Strong Opinion or Informed Opinion? What Do You Know About Baltimore?

The recent events in Baltimore do not reflect an isolated event; rather; the frustration that manifested in protest is the product of a number of sociopolitical and historical considerations. Generating a comprehensive analysis requires pulling from a number of disciplines, many of which are beyond the expertise of most educators.

A few days ago I happened upon a veritable treasure trove of resources, which I now share with you. Unfortunately, the humble saint that culled these resources together did not provide a name, as I imagine recognition was not her/his primary aim.  I have not read read each and every resource, but a cursory eyeballing reveals a great number of valuable resources.

Enjoy!

I.   reminders from Ferguson

“When Rioting is Rational”

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/01/when-rioting-is-rational-ferguson

“In Defense of Black Rage”

http://www.salon.com/2014/08/12/in_defense_of_black_rage_michael_brown_police_and_the_american_dream/

“In Ferguson, the Violence of the State Created the Violence of the Street”

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/18/ferguson-violence-martin-luther-king-michael-brown

Resisting State Violence: Justice or Just Us?

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/05/resisting-state-violence/

bell hooks “killing rage”

http://www.cds.hawaii.edu/sites/default/files/downloads/resources/diversity/KillingRageEndingRacism_part1.pdf

II.             What’s up with Baltimore?

‘Two Reports Illustrate the Paradox of Baltimore”

https://www.baltimorebrew.com/2015/01/05/two-reports-illustrate-the-paradox-of-baltimore-a-high-poverty-city-that-attracts-young-educated/

“A Tale of Two Baltimores” (2011)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7J794-zddE&feature=share

“The Brutality of Police Culture on Baltimore”

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/the-brutality-of-police-culture-in-baltimore/391158/

“Baltimore Youths Have it Worse Than Those in Nigeria”

http://www.vocativ.com/culture/society/baltimore-poverty/?utm_content=buffere4a07&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

“Ten Shocking Facts About Baltimore”

http://www.alternet.org/economy/ten-shocking-facts-about-baltimore

“Baltimore Uprising in Context”

http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2015/04/27/baltimore-uprising-in-context/

“In Baltimore, We’re All Freddie Gray”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/29/opinion/in-baltimore-were-all-freddie-gray.html

“Sun Investigates: Undue Force”

http://data.baltimoresun.com/news/police-settlements/

“David Simon in Baltimore’s Anguish” (interview)

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/29/david-simon-on-baltimore-s-anguish

III.           On “riots” and protest  

“We Have a Right to Be in the Streets for Freddie”

http://socialistworker.org/2015/04/27/in-the-streets-for-freddie

“The Dominant White Response to Baltimore Shows Why Black Residents Are Justified in Their Anger”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/28/1380944/-The-Dominant-White-Response-to-Baltimore-Shows-Why-Black-Residents-are-Justified-in-their-Anger#

“Baltimore: The Fire Next Time”

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2015/04/baltimore_the_fire_next_time.html

“Baltimore’s Violent Protestors Are Right”

http://www.salon.com/2015/04/28/baltimores_violent_protesters_are_right_smashing_police_cars_is_a_legitimate_political_strategy/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

(please note: the title of the blog where this was originally posted is a political re-appropriation of “faggot”)

“Nonviolence as Compliance”

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/nonviolence-as-compliance/391640/

historical perspective: The Kerner Commission Report on “riots,” 1968

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6545/

“A History of Rap Songs Against Police Brutality”

http://www.complex.com/music/2014/08/rap-songs-police-brutality/

 “Silence on Black Female Victims Weakens Fight Against Police Brutality”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kali-nicole-gross/silence-on-black-female-victims_b_7092128.html

“The Baltimore Rebellion”

http://socialistworker.org/2015/04/29/the-baltimore-rebellion

Gang Members: We did not make truce to harm cops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HaaRZ8nxd4&feature=youtu.be

“Go Home, David Simon: Without Justice in Baltimore, There Can be No Peace” (a critique of SImon’s blog post criticizing “rioters”

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/28/go-home-david-simon-no-justice-no-peace-baltimore?CMP=fb_gu

