As the holiday time approaches, increased spending and gift giving takes over pretty much from Black Friday (yesterday) to Christmas Eve.
Yesterday was Black Friday and like many other American shoppers, I wanted the best deals. My mother is an avid fan and cultural follower of the luxury Coach handbags. I decided to postpone her trip to Paisley Park for her birthday in January (less than a month after Xmas) and gift her with a new leather handbag instead :)
However, I live in Chicago and call me high-class but I want a Coach purse from the Coach store. Luckily, I live in one of the greatest cities in the world so there are literally three Coach stores in our iconic Mag Mile to choose from. Long story short, I went in and of course it is SUPER crowded but to be expected. Im dressed in an oversized down coat, sweats, sneakers, and a wool hat (I look like a fat marshmallow)
Every single person (minus a few foreign tourists) were white in the store. Associates greeted and spoke to every single customer BUT me. I am literally browsing around the store for a good 15 minutes- during that time several associates and security personnel either see me or don't acknowledge me or avoid me. I got freaking frustrated.
I finally find a sale associate and she is very curt with me with a snippy attitude. Chanel from South side Chicago would snap back but I'm on Michigan Ave as the only Black woman in this store. I need to act appropriately. So I smile and ask for the manager. The GM was present and I voiced my experience and concern and how I felt singles out as the only person of color.
Needless to say I received a $600 handbag for $200 :)
The point is, I didn't LOOK like I had money and while I don't like playing "the race card", as the only African-American consumer there (the security were tall, burly Black men. Go figure ) I couldn't help but feel dismissed. The sales associate even dismissed me and have me a snippy attitude when I politely just asked if I could see a handbag from the top shelf. I own like eight Coach bags and shop frequently with the brand. However the actual storefronts of these high end designer labels are very judgemental and I sometimes hate going in because they immediately categorize me as either a theif, window shopper, or a low baller.
This experience is nothing new to me but it reinforces me to not allow my subconscious attitudes towards others dictate how I treat them; especially my students who are of a different background than me. There are many signals and messages about people of different communities that are both negative and positive. It is solely up to us to decipher what we internalize and how that ammends out behavior.
Saturday, November 25, 2017
Saturday, November 18, 2017
Culture and Perspective
Happy Saturday!
This week is all about diversity, culture, and perspective while relating that to how we as individuals navigate through our environment.
It's interesting for this week's blog because this conversation came up naturally between me and the gentleman who is courting me. As a Black woman, I realize there are inherent stereotypes and misconceptiona about me that have been the general framework for how the world nviews me. I'm either the Black woman from the syrup bottle, a Nicki Minaj, or the "loud" "ghetto" baby mother with the fake long nails and nasty attitude. Unfortunately, none of those sound too appealing and don't fit me exactly individually.
If I am being candid, I am a mixture of all three in my own self-fufilling prophetic way. I'm a sassy, sultry, motherly Black woman if we look into that stereotypical context; but I am also much more than that and the very idea of me not fitting into one of more of those three categories baffles people of other backgrounds.
The gentleman courting me is a white guy, an older gentleman in his 30's and seems pretty well-rounded. We have previously spoken on culture and cultural differences but when we divulged deeper into discussing privledge, "deep culture", and dominant cultural oppression, he got offended and defensive. Of course I expected this but seriously :/
It baffles me how white people are conditioned to feel that eliminating racial bias and racist undertones in our social culture perpetuated by an oppressive dominant culture is to carry this bullshit " We are all one race:human race " concept.
When asked about how he feels diversity and culture affects him compared to people if color, he immediately refers tonhim growing up in a "diverse" neighborhood with no racisim. That made me laugh. He also felt that exaggerating our differences through cultural practices instead of just adopting "American" cultural practices is part of why there is so much of a toxic climate between race. When told that that is false and only further proves that be is privledge as a white male to force-feed cultural practices that make him comfortable, he was immediately offended and felt he was attacked for being white.
