Category: The Blog

An important article in the LA Times by JONAH VALDEZ STAFF WRITER
OCT. 10, 2022 5 AM PT

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-10/after-nearly-200-years-the-tongva-community-has-land-in-los-angeles-county

In 1851, the U.S. government signed and broke treaties with the Gabrieleno/Tongva promising 1.55 million acres (over ½ of LA County) of our 2.56 million acre ancestral territory. “171 years later, we launch the Return the Land Fund, to raise an initial and symbolic, $1.55 million for Tribal housing subsidies, land, plant, relative return, and cultural revitalization. $1 for every acre promised is meaningful and also so little; land has been commodified so much our own people can’t afford to live in our ancestral land.”

The Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy is a Tongva-led organization created to steward lands on Tovaangar, the traditional Tongva region, encompassing the greater Los Angeles basin. The Conservancy has received land back, is creating community and housing Native people, practicing ceremony, archiving, and repatriating the land.

To support the Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy Campaign by making a “guest exchange” gift, visit: https://tongva.networkforgood.com/projects/174424-tongva-return-the-land-fund?utm_campaign=dms_email_blast_2212834&utm_source=email&utm_medium=ordercomplete&utm_campaign=Monday-2022-11-28

Here is the link to a live streaming interview I did with Nick Lawrence on his talk radio show “Vantage Point” on WXPM 98.5 FM. Topics included White privilege, systemic racism, and critical race theory. Nick’s discussions are frank and intelligent, but always respectful. Download this link to listen in…

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p4ziHEn_WEcUZybzg4A-sqK1CbzDI5Rn/view?usp=sharing

Giving Tuesday is a worldwide opportunity for people to come together – through generosity in all its forms – by sharing acts of kindness and giving their voice, time, money, goods, and advocacy to support communities and causes. Giving Tuesday 2021 is a simple and direct way to participate in amends, reparations, and justice by supporting Caused-Based Coalitions.

This Giving Tuesday, financially support advocacy groups working on social and environmental justice issues. Here is one example – among many – regarding prison reform: The Innocence Project, https://innocenceproject.org/policy/north-carolina founded in 1992 by Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck at Cardozo School of Law, exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. And for the most recent and most authoritative article on the topics, people, and events sharping the criminal justice conversation, The Marshall Project, https://www.themarshallproject.org/records/4766-prison-abolition curates some of the best criminal justice reporting from around the web.

While we cannot undo the past, we can be one hundred percent responsible for the present socioeconomic disparities. The story of slavery is still our story. To be response-able is to be able to respond. This Giving Tuesday, choose a social or environmental justice issue about which you care deeply and financially support those working for progress. We each are response-able to confront the real landscape and take action.

#GivingTuesday #philanthropytogether #reparations #reparationsnow @DrBevBrowning1 @2leafpress @IamCarolynBaker

Listen here:

Show notes: http://buff.ly/3ovFWp4

“In today’s episode, we visit with Carolyn Baker, author of “An Unintentional Accomplice: A Personal Perspective on White Responsibility,” a narrative of one woman’s path to confronting internalized racism, white guilt, and the complexities of racism in America. ⁠n⁠nCarolyn was 62 years old when she learned about the murder of Emmett Till, which sparked a personal investigation into her own personal biases. Starting with her cookie-cutter upbringing in Southern California, Carolyn confronts white privilege with directness and honesty.⁠

Carolyn lives in her native Los Angeles where she is proud to be challenging the status quo along with the multicultural authors of the Black/Brown female-led 2Leaf Press. “⁠

#CharlotteReaderspodcast #podcast #literary #literature #instabooks #goodreads #bookstagram #booklover #amreading #bookreview #bookaddict #bookclub #bookobsessed #booknerd #bookaholic #booklife #bookworm #bookgram #booktography #bookblogger #totalbooknerd #bookishfeatures #creativenonfiction #tellyourstory #podcaster

I am from Boston colonists who traded in Black bodies.

I am from Virginia colonists who fled religious persecution.

I am from Kentucky slaveholders and Quaker slave runners.

I am from a military father who sailed the oceans in big ships that smelled of oil, exercising our dominion in the air, land, and sea.

I am from the socially engineering racial segregation of Lakewood, California, “Tomorrow’s City…Today.”

I am from a widowed mother who dealt with her grief through service to the community and a sense of humor.

I am from “White Lives Matter More.”

I am from all those who pointed me to how I might live if I were to turn inward and look honestly at my life and begin to think anew and act anew.

#DEI #decolonize #settlercolonialism #reparations #reimagine #artivism #transformation #intersectionality #CRT #servicelearning #sociallearning #communityengagement @cwinstitute @2leafpress @IamCarolynBaker

As an academic concept, Critical Race Theory (CRT) has been around for forty years. In recent years however, it has become a political flashpoint in school districts and state legislatures across the country. Today, twenty states are banning, or proposing to ban, CRT. So, what is CRT? First of all, here is what CRT is not: It is not a subject, such as Math or Science. Rather, the main aspect of CRT is the word critical, as in critical thinking skills.. CRT is a way, a framework, of viewing complex and changing combinations of power and disadvantage.. What CRT is not is a catchall phrase for any and every thing examining systemic racism.