“What’s Happening in Baltimore Didn’t Just Start with Freddie Gray”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/28/freddie-gray-baltimore-history_n_7161962.html

 

IV.           On the Bigger Picture

“Stealing a Bag of Potato Chips and Other Crimes of Resistance”

http://www.broomcenter.ucsb.edu/files/publications/pdf/rios1.pdf

“The Hyper-Criminalization of Black and Latino Male Youth in the Era of Mass Incarceration”

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8eBQGZrG7BFdnhWRzNNNl9ZOHM/edit

“Why Don’t American Cities Burn Very Often?”

http://www.uk.sagepub.com/martin3study/articles/Katz.pdf

“Who Killed L.A.: A Political Autopsy”

http://newleftreview.org/I/197/mike-davis-who-killed-los-angeles-a-political-autopsy

“The Case for Reparations”

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

“Segregation Now: The Re-segregation of America’s Schools”

http://www.propublica.org/article/segregation-now-the-resegregation-of-americas-schools/#intro

“The Night Chicago Burned”

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-night-chicago-burned/Content?oid=872662

“A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement”

http://thefeministwire.com/2014/10/blacklivesmatter-2/

V.             Movies

Race: The Power of an Illusion – Episode 3 – “The House We Live In”

http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-about-03.htm

Broken on All Sides: Race, Mass Incarceration, and New Visions for Criminal Justice in the U.S.

http://brokenonallsides.com/

The House I Live In

http://www.thehouseilivein.org/

Hard Times at Douglass High: A No Child Left Behind Report Card

http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/hard-times-at-douglass-high-no-child-left-behind#/

Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequality

http://crackingthecodes.org/

The Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975

http://www.ifcfilms.com/films/the-black-power-mixtape

Revolution ‘67

http://www.bongiornoproductions.com/REVOLUTION_67/REVOLUTION_67.html

http://www.pbs.org/pov/revolution67/

Crips & Bloods: Made in America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPS9s3VrsdM

http://www.amazon.com/Crips-Bloods-Made-In-America/dp/B006JJ9JV2

The Throwaways:  http://throwawaysmovie.com/

Eyes on the Prize: Two Societies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBJNt-LKVNE

VI.           Books

The Hero’s Fight: African Americans in the Shadow of the State by Patricia Fernández-Kelly

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10328.html (twenty year ethnography of Baltimore)

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

http://newjimcrow.com/

Code of the Street: Decency, Violence and the Moral Life of the Inner City

http://books.wwnorton.com/books/Code-of-the-Street/

When Work Disappears, the World of the New Urban Poor              

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/192111/when-work-disappears-by-william-julius-wilson/

The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy

http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/T/bo13375722.html

More Than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City

http://books.wwnorton.com/books/More-than-Just-Race/

Black Liberation and Socialism

http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Black-Liberation-and-Socialism

American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674018211

Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago, 1940-1960

http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo3627598.html

Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/175140/sweet-land-of-liberty-by-thomas-j-sugrue/

Into the Fire: African-Americans Since 1970           

http://www.worldcat.org/title/into-the-fire-african-americans-since-1970-robin-dg-kelley/oclc/317363423

Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class

http://books.google.com/books/about/Race_Rebels.html?id=FN80lQEACAAJ

The Political Economy of Racism

http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/The-Political-Economy-of-Racism

How Racism Takes Place

http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/2089_reg.html

Are Prison’s Obsolete?

http://www.feministes-radicales.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Angela-Davis-Are_Prisons_Obsolete.pdf

Not In My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City (Historical overview of Baltimore, especially around housing and segregation)

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781566638432/Not-in-My-Neighborhood-How-Bigotry-Shaped-a-Great-American-City

Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People In The United States

http://www.queerinjustice.com/

VII.         News/Memes/Videos from Baltimore

10,000 Strong Peacefully Protest In Downtown Baltimore, Media Only Reports The Violence & Arrest of Dozens

http://blackwestchester.com/2015/04/27/10000-peacefully-protest-bmore/

The Roots of Baltimore's Violence

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pedro-noguera/the-roots-of-baltimores-violence_b_7166864.html

https://www.facebook.com/benjaminjhancock/videos/10153188750410590/?fref=nf

https://www.facebook.com/RickeySmileyOfficialFanPage/videos/884336188271373/?fref=nf

http://qz.com/394197/video-of-this-baltimore-mother-disciplining-her-son-is-going-viral-for-all-the-wrong-reasons/