Needless to say, he and I have alternating viewpoints on culture, diversity, and perspective. If anything, this further proves that the discussion of individual differences and how they make America beautiful and iconic is useful and needed to alleviate ignorance. Burying our cultural variances under a defacto dominant culture creates internal and external strife that further deepens the divide of an individual, their identity, and their respective communities.
Having these tough conversations with our young ones about identiy, culture, and diversity early allows those attidues to be normalized and create an environment of total acceptance and understanding.
This week is all about diversity, culture, and perspective while relating that to how we as individuals navigate through our environment.
It's interesting for this week's blog because this conversation came up naturally between me and the gentleman who is courting me. As a Black woman, I realize there are inherent stereotypes and misconceptiona about me that have been the general framework for how the world nviews me. I'm either the Black woman from the syrup bottle, a Nicki Minaj, or the "loud" "ghetto" baby mother with the fake long nails and nasty attitude. Unfortunately, none of those sound too appealing and don't fit me exactly individually.
If I am being candid, I am a mixture of all three in my own self-fufilling prophetic way. I'm a sassy, sultry, motherly Black woman if we look into that stereotypical context; but I am also much more than that and the very idea of me not fitting into one of more of those three categories baffles people of other backgrounds.
The gentleman courting me is a white guy, an older gentleman in his 30's and seems pretty well-rounded. We have previously spoken on culture and cultural differences but when we divulged deeper into discussing privledge, "deep culture", and dominant cultural oppression, he got offended and defensive. Of course I expected this but seriously :/
It baffles me how white people are conditioned to feel that eliminating racial bias and racist undertones in our social culture perpetuated by an oppressive dominant culture is to carry this bullshit " We are all one race:human race " concept.
When asked about how he feels diversity and culture affects him compared to people if color, he immediately refers tonhim growing up in a "diverse" neighborhood with no racisim. That made me laugh. He also felt that exaggerating our differences through cultural practices instead of just adopting "American" cultural practices is part of why there is so much of a toxic climate between race. When told that that is false and only further proves that be is privledge as a white male to force-feed cultural practices that make him comfortable, he was immediately offended and felt he was attacked for being white.
Needless to say, he and I have alternating viewpoints on culture, diversity, and perspective. If anything, this further proves that the discussion of individual differences and how they make America beautiful and iconic is useful and needed to alleviate ignorance. Burying our cultural variances under a defacto dominant culture creates internal and external strife that further deepens the divide of an individual, their identity, and their respective communities.
Having these tough conversations with our young ones about identiy, culture, and diversity early allows those attidues to be normalized and create an environment of total acceptance and understanding.
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Retaining my Culture
Happy Friday everyone!
This blog post is quite the interesting one because it is relevant to real life culture and events for myself. As an African-American, I have considered (seriously) leaving The United States because of the more overt forms of racisim, systematic oppression, and our our federal government is being represented and ran by our current administrators. I'm not the most liberal of liberals but I have a moral compass and everything from normalizing acts of sexual harassment to defending budgets that assisitng brown people of color to live decent lives is something I do not feel safe in.
What is interesting is that African-American culture is a concoction of internalised, normalized American culture and standards mixed with the history, traditions, and cultural practices of our enslaved ancestors that were able to pass down survival and traditional African practices down generations. I really don't have anything concrete that accurately represents the African-American culture unless it refers back to slavery tonthe discussion mentions slavery as a catalyst tonwhy the memento is important and valuable.
If I had to pick three items that represented me and my culture to show the world in my new country, I would choose the urn of my son, a copy of the Willie Lynch letter, and a photo of Barack Obama. These items are not.only significant to me but to my identity as an African-American woman. The most feared person in America is the Black male, let's just be honest. Stereotype and prejudice continue to perpetuate the stigma of danger, aggression, and hypermasculinity onto our Black males.
