Episodes
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Although this podcast never gained the group of concerned learners that I was hoping that it would, my gratitude for all the Black people who shared their insights, wisdom, and solutions-oriented thinking is immeasurable. My thinking about, my awareness of, and my respect for Black fellow Americans has grown in ways I never could have imagined without those 1-to-1 conversations... which I recommend for all White people who care about healing the racial divides in our country.
This most essential elements of this podcast will now be merged with my other podcast, the Big Picture Social Emotional Learning podcast. It might seem like an odd transfer, but it's logical and makes a great deal of good sense, because Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is an integral part of education and well-rounded human development.
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is an integral part of education and human development. SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.
SEL advances educational equity and excellence through authentic school-family-community partnerships to establish learning environments and experiences that feature trusting and collaborative relationships, rigorous and meaningful curriculum and instruction, and ongoing evaluation. SEL can help address various forms of inequity and empower young people and adults to co-create thriving schools and contribute to safe, healthy, and just communities.
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According to Jason "Phatz" Kirkman, hip-hop has been misused and misappropriated. He’s written a book to shine a light on how the genre originated in the Bronx in the mid-60’s, as a peaceful, cultural alternative to crime. Phatz is on a mission to help youth understand hip-hop’s true purpose and to take it back.
Here's an article worth reading to understand some of Phatz' work: Mentors and hip-hop combine in Virginia Beach
Here's a link to the Kindle edition of Phatz' book: OFFSTAGE: The Culture of Hip Hop Before the Elements
Here's a description of the book: OFFSTAGE offers the reader a look at Hip-Hop from a historical perspective and a cultural perspective. The history of a people will give you people, places, times and things that culminate in their experiences. The culture of a people tell you who the people were in their heart and soul. It gives you insight on their walk, their talk and how their path formed and shaped them.
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The original people of Hip-Hop accomplished way more than redefining the get down part of a song. Before anyone can begin expressing their artistic and musical capabilities (the elements) they must first present themselves to you. OFFSTAGE gives you the opportunity to get to know the original people of Hip-Hop before the party started. -
Missing episodes?
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Here's the YouTube version of this episode, with lots of visuals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5SRfbrD-kA&t=2s
Here's a link to SEL DAY info for the many ways you can help boost its success: https://selday.org
#SELday Letter to the Editor Toolkit link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/173T0MrbfuA4urQZvGYRp6ccRr45dKDDjMUTZeesWl94/edit
David Adams, the CEO of Urban Assembly, made time for this conversation because he places a premium on dialogue that is seen by both parties as an opportunity to actively listen to each other, to learn from each other and to connect with each other in order to achieve a meaningful exchange of understanding and perspectives.
From that point, David and I both agreed that dialogue at that level is ever-evolving, because in any relationship … between individuals, within a community, or between different cultures … people are always changing, circumstances are always changing, and so there is always more to learn from and with each other.
From there we focused on how the group of 23 schools over which he presides works to bring the most meaningful and enriching education to underserved youth. These schools would be any parents’ dream for their children’s development, not only because they nurture individual skills and even hidden talents, but because they are doing the active work of prioritizing social emotional learning for every person within each school’s community.
We talked about the challenges, specifically the challenges caused by this country’s long history and undeniable patterns of racial injustice, that gave rise to the powerful solutions manifesting everyday at the Urban Assembly schools.
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Assata Moore is that rare, gifted, and generous educator who is uncommonly successful at helping students (melanated or not) enjoy the power of mathematics to make life, in school and beyond, successful and rewarding.
Here is the link to Assata's BLACK MATH GENIUS online course. On sale in the month of February at a 62% savings.
In 2017, Assata retired from her district-level position at the University of Chicago's Urban Education Institute. Before that position, Assata spent five years as a high school principal. Assata has traveled the world teaching other teachers how to teach mathematics, physics, and engineering in ways that engage students of all ages.
In 2009, under the Obama Administration, Assata received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.
My name is nini white, I was a teacher for over 20 years, and now I am the One White Teacher of this podcast, seeking out meaningful conversations with Black people, so that all of us can, little by little, know each other better, so that we can undo the miseducation that has separated with racist policies and systems, that really only hurt all of us. Thank you for sharing these learning experiences with me.
