Mosaic Education Network

Managers being brave

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 14:00:00 GMT

This is a subtitle for your new post

You’re great at what you do, I am sure of it.

But I bet there are som e elements of your job that you struggle with (because you are human after all!).

And while I don’t know what those are for you, the one challenge I see over and over again in my workshops is how to manage people.

Because most managers are not trained on how to be a “great manager,” they’re promoted to manager because they’re great at what they do, which is an entirely different skill set.

Add race to the picture and well, your job just got a whole lot harder !

I’ve got one tip for you… After leading workshops in more than 200+ businesses, organizations, and schools across the country, it’s this:

When you dismiss someone, demote someone, or give someone life-changing negative news in the workplace, it should not be the first time they hear the reason why.

Workplaces need to have a system in place to give consistent feedback (following inclusive practices) so bosses can talk to employees about their shortcomings and offer training on those areas long before it reaches the critical stage.

And that requires bravery.

Why? Because it is so much easier to say nothing than to call someone into your office and be transparent about their shortcomings.

You will feel a bit awkward, a bit vulnerable in those conversations. And they may not always be very pleasant.

But that bravery will help individuals grow, as long as training and helpful support is also offered.

And then you’ll have a team that is not only happy but has an enviably low turnover. Because you, are officially an awesome manager!

If you’re not a manager and you worry about being on the receiving end of bad news like this in the workplace, I can email you some tips and thoughts to help you in my next post if you like?

Let me know!

Warm regards,

Melissa

PS I’d love to know if you have any burning questions that I can help you with… If you’ve got a situation at work that you’d like some DEI advice on, drop me a quick reply now because I’d be happy to address it for you in a future blog post (and I’d keep you 100% anonymous of course!).

Micro-inequities

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 14:00:00 GMT

S ome truth bombs for you...

A s I looked around the boardroom of deadpan faces, it appeared that my great idea had fallen on deaf ears.

No one looked up or even acknowledged it.

In fact, the discussions carried on as if I had never said anything at all.

“Hmmm, weird, perhaps it wasn´t such a great idea after all…” I thought to myself and buried my head in the report we were discussing.

10 minutes later, some white guy (let’s call him Steve) shares his big idea.

My mouth dropped open. It was exactly what I had said just minutes before.

I waited for him to also be dismissed but no, turned out, they LOVED “his idea” and were champing at the bit to implement it.

Frustration and anger rose to my throat as I internally battled how to handle the situation.

But before I could say anything, a white woman next to me, whom I’d never met before, said:

“Yes Steve, that’s a great idea. But it was also a great idea 10 minutes ago when Melissa suggested it.”

YES! Yes, it was! Thank you ally.

Because you know such a “small and tiny” incident can have an almighty impact in many ways.

Let's break it down.

Firstly, it could have knocked my confidence so badly that I stopped speaking up and sharing my opinions at work. That would have a direct impact on my opportunities with the company, not to mention the destruction of my happiness and personal development.

Secondly, Steve would get the credit for my “great idea” — maybe it makes the company thousands of dollars, he gets promoted, is now running a team, and enjoying all the benefits that come with being seen as an innovative thinker.

This story is the perfect example of micro-inequities — small, covert, and subtle behaviors that overlook, single out, or discount someone, based on conscious or unconscious biases against characteristics like race and gender.

You can’t normally take legal action against them, despite being very common and very harmful.

Because here are some truth bombs…

�� Black or Brown employees have to repeatedly prove their capabilities while white employees are more likely to be evaluated by their expected potential (read thi s article on why organizations need to be restructured for racial justice)

�� African American employees are more scrutinized by bosses than white employees, which means that small mistakes are more likely to be caught. Over time this leads to worse performance reviews, lower wages, and job loss (reported by the National Bureau of Economic Research - click here to read the full story)

So I say, DO sweat the small stuff, *|FNAME|*.

Because when it comes to racism, the small stuff has huge consequences.

The throwaway comments, the quick dismissal, or not saying anything at all.

These micro inequalities are unfairly holding people back, unjustly accelerating others, and polluting the workplace environment which essentially leads to employee dissatisfaction and high turnover.

And honestly, this is my WHY.

It’s why I get up every day to lead diversity, equity, and inclusion workshops at schools and businesses across the country. It’s why I do what I do.

Because if we can start to fix the small stuff, we are contributing to the big picture stuff.

What do you think ? Have you noticed any micro-inequities at your workplace?

If you’re unsure how to handle it, or don’t know where to start, drop me a reply and I’ll be happy to see if I can help you.

Warm regards,

Melissa

PS Want to know more about my workshops that help workplaces break down micro-inequities and become more actively anti-racist? ⬇️⬇️⬇️

➡️ Click here if you work at a school

➡️ Click here if you work at a museum or cultural institution

➡️ Click here if you work for a corporate business or non-profit

Fav podcast

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 14:00:00 GMT

C an a white person truly understand racism? I’ve got a great podcast recommendation for you...

Often people tell me: “I understand racism and oppression because my Irish (or Scottish, or Italian) ancestors were also systemically oppressed in the US when they first arrived.”

And it’s true

If you were walking around the United States at the turn of the 19th century you may well have stumbled upon a “No Irish allowed” sign.

And in 1924 the US even banned Italians from entering the country…

It was almost as if Italians/Irish/Scottish, and many other nationalities, religions, and groups of people, were excluded from the “white club.”

Until that club needed to expand its numbers and they were quickly ushered in.

And that is what I always ask when people compare their European ancestors to the racism of Black or Brown people: “How long did this systemic oppression of your people last for?”

Because that timeline (until they officially joined the “white club”) did not last hundreds of years.

Black people, on the other hand, are never joining that club! And we are still facing systemic racism today.

It’s a fascinating, murky, and controversial subject matter.

But if it interests you and you want to learn more about this — how whiteness evolved and its connection to power, economics, and democracy — then I’ve got a great recommendation for you!

Check out the Scene on Radio podcast — my favorite seasons are Season 2: Seeing White and Season 4: The Land That Never Has Been Yet.

They tackle this exact conversation in such a thought-provoking, raw, and brilliant way.

It’s no surprise that the podcast has been nominated twice for a Peabody Award from the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) at Duke University.

Podcasts are a great way to soak up new perspectives on racism and oppression, continue to educate yourself, and challenge your own biases.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post :)

Melissa

PS I’ve got a ton more book and podcast recommendations on my free resour ces page on my website if you want to soak up more perspectives on your anti-racist journey.

Sticker vs tattoo

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 14:00:00 GMT

H ave you ever been accused of being racist? Here’s how to handle it…

L et’s just get the elephant out of the room — I’m not accusing you of saying or doing anything racist!

Maybe you have — maybe you haven´t — maybe you don’t even know. But, this is something that comes up in my workshops so I wanted to share it here with you.

Okay, play along with me here…

Imagine you say something at work and someone turns around and says “that was racist ” — or worse yet, makes a complaint against you.

Whaaaaaaaaat?! You are outraged!

What do you say? How do you combat this?

Here’s what I have seen a lot:

Option A: You get defensive and try to shut that down with comments like “What?! I’m not racist, I’ve got Black friends/an Asian partner/adopted kids from Nigeria” — or something along these lines.

Option B: You feel shame, you feel terrible, you can’t stop thinking about this and you internalize it so much that you finally feel it must be true. You are a racist.

I guess there’s also option C — that you just don’t care — but I’m figuring you wou ldn’t be reading this blog if you think like that!

Brené Brown talks about the difference between guilt and shame in her book Daring Leadership . The idea is that shame feels very permanent and defines who you are — like a tattoo you can’t erase. By contrast, guilt can be more temporary, like a sticker you wear for now but you can take it off and throw it in the trash later.

With both options A and B above, you are reacting as if someone has tattooed “racist” on your forehead, there to stay forever more, which completely goes against your perception of yourself.

But, I invite you to do something different. Wear it like a sticker.

It does not have to define you or be part of who you are forever. But if someone said you said something racist, then I invite you to explore that.

So maybe you say: “Oh, okay. Can you tell me more about how that is understood as racist?”

Then after the explanation, you may say, “Ok, I can see how that is racist. I take responsibility for saying that.”

“I take responsibility for supporting a policy that harms people of certain races more than others. I can see how that is racist.”

“Okay, I said something racist.” or “Yes, I supported a policy that was racist.”

And you own that, you’re accountable and responsible for it. But you DO NOT internalize it.

How do you fix it? Well, you can’t unsay it.

You can apologize but the best apology is changed behavior.

You say you’re wrong, you learn and understand why, and you commit to behaving differently next time.

Then you take that sticker off. Done. Your mess-ups are temporary.

This is going to take some bravery (this is why I always talk about creating a “brave space” in my DEI workshops) but this is how you grow and create a more inclusive world around you.

(By the way, Ibram X. Kendi first spoke about this tattoo vs sticker metaphor in his book How to be Anti-Racist, well worth a read if you want to explore this subject more).

Rooting for you on your anti-racist journey,

Melissa

PS This is the kind of stuff I work through in my workshops. If you’re interested in having me come to your workplace to hold a workshop on anti-racism, drop me a reply and let’s have a chat!

Saying something wrong

Thu, 04 Jan 2024 14:00:00 GMT

S cared of talking about race in case you say something wrong?

We all mess up and say the wrong things sometimes

It’s my job to create a brave space in workplaces so you can have difficult conversations about race. And even though I am trained in this and it’s my job, I’ve said the wrong things before…

Like the time I accidentally misgendered somebody online.

Here’s what happened…

I wrote a social media post about an activist that had been arrested, calling for help and resources to support them.

My mistake? I didn’t check their pronouns and I used a male pronoun (he) instead of their correct non-binary pronoun (they).

I then tagged someone and asked if she could share some contacts with me so I could further help this person.

But her response was: “I’m not sharing anything with you until you correct their pronouns.”

And then she accused me of being transphobic.

Honestly, I was mad. I was trying to help not harm! This person had been arrested and I wanted to help them. Everyone was missing the point?!

My second mistake? I didn’t slow down. I was mad and got defensive that I was being called transphobic.

I did write to the person I had misgendered to apologize.

But I didn’t handle the initial situation very well. Instead of being defensive, I should have just owned it right there.

I could have said: “I’m sorry, I didn’t do my homework, I didn’t ask what their pronoun was and I should have. Let me redo this post and figure out a better way to communicate this.”

Because the reality is , we can still harm even when we have the best intentions.

It’s easy to deflect and point blame but this doesn’t help.

Instead, if we can be self-aware and open to being vulnerable, we learn, grow, and prevent ourselves from making the same mistakes again.

And that’s exactly what I do in my workshops.

I like to call it creating a “brave space” — where you and your colleagues can talk, with the best intentions and highest level of consciousness you have in the moment, but if you say something wrong you don’t panic and get defensive.

You just need to be vulnerable and open to the conversations that follow. And that takes bravery.

Melissa

PS Interested in holding some workshops in your workplace? My goal is to help organizations thrive by embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion… if your staff are happy and feel listened to and respected your business will reap the benefits. Drop me a reply and we can have a chat about it.

Gaslighting

Mon, 13 Nov 2023 15:00:00 GMT

H ave you ever done this … or had it done to you?

People often ask me in my workshops what gaslighting means and what it looks like in everyday life, so I thought I’d write to you about it today.

Because the chances are at some point you may have experienced this for yourself (it can happen in work, relationships, anywhere really — when talking about race or not).

Let’s start with the definition:

Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse where a person or group makes someone question their sanity, perception of reality, or memories.

But what does this look like?

Here’s an example I overheard in a school one day…

A white teacher was talking to a group of (mostly) Black students and he told them: “Our police officers are not bad. If for some reason you get stopped you just need to listen to them and follow the directions and you won’t get hurt.”

I couldn’t help myself, I had to interject.

And this is what I said…

Have you considered the students' different experiences and perspectives? Because George Floyd listened, he followed the directions, and he died.

There have been hundreds and hundreds of George Floyds that listened and died.

Imagine the ones that these students have seen that didn’t make the news. When they see a police officer they don’t see safety because that’s not their experience.

Multiple truths exist at the same time.

One person can feel safe with a police officer and another can feel fear. Both are fair and true based on different life experiences.

But we cannot suffocate one person’s truth with our own truth.
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Instead, we can ask (or research) why someone with a different identity has different experiences. We can learn about someone else’s experience and truth without letting go of our own.

Racial gaslighting is the suffocation of truth — it’s when someone says your truth isn’t accurate, mine is.

So I have one question for you to mull over today...

How can we ask better questions instead of suffocating other people’s truths with our own truth?

You can’t walk in other people’s shoes and know what it’s like to be in them, but you can ask them about their shoes before you give advice.

Melissa

PS I would love to hear your stories, have you ever experienced gaslighting? Drop me a comment if you’d like — I’d love to hear your thoughts on this and open the conversation with you.

Vulnerability

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 16:00:00 GMT

The scariest 3 words to say out loud... They’ll also make you the bravest person you know

I was that kid in 6th grade who asked too many questions…

I remember sitting in Mr. Brennan’s social studies class one day and asking how tectonic plates create mountains (stay with me, I promise this email won’t turn into a science class!).

I was just hungry to learn more…

“So do the moving plates go up to create the mountain and then go back down Mr. Brennan?” I asked curiously.

He just stared at me. His brows furrowed.

“What, what are you talking about?” he asked impatiently.

“You ask too many questions, Melissa.”

Luckily, my mom told me I should never stop asking questions at school. So I didn’t. I just thought I needed to ask them more clearly so teachers would understand.

As I got older, I realized that he probably did understand my question.

He just didn’t know the answer.

And saying “I don’t know,” can be the scariest three words to say when you’re in charge and feel pressure to be the smartest person in the room.

Those words can make you feel vulnerable and inadequate — like you’re opening yourself to criticism, harm, and uncertainty.

It is easier to deflect the question and turn on the person doing the asking…

And make them feel like the stupidest person in the room.

But, if you can be self-aware and face the vulnerability that comes with saying those three scary words, you can become the bravest person in the room.

And then you will also inspire others to learn from their mistakes and realize that failure is just feedback to help us grow.

