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Jill Conklin
page 79
" At the level of action, internal/introspective literacy is about changing yourself in an anti-racist, pro-cultural pluralism agent of racial justice.It means that you take action against the ideologies, institutional practice, and interpersonal reinforcements that have embedded themselves into your consciousness so that you now function in the service of white privilege ( whether you are white or not)."
This quote resonates with me because , I hope as a teacher my classroom will be a safe haven for ll my students. I want my classroom to be responsive and meet the needs of my diverse students. I feel the foundation of acceptance will promote a healthy, social, and emotional well- being for all students. This can help students focus on academics.I want all my students to feel a strong sense of belonging and investment in their education.

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,Jill Conklin
"Because the treat of you lived only in their minds You. With no breath
Because it has been stolen from your lungs
You.  With your ghetto. violent, unruly, thuggish.
Ratchet self
Wretched self.  Yo,
I love you."
This quote was so powerful. This quote resonated with me because, I feel it is important for me to stay a genuine individual; instead of any stereotype unconscious  or conscious. I have to see a student as a whole person. A students culture and heritage are important and need to be inter-graded into the classroom. As an educator I need to build a student up and always be there to encourage and support them.

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Chpt.9 Why I Started Using Cyphers for Justice Beverly Davis
pg.90 Afterword
"Black Appetite. White Food...Is a lens into the power that are cultures and communities have long possessed, the audacity of our survival, and our insistence on thriving in spite of the abiding oppressions that pervade systems of Education."
This quote speaks volumes to me as a teacher candidate that has grown up and educated in the very community that the author of this book Jamila Lyiscott speaks of coming full circle. Yes the power does exist in each of us that rises out from the ashes strong and very equipped to be an example of what success looks like when black culture has the audacity to emerge despite the educational  indifferences that we have had to ingest as a people. A beacon of light I must become as I strive to include different cultural aspects that may not look traditional but is just as relevant to our educational sysyem, as I allow it to take its' place in my culturally responsive classroom!! Wow how about that.

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Chpt. 8 Critical Hope In the Context of Crisis Beverly Davis
pg. 68
"I was seldom whipped by my old master, and suffered little from anything else than hunger and cold. I suffered much from Hunger, but much more from cold...My feet have been so cracked with the frost, that the pen with which I am writing might be laid in the gashes". (Douglas, 1846, P. 72)
This quote resonated with me because I too am on a journey. Like so many others life has not always been so kind. As he speaks of his life as a slave a hand dealt to him and not of his choosing. Yet despite it all Frederick Douglass speaks of preserving if you are to remain authentic to your vocation. No matter the difficulty or how painful sometimes the obstacles that are seemingly formed against us we must not lose Critical Hope in the power that is obtained by the conviction of not giving up. The power that evolves from critical thinking is in the fact that anyone can start something, but the reward goes to the one that endures the process until the finish line. Just as I am inspired by Frederick Douglass living on and making good out of such cruel monstrosities that he suffered. I have an obligation to impart the same fortitude to my students under my careful watch. So in order for me to help foster great adults I must lead by example!

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Chpt. 7 The Politics of Ratchetness
Beverly Davis

"You with your skin so obscenely and unapologetically Black an Onyx opulence".
By the title of the poem breeds contempt for black American culture. It is always seen as  offensive. Just showing up on the Earth black creates a deep pool of disgust in the eyes of so many Americans. We as black Americans have to begin to understand the politics of being in our black skin. The word politics is defined as a debate or conflict among individuals hoping to achieve power. Ratchet is defined as flashy, unrefined or low class. By Design the Politics of Ratchetness is to deflect from the richness and beauty of Black Culture. This quote pushes past the title by the very words used to describe the beauty and richness of our melanated skin such as Onyx and opulence. The Onyx is by definition the most traditional solid black gemstone. Opulence is defined as great wealth or luxuriousness. As Educators we too must push past the politics of Ratchetness as divisive as it is into creating a classroom that is rich in learning materials that uplift, celebrate, and educate our young students minds. So the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will ring true as more than a quote from the Civil Rights leader but a lifestyle lived by the courageous students that will evolve from our classrooms.

