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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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Over the last several years, UW faculty, students, alumni, and community members have worked together to implement programs based on principles of restorative and transformative justice in Washington state. Alongside incarcerated people, survivors of violence, and others, Prof. Katherine Beckett and Martina Kartman of the UWCHR and LSJ's Rethinking Punishment project began work that has evolved into Collective Justice (CJ), an organization "harnessing the collective power of communities to build new pathways of accountability and healing."

Prior to 2017, there were no long-term, in-depth restorative or transformative justice programs available to incarcerated people or crime victims in the Pacific Northwest. Restorative justice processes "involve, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific offense to collectively identify and address harms, needs and obligations, in order to heal and put things as right as possible" (Zehr 2002, cited in Beckett and Kartman, 2016). Transformative justice extends these principles to call for changes in the material and social conditions that perpetuate harm. These processes can look very different in practice, but most involve bringing people together to tell their stories and work towards accountability and repair, with the support of trained facilitators. Research has shown that such programs have many benefits, both for people who have experienced harm, and for people who have caused it.

With an institutional home at the Public Defender Association in Seattle, Collective Justice now provides an organizational framework for restorative and transformative justice programs involving incarcerated people, survivors of harm, and communities. These include Healing Education and Accountability for Liberation (HEAL) Circles for people incarcerated at Washington State Reformatory at Monroe Correctional Complex; Survivor Circles for community members impacted by violence; Dialogue and Accountability Processes for people addressing interpersonal conflict and harm in their communities; and a Heal2Action Leadership Academy to equip survivors to lead policy change and advocate for community-centered approaches to safety and justice.

To learn more about Collective Justice's work, we met up (virtually!) with staff and collective members for a conversation about their vision, values, and goals. We spoke with CJ staff members co-founder and Strategy and Capacity Coordinator Martina Kartman, Operations Coordinator Metasabia Rigby, and DAP Coordinator Devon Adams; and collective member Teddy McGlynn-Wright. In a year in which the coronavirus pandemic and nationwide uprisings for Black lives have brought new urgency to discussions of mass incarceration, state violence, and community-centered approaches to safety and justice, their experience and insights could not be more relevant.

Martina Kartman: My name's Martina, I've been with CJ from the beginning and helped to get it started, and I don't know my new role now, my new title! We haven't figured it out yet. We just rearranged our workload and titles. I work on supporting the capacity development of the organization. And I'll pass it to Sabibi!

Metasabia Rigby: Hi, I am Sabia. How did I come to CJ? I was one of the first facilitators that got trained up for the Healing Education for Accountability and Liberation (HEAL) program that went to Monroe Correctional Complex. My current role is as operations and development coordinator. That's about me, I'll pass it to Devon.

Devon Adams: Hi y'all, I'm Devon Adams, I came through CJ last week, I was hired on to work on the Dialogue and Accountability Process with the rest of the folks. Prior to this I was incarcerated-I'm still incarcerated technically. I was at Washington State Reformatory when they had the first HEAL process, and I got to learn a lot about restorative and transformative work, and was given the opportunity to come and work with the organization. I thought it would be a great idea, so here I am! There's only one person left, the great Teddy!

Teddy McGlynn-Wright: Hilarious, thanks Devon! My name is Teddy McGlynn-Wright, and I came on early on. So after the facilitators were chosen for this project, I got to step in in a supportive role to that facilitator crew. My role was to do some trauma stewardship work with that group. As we hear folks' stories of trauma and whatnot, it accumulates, so part of my role was to help them kind of discharge that, and then to skill up. I have a background as a facilitator, so a lot of it was about, what are some really specific facilitative skills that people need to be practiced in? And that role continues in different angles and capacities at this point.

Martina: We have three central programs that function as an integrated whole. And we leverage our lessons from what we're learning on the ground for broader structural and policy change, for organizing. The first is the HEAL program of circles for currently incarcerated people, which meets every week for 12-15 months. Part of what we wanted to do there, and why it's so long, is that a lot of us as facilitators reflected on being in spaces where we get tools, like "here's a tool for this, here's a thing for that", but not a lot of space to be in it, to actually practice and embody those tools in relationship with each other, and so we really wanted to make that possible. In, I think 2016, it might have been '15, the Black Prisoners' Caucus and the Concerned Lifers Organization at Monroe Correctional Complex were already discussing restorative justice, and starting to do some of your own work there, and also thinking about how you could have more support in that work.

Devon: Yeah, there was a strong desire from a lot of the members of the organizations to have a restorative process with the people they had harmed. But there was nothing in place for that to happen. So Martina and Dr. Katherine Beckett, who was a sponsor for the CLO and BPC, started to shop around the idea of having a restorative process potentially introduced to the prison. That's how the ball started to roll. When folks from the Insight Prison Project came up around the end of 2016 or early 2017, that was really when everyone really got interested in this idea, they saw that it was working, and individuals really wanted to pursue that process.

Martina: And at the same time in community, API Chaya and the NW Network and other anti-violence organizations were really leading the way on restorative and transformative justice. So these two things were happening in community and the prison at the same time, starting to think critically about criminalization as a front-line approach to violence, and what else we could do. So then we went and met, like Devon was saying, with Insight Prison Project and Ahimsa Collective, which are two organizations in California that do work that is similar to ours, they do RJ work with folks who are incarcerated and in the community. They started training us up and skilling us up. And then we launched HEAL in...

Metasabia, Devon: December 2017.

Martina: That's crazy! December 2017 at Washington State Reformatory at Monroe Correctional Complex. I think we started with 45 participants, 13 per circle and 6 facilitators, based off the work of Ahimsa, Insight, the NW Network's relationship skills class, and some of our own work that we brought in. And then we launched our first survivors' circle in 2018. So now we're at a natural outgrowth of those two programs which is to do some more direct dialogues, which Devon is going to be leading for us. So that's the arc of how we got started. And because the Department of Corrections (DOC) is not allowing anyone in now due to coronavirus we're in the middle of conversation about shifting that programming so that we can offer it in community.

Devon: From a person who was in prison, the role that I saw that CJ was playing was teaching individuals about accountability, what that is for them. Learning to understand what harms or experiences caused a lot of us to think and believe a certain way, and how that played out in our lives, and how we actually harmed others. That perpetual cycle of violence. Learning to separate the things we did from who we actually are, and doing that in a setting that was really supportive. One of the things that made that process so effective, I know for myself, were the relationships we had with the facilitators, nothing compared to other programs. You don't have relations with DOC staff, they're not equipped to support you through that process of unpacking a lot of the things that have happened in a person's life. What I noticed was that we began to take the skills that we were learning outside of the circles and applying it in the community that we lived in. When you're experiencing conflict or tension, even with administration, with the skills that we had, with communication, holding ourselves accountable for our behavior and trying to do that with one another, we saw a strengthening in the community and the work that we were doing outside of HEAL, whether that was in the Black Prisoners' Caucus or the Concerned Lifers Organization.

Martina: Our second program is providing circles of healing and support for people impacted by violence in the community. It really uses a lot of the same curriculum as the HEAL circles, a lot of the same work. Initially we thought we should develop a whole different thing, and the reality is that healing work is healing work, and both are necessary for accountability as well. It ends up being really similar. Those two programs also involve an opportunity to meet. So for people in the survivor circle, many of whom will never have the opportunity to talk directly to the person that's harmed them, they're able to go in, they went in last year to the prison and we were able to be in circle together, and able to be in community and share our stories with each other. I think one of the most profound characteristics of our penal system, but also of experiencing trauma and violence, is isolation, so part of the work is about breaking isolation and being in community. And if we understand violence as something that happens in isolation, then healing is something that happens in relationship. We're really trying to do that in the work, and that's part of bringing folks together. So both of those programs we're having to reimagine right now under the conditions that we're in due to the coronavirus pandemic. The community circles for survivors were held first by Calvin Burnap, Stacy Torres and Teddy for our Survivor Advisory Board, which is a group of incredibly powerful individuals who have survived profound violence and are coming together to heal and imagine new possibilities. We now have a community circles team that includes two of the survivors we first worked with, Kathei McCoy and DeVitta Briscoe, who are co-facilitating our circles now. One of our foundational values is bringing folks into the work to hold it themselves.

Metasabia: I think what we are continuously trying to do is to get communities that are most impacted to actually have a conversation about how violence and harm has played out, and to understand the intricacies of that, of the machine, of the state. To understand that when you bring together survivors that have survived multiple forms of violence, being like, "Wait, it didn't work for you? That system didn't work for anybody here? So what are we doing?!" And also to see one another and realize that the communities that are always discarded, and disposable, and that are behind bars, are not getting services; are the ones even on the outside that are not getting services. A lot of times people are like, "No no no, the people who are sent away are the bad people, and the survivors are the good people." And we are continuously having to live with that tension, and having to be in constant practice with people who do want some simplicity and answers, and then we have to be like, "we're gonna complicate things, because even you said that you weren't given answers, you weren't even able to get services to counselling, let alone to speak with someone that caused the harm."

Martina: Our third program is our Dialog and Accountability Processes, which are an opportunity for individuals in the community to do a restorative justice process when they ask for it. We've had a lot of requests for those and a lack of capacity to respond to all of them, but now with Devon here we're building up that program more, and that's really exciting. We are facilitating a few processes right now, but we'll be able to do more.

Devon: What I would like to see is continuing to educate people on how to address harm in a way that is teachable, that doesn't require folks to keep coming back to CJ, but to pass that on within their families, within their communities, and spread organically. So people have a new skill set, they have a new way of thinking. Empowering people to understand the power that they have when it comes to addressing harm, and sharing those skills with those in their communities, so they're not required to go into the criminal legal system at all. So seeing that happen in a prison context, I believe that is replicable out here in the community, it just takes a lot more time and a lot more effort. But seeing it, in one of the most violent places that you can exist, actually take root and begin to see those seeds, see things grow, was really the main factor that made me believe in the process and want to come work for CJ. I saw something in this organization that was different, that was promising, that involved everybody. I think it's more intentional about that, to continue to take that and share that with other folks in the community and hopefully have a real impact when it comes to violence and harm.

Martina: And then the last piece is leveraging what we learn from that to start thinking about how we can elevate the work to shift the conditions that lead us to where we are right now. So Dashni Amin, one of our colleagues, is working on a HEAL2Action program to support survivors to build shared political analysis and tools to start engaging in that. We're thinking about healing responses to harm both on an interpersonal level but also as a political framework, to respond to violence without more violence. A real understanding that the way that we're currently responding to interpersonal violence is with state violence, and that does both nothing to create the conditions for accountability, or healing, or to make things as right as possible; but it also doesn't address the underlying conditions that lead to violence to begin with. So part of what we're doing on an interpersonal level is starting to build the skill and the capacities in our communities to respond to harm with something different; and in doing so hoping to be not just responding in the aftermath of harm, but building skills so that people can start intervening and preventing harm to begin with.

Teddy: I think for folks on the outside, just to echo what Sabia is saying, and something that Martina had said earlier, is this piece around- if we know that interpersonal violence happens in the context of structural violence, and never happens without the context of structural violence, then having structural and state violence as a response to interpersonal violence is the thing that is most likely to continue that cycle and the thing that is least likely to reduce harm. So part of what happens for the folks for the outside, for survivors, for community circles, is that they have to reckon with the desire for, as Sabia was saying, simple answers. And I think really explicitly, folks want punishment and resolution. And having to reckon with, even the most extreme version of punishment doesn't give me resolution, doesn't leave me feeling more whole, doesn't bring my son back-none of that shit happens. So folks have to grieve that, grieve that narrative that "I'm a survivor, or I'm a victim, or I was harmed," etcetera, and "here's what I deserve, and here's how I need to fit into that story", and instead say, "Oh, I am on multiple sides of harm, the folks who have harmed me are on multiple sides of harm, and what we need to find is the actual way through, that leaves us more whole," rather than, "what's the most egregious, intense, exemplary punishment that we can bring from the state." And that's not to say that everyone walks away from that circle being like, "I'm all for restorative and transformative justice and I'm going to fight for it all my life," but people do walk out of that space going like, "Oh damn, I actually have to encounter this experience differently."

Martina: Our structure is that we have five full-time staff on Collective Justice. We just shifted our model a bit to be flatter in structure. Those five staff really help bottom-line the projects, but so much of the work that we're able to do is possible because we have a much larger community that's engaging with us. We have teams that hold the work: we have a facilitation team for the community circles, we have a facilitation team for the HEAL work, we're starting to build the capacity for Devon's DAPs work, we have a Survivor Advisory Board. Teddy's a good example of people who have been incredible resources, that have allowed our work to grow in alignment with our values, and really help shape the work. It's very much not a project that's held by staff alone. Some of those folks who are supporting are paid, some are unpaid, some are stipended and some people are volunteering, and we intend to maintain that model so that we can grow the capacity to meet the need and not build a giant non-profit, that's not our plan. And part of that is because of our understanding of RJ work as work that's meant to be done in community. Some of that's formal, or informal, but trying not to replicate the institutionalized and social-service model of providing support to people. We don't want to be a hotline that you call and then we show up and we facilitate, and you feel better on the other side, but you leave and don't know what happened. Our goal is around planning for empowerment, our goal is building up skill and capacity in community. That means that we want to grow internally, organizationally, to match that value. So just in terms of how we do our work, those are the programs, and it's done with a lot of support from a lot of people who are not on CJ staff but that I want to elevate and lift up too. And to be replicable. We get the question a lot about scale up, and our answer is always that we're not trying to scale up CJ's work, we're trying to replicate and scale up the work for people to do in their own communities.

Teddy: The other piece that Martina was naming around the way that the political commitment lives within the organization is to say, we're going to stay about this side, we're going to really focus on folks' skill and well-being. We're going to say that we could not do this without this level of resource from community, keep that accountability piece really on lock. Because of the way that we chose to be in an accountable relationship, the resources can flow differently. When we're thinking about what are the responses to a carceral logic that pits people against each other for resources, we have to say, we can let this go, or here's what I can do or what I can't do given the commitments that I have inside of a capitalist state. The same for our Survivor Advisory Board, for all of our volunteers, we're really playing with this model of what's compensated and stipended and what's not and how do we balance that. That has to stay a relevant conversation or you end up in that non-profit industrial complex zone where we value people who we pay, and we undervalue people who we don't pay, whatever. That's not the commitment. It keeps it in the transformation lane and not the transactional lane.

Metasabia: Teddy, one of the things that you always say is that we have a belief in people's worth, around disposability and how that's not something that we even entertain. And also we know that people grapple with that. But you say that a lot more eloquently, and help us to believe that is true about ourselves! [laughs] I believe that about other people, and I sometimes struggle about myself!

Teddy: Thanks for that Sabia. This is part of what Martina was talking about: it's not just an interpersonal process, it's also a political stance, this foundational belief that no one is disposable. Part of the role-prisons obviously play lots of roles, right?-but one of the roles is as a place where we can throw people away. So for us as an organization and as a set of individuals, we say, as sujatha baliga talks about, "there is no away." So if we go to the places where we have thrown people away and say, "Hey, y'all still have worth and value here", even in this place that's going to consistently tell you that's not true, part of what we're doing is making that political stance a reality through our interpersonal actions. The other piece that I talk about is against a politics of disposability, that is to say, even for folks in my own personal life who I am most wanting to distance myself from and say, "No, not you, I'm going to throw you away, I need to not have any kind of relationship"; that the practice is to recognize that even when I want to throw someone away that we are actually still in relationship, and what I am doing is being in denial of that fact. And if I return to the reality, which is, even for the folks who I am most in opposition to, most loathsome of, most want to get away from-I'm still in relationship with that person, so what does it mean for me to be in right relationship with that person? And how do we model that, as a program or a practice? And how do we live it? The role of the facilitator is to have that belief be so axiomatic, so foundational, that it disrupts and disturbs whatever of that narrative or notion they're coming in with.

Martina: Can I add to that, Teddy? Part of the framework that got us there, also, is the framing of, if we are building something different-so much of the work that people are in is about fighting harmful systems, the destructive work, the work of trying to get in the way of harmful systems and harm that's happening. And then there's the work of building up, of dreaming and building something different and living into that. I think that's part of the work that we're in, and part of that is about shifting in our own minds and relationships with each other and community, the ways in which we mirror the logic of the state. Trying to think about how we can have presence of values and being that looks different than that. How are we actually getting that out of our bodies and our mind and building new ways to be in relationship with each other?

Devon: I really feel that with the values that we have here in the organization that we can be accountable to ourselves and one another and the community, which is going to help us as we move forward. I think that as long as that remains intact, then whatever the outcome is when you're dealing with outside organizations or state agencies, I really feel confident in the work that we're going to do, that we'll stay true to who we are and still have an impact in the community.

Martina: Some of the pitfalls are co-optation, institutionalization, non-profit industrial complex stuff. Some of the state actors that might be seen as adversarial are really interested in restorative justice, really wanting to think about ways that they can offer restorative justice in their offices, and stay relevant in order to do so. It's been a real challenge to stay on purpose, and clear about our lane, and practice saying no to some of the requests that we're getting that I think are not aligned with our long-term vision, and to leave room to say yes to the things that we have been doing. In some ways, we've been doing a thing, and we need to keep doing it, and continue to deepen it.

Devon: I'm in a process of transition, trying to figure out the landscape. In a few meetings that I've sat in on, a lot of these things resemble the issues that we faced in prison. Dealing with administration in prison seems to be like dealing with some of these state or county agencies. When I see it, it's just, now you're dealing with more resources. You have instead of Black Prisoners' Caucus, Concerned Lifers' Organization, Latino Development Organization, certain other cultural groups, there's these resources that it seems like the system pits people against each other to get these resources. It really stops the work. But it's not different from what we experienced in prison, where there are certain benefits afforded to certain groups over others. And we have to find a way to work through those things and understand that it's designed to do this on purpose, so that when they find really good ideas, they take them and turn them into what they want them to be.

Teddy: I want to really name what Devon was just sharing about the carceral logic-it's real! If the idea is, keep people isolated, like Martina said; keep folks down, keep folks from being in a collective and having collective responses; then the carceral logic says to keep people split, make them compete over resources.

Martina: I think some of the possibilities are that there's momentum, and a thing that people didn't know at all what it meant a couple years ago, people are talking about it now. That can be a way in to start the work. For us it has also meant that people who are directly impacted who really do have specific requests for dialog and accountability processes are requesting it more, which is a positive.