And that’s when the magic really starts to happen.

So, what do you think? Do you feel the pressure to be the smartest in the room? Have you ever been made to feel like the most stupid in the room?

And most importantly of all — are you ready to be the bravest in the room?

I’d love to know — drop a comment and tell me your story (this is a safe brave space to share your experiences!).

Melissa

PS You don’t actually have to say: “I don’t know”...

You could say: “I'm not 100% sure how to answer that question, but we can figure it out together,” or: “It doesn't really work like that. I'm not sure how best to explain it to you right now but give me some time and I can tell you tomorrow.”

PPS I’d really love to hear your experience of this in the workplace, I read and reply to each comment I receive, so drop me a line!

The Monopoly game

Fri, 13 Oct 2023 20:03:08 GMT

“but that’s not fair.” No, it isn’t…

Did you ever play Monopoly as a child?

Imagine if your family started playing together on a rainy day but said you couldn’t play.

They open the board, roll the dice… start buying those flashy dark blue streets (hello Boardwalk), and take over the railroads…

Then they tell you that you can join in.

Finally! You leap up, ignoring the anger you feel at being left out for so long, and eagerly grab your place around the board.

Everyone else has tripled the cash you have, as they’ve been in the game for so long…

And you’re immediately charged eye-watering rent for landing at Park Place before being thrown in jail, where you haven’t got enough cash for bail. (Yep, you lose even more time while your opponents buy up the rest of the board!)

Does this sound fair? Would you have accepted this?

I think not.

But this is the reality for many African Americans — it’s why they are overrepresented in prisons, underrepresented in college, and make less money, on average, than their white counterparts in similar positions.

Because just like this Monopoly story, they have historically shut out of many paths to wealth, including membership in labor unions, access to FHA mortgages, jobs in the civil service, and education in well-equipped schools.

Other communities of color have faced similar obstacles – leading to a racial wealth gap that has made white people, on average, wealthier than people of color.

Here’s the truth, we are not all on a level playing field.

And this is why we need equity, not equality.

Equality is saying, “okay you can start playing Monopoly with the same money we started with half an hour ago…”

Equity is acknowledging that you will need to start with a disproportionately higher amount of money (and share of the properties) than the others started with to be able to have a fair chance of surviving so late into the game.

As a diversity, equity, and inclusion practitioner I spend a fair bit of time in my workshops helping people understand this difference so they can better support equity in the workplace.

Because if people feel like they can survive, thrive, and even win at work then you will have a much happier workplace environment — the kind of place where staff want to stick around.

Because nobody wants to see the workplace equivalent of someone throwing the Monopoly board up in the air, which only leaves everyone feeling frustrated as they pick up the pieces around them and start again. And again.

Want help with introducing fair, equitable practices into your workplace? Drop me a reply now and let’s chat!

Melissa

PS Did you see the video that went viral with this Monopoly story during the George Floyd protests?

PPS If you’re a teacher you can actually teach about equity using a game of Monopoly in the classroom — read more here .

PPPS Contact me if you want to find out how I can help your workplace improve equity so staff don’t just survive, but thrive!

Quote of the day

“I’ve come upon something that disturbs me deeply... We have fought hard and long for integration, as I believe we should have, and I know that we will win. But I’ve come to believe we’re integrating into a burning house.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

How a Banned Book Changed My Life

183:797148710 (Melissa Crum) — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 22:18:26 GMT

Black authors have something to teach us.

Many conservative activists are contradicting themselves. On one hand there is a push for “free speech” and “honest” education. But there is also a demand for silencing authors and removing information from our schools and universities through local and state government systems. A common approach are book bans. These bans are attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. In 2021, the Burbank Unified School District permanently removed five books from the English curriculum: Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” Theodore Taylor’s “The Cay” and Mildred D. Taylor’s Newbery Medal-winning young-adult classic “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.”

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Disproportionately, the bans target books that center non-white and gender non-binary characters - characters that many diverse students can relate to. So, what might be the impact on students who can’t see themselves in their curriculum?

I believe in the power of stories. Not just the stories we read, but also the stories we tell ourselves. These stories explain who we are, who we are to others, how people are different from us and justify how we respond to them. These stories shape every choice we make in our lives. We likely believed in a story that helped us choose the type of neighborhood we live in — whether that story is accurate or not. We believed in a story that helped determine if we hire or promote that person or not. Stories also shape what we think about our schools, the students in them, the parents that care for them, and the communities they live in. Those stories shape if we, as educators, will invest in certain students over others or work to make a change from our spheres of influence.

I love to read. I’ve always loved to read. Matter of fact, in elementary school, the day I looked forward to every year was the book fair. I would receive a newspaper-thin catalog of all the books available before they arrived. I eagerly circled all the books I wanted, added up the cost, and made my monetary request to my mother. She always gave in. I never got name-brand clothes, and all my shoes came from Payless, but she would always spend money on books.

One way I chose the kinds of books I wanted was if it was a Newberry Medal Award winner. These books had a shiny gold seal on the bottom right side of the cover. In second grade, I was in love with Beverly Cleary’s books. She was a woman who wrote about Ramona Quimby — a nine-year-old rambunctious and creative troublemaker who lives with her middle-class white family in Oregon. Her full-time job is to drive her big sister Beezus and all the adults out of their minds. I felt aligned with Ramona so much. I was mischievous, loud, questioned authority, and highlighted inconsistencies in adult actions just like Ramona did. My goal was to read every book in the 11-part series.

The day came, and finally, it was the book fair. I excitedly walked with my class to the library, covered with rows of new books. I had my crumpled heavily-circled catalog in hand, ready to find my pre-determined selections. My second-grade teacher, Miss Whitehurst, found me in one of the distant aisles. She was my first African-American teacher — a small older brown-skinned woman who often wore her hair like Coretta Scott King. I also gave her a lot of grief. She said Beverly Cleary writes some entertaining books, but have I seen this one? She hands me a paperback novel with a young black girl on the front. The title was “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” by Mildred Taylor. I had not heard of this book, but I noticed it had one of those fancy gold seals on the front, so I decided to forgo one of my selections for this one.

“Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” is one part of a series of stories that center the Logans - a tight-knit multi-generational African American family. The story is told from the perspective of Cassie Logan — a nine-year-old girl who lives with her family on a Mississippi farm in the middle of Depression-era Jim Crow. She constantly tries to make sense of the interpersonal and systemic racism her family continues to encounter as they try to save their farmland and stay safe from white vigilante violence.

Cassie has a temper, speaks her mind even if she knows it’ll get her in trouble. She notifies people of inappropriate racial slurs in her textbook. She notices injustices, which sometimes leads her to want to fight boys. A memorable moment in the book was when Cassie was forced to apologize to Lillian Jean Sims, a white girl, because Lillian bumped into her. Cassie’s parents attempt to explain to her the dangers of the “night men” who can harm them. They said this while simultaneously ensuring Cassie has a sense of self-respect. Cassie learns that the whites in her town don’t judge Black people based on character or behavior. Instead, everything is based on a manufactured story of white superiority that Lillian and others have chosen to believe. To which Cassie responds, “Well, they ain’t!”

None of this seems logical to Cassie. Ultimately, Cassie gets into a brutal fight with Lillian pulling her long, blond hair. In the end, Cassie makes Lillian apologize to her. Although this was a story of nine-year-old girls being children, they were trying to navigate a complex society, and I understood that. My teacher in my small Southern town knew I could benefit from a different story.

Ramona’s home in Oregon felt like some distant land, but Mississippi felt really close. Probably too close. As a girl who grew up in small-town Florida, I saw much of what Cassie had seen. If Cleary helped me think through what it means to push boundaries through Ramona, then Taylor directed me to see what boundaries needed to be pushed through Cassie. Although I was only in the second grade, there was a maturity shift. I never got to read all 11 of those adventures of Ramona. But I found myself diving headfirst into any book I could find that told me the story of people who look like me. As a result, I won an award for checking out the most books in the library at my school. But I don’t recall anybody asking me what I was reading or why.

Today I still love to read. However, I use the information I gather to support educators in strengthening their relationships with their students by helping them find curriculum and stories that encourage learning and curiosity. Educators can find out what their students are interested in and discover alongside them, or even learn from their students. But I also help educators recognize that the stories they have for their students and the communities their students come from impact their choices in the classroom. Such as if that student is having a bad day, do you offer them support or not? Who gets disciplined or removed from the classroom, and who gets a conversation for understanding? Who gets the benefit of the doubt, and who does not? Who gets detailed feedback, and who gets an unexplained grade? What does it mean to recognize the Ramonas and Cassies — or the Melissa’s — in your classroom and see their personality as an asset not a liability?

What does it mean to support students like Jack Petocz, a high schooler at Flagler Palm Coast High School, who organized the protest against a book ban in his district? His protest began after a school board member in Flagler County, Florida, filed a complaint with the sheriff’s department against George M. Johnson’s book, “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” a memoir about growing up Black and queer.

The growing demand to censor literature relating to race and LGBTQ identity is how states and school districts legalize the erasure of works from Black creatives and intellectuals, such as Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, James Baldwin’s “Go Tell it On the Mountain”, Maya Angelou’s “Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” to name a few.

My hope is that concerned conservative parents consider if their anger is actually the result of their discomfort around difficult conversations. Just because you are uncomfortable doesn’t mean you or your children are unsafe. And just because you want the freedom to say and feel what you want doesn’t mean you have the freedom to erase the contributions of writers who highlight the experiences of people who aren’t you.

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Proximity and Solidarity: Helping Northstar Know the Difference

183:797148710 (Melissa Crum) — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 22:10:41 GMT

Proximity and Solidarity: Helping Northstar Know the Difference

Dear Northstar Cafe,

On Jun 15, 2020, The Columbus Dispatch informed us that 50 protesters held a sit-in at your Short North location. It was an opportunity to offer ways Northstar might use its sphere of influence to address police brutality, such as removing your police discount, supporting frontline service workers with a physical tip jar, and requiring company-wide anti-racist training. Because you are my favorite restaurant, I became interested in what you are saying about people who look like me, a Black person. The sit-in protest came after you posted this message on your Instagram page :

We stand with the Black community. We stand against police brutality. We stand committed to amplifying the voices of our Black colleagues and working alongside them to dismantle systemic racism in the restaurant industry and in our communities. Your pain, your voices, and your lives matter.

Your statement reminded me of the words of Nona Jones , who is a Black woman, pastor and Head of Global Faith Partnerships at Facebook. Jones asked a colleague to explain what was meant when they said they “stand in solidarity” with her. She stated her colleague “made the mistake of confusing proximity with solidarity… Going from proximity to solidarity requires going from feeling to action.” Are you educating yourself for the purpose of mobilizing your influence and resources in the direction of change? In the case of the protestors at Northstar, they were peacefully demanding that you prove that you knew the difference between proximity and solidarity.

Although the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor gained national attention and shed light on state-sanctioned violence, the issue of police brutality isn’t new for Columbus. In 1999, the U.S. Justice Department sued the Columbus Police Department , accusing it of a pattern of civil rights abuses that included excessive force, false arrests and improper searches. Twenty years later, a study conducted by an external company found that CPD uses force disproportionately against minorities .

If you believe that the request for the permanent dismissal of the police discount is about not allowing police to only spend $7 for a Northstar Burger instead of $14 you are missing the point. I was once asked “if a small percentage of looting rioters discredits the entire movement, then what does a small percentage of bad cops do?” If the issue is ridding CPD of a “few bad apples” then how long are those most impacted by those apples supposed to wait? How do you differentiate community support for “good” vs “bad” police officers who come into your restaurant? The question isn’t the presence of “good” police officers. There are plenty (depending on how you define “good”). What is being asked of you is why are you supporting a law enforcement system that allows the bad apples to thrive? How do you define a “good” officer if the system doesn't require those doing harm to be held accountable? Discounts are your sphere of influence. Keeping them is a way of saying that you are complicit with the law enforcement institution causing harm to your employees, patrons, and fellow human beings, even those who you may never meet. Therefore, you want to make it clear that you do not support an institution that doesn’t seek to protect and serve everyone. The removal of the discount, along with the other demands, asks you to use your sphere of influence. Your influence can demonstrate that until an institution that has proven to be oppressive to Black people fix themselves so that we can know that the “bad apples” are being held accountable for their action, then you are not willing to offer support. This position is important because we don’t know if you are discounting the meals of abusive officers and their enablers.

After I posted the June 15th article on my social media, I received numerous messages from Black friends and strangers telling me about their negative and scary experiences working for Northstar and Brassica (both under the same ownership). Companies can't make sincere public statements about standing with Black people when the ones in closest proximity are saying that you are standing on their necks . The statement is not only ironic, its gaslighting.

Be honest . Honesty could be that the owners are more interested in profit over people. Or honesty could be acknowledging the harm you’ve caused directly or allowed to happen to your employees who are members of the Black community and those who support us. Accountability is required. That might be beyond what you budgeted for and it will likely be uncomfortable. But whatever you choose to do to actually stand in solidarity won’t include a public statement because you have demonstrated that you have no intent to follow through with actionable steps.

So, Northstar, I need you to reflect. I need you to consider and choose to make these shifts. Not only because I don’t want to have to find another restaurant to make my ricotta pancakes and hot cider made with whipped cream of the perfect consistency, but because people shouldn’t have their dehumanization be justified by the goal of sustaining high profit margins. They shouldn’t have to feel like they have to remind their employers of their humanity while they are trying to keep their job to survive.

Why museum professionals need to talk about Black Panther

Tue, 15 Jan 2019 17:53:00 GMT

Originally posted on The Hopkins Exhibitionist: by Casey Haughin, ’19 *Spoiler Warning: opening sequence plot details discussed in article* The seminal film Black Panther has become an international sensation in the week following its release. Notable for its impeccable dialogue, witty banter, and nearly all POC cast, Black Panther provides a platform to discuss a…

Diversity Training with Melissa Crum of Mosaic Education Network

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 17:53:00 GMT

Originally posted on The Wexner Center Shumate Council: When we enter a gallery or a museum, we bring stories. Dr. Melissa Crum, Founder and Principal Consultant of the Mosaic Education Network, showed Wexner Center staff how to unfold these stories. On August 27th and September 7th, Dr. Crum facilitated a diversity training workshop that focused…

10 Thoughts on Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman

Tue, 14 Aug 2018 21:03:00 GMT

I saw BlacKkKlansman on the anniversary of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. So many thoughts. Somehow I got them distilled to ten.