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Beverly Davis Chpt. 6
Pg. 53 " Over the next few days, a familiar trauma swept across Black America... one that has reminded us the disposability of our bodies for more than 400 years."
This passage resonated with me because still in this modern era we still as African-American people know too painfully well that this quote has a horrifying reality to it. We remain a food for sport. Just as strange and macob as the words of the poem Strange Fruit are it still remains a backdrop to the realization of the above quote that,"the dis- posability of our bodies for more than 400 years". Our indifference towards one another has no more evolved from the sickness of the Middle Passage. The Deep sorrow that I feel comes from knowing that I live in this year of 2020 and at any given time and any place in The United States because of  the mere color of my skin I could be eliminated and a system that governs our land justifies the slaughter. Despite this horrible injustice I press on to teach the young that my voice will not fall on deaf ears but on those who will stand up against oppression courageously. It only takes one voice!

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Chapter 8

“Wait a minute, when we go to high schools to recruit students, we only recruit Black students to be athletes here……”

Since the advent of the American slave system, black bodies have been used as chattel and forms of entertainment. This is present in society today from high school to collegiate athletic sports. The quote listed above highlights how educational institutions, in a racist fashion, view “Black”. With black women being the most educated group in America, why do institutions fail to recruit them to their schools? The question I posed above distinctly shows how systematic racism in schools is clearly persistent and evident.

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Anne Gaines

“Healing is not the absence of wounds”.

When Jamila Lyiscott  the author of Black Appetite. White Food., found out about her mother and other family members were survivors of sexual abuse, she did not let that stop her from speaking out to make changes for racial injustice in education.  She is the voice who is being heard by speaking at conferences to educators about racial justice, equity, hope and educational injustice in the classroom . Jamila Lyiscott is allowing her wounds to heal with a natural process by inviting educators to explore the implications of manifestations of white privilege as it exists within and beyond the classroom. When listening to one of her speeches, she speaks of how she put herself in a box while in school and not being herself. I work in a school system, black and brown students speak of the differences in the treatment they endure from some educators. These same students have come to me and  made comments like, “that test was not written for me, that’s why I failed”, standardized testing. Educators are to teach all students by affording them an equal opportunity in education.

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Cynthia Ford
And when I am forced to be like you then I am robbed And you are robbed Of the fullest potential of me. What a powerful statement made by Jamila Lyiscott. It resonated with me louder than a drum because it is the essence of the premise of the book. To me it is saying that if I have to reinvent my culture to fit into the mainstream culture then I'm hiding my genius underneath a bushel and burying it. As educators our job is to nurture the child and the last time i checked my dictionary for that definition the word diminish is not a part of it. Our job is to build up the students not tear them down. It is our differences that make us b

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Critical Hope in the Context of Crisis

Anne Gaines

"We go sooo hard to get Black and Brown youth out of the physical violence of the streets without equipping them for the psychological and emotional violence they will have to navigate to survive within the institutions that were originally built without them in mind." pg. 70

Black and Brown students who graduate high school and enroll in college are not prepared for what is  in store for them. The educational system is forced to feed  students of color in a political and ideological inoffensive way that seeks to move them forward, but "they must be willing to pull themselves up by their bootstraps" (pg.70). Many Black and Brown students are handed a dream  before they enter college, after their first semester of college, if these black and brown students are failing they  are looking for an easier way out. There needs to be a different way for the educational system to prepare students of color to reach their educational goals beyond high school. The one way to include students of color, is for them to have the same equal learning opportunity as other students before they graduate from high school.

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Dorothea Daniels

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Dorothea Daniels

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Dorothea Daniels

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Anne Gaines

Why I Started Using Cyphers for Justice

"Most people in the United States are more decisively offended by a pair of sagging pants than police brutality." pg. 84

Is it true that most people are disturbed by sagging pants than police brutality? If so most people have it all wrong, There needs to be a disturbing reality focusing on Black and Brown boys being killed by police and there is no accountability for their actions. If sagging pants is the worst thing to think about., get over it. If black boys look into the  history of sagging pants, they might reconsider sagging their pants. The word saggin spelled backwards is a derogatory word toward the black human race, a focus that is not warranted, but is often used as a term of endearment by some African Americans when speak to each other.

If educators look at the Hip-hop culture to re-imagine what teaching and learning might look like in the classroom. Stop making assumptions about students' appearance and educate students using their cultural aspect and not judge them on the way they dress. Teaching  cyphers and hip-hop lesson to engage students in learning makes a difference in the classroom.

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Obama out! President Barack Obama singing Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang

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Chapter 9

Kimberly McCarley

In chapter 9 of BLACK APETITE. WHITE FOOD., there is one quotes that really resonates with me and caught my attention.

