Reclaiming Our Way promoting the well-being of African American children & families

15Oct/151

‘Between the World and Me’ – Ta-Nehisi Coates in Conversation with Howard University Students and Community

Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of the New York Times bestseller Between the World and Me (Random House, 2015) and National Book Award nonfiction nominee, was on the Howard University campus on Wednesday, October 7, for a full day of interaction with Howard students and members of the Howard community. His visit culminated in a major address and book-signing event at Cramton Auditorium at 7:00 pm. Below is the approximately 90 minute presentation and dialogue with the Howard University community.

The one comment I'll share about the occasion is that Ta-Nehisi's thoughtful and insightful reflections, especially evident in his exchange with HU students, is exactly the kind of experience that seems to set the HBCU experience apart from all others. This was a family conversation: one son of HU, Ta-Nehisi, in conversation with a new generation of students, who are similarly finding their path while making sense of this racist world we've all been born into - and one that we're all still seeking to turn right side up.

I hope people have some appreciation of how unique and valuable the Howard University experience is, especially at this particular moment in time, spoken from another son of this great institution. If you hear someone question the value of an HBCU experience, especially the HU experience, or next time someone asks such a ridiculous question, just share this link with them. And if you want more of this caliber discussion (including more of the rich and complex history and current presence of African people in the world) with and between students, you should really visit the campus and attend some of the campus discussions related to understanding, and even more so the healing and development of, the world African community.

Study... Engage... Reflect... Grow... Repeat...

7Oct/150

While Improving, Hospitals Still Don’t Give Moms Enough Support For Breastfeeding; Racial Disparities Persist

While there has certainly been some improvement over the last several years, many hospitals continue to provide inadequate breastfeeding supports for new moms.  In some cases, this inadequate support also includes actions that undermine the breastfeeding intentions of the new moms.  Progress is good, but there's way more work to be done on this front.

From yesterday's NPR report (including links)...

Most hospitals around the country aren't doing a good job of helping new moms who want to breast-feed, researchers report Tuesday in the journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Several common practices at the institutions may actually prevent moms from sticking with breast-feeding for six months — the duration thought to be most healthful for babies.

Epidemiologists at the CDC surveyed more than 80 percent of the birthing centers across the country about the support they give new moms trying to breast-feed. About half of those surveyed said they implement five of the 10 practices recommended by the World Health Organization. By comparison, only a third of hospitals were hitting that mark in 2007.

"We've seen significant progress in recent years," Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters at a press conference. "But there's still more to be done ... Hospitals really need to support women before, during and after their hospital stay."

Read the full piece at NPR. (October 6, 2015)

This relative progress notwithstanding, there remain significant differences in rates of breastfeeding by race.

According to a 2013 report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC):

More Women Are Breastfeeding and for Longer Periods

  • From 2000–2008, the percentage of women who initiated breastfeeding went up from 47.4% to 58.9% for blacks, and 71.8% to 75.2% for whites. Initiation rates for Hispanics went from 77.6% to 80.0%, although this was not a significant increase.
  • Infants that were breastfed at 6 and 12 months increased greatly among all three racial/ethnic groups.
  • While 74.6% of infants born in 2008 began breastfeeding, only 23.4% met the recommended breastfeeding duration of 12 months. This indicates women may need more support to continue breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding Among Black Women

  • The gap between black and white breastfeeding initiation rates narrowed from 24 percentage points in 2000 to 16 percentage points in 2008. The 6-month duration gap also narrowed from 21 percentage points to 17 percentage points during that same time.
  • Black infants consistently had the lowest rates of breastfeeding initiation and duration across all study years. Black mothers may need more, targeted support to start and continue breastfeeding.
23Sep/150

Why are African American boys falling behind in third and fourth grade? How can and must schools do better?

Someone just passed this along to me, hoping to share some more information and perspective about the experience of Black boys in many of this nation's public schools.  While the discussion is from a 2012 talk show conversation, there are still some recurrent themes in here that folks should continue to be mindful of.