Warning. Spoilers ahead.

2. Spike Lee addresses what he assumes to be Black naivete. Lee’s sometimes preachy approach to storytelling can come just short of condescending. Like the famous “wake up” scream by Dap in School Daze , Lee

implores the audience to become “woke” (or aware of oppressive systems, institutions or social norms) because his characters don’t always reach that place of consciousness. Although Officer Clay Mulaney points out Stallworth’s false assumption that the U.S. wouldn’t elect a racist into the White House, his actions speak more to the trappings of white liberalism than a comment on Black ignorance. Which brings me to my next point…

3. If we keep making white racists caricatures of hate, then we are missing how racism functions on a daily basis. Trump supporters are often characterized as uneducated social misfits that are some contemporary versions of the slave masters’ poor cousins with his same level of entitlement, but with fewer resources. The masters and his cousins are dangerous in their own right. But, arguably, the most dangerous are people like Chief Bridges and Officer Clay Mulaney.

The Chief’s racism isn’t the social misfit kind. He is aware that racism pervades his precinct. He acknowledges it in Stallworth’s interview with Mr. Turrentine. (Mr. Turrentine is played by Isiah Whitlock Jr. who played Senator Clay Davis in HBO’s The Wire . He restates his famous phrase “Sheeeiittt”, connecting the audience to not only corrupt systems, but how Black people can play a role in maintaining them. But I digress…). The chief supported the ousting of Patrolman Landers, the overtly racist cop. But let us not forget Lander’s wasn’t the only cop who was at Kwame Ture’s (Stokely Carmichael) traffic stop and two officers beat Stallworth when he was catching the real attacker, Connie Kendrickson (Felix’s wife). The Chief removing one dirty cop doesn’t change the systems that allowed Landers to be there. Zimmerman and Creek knew of Landers’ actions by stating he killed an unarmed Black boy but pledged a code of silence. Upholding the “blue wall” of brotherhood was more valuable than seeking to ensure another Black boy wasn’t murdered. Nevertheless, the Chief, surely applauded himself (and was applauded by others after Landers was removed). Also, being in a place of highest power, he also has the authority to potentially thwart Colorado Springs burgeoning Black Power Movement by requesting surveillance on Ture.

He is fine as long as the Negros of Colorado stay in their place. He is disinterested in why Ture was asked to speak for the Black student union or how the institution the chief runs is at the center of the Black students’ concerns. In addition, the chief also willingly put Stallworth in danger by having him as David Duke’s security detail and had the power to stop the investigation of the KKK but never worked to dismantle the system.

We must note that Chief Bridges and Mulaney are cut from similar cloth. Mulaney, who pointed out Stallworth’s naivete, is the best representation of the trappings of white liberalism because he is aware of the systems of oppression, but is unwilling to dismantle them from his sphere of influence. He’ll break the “blue wall” to arrest an overt racist peer. He will laugh with Stallworth as he makes fun of David Duke. He will (minimally) support Stallworth’s investigation into the KKK. He will do this as long as it doesn’t negatively impact (or draw negative attention to) him. This type of white liberal can talk at varying lengths about social and political issues affecting minority communities, but their lack of action has them masquerading as an ally. They are just as self-serving as Felix, the Chief, and Landers without being a social misfit. Somehow, we can be ok with hating the Felixs of the world, but the Mulaneys go unnoticed when they, in fact, are the ones that passively let the Felixs exist. Remember, he dismissed the KKKs threats as harmless banter.

4. I’m still processing Stallworth’s cognitive dissonance. He sees the “blue wall” is not there to protect him. Not only because of the overt disrespect and physical beatings he experiences, but also his first assignment was to compromise a movement that had his best interest in mind. Stallworth said he is for the liberation of Black people, but it doesn’t look like he sees his job as kicking out the overt racists on the force, pushing back against problematic chiefs, and critiquing liberal co-conspirators of white supremacy. Even if he does, that’s a long, lonely and emotionally taxing job. It shouldn’t be HIS job alone.

5. I’m still processing this Black-Jewish dynamic and the concept of passing. Passing allows one to convertly stand adjacent to whiteness which means those who pass can opt out of any critiques of whiteness and its effect on, well, anything. Stallworth had to convince Zimmerman to continue the undercover work against the KKK. Zimmerman wasn’t invested in a Black man’s fight for humanity until Zimmerman’s identity was attacked. (Somehow the fight for Black liberation requires white people’s emotions and humanity to be implicated which continues to center whiteness and is another form of Black erasure. But I digress…).

6. Stop gendering racism as masculine. White women can be complicit in all forms of racism. Connie’s desire to be needed by her husband overshadows her brief moment of inner conflict when killing Black people was just a dream, but now might be getting too real.

7. Stop gendering Black liberation movements as masculine. I’m glad Patrice was the president of the student union and she had a gun in her purse (to Stallworth’s surprise). But how else are we to see her? I wanted to hear more about her inner battle with dating a police officer and how she managed threats to her life. Did she keep her friends after they found out she was dating, as they say “a pig”?

8. The juxtaposition of “white power” and “black power” can appear to have equal credibility without even a mustard seed of critical thought. You don’t have to have knowledge of The Black Panther Party’s Ten Point Plan, Harry Belafonte’s activism, or The House Un-American Activities Committee, to know the difference in the causes. One shouldn’t need the very real story of Jesse Washington to see these are not simply two extreme organizations.

9. The media begins and ends the film. Propaganda and Documentary? Well, Dr. Kennebrew Beauregard is a doctor, right? Sigh…

10. Not all Klan members wear hoods. Some of them wear suits. Some of them wear badges. And some bring baked cookies to meetings and carry C4 in their purses. The difference is, the ones who wear the hoods are often doing illegal activities that may get them in jail. The ones wearing suits rewrite the laws so they are never arrested.

What we should be asking about “This is America”

Mon, 14 May 2018 19:04:00 GMT

Actor, writer, and recording artist Donald Glover released his newest single “This is America.” The video intertwines concerns of gun violence against Black people and Black entertainment as a distraction from social challenges. But are we using this cultural moment as an opportunity to question the absence of whiteness in the video and its direct effect on how blackness is articulated, used, and disposed of?

Glover offers violence as spectacle. Black people are enactors of violence, passive spectators of violence, victims of violence, and the bodies used to distract us from violence. “This is America” becomes a reminder of how America’s entertainment industrial complex is a space where the sociopolitical and physical trauma experienced and performed by Black bodies is in service to white supremacy.

Mostly working-class European immigrants utilized blackface masking during violent acts against Black bodies and when portraying Black bodies on stage. Specifically, it was working-class Irish and Jewish European immigrants who reshaped whiteness through blackface minstrelsy to avoid being re-subjugated in the New World.

This bifurcation of races created racial alliances on either side. Outside of smaller Black-white coalitions grounded in a shared experience of poverty, coalitions centered on whiteness made class a nominal factor. Eventually, working class whites no longer needed to “act Black” in order to distinguished themselves. Many Black entertainers were pressured into maintaining their caricatures on stage.

By 1831, many Black festivals were shut down, and Black theaters were closed, thus blackface entertainment made an explosion into popular culture. As European immigration and blackface performance’s popularity steadily rose, Black actors were enticed by the lucrative possibilities yet had feelings of dejection when asked to make a mockery of the black presence in the United States.

Black actors mimicking the white mimicker reveal how many Blacks performing blackface made a spectacle of their systemic victimization. George Walker, of the world-renowned Williams and Walker black minstrel duo of the early 1900s, believed he publicly aided in his own victimization. Walker was conflicted by blackface minstrelsy‘s entrapping cyclical nature of performing a false identity labeled authentic. The legacy of Blacks performing Black caricatures is in “This is America.”

What if we see “This is America” as an acknowledgement of a mental legacy of Black victimization both by using Black death as spectacle and the emotional stress of Black entertainers attempting to reconcile the issues of performing an authentic self and a caricatured self? Just because we can’t see the elusive marionettist-esque hand of white supremacy in “This is America” doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Just as George Walker, Bert Williams and countless others heeded the advice “Black man get your money” did they ask “at what cost?” Are we?

Killmonger, Beyonce, Museums, & Suicide: Four conversations I Still Want to Have about Black Panther

Sun, 08 Apr 2018 23:53:00 GMT

I keep finding myself in “Black Panther” conversations. Some I am pulled into. Some I begin, mostly in hopes that I will get the kind of dialogue for which I yearn. The conversations usually end in people being pro-Killmonger for very problematic reasons or for reasons they can’t quite articulate other than aligning with Killmonger’s anti-white supremacy and pro-blackness (although his “radicalism” is trauma-centered thus destructive to the very people he wants to protect… but I digress). Mind you, I am not a comic book fan. I am not well-versed in the Marvel cinematic universe, so my interest doesn’t lie in comparing the original story-line and character development with the film. Rather, I’m interested in a series of other questions that use the superhero universe and storytelling to ask questions about and draw connections between art, power, and identity.

1. Killmonger, the mask, and his paradoxical connection to his ancestors

When we meet Killmonger, he is admiring a mask in a British museum. Its design is inspired by a mask used in Igbo customs called Mgbedike (translated as “the time of the brave”) in southeastern Nigeria. Mgbedike masks are masculine and created to distinguish the wearer from women. (Killmonger’s interpretation of this distinction is evident in his interaction with Black women in the film) . The masks represents bravery, fearlessness, aggression, and a connection to the spirit world. Arguably, Killmonger’s bravery is demonstrated in his skills as a fighter and his mission to save Black people from white supremacy using Wakanda’s resources. Mgbedike masks can also contain metaphors that serve as a harbinger of the potentially destructive power of disorder. This mask adds another layer of complexity to Killmonger.

Killmonger embodies the bravado and strength Mgbedike masks represent. Many of us within the African diaspora identify with Killmonger’s trauma, disconnection from place-centered identity, and battles with systemic oppression. Yet, his path to Black liberation requires the death of Black people – more specifically his girlfriend (who was helping to achieve his goal but was disposable), his cousin Shuri (fighting for her brother to regain the throne and not let the weapons leave Wakanda), a member of Dora Milaje, and the nameless black people identified on his body all in an effort to kill T’Challa (also his cousin). Black death at the hands of Black people for Black liberation is a paradox referencing the disorder the metaphors in Mgbedike masks warns us of. We can identify with Killmonger’s struggle, but to do so without critique does not serve us well.

2. Museums center white supremacy

Mary Carole McCauley of The Baltimore Sun writes, “In one five-minute sequence, ‘Black Panther’ raises issues central to the modern museum world, including cultural appropriation and repatriation, the racial composition of museum staffs, and lingering stereotypes regarding visitors of color.” (For more on this discussion check out “Why museum professionals need to talk about Black Panther.” )

From the work of Fred Wilson to #MuseumsAreNotNeutral conversations, these issues are not new. There continues to be a call for museums and collections to repatriate their artifacts to the countries of origin (many obtained by scrupulous means for financial gain). Killmonger challenges the British museum director regarding how the institution acquired the mask. This is his first challenge to white supremacist institutions.

We know that historically, part of Europeans’ and white Americans’ obsession with Africa are actually the objects that come from Africa or represent her descendants (Black collectibles, art, and artifacts). But that fascination and desire for cultural preservation doesn’t translate to protection of the people who create the objects or embody the culture the objects represent. Let us not forget when Nelson Mandela requested for the French government to repatriate Saartjie Baartman’s remains and Cuvier’s plaster cast from its display in a Paris museum to South Africa giving her a final resting place.

How can we use these continued repatriation efforts to draw attention to the identity politics in museums and recenter humans and not the objects that are suppose to represent them? What does it mean for diasporic Africans to fight for the repatriation of African artifacts when, for many of us, it is in within these white supremacist museums that we are able to access these elements of culture that we are tangentially connected to? In a small point of departure, how might we connect the repatriation of cultural artifacts to Black South Africans land acquisition demands ?

3. Igbo Landing, suicide, and Beyonce

It should not be lost on us that our introduction to Killmonger is in connection to Igbo culture with the Mgbedike inspired mask he took from the museum and at his death he alludes to Igbo Landing.

What might it mean that Killmonger is connected to three different places and cultures yet not fully embracing or honoring any of them: 1) America, where he was born but experienced trauma from systemic oppression; 2) Wakanda, represents trauma by way of neglect; and 3) Igbo people of Nigeria who aides in his desire to recognize the sins of slavery and the resistance effort that demands recompense for it. How can we simultaneously use his tenuous embracing of cultures as a point of connection to Killmonger and a source of critique?

When Beyonce leads women into the ocean in the beginning of Love Drought is reminiscent of Igbo Landing. Or the imagery conjures a worshiping practice of Oshun, a Candomble deity of the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria practiced in Brazil.

Whether we are to be connected to the resistance of the Igbo people or we are to be reminded of the power of African goddesses, what does it mean to use these popular culture moments to create some semblance of re-connection to places and cultures we are not formally connected to? How can we use the drive of Killmonger to do as Beyonce says “you, you, you, you and me could move a mountain”? Can we make connections between the imagery and language that connects Killmonger and Beyonce to Nigeria? How might Oshun inform (or heal?) Killmonger’s detrimental relationship with Black women in the film?

4. Is it possible to have afro-futurism in the absence of white supremacy?

African diasporic hair styling rituals, dress, music, literature and religious practices are iterations of adapted customs from African ancestors and our response to Eurocentric systems and institutions that shape our lives.

Afro-futurism has the ability to not only remedy the absence of black bodies in the sci-fi genre, but also to imagine a world absent of white supremacy. Part of this genre is asking tough questions to black people about blackness: what it can and should mean and how it can or should regulate our interactions with one another and the rest of the world. Therefore, because the Trans-Atlantic slave trade largely fueled the African diaspora, can afro-futurism pose questions about what black people’s relationship is or should be to each other without centering whiteness? Although “Black Panther” had very few white characters, a response to whiteness still seems to loom: keeping Klaue’s lust of imperialism at bay, Killmonger’s fight against white supremacy, and T’Challa maintaining Wakanda’s ability to keep colonization and slavery contained. I wonder if we are able to have a genre focused on Black stories that do not respond to the dictates of whiteness — especially when the formation of the genre was formed due to the absence of blackness in white-centered fantasy and science fiction narratives?