“You see the problem with standard form is not that we are incapable of acquiring them

It is that they so often fail to incorporate the genius that is available within diverse cultures

And when I am forced to be like you then I am robbed

And you are robbed

Of the fullest potential of me” (p. 83 bottom)

In a school setting there is only one standard form and if you do not catch on, it is the standard form or the highway. This means that it is possible that you could fail as a student, because there is only one direction to receive an education according to standard form. There are rules and regulations that must be followed and adhered to. It is as simple as graduating, because each degree has its own designated course studies in order to qualify a person for graduating with any specific degree according to the school one attends.

So what, if you want to be a teacher and you have hands on experience as a day care provider, empowering youth ages 13-22 for 20+ years. So what, if you have a 2 year degree in Early Childhood, Bachelor’s degree and a multitude of experience in the classroom of day cares and public schools. So what, that because you understand the struggles of a slow learners and a strong connection and rapport with students that encourages comprehension and knowledge to them in a faster way. Many people are intimidated by the state standards exams and civil service exams to receive a decent county or city job. In most instances, testing must occur for example becoming a nurse, doctor or lawyer.

Students are now required to take Common Core exams that are extremely difficult for students of all grades and culture. The teachers are astonished at the information being requested for the students. Educators admit that the standards put on the student by the Common Core requirements are intimidating and unfair.

If certain requirements are not met a person is subjected to the repercussions of being something other than what their dreams were made of. A person’s skills may supersede another person’s skills in a position that society says that someone is not qualified for according to rules and regulations. The requirement of the standard form must be followed no matter how amazing a person’s skills or talents are. Those particular people will certainly continue to be robbed of positions, opportunities, and even sharing their wealth of knowledge with students living in the same culture. These particular people are often an asset to their co-workers, as well. Co-workers often accept and share techniques on dealing with certain situations. The standard form will certainly be a determining factor in a person’s income. Is a person willing to do what is necessary or sit on the sidelines and settle for whatever?

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Toks.T

Chapter 7“And what is left of your spine.”

I had to reread this poem twice to catch exactly what the author was alluding too. This line I believe is directed to Freddie Gray. Freddie Gray was brutal murdered by police forces who severed his spine and attested that he savagely did it to himself. Excuse me, however it does not take a genius to comprehend that this was absolute bull****. This reminded me of the historical brutality against people of color by racist systems in America. I also thought about the brutality, that is and has been, unaccounted for throughout African history, from the very first journey to the “”New World”. This poem as a whole served as a reminder that although African lives are not valued, appreciated, and loved by the system at large, the Author will never fail to express her love for those marginalized, oppressed, and overlooked as a whole. We all should as well!

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The Politics of Ratchetness

Anne Gaines

"With your loud ratchet

self Neck twisting and turning like the Nile Mouth smacking. Hand clapping." pg. 65

For many decades people of color have reacted in silence to being treated unfairly.  When protests were done in silence for being treated in an unfashionable manner the quietness was not heard. If being loud, neck turning, mouth smacking and hand clapping" comes across it's because this is what happens when tragedy interrupts the lives of people of color. If we the people, call each other sisters and brothers let's start acting like it. Let's learn to lean on each other and live in peace not hate.

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Sometimes in our lives we all have pain We all have sorrow But if we are wise We know that there's always tomorrow Lean on me, when you're not strong And I'll be your friend I'll help you carry on For it won't be long 'Til I'm gonna need Somebody

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Black Appetite.White Food.

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Cynthia Ford
And when I am forced to be like you then I am robbed And you are robbed Of the fullest potential of me. What a powerful statement made by Jamila Lyiscott. It resonated with me louder than a drum because it is the essence of the premise of the book. To me it is saying that if I have to reinvent my culture to fit into the mainstream culture then I'm hiding my genius underneath a bushel and burying it. As educators our job is to nurture the child and the last time i checked my dictionary for that definition the word diminish is not a part of it. Our job is to build up the students not tear them down. It is our differences that make us blend together, it would be a travesty of the Universe if we all looked, talked, acted, and thought alike. How would the beauty of the tapestry that is the world display itself? As Jamila Lysicott stated in her speech at the Urban School Conference on Educational Integration, growing up as a kid in school how she was encouraged to integrate,assimilate,and erase her identity. I was appalled and shocked that she should even be persuaded to have to make such a choice. As a future educator I will embrace the uniqueness of my students and welcome and encourage them to express themselves, through their culture, language, customs, and conditions.

