“At a Dec. 14 school board meeting, trustees gave the green light to offer an African American studies elective for high school students….”
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Spotlight on a Black Woman Writer: Jenee Osterheldt
Jenee Osterheldt, a Boston Globe writer has debuted a new series called “A Beautiful Resistance, which examines Black lives and Black joy beyond just sharing Black hardships.
New from culture columnist @SincerelyJenee: A Beautiful Resistance, a celebration of Black joy and Black lives. https://t.co/YdVft4wHPi pic.twitter.com/tEwFWYHOCl
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) October 28, 2020
A Beautiful Resistance (bostonglobe.com)
President Barack Obama’s New Book A Promised Land – Review and Book Club
I pre-ordered President Obama’s new book, A Promised Land. When it automatically downloaded to my Kindle at 12 a.m. on the dot this morning, I was super excited. Please feel free to join along with me in reading his 752-page what-is-sure-to-be-a-masterpiece, part I of his presidential memoirs. President Obama’s epigraph includes an African American spiritual that was clearly the inspiration for his book’s title and a Robert Frost quote. The book is broken down into seven parts: “The Bet,” “Yes We Can,” “Renegade,” “The Good Fight,” “The World as It Is,” “In the Barrel,” and “On the High Wire.” President Obama is such a great writer and storyteller. Let’s get started on my reading reflections….
Reflecting on President Obama’s Preface
Reading the opening lines of President Obama’s preface is refreshing because he acknowledges that he may not have accomplished everything that he wanted to as president. For me personally, it’s frustrating that some people who criticize him do not seem to realize that as president, it’s not humanly possible to accomplish all things and that you have to work within the constraints of the office and the supposedly three branches of government along with the politics of a divided government that was explosively divisive after the election of our first Black president.
As a writer myself, it’s supercool that he shared a glimpse of his writing process: “with a pen and yellow pad (I still like writing things out in longhand, finding that a computer gives even my roughest drafts too smooth a gloss and lends half-baked thoughts the mask of tidiness)” (p. xiii). My first thought was who will have to type up his notes? lol. As a writing instructor, that is a great line “too smooth a gloss and lends half-baked thoughts the mask of tidiness” (p. xiii). I often remind my students that a con of using word processing software is that we automatically are thrust into the editing process, instead of just letting the words pour onto the page for later revision—that the first draft is rarely (more likely never) the last draft. No matter how much I try to encourage the revision process with multiple drafts, students resist that notion and often turn in final drafts that are really first drafts with a few minor tweaks here and there just because, with no real intentionality.
Friday, November 20, 2020
President Obama wrote that he wanted to do more than give a “historical record of key events” (p. xiii), that he wanted to also give an “account of some of the political, economic, and cultural crosscurrents that helped determine the challenges” (p. xiii) that occurred during his presidential watch. I’m most interested in the cultural crosscurrents and I’m looking forward to reading about his take on the current racial climate in the country. This volume covers his first term so I have to think back to what was going on from 2009 to 2012 (and also 2008 during his presidential campaign).
Kamala Harris is a Black Woman. Period. Full Stop
It’s getting irritating seeing Black folks argue over whether or not Kamala Harris is Black or not. One thing for sure, she’s a person of color (you can see that; there’s no dispute unless you don’t deal in facts) . . . .and Black!
She can be ALL of these things at once: Black, Jamaican, Indian, Asian American, Irish
First of all, race is a social construction, in which we all have been socialized in within the lens of a White dominant society. There are many forms of identity: racial identity, cultural identity, ethnic identity, national identity, gender identity etc.
Secondly, some Black folks are touchy about their racial categories (there have been many names and labels applied to us throughout history). For some people, the terms are interchangeable and for some, not so much. I’m interchangeable, however, I prefer African-American to distinguish myself as a Black person descendent from U.S. slaves, HOWEVER, I am also Black as a member of the African diaspora, the community of people whose ancestors were Africans dispersed throughout the world by the transatlantic slave trade, especially the Americas and Caribbean (for example, Jamaica).
The “Black” experience is different depending on where you live in the world and where your ancestors were colonized, but racism is everywhere! In many places, globally, Black people are the majority, not the minority like in the United States. A Black person’s “Black lens” or perspective is also different depending on their heritage. There are Black Africans, Black Native Americans, Afro-Latinx/African-Latinx people, Afro-Caribbean/African-Caribbean people, Afro-British, Afro-German/African-German people, Afro-Canadian/African-Canadian people, bi-racial people, multi-racial people etc. etc.