The larger take away... We continue to need classroom and school settings led and shaped by people who truly understand and appreciate who African American people are, African history and culture included, and can use this understanding to both inspire and guide African American children into a healthy adolescence and adulthood. Education is about the full development of African (African-American) people, and not simply preparation to work in someone else's economy and workforce.

Studies have shown that by the fourth grade, many African-American boys fall behind in the classroom. Some statistics show that most black men don't graduate from high school, which can often lead to a life in and out of the criminal justice system, unwed fatherhood and even an early death. This program will focus on the closing the achievement gap, the critical need for mentors and the importance of social influences in a young black man's life. (approx. 30 minutes)

24Aug/150

Our Charge is the Reawakening of the African Mind – Asa G. Hilliard III / #GoodSpeechEndures #BacktoSchool

As many thousands of children head back to school today, we must pause and remember that the schooling process is not a neutral process. It is a process made up of and guided by very deliberate policies, procedures, lesson plans, instructional materials and assessments to measure understanding and retention.

We must be clear that this mix of policies and processes have been designed over time by people with a clear idea about what education is supposed to do, and what it is supposed to produce. Also be clear that the mix of policies and procedures varies from one place - even one institution - to another. This suggests that different places, and for sure different institutions, have different ideas about what the educational process is intended to do, who it is intended to do it for (and with), and rationales for why.

As we send our children to school today, and for some of us, as we go with our children to school today, we have to be asking these questions.

Dr. Asa G. Hilliard, III, in her MyTEFL reviews, remains one of our great African / African-American educational exemplars, pushing us to ask these questions. More importantly, Dr. Hilliard provided much guidance in helping to answer the same questions. In the book, SBA: Reawakening of the African Mind, Dr. Hilliard helps us to understand not only the brilliance of our ancestors and their conceptions of education and human socialization, but he also helped to lay down a pathway allowing us to reconnect to that brilliance.

So here's to Dr. Hilliard's great influence, and also to our collective recommitment to helping our children and youth - and by extension all of our community - take control of the educational and socialization forces that guide our children and families.

Asa G Hilliard - Charge is Reawakening the African Mind - Good Speech Endures

31Jul/150

Addressing the College Readiness Challenge in High-Poverty Schools – June 2015

CLASP - RB - Poverty and Schools - June 2015

A new report developed by Rhonda Bryant, and published by the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)...

More than half of all public school children live in low-income families. As the number of poor children has risen, so has the number of children who attend high-poverty schools. According to 2012 data, the most recent available, 1 in 5 children attend a school where at least 75 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch—up from 12 percent just 12 years ago. Concentrated poverty is most prevalent in urban areas, where 34 percent of students attend high-poverty schools. Given the racial/ethnic makeup of our nation's urban centers, many of these students are children of color.Students in high-poverty schools lack the supports needed to become college ready, according to a report from CLASP. Course, Counselor, and Teacher Gaps: Addressing the College Readiness Challenge in High-Poverty High Schools analyzes the nation's 100 largest school districts, focusing on "high-poverty schools" (where at least 75 percent of students live in poverty) and "low-poverty schools" (where 0 to 25 percent of students live in poverty). The report identifies major gaps in school resources and their impact on youth.

The highest-poverty schools lack resources and supports, making postsecondary preparation very challenging. These schools have the least skilled teachers, offer a less rigorous curriculum, and provide limited or no access to schools counselors. Consequently, students in high-poverty schools are less likely to enroll in college or training programs that lead to viable careers. Those who do enroll often need remedial academic support, creating financial barriers.

CLASP's report details specific resource disparities in the nation's 100 largest schools districts:

  • 14.5 percent of teachers in high-poverty high schools are in their first or second year, compared to 9.5 percent in low-poverty schools.
  • 88.5 percent of teachers in high-poverty high schools are certified, compared to 96.5 percent in low-poverty schools.
  • 69 percent of high-poverty high schools offer physics, compared to 90 percent of low-poverty high schools high schools.
  • Only 41 percent of high-poverty high schools offer calculus, compared to 85 percent of low-poverty schools.