What does it mean to be uprooted and placed somewhere that is not created for you, but you must carve out your existence by picking pieces of where you currently are and where you believe you are from and creating something new from that? There is a stitching of tangible things (quilts and symbols for underground railroad journeys) but also a psychical assemblage. Part of this mental reckoning is traumatic. Killmonger is the manifestation of wanting to reckon that trauma. “Black Panther” is asking Black people to think about what our job is to other Black people and how do we plan to implement those duties. How do we work out the logistics of unity while the histories and currently reiterations of imperialism, colonization and slavery continuously threaten our freedom? I don’t have the answers, but these are questions worth exploring.

Public vs Charter: How Black Parents and the Right are Complex Allies in Education

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 04:20:00 GMT

Black parents play a pivotal role in progressing a conservative market-based education agenda through a strategic alliance with the Right. School choice detractors on the Left proclaim negative impacts of privatized education on low-income Black families, yet have not looked closely at how conservative approaches to education reform has provided space for Black parents to have greater control over their children’s education. However, the same abilities that garner relative success in other parts of the country, are stifled in Ohio.

For many Black families, school integration has never been the only determining factor for education success. Instead, communities organized to address the failure of public school serving Black students after Brown vs Board of Education. Aspiring to control institutions that targeted Black communities, private school alternatives such as Council of Independent Black Institutions ( CIBI) were formed in the 1960s and 70s. CIBIs taught social-justice oriented curriculum emphasizing a connection between African identity, self-determination, and academic success. Education professor Lisa Stulberg, writes that “ By 1973, CIBI had 21 small, private, largely tuition-driven small member schools that were often part of larger community centers that housed independent bookstores, restaurants, grocery stores, and arts spaces.” Stulberg argues alternatives like CIBIs gave Black parents access to quality education. Some hoped charter schools could be another alternative education option.

Charter schools developed out of alternative approaches to education in the 1970s and 80s. They are independent taxed-funded schools offered as an option outside of a neighborhood public school. Charters operate with considerable fiscal and curricular autonomy, governed by independent boards, and aren’t required to hire unionized teachers. Black families began to determine how to utilize school choice to fit their needs, but challenges continued. Post-Brown, Black families across the country experienced negative impacts of (often white) teachers working with Black students from racial and socioeconomic deficit assumptions about Black families’ intelligence.

Ineffective teacher-student relationships, crowded classes, and low academic outcomes painted a bleak picture of public schools. This depiction set the stage for market-based education reform promising efficiency to Black parents as ideal consumers. For many poor and working-class Black families, free-market education allowed them to form conditional, fragile and opportunistic alliances with conservative education reformers beholden to privatized education promising academic success and profitability.

The Right is able to grow its constituency by appealing to the hopes and assuage the fears of Black families through a liberal-leaning rhetoric of freedom of choice. In the same way US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, erroneously aligned the mission of Historically Black Colleges and Universities with school choice, many conservatives articulate charter schools as an extension of social justice efforts. In 2014, Reince Priebus, current White House chief of staff wrote for CNN, “Fighting for school choice is one of the ways to take action. For most students today, their neighborhood or zip code determines their school. That means some kids, by no fault of their own, are forced into a failing school. They don’t have a choice.”

In the National Review, Fox News contributor Deroy Murdock compared charter school opponent Bill de Blasio to racist Governor George Wallace: “Just as Alabama’s segregationist Democratic governor notoriously stood in the school door to deny quality education to disadvantaged Black children in 1963, New York’s far-left Democrat mayor stands in the charter-school door to deny quality education to disadvantaged Black children in 2014.” Linking racial justice to market-defined school choice falsely situates actions of the Right as altruistic gestures towards low-income Black families and simultaneously shields the economic gains of profit-focused organizations given administrative latitude by the state.

In 2015, the Washington Post wrote “No sector — not local governments, school districts, court systems, public universities or hospitals — misspends tax dollars like charter schools in Ohio.” The Akron Beacon reported “since 2001, state auditors have uncovered $27.3 million improperly spent by [Ohio] charter schools, many run by for-profit companies, enrolling thousands of children and producing academic results that rival the worst in the nation.”

Ohio’s largest charter, ECOT, was paid over $100 million by the state although questions about consistent student enrollment and effective learning loom. In 2016, The Columbus Dispatch reported that Ohio’s charters were faring worse than large urban districts with more than 80 percent of charter high schools with an F rating.

To compound the challenge, the investment in charter schooling is not producing better outcomes for Black students. In 2014, according to the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) Columbus charter and traditional public schools produced no significant difference in learning for either math or reading for Black students.

With low graduation rates and few accessible choices for quality education, Black parents are making strategic choices. Education scholar Thomas Pedroni argues that Black families navigating school choice is “a testament to the strength of their potential political agency, rather than…an indication of naıve submission to a conservative agenda.” Black parents pushed toward Rightist social movements by an unresponsive state has shaped an alliance with many ideological contradictions and compromises.

As a parent, I sit at the center of this conundrum. My son’s neighborhood school is failing and the charter school next door is also failing. He will be starting a new charter school next year. He loves science and math and consistently tests above his grade level in reading. Neither of his previous schools had programs that allowed him to move to the next grade level within a subject area, but the new school does. In addition, most of the administration are Black, they attend our church, and work with my son in Sunday School. The hope is that this mix of teachers who look like my son, know him outside of school, and shape a culture that supports his academic interests will prove to be the right fit. I don’t know how successful it will be, but I’m glad I have the option to try. However, I wish this opportunity was available in our neighborhood school around the corner instead of on the other side of town.

Originally published in The Columbus African American Journal https://issuu.com/columbusafricanamerican/docs/june_2017_edition

Dear passive allies, Here’s one way you can be helpful

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 15:46:00 GMT

Dear White Colleagues,

You recently attended a conference with me where a professor gave a keynote address about a theater program that he and his undergraduate students conducted in a female prison. He shared how teaching the inmates Shakespeare could help them be “more honest” and gain other soft skills that would supposedly prepare them for life outside of prison.

A program that explores literature and society can be very empowering. As an educator, I have used similar theater-based techniques to explore leadership, vulnerability, and family relationships. But that’s not what I took from his presentation.

I didn’t see any collaboration between the inmates and the professor. It wasn’t clear whether the women wanted the program or that they shared his goals. Why Shakespeare? Why not a program like theater artist Rhodessa Jones’ The Medea Project where incarcerated women write plays about their stories and perform them? I sensed bias when he expressed fears of getting “shanked.”

It was clear neither the professor or the students thought about why and how they are engaging that population. They had no clue about their implicit biases.

I looked at the room of over one hundred participants. I was one of five Black people attending the conference and one of two Black women.

I decided I needed to say something. I posed several questions to him during the Q&A open forum about the hidden assumptions he holds. I questioned why he was using service-learning as a means to make him and his students feel better by helping the often forgotten members of society, but not critically thinking about systems of oppression.

After I spoke, the other Black woman suggested some resources he could use. Everyone else was silent. You were silent. I felt alone, but only momentarily.

When the event was over, more than a dozen of you thanked me for addressing his program that limited the ability for the prisoners to be fully humanized for what is presumed to be their own good. It sparked conversations about productive community engagement.

You thanked me for having the courage to say what you were thinking. I appreciated those words, but I also saw a problem.

I shouldn’t have been the only one speaking up.

The professor needed to know it wasn’t just Black women, who found his program problematic.

Backchanneling is a linguistic term that describes when a listener offers verbal agreement such as “uh-huh” or “wow” or non-verbal support such as head nods, finger snaps, or applause. Brave backchanneling goes a step further, using both verbal and nonverbal communication to stand in solidarity with the speaker in a non-confrontational manner.

In the vein of “call-and-response,” a tradition often seen in Black Baptist communities and poetry circles, brave backchanneling is a temporary alliance between strangers or colleagues. It’s a middle ground between disruptive support and complicit silence.

There are times when a higher level of confrontation is required such as forming coalitions for a cause or interrupting harmful discussions.

In those cases, brave backchanneling is ineffective. But in staff meetings when a colleague questions the fairness of an office policy, when someone challenges a friend for telling a racist or sexist joke, or you are attending a conference where problematic statements are made, brave backchanneling can be an effective momentary display of solidarity.

This election has brought to surface another iteration of xenophobic sentiments post-Black American progress: Jim Crow after Reconstruction, Southern Strategy and Reaganomics after the Civil Rights Act, and a racist, homophobic, Islamophobic, misogynist Trump administration after our first Black president.

Post-Trump’s election, many people find themselves in conversations they have never entertained before. Many of my liberal white colleagues have expressed anger and sadness over the president-elect and discomfort with discriminatory remarks made by co-workers and family members.

But they sit in silence, even when someone else does the confronting. I ask, “Why didn’t you support the person who challenged the disparaging comments since you didn’t feel comfortable confronting the person yourself?” They never know how to respond.

Had I had more brave backchanneling support at the conference, it would have made it more difficult for the speaker to dismiss my claim as a minority opinion or think that I have an agenda.

Let’s be clear, I’m not interested in spectator solidarity.

You can say you’re an ally, but if there’s no action connected to our assumed alliance, your safety pin looks too much like an unproductive symbol to satiate feelings of social justice ineptness. It is a silent response to continued American terrorism. Since the election, friends, colleagues and strangers have been called racial slurs, pushed down stairs, and sat in terror as they watched people in white hoods drive through their neighborhoods.

It may be difficult to support a stranger or colleague especially when the speaker is a friend or a person in a position of power. But if we seek a more equitable world where people are held accountable and constructive criticism works to make the lives of the marginalized better, bravery is required.

While in that meeting, conference, or at the family dinner table, you hear something offensive to another community, show your solidarity with the community in their absence, especially if someone else has spoken in their defense. Speaking out is difficult. You may be afraid, but it’s bigger than you.

In love and solidarity…

Helping My Son Make America Great… (again?)

Wed, 28 Sep 2016 01:18:00 GMT

I often discuss current events with my 10-year-old. He listens to NPR with me on the way to school (maybe half listens). We recently discussed protests by Colin Kaepernick and other athletes of various ages. He has decided to join the protest by sitting during the pledge at school. This is how I explained protesting to him.

Identifying the problem

Imagine you are in the cafeteria at school and there is a sign that says “Everybody Gets a Healthy Free Lunch!” After some time at school, you notice that the kids in your class get molded eggplant and water for lunch (he hates eggplant). And the kids in the other class get organic veggies and grass-fed meat from Chipotle (he loves Chipotle).

Identify discrepancy in promise and implementation

You realize that the school is defining “healthy meal” differently for each class. You go to the principal and tell her that your class is not getting the same kind of “healthy meal” as the other class and you want to change it. She tells you that all the meals are healthy, nothing is going to change, and you shouldn’t tell her what to do in her school.

Alternative challenges to authority

After talking to teachers and cafeteria workers, you realize that the people in authority are not able or willing to help you. You decide to bring attention to the gross lunches your class is getting and how it isn’t fair. So you decide to stop eating them. You get your molded eggplants then throw them in the trash. You talk with your friends about the lunches the other class is getting and how the school isn’t providing everybody with a healthy lunch like the sign says. You ask them to join you in your protest. This is community organizing. Your entire class agrees to join you in not eating the lunches. You even get some kids that are eating Chipotle to throw away their food in protest to support you. This is a hunger strike.

Putting pressure on authorities

You call the news and tell them about your hunger strike. You ask them to tell the whole city about the food you are getting. You tell your principal that you and your classmates will continue to throw away the food until you get the same organic veggies and grass-fed meat from Chipotle like the other class. Parents, teachers, and neighbors hear about the hunger strike on the news. A lot of people are angry – even the kids from the other class getting the good food. Parents threaten to take their kids out of school. Students from both classrooms are throwing away their food. The school is losing money. The principal doesn’t like what is happening, so she decides to change the menu. But in the real world, rarely does everyone get Chipotle. Usually, the eggplant eaters just get better eggplant or a different moldy vegetable.

Different kinds of protests

There are many people who have chosen to go on hunger strikes in order to make laws or policies fair. Mahatma Gandhi, trained as a lawyer, went on several hunger strikes lasting anywhere from six days to three weeks to change laws in India and stop wars between Hindus and Muslims. Cesar Chavez d idn’t eat for 25-days in order to fight for farmers to get better pay.

Boycotts

Sometimes protesters tell their friends about the problem and they march to get people’s attention. Once they get people’s attention, they tell them why they are angry and what they want to be different. It’s kind of like Chavez learned the grocery store should be paying them $100 for the lettuce that they grew and picked but the store is only paying them $5. So, Chavez called his friends and his friends called their friends and told everyone to walk in the middle of downtown. They held signs that told everyone not to buy lettuce. This type of protest is called a boycott. The grocery store now has all this lettuce it wants to sell, but can’t because everyone is listening to Chavez and his friends. So the boycott encourages the grocery store to pay Chavez and his friends the fair amount.

Riots/Rebellions

There was a time when people would get in trouble for being gay. They could be arrested, have their penises removed, parts of their brain removed, or placed in an insane asylum and electrocuted. There was some people that got tired of being harassed so they decided to riot or rebel. An example is what happened at Stonewall .

Self harm

Buddhist monks protested the Vietnam War by setting themselves on fire . This occurred many times in public places.

Work strikes

Right now, there is a prison strike . About 20,000 prisoners across the country figured out a way to talk with their friends (community organizing) and tell everyone that they should not go to work on September 9th. They are not only protesting the new approach to slavery (because they are working for for-profit companies inside the prison) but also a bunch of other things . See video discussion .