As the mother of a black son, regardless of him being here in flesh or spirit, I felt the fear of knowing how the workd would view him moments after he was born. His very existence was and remains a threat in this country. I was nervous not to name him anything too "ethnic", I had already mapped out what programs to put him in after school when he barely was a day old. I even had lectures ready for when he came home and asked why he couldn't hang around certain people- even though they looked like us. I was mentally preparing myself to not only raise my son but keep him alive when every target points at his back.
My son was and remains a strong embodiment of a Black male, a true king. Having him, a photo of another Black male with commanding presence (and the first Black president of The United States) alongside a nasty piece of American history that helped draft the some of the worst laws in our history would be powerful as a chain of progression.
Even as an African-American woman, I find myself wanting to uplift the imagery and perception of our men. Our men are the driving forces and then protectors. With those few items, I am able to show the dark history of American racisim and yet how we have overcome and will continue to prosper.
This blog post is quite the interesting one because it is relevant to real life culture and events for myself. As an African-American, I have considered (seriously) leaving The United States because of the more overt forms of racisim, systematic oppression, and our our federal government is being represented and ran by our current administrators. I'm not the most liberal of liberals but I have a moral compass and everything from normalizing acts of sexual harassment to defending budgets that assisitng brown people of color to live decent lives is something I do not feel safe in.
What is interesting is that African-American culture is a concoction of internalised, normalized American culture and standards mixed with the history, traditions, and cultural practices of our enslaved ancestors that were able to pass down survival and traditional African practices down generations. I really don't have anything concrete that accurately represents the African-American culture unless it refers back to slavery tonthe discussion mentions slavery as a catalyst tonwhy the memento is important and valuable.
If I had to pick three items that represented me and my culture to show the world in my new country, I would choose the urn of my son, a copy of the Willie Lynch letter, and a photo of Barack Obama. These items are not.only significant to me but to my identity as an African-American woman. The most feared person in America is the Black male, let's just be honest. Stereotype and prejudice continue to perpetuate the stigma of danger, aggression, and hypermasculinity onto our Black males.
As the mother of a black son, regardless of him being here in flesh or spirit, I felt the fear of knowing how the workd would view him moments after he was born. His very existence was and remains a threat in this country. I was nervous not to name him anything too "ethnic", I had already mapped out what programs to put him in after school when he barely was a day old. I even had lectures ready for when he came home and asked why he couldn't hang around certain people- even though they looked like us. I was mentally preparing myself to not only raise my son but keep him alive when every target points at his back.
My son was and remains a strong embodiment of a Black male, a true king. Having him, a photo of another Black male with commanding presence (and the first Black president of The United States) alongside a nasty piece of American history that helped draft the some of the worst laws in our history would be powerful as a chain of progression.
Even as an African-American woman, I find myself wanting to uplift the imagery and perception of our men. Our men are the driving forces and then protectors. With those few items, I am able to show the dark history of American racisim and yet how we have overcome and will continue to prosper.
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Wrapping Up
It has been a great course and I have learned so much from my esteemed colleagues and Dr. Parrish as a result about research and how they benefit the early childhood field. All of the input and discussions that centered around our research topics have given me a broader understanding to how deeply invested research is in relation to the classroom.
If my simulation was to be carried out, I believe it would have an impact on how legislation is created and enacted towards communities of color-specifically African-American communities. Unfortunately, socioeconomic status and race are almost synonymous when they should not be. Truth is. There is an overwhelming wealthbgap that corresponds with race and class. Low-income African-American families and their children would be the primary benefactors but so would the general public in the realization of their attitudes to microaggressive racist tactics and ideology.
This directly impacts the early childhood community because our most vulnerable minds come from a community and society that is already set up to disparage them. Bynfully understanding how socially constructed and politically instituted systems of power disenfranchise these children from birth, it would make a huge impact on how we approach and teach these children.
I am currently exploring attending Northwestern University Fall of 2018 to obtain my PhD. in Education Policy and Child Development. If accepted, I plan to enact my simulation in real life in hopes of using this information to bring change to Chicago politics.