Disparities in education for students in high-poverty schools cannot continue. The U.S. must provide each child with a quality education that prepares them for college and careers. If we fail to do so, students and families will remain trapped in poverty, low-income communities will suffer, and the nation's economy will be placed at severe risk. There are many opportunities at the federal, state, and district levels to address this problem with systemic, sustainable policies. We simply need to act.

- See more here.

29Jul/150

Myrlie Evers-Williams: Advice For Young African Americans

Wisdom and perspective from our elder. A powerful 1 minute clip.

Realize that there's another generation coming behind you, and you/we owe it to them to do our part.

23Jul/150

“Between the World and Me”: Ta-Nehisi Coates Extended Interview on Being Black in America

Ta-Nehisi Coates speaks about his book, Between the World and Me, as well the broader experience of racism in America.

From Democracy Now -- Wednesday, July 22, 2015

We spend the hour with Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of "Between the World and Me," an explosive new book about white supremacy and being black in America. The book begins, "Here is what I would like for you to know: In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body—it is heritage." It is written as a letter to his 15-year-old son, Samori, and is a combination of memoir, history and analysis. Its publication comes amidst the shooting of nine African-American churchgoers by an avowed white supremacist in Charleston; the horrifying death of Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old African-American woman in Texas who was pulled over for not signaling a lane change; and the first anniversary of the police killings of Eric Garner in Staten Island and Michael Brown in Ferguson. Coates talks about how he was influenced by freed political prisoner Marshall "Eddie" Conway and writer James Baldwin, and responds to critics of his book, including Cornel West and New York Times columnist David Brooks. Coates is a national correspondent at The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues.

approx. 39 mins.

9Jun/150

Kalief Browder, Former Rikers Inmate Held 3 Years Without Trial, Commits Suicide

From HuffPost Live:

Kalief Browder, who was held at Rikers Island for three years without a trial, committed suicide on Saturday. We speak with his lawyer, and then discuss why Rikers is emblematic of everything that's wrong with the criminal justice system.

Originally aired on June 8, 2015

  • Corey Stoughton (New York, NY), Senior Staff Attorney, NYCLU
  • Paul V. Prestia, Esq. (New York, NY), Kalief Browder's Attorney
  • Chad Dion Lassiter (Philadelphia, PA), President, Black Men at Penn School of Social Work, Inc.; Board of Trustees for the Philadelphia Prison System

8Jun/150

Affirming Our Humanity in the Face of Police Brutality and a Society that Condones It – Another Monday Meditation

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It pains me to watch video after video, from incident after incident, involving the brutal treatment of African American children and adults - both women and men - by law enforcement officials and others acting in a similar spirit or capacity.

It pains me just as much to see people, everyday citizens and people in positions of influence and "leadership", offering the typical rationale for why such horrendous behavior among law enforcement officials shouldn't be second guessed on one hand, and that the people on the receiving end of such abusive behavior must have done something to deserve it on the other.

While I support the calls for changes in the polices and procedures that shape the professional requirements and expectations of law enforcement officials, and also calls for more police accountability, I'm sorry to say that those cries will continue to fall on deaf ears.

The brutality and barbarism we see playing on our television screens day after day is not in its essence a function of poorly trained law enforcement officials.  The same law enforcement officials, and certainly the larger departments they are a part of, do in fact apply a different sort of law enforcement approach when working with other groups of citizens.  What many African Americans experience in our interactions with law enforcement officials is a consciously applied policing strategy, one developed and applied deliberately, and with the implicit (and many times explicit) support of the larger community.

It's repetitive at this stage to point out the vastly different versions of law enforcement experienced by many or most white Americans - including those involved in criminal activity - and that experienced by African Americans involved in no criminal activity at all.  The two recent incidents in Texas alone show the contrasting approaches well - insanely well I might add.  You had officers coddling violent white thugs riding around and shooting each other up in Waco, while out-of-control cops were terrorizing and manhandling Black teenagers at a pool party, most notably a young African American girl wearing her bathing suit, in the small suburb of McKinney.