Metasabia: For me, at this moment, it's a lot about-there are so many possibilities that we can live into, so, so, so, so many, and we're seeing people's possibilities being just... assaulting all of us. I think it's just a time to continue practicing what CJ does best, and that's practicing to continue to be in right relationship with one another and with ourselves. I just think that asks for a lot, actually, and it does excite me to be like, yeah, everywhere is your field of practice. But that does mean you have to know what you're practicing. And you have to be knowing who you are bringing with you. And that every day is not going to be peachy. Knowing that we're going to be in conflict, but also understanding that in this moment, where there are so many agendas being thrown at us...we always have to come back to ourselves and our values and our truth. And our truth is that all of us are worthy of dignity, that's not up for discussion; and that all of us are incredibly different, and are experts of our own lived experience, and we have to be in that tension with one another to share the lessons and the wisdom and the struggles and the pitfalls. We have to be in practice-especially in corona time-how to be in deep relationship virtually, and in distance. I see us having to practice, and being more creative, and being more curious. Speaking to the grief-being in better relationship with grief, and how present that is for all of our lives, and how it impacts people all of the time. So this is a time for an incredible reckoning, and being honest and clear about what our orientation is, will help us move forward in a way that is aligned and be able to see more meaningful transformation.

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Collective Justice: "Healing happens in relationship" - Center for Human Rights

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Over the last several years, UW faculty, students, alumni, and community members have worked together to implement programs based on principles of restorative and transformative justice in Washington state. Alongside incarcerated people, survivors of violence, and others, Prof.

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MONDAY, Feb. 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Black women who often encountered racism before age 20 have an increased risk of depression, new research shows.

Of the 1,600 Black women in Detroit, aged 25 to 35, who took part in the study, nearly two-thirds said they'd been subjected to some form of racism during adolescence, and more than one-third had symptoms of depression.

"Looking across the life course from adolescence through the 20s, Black women with persistently high frequency and high stress related to racism had the highest risk for depressive symptoms in adulthood than those with persistently low frequency," said study co-author Anissa Vines. She is assistant professor of epidemiology in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Vines said the findings - recently published in theJournal of Urban Health - show how damaging racism is to the mental health of young people, and "echo what other researchers have been reporting on the implications of adverse childhood experiences on health in later life."

Her team also examined whether the amount of social support that the study participants received in childhood and adulthood affected the link between racism and depression.

"Though we hypothesized the social support would buffer the effects of racism, we did not find evidence to support this," Vines said in a university news release.

The data used in the study were collected between 2010 and 2012 - before more recent events that have brought overt acts of racism to the forefront of national attention in the United States.

The researchers also pointed out that the women faced a number of challenges, from Detroit's eroding economy to high poverty rates and low educational attainment.

"The health of women living in Detroit cannot be separated from the erosion of their physical, emotional, social, economic and political environments," the study authors explained.

Even so, they added, "the importance of early-life racism seen in this single geographic area may be broadly generalizable to young Black women in other geographical settings."

The findings further highlight that racism is a public health crisis that requires urgent intervention, because it can cause lasting damage to the well-being of people of color, the study team concluded.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about racism and health.

SOURCE: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, news release, Feb. 25, 2022

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

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Racism in Youth Leaves Black Women With Lasting Risk of Depression

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MONDAY, Feb. 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Black women who often encountered racism before age 20 have an increased risk of depression, new research shows. Of the 1,600 Black women in Detroit, aged 25 to 35, who took part in the study, nearly two-thirds said they'd been subjected to some form of racism during adolescence, and more than one-third had symptoms of depression.

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Researchers explore where it came from, why it's so destructive, and how to dismantle it.

The angry Black woman stereotype exists in many parts of American culture - including the workplace. Studies show people in organizations believe Black women are more likely to have belligerent, contentious, and angry personalities, an assumption not as readily assigned to other men and women. Recent studies suggest this negative perception is a unique phenomenon for Black women, and the researchers suggest that when Black women outwardly express anger at work, her leadership and potential are called into question.

The angry Black woman stereotype has penetrated many parts of American culture, including the workplace. This pervasive stereotype not only characterizes Black women as more hostile, aggressive, overbearing, illogical, ill-tempered and bitter, but it may also be holding them back from realizing their full potential in the workplace - and shaping their work experiences overall.

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Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning's online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.

How to build a better, more just workplace.

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Daphna Motro is an assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship at Hofstra University's Frank G. Zarb School of Business.

Jonathan B. Evans is an assistant professor of the Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources Division at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business.

Aleksander P.J. Ellis is the management and organizations department head at the University of Arizona's Eller College of Management

Lehman Benson III is an associate professor of management and organizations at the University of Arizona's Eller College of Management.

New!

HBR Learning

Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Course

Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning's online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.

How to build a better, more just workplace.

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The "Angry Black Woman" Stereotype at Work

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The angry Black woman stereotype exists in many parts of American culture - including the workplace. Studies show people in organizations believe Black women are more likely to have belligerent, contentious, and angry personalities, an assumption not as readily assigned to other men and women.

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Renee Lee

http://restorativejustice.org/restorative-justice/about-restorative-justice/stories/#sthash.VrWL38Xl.dpbs

This site holds a lot of powerful stories about the impacts of restorative justice. Something that stood out to me was that restorative justice seemed to help not just the perpetrator or the overall problem, but also the victim. It helped the victim have the opportunity to move forward in their life.

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Improving jury diversity in Washington State – Washington Appellate Project

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April 22, 2021 – Minor ethnicities are vastly underrepresented in jury pools across the nation, and Washington State is spearheading the efforts to address this longstanding problem.

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Author: Black Lives Matter

Restorative Justice is the commitment to build a beloved and loving community that is sustainable and growing.

" We know that if you knock down someone's block building, you have to help them rebuild it, you can't just say, "Sorry," and walk away. Another way to say that is restorative justice, and it's the idea that we have to help people when something happens to them, even if it was by accident."

We work vigorously for freedom and justice for Black people and, by extension, all people.

We intentionally build and nurture a beloved community that is bonded together through a beautiful struggle that is restorative, not depleting.

Empathy is one's ability to connect with others by building relationships built on mutual trust and understanding.

"It's so important to think about how other people feel because different people have different feelings. Sometimes it helps to think about how you would feel if the same thing that happened to your friend happened to you. Another way to say that is empathy."

We practice empathy. We engage comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts.

Loving Engagement is the commitment to practice justice, liberation and peace.

"It's so important to make sure that we are always trying to be fair and peaceful. We have to keep practicing this so that we can get better and better at it. Another way to say that is loving engagement."

We embody and practice justice, liberation, and peace in our engagements with one another.

DMU Timestamp: January 25, 2018 19:54

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Restorative Justice, Empathy, Loving Engagement - NowComment.com

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Restorative Justice is the commitment to build a beloved and loving community that is sustainable and growing. " We know that if you knock down someone's block building, you have to help them rebuild it, you can't just say, "Sorry," and walk away.

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A revolution of values for Black American families

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If we can account for the associated costs of racism to individuals, then we can begin to properly restore lost value by investing in the people who have been penalized simply for being Black.

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Lawson

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By Larry Buchanan, Quoctrung Bui and Jugal K. Patel

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Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. History (Published 2020)

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Recent polls suggest that about 15 million to 26 million people in the U.S. have participated in recent protests.

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This website talks about what it means to be unapologetically black and to be proud of who you are and not to be embarrassed or ashamed.
Maija Tamura

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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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It's a common perception that white, evangelical families are the most likely to homeschool their children. But a growing number of Black families have started teaching their kids at home - especially during the pandemic. The Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey found that in April 2020, 3% of Black households homeschooled their children, and by October 2020 it was up to 16%.

Those numbers may not be completely accurate, the Bureau noted, because a lot of children were learning at home in 2020. So part way through the survey period, the homeschooling question was expdanded to clarify that homeschoolers did not include children enrolled in public or private school. Even so, the numbers signal a significant increase.

Joyce Burges, founder of National Black Home Educators, said that since 2020, thousands of families have joined her organization.

"I think you're going to see more and more parents, Black parents, homeschooling their children like never before," Burges said.

"COVID was the catalyst"

Didakeje Griffin in Birmingham, Ala., is one of them. When she and her husband realized their kids wouldn't be going back to public school in March 2020, they knew they had to make a change.

"It was like a light bulb moment," Griffin said. "Ultimately, what I realized is that the pandemic just gave us an opportunity to do what we needed to do anyway, which is homeschooling."

The mother of two said she'd always coached her kids at home to keep them on track. But three things made her decide to officially start homeschooling. First, she wanted her children to be safe from bullies. She also wanted them to understand their cultural history. The third factor was freedom.

"I want to have time to cultivate my children's African-American, their Nigerian history and culture in them first, before anybody tries to tell them who they are," Griffin said. COVID was the catalyst, "but it has not been the reason that we kept going."

The Griffins celebrate Juneteenth more than July Fourth. They have discussions about the Black Lives Matter movement and talk about critical race theory with their children, ages 11 and 8. Griffin sees homeschooling as a way to protect her children.

"I don't want my kids to be subjected to racism in certain ways so early," she said.

Homeschooling as activism

In Black households, homeschooling can be its own unique form of activism and resistance.

"The history that's taught is that we've tried through Brown v. Board of Ed to get access to schools, and schools are integrated," said Cheryl Fields-Smith, a professor at the University of Georgia who studies Black homeschooling and its cultural significance.

"And that's true," she added. "But we've also always been self-taught."

Fields-Smith said homeschooling is a way to combat educational racism, which comes in many forms.

"We all know that there are structures and policies and practices within our traditional schools that can be damaging to students of color, Black students in particular," she said.

School discipline is one of them. Data from a 2014 study by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights showed that Black students were suspended at three times the rate of white students, and were more likely to be reprimanded. A 2015 study from the Association for Psychological Science found that Black students are more likely to be labeled "troublemakers" by teachers.

These statistics can make parents and caretakers of Black children distrust the education system. In the last couple years a number of states have moved to add more Black history into their lesson plans. Still, earlier this year, Alabama and a handful of other states banned critical race theory in K-12 classrooms, even though it's an academic theory of structural racism that is largely taught at the university level.

"This idea of white supremacy and the inferiority of Black people lingers today," Fields-Smith said. "We are overcoming racism through homeschooling. I don't think white people can say that."

A growing community

Some families are also creating community through homeschooling.

In Alabama, Alfrea Moore said homeschooling her children for the last three years has given them the freedom to ask questions and learn without a strict curriculum. It's also allowed them to connect with their culture.

"The thing about homeschooling in the South as a Black family that I'm finding is that there are a lot more of us than we actually know of," Moore said.

"When we moved to get my kids to interact with other kids, there are networks of homeschoolers and Black homeschoolers in not just this part of Alabama where we live, but all over."

Jennifer Duckworth and Yalonda Chandler co-founded the Black Homeschoolers of Birmingham three years ago so more homeschooling families of color could find and support each other.

Duckworth said she started homeschooling because she was concerned that if her son were in public school, he would start to withdraw.

"My son, being a young Black boy with positive self-esteem about himself, can sometimes be threatening, for lack of a better word, to some teachers," Duckworth said. "They'll create an identity for the Black and brown children that they don't even realize they're doing."

Duckworth said the Black Homeschoolers of Birmingham has created a community where children don't feel different because of their race.

Her 10-year-old son, Alexander, agrees. "It just feels great to be around kids like me so you don't always have to be alone, like the odd person out," he said.

Duckworth has been homeschooling her three children for several years. They participate in a lot of the Black homeschooling group's activities, like the debate club and field trips.

Last month the group held its first homeschooling summit. The founders said in just three years, the Black Homeschoolers of Birmingham has grown from two families to 70.

"Black families, they understand now that they don't have to be trapped in a system that overpolices them, that marginalizes them, that makes their children feel criminalized for just being who they are," said Chandler.

For a long time, the U.S. had barriers that made it hard for Black people to get an education, so learning and knowledge were always shared within the community.

"The African-American and African culture, we are the culture that has been homeschooling our children since the beginning," Duckworth said. "And so I feel like it's just in our DNA."

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More Black families are homeschooling their children, citing the pandemic and racism

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It's a common perception that white, evangelical families are the most likely to homeschool their children. But a growing number of Black families have started teaching their kids at home - especially during the pandemic. The Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey found that in April 2020, 3% of Black households homeschooled their children, and by October 2020 it was up to 16%.

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Lawson

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Anti-bias education is not just doing occasional activities about diversity and fairness topics (although that may be how new anti-bias educators begin). To be effective, anti-bias education works as an underpinning perspective, which permeates everything that happens in an early childhood program-including your interactions with children, families and coworkers-and shapes how you put curriculum together each day.

This article is an excerpt of the second edition of Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards. An NAEYC bestseller, this book helps early childhood educators fulfill their mission of helping all children reach their full potential. The new edition-with major updates to all chapters, including gender identity-will be available early in 2020.

The four core goals of anti-bias education

Four core goals provide a framework for the practice of anti-bias education with children. Grounded in what we know about how children construct identity and attitudes, the goals help you create a safe, supportive learning community for every child. They support children's development of a confident sense of identity without needing to feel superior to others; an ease with human diversity; a sense of fairness and justice; the skills of empowerment; and the ability to stand up for themselves or for others.

Goal 1: Identity

Teachers will nurture each child's construction of knowledgeable, confident, individual personal and social identities.

Children will demonstrate self-awareness, confidence, family pride, and positive social identities.

This goal means supporting children to feel strong and proud of who they are without needing to feel superior to anyone else. It means children will learn accurate, respectful language to describe who they and others are. Teachers will support children to develop and be comfortable within their home culture and within the school culture. Goal 1 is the starting place for all children, in all settings.

Adding to early childhood education's long-term commitment to nurturing each child's individual, personal identity, anti-bias education emphasizes the important idea of nurturing children's social (or group) identities. Social identities relate to the significant group categorizations of the society in which we grow up and live and which individuals share with many others. Social identities include (but are not limited to) gender, racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, and economic class groups. (In the forthcoming book, social identity is described in detail in Chapter 2.) A strong sense of both individual and group identities is the foundation for the three other core anti-bias goals.

Goal 2: Diversity

Teachers will promote each child's comfortable, empathetic interaction with people from diverse backgrounds.

Children will express comfort and joy with human diversity, use accurate language for human differences, and form deep, caring connections across all dimensions of human diversity.

This goal means guiding children to be able to think about and have words for how people are the same and how they are different. It includes helping children feel and behave respectfully, warmly, and confidently with people who are different from themselves. It includes encouraging children to learn both about how they are different from other children and about how they are similar. These are never either/or realities because people are simultaneously the same and different from one another. This goal is the heart of learning how to treat all people caringly and fairly.

Some teachers and parents are not sure they should encourage children to "notice" and learn about differences among people. They may think it is best to teach only about how people are the same, worrying that talking about differences causes prejudice. While well intentioned, this concern arises from a mistaken notion about the sources of bias. Differences do not create bias. Children learn prejudice from prejudice -not from learning about human diversity. It is how people respond to differences that teaches bias and fear.

Another misconception about Goal 2 is that exploring differences among people ignores appreciating the similarities. Goal 2 calls for creating a balance between exploring people's differences and similarities. All human beings share similar biological attributes, needs, and rights (e.g., the needs for food, shelter, and love; the commonalities of language, families, and feelings) and people live and meet these shared needs and rights in many different ways. A basic premise in anti-bias education is " We are all the same. We are all different. Isn't that wonderful! "

Goal 3: Justice

Teachers will foster each child's capacity to critically identify bias and will nurture each child's empathy for the hurt bias causes.

Children will increasingly recognize unfairness (injustice), have language to describe unfairness, and understand that unfairness hurts.

This goal is about building children's innate, budding capacities for empathy and fairness, as well as their cognitive skills for thinking critically about what is happening around them. It is about building a sense of safety, the sense that everyone can and will be treated fairly.

Learning experiences include opportunities for children to understand and practice skills for identifying unfair and untrue images (stereotypes), comments (teasing, name-calling), and behaviors (isolation, discrimination) directed at themselves or
at others. This includes issues of gender, race, ethnicity, language, disability, economic class, age, body shape, and more. These are early lessons in critical thinking for children, figuring out what they see and hear and testing it against the notions of kindness and fairness.

These lessons build on young children's implicit interest in what is "fair" and "not fair."

As children come to identify unfair experiences and as they learn that unfair can be made fair, children gain an increased sense of their own power in the world. Children cannot construct a strong self-concept, or develop respect for others, if they do not know how to identify and resist hurtful, stereotypical, and inaccurate messages or actions directed toward themselves or others. Developing the ability to think critically strengthens children's sense of self, as well as their capacity to form caring relationships with others.

Goal 4: Activism

Teachers will cultivate each child's ability and confidence to stand up for oneself and for others in the face of bias.

Children will demonstrate a sense of empowerment and the skills to act, with others or alone, against prejudice and/or discriminatory actions.

Goal 4 is about giving children tools for learning how to stand up to hurtful and unfair biased behavior based on any aspect of social identity. Biased behavior may be directed at oneself or another. It may come from another child or adult or from children's books, television, and films. This goal strengthens children's development in perspective taking, positive interactions with others, and conflict-resolution education.

Actions of teasing, rejection, and exclusion because of some aspect of a child's social identities are a form of aggressive behavior. They are just as serious as physical aggression. The old saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me" is false. Children's developing sense of self is hurt by name-calling, teasing, and exclusion based on identity. And children who engage in such hurtful behaviors are learning it is acceptable to hurt others, the earliest form of bullying. An anti-bias approach calls on teachers to intervene gently but firmly, support the child who is the target of the biased behavior, and help both children learn other ways of interacting.

Children's growth on Goal 4 strengthens their growth on the other three goals. If a child is the target of prejudice or discrimination, she needs tools to resist and to know that she has worth (Goal 1). When a child speaks up for another child, it reinforces his understanding of other people's unique feelings (Goal 2). When children are helped to act, it broadens their understanding of "unfairness" and "fairness" (Goal 3).

