https://padlet.com/keirasilva111/jo27k3ozqlg1ru4d Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi en-us 2021-09-24 14:05:01 UTC 2021-10-20 01:34:07 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-uploads.storage.googleapis.com/1366752468/bec91b93180962e5d30533db702842e2/1_a_e_homegoing_christine_jegarl_png.png keirasilva111 https://padlet.com/keirasilva111/jo27k3ozqlg1ru4d/wish/1822651340 Characters in the novel, Homegoing, healed their traumas through various practices of spirituality, singing, physical activity like marching, storytelling, and other traditional African rituals. These methods were passed down to generation to generation, but some individuals were stripped of these methods. In my personal experience, I have been on both ends of this. I significantly related to Willie’s struggles with singing. I went through a period where I felt my voice “wasn’t heard” after years of always being heard. When Willie had finally let her voice go, “…she saw the notes float out of her mouth like little butterflies carrying some of her sadness away, and she knew finally that she would survive it,” (Gyasi 204). The sadness floating away is something I experienced myself, and it gave me the courage to continue letting my voice be heard.   In Marjorie’s chapter, she had a summer ritual with her grandmother, Akua, that consisted of walking the coast in Ghana. Akua did this to remind Marjorie “…how to come home,” (Gyasi 268). It gave both Akua and Marjorie a sense of relief to be near the water where their ancestors lay. Without context, a simple walk may seem trivial to some just as it did to me when I was younger. Though when I got older and I put meaning and intentions in the walk, it became a healing experience. In Yaw’s chapter, the demonstration of storytelling through his teaching of "true" history was prominent. Yaw felt as though “at the front of the classroom he was not himself. He was performer in the tradition of village dancers and storytellers,” (Gyasi 229).  For Yaw, teaching history was his form of healing. He "went back" to his culture using traditional practices of storytelling to educate his students. As a white person in America, I feel I am unable to say I have culture but Yaw’s statement still resonates. Learning America’s history and how it came to be the nation it is, gives me a sense of connection and hope. I’m able to learn from the past mistakes of my ancestors, and “help” those that my ancestors oppressed, heal their traumas by not repeating the same mistakes. It also gives me the ability to encourage those oppressed, to embrace their culture. In this specific instance, white people can choose to educate themselves on how to be antiracist (See article above for further detail). Now in society, several musicians use their voice to protest the treatment of African Americans in America. In the article above, Erika Taylor says "the only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it- and then dismantle it," (p. 8 Taylor). Using your voice to speak about racism is a key step to eliminating it. The history curriculum is also beginning to see some changes in policies/content in order to better educate students on oppressed groups. 

]]> 2021-10-18 00:02:03 UTC https://padlet.com/keirasilva111/jo27k3ozqlg1ru4d/wish/1822651340 keirasilva111 https://padlet.com/keirasilva111/jo27k3ozqlg1ru4d/wish/1822923998 A universal experience among African Americans would be racial stereotyping. In the article “Overcoming Racial Stereotypes”, it explains that it is in our human nature to place people into categories. When we are young, we place less value to these categories. As we age we are subject to heavy influence from our “parents, peers, and the media, [and] our tendency to label different racial groups as superior/good or inferior/bad increases…” (p. 2). In Homegoing, Effia mentioned such labels as well, “the need to call this thing ‘good’ and this thing ‘bad;’ this thing ‘white’ and this thing ‘black’, was an impulse that Effia did not understand,” (Gyasi 23). These labels push individuals to feel as if they must fit into a specific category or place in society. In some cases, they are even denied of their own identity, culture, and experiences. This was especially prevalent in Marjorie’s life in America versus when she would visit her homeland of what was once Fanteland. Ghana is a country that was created in the colonizers absence. Marjorie explains that in America “…’white’ could be the way a person talked; ‘black,’ the music a person listened to. In Ghana you could only be what you were, what your skin announced to the world,” (Gyasi 269). In school Marjorie was made fun of for being academically inclined and not talking the way other black girls around her talked. Her own teacher told her “…it doesn’t matter where you came from first to the white people running things. You’re here now, and her black is black is black,” (Gyasi 273). This is a prime example of forcing ones pain onto another. Marjorie felt she was not African American nor Ghanian, but rather “akata” meaning she had been gone too long from the mother continent Ghana to continue to call it her mother continent. Her teacher was ignorant to her own cultural background, and projected this ignorance onto Marjorie by telling her she is black and that’s all there is to it. This projection of suffering is what causes the cycle of trauma to continue. Following generation after generation, eventually transforming into subtle forms of trauma inducing behaviors/beliefs. This often times, leads to the labelled individual to perpetuate the stereotype or invalidate themselves as others do to them. Marjorie’s father and grandmother both had visible scars that showed their suffering “and because [she] had no scars that resembled those, she could never bring herself to complain of pain,” (Gyasi 266). Marjorie wouldn’t allow herself to feel all of her emotions such as pain because those emotions failed to physically display themselves. This is apparent in families all throughout America where children know of their parents and ancestors struggles. You unknowingly learn that there must be a significant event that occurred to consider something painful or traumatic when that is not the case. ]]> 2021-10-18 02:19:38 UTC https://padlet.com/keirasilva111/jo27k3ozqlg1ru4d/wish/1822923998 keirasilva111 https://padlet.com/keirasilva111/jo27k3ozqlg1ru4d/wish/1823060415 In elementary and middle school years of history class, we are often taught that slavery “wasn’t as bad as it seems”. This is generally taught at a young age under the assumption that younger minds cannot comprehend big concepts like colonization and racism. Alvarez quotes a fifth-grade teacher saying “[they] already have the knowledge and understanding of social justice and how society works,” (p. 14). This then raises the question as to why our curriculum fails to teach us the harsh truth of slavery. In Homegoing, Yaw states “we believe the one who has the power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth?” (Gyasi 226). This being incredibly true, it becomes evident our curriculum was written by the white man. For me personally, it wasn’t until high school when those questions were finally asked. Legislation in several states are being pushed to “prevent educators from teaching about systemic racism and sexism in public schools and state-funded programs,” (Alvarez p. 7). This would keep the children from learning important details about how the history racial inequality in America is still experienced today. The systems set in place too censor our learning are oppressive to minority and majority groups. We must advocate and ask for ourselves the questions Yaw says to his students. Kojo’s mother, Ma Aku, explains that they have allowed this to happen. When explaining the white man’s God to Kojo she points out that he is god because “‘we let him be. We do not fight him. We do not even question him. The White man told us he was the way, and we said yes, but when has the white man ever told us something was good for us and that thing was really good?’” (Gyasi 123). Although she’s referring to religion in this instance, the question still stands. One mustn’t always listen to one side without questioning or hearing the other. Especially in the case of history, where as Yaw puts it, “‘we cannot know that which we were not there to see and hear and experience for ourselves. We must rely upon the words of others. Those who were there in the olden days…’” (Gyasi 226). ]]> 2021-10-18 03:24:06 UTC https://padlet.com/keirasilva111/jo27k3ozqlg1ru4d/wish/1823060415