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YouTube of this conversation.
ThePocketUSA - includes excellent info about interacting with police when pulled over for a traffic stop.
ClippersandCops - effectively mending the gap between community and police: definitely a site worth checking out to see the positive community-level work being achieved.
Once in awhile, a problem is so pervasive it seems insurmountable, and then someone comes along with a solution so sensible and so simple that you can’t help but wonder why it took so long to show up.
Well, Brian Wilturner, a Black man and the loving father of a teenage boy had plenty of motivation to come up with a legitimate solution for traffic stops by police.
Our conversation is short and to the point, and, while acknowledging the tragic outcomes of far too many traffic stops by police involving Black people, what we focus on together is the many layered benefits for all of us, no matter the color of our skin, including benefits for police officers.
Thank you for joining us to learn about one more way in which a racially-based challenge is being creatively addressed in the most Win-Win of ways. Welcome to the One White Woman podcast. My name is Nini White and I’m truly grateful to you for being the person who is taking time to learn so that real change can happen and move all of us, all Americans, forward.
Oh, and this conversation, as all One White Woman conversations going forward, is viewable on YouTube if you’d like to see the actual item that Brian is talking about.
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Alvin Garrett is not interested in partial truths, and in this conversation we cover a broad range of topics, which several times circled back to the issue of real empathy, which Alvin affirmed, cannot be forced through a sense of guilt or in any other way.
If you, as a ‘white’ person, have ever felt uneasy about talking to a Black person, for fear of saying the wrong thing, or making the wrong move, Alvin helps to clarify the root cause of that frustration. And he follows that insight with a view from the Black person’s perspective. He explains that we need to stop trying to prove to each other what we are, and what we are not, let our ‘guards’ down, and start connecting from that place of openness.
We go on to talk about Braver Angels, a highly effective nonprofit organization to which he and I, independently, have found a home for engaging in the process of bringing Americans together to listen and learn from each other (rather than listening to the media’s inflammatory soundbites) in order to, with mutual respect, bridge the destructive partisan divides for the purpose of strengthening our democratic republic for everyone’s benefit.
Alvin’s viewpoint on the reason that George Floyd’s murder triggered a global response brings this conversation to a whole other level… and… if you’ve ever wondered, as I often have, how some Black people, in spite of all the challenges they live with, on a daily basis, just by being Black in America, how they only grow stronger - maintaining their freedom from the toxicity of negativity, you will definitely appreciate Alvin’s answer.
The part of our conversation about privilege and white privilege is pure gold… and just to give you a quick heads up: guilt has no value and no place in what he suggests we can do with our white privilege to make a positive difference.
And… we concluded with some of our combined thoughts on critical thinking: its importance, its obstacles, its challenges, and its rewards.
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https://www.13blacktownstour.com
https://studio.youtube.com/video/5Phj93CKxjs/edit
These are intense times, with battles being fought in school districts over how and what today’s students should be learning about this country’s history.
Many of us are waking up to the fact that parts of this country’s history, the parts about which no one can feel any pride, have been and continue to be buried, withheld, and intentionally covered up.
One of the many things I found most fascinating about conversation with Derrick Smith, the Young Black Mayor, is his positive and constructive approach to turning things around for everyone’s benefit… and by everyone, I mean all Americans, whatever the color of their skin.
Education is how we become stronger as a nation… and Derrick is committed to education that not only informs but also entertains. Derrick has a big-hearted and worthwhile vision for how his community can independently grow and thrive, and I loved talking with this wise and creative gentleman. See if you agree about the positive value of his ideas and his vision.
Thank you for joining me on this the One White Woman podcast. My name is Nini White and this podcast is my way to learn and grow, by sharing my learning journey, one conversation at a time to move out of the cluelessness in which I’ve been swimming my entire life, and I want to breathe the clean fresh air of unaltered facts, because as James Baldwin famously said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
Thank you again for sharing these conversations with me.