Guidelines for your curriculum

Just about every subject area in the typical early childhood program has possibilities for anti-bias education themes and activities. For instance, early childhood education themes of self-discovery, family, and community are deeper, and more meaningful, when they include explorations of ability, culture, economic class, gender identity, and racialized identity. So, too, issues of fairness (Goal 3) and acting for fairness (Goal 4) arise as children explore various curriculum topics.

Differences do not create bias. Children learn prejudice from prejudice -not from learning about human diversity. It is how people respond to differences that teaches bias and fear.

The ideas for specific anti-bias education content and activities come from three major sources. One is from children's questions, interests, or interactions with each other that classroom teachers see as important to respond to and develop. Teacher-initiated activities are a second source of anti-bias activities, based on what classroom teachers and families think is important for children to learn. A third source is significant events that occur in the children's communities and the larger world that classroom teachers think need to be explored with children.

Here is an example of an anti-bias education topic at snack time.

It is snack time in the 4-year-old room. The teacher sets a small pitcher of water on the table for children to pour and drink. Lupe, whose home language is Spanish, looks up and asks, "Agua?" Casey, sitting next to her, says with annoyance, "No! It's water-not ahhgwa" (exaggerating the pronunciation). The teacher stops what she is doing and turns to Casey and says, "Lupe is right. What you call 'water' her family calls 'agua.' There are many words for water, for crackers, for oranges, for everything! We all have words. We have different words. It's pretty wonderful!"

At group time, the teacher follows up by asking children about the different words they have for people in their family. As the children call out Grandma, Oma, Pops, Daddy, Papa, Abuelita, and more, she writes them on a chart. She assures them that none of the words are wrong. They are just different. And they all mean someone who loves them.

Meet anti-bias goals in every corner of the classroom

The ongoing examination of how people are simultaneously the same and different provides children with a conceptual framework for thinking about the world they live in. For example, children playing with blocks can learn that although some children like to build tall towers and some like to build long, flat structures on the floor, all the children like to build. Art projects can show enthusiasm and admiration for blacks and browns along with all the other wonderful colors of the spectrum. The common curriculum topic of harvest time can include respecting and making visible the people who grow, pick, and transport our food.

Everyday activities offer opportunities for Goals 3 and 4 as well. Arguments over toys can include discussion of fairness and kindness. Exclusionary play, stereotypes in books, or teasing are experiences open to critical thinking about hurtful behavior and for problem solving toward just solutions.

Planning Anti-Bias Education Activities for Your Program's Curriculum

An anti-bias education approach is not a recipe. Rather, teachers include anti-bias issues in their planning by considering the children and families they serve and the curriculum approach their program uses. Here are key questions to ask yourself as you and your colleagues plan learning activities and environments. Begin by asking yourself these questions for one or two activities a week, and see how they change what you do and how the children respond.

Where do I best fit anti-bias goals and issues into my curriculum plans for the day and the week?

Who might be left out of this curriculum? How will I use the topic to include each child, connecting to the diversity of their social identities and to their individual needs? How can I be sure no one is invisible or unnoticed?

What ideas, misconceptions, and stereotypes might children have about this topic? How can I learn what these are and provide accurate information and counter misinformation and stereotypes?

How can I use this topic to support and strengthen children's innate sense of justice and their capacity to change unfair situations to fair ones?

What learning materials do I need to gather to incorporate an anti-bias perspective into this curriculum topic?

Use child-initiated and teacher-initiated activities

Children's questions, comments, and behaviors are a vital source of anti-bias curriculum. They spark teachable moments as well as longer-term projects. However, it is not sufficient to do anti-bias activities only when a child brings up a relevant issue. Teacher-initiated activities are also necessary-be they intentionally putting out materials and books to broaden children's awareness or planning specific learning experiences around issues that matter to families and the community.

You do not wait for children to open up the topic of reading or numbers before making literacy and numeracy part of the daily early childhood curriculum. Because you have decided that these understandings and skills are essential for children, you provide literacy and numeracy discussions and activities in your classroom. A balance between child-initiated and teacher-initiated activities is as vital in anti-bias education as in any other part of the early childhood curriculum.

Here's an example of how a teacher begins with a children-generated teachable moment and follows up with teacher-initiated activities:

After a windstorm broke dozens of small branches off of the trees surrounding their preschool, several 4- and 5-year-old boys begin building a "club house" by dragging branches and bunches of leaves to a corner in the playground fence. Valeria (4 years old) starts dragging a branch to join them and the boys shout, "No girls allowed! No girls allowed!"

The teacher considers encouraging the boys to welcome their classmate into their play-but then she hesitates. There are larger societal issues embedded in this interaction. As an anti-bias educator, she decides she needs to address the underlying ideas, especially that girls can't or shouldn't engage in play that emphasizes physical strength or that "real boys" don't include girls in their play.

Deciding to find out what the children are thinking, the teacher asks, "Why do you think no girls are allowed?" She listens carefully to the boys' responses: "Girls can't move the big branches." "And they can't build high!" "We're going to be superheroes! Girls can't be heroes." And, finally, "We don't like girls." All these statements reflect commonly held stereotypes about girls. Additionally, she thinks, not seriously addressing the situation reinforces the additional stereotype that boys don't have to pay attention to the feelings of others.

Seeing an opportunity to expand their thinking, the teacher suggests testing these claims. She says, "Well, let's find out if girls can move the big branches and build high or not." Since many of the children are now gathering around, she invites everyone to join in the challenge. "What do you think is going to happen?" she asks. With much laughter the children run and gather branches. Some girls are faster than some boys, some boys are faster than some girls. Everyone is able to add branches to the club house, which is suddenly much higher!

Bringing the children back together, the teacher says, "It looks like both girls and boys can lift big branches and build high. Thinking that boys would be better at these things than girls was a stereotype." Several children repeat the word stereotype (preschoolers love big words!). Still holding their attention, the teacher clarifies and gives words to the program's values: "Stereotypes are unfair. In our school we want everyone to be treated fairly. What can we do so that we can be sure that we play together fairly?" The next steps are suggested by the children. One suggestion is a sign that says "Everyone can play here." "How about," says one of the boys who began this episode, "how about if we want to play alone, we just say 'you can have a turn in a few minutes'?"

Knowing that one interaction is never enough to help children think in new ways, the teacher plans and carries out further activities. She adds to the classroom library books in which female athletes and firefighters are strong and fast. At circle time, she reads books in which girls and boys play together in big muscle games. She invites a female carpenter in to help the children build with real tools. And she begins a curriculum on "Being a hero," about all the ways boys and girls can be powerful helpers.

In the next staff meeting, the teacher relates what she has done and is planning to do, and why. She asks her colleagues to consider the frequency of gendered exclusionary play in the program and they agree to take the important step of identifying how (explicitly and implicitly) they may be supporting a binary view of gender (see Chapter 9 in the forthcoming book) in their classroom. For example, how often do they call out "boys and girls" rather than "children"? Do they ask "strong boys" to help move furniture and big blocks? Do they comment on girls' clothing or hair instead of asking about their interests and accomplishments?
Do they support boys' tender, sharing, inclusive behaviors or mainly comment on their noisy, power-focused play? The teachers agree to observe each other as well as the children and see what changes they can make to avoid the damage that gender stereotypes have on children's sense of themselves and of others.

Using a combination of child-initiated, teachable moments and teacher-initiated, pre-planned activities is the most effective way to expand children's ability to grow in the four anti-bias education goals and to talk about, think about, and understand the world around them.

Pay attention to the realities of children's lives

While the four core anti-bias education goals are the same for all children, specific activities should be relevant to the children's backgrounds and their lives. Some children need support to resist messages of racial or cultural inferiority; others need guidance to develop a positive self-concept without absorbing social messages that they are the "normal" ones and other children are less than, strange, or negatively different. Children of wealthy families need help resisting the message that material accumulation defines their worth and that of others; children of families with fewer resources need support to resist messages that undercut their families' worth. Some girls may need extra support to develop confidence and interest in experiences that are math and science related; some boys may require help to develop skills for having nurturing, cooperative interactions with their peers
and to engage in play that reflects these attitudes.

Closing thoughts

As in all other areas of the curriculum, teachers tailor and scaffold anti-bias education materials and activities to each child's cognitive, social, and emotional developmental capacities. They plan and choose learning experiences that stimulate children to explore the next step of new ideas and skills and allow each child to apply new understandings and behaviors in his or her daily life.

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Understanding Anti-Bias Education: Bringing the Four Core Goals to Every Facet of Your Curriculum

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This article is an excerpt of the second edition of Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards.

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Community Action Partnership of Lancaster County

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How to talk to young children about the Black Lives Matter Guiding Principles

By Laleña Garcia

As we think about discussing big ideas with little people, we consider age-appropriate language so that our students or children can grasp the concepts we're introducing and incorporate these ideas and language into their own thinking and conversation.

While adults can obviously talk about any of the principles (and many of us already do) without mentioning the Black Lives Matter movement, we can also mention the movement as a group of people who want to make sure that everyone is treated fairly, regardless of the color of their skin. We can say something along the lines of, "The Civil Rights Movement, with people we know about, like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks, worked to change laws that were unfair.

The Black Lives Matter movement is made up of people who want to make sure that everyone is treated fairly, because, even though many of those laws were changed many years ago, some people are still not being treated fairly." The idea of police violence is frightening to young children, and the same way we don't discuss the violence which met Civil Rights activists, I would not discuss this kind of violence with our youngest children.

After each principle, I've suggested some language you might want to use when talking to young children. Whenever possible, make connections to children's lived experience, in your classroom, your home, or out in the world.

Restorative Justice is the commitment to build a beloved and loving community that is sustainable and growing. "We know that if you knock down someone's block building, you have to help them rebuild it, you can't just say, "Sorry," and walk away. Another way to say that is restorative justice, and it's the idea that we have to help people when something happens to them, even if it was by accident."

Empathy is one's ability to connect with others by building relationships built on mutual trust and understanding. "It's so important to think about how other people feel, because different people have different feelings. Sometimes it helps to think about how you would feel if the same thing that happened to your friend happened to you. Another way to say that is empathy."

Loving Engagement is the commitment to practice justice, liberation and peace. "It's so important to make sure that we are always trying to be fair and peaceful. We have to keep practicing this so that we can get better and better at it. Another way to say that is loving engagement."

Diversity is the celebration and acknowledgment of differences and commonalities across cultures. "Different people do different things and have different feelings. It's so important that we have lots of different kinds of people in our community and that everyone feels safe. Another way to say that is diversity."

Globalism is our ability to see how we are impacted or privileged within the Black global family that exists across the world in different regions. "Globalism means that we are thinking about all the different people all over the world, and thinking about the ways to keep things fair everywhere."

Transgender Affirming is the commitment to continue to make space for our trans siblings by encouraging leadership and recognizing transantagonistic violence, while doing the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift Black trans folk. "Everybody has the right to choose their own gender by listening to their own heart and mind. Everyone gets to choose if they are a girl or a boy or both or neither or something else, and no one else gets to choose for them."

Queer Affirming is working towards a queer-affirming network where heteronormative thinking no longer exists. "Everybody has the right to choose who they love and the kind of family they want by listening to their own heart and mind."

Collective Value means that all Black lives, regardless of actual or perceived sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, economic status, ability, disability, religious beliefs or disbeliefs, immigration status or location, matter. "Everybody is important, and has the right to be safe and happy. Another way to say that is collective value."

Intergenerational is a space free from ageism where we can learn from each other. "It's important that we have spaces where people of different ages can come together and learn from each other. Another way to say that is intergenerational."

Black Families creates a space that is family friendly and free from patriarchal practices. "There are lots of different kinds of families; what makes a family is that it's people who take care of each other. It's important to make sure that all families feel welcome."

Black Villages is the disruption of Western nuclear family dynamics and a return to the "collective village" that takes care of each other. "There are lots of different kinds of families; what makes a family is that it's people who take care of each other; those people might be related, or maybe they choose to be family together and to take care of each other. Sometimes, when it's lots of families together, it can be called a village."

Black Women is the building of women-centered spaces free from sexism, misogyny, and male-centeredness. "There are some people who think that women are less important than men. We know that all people are important and have the right to be safe and talk about their own feelings."

Unapologetically Black is the affirmation that Black Lives Matter and that our love, and desire for justice and freedom are prerequisites for wanting that for others. These principles are the blueprint for healing and do not include nor do they support ignoring or sanitizing the ugliness and discomfort that comes with dealing with race and anti-race issues. "There are lots of different kinds of people and one way that we're different is the color of our skin. It's important to make sure that all people are treated fairly, and that's why we, and lots of other people all over the country and the world are part of the Black Lives Matter movement."

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How to Talk to Young Children about the Black Lives Matter Guiding Principles - Community Action Partnership of Lancaster County

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How to talk to young children about the Black Lives Matter Guiding Principles By Laleña Garcia As we think about discussing big ideas with little people, we consider age-appropriate language so that our students or children can grasp the concepts we're introducing and incorporate these ideas and language into their own thinking and conversation.

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By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 16 November 2016

Right, stop with the conspiracy theories, Frank Ocean didn't put his new albums forward for the Grammys on purpose.

As previously reported, Billboard noted last month that neither of Oceans' 2016 albums, 'Endless' and 'Blond(e)', had been submitted for consideration at the US industry's big awards ceremony. This prompted Kanye West to threaten to boycott the ceremony if Ocean received no nominations. Although that, it turns out, would ruin Ocean's own boycott.

Speaking to the New York Times in his first interview since 'Blond(e)' was released, Ocean said while the Grammys have "nostalgic importance", the ceremony "just doesn't seem to be representing very well for people who come from where I come from, and hold down what I hold down", noting that very few black people have ever won its Album Of The Year prize. "I think the infrastructure of the awarding system and the nomination system and screening system is dated".

"I'd rather this be my Colin Kaepernick moment for the Grammys than sit there in the audience", he added, likening himself to the San Francisco 49ers player who refused to stand for the US national anthem at an American Football game earlier this year in protest at the country's treatment of African-Americans and other minorities.

Besides, he reckons he's already a winner where 'Blond(e)' is concerned, saying: "With this record in particular, I wanted to feel like I won before the record came out, and I did, and so it took a lot pressure off of me about how the record even would perform after the fact. Once the goal is met, everything else is lagniappe ".

Now he's interested in focussing on his next move, whether than be in music, or something else. "I believe that I'm one of the best in the world at what I do, and that's all I've ever wanted to be", he said. "It's more interesting for me to figure out how to be superior in areas where I'm naïve, where I'm a novice."

Read the full interview here.

READ MORE ABOUT: Frank Ocean | Grammy Awards

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Frank Ocean kept albums out of Grammys in protest at awards' poor diversity

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Right, stop with the conspiracy theories, Frank Ocean didn't put his new albums forward for the Grammys on purpose. As previously reported, Billboard noted last month that neither of Oceans' 2016 albums, 'Endless' and 'Blond(e)', had been submitted for consideration at the US industry's big awards ceremony.

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Annie Guo

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The decision to bring your child with you to a protest is a tough one for many Black parents. For young children who are still processing the world around them, a protest can be like putting them on the front lines of a battle they are ill-equipped to fight.

Recently, one of my dear girlfriends called me to be a part of the discussion she and her husband were having about bringing their 6-year-old son to participate in a protest. She extended the invitation to me and asked if I would bring my 3-year-old daughter for a mini-protest on the main corner of a small nearby suburb.

I felt conflicted.

On the one hand, my friend and I see ourselves as activists. We are constantly engaged in combating racial injustice and addressing inequities in our jobs and in our personal lives.

On the other hand, our children are young. The clock is counting down on their innocence and their understanding of their place in an often unjust world.

This moment calls for many different forms of protest: in the streets, in the boardrooms, with our dollars, at the voting booth -- and first, at home.

My friend's husband was terrified that while standing on a corner with a Black Lives Matter sign, his son might be cursed at, spit upon or degraded in some way. People can be unspeakably hateful. How do you explain to a child who currently sees the world as shaped by the love of their parents that there are people who do not believe they are worthy of respect and humanity?

Moreover, how do you talk to kids about the violent way George Floyd lost his life? Unfortunately, I was forced to find a way. While my husband and I were watching the news, my daughter caught a glimpse of Floyd pinned on the ground under the weight of Derek Chauvin's knee. My daughter turned to me and said, "Mommy, he's stuck." I could feel her innocence being chipped away in real time.

After hearing my friends out, I agreed with both of them.

Gathering with people in solidarity is empowering. Protests are public spaces to get angry, grieve, lament - and also to collectively raise our voices and find encouragement. There is not only one way to go about it. This moment calls for many different forms of protest: in the streets, in the boardrooms, with our dollars, at the voting booth - and first, at home.

Here's why I am not sending my daughter to the front lines of a protest at this time. Throughout our entire lives, Black people live on the front lines of racial insensitivity, racial disparity and injustice.

I'll never forget an experience I had when my daughter was 12-months-old. Her white daycare teacher set her down after a diaper change and said, "You have a butt like your mom or your grandma." She thought it was funny. I did not. I was in shock. My shock quickly turned into anger and then hurt. What would compel her to say this? How could she think it was appropriate?

I told the daycare's executive director what happened, and she set up a meeting. I gave her and the teacher a brief history of the degradation of Black bodies. I told them how Black women are historically oversexualized. (Statistically, Black girls are seen as adults much sooner than their white counterparts, and thereby regarded as " less innocent " than white girls. I knew all of this, I just never imagined this sexualization would start before my daughter was even out of diapers.) I asked the teacher if she would ever dream of making a similar comment to a white child.

When she's ready, the decision will be her own -- and she'll have all my support.

The entire situation left me disappointed but also awake to the types of things I may face raising a Black daughter in America. If this is what she was liable to experience in the safe setting of a daycare, what kind of indignity might she face on a street corner holding a BLM sign?

Ultimately, I decided it's too soon to find out. She's too young. For now, our activism lessons will be contained to the home. Before I can take her out into a protest, I want her to have a strong sense of pride and understanding of who she is. I want to build her up so that when she encounters a counter-protester or hears a teacher make a racially insensitive comment or a peer tries to belittle her, she will be so anchored in her beautiful Blackness that she'll be ready to fight that battle armed to win.

When she's ready, the decision will be her own - and she'll have all my support. I'll be the one driving her and standing next to her in solidarity, confident she knows why she's there and who she is.
Follow Cognoscenti on Facebook and Twitter.

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Why I Decided Not To Bring My Black Child To The Protests

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The decision to bring your child with you to a protest is a tough one for many Black parents. For young children who are still processing the world around them, a protest can be like putting them on the front lines of a battle they are ill-equipped to fight.

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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 blog was written by Loy Azalia and Ciara Mackey-Hall. "These movements aren't about anger. We're not angrily saying 'Black Lives Matter.' We're declaring it. It's a declaration. We want to be seen as robust, full human beings that have anger and have joy. We want to be able to just freely have that joy. Like everybody else does."
Tarana Burke

Founder of the #MeToo Movement
*Please note that the content on this blog may be triggering for some. Out of respect to not engage in the re-traumatization of the retelling of Black death, we are being very sensitive and mindful for recounting the fatal night Breonna's life was taken away, especially for the Black women who see themselves in Breonna's story.*
We're in both an unusual and special time as a country. Unusual in that, in the midst of an intensified election year, where so many legislative decisions can negatively impact the livelihoods of the most vulnerable children and families, and the countless protests against racial injustice and police brutality happening all over the country, we are also searching for a level of normalcy from the effects of the pandemic in our everyday lives. This time is also special and calls for urgency in the continued push, pull and pressure to ensure long-lasting radical change for society as whole, but more importantly for America's most oppressed and marginalized groups of people.

The Children's Defense Fund has published many reports and policy briefs that depict the flaws in our broken system. These flaws span across many sectors, including poverty, health care, education, the cradle to prison pipeline, and more. While these issues affect a variety of people and particularly those from communities of color, Breonna Taylor's death and the deaths and disappearances of Black women and girls, over the years reflects the idea that our country and its legacy of structural and systemic racism have an adverse effect on Black womanhood and Black girlhood in particular.

The 2019 Census poverty data that was released this month, shows that 18 percent of Black women were living in poverty and Black women who were working full-time were getting paid 63 cents as compared to every dollar a white man made. Black women who are heads of households continue to experience increased exposure to food insecurity and economic job loss caused by the impacts of COVID-19, making them more vulnerable to inadequate living conditions.

From the time that Black women enter this world, they are devalued. Take Relisha Rudd, an 8-year old girl from Washington, DC, whose family experienced deep poverty and ended up in a temporary housing facility. Relisha Rudd did not have an easy life by any means. Relisha went missing on February 26, 2014 and was not reported missing until March 19, 2014, when her school alerted local authorities about her absence. Further investigation showed that Relisha was kidnapped in broad daylight, never to be seen again. Her story exposes the gaps in the security net provided by our social services, health care, and education systems which were all set up to protect children like Relisha.

Days before the charges against the officer that killed Breonna Taylor were made, a state of emergency was called for the city of Louisville, Kentucky, ahead of the announcement. At that moment, the stage was set. So many of us had heard this all before. The shooting and murder of Breonna Taylor in March speak to a larger issue of the invisibility of Black women and Black womanhood. Breonna Taylor was a 26-year-old young Black woman, who came from a family of health care providers. She served as an EMT in her community with plans to start nursing school this fall. Her future was bright and her life was cut short.

We can continue to talk about the forty-eight women who have been murdered by police in the last five years, or the fact that only one police officer has been found guilty of murder due to technicalities and loopholes that exist in our penal code. We can talk about how the disappearance of Black women and girls is less likely to be covered by leading media organizations . We can also talk about the now-imprisoned former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw , who was convicted of the rape and sexual violence, of poor Black women from poor neighborhoods, knowing that nobody would care about their stories. No matter the socio-economic conditions Black women live in, the systems put in place to uphold justice continue to undervalue, disregard, and discount their experiences.

Many argue that the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement is a continuation of the Civil Rights Movement. While much of the BLM movement parallels the Civil Rights Movement, one constant that remains is the level in which Black women have been the driving force behind the struggle for justice and equality. Black women have historically not been the face of the Civil Rights Movement, but have continued to be fierce leaders, architects, supporters, advocates, and organizers pushing the movement forward at every level. While we all know names like Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, and James Farmer, and Malcolm X, there are few people who know the contributions of Black women like Mary Church Terrell, Septima Clark, Ella J. Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, Elaine Brown, and Marian Wright Edelman.

Women as a whole have had to fight for equality on issues from voting rights to the gender pay gap. However, while the 19th Amendment passed in 1919, legally prohibiting the government from using sex as a criterion for voting rights, Black women were not included in the Suffragist Movement and were still barred from voting because of pre-existing laws that disallowed all Black people from voting. Black women (and men) did not get the right to vote until the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Breonna's death inspired the Louisville Metro Council to unanimously pass "Breonna's Law" which banned the use of no knock warrants except for in certain types of cases. Her case served as inspiration for legislators at the federal level, where KY- Senator Rand Paul introduced the "Justice For Breonna Taylor Act", which would ban no-knock warrants for federal law enforcement and block state and local law enforcement agencies that receive Justice Department funding from carrying out no-knock warrants. While their efforts are valiant, they may prove to be symbolic. Both pieces of legislation still allow no-knock warrants to be obtained in cases that pose imminent threat of harm or death to officers or civilians.

It is from the vision, ingenuity, and strength of Black mothers, daughters and sisters, that many Black children are able to actualize their dreams. Breonna's mother, Ms. Tamika Palmer, described her as being a better version of herself, and a person that was full of life and easy to love . Breonna's mother now carries only memories of her daughter and the pain of broken systems that at the core, did not view her daughter's life as worthy, in the first place.

In the same breath that Black women are revered and honored for their effort to reimagine and create a better future for their children, families and communities, they are also dehumanized, undermined and dismissed and in many ways, unfairly described as superhuman. Black women have struggled to be seen as whole humans who experience a multitude of different emotions, feelings, highs, lows, joys and challenges and it is time that their humanity is treated as such and they are no longer deemed invisible.

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Breonna Taylor and the Invisibility of Black Women and Girls in America

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This blog was written by Loy Azalia and Ciara Mackey-Hall. "These movements aren't about anger. We're not angrily saying 'Black Lives Matter.' We're declaring it. It's a declaration. We want to be seen as robust, full human beings that have anger and have joy.

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Vincent Dotta

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The P-Patch Program is committed to achieving racial equity and dismantling the institutional racism that has prevented people of color from fully participating in our program. We believe that we each have a responsibility to make our gardens more inclusive and welcoming to all. This requires us to commit to addressing racism and all forms of injustice in our communities and center people most impacted by systemic racism: Black, Indigenous, and People of color (BIPOC).

Here are a few examples of how P-Patch Program is committed to becoming an anti-racist organization:

In 2020, we adopted new plot assignment guidelines that emphasize priority placement of underrepresented communities in our gardens. From January - July 2020, 45% of new gardeners across the program were placed from these priority groups.

Staff have written our annual workplans to shift our time and resources toward BIPOC communities.

We updated key program documents (Safety TIP Sheet, Sharing Abundance TIP Sheet) to reflect alternatives to calling 911 and to encourage a more compassionate response to food theft, people experiencing homelessness in the gardens, and mental health emergencies.

We are partnering with internal city departments and external facilitators to offer free anti-racism trainings to P-Patch gardeners.

This work may look different in each of your gardens, but we encourage you to begin (or continue) these important conversations and learning amongst your garden neighbors, and with support from P-Patch staff if needed. We hope you'll join us in this important work to build an anti-racist P-Patch Program. Start here with our playlist of anti-racism training videos.

Here are some examples of actions you can take:

Ask for input at your gardener gathering meeting and other meetings or work parties for how to be more inclusive as a garden.

Develop group agreements for making decisions and resolving conflict (staff can provide examples).

Take a training through P-Patch Program (or other organizations) and share learnings with your fellow gardeners.

Commit to listening deeply, inviting, and valuing everyone's participation and engagement through an anti-racist lens.

Read books or articles to educate yourself and promote discussion on topics such as implicit bias, privilege and power, and structural racism in the food system.

Create a land acknowledgement for your garden to recognize the Duwamish and Coast Salish tribes whose land we occupy, and practice sharing it at the start of each gathering.

Consider supporting the Duwamish tribe by paying Real Rent. Learn more about the indigenous communities whose land you are on: https://native-land.ca/

Online Resources
Reflection: Where is your responsibility in creating a more inclusive (and Anti-Racist) garden space?

Invitation: Share a learning or resource with someone from your garden or try a new way of engaging with fellow gardeners, community members, and neighbors.

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The P-Patch Program is committed to achieving racial equity and dismantling the institutional racism that has prevented people of color from fully participating in our program. We believe that we each have a responsibility to make our gardens more inclusive and welcoming to all.

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Naomi Holmes

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From the beginning, the photography industry has been predominately white. Like other fields, this has been the result of the same editors repeatedly hiring the same photographers. Polly Irungu wants to change that. In 2020, as the Black Lives Matter movement was peaking, she began hearing from many editors that they didn't know where to look to hire Black women photographers. So Irungu, a photographer herself, turned a list she'd been curating on Twitter into a platform for those looking for work and those seeking to hire. "I don't just want us to be seen," she says. "I want us to be hired." Today, the Black Women Photographers website features more than 1,000 women and nonbinary photographers. Through grants and artist talks, it has also created a space for Black women to have access to opportunities and connect with each other. WIRED spoke with several photographers on the platform about their work and where they'd like to go next.

Photojournalist, Los Angeles WIRED: You have a very vibrant style. Can you talk about where that comes from?
Tara Pixley: So much of the photography we have seen of the lives of Black and brown people is in black and white, which to me can sometimes give this sense of fungible devastation or interchangeable experiences. By showing people and spaces in all their vibrant, living colors, they feel singular and more multifaceted. I also just love showing the world in all its vivid realness.
Capturing movement is a large part of your portfolio. Can you talk about why you're consistently drawn to it?
I was a dancer for many years, and early on in my career as a photographer, I began photographing and filming dance. It became the thing that kept me excited about making photos and kept me connected to dance. And when I was working with dancers of color, I just loved being able to capture moments of the Black body in ecstatic movement-that joy and freedom and strength and beauty.
What is something you want to shoot more of and why?
I really want to return to working more with dance, to have the opportunity to photograph dance in all its myriad forms. And I want to be doing work in Jamaica, returning to my family's home there. I feel like people don't see enough of the lives of Afro-Caribbean folks beyond natural disasters, political upheaval, or tourism imagery. There is so much vibrancy in Jamaica, Trinidad, the Bahamas, all over the Caribbean that I rarely see reflected in visual media. So, my next projects will be looking at environmental justice/climate impacts, queer activism on the islands, and work that depicts the socio-historical intricacies of Caribbean life that lie between the gloss of tourism and the one-dimensional images of poverty or disaster.

Photographer, Brooklyn WIRED: Many of your photographs have a deep sense of feminine energy. How do you define and depict that energy in your photos and is that an intentional theme in all of your images?

Myesha Evon Gardner: I think feminine energy is less what I aim to depict and more what the subject chooses to bring forth. I am merely there to embrace and document this energy-and provide space for it to transfer through in my images.

My explorations on themes such as vanity and the function of the woman's body, in addition to my own self-reflections, seek to examine the profoundly complex roles and expectations assigned to women by our culture and society-with a personal emphasis on Black women, in particular. These roles and expectations are not always aligned, nor reciprocated, and through my studies I have all too often observed women stripped down to a singular value dictated entirely by others. Womanhood, both traditionally and universally, has been directly linked to singular role expectation; women are predominantly expected to conceive, carry, give birth, and sustain life, regardless of other circumstances or her own personal will.

I often question where and how we, as women, are allowed to feel safe and nurtured, to demonstrate vulnerability and strength? It is my goal to document the many dualities that may coexist and show that there is no one way to be a woman, and rather we are multifaceted and magnificent. Being feminine is, and should be, however a woman chooses to exist.
What's your favorite part about capturing Black women and men?
Black people embody so much divine beauty-it is our minds, bodies, and souls that make us unique, and I simply aim to capture that in a visual sense. I'm showcasing the beauty in truth and daily Black life as a form of resistance, and this is inherently tied to our emotional experiences.

From intimate portraits of my family to capturing the energetic movement of dancers in the studio to documenting everyday life through street photography, I'm most fascinated by subjects who are least expected to be approached or engaged-it's their stories that most often deeply resonate with me.

I think it's important to show people that their stories have value by sparking those conversations, documenting their world, and giving them the opportunity to be seen and possibly even more understood than before.
How have you seen your work evolve over the years?
I think my entire journey is about evolution-since the moment I started focusing on photography in earnest, I have seen my work evolve in more ways than one. I began studying photography at an arts high school in Cleveland under my instructor, Toni Starinsky, who was one of my first educational mentors and who really pushed me to experiment by studying a variety of photographic methods, such as the pinhole camera, analog vs. digital mediums, darkroom techniques, and so on. I spent a lot of my early years capturing portraits of members in my family, friend groups, and surroundings, which are still the main subjects in my personal work to date. I find so much joy in looking back on archival work, discovering ongoing threads right alongside attempts I may have perceived as failures at the time, which have culminated in very practical evidence of my growth as an artist and photographer.

How do you want your photography to evolve, if you do?
Lately, I've found myself revisiting older printing techniques that I learned in the darkroom years ago and applying them to my current work. As I move forward, I feel that a key element to watching the work evolve is finding a healthy balance between experimenting with new techniques and allowing space for foundational practices to resurface. I want to continue to rechannel my younger self and tap back into the things or methods I may have once abandoned to possibly find they're now useful or creatively applicable. Roots run deep, and you never know what can grow from the foundation of the past.

Photographer, Chicago WIRED: Can you talk about the toning in your photographs? What inspired your style?
Akilah Townsend: I can't really pinpoint exactly what inspired my style of toning because I manipulate the tones to a point that feels right. I like to play around, sometimes for a while with different tone options.
Do you want your photography to change or shift over time?
I want my photography to continue to evolve into meaningful work by telling stories in a beautiful way. I have been shy about actually using my voice to say something, but there is so much that I am passionate about.
What photo books or literature are you currently into?
I have been reading The New Black Vanguard by Antwaun Sargent that I got this year as a birthday present.
What about it captivates you?
It's inspiring to see different young Black photographers with so many different styles, intentions, and ways of working. And they are all united by their contributions to a continuation of a Black maker's archive throughout the diaspora.
Who are some current women photographers who inspire you?
Dana Scruggs, Deanna Lawson, and [Black Women Photographers founder] Polly Irungu. Not only is Dana's work groundbreaking and amazing, but her speaking out for Black people and our culture, especially Black women, is inspiring to me. And Polly dedicating herself to uplifting Black women photographers has been inspiring to watch.

Photographer, Los Angeles WIRED: How would you describe your style of work?
Alexis Hunley: If I had to describe my style it would be a soft landing space where art meets science. The place where light works hand in hand with emotional intimacy and authentic expression to encourage feeling. A glimpse into how I see the world.
In your protest imagery, you capture extremely intimate and precious moments in the most tense situations. Can you explain your method or strategy in doing this?
When I first began documenting the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement actions, I didn't have a concrete plan. Despite the fact that I am Black, this wasn't a space that I had inhabited before, and so out of respect for organizers and activists who have been leading this movement I arrived with only a single plan: to respectfully observe. However, I allowed my emotions and feelings to guide me and my lens. My mere presence in those spaces is also a form of protest. And it would be silly for me to act as if I was an objective observer as I stand in a crowd of people fighting for my right to live safely. In the midst of those moments of high tension, I would unknowingly look for energy that could help me anchor myself so I didn't get overwhelmed by the emotions swirling around me. I look for the love, the care, the strength, the compassion that is the true undercurrent of many of the actions I attended in 2020 and 2021.

What's something you want to shoot more of and why?
I want to create more work that spans multiple mediums that allow me to really flesh out stories. Projects that involve all of the senses-motion, sound, written word, interactive pieces, augmented reality, etc. I believe that multimedia projects will give me the room to push myself to a new level artistically.

Photographer, New York WIRED: A lot of your photo stories revolve around social issues. How do you choose what to document? Are they usually assignment-based or personal projects?
I generally try to let curiosity guide me when choosing projects. I'm a bit of an anthropologist at heart, deeply fascinated by the binding that weaves culture together, especially when precipitated by a legacy of Western colonization. So I pay a lot of attention to international news stories, and when something piques my interest that's only received cursory coverage, I research the topic to see whether it's accessible or (vaguely) safe to dig into.
What compelled you to go into photojournalism?
I actually shifted into journalism later in life. My dad is a musician, so I witnessed a lot of his struggles growing up, which translated to me having some nervousness following my real passions after university. Instead, I spent a bunch of years in art direction and photo production until my dissatisfaction with the commercial world, which felt too [facile] for me, ultimately forced my hand. Eventually, I worked through the fear around financial discomfort and of "putting myself out there" to follow my deeper need to be involved in work that means something.
You have traveled to many places to shoot these stories. How are you able to embed yourself in the communities you cover?
I was raised as a third-culture kid with Black/Chinese parents who were often on tour, so I moved around a lot-always the new girl. That awkward tension was my normal, so I became sort of adept at registering different cultural norms and cues. I think those early experiences helped translate to a level of fluidity when attempting to understand some of the impetus around perception and elemental realities that inform other cultures' world views. And the type of work that I prefer demands a level of compassion and intimacy with strangers so they feel comfortable opening up to me, during sometimes the worst moments of their lives. I try to wrap them with my whole heart, to become a source of calm, which goes a long way as folks need to be seen by someone/anyone, which I think is the job.

I guess the hard part for me isn't the embedding, which feels natural, but rather how to emotionally disentangle when the stories are done and I'm back in the States.

Visual artist, Los Angeles WIRED: Can you talk about your process of image-making and what makes it extremely special?
Maya Iman: My work is an intimate view of my community. I work with my subjects in safe and intimate spaces, where the beauty of trust and bonds are created and nurtured through image-making.
The portraits you take contain such a variety of emotions, and it feels authentic. Would you say this about your own work? And if so, how do you accomplish this?
I would. I'm intentional about my work and how it comes across to the viewers. I work with my subjects in safe and intimate spaces, where the beauty of trust and lifelong bonds are created and nurtured through image-making.

How do you hope your eye, or your view of taking photographs, will impact future generations?
My work is not only an intimate view of my community but also a means to unlock the general essence of humanity. I hope my work impacts future generations to continue creating work of us.
How do you want your photography to evolve, if you do?
I'm ready to get into filmmaking!
What kind of films do you want to dive into?
Documentary films, short films, and music videos.
Why are you drawn to these types of films?
I grew up watching MTV and BET. I was brought up seeing music videos as a child. I would love to create nostalgia and euphoric storytelling through the medium with a modern perspective.

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Black Women Photographers on Getting Seen-and Hired

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From the beginning, the photography industry has been predominately white. Like other fields, this has been the result of the same editors repeatedly hiring the same photographers. Polly Irungu wants to change that. In 2020, as the Black Lives Matter movement was peaking, she began hearing from many editors that they didn't know where to look to hire Black women photographers.

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The term diversity can be as multifaceted as the individuals to whom that label is applied. Colleges often highlight the broad-ranging term as part of their mission or a selling point to applicants.

But what do colleges mean when they talk about diversity?

"It can range in terms of what (diversity) actually means," says J. Luke Wood, chief diversity officer and professor of education at San Diego State University.

Diversity often means race, ethnicity or tribal affiliation, but also extends well beyond those factors to sexual identity and orientation, income level, first-generation status, cultural background and gender.

But depending on what a college needs or wants in a class, that term can extend even further. Essentially, the term diversity means underrepresented populations, says Antonio R. Flores, president and CEO of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, based in San Antonio.

Colleges want diversity in both admitted classes and individual programs, he adds.

"The school of engineering might not get very many women, and for them the female applicants would be viewed as bringing a perspective to the learning of engineering that may not be very frequent," Flores says.

Why Colleges Value Diversity

Colleges emphasize a diverse class because different perspectives allow students to learn from one another, says Monica Inzer, vice president for enrollment management at Hamilton College in New York.

Diverse college campuses offer more worldviews for students to consider and engage with. College students can learn from peers with different perspectives shaped by a variety of experiences.

The interaction between students with different worldviews can help change minds or shape ideas.

"Their learning is elevated to a different level because they can appreciate and understand and hear from someone from a different background, which may change their thinking," Inzer says. "Or maybe it doesn't, but it informs how they position themselves in their own thoughts and opinions."

Wood says students should look beyond the lip service to determine what a college's commitment to diversity and inclusion truly is. Colleges must demonstrate actions taken to enhance campus diversity, he says, and prospective students should weigh the success of minority populations on campus.

"What they should consider, first and foremost, are graduation rates," Wood says.

Applicants should also look at the numbers of students like themselves. Wood says this can indicate commitment to a diverse population of students and uncover other factors such as the climate and infrastructure to support the minority population on campus.

Flores says students should also look to the faculty and staff ranks to gauge a college's diversity. Is diversity reflected in these positions? The answer could signal a college's level of commitment to diversity and inclusion.

How Students Can Leverage Diversity in Admissions

Students should consider all aspects of their identity and how those fit when choosing a college.

"Context matters for an admission office when we're considering applicants and trying to assemble a class that reflects the world in which our graduates will go into," Inzer says.

Colleges look for classes that will round out a range of majors, activities and experiences. Race and ethnicity may be considered in applications, but that is alongside many other facets of student identity.

"You want to represent who you are to that (college) community and hope they will accept you or not based on your academic merit, taking into consideration all these other things that don't count nearly as much as people believe they do, but still matter as we consider the context," Inzer says.

Flores encourages minority students to think of their diversity "as an asset that they are offering to the institution to enrich the educational experience for all students" when they are applying to a college.

Student identity spans a spectrum, he notes, spilling out of easily checked boxes. Student identity extends beyond racial and ethnic considerations to the many facets that make them who they are. When applying to a college, prospective students should think about the layers that comprise them.

Wood also encourages applicants to consider what values or programs at the college attract them.

"They should talk about (diversity) as something that's important to them in terms of their identity, and link it to the different things that are taking place at the institution that draw them to that institution," Wood says.

Ethical Considerations About Diversity and Admissions

Scandals and lawsuits have dominated the college admissions headlines in recent memory.

The Varsity Blues scandal in 2019 revealed wealthy families lying about various matters of identity to get their children into highly selective colleges through a so-called "side door."

The lies sometimes extended to fabrications along racial and ethnic lines, with families appropriating minority status in the hope of gaining a boost in the admissions process and getting into highly selective colleges.

Checking boxes that don't apply is clearly unethical, Inzer says, noting that most colleges have an honor code attached to the application process.

"If, in fact, we learned that someone had falsified an application for a number of reasons including self-identification of race or ethnicity, we would rescind admission very rapidly," Inzer says.

Students should represent themselves honestly in terms of how they recognize their own identity, Wood says. Even if there is distant ancestry to a particular community, students may be dishonest if they highlight that on an application and it isn't a group they have engaged with or consider part of their identity.

And lying outright about who you are is an even bigger issue.

"If you have to feel like you have to become a lie in order to advance yourself, then that speaks to a moral failing that may speak about broader implications about your moral compass," Wood says.

A lawsuit alleging Harvard University in Massachusetts discriminated against Asian American applicants in favor of black and Hispanic applicants with lower grades and standardized test scores drew significant attention to and criticism of race-related admissions practices and affirmative action.

Though a judge ruled in favor of Harvard's apparent restriction on the number of Asian American students accepted - which typically is disproportionately higher than their percentage of the U.S. population and significantly higher than either black or Hispanic students admitted - some Asian American high school students have said they are reexamining whether to indicate their status as Asian American on college applications.

Wood, however, says applicants should stay true to their identity. "If you're in a position where you have to downplay who you are to be able to get into a college or university, that institution is probably not a good fit for you and probably won't be a welcoming environment."

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Prospective college students should honestly evaluate all facets of their identity in the admissions process.

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Growing up as a black woman in the United States gave me a unique education in shame and self-hate. I was made to feel ashamed of my hair and hate its texture. I was made to feel ashamed of my skin and hate its darkness. Each message gathered from media, classmates, and literature became entangled with my identity and my perception of myself. Who I was became something that I could construct from media and insults. Needless to say, my perception of myself was not always positive. I felt that I had to apologize for myself, my existence, and for everything that made me deviant from the norm. Undoing this internalized self-hate was a process that took years and this program has helped me come to the realization that I don't have to apologize for my existence. Through the exploration of systemic racism and activism, I have come to know the meaning of unapologetic.

The first step to understanding what it means to be unapologetic is to explore and acknowledge the blatant atrocities committed by those at the top of the power structure. For starters, to be unapologetic is to act in a manner that lacks shame or remorse. This can look like many things. In the case of the United States Federal government, it looks like the Trail of Tears, slavery, Jim Crow, internment camps, police brutality, Muslim bans, and Transgender military service bans. It looks like setting the bar for citizenship so high that those at the bottom would need to step on each other to reach it.This is a form of toxic unapologeticism that forms the foundation of the American project. In fact, the USFG was founded on the unapologetic oppression of Indigenous people. Dr. Saito beautifully illustrated the ways that white settler colonialists came to an already occupied space, wiped out nearly all of the occupants, and then had the audacity to white-wash their own actions in the retelling. There was no apology to the Cherokee for forcefully removing them from their land. There was no apology to the children they stole and then forced to engage in the learning of whiteness. These atrocities were committed with little to no care for the lives that were ruined or taken away. However, no one was ever held accountable for these actions or made to apologize for them. So the atrocities continued and became embedded into the fabric of this country. A fabric that is red with the blood of the dead, white-washed of its sins, and blue with the tears of the survivors.

It is easy to study and analyze this type of systematic racism and oppression, but it is far harder to oppose it. Yet, I am so grateful to the unapologetic people that did. In this context, being unapologetic is not a license to harm others, but a rallying cry for activists that want to step up and claim their humanity. The MLK's, Malcolm X's, Dr. Rosalyn Pope's, and Dorothy Height's of the world did their work because it needed to be done. They never once apologized. This ethic of unapologetic activism continues in the face of unapologetic racism. Black Lives Matter, for example, openly calls out the government and the police for their continued murder of un-armed black citizens. In Mary Hooks' "The Mandate: A Call and Response from Black Lives Matter Atlanta," she is very clear about the goals and intentions of Black Lives Matter and does it with a forcefulness that is normally stripped from black women. She was unapologetically black and unapologetically angry. Her anger was tangible, real, and valid. Her words carried the weight of centuries of struggle endured by black women. She personified the pain and anger that so many black woman felt, but were unable to express for fear of becoming the "angry black woman" stereotype. This stereotype is so pervasive that for years black women donned the shroud of respectability just to be heard. I must be clear that I don't say this to diminish the women that used such a tactic. In fact former Atlanta mayor, Shirley Franklin, proved just how useful it was to sometimes play the game. Rather, I point this out to highlight the fact that such a tactic was necessary at all. The notion that black women, and black people in general, needed to be respectable to be heard is one that is frequently used to denounce protestors today. The awareness of this oppressive concept is what makes the unapologetic anger of Mary Hooks that much more refreshing and freeing.

The unapologetic characteristics of the activists that opposed racist structures, in tandem with the fellows I met through this program, inspired me to explore this word for myself. What would it mean for me to engage in being unapologetic and formally un-apologizing? In my own context, learning to be unapologetic is a form of radical self-love. By that, I mean that it is the act of knowing and loving the most authentic parts of my identity. This would include my skin color, my body type, my gender, the way I think, the foods I eat, and so much more. It's beyond merely liking myself, but actually learning to love the parts of me that I was taught to hate and actively separate myself from. This is important because it forms the first step to restorative justice.

As a concept, this program has made it clearer that restorative justice is not an end goal. Rather, it is a means to an end. Restorative justice, to me, is the process of restoring dignity back to those that have systematically been stripped of their dignity for years. The best way to this is to spread radical unapologetic self-love to the communities that need it most so that they can begin to restore their claim to dignity. From there, we can begin to work on transformative justice, which I would isolate as the true end. Transformative justice differs from restorative justice in its approach to the community and to the past and present. Unlike restorative justice, transformative justice recognizes that there is nothing to really be restored. Justice was never afforded to people of the global majority by white settler colonialists, so it is unclear how they would restore something that never existed. Transformative justice circumvents this issues by acknowledging that the system needs to be transformed in its totality. Embracing radical unapologeticism, then, to fight toxic unapologeticism is the first step in this process. Dr. Carol Anderson summed this up when she said, "Don't let anyone ever steal your joy." This means unapologetically reclaiming your dignity and your selfhood in the face of oppression is the best form of restorative justice and the only way to achieve transformative justice.

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JLF 17 - (Un)Apologetic - Humanity in Action

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Growing up as a black woman in the United States gave me a unique education in shame and self-hate. I was made to feel ashamed of my hair and hate its texture. I was made to feel ashamed of my skin and hate its darkness.

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Support Black-Owned Businesses and Communities * Seattle Good Business Network

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Resources and educational tools for supporting Seattle's Black Communities

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In this country, the urban landscape is constantly renegotiated. Property values and sales traditionally dictate the rhythms of change, leading to the erasure of cultures and histories, especially those of minority communities. Highly attuned to growing gentrification in her neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles, Lauren Halsey, who studied architecture and art, celebrates Black culture, making space for representations of the people and places around her as a method of creative resistance.

Halsey notes that "Hieroglyphs allude to a form of imagining, time travel, myth making, and fantasizing around the origins of Black diasporic folk, as so many of us African Americans don't know where our specific origins are on the African continent." Ancient Egypt is often referenced in emancipatory philosophies such as Afrofuturism as both a mythological and historical source for Black culture, and it is present throughout Halsey's practice.

In her installation at SAM, the artist shows works in which proud declarations of Black-owned businesses intermingle with images of Egyptian pyramids, the Sphinx, and pharaohs and queens, all drawn from a personal archive Halsey has developed through research and community interactions. Carved gypsum relief panels on the perimeter of the gallery are reminiscent of temple walls, while the boxes stacked in a large-scale central sculpture are metaphorical building blocks for future architecture, resonating with imagery from the present.

Through her archive and daily life, Halsey strives to record the unique expressions of her neighborhood before the forces of capital erase them. Placing these hyperlocal portraits, signs, and imagery in the context of real and imagined histories, the artist remixes ancient and contemporary cultures into a unifying vision.

In 2019, Halsey established and self-funded the community center Summaeverythang, which applies her ideas of self-directed action to lived experience. Supported by a dedicated team of volunteers (including Halsey), the center sources and distributes boxes of fresh, organic produce to the Watts and South Central L.A. areas and is a site for the empowerment of Black and Brown people.

Lauren Halsey is the 2021 recipient of the Seattle Art Museum's Gwendolyn Knight | Jacob Lawrence Prize. Funding for the prize and exhibition is provided by the Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence and Jacob Lawrence Endowment and generous support from the Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation.

We Are Still Here, 2021, Lauren Halsey, American, born 1987, acrylic, enamel, metallic leaf, and CDs on Gator Board and wood, 108 × 103 × 41 1/4 in., © Lauren Halsey, Courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles.

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In this country, the urban landscape is constantly renegotiated. Property values and sales traditionally dictate the rhythms of change, leading to the erasure of cultures and histories, especially those of minority communities.

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Social and Emotional Learning

Restorative justice allows everyone affected by a harm to return to a calm state that is optimal for learning.

©Shutterstock/Monkey Business Images

Restorative justice (RJ) offers healthy alternatives to the traditional disciplinary approach of rules and the consequences of breaking those rules. RJ practices such as peer conflict resolution circles, reflection sheets that guide conversations with a teacher or administrator, and mediated student-student or student-adult conversations are practices that allow students and communities to feel safe and successful together.

While traditional rules-and-consequences discipline is sometimes effective in stopping detrimental behaviors, it may have negative effects on the long-term resilience and connection within the community. It's worth considering the impact that such discipline has on our nervous systems, on the relationships within our schools, and on students' identity and self-esteem, and what RJ has to offer as an alternative.

The Nervous System and Our Sense of Connection

Picture a student who has just passed a note in class or pushed a peer in the hallway and a teacher who has caught this student in the act. In this moment of rule violation and the confrontation that follows, the student, the teacher, and sometimes even nearby observers can experience a sympathetic nervous system response-muscular tension, an increase in heart rate, elevated levels of cortisol and adrenaline, and shortness of breath-also known as the "fight, flight, freeze, or submit" response. This is the body preparing to protect itself from a real or perceived threat or danger.

When a traditional rules-and-consequences approach is used to address errant behavior, the misbehaving student is often left to regulate their nervous system on their own-or not, as we see with students who transgress in the morning and then continue to act out or have a difficult time focusing throughout the day.

For an educator or administrator, it can be taxing when a student continues to act out and/or worrisome when a student begins to exhibit detrimental emotions and self-destructive behaviors. Simply punishing a behavior doesn't allow for space to inquire about the motivation behind a misstep or what's needed to repair the harm.

RJ practices help all community members involved to calm or regulate their nervous systems by focusing on authentic reconnection after a rupture occurs. When we're connected, we naturally feel safer and our nervous systems have a better chance of returning to the parasympathetic "rest and digest" mode that is optimal for learning.

RJ practices allow us to recognize how the offender, victim, witnesses, and guiding adult are all impacted by the harm that occurred, and will all benefit from a reparative or restorative process to feel safe again in the school environment.

Applied in various ways, RJ practices always ask all parties involved:

What happened?

What harm was caused?

What needs to happen to repair the harm?

Through RJ, students and adults learn about each other's perspectives and build empathy and understanding, developing a greater sense of trust in one another. The transgressing student has the opportunity to repair harm by acknowledging their wrongdoing, expressing remorse, and taking action based upon the victim's needs to repair trust. Victims are able to share their experience, offer forgiveness, and make amends. Having a chance to rebuild relationship after a misstep and to foster empathy, attunement, and accountability helps the whole community to feel safe and more connected.

No matter the level of severity of a rule violation-even when a student is asked to leave a community-the RJ process fortifies compassion and empathy for others and humanizes the experience of mistake-making.

Supporting Self-Esteem

When someone-a student or an adult-feels unsafe at home or experiences discrimination for their background, identity, or other reasons, they may come to school with an already overstimulated nervous system. This means it's easier for them to become dysregulated-to experience a sympathetic fight, flee, freeze, or submit response-during a rule violation or enforcement moment.

Psychologically, a student who breaks a rule and receives punishment may begin to identify as a "bad kid," and may be seen by their peers as someone who always get into trouble-a cycle that is sometimes repeated again and again. Through the reflective processes of RJ, this student can instead learn about the impact of their actions and reflect upon their membership in the community. They have a chance to grow self-esteem and to perceive themselves as a human who has made a mistake or bad decision and is taking responsibility for their actions.

Rather than simply doling out a punishment without guidance, RJ reminds us all that mistakes are learning opportunities for growth and that offenders have the opportunity to take responsibility for their behavior, repair the harm they have caused, and work toward a positive outcome.

A learning community that engages in connection building to repair harm becomes more resilient over time via more trusting connections between community members, increased self-awareness and compassion, and regulated nervous systems.

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How Restorative Justice Helps Students Learn | Edutopia

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Social and Emotional Learning Restorative justice allows everyone affected by a harm to return to a calm state that is optimal for learning. ©Shutterstock/Monkey Business Images Restorative justice (RJ) offers healthy alternatives to the traditional disciplinary approach of rules and the consequences of breaking those rules.

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Naomi Holmes

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Black women have been hit ‘especially hard’ by pandemic job losses–and they’re still behind in recovery

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Nearly 30% of Black women who are unemployed have been out of work for six months or longer, according to the National Women’s Law Center.

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emily

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The year: 1969. Man landed on the moon, the Beatles gave their last concert on top of the Apple building in London, and we mourned Judy Garland's death. But most notable for me was the Stonewall Uprising on June 28.

As a gay African-American man, I am an activist and a pioneer. I have experienced some of the brightest and darkest highlights of LGBTQ history. So much has changed and I know my generation has made a significant contribution to the growth and positive changes. My mantra: "I'm living my best life!"
Related: The legacy of Black LGBTQ leaders is at stake
The year of the Stonewall Uprising, I was beginning my studies at Parsons School of Design. It was a turning point in my life. I felt equipped to leave my family nest and ready to be independent, a trait that was instilled in me at an early age.

As soon as I arrived in New York, the city was swarming with so much energy that it was hard to contain myself. New York City has always been a significant influence on gay life, art, music, fashion, commerce, and innovations on all fronts. I took some time to discover myself during those years, learning to navigate the city and indulge in self-expression.

The diversity of New York is something I have always loved. In fact, it was the openness and freedom of expression that led me to accept my sexuality. I gradually acclimated to my new life and adventures, only later realizing what an accomplishment it was to move to New York City and succeed at the tender age of 18.

As a textile designer and artist in the Garment District, I continued to take drawing classes at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art to keep my skills sharp. While in the workforce, I complied to corporate standards in the workplace to be taken seriously and avoid discrimination. But even so, I accepted my truth and began to live unapologetically as a gay African-American man.

One of the hard truths I had to learn - and something many people still refuse to acknowledge - is that the LGBTQ community has always been splintered and separated. I made it a point to nurture friendships with young gay people, mostly people of color. Most of my gay and bi friends attended venues that attracted people like me, where nightlife was flourishing and the creative community thrived. We saw diverse venues like David's Loft in Manhattan, the first private dance club, as well as Andre's, Jays, and the Big Apple in Harlem, all catering to people of color. I saw the 70's as a "Golden Age" of gay life and freedom of self-expression.

Overwhelmed with a thirst for knowledge and enthusiasm to discover more about the LGBTQ experience, I moved to Berlin, Germany, in 1979. I was influenced by many Black figures who paved the way, including Josephine Baker, Richard Wright, and James Baldwin. Moving to another country allowed me to escape racial disparities back home.

I was emboldened to continue advocating for LGBTQ people of color, which became crucial as we were hit with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. As a result of attending so many funerals weekly, I became exhausted and fearful for my own health. I moved back to the U.S., making the best of my time in the Midwest professionally, but also prioritized being an advocate for HIV/AIDS and the LGBTQ community as a whole.

Together, gays and lesbians organized community events, prepared meals, and initiated housing projects for suffering people who had been on the street. Fundraisers were held to raise money for those in need. Organizations like AmfAR (the Foundation for Aids Research) made their debut, as well as the drag ball Night of a Thousand Gowns and the Design Industry Foundation for AIDS. The late great Larry Kramer founded Gay Men's Health Crisis and ACT UP, two organizations that changed the narrative in New York City and the world, invoking lifesaving solutions and resources for the LGBTQ community.

In 1995, the introduction of protease inhibitors - drugs that impede the spread of the virus - added longevity to a generation that did not expect to survive.

Returning to New York in the early 2000s and having reached my 50th birthday, I began to think about how I was beginning this stage in my life. My generation of LGBTQ folks have now become elders, with organizations like SAGE helping us age with dignity.

As we age, there are challenges in housing, healthcare, and other life support systems for our cohort. Many of us do not have families and face discrimination and isolation because of our sexual orientation, making LGBTQ elder support groups critical. I remain an advocate for older adults so we can keep our independence as we age.

As I continue to share my experiences before and after 50 years of Stonewall activism, I age with pride and dignity.
Alston Green is a longtime activist and fighter in social justice and LGBTQ movements. A creative thinker and a passionate spokesperson, Alston has worked with the Intergenerational Media Literacy program with Senior Planet (OATS) and SAGE - two organizations that offer aging adults an opportunity to explore, learn, mingle and renew their passions, to keep abreast of the ever changing world of digital technology and how it impacts everyone's lives daily.

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I lived unapologetically as a Black gay man in the 70s. Now I'm aging with pride & dignity.

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The year: 1969. Man landed on the moon, the Beatles gave their last concert on top of the Apple building in London, and we mourned Judy Garland's death. But most notable for me was the Stonewall Uprising on June 28. As a gay African-American man, I am an activist and a pioneer.

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Matthew

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NAIS - Toward a Queer-Inclusive, Queer-Affirming Independent School

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If you mention the word “diversity” to most independent school professionals, “race” will probably be the first factor to receive attention. With America’s schools historically playing a crucial part in the broader movement for civil rights, this association of race with diversity is an apt one. But…

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Matthew

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"Sapphire Show," a groundbreaking Los Angeles pop-up, lasted a mere five days - but it has proved worthy of an examination decades later in New York.

Suzanne Jackson, creator of the pioneering "Sapphire Show," with "Sapphire & Tunis," a 2010-11 work, at Ortuzar Projects' current homage to the 1970 pop-up. Credit... Tamara Blake Chapman for The New York Times

It was the pop-up of its day - though in influence it was more of a supernova than a pop.

"Sapphire Show: You've Come a Long Way, Baby" debuted at Gallery 32, a Los Angeles oasis for the work of African American artists. It opened on a holiday - July 4, 1970 - and closed five days later, the penultimate show at the experimental gallery near MacArthur Park. The gallery itself folded soon after.

"I remember the feeling," said Senga Nengudi, one of the six featured artists, whose contribution included vinyl tubes filled with colored water. "It was exciting, fun and triumphant." The show, named for the bossy character Sapphire Stevens of the radio and TV series "Amos 'n' Andy," also borrowed the famous Virginia Slims cigarette tagline for its sassy subtitle.

As likely the first show devoted to Black female artists in Los Angeles, and possibly in the United States, it shone briefly but brightly, and the energy it released can still be felt.

The artists featured included the founder of Gallery 32, Suzanne Jackson, who ran the art space from her loft in the Granada Buildings; Nengudi (who was Sue Irons then); Nengudi's cousin, Eileen Abdulrashid (now Eileen Nelson); Betye Saar; Yvonne Cole Meo (1923-2016); and Gloria Bohanon (1939-2008).

Now, Ortuzar Projects, a TriBeCa gallery, has created a homage and an update: "You've Come a Long Way, Baby: The Sapphire Show," on view through July 31 and featuring the same cast.

The 29 works on view include some of the artworks thought to be in the original show - Jackson's records were lost, so the exact contents are hazy - as well as later works by all six women, to show how they developed over the decades.

Saar, now 94 and still based in Los Angeles, was older and by far the best-known of the group in 1970, and became famous for her appropriation of racist imagery, as in her politically explicit work "The Liberation of Aunt Jemima" (1972).

Her 1967 cosmological-themed print "Taurus" is the one work in the new "Sapphire" that organizers and scholars can definitively say was in the original exhibition.

Nengudi, 77, now living in Colorado Springs, has a solo show currently at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, "Senga Nengudi: Topologies," featuring, among other works, pieces from her "R.S.V.P." series: installations made of sand-filled pantyhose, initially inspired by her own pregnancy.

A precursor series, Nengudi's "Water Compositions," is represented at Ortuzar Projects - imagine a juicy, sensual version of Minimalism, with vinyl tubes full of brightly colored water. At least one of the works was in the original "Sapphire."

The Savannah, Ga.-based Jackson, also 77, is a poet, dancer and set designer whose recent work has focused on painting. She has been featured in many shows, including "Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power." One of her large paintings in the current show, "Rag-to-Wobble" (2020), is amoeba-shaped, bulgy and thickly encausted, incorporating vintage dress hangers.

The original "Sapphire" was a Salon des Refusés: It was a reaction by the women to being shut out of a 1970 exhibition of Black artists sponsored by the Carnation evaporated milk company at its Los Angeles headquarters, which had invited only one female artist, to participate.

"All the men were included," Jackson said. "We were so annoyed that we had been ignored." Instead, they staged their own show. Its pioneering existence seems particularly resonant now.

"It opened a door," said Carolyn Peter, a curatorial assistant at the J. Paul Getty Museum who, in a previous job, co-organized the 2009 exhibition "Gallery 32 & Its Circle" at Loyola Marymount University, which examined the impact of the far-sighted gallery (where David Hammons, Timothy Washington and Emory Douglas also showed) on the Los Angeles art world. "Black women had a double challenge - their color and their gender - and these women took a stand through their art," Peter said.

Kellie Jones, a Columbia art history professor who has studied the era, noted that the original exhibition "still needs its 15 minutes of fame. People are just now talking about it. It was such an impressive show."

The 1970 "Sapphire" was thrown together quickly - the poster, designed by Nelson, misspelled Saar's name, and incorporated childhood photos of some of the artists.

"We just happened to be there in a room all at the same time and decided to do this very quickly," Jackson said of its genesis. She founded Gallery 32 in 1969 at age 25, and it lasted less than two years. "I ran out of money," she said. There was only one show after "Sapphire," of Meo's work, and her penchant for combining collage and painting can be seen in "Forbidden Fruit in Garden of Eden" (1965) at Ortuzar Projects.

In addition to Gallery 32, Los Angeles in 1970 had several venues championing artists of color, including the Brockman Gallery and the nonprofit Watts Tower Arts Center, but they weren't focused on women. In 1973, Saar organized "Black Mirror," a successor show devoted to Black women using the same Virginia Slims subtitle as "Sapphire," at Womanspace.

Invoking the Sapphire character in the original show's title was a deliberate and bold choice. Saar, who was part of a group effort to curate the show, wrote in a recent email that she saw Sapphire as "a tough woman, a busybody and know-it-all."

She added, "If you were a woman in the art world at that time, you had to be bossy, and also creative."

Jane Rhodes, a professor of Black studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the author of "Framing the Black Panthers: The Spectacular Rise of a Black Power Icon," said that Sapphire was "more than assertive, she was a shrewlike, browbeating, harassing matriarch - every negative depiction of a Black female subject."

Hence the boldness of the repurposing by the Gallery 32 artists. "It showed a playfulness but also a radical determinism," Rhodes said. "We get to name ourselves."

Rather than a critique of the character, Jackson said the group "used it as an upfront way of saying we're really strong women."

Whatever barriers to success existed, the six artists weren't easily stopped.

"I was a young whippersnapper, and I was very adamant about my career," Nengudi said. She added, in admiration of Jackson, "You can't even imagine how difficult it was to get a gallery going in Los Angeles at that time."

Saar recalled a telling detail of how Jackson got around town as a nascent gallerist and artist: "She drove an ambulance for her car."

Nelson, now 82 and living in Novato, Calif., had been crashing with her cousin Nengudi in that period.

"I was struggling to share my art with folks," Nelson said, adding that the five-day run did pay off for her. "Someone did buy a painting," she said, one depicting "a beautiful, strong, dynamic lady."

Nelson has three works in the Ortuzar show, two paintings and a 1970s sculpture called "Wood City," incorporating rectangular forms and a tree limb.

Some of the older works in the current exhibition have an earthy, bohemian air, reflecting a long-ago California era. (About two-thirds of the show is for sale.)

In Jackson's canvas "The American Sampler" (1972), a face seems to emerge from a tree stump. Bohanon, who was known for abstract work, has eight works in the show, including two tondos depicting outreaching hands.

Saar is represented by "Rainbow Mojo" (1972), a painting on leather depicting colorful natural forms: a moon, stars and a bursting rainbow.

Saar's "Auntie & Watermelon" (1973), a sculpture with a Black female figure and collaged Aunt Jemima images that was done one year later, indicates the direction her practice was increasingly taking post-"Sapphire."

"She's the theorist of taking caricature and stripping it of punch, reusing it to her own ends," said Thomas Lax, a curator of media and performance art at the Museum of Modern Art.

Lax is organizing a forthcoming show at MoMA, "Just Above Midtown: 1974 to the Present," about the New York art gallery founded by Linda Goode Bryant that focused on Black artists, Nengudi among them.

"They continue to have a freshness of spirit in how they make things," Lax said of the way the artists in "Sapphire" have developed. "There's a continued commitment to reinventing their own forms."

For her part, Jackson said that for the four artists who are still alive, their bond endures. "We're still a kind of family," she said. "The 'Sapphire Show' was our beginning and our impetus."

Nengudi said the "camaraderie and support system" has stayed with her.

"Even though the show didn't last that long, the important thing is that it happened," she said. "It's a part of history."
You've Come a Long Way, Baby: The Sapphire Show
Through July 31, Ortuzar Projects, 9 White Street, TriBeCa; (212) 257-0033; ortuzarprojects.com.

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A Rare Spotlight on Black Women's Art Still Shines After 51 Years

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"Sapphire Show," a groundbreaking Los Angeles pop-up, lasted a mere five days - but it has proved worthy of an examination decades later in New York. It was the pop-up of its day - though in influence it was more of a supernova than a pop.

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Vincent Dotta

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Restorative Justice for Communities, Schools and Businesses

In his book, The Little Book of Restorative Justice, Howard Zehr, a leader of the Restorative Justice movement, defines it as "a process to involve those who have a stake in a specific offense and collectively identify and address harms, needs, and obligations...to heal and put things as right as possible."

The central idea is that crime (or conflict, depending on the setting) causes harm and justice should focus on repairing that harm. Therefore the people most affected by the crime should be able to participate in its resolution. And it acknowledges that those affected include not only the victim, but the accused and often the community at large.

"Restorative practices are needs based, community driven approaches that promote inclusion, connection, learning and accountability," says Angola Dixon, an ordained energy healer and owner/founder of Seattle based Circle Pulse, an experiential company specializing in Restorative Justice, Energy and Peacemaking. "A Peacemaker works to 'make peace' by reconciling parties who are disconnected, disagree or engage in conflict."

And Dixon has been doing just that as a trainer and facilitator in schools, communities and with businesses across Seattle and King County.

Restorative Justice for Community Building

As a past leader in the Non-Profit Anti-Racism Coalition (NPARC) in Seattle, Dixon was involved in leading grant-funded racial-equity circles in Seattle. NPARC supports organizations in practicing institutional anti-racism. The community Racial Equity Circles "allowed people to sit in a circle and talk about race in a way that gave everyone in the circle a voice," says Dixon.

A "talking piece" is central to the process. It is passed from person-to-person around the circle, and only the person with the talking peace can speak. "It's an exercise to get people to listen deeply without the need to respond. There's no interrupting. It's less of a discussion and more a practice in active and reflective listening," Dixon explains. "What did you hear this person say? You get chance to say what you thought was said, and the other to respond-did they get it right? It's back-and-forth and reflective."

"Talking about race for some can be a trigger," says Dixon. "There can be lots of trauma connected. And many people don't know how to start a conversation around race." For the community Peacemaking Circles, people had the opportunity to meet with homogenous groups first to work on their own pain, issues and biases before coming together in interracial circles. "Ultimately the goal was to bring the community together and to collectively address issues of institutional racism. The Peacemaking Circle process gave everyone who wanted to participate a voice in that process."

Restorative Justice In the School System

Restorative circles also have been used in the classroom to lower suspension. In 2018-2019 Dixon coordinated Transformative Practices at Nova High School in Seattle, facilitating Racial and Health Equity Circles. In Spring 2019, her Teen Health Needs Assessment is helping Nova design a new teen health center, opening Fall 2020, focused on LGBTQ+ and POC health.

Dixon has worked in schools through the window of professional development, where schools provide training for teachers so that they can lead restorative circles in their classrooms. "Nova High School has a strong culture of inclusion and tolerance," says Dixon. "Students committees such as the People of Color Committee, the LGBTQ Committee and others are leading the way in how they want to interact with staff and promote school safety."

Dixon found that teachers wanted to use the practice but weren't sure if they were doing it right. "The training gives teachers a tool for building community and resolving conflict in their classrooms." As part of the training Dixon advocates for ongoing circles for relationship building to prevent conflict before it happens.

Restorative Justice in the Juvenile Court System

The myth is that restorative justice replaces harsher consequences. In Seattle it is the King County Prosecutor's Office that decides which cases are eligible for restorative justice. Participation in restorative justice programs is voluntary for all participants. It involves a basic, three-step process: first, a meeting with the person charged and his or her support persons; then, a meeting with the person who was harmed and their support person; and, finally, a meeting of all the people impacted by the incident.

"This is not just about talking. This is about accountability," says Dixon. "It recognizes that offenders need to heal. Victims get a chance to be heard and healed as well." It's a very specific, facilitated process. And once an agreement on restitution is reached, if the offender doesn't follow through, "they would go through the regular criminal justice system as though restorative justice never happened," she adds.

But restorative justice does appear to reduce recidivism, particularly with juveniles. A study from Sam Houston State University in Texas showed that "restorative justice programs, such as victim-offender mediation and community impact panels, are more effective in reducing recidivism rates among juvenile offenders than traditional court processing." Another report from the US Department of Justice also suggested that "some restorative justice programs-when compared to traditional approaches-can reduce future delinquent behavior." That report cited that it also produced greater satisfaction for victims.

( Read more about the King County Restorative Justice Program here.)

Restorative Justice for Businesses

"Restorative circles allow you to have deeper relationships among team members," says Dixon, who has facilitated this approach at company retreats, for team building and conflict resolution. She sees the restorative circle approach as a path to change the way people interact with each other.

"In business we're taught to be impersonal to be effective. Restorative justice focuses on relationships first as a healthy way to have compassion and lead you to bigger community success."

Learn more at circlepulse.com

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Restorative Justice for Communities, Schools and Businesses - Executive Diversity

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In his book, The Little Book of Restorative Justice, Howard Zehr, a leader of the Restorative Justice movement, defines it as "a process to involve those who have a stake in a specific offense and collectively identify and address harms, needs, and obligations...to heal and put things as right as possible."

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What is restorative justice?

Where in the world is it being used?

Does it really make a difference in people's lives?

Our handbook on Restorative Justice Principles and Practice will answer these questions and more. This guide was developed to help our indigenous, autonomous partners in more than 100 countries around the world strengthen restorative practices in programs for prisoners, victims and families of prisoners. We openly share these best practices so that any organization can apply them in varied contexts.

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Our handbook on Restorative Justice Principles and Practice will answer these questions and more. This guide was developed to help our indigenous, autonomous partners in more than 100 countries around the world strengthen restorative practices in programs for prisoners, victims and families of prisoners.

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victoria

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blackface is okay (sometimes) | stillnotcorry

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Annie Guo

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This writer believes age inclusivity is a necessary component in the struggle for collective liberation

It is undeniable that age, like other demographic variables, shapes our personal experiences and social interactions in the world. However, differences exist in how, when and why age has influence. Many discussions and scholarship that examine age and ageism have dismally explored how age when intersected with ethnic, racial, and class variables create unconventional outcomes.

Demonstrators marching in the street holding signs during the March on Washington, 1963 | Credit: Library of Congress

I have written previously about the unique circumstances that shape the lives of Black people in the United States as we traverse the life course such as state-sanctioned murders, mass incarceration and the disproportionate bearing of certain chronic illnesses. The all-consuming racialization of Black life and its subsequent oppression has made basic survival for some, and social mobility for others, take primacy over suppression related to age.

This is not to say that ageism does not exist among Black people; it certainly does. The point being made is that age subjugation may not exist in the same way, or to the same extent, for Black people as it does for white folks.

One reason for this may be the prevalence of intergenerational Black families. According to a 2018 AARP national survey, Black grandparents often play instrumental roles in their families and are more likely to be primary caregivers than the general population. Author Nefertiti Austin posits that "kinship care, relative care giving or grandfamilies, communal living and loving, is a strength of the Black community" and research in this area confirms this assertion.

The Modern Struggles for Racial Justice

The Transatlantic slave trade that dispersed Africans all over the world impacted all of those enslaved, regardless of age. Children were suddenly made parentless and spouses were abruptly separated from their partners. Survival required collective cooperation in which every person, notwithstanding age, had a role to carry out.

Perhaps this legacy of collective oppression and collective responsibility has shaped modern struggles for racial justice, in which youth and elders make fundamental contributions.

Jeanne Theoharis writes in her book " The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks," that as a child Rosa Parks sat at the feet of her armed grandpa as he watched over their home at night in case of a racist attack. Countless Black children in America, whether it be circa 1920 or 2022, have experienced the fear and terror of racial violence and repression. It is therefore no surprise that now over a century of Black youth activism has been documented.

Although mainstream media in the U.S. has centered Black activists on the mid-to-late end of the age spectrum, the average age of members of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense was 19 years old. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which served as a primary pathway into the Civil Rights Movement for Black students, was led primarily by precocious young people.

Aging Political Prisoners

Age also shows up as a significant variable in activism geared toward the release of aging political prisoners. A political prisoner can be defined as a person who is incarcerated based on charges related to resistance to State and vigilante oppression and repression. Many political prisoners were members of revolutionary organizations that were targeted and surveilled by the United States government. Mirroring the racial disparities of the general incarcerated population in the U.S., political prisoners are also disproportionately Black, indigenous or Latinx.

The oldest political prisoner in the United States is Ruchell Magee, who is 82 years old and has been behind bars for 58 years. Other long-term political prisoners in the U.S. include Sundiata Acoli (47 years in prison), Mumia Abu-Jamal (39 years in prison) and Mutulu Shakur (33 years in prison), among several others.

Eight of the nine Move 9 members who were given prison sentences ranging from 30 years to life in 1978 have been released, but the longest incarcerated of the Move 9, Chuck Delbert, died just 5 months after being released. He was 74 years old and had spent 42 years in jail.

Taking this information into consideration, one could assert that prisons are serving as eldercare facilities for aging Black political dissidents. That is, if Black political dissidents manage to reach old age. Had Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. chosen to align themselves with the status quo and live quieter lives, they may have lived beyond 39 years. Instead, they willingly and knowingly sacrificed the option for a potentially longer life to express their principled beliefs in Black dignity and justice.

Why Age is Relevant

According to Greg Carr of Howard University, "All of our attempts at intergenerational dialogue are disrupted and interrupted by a social structure which is absolutely committed to preventing that from happening."

Through cultural socialization in childhood we learn about respect, authority and power through the lens of age. Formal laws and policies provide parameters for sexual and social relations based on age. Therefore, it is expected that age would have relevance in most, if not all social spaces, Black, white or otherwise.

Before Rosa Parks refused to move from her seat in December of 1955, 15-year old Claudette Colvin had done so in March of the same year. In Jeanne Theoharis' biography of Rosa Parks, she quotes Civil Rights attorney Fred Gray as saying that Claudette Colvin "gave us all the moral courage to do what we did," in reference to the initiation of a year-long Montgomery Bus Boycott. However, due to the fact that Colvin was viewed by local Black leaders as "too young" and "feisty," Rosa Parks was selected as a more appropriate emblem.

Black-led social movements are not absent of age stereotyping and age-influenced class differences that lead to tension and disagreements. Nonetheless, I maintain that age does not tend to take precedence in these spaces. While cultural indoctrination and perceptions of belonging can lead to the predominance of activists of certain ages joining particular organizations (i.e., Black Lives Matter), this has not led to age homogeneity in Black social movements. Within these spaces younger activists often show reverence and deference to elders who hold historical memory and experiences that greatly inform contemporary struggles.

Black activists simply cannot afford to weaponize age when faced with more prevailing concerns like the preservation of life. Ageism not only deprives social movements of critical contributions, it is also fundamentally antithetical to justice. We should not think of age inclusivity as an accommodation or obligation, but instead, a necessary component in the struggle for collective liberation.

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Does Age Matter in Black Social Movements?

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This writer believes age inclusivity is a necessary component in the struggle for collective liberation It is undeniable that age, like other demographic variables, shapes our personal experiences and social interactions in the world. However, differences exist in how, when and why age has influence.

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Renee Lee

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/02/22/why-empathy-is-key-dismantling-white-racism/

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Perspective | Why empathy is the key to dismantling white racism

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Empathy is not just an emotional buzzword — it’s a political necessity.

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this source goes into the details of restorative justice explaining what it is along with what conflicts rise from it. this site allows for the spread of awareness and informative actions in order to make sure that people understand what restorative justice truly is.
Maija

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restorative justice, response to criminal behaviour that focuses on lawbreaker restitution and the resolution of the issues arising from a crime in which victims, offenders, and the community are brought together to restore the harmony between the parties. Restorative justice includes direct mediation and conflict resolution between the offender, the victims, their families, and the community. It holds the offender accountable to the other parties while also providing the offender with learning experiences that offer law-abiding lifestyles as realistic alternatives to criminality. American psychologist Albert Eglash is generally credited with first adopting the term "restorative justice" in his 1959 article "Creative Restitution: Its Roots in Psychiatry, Religion and Law," which was then compared and contrasted in his 1977 article "Beyond Restitution: Creative Restitution" with the retributive justice (punishment-focused justice) and rehabilitative justice (justice focused on personal reform) perspectives.

Restorative justice views crime as more than simply a violation of the law-an offense against governmental authority. It violates human relationships and injures victims, communities, and even offenders. Each party is hurt in different ways, and each has different needs that must be met in order for healing to begin. Crime disturbs society's sense of trust and often results in feelings of suspicion, separation, and discrimination. Crime creates rifts between friends, relatives, neighbours, and communities. It often produces a hostile relationship where no previous relationship existed. An often-overlooked result of crime is that the victim and offender have a relationship-they have a painfully negative experience in common. Left unresolved, that hostile relationship negatively affects the welfare of both. Justice requires restoration for victims, offenders, and communities affected by crime. To promote healing, society must respond to the needs of victimized parties as well as to the responsibilities of offenders.

Restorative justice also serves as an alternative to retributive justice (which views crime primarily as acts that violate criminal laws established by governments) and rehabilitative justice (which takes a therapeutic approach that addresses an offender's need for treatment). Essentially, both perspectives concentrate on rules and laws with regard to the actions of offenders. The state is viewed as the victim in both systems, and the offender is held accountable through punishment (in the retributive system) or treatment (in the rehabilitative model). However, the victims become a secondary concern at best, serving generally as witnesses for the state.

Process

Restorative justice, however, considers both primary victims (those directly harmed by an offender's actions) and secondary victims (those indirectly harmed by the offender's actions [such as the families of the primary victims and the community at large]). Primary victims often sustain bodily injury, financial loss, and emotional suffering, and the effects of such losses can last up to a lifetime. All primary victims, regardless of their level of victimization, have a need to reclaim a sense of control of their lives and to have their rights vindicated. Moreover, victimization is based on the experience of being wronged by another, and thus victims feel the need for authoritative condemnation of the wrong. Secondary victims may also have a variety of needs. For example, a primary victim's family may need to replace property or endure medical expenses. The community seeks the reestablishment of order and safety.

Restorative justice also distinguishes between resulting injuries (those caused by the crime itself or its aftermath) and contributing injuries (those that existed prior to the commission of the crime and that may have provoked the crime). Resulting injuries can be physical, such as an injury suffered, or emotional, such as embarrassment or shame. Contributing injuries can include cases in which child abuse victims become victimizers themselves or when abuse of alcohol or other drugs leads to criminal behaviour to support the addiction. These situations are not excuses for criminal behaviour but must be addressed in attempts at healing.

Compared with retributive and rehabilitative justice, restorative justice places a much higher premium on the participation of the principals. Both the victim and the offender take an active role. Victims are allowed to ask questions and have them answered. Offenders are encouraged to understand the harmful consequences of their behaviour. They acknowledge their guilt and take responsibility to make amends. Efforts of the community to repair injuries to victims and offenders are encouraged.

Outcome

The most important way in which restorative criminal justice differs from retributive and rehabilitative justice is in the outcome of the process. Retributive justice often relieves the offender from the obligation to acknowledge guilt or to repay the victim and community. In contrast, restorative justice seeks to right the wrong that has been committed and repair the damage that has been sustained by victims, offenders, and communities. However, when incarceration is necessary for public safety, it should be part of the resolution. Examples of restorative justice outcomes include restitution, community service, and victim-offender reconciliation.

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Restorative justice | Law, Conflict Resolution & Victim Empowerment

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Restorative justice, response to criminal behaviour that focuses on lawbreaker restitution and the resolution of the issues arising from a crime in which victims, offenders, and the community are brought together to restore the harmony between the parties. Restorative justice includes direct

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victoria

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Episode 3: The Birth of American Music (Published 2019)

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For centuries, black music has been an expression of artistic freedom. No wonder everybody is always stealing it.

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45 Famous Black Women Who Are Leaving Their Mark on History

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For Black Parents Resisting White-Washed History, Homeschooling Is an Increasingly Popular Option

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Homeschooling increased nationwide after the pandemic disrupted in-person learning, and the increase was most significant among Black families

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Black Lives Matter at School: Loving Engagement

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This list is for one of the 13 principles of Black Lives Matter. These 13 principles guide the curriculum for Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action and Year of Purpose. Book titles recommended in this list encourage us to embody and practice justice, liberation, and peace in our engagements wi…

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BLM Week of Action : 4. Intergenerational, Black Families, and Black Villages (February 4, 2021) - SCI-Arc Channel

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Student hosts Allyn Viault and Babatunde-Majadi Adejare introduce moderators Hernán Díaz Alonso and William Virgil. At 4:20, Jeremy Kamal presents a clip from his video "Mojo : the Floods", and discusses his ongoing investigation of "what a landscape might look like if shaped by the values of Black culture", including a water landscape that functions as a sound engineer's instrument.

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a program to try and break inter-generational wealth disparities

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Entrepreneurial advancement

Entrepreneurial advancement

Entrepreneurial advancement

We are dedicated on hosting a Shark-Tank style event, where we invite members of select neighborhoods in the South and West side of Chicago to participate in pitching their business ideas to a panel of vetted venture capitalists. Post-COVID*

"Build Black Wealth"

Entrepreneurial advancement

Entrepreneurial advancement

Chicago is full of gatekeepers but it's also full of people who want to help and see our black brothers and sisters succeed. Our mission is to strive to provide business and trade grants to help aspiring, young, entrepreneurs get connected to the resources they don't have access to so they CAN be great. Essentially, we're the plug,

Community Resource Bank

Entrepreneurial advancement

Community Resource Bank

Food apartheid is a major problem in the South and West side of Chicago but is a vital part of community justice. Even though our focus is building wealth, we believe it's important to have close ties directly with the communities we serve via providing direct mutual aid. We work directly with corporations and local businesses to acquire food donations and use them to fight hunger. Contact us to become one of our partners.

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We are dedicated on hosting a Shark-Tank style event, where we invite members of select neighborhoods in the South and West side of Chicago to participate in pitching their business ideas to a panel of vetted venture capitalists. Post-COVID* Chicago is full of gatekeepers but it's also full of people who want to help and see our black brothers and sisters succeed.

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A non-profit organization with the goal to give social support, deconstruct gender roles and enrich mental health

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Aderyn K.

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Intergenerational lessons in the fight for racial justice

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On the heels of two viral TED Talks -- "Want a more just world? Be an unlikely ally" by Nita Mosby Tyler & "What if mental health workers responded to emergency calls?" by Leslie Herod -- Nita & Leslie discuss leadership lessons from the fight for racial justice, political progress, and equity.

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Aderyn K.

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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.

Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.

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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Redistributing Wealth and Opportunity: BLM grants

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Redistributing Wealth and Opportunity: BLM grants

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(Eva Lubsen)

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NEW YORK (AP) - The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation has established a fund worth more than $12 million to aid organizations fighting institutional racism, in the wake of the George Floyd protests.

On Wednesday, the foundation, which has been influential in the emergence of the broader Black Lives Matter movement, said it was setting aside $6 million in donations to support black-led grassroots organizing groups. Last week, it unveiled a separate $6.5 million fund for its network of affiliate chapters.

Beginning July 1, affiliated chapters can apply for unrestricted funding of up to $500,000 in multi-year grants, the foundation announced. Grants from both funds will be administered through a fiscal sponsor, said Kailee Scales, managing director of the foundation.

"In this watershed moment for black power building ... it is critical that we democratize giving to ensure all of us have access to the resources we need to reverse centuries of disinvestment in black communities, and invest in a future where we can all be connected, represented and free," Scales said in a statement to The Associated Press.

According to the network's website, the organization has more than a dozen active chapters, including Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Detroit, as well as in Canada. Its newest chapter is in South Bend, Indiana.

The foundation told the AP it has received more than 1.1 million individual donations at an average of $33 per gift since the death of Floyd, a black man who died May 25 pleading for air as a white Minneapolis police officer held a knee to his neck for nearly eight minutes. The surge of financial support adds to roughly $3.4 million in net assets the BLM Global Network had on hand last year, according to a 2019 financial statement of Thousand Currents, the fiscal sponsor which receives donations on the network's behalf and then releases money to the group.

Creation of the funds signals a growth in infrastructure for the network, which had been at odds with some local chapter organizers, who felt network leaders weren't providing enough financial support for initiatives such as rapid response to police brutality. Although there are many groups that use "Black Lives Matter" or "BLM" in their names, only 16 are considered affiliates of the global network.

For Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, the network's first official chapter, the fund will increase its capacity to support families in need of legal aid, public communications strategy and other services after a loved one is killed by police, said organizer Melina Abdullah, who is a professor in the Pan-African Studies department at California State University, Los Angeles.

"We've been struggling for seven years now with very limited resources," Abdullah told the AP. "We're not paid. But we also have real costs, even if we're not taking salaries."

Renewed energy in the BLM movement has created a need for more resources, she added. "This fund will allow us to move forward in really strong ways."

Racial justice groups across the U.S. have reported receiving tens of millions of dollars in donations, particularly for community bail funds posting bond for protesters arrested in demonstrations. The wealth is being spread across younger grassroots organizations and legacy institutions, such as the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and the National Urban League.

The Black Lives Matter movement emerged in 2013 amid anger over the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the Florida man who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012. The network of chapters was formed in 2014, following what organizers called Ferguson October, a national mobilization in response to the police shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

"I'm really proud of the work we've been able to do in the last seven years," Patrisse Cullors, co-founder and chairwoman of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, said in a statement. "What is clear is that Black Lives Matter shares a name with a much larger movement and there are literally hundreds of organizations that do impactful racial and gender justice work who make up the fabric of this broader movement."

The foundation has already identified several movement organizations that it would like to support, said Cullors, who declined to name the groups. The foundation says it will "prioritize mutual aid organizations, direct service and organizations focused on creating sustainable improvements in the material conditions for all black people." It also looks to support black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-led groups.

Over its nearly six years of existence, the BLM Global Network had received contributions from high-profile donors, including A-list entertainers such as Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Prince, who contributed to BLM mere weeks before his death in 2016. But unanswered questions of transparency and access to those gifts left some organizers in network affiliate chapters frustrated.

In January 2018, a New York City chapter announced its decision to leave the BLM Global Network, citing the need for autonomy to better serve its community. In December 2019, a different group of organizers in New York rejoined the network, Scales said.

In recent weeks, the BLM Global Network has had to debunk misinformation from conservative activists who claimed the group's donations were being redirected to the Democratic Party.

The network has also been in a tug of war with a California-based organization called the "Black Lives Matter Foundation," which has accepted donations that do not support the movement. The other group reportedly raised millions of dollars in recent weeks from small individual gifts and from employees of large corporations, such as Apple and Microsoft, who believed they were supporting the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation.

___

Morrison is a member of the AP's Race and Ethnicity team. Follow Morrison on Twitter at https://twitter.com/aaronlmorrison.

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Black Lives Matter network establishes $12M grant fund

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NEW YORK (AP) - The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation has established a fund worth more than $12 million to aid organizations fighting institutional racism, in the wake of the George Floyd protests. On Wednesday, the foundation, which has...

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Memorializing The Past to address the future

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Memorializing The Past to address the future

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(Eva lubsen)

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(eva Lubsen)

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President Obama speaks at American University's School of International Service in Washington, D.C. (Pete Marovich/Bloomberg)

Growing up, the lesson was everywhere: Every major problem in black America can be solved if we addressed the problem of missing fathers.

"No longer is a person embarrassed because they're pregnant without a husband," disgraced comedian and alleged rapist Bill Cosby said in 2004. "No longer is a boy considered an embarrassment if he tries to run away from being the father of the unmarried child." When a police officer was killed in Jersey City, in July 2014, a local television news reporter said on air that "the underlying cause" of the "anti-cop mentality that has so contaminated America's inner cities" was "young black men growing up without fathers." A Reuters headline from 2007 proclaimed, "Father absence 'decimates' black community in U.S."

President Obama has been one of the biggest advocates of this idea. In a 2008 speech delivered on Father's Day at a church on Chicago's South Side, the first viable black candidate for president of the United States chastised black fathers. Too many black fathers, he said, are missing from too many lives and too many homes. "They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. We know the statistics - that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and 20 times more likely to end up in prison," Obama said. "They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from home or become teenage parents themselves. And the foundations of our community are weaker because of it."

It became a staple in his speeches delivered to majority- or all-black audiences. As recently as last year, Obama said at a poverty summit, "I am a black man who grew up without a father and I know the cost that I paid for that."

However, responsible fatherhood only goes so far in a world plagued by institutionalized oppression. For black children, the presence of fathers would not alter racist drug laws, prosecutorial protection of police officers who kill, mass school closures or the poisoning of their water. By focusing on the supposed absence of black fathers, we allow ourselves to pretend this oppression is not real, while also further scapegoating black men for America's societal ills.

My white neighbor thought I was breaking into my own apartment. Nineteen cops showed up.

In 1965, then-New York Sen. Patrick Moynihan's published " The Negro Family: The Case for National Action." It argued that the number of women-led households in black communities was the largest obstacle to black people achieving economic and political equality. Since then, the issue of "missing black fathers" has been a top priority for black intellectuals, activists and community leaders, as well as a favored retort from people seeking to deflect from conversations about structural racism.

The thinking goes like this: The high rates of poverty and incarceration and low levels of educational achievement in black communities can be traced in part back to the high number of black babies born out of wedlock and subsequently raised in single-mother homes. It's a patriarchal twist on the mythological magical Negro. Black fathers could supposedly stem the devastating effects of oppression imposed from the classroom to the workplace to the court system. If black men just showed up in the homes of their children - acted like men instead of boys - black families and communities would fortify themselves and our long-held problems would simply wither away.

Of course, there are studies that show that children who grow up in two-parent households perform better in school, are less likely to commit crime and have higher future earning potential. What these studies often don't take into account is the impact of depressed wages, chronic unemployment, discriminatory hiring practices, the history of mass incarceration, housing segregation and inequality in educational opportunity, not just on family structure but on the resources available to black families to produce results similar to their white counterparts.

And there are other problems with romanticizing the family structure. Black nuclear families have been torn apart since the days of slavery, and since then we have also reimagined the family structure. Where the biological parents haven't been available, aunts and uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers, and a host of family friends and play cousins have stepped in to do the work of raising children. Today, as prison removes more and more black men from their homes, we do the same.

To say that these other family formations are inherently deficient because there isn't a father is to say no one else is capable of providing adequate love to a child, while also teaching the children who grow up without that idealized nuclear-family model that their lives are somehow wrong. Raised to believe that they missed something vital, it's no surprise if children without fathers in their homes have more behavioral problems. And that families with women-led households are more likely to live in poverty speaks less to the necessity of fathers and more to the fact that a single income is no longer sufficient to support a family in this country, that our economy undervalues the work of women and that outside child care is a prohibitively expensive luxury. An economic shift to real living wages for women's labor and a total societal investment in the well-being of all children would solve a number of the problems we think are only alleviated by fathers.

Even with the presence of fathers in the home, the persistently high black male unemployment rate would do little to close the existing and increasing racial wealth gap, which is at a place where it would take 228 years for black households to catch up.

How President Obama failed Black Lives Matter

It's hard to put this inadequate philosophy to rest. It's hard because the "missing black father" has caused so much pain. That hurt runs through the rhetoric of every well-meaning person who has ever admonished black fathers for not being in their children's lives. It's the foundation of Obama's first book. The pain of missing a father is real and can't be discounted.

But so long as it is the only way we see this issue of the black family, the myth will continue to entangle us and prevent us from reckoning with what's real. The damage isn't done by the absence of a father but from the feeling of abandonment. If black children were raised in an environment that focused not on bemoaning their lack of fathers but on filling their lives with the nurturing love we all need to thrive, what difference would an absent father make? If they woke up in homes where electricity, running water and food were never scarce, went to schools with teachers and counselors who provided everything they needed to learn, then went home to caretakers of any gender who weren't too exhausted to sit and talk and do homework with them, and no one ever said their lives were incomplete because they didn't have a father, would they hold on to the pain of lack well into adulthood?

This isn't an argument in favor of deadbeat fathers, but a call to detach ourselves from the myth that the only and best way to raise a child depends on the presence of a man we call a father.

So far, Obama has refused to break with the myth. In response to the killing of Trayvon Martin and subsequent acquittal of George Zimmerman, his plan of action was a partnership between nonprofit organizations and corporations to provide increased mentorship for young black men, called My Brother's Keeper, which has recently enlisted the star power of rapper Kendrick Lamar and NBA guard Stephen Curry.

There is nothing wrong with promoting mentorship. There is something wrong with a president who told us for years that he was not the president of Black America but all of America, as if black people were not part of America, now putting forth his first racially specific program, and it not being any policy, but rather a spate of philanthropic endeavors. It was insulting, but right in line with his philosophy.

As if he had been elected to be mentor-in-chief. As if mentors are all black boys need to survive. As if what he really meant was mentor as a stand-in for father. As if he could save black boys by becoming their surrogate father. As if we can afford to continue believing the myth. Trayvon Martin had a father. Jordan Davis had a father. Michael Brown had a father. Tamir Rice had a father. Having a father won't protect black boys from America.

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The dangerous myth of the 'missing black father'

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Growing up, the lesson was everywhere: Every major problem in black America can be solved if we addressed the problem of missing fathers. "No longer is a person embarrassed because they're pregnant without a husband," disgraced comedian and alleged rapist Bill Cosby said in 2004.

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Since 2013 the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement has transformed the debate around police brutality in the United States. However, the tangible impact of the demonstrations became visible only after the death of George Floyd in May 2020. States across the US have approved or pledged to adopt , in various capacities, to confront the permeating racism within police departments decisively. For example, statues of the confederate soldiers have been removed in states like Kentucky, Philadelphia, and Alabama.

These demonstrations are reminiscent of those during the Civil Rights era due to their anti-racist agenda. However, the crucial roles played by social media and the decentralised form of leadership are two factors that set apart these movements.

While the BLM movement has its roots in the US, it has garnered widespread international support with local demonstrations in at least 60 countries and across every continent except Antarctica. This is due to the issues of racism and discrimination being familiar in almost every society. Like in the US, governments around the world have for too long ignored the issues of systemic racial injustice. Ethnic minorities have been repeatedly denied equitable access to opportunities, services, and fundamental human rights. While many of these localized protests began in solidarity with their American counterparts, many have taken on new forms and led to different debates as they adapt to different national contexts. Moreover, renowned individuals like King Leopold II, Edward Colston, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Edward Colston and Cecil Rhodes have now come under severe criticism because of their racially biased policies or opinions.

The historical processes underlying contemporary inequality are unique to each country, but there are certain commonalities. The US, in common with other settler colonies, is experiencing a reckoning around the legacy of slavery and the genocide of indigenous people. However, in Europe the modern debates sparked by the BLM movement must be understood within the context of the repression meted out against their former colonies.

Contextualising the rise of BLM in England, France, and Belgium

A critical examination of the past is necessary to comprehend why some of the European countries are facing an increased surge in protests calling for restorative justice. Xenophobia and racism are legacies of the 'progressive' European states. They are deeply intertwined, both in their past and the present. The remnants of the racially oppressive ideologies that the colonial empires exported beyond their immediate borders are still visible within the domestic spheres of the 'enlightened' countries.

The effects of colonialism were not limited to the exploitation of the defenceless population within the territories they conquered. Countless officials profited from an economically viable activities of the day, almost all of which involved the extreme exploitation of colonized peoples. This was not limited only to the slave trade itself, but also from those industries which were built on slave labour. The trade of cotton, tobacco and sugar helped to fuel the birth of global capitalism, which in turn shapes the world that we all live in. Every city in Europe was therefore built, directly or indirectly, on the exploitation of the colonised peoples.

Cultural violence is prevalent in these societies. It occurs when certain beliefs become so deeply embedded within the fabric of a society that they are uncritically reproduced throughout generations. The perception that the non-whites are primitive and intellectually inferior to the Caucasians has carried well into the 21 st century. The discrimination faced by the descendants of the former slaves and the first generation of non-white immigrants attests to that. In turn, direct and structural violence that diminishes their (out-group) capacity to access essential services and resources otherwise granted to the privileged group (in-group), continues to occur. They are a subsequent impact of the cultural violence which normalises the racial stereotypes and subsequently results in the dehumanisation of a given community. Structural violence enforces the marginalisation of a given section of the population. It is done through ratification of laws or through a cultural mandate that legitimises the perpetuation of such acts. Direct violence, on the other hand, instils emotions such as despair and humiliation among the marginalised community. It is a direct result of structural violence.

The above-mentioned section of the society has borne the overwhelming impact of these typologies of violence. Although each of the previously mentioned countries do operate according to the democratic principle of 'Right to Equality', they, however, choose to apply it selectively. As a result, the worse-off often find themselves living in destitute accommodations, earning lower wages, looked down upon, and deprived of the rights of equal citizenship.

The United Kingdom has witnessed waves of protests across cities like Manchester, London, and Bristol. Although the protestors are not associated with an official BLM chapter, however, they do operate under the same banner.

The permeating issue of racism became a focal issue in one of the foremost institutions of higher learning, Oxford University. Over the years, it has come under harsh criticism for failing to address 'institutional racism' adequately. A student who chose to remain anonymous out how the university had alienated its black students while at the same time provided support to the BLM movement. Amid these circumstances, a campaign to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes (19th century British colonialist and white supremacist) situated within the campus of the Oriel College began in 2015. Rhodes had played a crucial role in the colonial enterprise in South Africa. Modelled after a similar campaign that took place at the University of Cape Town, the slogan of 'Rhodes Must Fall' became the rallying cry of the demonstrators. The protests, however, dwindled after the students graduated that year. The death of George Floyd renewed the campaign. It ultimately resulted in the college voting to remove the statue , which for centuries had espoused the racist legacy of colonialism.

Response to the BLM protests in France

France is a country which promotes the idea of a unified national identity that transcends fault lines like race, religion, and ethnicity. However, this means that the policy of colour-blind neutrality inevitably disregards the existing racial divide. Such flawed guiding principles wreck further havoc for those who are primarily affected by the systematic racism present within the country.

There are political leaders like President Emmanuel Macron, who are also equally liable for the perpetuation of racial discrimination. While he has acknowledged the problem of racism in French society, he has, at the same time, to take a decisive stand to correct the existing dilemma. He has also to protect the status of the leaders associated with French colonialism, thereby disregarding the damaging impact on the collective psyche of the black community in his country. Monnica Williams is a psychologist and Director of the University of Louisville's Center for Mental Health Disparities. She has a typology of psychological violence referred to as 'race-based traumatic stress injury'. It is a form of emotional abuse that an individual experiences due to traumatic encounters such as racial hostility and harassment. The known triggers are racial discrimination or aggression. President Macron, has subjected them to this specific form of psychological violence by relegating the psychological impact of the black members of his country.

Keir Starmer (leader of the Labour Party) has also adopted a hard-line stance similar to those of the Tories. He one of the crucial demands of the BLM demonstrators - to defund the police - as 'nonsense'. Moreover, Starmer downplayed the role of BLM as a movement. Instead, he about how it was a mere 'moment' to reflect the events that occurred in the US. It is ironical that a party which itself as 'determined to transform Britain for the many and not the few', stands in opposition to a legitimate social movement and its essential demands.

Belgium

In Belgium, the defence of King Leopold II has come from across the divide. Prince Laurent (brother to King Phillipe), and Louis Michael (former PM) have come out in solidarity of the dead King. A monarch, whose violent excursions within the African continent are today equivalent to the perpetrations of war crimes liable to be investigated by a Hague Tribunal.

The way ahead

The strength of the BLM movement in Europe shows the need for serious reform to address systematic inequality. Part of this involves dealing more honestly with complicated historical legacies. Countries like England, France and Belgium have for too long brushed their colonial crimes under the rug, preferring to present a progressive face to the world. Statues commemorating slave traders and racially-biased leaders are a bizarre relic with no place in the modern world. It is equally imperative that educational curriculums do not seek to airbrush history. That said, campaigners and activists should be careful not to embrace a headlong rush into historical debate as a panacea for contemporary injustice. Culture wars often suit politicians of the right, and should never be allowed to serve as a distraction from issues such as housing, health and income inequality.
Daniel Odin Shaw is the Director of Political Violence and Conflict Resolution Programme at The International Scholar. Saman Ayesha Kidwai is a Research Assistant with the Political Violence and Conflict Resolution programme at The International Scholar.

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The Global Impact of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement - The Geopolitics

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Since 2013 the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement has transformed the debate around police brutality in the United States. However, the tangible impact of the demonstrations became visible only after the death of George Floyd in May 2020. States across the US have approved or pledged to adopt , in various capacities, to confront the permeating racism within police departments decisively.

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https://seejane.org/research-informs-empowers/representations-of-black-women-in-hollywood/

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This study examines representations of Black women and girls in entertainment media in 2019. Much of the existing research on race and gender in entertainment media analyzes representations of women and Black people as two distinct groups, but far less is known about the intersectional depictions of Black girls and women in Hollywood. It is important to note that the number of Black female characters in film and TV is too small to examine Black women and girls separately, so the analysis is combined throughout this report. ¹

The summary below presents four sets of findings: Representations of Black female leads in film; representations of Black girls and women in family films; depictions in family television; and a comparison of film and TV. Our findings are organized into positive findings and negative findings in each section to give the reader a clear sense of how Black female characters are depicted in entertainment media.

Black Female Leads in Family Films

Black girls and women are 6.5% of the US population, but only 3.7% of leads/co-leads in the 100 top-grossing films of the last decade. This figure has improved in recent years.

Only one-in-five (19.0%) of Black leading ladies from the past decade have a dark skin tone.²

Most Black leading ladies (57.1%) from popular films in the past decade are depicted with hairstyles that conform to European standards of beauty as opposed to natural Black hairstyles.

Black Female Characters in Family Films

Positive Film Findings

Black girls and women are 6.5% of the US population, 6.1% of all characters, and 5.7% of leading characters in 2019 family films.

Black female characters and other female characters of color are less likely to be portrayed as working in a service job (a common racialized media stereotype) than white female characters (7.5% and 11.8% compared to 15.2%).

Black women are more likely to be depicted as working in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) occupation than other women of color and white women (14.3% compared to 9.6% and 9.6%, respectively).

Black women are just as likely as white women to be shown as a leader (41.3% and 43.1%).³

Black female characters are far more likely to be shown as "smart" in family films than white female characters or other female characters of color (54.1% compared to 44.2% and 42.6%, respectively).

Among female characters with occupations, Black women (69.1%) are more likely than white women (52.3%) or other women of color (50.7%) to be depicted as hard working.

Negative Film Findings

When it comes to sexualization, Black women (13.5%) and other women of color (14.8%) are more likely to be depicted as partially/fully nude than white women (9.0%).

Other women of color (56.9%) and white women (51.2%) are significantly more likely to be depicted as attractive than Black women (41.4%) in family films.

Black female characters are more likely to be shown as violent than white female characters (29.3% compared to 24.6%) and twice as likely to be violent as other female characters of color (14.8%).

In the top films, white women (27.2%) are more likely to be depicted as being in a romantic relationship than Black women (22.7%) or other women of color (25.9%).

White women (16.9%) are more likely to have at least one sexual partner in films compared with Black women (13.3%) and other women of color (14.8%).

Black Female Characters in Family Television

Positive TV Findings

Black girls and women are 6.5% of the US population, 6.2% of all characters, and 6.4% of leading characters in 2019 family TV.

Black girls and women are more likely to be shown as attractive (48.5%) compared to other women of color (44.6%) or white women (41.6%).

Black women are more likely to be shown in a STEM occupation (5.6%) than other women of color (3.0%) or white women (3.3%).

More Black female characters are shown as leaders than other women of color or white women (40.9% compared with 36.0% and 34.6%, respectively).

Black female characters are far more likely to be shown as "smart" in family television than other female characters of color and white female characters (32.7% compared to 22.2% and 26.4%, respectively).

Negative TV Findings

Black female characters and other female characters of color are twice as likely as white female characters to be shown with a degree of nudity (5.2% and 4.9% compared with 2.5%).

Compared to white female characters, Black female characters and other female characters of color are twice as likely to be shown in revealing clothing (10.7% and 8.7% compared with 4.5%).

Black female characters are more likely than white female characters and other female characters of color to be verbally objectified by other characters in family TV (1.4% compared with 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively).

White female characters are more likely to have an occupation (89.6%) than Black female characters (70.5%) or other female characters of color (58.8%).

Black female characters are twice as likely as white female characters and other female characters of color to be shown in a service industry job (56.3% compared to 26.4% and 20.6%, respectively).

Black women (5.6%) are less likely than white women (8.7%) and other women of color (11.0%) to be shown in a romantic relationship, but more likely to be shown as having at least one sexual partner.

Comparison of Black Female Characters in Family Films and Television

Sexualization and Objectification

Black female characters are twice as likely to be shown wearing revealing clothing in family film than in family TV (20.3% compared with 10.7%).

Black female characters are more than twice as likely to be shown as partially/fully nude in family films than in family TV (13.5% compared with 5.2%). In family films, Black female characters are seven times more likely to be visually objectified with camera angles than in family TV (6.7% compared with 0.9%).

Black female characters are three times more likely to be verbally objectified by other characters in family films than in family TV (5.3% compared with 1.4%).

Work and Leadership

Black women in family films are three times more likely to be shown as not having
an occupation than in family TV (39.6% compared with 10.4%).

Black women in family TV are seven times more likely to be working a service job than Black women in family films (56.3% compared to 7.5%).

Black women in family films are nearly three times more likely to be shown in a STEM profession than Black women in family TV (14.3% compared to 5.6%).

Violence and Criminality

Black female characters in family films are twice as likely to be shown as violent than Black female characters in family TV (29.3% compared with 13.0%).

Family film has three times more criminal Black female characters as family TV (6.7% compared with 2.3%).

Character Traits

Black female characters are more likely to be depicted as funny in family TV than family film (55.8% compared with 30.7%).

A higher percentage of Black female characters are shown as smart in family films compared to family TV (54.1% compared to 32.7%).

Black women are shown as harder working in family films than in family TV (69.1% compared with 43.4%).

Relationships and Sex

Black women are four times more likely to be shown in a romantic relationship in family films than in family TV (22.7% compared with 5.6%).

Black women are twice as likely to have at least one sexual partner in family films than in family TV (13.3% compared with 5.1%).

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Representations of Black Women in Hollywood - Geena Davis Institute

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Related Links Full Report (pdf) Press Release Deadline: Black Females Make Progress In Film & TV; Skin Tone Colorism Persists This study examines representations of Black women and girls in entertainment media in 2019. Much of the existing research on race and gender in entertainment media analyzes representations of women and Black people as two [...]