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Gabriela Castillo

Critical hope demands a committed and active struggle “against the evidence in order to change the deadly tides of wealth inequality, group xenophobia, and personal despair”.  (Duncan-Andrade, 2009, p.71)

As a popular phrase says, hope is the last thing to be lost, however, we must emphasize that critical hope must reign in all processes of change, since it implies a real commitment, we have repeatedly stated that without actions, the changes not be achieved, they will remain in simple words that the wind will take away, as well as in many cases of social injustice.

This should be an ambition project to overthrow the oppression of our society, where each of us assumes our responsibility to establish rights and obligations while respecting identity and culture. Having a world where every color has the same opportunities.

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Black Appetite.White Food.

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Fredreca Worthy
"Hip-hop in its rawest form disrupts white privilege".
This quote resonates  with me, because Rappers use their freedom of speech through thier music where they can speak freely expressing themselves in this racialized society. When hip hop is present there is no room for white privilege. Rappers implies the right to speak about ones own expeience without filtering emotions or speech. In reality, the mainstream spotlight knows that, so white identiy becomes irrelevant and the music gets the privileges.

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Gabriela Castillo

"Freire's approach to liberation through education challenges educators to reimagine the classroom as spaces where they function as co-creators of knowledge with students." (p. 58)

This quote is valuable to me, it leads me to reflect on all that we can achieve through the pursuit of social justice, the right to have equal opportunities, and success in fulfilling them through the development of critical literacy.

Without a doubt we are called to seek this liberation in all its fields and even more so in education to have a fairer society.

I admire the strength and dedication that led Freire to seek an innovative way to create cultural circles by strengthening oppressed communities in Brazil, having reflections and actions as his primary focus. Leaving aside traditional ways of thinking and acting. From being passive entities to being active entities so that together Educators-Students and community we can develop a true transformation and break free the education around the world.

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Fredreca Worthy
"Interpersonal literacy, at the level of an analysis, is any opportunity to "Read" the relationship in any given situation". pg 77
This quote resonates with me because of my experience of working in a school wih 95% white Americans teachers, and 95% of our black or brown students. I observe discriminatory behaviors on a daily basis.
While Witnessing some of these uncomfortable dynamics, I took action multiple times when I heard racial remarks or saw gestures made by white teachers towards minortiy student. In my opinion, These encounters are examples of white privileges that exist within the education system.

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Titania Funderburk
"You. With your loud ratchet self. Neck twisting and turning like the Nile mouth smacking." p.65

The true ratchetness lies in the pride of those with authority, who feel that others have no right to an opinion. To assume, that because you have a badge or hold a title, that your words become law or the truth of all who you try to hold under your foot. We all deserve the right to be heard, and express our culture in ways that we see fit. We don't have to agree with one another or even like each other, but respect for others should be a requirement.

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Cynthia Ford
As eyewitness to the murder, Pharaoh live-tweeted the tragedy over the next few hours for the entire Twitterverse.
This resonated with me so deeply because but for the live twitter feed this event could have very well taken place in the 1950's or 1960's. What a stain on the conscience of America that the world could see that racism reared it's ugly business as usual head when it came to the value or lack thereof a an African-American male in the streets of any city USA. It hurts now as it did then,

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Cynthia Ford
I was seldom whipped by my old master, and suffered little from anything else than hunger and cold. I suffered much from hunger, but much more from cold.... My feet have been so cracked with the frost, that the pen with which I am writing might be laid in the gashes.
(Douglass, 1846, p. 72)
What a powerful way Frederick Douglass addresses the elephant in the room and gives the world a glimpse into the American institution of Enslavement of Negroes. If they needed a thesis about "the pen being mightier than the sword" then Douglass gave them a loaded one. This statement he made was so packed with dynamite. He so eloquently and definitively describes the realities of slave life that rang so true, and gave voice to his harsh reality. Just reading that statement made me wince and smile at the same time. I wince because a human being had to suffer so needlessly even worse than an animal. But I smile because the "word is out" America. Your ugly truth is displayed on the world stage.

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Richard Watkins attends a vigil for Eric Garner near where he died after he was taken into police custody in Staten Island last Thursday on July 22...

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“The urgency of chanting, screaming, branding, and making viral this fundamental truth means simply that as a nation we have lived beneath the standard of this truth in policy, practice, procedure, and in everyday human interaction across disciplines”.

