Why we need HERITAGE MONTHS…

The sacrifice of self

Done to be an American

Is one that can only be born(e) by the one who carries

tears

Of joy

when others SEE you

In January…not yet, I guess winter is too long…

In February, being Black…American

In March, being woman…

In April, hearing, little or none, deaf…

In May, being Asian…Pacific Islander…American

In Summer from Memorial Day to Labor Day…American…just American of the U.S. variety…never mind that which is North or South or Central, beyond the 48 contiguous or territorized, colonized (or terrorized) in the oceans or the seas…

In September…in the middle…to the middle of October

then being Queer in October…in America

In November, being Indigenous in America…native

In December…back around to bear the weight of capital that comes in the form of indebtedness and frolicking that is heavy.

All year to be seen is important. To be represented on a calendar, in a school, in a bookstore or library display is to be celebrated from the inside out and outside in…is critical in the debate to be represented. WE ALL MATTER. WE KNOW THAT. For the marks made on a calendar, during the month that celebrates a heritage, perhaps others will see it too. New flavor of capital in each frame–social, cultural, powerful visions of who we have been before we carried who we are as Americans before we carry who we have been born to be…

Fearfully and wonderfully made…

Expressions

I Love

Black Men (male & female)

Who Express and dont

Their Joys & Pains

Realities & Dreams

Freely

Like

Milk

and

Honey

Pregnant

With the Possibilities of

New Language

For OLD IDEAS

Like

Love and joy and pain and real and dreamed

Reading

between the lines

on pages

like canvased art

The Real Roots of ‘Black Capitalism’

#Racialliteracy #Economics
REBLOG

lindaoppenheim's avatarNot In Our Town Princeton

Professor of Law Mehrsa Baradaran explains how Richard Nixon [President of the United States from 1969 to 1974] ignored “meaningful economic reforms proposed by black activists” for housing integration, reparations or both, because “[a]greeing to demands for federal spending or reparations in the ghetto was anti-capitalist.”  “[W]ith the assistance of Alan Greenspan, the Nixon campaign’s economic adviser (and future Federal Reserve chairman)”, Nixon devised “black capitalism,” tax and credit policies that were repeated under different names and in one form or another in virtually every administration since.  Baradaran concludes by saying “These programs fail because the benefits of capitalism always accrue to the owners of the capital, not to the people living in enterprise zones or promise zones. Using capitalism to fix the racial wealth gap will work only if there is a means to transfer capital, assets, wealth or housing.”  Read the entire op ed by clicking here.

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I See You: For BLM @ School

I see you

Side-eyeing

Me

In my tee

Black

With white

BLM messages

At School

You

Plural and singular you…

Funny how language works

You are they and we do not resist

This new way of being both singular and plural

Gender affirming

Life affirming

Love giving

One

My colleagues

My students

My teachers

Thinking…oooo, that’s so racist

Nah…

Your thoughts scream so loud

Your stares so hard

We remain invisible

Though our fight to be seen

By you

Remains the cause of the crimes

That make

ZERO TOLERANCE

Policy polite in your brown eyes green with envy to blue

Class divided

Ways of experimenting on

Us, me, we

Push back to be heard

We matter,

We the smallest group of other in the building by census though not…

By identity we band together though not…

All together banded

Black lives matter at school

For children and teachers

For we…

The least of these

Have the greatest need

To be seen and heard and valued and loved…

Reset

Every picture

Every thought, note and message

Every action saved to preserve the memory of a moment

LOST

Not planned yet the forces of an automatic reset command…

Every relationship

Every attitude

Every habit

To become an

OPPORTUNITY

To begin again…

To gain fresh perspective.

Happy New You.

Assignment: Be a Gift

Today is her born day in the year of her passing. How do I celebrate the loss of the one to whom I and my twin sister, we, were presented as a gift? With tears of joy, and feelings of gratitude, I simply whisper “I miss you” in my morning prayers.

I say, “thank you for sharing your life with us.” 

I think, I have been blessed to be your gift for almost 50 years.

 

In loving memory of my Grandmother, Edna Thompson
Rest in power, peace and love

answering the C.A.L.L.

When faced with the stress of service  & servanthood

Hold on…

Serving and being a servant is about answering the C.A.L.L.

Community

Accountability

Literacy

Love…

We,

Those who teach, who counsel, who heal, who operate in the office of peace…

We know your fatigue…

We’ve felt and feel and hear and see your pain…

Be encouraged

Sistah Soldier

Be encouraged

Brothah Soldier

Seek community for in it is healthy accountability to the dream and vision…

Be literate for in loving words and ideas we find our voice and our strength

To write

To speak

To become stronger for the battles ahead…

Perspectives on the P-attitudes

When I first started working with teachers–20 years ago–I had only been in the classroom myself, as a teacher, for about five years.

The gall of me to think that I could be an “expert” at the midpoint of a decade in the front of a room!

But, I did have authority and perhaps expertise that had been invisible and/or undervalued in the school. My life as a Black student and a Black teacher and a learner of science–that content which finally had been valued–had not been a crystal stair but I could feel the pressure of my ascension.

Years later, I would train teachers using PRODUCTS

PROMOTED as frameworks

Based on research PROGRAMS

Built on best PRACTICES…

I used the language of research based products and programs to reinforce their practices.

I established and shared classroom norms and expectations with my students rather than any rules on the way to forming a community…I believed in the practices being promoted as programs being packaged as products

UNTIL I realized the dangerous entitlements of capitalism creeping into the/my ways…

Had I lost my vision for a new attitude–a P-attitude–in the classroom where voice and reason, and collaboration and community were equally valuable as success narratives defined within a system made for girls (and children) who didn’t look like me? Even the boys of all shades and experiences struggled in this system of rows and columns, raised hands and silent reading, books and worksheets instead of playful engagement with new and old things…

My P-attitudes:

To be POSITIVE because optimism just feels better than despair

To be PENSIVE because being thoughtful and considerate promotes relationship over pride

To be PERSONAL because exhibitionism creates an environment where those who are depraved may be tempted to steal or manipulate rather than simply admire

To be PREPARED because when you are ready for what happens next means you are ready for what happens later

To be PURPOSEFUL because mindfulness leads to achievement and maybe even mastery, for in it–purpose–there is vision that converts ideas into revelation…

 

I am grateful that I have a sister and a man and a child who believe in me enough to share their lives and thoughts with me. It builds me up so that I can build others…Wooooo sahhhhhh