked how schools can create healthy environments for students and teachers to engage with trauma and move toward healing, community mental health specialist Stephanie Chiquillo suggested that schools become more restorative and less punitive environments. In order to do this, Chiquillo says, taking a restorative justice approach is a great first step, but schools should also be thinking about restoring the harm done on entire communities by "naming, understanding, and acknowledging the power of white supremacy."

By acknowledging the systems of power and privilege that impact students' lives in and out of school, teachers and other school staff can begin to work against the systems that uphold the school to prison pipeline. In addition to other strategies, certain states have incorporated the School Responder Model where clinical staff respond to disciplinary issues by conducting behavioral health screenings and connecting youth to services. This model uses restorative techniques, limits students' engagement with law enforcement, and incorporates students' families and communities as part of the solution.

Ultimately, school discipline is a complicated issue that requires an intersectional response that takes into account the circumstances that impact students' behavior, supports students with mental and behavioral health needs, and prioritizes learning and healing over punishment.

Learn more about grassroots efforts exemplifying this approach and consider how you can support them:

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healthy marketing and retail environment

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Breaking the School to Prison-Deportation Pipeline through Restorative Justice - The Praxis Project

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By Haja Kamara · August 21, 2019 According to data from the ACLU, 14 million students go to a school with a police officer but no counselor, nurse, psychologist or social worker . This is particularly troubling, as youth experience daily trauma that they carry with them into the classroom.

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Caroline C