My inner voice speaks to advocate justice for all. But as an individual, I sympathize with the overall human injustice over time with people of color. My future and the future of my children are strongly associate with this out cry and the reality that white’s still serve as the dominant culture leaving no room for equality.

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Titania Funderburk
"Wait a minute, when we go to schools to recruit students, we only recruit Black students to be athletes here..." p.69

Black and Brown youth need to know that they can beat the odds and defy statistics that say the only way out is being drafted. We are capable of so much more. Educators must do more in building the confidence and awareness in all students. We have to provide them with social, emotional, and academic support to aide them to achieve beyond what society say they will accomplish.

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Nadia Hajana

“Because the threat of you lived only in their mind

You. With no breath

Because it has been stolen from your lungs” (Chapter 7)

“I was seldom whipped by my old master and suffered little from anything else… than hunger and cold. I suffered much from hunger, but much more from cold…. my feet have been son cracked with the frost, that the pen with which I am writing might be laid in the gushed.”(Chapter 8)

“And then, to add insult to injury, we learned that hours later, the body on the ground …. A human. A son, A friend, A brother? A father? A student A?... had received no medical attention or any attention at all from the surrounding authorities”( Chapter 6)

Every word emphasized the black people’s misery over the years, and how they suffered from the pain from their masters and police brutality throughout years. Every word I read broke my heart and takes me into tears, but I chose this quote because I feel personally, and emotionally effected by police shooting black people, and I think everyone with a heart does. Technology led images of police violence and their harm to African Americans, grabbing the attention of the nation, and showing how unarmed blacks were killed, handcuffed after death, and ultimately denied justice.

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Cynthia Ford
You. With no arms
Because they are cuffed behind your back
and no arms
Because the threat of you lived only in their minds
You. With no breath
Because it has been stolen from your lungs
You. With your ghetto. violent. unruly. thuggish
Ratchet self.
Wretched self.
Yo.
I love you.
This to me is the epitome of the "Black Lives Matter" movement because it sounds like the dialogue that white America and black America should be addressing. All things being equal. Why is it that they get to describe us in such a manner and we're supposed to sit still and take it?
Our voices should and shall be heard. Haven't we earned that right? Yes and I will say yes again we paid for it with 400 plus years of oppression.
Why do you get to speak about my people in that manner when you haven't walked in their shoes? But I love those last three words that resonate with such Black Power "I love you."

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Anne Gaines
“For racially marginalized youth who are inundated with ideologies that construct them as powerless, delinquent, and disposable, the impact of such viral stories is damaging in unimaginable ways”.  Pg. 55

Little black boys have to ask themselves; Will I be next? As Americans have seen the violence against the Black Lives that have been snatched away by a cold blooded murderer. This has been going on for years and yet the message is still the same, Black lives are disposable! Now is the time to step up and take a stand, Black Lives DO Matter! There needs to be a  change with writing the narrative of Black lives which is long overdue. Racism in America has not taken a step forward, it has taken many steps backwards. Together as a human race we can intentionally build and nurture a beloved community with a bond that is restorative and not depleting. As we rise up and take a stand we can love one another and coexist in this world.

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Gabriela Castillo

After reading this poem, sadly honest, it is the feeling of a suffering people, vulnerability occurs every day in their neighborhoods, streets, cities, this is the reality, it is ironic that we have advanced so much in numbers but we continue fighting even with these problems that should have been abolished decades ago. Our ancestors have shed enough blood and even it hasn't been enough it's painful, I don't deny it.

However, I see a ray of light at the end of this reflection "I love you", this little phrase resonates inside me.  L.O.V.E. a very disinterested act. Achieving caring for and giving another person the best of yourself by having someone's best interest and well-being as a priority in their life. I may sound idealistic, but to me it is very valuable, and unquestionable even when we are dealing with our strengths and weaknesses. We all need love to promote courage, the desire to fight with the ambition to build a world where everyone's life is valuable where neither the social injustice that covers our peoples can’t stop us in this fight.

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Kylene Holmes
(Page 69-70)

"Because the United States is pretty much segregated now as it has ever been, glaring statistics that reflect this segregation mark P-16 institutions across the nation, myriad educational inequities emerge out of the racial and economic disparities that cause P-12 schools in lower and working-class communities of color to severely under-resourced and structurally stagnated."