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This podcast is for people who know they want to whole-heartedly move forward with their intention to be part of solutions to the racial disparities and inequities in America. We need to be very realistic about the fact that nothing will change just because we want it to change... but let's abandon the concept that it's 'hard work.' Instead, let's identify what's required of us 'white' people as 'worthwhile work,' or 'rewarding work' ... something more along those lines, because words do matter.... and words can exhaust us before we get started or they can energize and inspire us. Let's be energized and inspired. Yes?!! You can learn more about Tom Morgan on his website, here: https://www.morganintercultural.com Here is a link for an abundance of information provided by Mitch Hammer: https://idiinventory.com/about-us/our-team/mitchell-r-hammer-ph-d/ Here's a link to a helpful distillation of Bennett's Model of Intercultural Sensitivity: https://www.arlt-foundation.org/blog-post/the-developmental-model-of-intercultural-sensitivity-dmis Please remember to subscribe, to leave a rating and a review.
I'm starting to think that we 'white' people who value this kind of wisdom are in the minority of 'white' people, but if we stick together, and learn together so we can grow together, we will make a difference.
Thank you again for being here.
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Dr. Rachelle Rogers-Ard. Rachelle is a published author, adjunct professor, district administrator and she has over 25 years experience as an organizational development specialist focused on coaching school and business leaders in effective approaches for dismantling racist policies, practices and procedures that threaten organizational health. Currently, Dr. Ard is the Principal Lead for Harvest Consulting.
REAL relationships, Rachelle points out, are based on the people in those relationships being SEEN… and being SEEN is a prerequisite for the possibility to engage in COURAGEOUS conversations.
In this conversation, which I’m so grateful to be able to share with other “white” people who are sincere in their efforts to heal the destructive racial divisions in this country, Rachelle describes, with uncommon clarity, the mindset required for us to make forward progress.
One particularly helpful insight I gained from Rachelle for checking my ‘whiteness’ in relation to Black people is to be aware of my surprise - spoken, thought or wordlessly felt - in response to Black people’s intelligence, accomplishments, skills, etc., etc.
Have you ever noticed that response in yourself, even if you didn’t give voice to it? THAT is clear evidence of how we, as ‘white’ people, have been programmed as ‘superior’ and to expect inferior intelligence, accomplishments and skills from Black people.
THIS is the insidious nature (to use Rachelle’s vocabulary) of how ‘white’ privilege and ‘white’ supremacy manifest… most often under the radar of our own conscious awareness.
It hurts a LOT to tell you I’ve caught those thoughts, which I hate to admit, even to myself, but if I don’t catch them, and I don’t admit to myself that I caught them, then how else can I become more conscious of, and eventually eliminate, the programming I and all of us ‘whites’ grew up with?
Rachelle tells us that we need to ‘name what is invisible to make it visible,’ because as Ibram X. Kendi explains, ‘The heartbeat of racism is denial.’
… a little bit more about Rachelle:
Her upcoming remote leadership engagement series is: “WOKENESS DON’T STOP BULLETS: Authentic Leadership to Challenge Intersectional Racism.” The purpose of this 3-day remote leadership engagement series is to “shake systems and soothe souls.” Dates are August 9th, 10th & 13th, (2021) from 9am - noon PST. For more info contact: [email protected]
Rachelle’s recently published book, “Black Educational Leadership: From Silencing to Authenticity” which she co-authored with Christopher Knaus, PhD, explores a topic few of us ‘white’ people are even aware needs attention. The book’s dedication reads “To the many, many children who grow up without being able to learn from powerful, authentic Black school leaders and to the many, many Black educators who feel they cannot be who they are and keep their jobs.” A dedication that clearly speaks to an unacceptable deficiency in our educational systems that we ‘whites’ must acknowledge, absorb, and be intentional in helping to correct.
Rachelle's website link.
YouTube link for our conversation: https://youtu.be/Bky6WpsjeoA
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Are you, like me, finally realizing that it’s up to so-called “white” people, to examine our woefully incomplete knowledge of history, and current realities, so that we are better able to contribute, in whatever ways feel most right for each of us, to practical and constructive solutions that will move all of us, as Americans, permanently forward. We've come a long way, yet we need to remain open to how very much more we need to learn and understand so we can consciously be part of the solutions, rather than continuing to unconsciously enable systemic racism in America.
Today’s conversation is with Ashley Scott, a realtor and visionary entrepreneur. Ashley is a fireball of positive, practical and constructive energy, and she’s dedicated to creating a safe future, characterized by fully realized potentials for her family, her friends’ families, and all future generations of Black families in America.