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/11/white-people-rioting-for-no-reason.html

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/4/29/you_can_replace_property_you_cant

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/28/baltimore-protester-media-coverage_n_7166018.html

http://www.occupydemocrats.com/watch-baltimore-official-ruins-a-fox-reporters-attempt-to-smear-protesters/

Middle Schoolers Seek To Understand Baltimore

What was the name of the man who died? What happened? Does Baltimore have a history of racism? Why the fires? Would the trip be canceled?

As we attempt to procure resources to process the 

recent events in Baltimore in hopes of integrating 

insights gleaned into meaningful and relevant l

lessons for students, this article is a GEM. 




Authored by  Launa Schwiezer, Brooklyn Heights Montessori Middle School teacher and someone who 

Im honored to call my friend and diversity ally, this piece evidences the power of student-centered l

learning at its best. 


The old adage certainly holds true: People are invested in what they create. This scaffolded journey 

incorporates geography, critical race theory, economics, identity, power, privilege, microaggressions, 

American history, critical thinking skills, cultural competency, digital citizenship-- and much more. The 

result: students took ownership of their learning, which motivated them to uncover the multilayered and 

mutually-reinforcing considerations that undergird and inform the current situation in Baltimore --in ways 

that a history book can never do. 


This is a MUST READ!! And don't overlook the embedded resources 

dispersed throughout the article!


Read the article here:
A Field Trip to Baltimore

" You Don't Look Like You Can Run A Marathon!" : Fat Girl Running

It doesn't take a diversity consultant to recognize that we are a country that is obsessed with body image. Irrespective of where you fall on the gender spectrum, each day we are all inundated with increasingly narrow notions of ideal beauty. The vast majority of these images, ironically, are digitally enhanced and simply unattainable- at least without the help of a doctor. Perhaps Cindy Crawford summed it up best when she noted, in reference to her own media images, " I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford." In other words, even super models envy the perfection of the computer-generated and digitally-enhanced images of themselves!

This can certainly seem overwhelming, both for young people as they construct ideas about their identity and beauty as well as for adults as we strive to maintain our individuality against the ubiquitous forces that conspire to define a single image of beauty. And  all within a consumerist framework!  Lest we forget, being beautiful usually requires buying a product or service. If anything, today's notion of beauty has little to do with "natural." Notwithstanding, there are increasing counternarratives that challenge this single story of beauty.

One such striking counternarrative is that of one of my dear friends from Oberlin Conservatory, Mirna Valerio, another fellow linguist, educator and musician. Mirna is also incredibly athletic, having always participated in some sport since middle school. Moreover, Mirna is unashamedly " not a little girl" and  can literally run circles around the best of us. When she isn't conducting her student choir at Rabun-Gap, traveling to Italy to perfect her already-fluent Italian, attending AP Spanish conferences or training for marathons in the woods, she chronicles her experience as a " Fat Girl Running". Take a look here:

Mirna Valerio's Blog

The title of my current blog entry is inspired by an anecdote that Mirna shares regarding the repeated surprise that she encounters of those who make assumptions about her athleticism based on THEIR perception of her body size. This "surprise" manifests in a perhaps well-intentioned but equally ill-placed, "You don't look like you can run a marathon!"  Wow, deconstruction of this comment merits an entire post until itself.

As it turns out, however, I'm not the only member of the Mirna Valerio Fan Club, as she was recently featured in a Wall Street Journal article that examines the benefits of exercise beyond weightloss.You can read the article here:

Weight Loss or Not, Exercise Yields Benefits- WSJ

So, if there are two insights that I hope we can all gain from this post it's that :

 a) Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Moreover, notions of beauty are a function of time and society. (Think about how Marilyn might be judged by contemporary standards. Ouch!) So find the inner-beauty AND outer-beauty that makes YOU happy.

b) Be mindful the next time you catch yourself about to make a correlation about someone's body size and your understanding about their lifestyle and/or athletic abilities. That "fat guy" or "fat girl" may just out run, outbike and outswim you in the next triathlon.