It's been a great 8 weeks! Let's finish the semester strong! #AlmostThere
If my simulation was to be carried out, I believe it would have an impact on how legislation is created and enacted towards communities of color-specifically African-American communities. Unfortunately, socioeconomic status and race are almost synonymous when they should not be. Truth is. There is an overwhelming wealthbgap that corresponds with race and class. Low-income African-American families and their children would be the primary benefactors but so would the general public in the realization of their attitudes to microaggressive racist tactics and ideology.
This directly impacts the early childhood community because our most vulnerable minds come from a community and society that is already set up to disparage them. Bynfully understanding how socially constructed and politically instituted systems of power disenfranchise these children from birth, it would make a huge impact on how we approach and teach these children.
I am currently exploring attending Northwestern University Fall of 2018 to obtain my PhD. in Education Policy and Child Development. If accepted, I plan to enact my simulation in real life in hopes of using this information to bring change to Chicago politics.
It's been a great 8 weeks! Let's finish the semester strong! #AlmostThere
Friday, October 6, 2017
Interesting ECE Research Globally
Happy Friday loves!
This week I challenged myself to be critical this week during this week's blog assisngment and found out I was pleasantly surprised. I chose http://www.eecera.org/ to analyze and comb through their website. What I found was surprising and enlightening to say the least.
For starters, I enjoyed learning that they has Special Interest Groups nthatbwete dedicated towards researching a specific subject within the vast field of early childhood. I enjoyed that component due to the understanding that early childhood education is more than just the classroom experience but also the whole"child experience from their community to their home life.
A special interest group I found noteworthy was one where it highlighted holistic well-being of a child and how policy can best serve children in that aspect. It asked critical questions about whatis defined as well-being, how can it be measured, and if professionals across various fields define it the same; if not, how can legislation be inclusive of all perspectives. This is critical when discussing ECE and child development because the socioemotional components of education are often trivialized or forgotten and are not focused on. A child's emotional and mental well-being and health is just as important as their physical.
Another special interest group was one where it was dedicated to the inclusion and recruitment of male teachers on a female dominated field. With education being a historically female dominated profession, the diversifying of the workforce in gender is being investigated to show not only the children that there is male presence in education but deconstruct the stigma of males in education. I, also, found this important and beneficial to child development due to how American culture is nlbending towards more progressive learning practices that encompass all people from walks of life. This is necessary if we want a more reflective workforce to leave a more positive impression on our children.
These developments have me insight into the future of how we are viewing education and taking in consideration deliberate practices to become more tolerant to whole-chikd development as well as becoming.more reflective in our demographic whennit comes to teachers.
This week I challenged myself to be critical this week during this week's blog assisngment and found out I was pleasantly surprised. I chose http://www.eecera.org/ to analyze and comb through their website. What I found was surprising and enlightening to say the least.
For starters, I enjoyed learning that they has Special Interest Groups nthatbwete dedicated towards researching a specific subject within the vast field of early childhood. I enjoyed that component due to the understanding that early childhood education is more than just the classroom experience but also the whole"child experience from their community to their home life.
A special interest group I found noteworthy was one where it highlighted holistic well-being of a child and how policy can best serve children in that aspect. It asked critical questions about whatis defined as well-being, how can it be measured, and if professionals across various fields define it the same; if not, how can legislation be inclusive of all perspectives. This is critical when discussing ECE and child development because the socioemotional components of education are often trivialized or forgotten and are not focused on. A child's emotional and mental well-being and health is just as important as their physical.
Another special interest group was one where it was dedicated to the inclusion and recruitment of male teachers on a female dominated field. With education being a historically female dominated profession, the diversifying of the workforce in gender is being investigated to show not only the children that there is male presence in education but deconstruct the stigma of males in education. I, also, found this important and beneficial to child development due to how American culture is nlbending towards more progressive learning practices that encompass all people from walks of life. This is necessary if we want a more reflective workforce to leave a more positive impression on our children.