I chose this quote from chapter 8 because although we are all promised an equal education, not every student is given and equal opportunity! We can see this within the Buffalo School District, there are schools within our district that are high performing schools, then there are other schools who are visibility struggling. We can also see the dis-proportionality between school districts. Recently I saw an article about the top ranking schools in the area, the top districts on the list was Williamsville followed by Esst Aurora. The schools were listed by the performance of their students. It is very sad that not every student in this country has the same opportunity for academic achievement.

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The Politics of Ratchetness
Kylene Holmes

I thought that this poem was very interesting. The poem mentions many of the stereotypes of African Americans, such as "Mouth Smacking. Hands clapping. With. Ev.ery Word.".

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"We go so hard to get Black and Brown youth out of the physical violence of the streets without equipping them for the psychological and emotional violence they will have to navigate to survive within institutions that were originally built without them in mind." (p.70)
I chose this quote because there can be such an emphasis on escaping physical violence of the streets for our youth, but if a multicultural education is not provided for our students then not every student is being provided with an education with the best possible outcomes in mind.

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Titania Funderburk
"The idea that it is possible to teach content in schools without careful attention to the contextual realities that students "read" in their worlds daily is absurd." p.56-57
Children are apart of and see what goes on in the world; heck, some of them live through things most educators never thought about unless seen on TV. It is important for educators to provide a space for students concerns about societal issues to be heard; more important, is teaching students they don't have to accept what they are force fed by society. If educators expect homes to be transformed into academic learning environments, they should be willing to transform classrooms into an environment where "reading and writing the world" can take place. We can't expect the future to be better or different if we don't encourage students to become agents of change. We must expose our future leaders to the issues and create an opportunity for them to discuss solutions.

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Kylene Holmes(Chapter 6, page 51)

"HANDS UP! DONT SHOOT!...as I looked to my left and saw that marching alongside me were the tiny feet of a 4-year old Black son holding onto a small "I Matter" sign and chanting with us..."

I found this quote interesting because although this little 4 year old boy was making it known that he matters in 2014, if you take a look at history, there were many children just like him during the civil rights movement. It is very upsetting that in some places around the country African Americans and Hispanics need to make it known that their lives are just as important as their Caucasian counterparts.

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Jenna Rivera
"Because the threat of you lived only in their minds" (p. 66)

I chose this quote because so much of the racial hatred in this world today is based off of false pretenses.  Racism is a prejudice or discrimination directed against an entire race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.  We are all one human race.

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"We understood the moment in connection to a long history of racial hatred-disregard, abuse, inhumane treatment toward Black bodies and toward the substance of Black life-and so we hit the pavement in protest; we came together for comfort, healing, and demands that reflect the undeniable truth that Black Lives Matter." (Chapter 6 p.55)

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"We understood the moment in connection to a long history of racial hatred-disregard, abuse, inhumane treatment toward Black bodies and toward the substance of Black life-and so we hit the pavement in protest; we came together for comfort, healing, and demands that reflect the undeniable truth that Black Lives Matter." (Chapter 6 p.55)

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This quote resonated with me because it reminds me of the quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr "Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."  We must all come together to meet hatred with love.
Jenna Rivera

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Click on the the + icon in the bottom right hand corner. It will open the post for you to write. Make sure you add your name on the poster! I f you click on the three ... you can add a picture from the Google link, you can add audio, you can draw, the world is here!!! Know that I love you all and my prayers are with you now and always!

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Sam Smith - Pray ft. Logic (Official Music Video)

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Critical Hope in the Context of Crisis (Chapter 8, Pg. 68)

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Critical Hope in the Context of Crisis (Chapter 8, Pg. 68)

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Wilmary Torres

“For Douglass, voice, authorship, and his own fugitive literacies became the means by which he attained multiple freedom throughout his lifetime. A lifetime dedicated to critically explicating the personal and broader systematic violence of slavery through his writing and speeches across the nation.”

When I read this quote, I think about how hard Frederick Douglass life was. He suffered a lot as a slave but that did not stop him to get where he wanted to be. As a future educator I can identify myself with Douglass because we are all fugitive of our own literacies to obtain our own educational freedom. Students need to find their own voice, authorship and freedom in the classroom in order to succeed. As Douglass sought to embody three keys for success in life:

1. Believe in yourself.

2. Take advantage of every opportunity.

3. Use power of spoken and written language to effect positive change changes for yourself and society.

By taking these keys and making them his own Douglass created a life of honor, respect and success. Same life, us as educator want to teach our students to be in a future.