Since African American emancipation, the law enforcement apparatus in this country has always had as a primary component of its operation the control and ordering of Black movement and conduct, especially in our relationship with and proximity to white people and the spaces they'd like to claim as their own.  This has been true throughout our history in this country, and is certainly just as true today.

The reality is that this dynamic will likely continue to escalate as white people continue to wrestle with the reality that their idea of what it means to be white, and to be superior, was always a fabrication.  The same is true for the declining spaces they are able to control for their exclusive use and enjoyment.  My best sense of it is that for centuries now, they have been sold a fake bill of goods, and so many of them don't know what to do now that the curtain is rapidly falling.

What we must continue to do (I'm speaking of African Americans) is to rediscover our fundamental humanity and the many centuries worth of examples of us affirming such in the presence of our inhumane counterparts, begin to affirm the same in our interactions with one another today, and continue to demand it in our interactions with others.  Some white folks get it, but way too few.

When our humanity is fully appreciated, it will be reflected in our interactions with each other, with other groups, and in our interactions with all of society's institutions.

The good thing is that the activists among our younger generations get it.  Our struggle will continue.  And our humanity will be affirmed.

2Jun/151

Dr. Margaret T. Burroughs: Reading Classic Poem ‘What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black?’

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Dr. Margaret T. Burroughs, reading her classic 1963 poem, 'What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black? Reflections of An African American Mother'.  (Video excerpt appears below the full text of her classic poem.)

What shall I tell my children who are black
Of what it means to be a captive in this dark skin?
What shall I tell my dear one, fruit of my womb,
of how beautiful they are when everywhere they turn
they are faced with abhorrence of everything that is black.
The night is black and so is the boogyman.
Villains are black with black hearts.
A black cow gives no milk. A black hen lays no eggs.
Storm clouds, black, black is evil
and evil is black and devil’s food is black…

What shall I tell my dear ones raised in a white world
A place where white has been made to represent
all that is good and pure and fine and decent,
where clouds are white and dolls, and heaven
surely is a white, white place with angels
robed in white, and cotton candy and ice cream
and milk and ruffled Sunday dresses
and dream houses and long sleek Cadillacs and Angel’s food is white… all, all… white.

What can I say therefore, when my child
Comes home in tears because a playmate
Has called him black, big lipped, flatnosed and nappy headed?
What will he think when I dry his tears and whisper,
“Yes, that’s true. But no less beautiful and dear.”
How shall I lift up his head, get him to square
his shoulders, look his adversaries in the eye,
confident in the knowledge of his worth.
Serene under his sable skin and proud of his own beauty?

What can I do to give him strength
That he may come through life’s adversities
As a whole human being unwarped and human in a world
Of biased laws and inhuman practices, that he might
Survive. And survive he must! For who knows?
Perhaps this black child here bears the genius
To discover the cure for… cancer
Or to chart the course for exploration of the universe.
So, he must survive for the good of all humanity.
He must and will survive.
I have drunk deeply of late from the fountain
of my black culture, sat at the knee of and learned
from mother Africa, discovered the truth of my heritage.
The truth, so often obscured and omitted.
And I find I have much to say to my black children.

I will lift up their heads in proud blackness
with the story of their fathers and their father’s fathers.
And I shall take them into a way back time
of kings and queens who ruled the Nile,
and measured the stars and discovered the laws of mathematics.
I will tell them of a black people upon whose backs have been built
the wealth of three continents.
I will tell him this and more.
And knowledge of his heritage shall be his weapon and his armor;
It will make him strong enough to win any battle he may face.
And since this story is so often obscured,
I must sacrifice to find it for my children,
even as I sacrifice to feed, clothe and shelter them.
So this I will do for them if I love them.
None will do it for me.

I must find the truth of heritage for myself and pass it on to them.
In years to come, I believe because I have armed them with the truth,
my children and their children’s children will venerate me.
For it is the truth that will make us free!

Margaret Burroughs was born in St. Rose, Louisiana, on November 1, 1917, and moved with her family to the South Side of Chicago in 1922. She is an accomplished poet and author of children's books. In 1961, with second husband Charles Burroughs, she founded the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago. Margaret Burroughs died Sunday, Nov. 21, 2010.