Everyone of these examples are people choosing to challenge a promise. Just like the cafeteria said “everyone gets a free healthy lunch,” the pledge of allegiance promises “liberty and justice for all.” Just like one class was getting molded eggplant and another was getting Chipotle, but the principal said everyone was getting a healthy lunch as promised, some people don’t believe that everyone is getting liberty and justice equally… as promised.

Colin Kaepernick has chosen to sit down in protest against police brutality. Just like you, people saw the videos of Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, Keith Scott, Oscar Grant, Terence Crutcher and many other men and women and decided to join him. You can love your country and not love some of the things it’s doing. The great part of a democracy is that the people who have been made promises have the ability to call out the people who made those promises, but are not fulfilling them. That’s freedom of speech. That’s the “liberty” the pledge says we have. You can choose to join the protest alone. You can choose to community organize. You can choose to approach this however you’d like. You have my support. But you have to know why you are sitting. You have to have an answer when someone asks you why.

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
-Gandhi

Privilege & Power

Thu, 22 Sep 2016 00:40:00 GMT

If you believe certain privileges of some marginalized persons equates to all who share their identity marker have suddenly been relieved of understanding, having empathy for, or experiencing oppression, then you are unclear about the complexity of privilege. If you believe # Obama being president or # Kaepernick ‘s wealth means that Black people can no longer address race-based discrepancies in our judicial system, military, housing, education or any other system, then if # Hillary becomes president don’t say anything about women not receiving equal pay, not having maternity leave, hitting a glass ceiling in their career, getting cat called on the street, or fighting for justice for # BrockTurner ‘s victim.

Because if Hilary made it then everything must be alright… right?

Can money manage morality? More questions than answers about being a Black woman and supporting Birth of a Nation

Wed, 17 Aug 2016 23:02:00 GMT

Arguably, managing destructive narratives of race and gender in media such as the Nina Simone biopic or the casting call for Straight Outta Compton is a bit easier than managing the actions of the creators. Demonstrating our approval by voting with our dollars showing that certain portrayals of our culture are profitable and getting similar films green-lit is relatively straightforward. But what should be our approach when we seek not to vote on the precarious portrayals of us , rather the actions of the creator of our portrayals? How do we become “consumer activists”? Consumer activism… hmm…Bringing together the mundane activity of purchasing, the politics of voting and the powerful actions of systemic change doesn’t exactly get to what I want but, the three need to be married in some form. Thus, it’s the phrase I’m working with for now.

As Nate Parker has written, directed and starred in a movie that highlights a figure who took on the debilitating capitalist and patriarchal system of chattel slavery, in real life, he’s benefiting from a nuanced contemporary version of that same system. A system that allowed him to not be held accountable for rape. It is only in our oppressive patriarchal society that relegates access to women’s bodies through a misogynist gaze, where two men can have sex with an unconscious woman and one goes to prison and one is acquitted of all charges. Parker was offered freedom simply because he had a previous consensual sexual encounter with the victim. His acquittal implies that one night of consensual sex grants continual access to a woman’s body. This is the system we want to tackle.

But we want our people to be great, right? Of course. But what does consumer activism look like when we have competing agendas that conflict within the same consumer context? How do we root for Birth of a Nation while chastising Parker? We continue to see ourselves in this conspicuous place where we want to hold on to the goodness that’s within the person while calling attention to the bad simultaneously. And what if we actually like what they do? I don’t know how to love the Huxtables, love Bill Cosby’s philanthropy, love that he was attempting to purchase NBC and hate his classist remarks and his violation of numerous women. How do I as a consumer activist celebrate Ray Rice’s work on the field and call out his domestic violence? How do I consciously play “Backyard Party” at my Labor Day function and still condemn R. Kelly for pedophilia in a real way? I mean, real consequences and real celebrations.

When I get to these decisions I feel like my choices won’t make any impact. So, if the answer is a collective movement like the work against Sorority Sisters , then what large organizations should it be? If we aren’t members of those organizations how do we penetrate those spaces in hopes that they will make a statement about why they’re not supporting Birth of a Nation and get their members to follow? Is that feasible given the movie comes out in less than 60 days? How do I do this and not become “Anita Hill-ed” and be lambasted by Black social media friends/trolls/pseudo-conscious types for being an accomplice in a “high-tech lynching”? How do I critique the expectation of Black women’s dedication to the safety of Black men, but Black men’s reciprocation is optional?

I was here not too long ago trying to figure out how to exercise consumer activism prior to the release of Straight Outta Compton . How do I, an everyday concerned consumer, hold Dr. Dre accountable for his violence towards women? Just like we were excited to see the lives of NWA members, we want to finally see a movie about rebellious Africans that become a revisionist history of all the books and all the movies and all the stories we and generations before us had been indoctrinated with. Stories that told us that Africans were ignorant, docile, fear-filled and accommodating towards their white oppressors. We’ve been yearning to hear this story of Nat Turner. We want to see a revolution on screen. We need that, right? But we also want to see a revolution in our contemporary times. One in which we are able to use our consumer culture as a way to hold men accountable for their wrongdoings. I ended up avoiding the theaters and waiting to see the NWA biopic via Redbox (shrug).

But is it our expectation to manage morality through our consumer vote? Is boycotting Birth of a Nation a low-level attempt at impacting rape culture? At the time of the rape, Parker was an athlete at Penn State. How do we challenge sports-centered universities protecting violators (ie. Jerry Sandusky) whose major focus for protecting these men is due to the conspicuous interweaving of toxic patriarchy and capitalism to continue lucrative sports programs and stellar university images? (See Hunting Ground . And FYI fellow Buckeyes, OSU is not immune).

What does intra-racial and intra-gender accountability look like within Black communities that live within a consumer culture? How can Black women use our intersectionality as a site to enforce justice within our community towards people we don’t have access to? What is the real impact of sporadic groups of women from around the country (and our male allies) of choosing to withhold their investments when they are making their consumer activity choice based on the personal lives of these male creators and not the product itself? We’re attempting to use the movie as the vehicle to hold men accountable for the real-life violence impacting women’s live at the risk of not supporting their noble creations.

But even if we’re able to effectively boycott the movie by not voting with our dollar and figuring out a way to inform Nate Parker and his rape accomplice/co-writer and all that come after him that we will not vote for a project led by people whose current or past decisions are immoral or troubling at best, at what point do we agree that our consumer activism was a success? What do we have to see or hear for us to believe that it’s time to continue support? Hear an apology? State that he was wrong and own his iniquities? What would this lip service mean? What does punishment and atonement look like through a consumer/feminist/anti-patriarchal/anti-misogynoir lens?

And I’m not interested in picketing the movie theater or organizing a march. That’s for somebody I’m sure. It’s not for me. So here I am, again, at a stalemate.

So, in the meantime I’ll RSVP to the free screening of Birth of a Nation and take my son so that his first exposure to an American slavery film is about a Black man who decided to fight for freedom by any means necessary. But I won’t tell him how a young woman fought depression and fought Nate Parker’s ongoing harassment after he changed the course of her life by raping her. I won’t tell him that she lost that battle when she decided to take her own life. I won’t talk to him about the irony of Nate Parker vicariously taking her life by benefiting from the same systemic oppressive system that the character he plays is fighting against. And of course, the way karma works, Parker has a wife and five daughters to remind him how the victim’s father must have felt. The conundrum continues.

Get creative business tips from #OITNB creator

Tue, 05 Apr 2016 16:21:00 GMT

Get Your Creative Control.

Watch the full interview here .

Your creative intention is your mission. Decide what your larger goal is and focus on that. Create a personal mission statement and let it guide you.

Trust your collaborators . Be sure to partner with people you like and whose strengths you can pull from. Nothing is worst than having to commit with people who weigh down your creativity.

Social justice and make money? There are three groups of people who don’t measure their impact by revenue: teachers, activists, and artists. But we must generate income to sustain our lives. If your creative intention is grounded in social justice, recognize that establishing a career from your creativity is connected to profit. Create a path to navigate that.

Emotional roller-coasters are ok . Capturing people’s attention and affecting their hearts and minds is a narrative process. You have to offer more emotion than outrage – though outrage is important when it comes to social justice aims. When using our creativity to address social justice issues we can’t keep our audience in a state of despair. It’s important that we create ways to address the seriousness of important topics while lightning the mood. Satire anyone?

Embrace your critics. It’s worse to have crickets than criticism. If you produce work and no one has anything to say about it then you probably aren’t pushing yourself hard enough. It’s important that we ask ourselves “how can I ignite curiosity to make people pay attention? How do we create healthy agitation to promote a new perspective in my audience? Criticism can help us get better. Welcome it!

Tell new stories. The more marginalize someone is, the less likely we know their story. The stories of people in poverty, immigrants, differently-abled bodies, and many other diverse groups are often left on the sidelines. What can we do with our work to ensure that their voices are heard? How can we bring them from the margins to the center?

Dig deep and be honest with yourself. You should be present in your work. Discuss how you are a participant in the world you live in. How do you affect other people? How do other people affect you? How do these interactions affect the world?. How does your participation change the world and how does your presence in the world change you? We are not mere observers we have a sphere of influence. What are you doing with that power? Now create!

You need allies. Every creative person need advocates. It’s uncomfortable for many creative people to advocate for themselves in a commercial sense. Need advocates? Start with your immediate circle of friends and family. Let people know what you’re doing, find out their strengths, ask how they are willing to support you and build your network from there. Seeks opportunities for collaboration and create something awesome.

Watch the full interview here .

13 Reasons why it’s okay to celebrate (and question) Beyonce this week

Tue, 09 Feb 2016 08:28:00 GMT

1. Afros and more afros. In 2016, Black women are still being chastised at work for wearing our hair the way it grows out of our head. While U.S. corporate culture makes it mandatory for Black women to straighten our hair , one of the most popular singers in the world decided to celebrate it in its natural state. That’s cool with me.

2. Loving the Black aesthetic. She likes her man’s big nostrils. Jackson 5 nostrils to be exact. Celebrating the pre-nose job Jackson family faces seems like a nod to Afrocentric phenotypes. I’ll take it.

4. Berets and booty shaking. If you’re one of those folks who had a problem with Beyonce referencing the Black Power Movement in a leotard then maybe you should consider what it means to police women’s bodies. It’s important to recognize how Eurocentric norms of femininity and the presentation of women’s bodies cloud our judgement. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s were very conscious of these norms as they marched in their Sunday best. But the Black Power Movement sought to overturn those norms. Might Beyonce’s Superbowl performance be another reiteration of overturning norms? What might it look like for pop culture and social movements to come together post- James Brown and Marvin Gaye ? Maybe it looks like “Formation.” Maybe.

5. Formation is the new Black power anthem? Ehhh… I love Beyonce believe me I do, but let’s pump the brakes a little. She’s definitely highlighting social movements, forms of Black New Orleans culture [Black Native American culture (2:34) Jazz funerals (2:54), Mardi Gras/ Playing Mas (3:18-3:23), Southern car culture (4:00), Southern Baptist traditions 4:07)], and specific challenges against the Black aesthetics that have affected her directly (ie. people commenting on Blue Ivy’s afro and her husband’s big nose.) But in the grand scheme of political pop culture it’s no Gil Scott Heron or Billie Holiday . But it is a step in that direction for the Millennials. Which brings me to #6…

6. I don’t require much depth from Beyonce. Kara Walker? Yes. Melissa Harris-Perry? Of course. Toni Morrison? All day. Oprah? Yes, mostly on Super Soul Sundays. Beyonce? Not so much. Because of this, I was excited to hear portions of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TEDx talk in Beyonce’s “Flawless.” And I am equally excited about Beyonce’s “Rhythm Nation-like” outfit mixed with a little Kathleen Cleaver in there. In the words of Janet “It’s time to give a damn let’s work together.” Get in Formation ladies. #BlackGirlMagic

7. People of color know about seasoning stuff. Hot sauce swag. Southern cooking and Black culinary skills “bey-bae!”

8. Symbolism… Let’s reflect. Beyonce in all Black with brief glimpses of a jazz funeral. What is being mourned? What life is being celebrated? A New Orleans police car submerged in the water of what looks to be a post-katrina neighborhood while empty homes remain afloat. Black women in a hair store stroking a straight-haired wig. Police officers in line dressed in riot gear watch as a little Black boy in a hoodie dances in front of them unafraid. The police put their hands up. What are they surrendering to? I don’t have any answers, just more questions.

9. Sexuality gets center stage. Beyonce uses scenes (apparently without permission) from the documentary The B.E.A.T. which is a celebration of New Orleans’ Bounce music – a subculture of hip hop. Specifically, she uses scenes showcasing male homosexual Bounce dancers and artists. These scenes plus the commentator discussing his love for collard greens and cornbread while announcing that he plans to unapologetically surpass expectations by ostentatiously impressing his competition, aka #slay, might make one think of James Wright Chanel . However such presentations of queerness is often placed in superficial frames of entertainment and humor. Beyonce continues to highlight the #BlackLivesMatter movement throughout the song (the boy and the cops, the “stop shooting us” graffiti, etc). But knowing the movement began as a way to address violence and discrimination towards the Black LGBT community, I’m left wishing that connection would have been made. Maybe that’s asking for too much in a 5 minute song (shrug).

10. A rich woman awarding men’s sexual favors with a basic restaurant. Turning the machismo tables by scoffing at the assumed power within male virility by rewarding him with Cheddar biscuits is kind of hilarious. However, on one hand, the gesture symbolizes her in control of her sexual decisions and places her in the power role as the decision maker and the one with access and resources (ie. ride in her helicopter and put you on the radio). On the other hand, is it productive for women to “play patriarchy” with money, sex and consumerism as the all too familiar back drops? Role reversal doesn’t change this exploitative social practice. But again it’s Beyonce’s so… see #6.

11. Setting the record straight. I’m convinced that the Illuminati accusers are the same folks who believe aliens built the pyramids. Really, people believe this. One might say Jay-Z took it too far calling himself “hovah” but I’m not convinced they are devil worshipers. But some spiritual power kept Beyonce from taking an “L” at the Superbowl.

12. Don’t forget Hurricane Katrina.

Don’t forget Hurricane Katrina.

That is all.