Towards the end of Ashley’s and my conversation, the connection got a little wobbly, but I hope you’ll listen all the way through… and then I very much hope you’ll check this show’s notes for links to the sites Ashley shared with us.
Organizations suggested by Ashley deserving of your attention and contributions:
The Freedom Georgia Initiative: Creating generational wealth for Black families. Providing a place for safety, restoration, recreation, and reformation for Black families during this time of racial trauma and economic instabilities across the United States of America. All well-wishers are invited to upcoming events and support our fundraiser. We are doing a new thing. We are building for ourselves!
Freedom Georgia’s GO FUND ME page: Help us build a new future for Black families and our allies by bringing amenities and utilities to our 96.71 acres of land in Toomsboro, GA.
The Black Achievement Fund: Working together with the Freedom Georgia Initiative to establish safe communities, towns and municipalities for Black people across the country in which we have our own police departments, court systems, and control of our own social, political and economic affairs.
NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People): A multigenerational network of activists dismantling structural racism by taking action on the most pressing issues of our time.
A small sampling of the media coverage Freedom, Georgia has attracted:
CNN video: 19 families buy nearly 97 acres of land in Georgia to create a city safe for Black people
Newsweek article: 'We're Creating a City in Georgia for Black People to Live Without Racism'
USA Today Article: “19 Black families bought 97 acres of land, and they want to turn it into a city called Freedom”
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Please help more people to learn about this podcast by rating and leaving a review on Apple podcasts, which will help to make this podcast more visible for others who, like us, want to do more than stating the obvious that Black Lives Matter… but who want to increase their awareness and understanding, which is the sole intention of this podcast.
“The Souls of Black Folk,” by W. E. B. Du Bois, Chapter 2 (Of the Dawn of Freedom) This link connects to The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Souls of Black Folk, by W. E. B. Du Bois. (FREE.)
Forty acres and a mule (from Wikipedia): is part of Special Field Orders No. 15, a wartime order proclaimed by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman on January 16, 1865, during the American Civil War, to allot land to some freed families, in plots of land no larger than 40 acres (16 ha). Sherman later ordered the army to lend mules for the agrarian reform effort. However, Abraham Lincoln's successor as president, Andrew Johnson, explicitly reversed and annulled proclamations such as Special Field Orders No. 15 and the Freedmen's Bureau bills.
You can learn more about, and contribute to Adriene Lipscomb’s 40 Acres Project here: https://40acresproject.com/
And, as always, regardless of your "race," gender, political affiliation, sexual orientation, etc., you are warmly invited to learn more about (and join) the Black Achievement Fund. The goal of the BAF is to create a sustainable independent source of capital to fund a national Black economic and community development agenda and to support the talent of Black people to foster a new Black Renaissance that reflects the collective genius of people of African descent.
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Welcome to the One White Woman podcast… Being here means you’re probably aware of how much more aware you could be about the facts and the challenges that underly the realities of systemic racism in the United States. Hopefully, too, you yearn for opportunities to heal the wounds brought on by the appalling facts of our country’s history. That’s why I’m here, sharing conversations I’m having with people who can help you and me to increase our understanding AND help us to become more effective in the repair, on all levels, that needs to happen… for everyone’s sake moving forward.
The upcoming conversation is with Rachelle Zola, a 72-year old “white” woman who has an impressive history of her own, volunteering all over the world for causes that mattered to her… and who, like me, only recently gained clarity about the harsh realities of life in America for Black people. Her response is a mixture of dedication to peeling back the layers of miseducation in which we’ve all been immersed, ardent emotions and iron-willed convictions that white passivity is NOT an option. Reparations are very much in her sights… not WHAT reparations should look like, because that’s a different conversation she respectfully explains must include the Black community’s perspective and input… but simply and certainly THAT reparations must happen… that they’re long, long overdue.