These developments have me insight into the future of how we are viewing education and taking in consideration deliberate practices to become more tolerant to whole-chikd development as well as becoming.more reflective in our demographic whennit comes to teachers.
Friday, September 22, 2017
Research paved the way for my community
Happy Friday loves!
After a long week of teaching 2 year olds, I am excited for some adult conversation that does not begin and end with "No thank you" or "that is not a good choice". Lol.
This week is all about ethics and research abd one thing I love are a good controversies. A topic of discussion is examples of how research has been utilized as a positive impact on society and/or community.
I utilized my political-science background for this because what immediately came to mind was Brown v. Board of Education - the historic, landmark decision that desegregated public school across the nation. Now, I know what you are thinking and probably wondering why and how Brown v Board has anything to do with research. On the contrary, its jurisprudence lies within the monumental research of Kenneth and Mamie Clark's infamous "Doll Test".
Fun fact: Brown v Board was almost tossed out due to a lack of substantial evidence that supported the claim that segregated schooling was a violation of basic human rights and imposed harm to children of color. It wasn't until the Clark's conducted their doll test when The United States Supreme Court had to overturn the Plessy v Ferguson Decision of "Seperate but Equal" due to the proufound psychological effects found in the segregation children based on color. 👊👊👊🙌🙌🙌 (Thank you Professor McKenzie at University of Illinois at Chicago for giving me this information years ago during undergrad during my Law and Public Policy course 😘😘)
The court found that the research of The Clarks validated the claims that children of color would receive the harmful physical and psychological effects of segregation due to the seperate but equal legislation. The foll test concluded that Black children found themselves not only inferior to white children but viewed themselves as unequivocally comparable to white children in any degree. Buzz words such as "ugly", "bad", "mean" were used to describe themselves as "nice" "beautiful" and "kind" were used to describe the white dolls.
Basically, we have desegregated school (by law) due to research of two proud African American. *drops mic*
Bergner, G. (2009). Black children, White preference: Brown v. Board, the doll tests, and the politics of self-esteem. American Quarterly, 61(2), 299-332.
After a long week of teaching 2 year olds, I am excited for some adult conversation that does not begin and end with "No thank you" or "that is not a good choice". Lol.
This week is all about ethics and research abd one thing I love are a good controversies. A topic of discussion is examples of how research has been utilized as a positive impact on society and/or community.
I utilized my political-science background for this because what immediately came to mind was Brown v. Board of Education - the historic, landmark decision that desegregated public school across the nation. Now, I know what you are thinking and probably wondering why and how Brown v Board has anything to do with research. On the contrary, its jurisprudence lies within the monumental research of Kenneth and Mamie Clark's infamous "Doll Test".
Fun fact: Brown v Board was almost tossed out due to a lack of substantial evidence that supported the claim that segregated schooling was a violation of basic human rights and imposed harm to children of color. It wasn't until the Clark's conducted their doll test when The United States Supreme Court had to overturn the Plessy v Ferguson Decision of "Seperate but Equal" due to the proufound psychological effects found in the segregation children based on color. 👊👊👊🙌🙌🙌 (Thank you Professor McKenzie at University of Illinois at Chicago for giving me this information years ago during undergrad during my Law and Public Policy course 😘😘)
The court found that the research of The Clarks validated the claims that children of color would receive the harmful physical and psychological effects of segregation due to the seperate but equal legislation. The foll test concluded that Black children found themselves not only inferior to white children but viewed themselves as unequivocally comparable to white children in any degree. Buzz words such as "ugly", "bad", "mean" were used to describe themselves as "nice" "beautiful" and "kind" were used to describe the white dolls.
Basically, we have desegregated school (by law) due to research of two proud African American. *drops mic*
Bergner, G. (2009). Black children, White preference: Brown v. Board, the doll tests, and the politics of self-esteem. American Quarterly, 61(2), 299-332.