13. Oh and just to be clear, Creole and Negro are both all Black. But I appreciate you, Beyonce, for holding onto that Louisiana subculture. For those unclear, it’s like saying mixing Appalachian and white to get Missouri-Kentucky or something. We get you Bey. The difference we can consider, however, is the implied class differences between “Negro” and “Creole.” Beyonce uses various accoutrements of an elevated class status of Creole women from centuries past: The home, Black portraiture, books, and decorative umbrellas. A confluence of race and culture with maybe a sprinkle of classism in there… maybe… but we get you Bey and see what you did there.

#BlackLivesMatter… Only When Police Shoot Us?

Sun, 20 Sep 2015 02:06:00 GMT

Since the beginning of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, I have heard on numerous occasions, from various people — Black and White — on the assumed disconnect between the social media campaign and violence within low-income Black communities.

I find myself not engaging with these people. My eyes glaze over and I search for the nearest exit. Not because I don’t care. But because I know the level of effort it would take to unpack the complexity in that assumption. It would take too much time and too much effort, so I tell myself they will probably continue to think that way anyway.

And then there is the #AllLivesMatter argument… I just get tired.

Well, yesterday might have been the last straw. Once again someone said, “you all worried about police shooting Black people, but what about Black people killing other Black people?!” If I had the time, and energy, I would have said something like this…

Two different issues that stem from the same systemic problem

Ok, systemic racism (aka institutional racism) basically means there are ways different entities with various degrees of power (i.e. schools, police departments, courts, and your local employers) that individually operate, but ultimate collectively oppress, harm or marginalize certain groups of people. Are they secretly coming together to hurt people and plan the demise of Black, Brown, and poor people across America? No. But they, as well as you and I, have be taught to think different things about different people and those thoughts determine their actions towards different people. That’s socialization (e.g. maybe you were told when you were little that loud people are ignorant. So when you hear someone being loud you assume they are dumb.)

For example, less qualified teachers are often assigned to low-performing schools . Often times those low-performing schools are in low-income areas. Teacher-turnover in schools serving low-income students is more than double than affluent schools. Low-income areas have a lower tax burden, meaning they often are given less funding for school infrastructure (e.g. computers, salaries and other needs). Students in low-income areas often have various barriers to academic success. One barrier is discrimination from teachers. Black and Brown children are more likely to be suspended, expelled, or referred to law enforcement than their White counterparts.

Many of the students who live in low-income neighborhoods are Black and Brown. These neighborhoods are policed more than White neighborhoods (e.g. although research shows that there is more drug use in White neighborhoods .) Two of the major factors for students dropping out of high school are being absent from school and suspension. Students without a high school education are less likely to find a job. When they do secure employment, they earn less money. Additionally, they are more likely to be incarcerated . As a result, they often end up in the same over-policed and under-educated neighborhoods they grew up in.

Ok, so let’s add this all up:

Inexperienced teachers in high-need schools, thus students receiving a sub-par education

Culturally biases teachers expelling Black and Brown students at high rates

Over-policed low-income Black and Brown communities

Under funded neighborhoods

Black and Brown students not finding employment

Black and Brown students being incarcerated at high rates

= systemic racism

See the cycle? See the system?

Check out J Smooth’s explanation of systemic racism’s impact on employment.

Check out more videos from Race Forward for more examples of systemic racism.

Also, check out this video from The Kirwan Institute at The Ohio State University

Black folks BEEN fighting for their communities for decades

(yes, that grammar was intentional…)

Black people have been working against numerous results of systemic racism – including violence, drug activity, recidivism, gentrification, environmental racism, and War on Drugs just to name a few.

Check out this video on affects of housing discrimination (“paying a race tax”) in Chicago – an example of systemic racism.

In Byron Hurt’s documentary “Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes” there a short example of systemic racism and the destruction of Black neighborhoods.

Note: You might need to fast forward a little. But I think I qued it up for you (8:20 minute- 9:23)

I’ve been invited speak or attend town hall forums, neighborhood action committee meetings, youth summits, conferences against violence, or something similar at least once a month. These efforts are not well-known because they are neighborhood specific.

Do you know how I find out when the Block Watch Team meeting is happening in my neighborhood? Sandwich boards with the date, time, and location are placed in the major intersections of the neighborhood where we enter and exit.

No Facebook pages, no websites, no text messages, or memes. No blog posts or news report. No marches or interrupting presidential candidates speeches. None of that. Communication happens in house. The revolution won’t be televised right? The activists in these communities have always believed Black lives matter, they just didn’t have (or need) a hash tag.

I worked with some 8th grade students on a documentary about the history and activism in their neighborhood. Watch the raw footage of local people working in their their neighborhoods. Then watch the students’ final product .

Don’t forget the Black Panther Party’s food program or the Deacons for Defense in Louisiana in the late 1960s.

In Byron Hurt’s documentary “Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes” there a short example of systemic racism and the destruction of Black neighborhoods.

I’ve been invited speak or attend town hall forums, neighborhood action committee meetings, youth summits, conferences against violence, or something similar at least once a month. These efforts are not well-known because they are neighborhood specific.

Do you know how I find out when the Block Watch Team meeting is happening in my neighborhood? Sandwich boards with the date, time, and location are placed in the major intersections of the neighborhood where we enter and exit.

I worked with some 8th grade students on a documentary about the history and activism in their neighborhood. Watch the raw footage of local people working in their their neighborhoods. Then watch the students’ final product .

Don’t forget the Black Panther Party’s food program or the Deacons for Defense in Louisiana in the late 1960s.

Black folks BEEN talking about discrimination in their communities

(yes, intentional again…)

People who have been working to address challenges in Black communities have often been discussed in esoteric arenas such as self published books, niche movie genres, and music.

Listen to Tupac analogy on systemic racism and resistance.

Listen to Lil Wayne’s retort to former President George Bush systemic racist approach to managing the results of Hurricane Katrina.

Listen to N.W.A. classic response to police brutality in Compton.

Listen to Public Enemy’s response to systemic racism.

Check out “Pruitt-Igoe Myth: an Urban History” for an example of systemic racism in St. Louis pubic housing.

Watch “American Violet” for examples of systemic racism in housing, employment, drug enforcement, and politics.

But these responses are out of the purview of the current generation, movies were not broadly marketed or songs didn’t get radio play.

Due to high profile cases (i.e. Trayvon Martin), successful movies (i.e. Fruitvale Station ), and social media, people outside of the low-income Black and Brown communities are gaining awareness, but this topic is not new. Just watch Colors , Cincinnati Goddamn , or any episode of The Wire .

Not just poor Black people are talking now…

There is a class component. There are Black people who have never lived in low-income or majority Black neighborhoods and have either never experienced or experienced relatively minor altercations with law enforcement. These Black people have also been unaware of the challenges in low-income Black communities. As more and more Black people NOT in low-income and violent communities are affected by systemic racism and take to social media with their grievances, it can appear as if that systemic racist practices such as police brutality take precedence over having safe communities. But we know that’s not the case. We have decades of proof and research leading up to current activities of grassroots organizations combating the results of systemic racism in their communities.

Violent low-income Black communities have specific problems

The Black CEO driving a Porsche, being racially profiled by police is a different experience than Black man in a low-income neighborhood being harassed and subsequently beaten or shot by police. Still harassment, still racism, but different. In the same vein, we can’t assume that all Black people living in low income communities are the same.

Studies show people creating violence in communities are only a fraction of the residents. How do you think that affects the thousands of non-violent people who live in these communities?

So, violence in low-income Black communities, police brutality, and the systemic racism that perpetuates them, has been on Black people’s radars for decades. Just because the local Block Watch Team doesn’t have a hashtag doesn’t mean they aren’t creating change. And just because you don’t know it’s going on doesn’t mean it’s not.

Want more research? Check this out.

A history lesson for everyone

Princeton University research discovers Black man WITHOUT a felony and a White man WITH felony have the same chance for hire

Implicit Bias in School Discipline

Racial Disproportionality In School Discipline: Implicit Bias is Heavily Implicated

10 ways Well Meaning White Teachers Bring Racism Into Our Schools

Academics alone will not make you successful

Tue, 15 Sep 2015 22:31:00 GMT

I was asked to give a speech to new high school inductees into the National Honor Society. I was asked to share the speech so I have posted it here. Enjoy!

If there was an award for something, I got it – other than attendance and being on time. Everything from being the person who checked out the most library books in elementary school to earning a top spot in my high school graduating class, you name it. I took honors classes, AP classes and got a jump start on my undergraduate degree. But what I realized is a lot of those things didn’t matter.

Once I got to college, there were other skills I needed to be successful. Some of them I had. Others I had to figure out. I was around a bunch of people who were just as smart or smarter than me. I could no longer wait to the last minute to do a report or finish my homework during lunch. I needed time management skills. I needed to prioritize my activities. I needed something other than memorizing facts and mathematical strategies. My first day in college marked a very clunky kind of journey of learning skills and ridding myself of habits in order to be successful.

As a researcher, I’m going to share some findings with you about success. Is that ok with you? Research tells us that many students who have the highest grades or highest SAT and ACT scores will not complete college. Surprised are you? Not because they aren’t smart, but they don’t have what some researchers call non-cognitive skills. There are several non-cognitive skills that aid in success, but I will offer two that I find the most fascinating: grit and growth mindset.

It’s treating life like a marathon and not a sprint. Grit is the ability to withstand trials and challenges. Grit is not about getting rewards quickly. It’s delayed gratification. It’s important to note that grit is not connected to talent. There are talented people who have grit, but gritty people aren’t always talented. They work hard to learn what they don’t know and are resourceful in order to reach their goals.

Dr. Carol Dweck , the researcher behind this approach says that people with a growth mindset believe that intelligence can be developed with practice, not something you are born with. People with growth mindsets don’t think of themselves as winners or failures but learners instead. They don’t ask did I win or did I lose. They ask, what did I learn and how can I do it better next time? A growth mindset approach is also desired in many career fields including engineering. Before top companies like Boeing and NASA hire anyone, even a suma cum laude graduate, they want to know are they curious and willing to try something different without a known outcome. Because if they have these traits they can problem solve. They found that students with the best GPA or highest SAT scores are really great at taking direction, but not always the best at taking initiative.

No. Instead they said, “Talk about a time when you had to work closely with someone whose personality was very different from yours. Give me an example of a time you faced a conflict while working on a team. How did you handle that? Tell me about a time you failed. How did you deal with this situation?”

So to my fellow National Honor Society members, I’m proud of you. You have done great work. But don’t rest on your laurels. Because I guarantee you, you have classmates not in the National Honor Society that have skills, ideas, and approaches to life that you should learn from. If you are a student who happens to not be inducted today. Don’t worry. It’s time to figure out how to use your intelligence and life experiences to make you successful inside and outside of the classroom.

Post speech addendum:

There is a sector of people who see Grit and/or Growth Mindset as racist. I argue that the concept itself is not inherently racist. The problem is how some people choose to apply it to certain cultural and socioeconomic groups. The implementation of these concepts as development metrics for impoverished students, romanticizes poverty, justifies poverty as character development, assumes that poor students don’t already understand delayed gratification, and ignores systems of oppression that disproportionately place some groups of students in poverty. But to create an academic evaluation system that allows students to have a safe place to take academic risks, give room to fail and learn from their mistakes and to remind students that they just need to build their skills to put their intellect to the best use is a productive use of Grit and Growth Mindset.

Want more? Check this out!

Stuart Brown: Play is more than fun: A pioneer in research on play, Stuart Brown says humor, games, roughhousing, flirtation and fantasy are more than just fun. Plenty of play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults — and keeping it up can make us smarter at any age.

Tech Tuesday: Cell-Site Simulators, Artificial Intelligence: Human skills will remain relevant in the workplace despite advancements in artificial intelligence and robotics and much more.

How Much Can Children Teach Themselves ? Listen to this GREAT story from Dr. Sugata Mitra about initiative and new ways of learning from kids in Indian slums.

7 Ways Museum Educators Can Change the World

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 18:17:00 GMT

Dr. Melissa Crum is an artist, education consultant and diversity practitioner who uses her personal story and professional practice to tell a creative, inspiring, and eye-opening message that everyone must hear.

Watch her TEDx talk “Tale of Two Teachers.” Then read seven helpful approaches below!

7 Ways Museum Educators Can Change the World

1. Collaborate with learners: Discover what interests them while offering a choice in what and how they want to learn. Research approaches to different learning styles and how you can alter activities for learners.
2. Critique your approach/language: When in doubt, ask a colleague or consult an outlet that focuses on celebrating the community represented in the artwork to question the appropriateness of language.

3. Complicate the narrative: Avoid the two-sided debate by challenging yourself, colleagues and learners to discover many perspectives on an issue. Challenge them further to think about the negative and positive implications of those perspectives.

4. Listen without judgement: Listen carefully without offering suggestions or reinterpreting.Try to understand what motivates them. Consider how they view you, their peers, and the activities you assign them.

5. Change how you react to challenging behaviors: Rather than responding quickly in the moment, take a breath. Realize that their behavior might just be a way of reaching out to you.

Have questions about these approaches? Let us know in the comments below!

What happened when I followed my dream…

Mon, 15 Jun 2015 15:26:00 GMT

She Makes It Beautiful – An Interview with Entrepreneur, Dr. Melissa Crum

She Makes It Beautiful (SMIB) encourages and inspires women to follow their entrepreneurial dreams by interviewing and sharing the phenomenal stories of women entrepreneurs who’ve already taken that courageous leap and soared.

I asked entrepreneurs in diverse creative professions to participate, and they were more than willing to pay it forward. So, from opening a dance studio to starting a bakery to grooming pets and everything in between, you’ll read the unique and empowering stories about how these women decided to just make it happen!

This SMIB interview is with the vibrant and passionate, Dr. Melissa Crum, Founder, Education Consultant, and Diversity Practitioner of Mosaic Education Network .

I was happy that I had the opportunity to connect with Melissa, and our conversation was just as I’d hoped it would be – engaging, thought provoking, and full of “light-bulb” moments! (Or as Oprah would say, “Ah-ha moments”)

Read the full interview here .