Rachelle’s hunger strike will begin on May 16th, 2021. You can learn more about plans and how the strike is progressing at any of her social media sites, all of which contain the words RachelleforHR40, and which will be updated by her volunteer support team. Please refer to the show’s notes to find Rachelle on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
https://www.facebook.com/RachelleForHR40
https://twitter.com/rachelleforhr40
https://www.instagram.com/rachelleforhr40/
I would also like to share with everyone about an organization that has given me an abundance of hope and energy because its solutions-oriented approaches reflect uncommon levels of intelligence, integrity and practical, creative positivity across the full spectrum of human development and aspirational achievements. The organization is the Black Achievement Fund. You can learn more at their website: www.baf.solutions. (NOT www.baf.com. It’s www.baf.solutions, because solutions really is what the Black Achievement Fund is all about.)
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This podcast exists to learn about the love, the dignity and the creative power of Black people who are our fellow Americans… and… This podcast exists to value differences, while breaking down conscious and unconscious barriers of separation which are sometimes caused by those differences.
In this October episode I am scary grateful and supremely honored to be sharing conversation with Freddie Taylor, the Founder and CEO of Sankofa Club… an online resource for Black parents to supplement their children’s education, and, in Freddie’s words: “to keep the miseducation away.”
Mis-education? Oh yes! Plenty of miseducation about Black people’s history… and the time is long overdue for real-world facts to be acknowledged and affirmed … because the facts about Black people’s history and legacy extend faaar beyond the cruel and dehumanizing chapter of their enslavement in this country. Because one month each year is just. not. enough. Not. Even. Close.
Freddie Taylor is dedicated, in the best sense of that word, to providing well-researched facts about Black’s people’s creative contributions, courage and leadership to today’s Black children, because today’s Black children deserve to grow up with pride in the true worth of their community, their culture, their ancestors….
I have watched hours and hours of Freddie’s online offerings, and the number one impression for me has been the deep Rightness of his motivations, his intentions, his service mindset… and all of that with uncommon generosity and positive energy.
As white people, we have so much to learn about Black people’s lives and experiences… and a lot of what we need to be learning, understanding and absorbing is difficult, uncomfortable … painful. You don’t really need me to tell you that. It’s common knowledge, and it’s probably a big part of why you’re sharing some of your learning journey with me. The thing is, we also need to learn, to try to understand and to absorb Black people’s strengths, their values, their energy and their intelligence… which is why I was so grateful that Freddie agreed to share his thoughts with us… and I highly recommend that you go to his website: UrbanIntellectuals.com to get a broader sense of his activities and contributions, and the wider circle of his associates. We all need inspiration to remain energized and hopeful, so thank you Freddie Taylor… and thank you listeners.
If you haven’t already, please tell your friends about this podcast and subscribe … I promise you, this podcast is just going to become more and more worthwhile.
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Patrice Register is my favorite kind of person: one whose life is all about moving forward on every front, no matter the external obstacles, while being a force for positive growth along the way. Growing up Black in Georgia is one part of Patrice’s story. Another part is her big-hearted family. And, are you ready for this? Patrice was a police officer in Georgia. A Black. Woman. Police officer. This woman is sooo solid. And NOT to be put into a ‘box’ of simple and predictable labels. After serving as a police officer, Patrice went on to earn an Executive MBA from Colorado State Tech University. She uses that education in a wide variety of ways: •as a business coach, •as a member of community organizations, •as a mentor to start-up companies, as an *advocate for women and girls, and as a *life-skills teacher for ‘at-risk students… and there’s more, which you’ll learn about in our conversation.
I’m not the only one who appreciates and respects Patrice. She was nominated for the 2012 Small Business Influencer Award and recognized as 2014’s 50 Most Influential Women in Arizona Business. In 2016 she was a nominee for Arizona State University’s Spirit of Enterprise Award. Also in 2016 she was a nominee for BBB Torch Award for Ethics. Bottom line, Patrice is wise, generous and full of positive energy.
I LOVED this conversation, and I feel permanently enriched by connecting with this beautiful human being. Learn more about Patrice: https://wefunder.com/stories.that.binds.us and https://twitter.com/patriceregister and www.plrservices.com
Contact me: [email protected]
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Police are in the news a lot these days. Too much, really, since the news about police is mostly bad, unacceptable, despicable and even terrifying.
So, don’t ask me how, because I really don’t remember, but I came across a YouTube video with Police Chief Thomas Connolly. On the 5-minute video, he clearly expressed his strength-based humility alongside his invitation to the citizens of his town to participate in constructive partnership.