Now, I’m not going to air all our “global Black family” grievances on Facebook (intra-racial conflict), but the other side of this debate is that some Black people who are not African American look down on us and think they’re better than us for various reasons (not listed here) and then you have African American Blacks who believe in the one drop rule and “take in” any and everybody, lol, or derogatorily pick on non-U.S. Blacks for having accents (I am rolling my eyes right now). We are family!
But guess what. To a non-Black person, if you LOOK Black, you’re Black. They could care less about all the important distinctions and nuances.
If you were born in the United States of America with Black skin, regardless of where your parents came from, you are Black citizen! If you immigrated here, you are a Black immigrant or Black naturalized citizen! Because guess what? When navigating White society, that’s all that many see. The color of your Black skin that comes in many, beautiful shades and hues. Regardless of your perspective of yourself and your racial, cultural, ethnic, or national heritages.
Note to White people: Black people, however, are NOT a monolithic group. Why should we have to be? Stop trying to put us in a little check box.
Note to all of us: Expand your minds. Free your minds. #Each1Teach1
Peace and blessings,
Ceci
Michelle Obama Shares About Low Grade Depression
Our forever first lady, Michelle Obama, has a new podcast, in which she shared that she may have low grade depression stemming from issues that we can all relate to –pandemic, racism and racial tensions, and a broken government led by a man who perpetuates hateful rhetoric. Looking at my Facebook timeline and talking among family, it’s clear that Mrs. Obama’s admission was very much needed to help us all realize that we are not alone in the world as far as being the only one feeling off kilter and paralyzed by the abrupt trauma we have been experiencing since March.
Thanks First Lady for continuing to be an awesome, and awe-inspiring, leader. We love you 🙂
References:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/06/us/michelle-obama-coronavirus-depression-trnd/index.html
“How to Listen to Michelle Obama’s Podcast on Spotify for Free”
Civil Rights Legend John Lewis Has Died, Rest in Power, Sir
Just watching the breaking news on TV. Civil rights legend, Democratic Representative John Lewis, 80 years old, has died after a bout with pancreatic cancer. John Lewis was from Georgia and called the “conscience of Congress.” He was one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington. He recently participated in a Black Lives Matter protest after the police brutality killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man—-still being a Freedom Fighter until the end. He also made an appearance at the Black Lives Matter street mural in Washington D.C. with Mayor Bowser. In recent months, petitions have circulated to get the Edmund Pettus Bridge changed to be named after him, in his honor. He was beaten during “Bloody Sunday” in March 1965 during the Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights Movement marches.
Joe Biden’s Education Election Platform
Former Vice President and Senator, Joe Biden, is a democratic presidential candidate for Election 2020. When looking at his educational platform, “Joe’s Plan for Educators, Students, and our Future,” I agree with many of Biden’s ideas. Like Biden, I believe that the government and our local communities should provide our teachers with all the support that teachers need to provide high quality education to our children from early learning pre-K to college (P-20). Additionally, closing the opportunity or achievement gaps is an educational issue I am passionate about; I believe a solution for this is focusing on the equitable resource allocation of educational funding in public schools. The unequal distribution of education funding is a civil rights issue—a detrimental factor in giving every American citizen an equal opportunity to live the American dream.
PRO: Joe Biden’s wife, Jill, has been an educator for over 30 years, so she should have a solid understanding of educational issues to assist with guiding her husband’s educational policies.
Increasing Teacher Pay
I will never understand why we don’t place the teaching profession in high esteem. We trust teachers with our most precious gifts, our children, why not pay teachers what they are worth? We claim that we want high quality teachers in our public schools, however, we are not willing to pay the price for high quality teachers, which requires increasing teachers’ salaries. The old saying “you get what you pay for” is so true. If teachers’ morale are low, which can partly be attributed to low pay because teachers cannot afford to earn a comfortable wage, how can we expect them to pour their best care and knowledge into our children?
Comprehensive Plan for Educators & Students
Biden’s educational platform is well-rounded, not just focusing on the political buzz phrase for the 2020 campaign: eliminating student loan debt. Biden’s plan is comprehensive, covering P-20. I will have to do a further review because he provides many details.
Reference:
https://joebiden.com/education/
Black History Month 2019: Celebrating Our Past, Present, and Future
Even though Black history should be celebrated everyday, not just the month of February, let’s make the most of this month set aside just for that special purpose.
Let’s celebrate our past, present, and future heritage!
The New Black Takeover
I am trying to work through my feelings, interpretations ,and perspectives on brothas and sistas with the New Black idealogy. Michael Arceneaux wrote a piece today called “Don Lemon, Stacey Dash and Raven-Symone, on The View? Can We Stop Rewarding Simple Black Celebrities.” It is so spot on. Seems like a set up and more…