How motherhood made me a feminist…

Mon, 15 Jun 2015 13:51:00 GMT

I was asked to participate in a female-center story-telling campaign that celebrates women by sharing their vulnerable stories. Here is mine. Thank you Karrio Ballard for asking me to be apart of such a great idea.

Super Woman In Ohio
Melissa Crum

As told to and by Karrio Ballard

“It’s going to be ok.”- Melissa Crum

I would call myself a feminist. I think one of the long term challenges of feminism is essentialism. Which says because you’re a woman you definitely want these things. You want to be married to a man, you want 2.5 kids, a house and picket fence, these are the things programmed inside us. But, the problem is there are women who don’t want men. There are women who don’t want the aforementioned “essentials.” We know this. We see this everyday. But, it’s interesting because the thing that kinda made me a woman, was this boy.

3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Your Community Service

Sun, 29 Mar 2015 23:07:00 GMT

On college and university campuses nationwide, engaging with “the community” (organizations and individuals unaffiliated with the sponsoring institution) is a common practice. In these collaborations, it is essential that faculty and students apply a critical lens—evaluating why, between whom, and how the engagement is occurring—in an effort to prevent paternalism, an approach that assumes a socioeconomic or intellectual hierarchy between college and community. To build equal ground for all participants, it is important to develop approaches that privilege reciprocity. In this article, we share lessons learned through our own experiences implementing community-engaged pedagogies.

Alexandrina Agloro from USC and I offer you experienced-based approaches for you to consider before you engage with communities. To learn more, read our publication “Why, Who, and How? Strategies for Preventing Paternalism and Promoting Equal Engagement” in Diversity & Democracy (Winter 2015, Vol. 18, No. 1)

Click here to read more.

Classroom Share! Oldest Human Fossil Found in Ethiopia… AGAIN!

Sat, 07 Mar 2015 20:24:00 GMT

Check out the NPR story below!
http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/me/2015/03/20150305_me_jaw_fossil_in_ethiopia_likely_oldest_ever_found_in_human_line.mp3

Dear Shonda: Why we should critically think about focusing on the Brandons of the world

Sat, 07 Mar 2015 04:01:00 GMT

Dear Shonda,

My challenge is the Brandons of the world are getting shot, but so are the Mike Browns , Trayvons, and Eric Garners of the world. The men with not so squeaky clean backgrounds. We are excepted to grieve more for the loss of Brandon, the “stand-up kid”, who was doing everything right, but still died.

Books We Love! Muslims and the Holocaust?

Wed, 28 Jan 2015 19:18:00 GMT

In the wake of the 70th anniversary of the Holocaust, it’s important that we educate our students on the numerous perspectives of historical events. One alternative story comes from “The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescued Jews During the Holocaust” by Karen Gray Ruelle and Deborah Durland Desaix. Share with you students today!

For more information on this perspective, check out this article from the New York Times.

Raising Expectations: Stories from “Humans of New York”

Mon, 26 Jan 2015 14:48:00 GMT

A couple days back, I posted the portrait of a young man who described an influential principal in his life by the name of Ms. Lopez. Yesterday I was fortunate to meet Ms. Lopez at her school, Mott Hall Bridges Academy.“This is a neighborhood that doesn’t necessarily expect much from our children, so at Mott Hall Bridges Academy we set our expectations very high. We don’t call the children ‘students,’ we call them ‘scholars.’ Our color is purple. Our scholars wear purple and so do our staff. Because purple is the color of royalty. I want my scholars to know that even if they live in a housing project, they are part of a royal lineage going back to great African kings and queens. They belong to a group of individuals who invented astronomy and math. And they belong to a group of individuals who have endured so much history and still overcome. When you tell people you’re from Brownsville, their face cringes up. But there are children here that need to know that they are expected to succeed.”

I only had a few minutes to speak with Ms. Lopez yesterday because she was hosting a conference for the district’s principals. (Because that’s the kind of thing Ms. Lopez does.) Attending the conference was Ms. Mauriciere de Govia, the superintendent of Brownsville’s school district, who was kind enough to speak with me for a few minutes in a quiet stairwell. I asked for her opinion on Ms. Lope z:

“Nadia is fearless. When she says that every kid can learn, she means it. And not only does she mean it, she puts systems in place to make it happen. It all begins with high expectations. When students arrive at this school, many of them are very behind. But Nadia sets high expectations on every one. She never says: ‘This student lives in the shelter so he deserves a break.” Or ‘Because of his parents, this student can’t be expected to keep up.’ She says: ‘This is how we do things here, and there is no sidestepping.’”

Read the stories of these educators and so much more at Humans of New York .

Need to introduce privilege to your students? Look at this interesting way!

Thu, 22 Jan 2015 19:51:00 GMT

For those innovative, social justice oriented educators out there!

Try this in your classroom and tell us what happened!

6 Historical Women Who Gave No F***s

Thu, 22 Jan 2015 19:43:00 GMT

Minus the language 😉 great information to incorporate in the classroom!

What kind of teacher are you?

Thu, 22 Jan 2015 03:42:00 GMT

What kind of teacher are you? Really think about that for a moment… How often do you ask yourself that question? I work with teachers to critically think about that tough question.

Mosaic Education Network, LLC conducts professional development workshops on critical self-reflection practices for schools, non-profits, and businesses using history, research, and contemporary art. It’s not your typical PD session. We don’t offer step-by-step instructions on how to deliver educational materials. We tell stories. We assist you in thinking about what you are thinking about. We help you evaluate the relationships you have with your students and how it affects their success.

Dr. Robert Pianta of the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education offers us some practical self-reflective approaches to engaging our students and raising our expectations of them. Although these approaches work well for building relationships with all students, it can be most beneficial for the students we find most challenging.

Read the steps below. Try them and tell us what happened. Let’s start a conversation!

7 Ways Teachers Can Change Their Expectations

Read, reflect and write us below!

Books We Love! “My Heroes My People”

Thu, 08 Jan 2015 20:48:00 GMT

Full of heroes, heroines, villains, and everything in-between, this book offers a range of people from African and Native Americans in history.

Check out “My Heroes My People: African Americans and Native Americans in the West” for kid-friendly stories about black and brown people in the U.S. over the past five centuries. #MosaicEducationNetwork

Visit us at http://www.mosaiceducationnetwork.com/

Dear Eric Garner…

Fri, 05 Dec 2014 02:45:00 GMT

Dear Eric Garner,
I’m sorry you are no longer with us. I’m sorry you were yet another, unarmed black man killed by a police officer. Your death was caught on camera, widely distributed, and the police officers (like Darren Wilson) will not be indicted even though the choke hold used on you has been banned from the NYPD for over 20 years. But I want to take this time to inform you of a couple of things that you may not have known and some work I hope you can do beyond the gra ve.

Ferguson Facebook Conversations: Comparing Humans…

Mon, 01 Dec 2014 13:06:00 GMT

Nov. 28th, 2014

I saw this in my timeline….

2) I’m not justifying stealing. With that, if you are going to claim “America Strong” then you have to also claim “due process” and “innocent until proven guilty”. Did Brown have his day in court? Is that not the American way?

3)The riots and protests are not about Mike Brown per se. He is a symbol for so many who have died at the hands of people in power who decided that his, and people who look like him, lives was worthless. I imagine you and them think similarly…

4) Major General Greene lost his life doing what he sign-up for. For a war that many people protested against years ago. He will have a respectful ceremony, mostly likely his family will be well-taken care of and he died with honor. Meanwhile, I’m told, Darren Wilson received $500,000 from ABC to get an exclusive interview and there was a parade in his honor. Do you see anything wrong with THIS picture?

Ferguson Facebook Conversations: Langston Matters

Sat, 29 Nov 2014 03:45:00 GMT

Nov. 26th 2014

So what am I thankful for? I am thankful that Ferguson has forced us into conversations about race, police and the justice system that black and brown people have known for decades. I’m thankful for the conversations I’ve had with people from a variety of races and class backgrounds who were previously unaware and are now slightly more equipped to look at similar situations with a more critical eye. I hope those who have a new perspective spread the word. Particularly, those who find themselves in conversations that need a new perspective…

‪#‎ LangstonMatters‬

Ferguson Facebook Conversations: He was playing in the park…

Sat, 29 Nov 2014 03:31:00 GMT

This has been a hard week.
He was outside playing with a toy gun in a park. Not robbing anyone but waving his toy gun around. Reminiscent of my school friends’ “cowboys and ‘indians'” days.They shot him from the police car…

1. And please don’t ask “where were his parents. ” We have a park a street over from our house, as many neighborhoods do. Many parents (like the one’s in my neighborhood) allow their kids to play there. He was in a park. Kids play there.
Langston has no toy guns. The problem is not so much that I don’t want to breed a culture of violence in my house. The problem is that I have worry about my son playing with a toy gun outside because someone might call the cops on him. And the cops may shoot him. From their car. With no hesitation.

2. Please do not say why aren’t people rioting over black-on-black crime. I’ve heard this too many times over the last few days.

a) Most people are killed by people of their same race. (That goes for white people as well). Some are on TV… some are not.

b) The problem is not so much about a white person killing a black person. It’s about white POLICE OFFICERS targeting black communities and a judicial system that sanctions the death of black people and privileges the lives of whites. It’s about uneven, unjust power. This disregard for black and brown lives has also been noted in the incredibly delayed response times of police and ambulances that are called into black and brown communities. Remember Public Enemy’s “911 is a Joke”?

c) Feel free to look at the following regarding research on the above statement: “No Winners Here Tonight: Race, Politics, and Geography in One of the Country’s Busiest Death Penalty States” There are many other articles, books etc…

d) Black and Latino people have been doing community organizing around violence in low-income, under-resourced communities for years. Decades even. From New York, to Miami, to Chicago, to Oakland and back again, everyday Black and brown communities HAVE made strides to curb violence. They just don’t get TV time.

e) Please stop grouping us altogether and then get mad when you get grouped. For example, if I share with you my dislike for your comment “Black people need to stop focusing on this ‘thug life’ and (get an education, get a job, obey the police…fill in the blank)”, then don’t be mad when people say things like all “white people are racist.” There are just as many (or more) distinctions and differences among black communities as there in white communities.
3. We need to know who the prosecutor is for Cleveland…
http://www.cleveland.com/…/cleveland_police_officer_shot_1.…

Ferguson Facebook Conversations: Thank you Jon and Lisa

Sat, 29 Nov 2014 03:24:00 GMT

“What we saw was a defense presentation dressed up as prosecutor’s presentation…”

“Just because you are ignorant of these issues (because they get no coverage) doesn’t mean they aren’t being addressed…”

Ferguson Facebook Conversations: Dear Ferguson…

Sat, 29 Nov 2014 03:07:00 GMT

Nov. 25th 2014

Dear people of Ferguson,
I feel your anger. And I get the frustration that is leading some of you to riot. I heard that some are attempting to respond by not shopping on Black Friday in an effort to “hit them in their pockets”. No. Just no. That’s a distraction. Let’s consider a few things that may or may not include rioting…

1) New prosecutor: Whether or not you went to polls in November your prosecutor, Robert P. McCulloch, got re-elected… he ran unopposed. And he will be there for the next 4 years. How can you team up with community members, local universities etc, to identify another prosecutor to run in 2018? McCulloch has been in office since 1991…Yes, over two decades.

2) Riot (or not) for a special prosecutor: If another Mike Brown situation occurs, fight for an outside prosecutor to handle the case. And figure out who that person could potentially be.

3) Raise money: The fight doesn’t have to be over. Raise money for the Brown family to get a good lawyer to fight the case in civil court. Having a successful case has a lot to do with having the time to build a case and lawyers’ time is purchased.

4) Let’s all generally learn more about what a grand jury does and how they are chosen. I know I need to learn…

This is also applicable to Cleveland, Florida and everywhere else…

RIP Victor Steen, Tamir Rice, Oscar Grant, Ronald Madison and James Brissettet, Tanesha Anderson, Orlando Barlow, Kimani Gray, Timothy Russell, Ervin Jefferson, Rekia Boyd, Aiyanna Jones, Amadou Diallo, Patrick Dorismond, Pearlie Golden, Tarika Wilson, Miriam Carey, Shantel Davis, Tyisha Miller, Kendra James, Shelly, Frey, Aaron Campbell, Wendell Allen, Shareese Francis, Shulena Weldon, Erica Collins, Adaisha Miller, Ousmane Zongo, Alesia Thomas, Darnesha Harris, Delores Epps, Heather Parker, Ramarley Graham, Timothy Stansbury Jr., Sean Bell, Jacqueline Robinson Culp, Karen Day Jackson, Laporsha R. Watson, Mackala Ross, Melissa Williams, Monae Turnage, Steven Eugene Washington, Travaes McGill, Alonzo Ashley …

Let’s go.
‪#‎ BlackLivesMatter‬ ‪#‎ ItsAboutSectionedViolence‬ ‪#‎ SystemicRacism‬

Ferguson Facebook Conversations: Learning about Grand Juries, Voting, and Recusing

Sat, 29 Nov 2014 02:40:00 GMT

I found myself glued to my laptop for the past three days. Being inserted into, inserting myself into, and creating conversations about Ferguson, the verdict, and the responses to it. Here is a part one of a series of facebook posts on my wall. Lawyers and university professors answered my questions:

Nov. 25th

My initial post:

To all the lawyers, judges, and political scientists… The goal of a grand jury is NOT to convict but to simply say that there is enough evidence to move forward with a trial that COULD determine a conviction or not. Right?

Jocelyn: Correct. The prosecutor presents the evidence to the grand jury or can choose to indict without using a grand jury. It breaks down to what evidence is presented and how that evidence is presented.

Tyler : http://fivethirtyeight.com/…/ferguson-michael-brown…/

Moyah: Correct. It’s usually a one sided presentation of evidence from the prosecutor’s viewpoint and it usually leads to an indictment.

Melissa Crum: So… since the prosecutor is FOR Mike Brown then can we say that either the information was poorly presented OR…. well I don’t know… what else could it be?

” According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. attorneys prosecuted 162,000 federal cases in 2010, the most recent year for which we have data. Grand juries declined to return an indictment in 11 of them… legal experts agree that, at any level, it is extremely rare for prosecutors to fail to win an indictment… Cases involving police shootings, however, appear to be an exception.”
For the educators, this is a great opportunity to teach systemic racism…

Jocelyn Remember the prosecutor in this case is the son of a slain police officer. He’s made it clear he’s pro-police.