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Wilmary Torres

“Within our increasingly politically polarized world, how do we engage ourselves and our students in critical conversations about what is happening around them? How do we equip them with the tools to read both the word and the world?” Pg. 57

When I read this quote, as a future educator I think it is important to share and teach our students the reality of history. We still live in a society in which people still discriminate others, either by their color, their race, their difference of culture or language, disability and such on. We can even see this behavior in schools, a place where children go to learn and not being discriminated. We can equip the students with the right tool, preparing them for a better future. Teaching them the “abc’s” but at the same time exposing them to the reality of life. We as educators can offer students critical literacy as a tool for engaging such work within and beyond our classroom. Teaching critical literacy exposes how easily our society seeks to relegate us all to roles of passive consumers of our realities.

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The Politics of Ratchetness (Chapter 7, Pg. 65)

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The Politics of Ratchetness (Chapter 7, Pg. 65)

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Wilmary Torres

“You. With your pants sagging

Low

Like our hope in an American dream

You. With your loud ratchet self

Neck twisting and turning like Nile

Mouth smacking. Hands clapping.”

When I read this quote, first thing comes up in my mind are young children, adolescents growing in poverty, communities in which they have seen and experienced stuff they shouldn’t have. Everyone have the right to grow up in the culture they choose to, raise their children however they like, but we live in a society in which people are being judge by walking in the street with low saggy pants, automatically that person is from the street, a drug dealer or such on. I do respect any culture and any diverse life people choose to live, but reality is that this type of stigma is all around the world.

When it says “low like our hope is an American dream” they are referring to the famous “American Dream” that citizens or immigrant come to this country to fulfill. A dream that most people think is easy to get but, is not. A dream that can cause families not to be together because they must work hard to sustain their families on the other side of the country. The American dream, a dream in which all of us are living right now but blindfolded.

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Critical Hope in the Context of Crisis (Chapter 8, p. 68)

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Critical Hope in the Context of Crisis (Chapter 8, p. 68)

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“For Douglass, voice, authorship, and his own fugitive literacies became the means by which he attained multiple freedoms throughout his lifetime.”  -Jamila Lyiscott

This deeply resonated with me for several reasons. First, from an educator’s perspective, the value of literacy is boundless in discovering one’s own pathways in life from as far back as slavery in America in the 17th century and distinguished national leadership of 19th century American social reformer, abolitionist, writer and orator, Frederick Douglass. Further, we are multifaceted beings living in an ever-changing global world. Literacy enables us to shine by opening the door to communicating with, understanding and respecting others—connecting us together—in our multicultural society.
Phyllis A. Walker

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Jill Conklin
"Critical Literacy is a lens, a point of glasses that ask you to check and deepen the lens that you have been using to view the world around you."
I found this to be a powerful statement, Critical Literacy should be viewed as a lens or perspective for teaching throughout the day across the curriculum, and maybe beyond Diverse students and cultural knowledge can come from inside the classroom and the students everyday life. For example, home and communities. Students learn best when learning has meaning to their lives! All students want to feel like they matter and they Do!

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"Wait a minute, when we go to high schools to recruit students, we only recruit Black students to be athletes here..." p.69         When I read this quote, this is what I hear - once again the Black male is standing on the auction block (in his nakedness) for the rich white male owner to exploit his blackness.  The times have changed it's not for the Black male to work the white landowner's fields.  Now it is for the Black male to deepen the pockets of the white male through his skills as an athlete. 

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"Wait a minute, when we go to high schools to recruit students, we only recruit Black students to be athletes here..." p.69         When I read this quote, this is what I hear - once again the Black male is standing on the auction block (in his nakedness) for the rich white male owner to exploit his blackness.  The times have changed it's not for the Black male to work the white landowner's fields.  Now it is for the Black male to deepen the pockets of the white male through his skills as an athlete. 

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“Black Girl Magic, as a movement, champions the fact that Black women have still managed to kill the game across disciplines, being named the most educated group in the United States by 2016!”