By way of example, the US history I was taught went something like this: Columbus discovered North America; the Spanish conquistadors came to civilize things; the pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower and had a friendly Thanksgiving feast with the Indians in the colonies; and then after “the shot heard round the world”, our freedom-loving forefathers established one nation, under God, on the principles of representation, due process, and universal rights in 1776. Then the Civil War was some of the country’s ongoing perfecting, with a commendation for freeing the slaves. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution ensured equality for recently emancipated slaves. What was absent in this narrative was the lived experience of non-White peoples. Missing was objective, age appropriate, exploration of political, civil, and human rights. This 4th of July, let’s tell the more diverse, equitable, and inclusive narrative.

Gaining a deeper awareness of an expanded, more complicated narrative has not made me hate America, or feel we are an irredeemably racist and sexist country. Or that people of color are victims of oppression, held down by White people. Quite the contrary. I am highly motivated by the opportunity to make America better and better and better., especially for future generations. Understanding what CRT actually means in K-12 teacher training and school curricula is an important endeavor for each of us to undertake.

Thanks for reading, Stay safe and be well.

Me, bottom right, at ten years of age with my family in October 1963, two years after the death of my father.

To fatherless children whose hearts are hurting on Father’s Day, know that you are not alone. You are in my heart, and there is great love for you here. When I look into your face I see beauty, and I see your tremendous suffering. I understand what it is like for you, occasion by occasion, to know your father more by his absence than his presence. I know what it feels like to miss him so much, so deeply, for a very long time.

I know this because I was in third grade when my own father died. I had said goodbye to him the morning before as I skipped out to play, never dreaming he would be gone from me when I returned home. I didn’t know up from down. Losing him was an overwhelming threat I did not know what to do with. I had no one to run to, no one to talk to about my feelings. I was alone with this hurt.

About the time my father died, I was fond of the story of Pinocchio. Geppetto and Figaro would sit at the window looking up at the twinkling stars and say, “Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, and wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight.” Before my father died, we would sit together like that and say that same little prayer together as he pointed out the constellations in the evening sky. Each night after he died, even though I knew it was impossible, I would say those words by myself and wish with all my heart that he would come back to me. But he didn’t.

As time passed and he didn’t come back, I felt completely alone. I often felt no one loved me or wanted me. I stopped believing in wishes or dreams for fear they wouldn’t come true. I was anxious and felt I was less than other kids. I didn’t know quite where I fit in. I learned to not pay attention to my instincts or express them. When I felt a little bit hurt I withdrew. I now know this separating from myself and others is a normal reaction to suffering, of wanting to escape the pain of emptiness. And this is the part I am pretty sure my father would have wanted to make sure didn’t happen. He would have protected me from losing sight of the beauty of my existence.

He would have connected with me. He would have noticed what I valued, and encouraged me to follow it. He would have seen how I liked to spend my time, noticed what made me feel good about myself and bolstered that. He would have guided me in discovering what was important to me, what really mattered to me. He would have supported me in trying new things and opportunities. Through all these ways, he would have helped me learn how to approve of myself, from within. He would have helped me learn my happiness didn’t depend on other people, places, or things. At least that is how I like to imagine it.

But he wasn’t there to do that, so unexpected others stood in his place. Our good friend, Mr. Fred Rogers, talked about this idea when he said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers—so many caring people in this world.”

The story of Cinderella is about a young girl who, when her father dies, goes to live with her stepmother and two stepsisters who treat her very unfairly. In the movie version of Cinderella, she sings a song to her little animal friends:

A dream is a wish your heart makes when you’re fast asleepnIn dreams you will lose your heartache, whatever you wish for you keepnHave faith in your dreams and someday your rainbow will come smiling throughnNo matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true.nnCinderella does not know it at the time, but the little friends to whom she sings are the very ones who will unexpectedly help her have faith and follow her dreams. And when the invitation to the royal ball goes out across the land, Cinderella knows in her heart she is as entitled as anyone else to attend. Cinderella speaks right up for herself. And even though she faces all sorts of obstacles, Cinderella is surrounded by many unexpected helpers coordinating everyone and everything. She overcomes each and every setback through her true heart and her true helpers.

So this is the dream my heart makes for you: That you would allow the unexpected helpers to be there for you. This will build your confidence. This will help you develop a stable relationship with yourself, know your worth, and be your true self. This will help you speak up for yourself. Know that you are safe and secure and the universe is a friendly place. There are old friends to spend time with, new friends to make, interesting trips to take, and new hobbies to try. I promise you there is ever-present love.