Thursday, September 14, 2017
So....I think I want my PhD now....
Happy Thursday friends!
I am completing my blog a little early because I have a jammed pack weekend coming up and I want my time free.
With a new semester in full force, I find myself not only personally challeneged with this course but also professionally challenged. This is the first course at Walden where I am pushing beyond my limits and I'm impressed. Kudos to Walden 👊🙌🙌🙌
On another note, we have a research assignment that we are prepping for and it has officially sealed my ambitions on obtaining a PhD. I intend to enroll at Northwestern University in Chicago (my hometown) and obtain my PhD. in Human Development and Social Policy. I am HIGHLY intrigued by how social/public policy affects the overall development of a child.
Which leads me to my research subject of studying how Racisim and Systematic Oppression is the premise to the decreased life span of African-American youth. As a black woman, I know nothing but stress, struggle, poor life decisions, and broken homes/community. It is the unfortunate reality and truth to many of our inner-city African Americans in Urban communities.
Studying urban poverty by looking at social attitudes and policy is a unique way to analyze how these have detrimental, long term effects on the cognitive develooment of Black children as well as their Long term health.
When I heard stress kills, I thought it was a metaphor. No, it LITERALLY KILLS. Research has shown that stress literally contributes to the deterioration of the human DNA through aging of cells (Needham, 2012). Also, Black women are 2x more likely to experience premature birth, low birth weight, and/or fetal death due to factors of socioeconomic stress (Hogue, 2005).
As a mother that lost her son due to premature delivery, this hits home. I want to drive deeper into this subject and understand more of the root to offer a viable solution.
Resources for your consideration:
Hogue, C. J. R., & Bremner, J. D. (2005). Stress model for research into preterm delivery among black women. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 192(5), S47-S55.
Needham, B. L., Fernandez, J. R., Lin, J., Epel, E. S., & Blackburn, E. H. (2012). Socioeconomic status and cell aging in children. Social science & medicine, 74(12), 1948-1951.
I am completing my blog a little early because I have a jammed pack weekend coming up and I want my time free.
With a new semester in full force, I find myself not only personally challeneged with this course but also professionally challenged. This is the first course at Walden where I am pushing beyond my limits and I'm impressed. Kudos to Walden 👊🙌🙌🙌
On another note, we have a research assignment that we are prepping for and it has officially sealed my ambitions on obtaining a PhD. I intend to enroll at Northwestern University in Chicago (my hometown) and obtain my PhD. in Human Development and Social Policy. I am HIGHLY intrigued by how social/public policy affects the overall development of a child.
Which leads me to my research subject of studying how Racisim and Systematic Oppression is the premise to the decreased life span of African-American youth. As a black woman, I know nothing but stress, struggle, poor life decisions, and broken homes/community. It is the unfortunate reality and truth to many of our inner-city African Americans in Urban communities.
Studying urban poverty by looking at social attitudes and policy is a unique way to analyze how these have detrimental, long term effects on the cognitive develooment of Black children as well as their Long term health.
When I heard stress kills, I thought it was a metaphor. No, it LITERALLY KILLS. Research has shown that stress literally contributes to the deterioration of the human DNA through aging of cells (Needham, 2012). Also, Black women are 2x more likely to experience premature birth, low birth weight, and/or fetal death due to factors of socioeconomic stress (Hogue, 2005).
As a mother that lost her son due to premature delivery, this hits home. I want to drive deeper into this subject and understand more of the root to offer a viable solution.
Resources for your consideration:
Hogue, C. J. R., & Bremner, J. D. (2005). Stress model for research into preterm delivery among black women. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 192(5), S47-S55.
Needham, B. L., Fernandez, J. R., Lin, J., Epel, E. S., & Blackburn, E. H. (2012). Socioeconomic status and cell aging in children. Social science & medicine, 74(12), 1948-1951.
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