Reading this quote in the book made me smile and I was proud to hear that black women are leading the charge and representing when it comes to educational attainment. What is very difficult to comprehend is why this significant achievement, achieved by a marginalized community, is not highlighted in the media? It is not because the media is guilty of portraying white as right, holy, pure, and accomplished. Black is often represented as evil and dirty. Today, in the year 2020, there still are artist who paint portraits of a white Jesus even though historical records and analysis prove he was not of European descent. Many artist also still paint pictures and portraits of all white angels in an all-white heaven. That doesn’t seem to be very inclusive to me. This subtle and blatant racism, and perhaps ignorance of others, reinforces the stereotypes, prejudice, and outright racist beliefs that “WHITE IS RIGHT!”

This quote also reminds me of how strong Black Women in America are. Through brutality (historically), oppression, segregation, and mistreatment by the system and sometimes even by their own men, black women still rise, outshine, and represent.

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Kimberly McCarley

Can you imagine seeing the visual of a person being shot down by the police from behind, only to find that it was because the suspect chose to walk in the middle of the street? The part in chapter 6 that reached out, grabbed my heart and twisted it, was the fact that the body laid in the middle of the street for 4.5 hours.

Chapter 6 stated, “We learned that he was so young…that the victim’s parents came out and started trippin’ when they saw their murdered son …

And then, to add insult to injury, we learned that hours later, the body on the ground…A human. A son. A friend. A brother? A father? A student?... had received no medical attention or any attention at all from the surrounding authorities…” (p. 53)

Tragedies of this nature has been the “norm” in the black communities all over the United States since the 1800’s or earlier. During the years of slavery, seeing bodies hanging and swinging from the trees were hurtful, but normal.

Emmett Till was a very young man when he was beat to death for being accused of disrespecting a Caucasian woman. This 14-year-old was beaten so badly that he was unrecognizable. His body was swollen from being dumped in the Mississippi River for approximately 72 hours. One eye was said to be dangling from his head. Not to mention he was also missing many other body parts.

This type of hate is unbearable for me to stomach. There really is no word to describe this type of pain. If these tragedies happened to my mother, father, sister, brother, uncle, aunt, cousin, anyone, it would certainly unbearable and devastating. The Brown’s and the Till mother had to endure so much pain seeing this act of violence on their child. I am sure they were wondering what was on their child’s mind and heart as they went through such hate crimes. Not to mention that these bodies are usually left for anyone to witness. These heinous crimes happen all of the time… it’s the old and the new “norm.”

Chapter 7 The Politics of Ratchetness

These words and phrases are well known to the community in which I come from. I do not use this language, but I am certainly not a stranger to it. “Retched,” would be a female or male who doesn’t have a filter, says what they want, how they want and anyway they want. “Madd ratchet,” is worst than ratchet! “You with the sagging pants,” is the normal fashion for some women, men, white, black, Puerto Rican, and Arabic. This is a style that has been embraced and no matter the definition, it seems to be here to stay. “Neck twisting and turning like the Nile. Mouth smacking. Hands clapping. With ev. ery. Word” These gestures are what the youth of today are utilizing to express themselves, especially if they are angry and trying to get their point across. The dragging of the words has gone viral, so many of the students display their language as if they are singing a note. When I here this language, it is not my right to judge, but suggest another way of explaining themselves in a more pleasant manner. This is what I consider learned behavior. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it is a time and place for it all. (p. 65)

In Chapter 8 Jamila Lyiscott shares what she considers to be the most dangerous level. “What did a twelve- year-old girl with an officer’s knee pressing into her back internalized about her worth on that day? And the millions of people who viewed that viral video, what did we internalize about the value of Black bodies in this country?” (P. 78)

No one really knows what that child was thinking at that moment. The girl was probably frightened, embarrassed, in shock, in the need of her parents, degraded, reaching out for help from anyone who was witnessing this hate crime. This 12-year-old girl was not said to have had any type of weapon. Inquiring minds would wonder how the Caucasian officer would like it if an African American officer were to press his knee into his daughter’s back. This incident alone showed spectators that this is acceptable behavior. Incidents like this can sometimes introduce prejudice to people who witness such behavior. The child could grow up accepting this behavior from anyone and the Caucasian children who were there might follow suite with such behavior in the future.

We all know that that type of behavior is learned behavior. However, it continues to happen, and it continues to be forgiven and ignored. The people who observed the video were probably outraged and ready to start a riot. The things that Blacks have endured are so heart wrenching and undeniably unacceptable. I am not saying that this behavior is acceptable to all Caucasians, but they do not experience what African Americans experience daily. Life can be so unfair, unkind, and unjust for African Americans. Once again, this is the “norm.” The video of this incident is extremely frightening.