Diversity Day at The Archer School

Im thrilled to share a recent article that was published highlighting my involvement in framing "Diversity Day " at The Archer School For Girls, in Los Angeles, California:

http://oracle.archeronline.org/archer-community-celebrates-annual-diversity-day-conference/

While I must concede that I have mixed feelings regarding the nomenclature around "Diversity Day," as this framing has historically encouraged a one-off celebration that institutions then check off their To-Do lists, I nonetheless leverage these opportunities to engage in critical inclusivity frameworks of identity, conceptual frameworks, language, power, privilege, positionality and exploring ways in which social identity is stratified in our society.

Ultimately,  irrespective of the ways in which institutions ultimately decide to frame the conversation, I always aim to embed each individual's identity into our understanding of "diversity" with the aim of empowering everyone to become a change agent for truly fostering an equitable society where all are able to flourish.

With specific regard to The Archer School, based on the robust engagement with students and thoughtful conversations with faculty, administrators and parents that I've experienced during my two visits, I have every confidence that they will continue to engage in this critical discourse and integrate ongoing insights into Archer programs, policies, practices and interpersonal behavior. 

How Many Black Friends Do You Have?

Last week, in honor of Black History Month, Jimmy Kimmel and his crew took to the streets of Los Angeles to ask a simple question: " How many black friends do you have?"  Take a look:

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2015/02/jimmu-kimmel-asks-white-people-if-they-have-black-friends?utm_campaign=complexmag%2Bsocialflow%2B02%2B2015&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

The satirization of this question is ironic, funny, sad and instructive. Why? Because the number of black friends white people have has become a proxy for determining if whites are racist, at worst, or the degree to which they are "diverse, " at best. The irony is that, as demonstrated by one of the participant's in this video,research consistently indicates that an overwhelming majority of whites don't have poc in their network. A recent survey from the Public Religion Research Institute found that most white people have no black friends in their social circles.

You can read an article from the Washington Post here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/08/25/three-quarters-of-whites-dont-have-any-non-white-friends/


And for those who are interested in delving more into the data and methodology of the survey:
http://publicreligion.org/research/2014/08/analysis-social-network/


In short, we have an absurdly imperfect criterion to assess white people's racial conceptual frameworks, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors; an overwhelming white population that lies about the question because, in fact, they have no black people in their social networks, and a polarized society, along racial lines, regarding perceptions of the saliency of race. We a also know that authentic exposure to people of different backgrounds and cultures is critical to cultivating respect for difference. So instead of asking people how many black friends they have, maybe we should encourage ALL people to consider the nature of their social networks and reflect on how they learn about those who are different to them? The "how many black friends do you have?" ultimately serves no purpose besides promoting a fictitious sense of "diversity."

First " The Help" and Now This! : The Latest 'White Savior" Movie That I Wont Go See

I have absolutely no desire to view this film as I fear that I've already seen multiple 
permutations of this trope. Ultimately, these narratives often prove ineffective in deepening 
multiple perspectives or understandings of race or advancing any type of racial discourse 
beyond the Great White Savior narrative. Instead, movies of this genre often reify racial, 
gender and class stereotypes and promote limited notions of the experiences of blacks and 
whites in this country, which, ironically, undermines their much-touted espoused goals.

Read this Forbes article which deftly articulates the way that I and many feel about these types of movies:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccatheodore/2015/01/30/black-or-white-movie-review-race/

The Easiest Way To Make The World A Better Place!

So what can I do to increase my cultural competence?

One of the challenges of fostering a more inclusive society is that we often lack authentic and meaningful relationships with people who are different to us. Indeed, research indicates that in many parts of the country, we are more racially and economically segregated today than we were just 20 years ago. So how do we learn more about each other?

In the course of my work with schools across the county, I'm often asked to suggest strategies to help individuals increase their culture competency. Or, more simply put, how can I learn foster my ongoing learning about people backgrounds and perspectives different from mine.

Today a friend shared a simple yet powerful strategy that I would now like to share with you: