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As caregivers and/or educators of young children, relationships and connections are the foundation of your work. These relationships impact and shape the way the infants, toddlers, and preschool children we care for think about and view themselves, and the people and world around them. “Your quality of life and your survival are tied to how authentic and generous the connections are between you and the people and place you live with and in” (Adrienne Maree Brown) How are you intentionally developing and sustaining authentic and generous connections with each child? How are your values of that child matched to your actions? How are you decentralizing your power as an educator? Reflect on and explore children’s picture books. Journey to move beyond the performative allyship act of holding and reading books about Black Boys and dive into critical self-reflection to support decentralization and ask ourselves “what are my values, how can I be aligned and in right relationship with them?” (Deepa Iyer).

Before entering the exhibit:

Select a notebook and pen from the stack. Use this to record your reflections through out the exhibit. Please take it with you and continue your work beyond the exhibit.

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The exhibit will be set up like a children's library. There will be shelfs with children's books, seating to stop and read, and tables to record reflections on. Different groupings of artifacts will be in different areas of the library.

The exhibit was created for early childhood educators with white privilege.

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Diversity in Children's books 2018. Cooperative Children's Books Center. Illustration by David Huyck with Sarah Park Dahlen 2018

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https://socialjusticebooks.org/diversity-graphic/

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“How have you reacted when whiteness or you as a white person are not centered in spaces and conversations?” (Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad, 2020)

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Diversity in Children's books 2012, Source: First Book, Infographic Tine Kugler 2012

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https://littlesongbird.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/book-diversity-2012.jpg

https://littlesongbird.com/blog/are-we-there-yet-diversity-in-picture-books/

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Diversity in Children's books 2015. Cooperative Children's Book Center 2015. Illustration 2016 David Huyck,  with Sarah Park Dahlen and Molly Beth Griffin

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https://readingspark.wordpress.com/2016/09/14/picture-this-reflecting-diversity-in-childrens-book-publishing/

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Think about your collection of children’s books. Who is centered in your collection? Does that match how you value all children?

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Image if the statics were flipped – not centering white people, What is 93% of the books focused on African-Americans. How would you feel?

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What are some of the stereotypes you have thought and negative assumptions you have made about Black Boys, and how have they affected how you have treated them?” (Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad, 2020)

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“How much freedom do you give Black Boys in your mind to be complex multilayered human beings?”  (Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad, 2020)

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I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes. Illustrated by Gordon C. James, 2020. Read by Jabee, 2021

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National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

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Reflect on the quote from the book “I’m not what they might call me” What have you called Black Boys? Why?

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Little Black Boy Oh, the Things You will Do! by Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Larry C. Fields III, 2022. Read by Coach Z 2023

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Little Black Boy Oh, the Things You will Do! 

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Little Black Boy Oh, the Things You will Do! 

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Little Black Boy Oh, the Things You will Do! by Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Larry C. Fields III

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“Knowledge is power” how will you decentralize this power and redistribute it to Black boys?

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Reflect on a time you have withheld knowledge from a Black Boy? Why did you withhold?

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What are we shaping minds to see? to center?

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What are we shaping minds to see? to center?

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How are you shaping young minds through your interactions, your values, your communication, the implicit messages you send, and the books you have, read, and interact with.

Does this artifact depict your values?

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Co-Conspiring for Black Joy with Mike Browne and Amir Asim Gilmore | Exchangepress.com 2023

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Will show part of the recording (22:08-23:44)

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Co-Conspiring for Black Joy

This video is a companion to the Exchange article "The Beautiful Resistance: Black Humanity and Black Boy Joy" by Mike Browne and Amir Asim Gilmore.

Don't miss the new Exchange Reflections Video Edition that is based around this article and video. "Black Boy Joy: Centering BIPOC Children" encourages discussion on how all educators can embrace and affirm BIPOC children.

Exchange Reflections are designed to help a team of people meet in-person or live online to think deeply together about a topic using an article or video from Exchange magazine as a guide.

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Exchange Reflections are designed to help a team of people meet in-person or live online to think deeply together about a topic using an article or video from Exchange magazine as a guide.

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“What can we do in order to help them co-construct a future that they want?” (Mike Browne)

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Who are you centering in your work and how does that reflect your values?

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Black Boys Film 2020 director Sonia Lowman powered by Never Whisper Justice

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Ideally the whole documentary would be shown.

Could be shown in clips with the following time stamps

31:00-32:27

37:07-37:59

53:00-53:58

1:24:18-1:25:20

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EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Malcolm Jenkins is the Founder and Chairman of The Malcolm Jenkins Foundation, with a mission to create positive change in the lives of youth, particularly those in under-served communities. A two-time Super Bowl Champion, Jenkins co-founded the NFL Players Coalition in 2017 to address social injustice and racial inequality.

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Malcolm Jenkins is the Founder and Chairman of The Malcolm Jenkins Foundation, with a mission to create positive change in the lives of youth, particularly those in under-served communities. A two-time Super Bowl Champion, Jenkins co-founded the NFL Players Coalition in 2017 to address social injustice and racial inequality.

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New York's post-election Subway Therapy Wall of Post-it Notes. Credit: Benny J Johnson/REX/Shutterstock 2018

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Before leaving the exhibit. Take a Post-it Note and write one thing you are going to do to:

Decentralize your power as an educator

or

How are you going to change your values of Black Boys

or

How are you going to get in right relationship with your values of Black Boys (so your actions match your values)

After writing down the action step, place the Post-it on the wall

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I hope that as you leave the exhibit you have questioned yourself on ways you have centered yourself, as an educator/caregiver. How you have used that power to send bias thoughts and messages to Black Boys and other children about who Black Boys are and can be. I hope you have started to interrogate your biases of Black Boys and are starting to wonder “do my thoughts, values, and actions match with the books I heard today?” I hope that you leave with an idea of what you are going to do to make a change in yourself so that you can be in right relationship with Black Boys, so that your values match how they value themselves and how they should be valued.

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Black Boy Joy : The Resilient Smile ©2023 by Jeff Beckham Jr