It was abundantly clear that Chief Connolly meant every word he said, so I had to invite him to join me in conversation on this podcast, because you and I need more good news coming our way these days.
The hour-long conversation you’re about to hear, was on a whole other level. Police Chief Connolly shares his insights and 40+ years of experience in ways that help us to appreciate and respect the human side of his very challenging responsibilities, as well as the challenges of appropriately carrying out those responsibilities. He doesn’t present himself as perfect or having all the answers, but the answers he does have are definitely worth listening to.
Get ready to come away from this episode wishing Police Chief Connolly’s approach was the standard rather than the exception for leadership in our country’s police departments. And be sure to join the One White Woman Podcast Facebook page so you can get the link to Chief Connolly’s YouTube video. It’s worth watching. It really is.
There is no doubt in my mind, that if anyone can create constructive outcomes amongst diverse factions it is that man. I’m definitely planning on reaching out to him again in about 6 months’ to learn what progress has been realized with the meetings he’s planned.
If you have questions or suggestions for different topics, different people you’d like me to invite onto this podcast, I hope you’ll let me know. Again, the best way to reach me is on the One White Woman Podcast Facebook page.
Thanks for being here. We have so much learning and growing to do, and it really is on us white people to wake up to the countless ways in which systems throughout our country’s culture are, have always been, disproportionately advantageous to whites. In future episodes I plan to share with you some of the important books I’ve been reading, which will include insights from some of the best minds that are focusing on the multi-leveled challenges of racism in our country….
No matter how much we know and feel the truth that #Black Lives Matter, none of us with light skin can possibly comprehend the hard realities of living in this country as a non-white…. and learning from African Americans and other people of color so that we can take in those realities on deeper and deeper levels is the purpose of this podcast. I hope you’ll stay with me… so we can learn and grow together.
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Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lewis and many others ( black & white) put themselves in dangerous situations, commonly marked by violence and time in jail, to increase awareness about the fact that voting rights, especially in the southern states, were very purposely designed to suppress Black and minority voters.
The 1965 signing of the Voting Rights Act by Lyndon Johnson, made nearly all voter suppression tactics illegal across this country. And when Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act, it did so with for following reason: ‘to address entrenched racial discrimination in voting, and “insidious and pervasive evil which has been perpetuated in certain parts of our country through unremitting and ingenious defiance of the Constitution.” Those are not my words. Those are in the official record.
The intent and purpose of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act was to disallow any changes to voting procedures UNLESS & UNTIL the new procedures were determined, by the Justice Department or a federal court in Washington, D.C., to have no discriminatory purposes or effects. SOUNDS GOOD, RIGHT?
And it was. Black registration rates in the former Confederate states rebounded from 30 percentage points below white registration rates in 1960 to equal or greater than white registration rates in 2010. Black turnout in elections followed a similar positive pattern.
The results were incredible. In 1965, there were only five African Americans in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate combined. Today there are 48. And across all state and local offices, the change is even more remarkable. Since 1965, African-Americans went from holding fewer than a 1,000 offices nationwide to over 10,000.
So what IS the problem? Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act is the problem. On June 25, 2013, the United States Supreme Court decided that it is unconstitutional to continue forcing states to submit possible changes to their voting rules for approval by the Justice Department. The result of the 5-4 decision? Twenty-one states now have new voting restrictions— including strict voter ID requirements, no online voter registration, no pre-registration for teens about to turn 18, and serious cutbacks to Sunday and early morning voting for low-income workers.
If you’re familiar with the names of U.S. Supreme Court Judges, you can probably guess who voted for this change: Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. To assert that this decision was not a political decision would be wandering too far from the truth of the matter....
… especially when we learn who was against this destructive change: Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
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When Emancipation for Black people was won, after so many lives lost in our Civil War, that should have been the start of a new chapter in this country - one that would start the healing from all the ugliness promoted by the enslavement of Black people. It did not. What happened, instead, was a vicious and shameful recalibration of the 'white supremacy' mindsets. "JIM CROW" came to be the code word for the whole package of ways in which some white people were willing to show themselves as aggressively attached to subjugating Black people so that they (whites) could be the 'superior' race.