Melissa Crum Wait what! I didn’t know that! You have got to be kidding me. Jocelyn, Is there not a recusing procedure for that?

Moyah: It’s how the evidence was presented to the grand jury, you had the defendant testify, you had witnesses that contradicted each other…etc. With that presentation of facts….this was the only result unfortunately.

Melissa Crum : So, is the prosecutor a state employee or hired by the Brown family?

Moyah: I believe he is a city employee he was not hired by the Brown family.

Melissa Crum So, could the Brown family (if they had the resources) have hired an attorney that could have had their best interest in mind? Meaning a lawyer that was not pro-police? Or did they have to use the city prosecutor?

Jocelyn: The prosecutor is a county employee. In most counties, he is an elected official.

Melissa Crum Ahh… so people in Missouri should keep this in mind next local election…

Moyah: No they could not have in the criminal case. They can always hire an attorney for a civil case.

Melissa Crum So they had no choice… damn. And there is only one county prosecutor to choose from?

Moyah: Exactly! He is an elected official. This is where voting matters. In addition, in Missouri I believe assaulting a cop is a felony and they are allowed to use deadly force if they perceive an assault is imminent. People need to start addressing these laws that are on the books. I understand the rage…but when all is said and done…hopefully people can start going to PTA meetings, city council meetings, community meetings and showing up at the state house during the legislative session.

Melissa Crum Was the county prosecutor election this month as well? I wonder if they waited to give the decision because wanted to wait until AFTER local elections as to not jeopardize his position…

Moyah: Not sure. In Baltimore City the State’s Attorney is elected to a four year term. So it depends on how long his term was for and if he was up for re-election this past November.

Melissa Crum Yep. He ran unopposed this November. How convenient.

http://reason.com/…/prosecutor-in-charge-of-michael…

Melissa Crum I was upset yesterday but I’m damn near fuming today. DAMN!

Moyah: With all the controversy surrounding the prosecutor….I think it may have been a wiser decision if the Governor had brought in a special prosecutor…

Melissa Crum So whether or not to bring in a special prosecutor is determined by the governor only? And only considered based on his judgement call? Also, is this the closest thing to a recusing (??) process?

Melissa Crum And thank you Moyah and Jocelyn for being so willing to answer my questions!!! # ItsGoodToKnowLawyers

Moyah: Yes, I believe it’s at the sole discretion of the governor (don’t quote me though lol).

Melissa Crum So could they move forward with a civil case and hire their own lawyer or are grand jury decisions final?

Melissa Crum Nyron or Kalitha maybe you know this (??) Even though McCulloch ran unopposed that doesn’t mean he automatically wins right? He still has to acquire a certain amount of votes?

Moyah: They can move on and hire a civil attorney and proceed, which is exactly what they did in the Simpson case.

Melissa Crum ^that’s what I was thinking. They won their civil case right? But that also means the Brown family needs the resources to hire a good lawyer… Now class… access to resources determines justice at this point… sigh

Moyah : They did.

Nyron : Melissa Crum, he received 95% of the vote, so no threshold necessary to consider.

Melissa Crum : Nyron: Ok, so what if he ran unopposed and no one voted for him or maybe 40%. Would he still win?

Nyron: Yes, most likely.

Melissa Crum O_O… sigh. DAMN!

Ashlee: Good questions Melissa Crum

Ashanti: Yay for Melissa Crum for asking the right questions. This is a lot more complex than we all initially realized.

Danielle: Well this has been revealing. Thanks.

Melissa Crum Oluwaseun, Carmichael, Brown, Ivory, Chris or others, do you know if a grand jury’s decision NOT to indict determines whether or not a case can proceed to civil court or does it only affect criminal court?

Brandi: Thanks Missy for asking some great questions and for the feedback from those with the knowledge! This is how we grow…empower one another with knowledge!

Nyron : It only affects criminal proceedings. You can sue almost anyone, so long as its for more than, I think, $20. In this case, they would likely sue the Ferguson police department, not Wilson himself.

Melissa Crum Nyron, is there ANY way people could NOT gotten McCulloch re-elected other than trying to get another candidate on the ticket?

Ivory: Melissa Crum well, what good would civil do?

Trevor: It only affects the criminal proceedings! They can very much so move forward with a civil case!

Felicia: These questions and answers should be posted for a wider audience. For a better understanding of the political and legal process. And why every vote really does matter. We’re going to be in this political shakedown for many years now.

Brown: Not at all Melissa. The family hired Parks & Crump… They will be getting paid.

Nyron: Short of him not running, and folks not voting for him, no.

Trevor: I read all the comments and I think the ladies answered everything to the T! Special prosecutors are on governor’s orders. This is by far the strangest grand jury proceeding I’ve heard of. You’re typically seeking an indictment and this was clearly a criminal trial in grand jury posture in my opinion.

Melissa Crum : Thanks Trevor and Brown! Brown, do you know anything about this firm? Nyron, so he would have to get absolutely NO votes to lose since he was running unopposed?

Brown: Additionally, civil lawsuits seek to punish for civil liability, not criminal liability. I can imagine that they will cast the net wide- Ferguson PD, city of Ferguson, HOA for the community, insurance co for market, co. responsible for Ferguson PD protocol and procedures, etc. Most of these will prob settle before a lawsuit is even filed though.

Trevor: Parks & Crump are a very talented and well respected firm. The also represented the family of Trayvon Martin. Benjamin Crump in my opinion his making his way to being compared to the civil version of Johnny Cochran.

Brown: Yes Melissa. They are the big kahunas here in Fla. Started out in Tallahassee, got some big verdicts with the tobacco cases, Trayvon Martin’s parents Atty.

Trevor : I believe he branched off from Willie Gary down in Stuart, FL, who is a brilliant attorney!

Nyron : Basically, though even that would be an unlikely prospect.

Oluwaseun : the civil suit is just about money damages….and unfortunately, even though the grand jury’s determination isnt supposed to weigh in, it often does. Furthermore like chris said, a civil suit solves nothing. We needed a criminal trial because that is how we condemn behavior as a society and establish precedent for the next time this thing happens (which it will).

Brown Oluwasen- Youre right but sadly, its the only way many of these families see “justice.” This is why there has not and probably will not ever be a collective stance on these issues or any real change effectuated. Money talks and money walks. It has the power to quelch the “public” anger of those most closely effected by these instances and causes them to change their cry for REFORM to a cry for victim advocacy and peace. Its the name of the game and it was Jessie and Al’s bread and butter until their financials were revealed. Incite outrage just long enough for the check to clear and then move it right along. At some point, someone will decide this is NOT ok for their families or their people and will determine not to be paid for their silence.

Melissa Crum : Thanks Oluwaseun, Brown and Trevor! I’m not sure if this is the right word, but is there a “recusing” process for prosecutors, similar to judges, if it is believed there is a conflict of interest? I’m thinking because it was known prior to the Mike Brown case that the prosecutor was “pro-police”…

Melissa Crum Well… here we go friends… http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/mound-city-ferguson…

Melissa Crum ” The Mound City Bar Association is concerned that St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch’s family ties with St. Louis’ police department may impact his ability to conduct an impartial investigation. The prosecutor’s father, mother, brother, uncle and cousin have all worked for the department, and his father was killed while responding to a call involving a black suspect, according to CBS News. “

Melissa Crum So… it sounds like he could only recuse himself?? WTH?

Melissa Crum So.. the governor could have called in a special prosecutor or recused McCulloch but didn’t. Sounds like Missouri needs to remember Jay Nixon during the next election… and not re-elect him or anyone he supports. http://www.cbsnews.com/…/missouri-governor-wont-seek…/

Melissa Crum ” Nixon earlier told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he would appoint a special prosecutor if McCulloch himself felt he should step aside.” ” McCullouch has said he has no intentions of leaving the case, but would if Nixon demanded it. REALLY??

Anna: Those two did a great job of passing the buck, didn’t they?

Being African & American… Avoiding the single story.

Sat, 29 Nov 2014 01:59:00 GMT

I was asked to facilitate a workshop entitled “Exploring Intentions for Inter-cultural Exchange” as a preparation activity for a group of African American traveling to Ghana. A friend of mine posted this article on my social media site to assist me in my preparation for the activity. The writer, Ernest Owens , shares with us his response after traveling to Ghana for ten days. It reminded me of my trips to the country, but I didn’t have the same type of reflection as he did. I began to comment on the thread, but it started to get a bit long. So, instead I decided to write my thoughts here. Here is my response:

Click to view slideshow.

Thanks for this. This would work as a good conversation starter and I agree with the article… generally. I would be interested in pushing his thought process a bit further.

1) He mentions “privilege is real.” But I don’t think he adequately addresses the privilege he has in that space. I imagine, if he did some reflection, he might recall some instances where his privilege appeared. Whether it be small privileges such as getting his food at a restaurant before a local Ghanaian received theirs. Or the fact that he can so easily obtain a passport and visa to travel to Ghana but Ghanaians can’t do the same.

2) I believe cross-continental discourse can work (and in some academic and philanthropic ways that is happening) but I believe it depends on the premise upon which we choose to engage. I sense a bit of paternalism in his tone. “Let’s go over there and help them,” as opposed to “what kinds of interactions do we need to create in order to make these interactions mutually beneficial/reciprocal?” How might we be operating from what Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls “The Single Story”? How might we re-imagine Africa for ourselves and others?

3) Lastly, I’m still grappling with the idea of “roots tourism”. Countries (like Ghana) basing their tourism on catering to the emotions of diasporic Africans. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong… I just don’t know how i feel about it. I think my largest concern is about diasporic Africans going to Africa and seeing this space as a source of healing or a component of a self-completion goal. It’s this emptiness fostered by U.S./Eurocentric systems the author wrote about (educational, political, socioeconomic etc.) that feeds the tourism.

It becomes this very interesting dynamic of exchanging money for a (sometimes) packaged (tour-guided) experience that asks the country to maintain a look and feel of the naturalistic, “original” Africa created in our minds and not requesting “the Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie-esque” Africa. Meaning, I’m wondering how many diasporic Africans travel to Africa in search of progressive African thinkers? How many travel to build partnerships and not go for a self- fulfillment excursion excluding the opportunity to challenge how they understand what it means to be American, what it means to be “African”, and how we can find ourselves and others in its multiplicity.

Eggs, Oreos, & Solidarity: MCRP in Our Daily Lives

Sat, 29 Nov 2014 01:50:00 GMT

I was attending a conference that marked the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer of 1964. Freedom Summer was a project where over 1,000 volunteers from across the U.S. were trained to support Mississippians in non-violent disobedience to combat racist Jim Crow laws. The conference consisted of scholars, artists, and activists reflecting on the historic moment and imagining ways to organize for the future. Before the conference, three colleagues and I had brunch at a local restaurant that served an Asian twist on American dishes.

When the waitress came to our table, a colleague asked the waitress’ opinion of the unique kimchi breakfast meal. The waitress offered a positive review and referred to herself as “an egg.” “Egg” is a metaphor for how she, a white woman, internalizes an Asian or “yellow” identity. Presenting herself as “an egg” was her way of aligning herself with Asian culture so we could view her food review as accurate. Upon her leaving, we questioned her statement, its purpose, and our role as scholars who critically interrogate presentations of identity. Each of us identify with different ethnicities – African-American, Mexican and Filipino, Pakistani, and Native American – and agreed that the statement was problematic. At the end of the meal, I decided to address the statement with her.

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Classrooms as Third Spaces

Sat, 29 Nov 2014 01:09:00 GMT

Third Space can harness esoteric cultural evolution and methods that satiate double binds to reconstitute funds of knowledge into critical pedagogical forms. I have found this most evident while working with Mosaic, a low-income African-American community-based homeschool cooperative.

Third Space is a metaphorical space where participants are historical actors using their personal narratives to re-conceive their present and future. Within a Third Space, participants form learning communities of instructors and peers who critically write in response to their sociohistorical lives. These sociohistorical lives contain contemporary experiences, with which they have both intimate contact and understanding, and historical information, to which they are vaguely connected yet is also relevant to their sociopolitical context.

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To Spank or Not to Spank: Watching Black-ish and Thinking about Punishment

Sat, 29 Nov 2014 01:05:00 GMT

My new favorite show is Blackish, a new comedy that airs on ABC. It features an upper middle-class black family’s consistent inner struggle to fulfill racial stereotypes or find solace in alternative ways of living their lives. This week’s episode focused on Andre, the father, and Rainbow, his wife, fluctuating in-between whether or not to spank their son, Jack, for disobeying them.

In light of football player Adrian Peterson’s approach to the punishment of his son , we have been reminded of the significant amount of research regarding the effects of corporal punishment. Regardless of class or race, people aligned themselves with different points on the spectrum of pro- to anti-spanking. I remember getting maybe five spankings in my life. Two of them came from my grandmother. Those two incidences were the classic “go pick your switch from off the tree ” type whoopin’s (as we called them). But my mother was a little different.

She prioritized having conversations with me regarding my behavior. For example, I remember getting in trouble at nine-years-old for writing my name in wet cement. The conversation was not only about how I defaced property, but also about how the person who worked to lay the cement now has to come back and do it again just because I wanted to have a little fun. It wasn’t fair to them. I’ve taken that approach with my son, but he has challenged me to really think differently about punishment. Here are a few things that I realized on this parenting journey:

So, I agree with Andre’s ultimate decision to not spank his son Jack. Like my son, Jack did not have malicious intent. His attempt to have fun with his parents was done at the most inappropriate times. And I think Andre recognized that spanking will not help Jack understand the true lesson: there’s a time and a place for everything. Maybe we can all think about how we can teach such lessons that transcends age and shape consequences that are best suited for individual children.

Mosaic Education Network

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Eggs, Oreos, & Solidarity: MCRP in Our Daily Lives

Classrooms as Third Spaces

To Spank or Not to Spank: Watching Black-ish and Thinking about Punishment

S ome truth bombs for you...

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