I see in your face the enormous potential for transcendence. You are powerful. You are unique with a unique path and purpose. You are loved, lovable, valuable, and worthy. Hold on to these truths. And it won’t be too long before you are able to think about some of the special things you and your father shared without it hurting quite so much. Then, one warm summer night you may gaze up at the twinkling stars and make the wish that your father would always watch over you. And you will know that he is – that he is helping you create your own beautiful life, the life you wish for and dream of. On this Father’s Day and every day, God bless you and your Dad.

#FathersDay2021 #FathersDay #stepfather #HappyFathersDay #Fatherless #Fatherlesschild #helpers #singlemom #Family #kids #beamentor #fatherlessdaughters

One hundred years ago, 10,000 state-sponsored White supremacists destroyed a prosperous Black neighborhood in Tulsa, OK. The history of the Tulsa Race Massacre .- when a white mob attacked the thriving Greenwood district, burned it to the ground, killing an estimated 300 of its black residents – was not part of my public school curriculum. In fact I was not taught about any major Black historical events of any kind. To include the full history of Black oppression would have been to contradict the White narrative of this great and ever-progressing nation. How bitterly ironic is the objection that taking down statues honoring the Confederacy is “erasing history” in light of the way in which Black history has been erased, a sin of omission, by design.

One hundred years after the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, President Biden has proclaimed May 31 , 2021 a Day of Remembrance. This is fitting in that Memorial Day itself began as a commemoration by formerly enslaved Black Americans of the Union Troops – White and Black – who died fighting to end the blight of American slavery.

In addition to confronting its bloody past, it is time to move forward with reparations to compensate for the massacre that took place against the Black people of Greenwood. It is time for justice for the families and the descendants. To learn more about the Tulsa Race Massacre, watch the opening episode of the HBO special, “The Watchmen.”

#BlackLivesMatter #Reparations #ReparationsNow #TulsaRaceMassacre #Racism #WhitewashedHistory @IamCarolynBaker #AnUnintentionalAccomplice #2LeafPress

I join people everywhere in mourning the victims of last night’s horrific shootings in Atlanta. Condolences to the families of each of the victims. Prayers for everyone touched by this tragedy.

Regardless of the killer’s motivation, six of the eight victims were Asian American women. These murders come amidst a nationwide rise in violence, discrimination, and xenophobia directed against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.

These murders are the most recent and visible manifestations of racism and racial injustice and reaffirm the need for all of us to step up and protect ALL of America’s marginalized communities.

We condemn all acts of violence and hate against Asian-Americans, and the pervasive discrimination and stereotyping harming Asian American lives.

We stand up against racism, wherever and whenever we find it.

We unite to build power to transform systemic racism and white male supremacy.

Here is a site with links to numerous ways to and support the AAPI community: How to support the AAPI community in a time of hate and violence: A Resource List

#AAPI #Atlanta @stopAAPIHate #StopAsianHate #cherokeecounty #atlantaspa #whitesupremacy #racism

Growing up white, and in segregated communities, I didn’t think I even had a race. There was nothing to be questioned, learned about, or studied. I was oblivious, bathed in the safety and comfort I thought everyone was enjoying. I never had to wonder whether or not I “belonged” in the U.S. This experience reifies the reality of whiteness as the dominant culture. To know who I am as a racial being today I firsts had understand my racial past. This is the concept of Sankofa, a Swahili word from the Akan tribe in Ghana, embodying the idea that, in order to go forward, we must first look backwards. We take the knowledge from the past, bring it into the present, and use it as a guidepost to the future.

The narrative I learned in school about early America history went something like this: Columbus discovered America, the Spanish conquistadors came to civilize things, the pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower and had a neighborly Thanksgiving feast with the Indians in the colonies, and then after “the shot heard round the world”, our freedom-loving forefathers established one nation, under God, on the principles of representation, due process, and universal rights. It was taught as though America started out perfect and then just got more and more perfect from there. The Civil War was taught as part of this ongoing perfecting, with a commendation for freeing the slaves. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution ensured equality for recently emancipated slaves, right?

In recent days we have all observed the power of narrative to impact social action. Consider how the power of storytelling drove important change regarding subjects such as domestic violence, drunk driving, and LGBTQ issues. After Black History Month, let us continue to interrogate an America story that does not yet have a happy ending, a tragedy that tells us about ourselves, our condition as a nation.

In times such as these, imagination is not only a resource, but also a battleground. It is critical to expand all storytelling genres to include narratives that repair the damage done by previous incomplete storytelling and racial stigmatizing. The onus is on storytellers to illustrate our capacity to reimagine race equity, the criminal justice system, and economic reform. And with the distributors to create a continuing medium for voices to be heard, for invisible people to be seen, for society to be reeducated. It is time for reckoning and repair. Confronting the contradictions in the America narrative is important storytelling!

#Racism #BlackLivesMatter #whiteness #whitebacklash #slavery #segregation #jimcrow #reparations #massincarceration #reconstruction #blackcodes #lynching @2leafpress @IamCarolynBaker