Before George Floyd's murder, I was not clear on how all the pieces of white supremacy, lynchings, voter repression, black face 'entertainment,' separate-but-equal, the perpetuation of poverty and lack of opportunity for Black people was all tied together. This brief intro to understanding what is included in that one phrase, Jim Crow era, is the purpose of this episode.
As always, if you have questions or comments, please connect with me via the One White Woman Facebook page.
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Cheryl shared the following quote from William Edward Burkhardt (WEB) DuBois. DuBois was the first African-American man to graduate from Harvard, and he wrote these still relevant words in 1903 in a book he published, “The Souls of Black Folk”:
"One ever feels his two-ness, an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife - this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the other selves to be lost. He does not wish to Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He wouldn’t bleach his Negro blood in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of opportunity closed roughly in his face” (2-3).
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In 1996, 24 years ago, Prop. 209 was passed in the state of California. Prop 209, also referred to as the ‘California Civil Rights Initiative.’ Quoting from that Proposition:"... prohibits the state from discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting."
We’ve focused on public education in this episode's conversation.
Here’s a useful definition Academic Language:
While the term is most commonly applied to language-specific skills, competency in academic language also bleeds into a wide variety of related non-linguistic skills that are difficult or impossible to separate out from language ability, including foundational academic skills (organizing, planning, researching), cognitive skills (critical thinking, problem solving, interpreting, analyzing, memorizing, recalling), learning modes (questioning, discussing, observing, theorizing, experimenting), and work habits (persistence, self-discipline, curiosity, conscientiousness, responsibility), in addition to other forms of literacy required to succeed in modern schools, such as technological literacy, online literacy, media literary, or multicultural literacy, among others (for a related discussion, see 21st century skills).
Here’s a link to a valuable article about how to help students develop their Academic Language skills: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/8-strategies-teaching-academic-language-todd-finley
(Before Prop. 16 became Prop. 16 it had to pass through the California Assembly to qualify to be on the ballot. While in the process of passing through the California Assembly, it was referred to as ACA 5.) This excellent article explains the value of Prop. 16 (while it was still referred to as ACA 5) http://speakupparents.org/blog/2020/6/1/its-time-to-dismantle-educational-injustice-against-black-students
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I know something you don’t know… you don’t know what you don’t know. None of us do. How could we? Especially when our not knowing is strategically combined with the intentions of people in power, like political leaders, like designers of educational systems and writers of curriculum, who’ve exhibited no qualms about filling in our not knowing with what reflects and serves their values and their purposes … to promote and perpetuate the mindset of WHITE SUPERIORITY. I am so grateful to Jennifer Hawthorne, a well-respected author, for sharing with us about her own school experiences in Louisiana in the ‘50s and ‘60s.
Jennifer mentioned Jimmy Fallon's recent awakening to the fabric of inequality into which all of our white lives have been woven. Here's a great clip from one of Jimmy's recent shows with anti-racism educator, Jane Elliott. https://theglobalherald.com/entertainment/jane-elliott-on-her-blue-eyes-brown-eyes-exercise-and-fighting-racism/ Jane was on Oprah many years ago, and delivered this same lesson to Oprah's audience members who were NOT informed about the experiment. Fascinating to see their responses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebPoSMULI5U
Although it’s a fact of life that we cannot change how others think if they’re not open to another way of thinking … there are effective ways to start and engage in conversations with people who have even a small degree of openness to other perspectives. Braver Angels, the organization I mentioned in this conversation with Jennifer, is doing highly effective work at uniting Americans in efforts to depolarize our country, by engaging those who disagree, and guiding them to discover common ground … and ways to work together. The Braver Angels’ online training is free or very low cost, yet highly effective… You can learn more with videos on their site (at BraverAngels.org) to see just how effective the organization is at educating people like you and me to better navigate challenging but important topics. Check it out, especially if you need a shot of real hope in these painful times. Alright, thank you for sharing this journey of awakening even if, like me, you’re a late bloomer. We’re here now, and there’s so much to learn, so much to notice, so much to no longer let slip by … and it’ll be so much easier together… so please share your questions, your comments and your insights. They will add to the value of this podcast for everyone…especially all us white women and white men, too.
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