March 14 – White Women, Join Me

March 14, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

Ron Desantis’ General Counsel Ryan Newman gave this description of WOKE: “it would be the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.” And Ron Desantis wants woke-ism to die in Florida (and in the U.S., if God-forbid, he becomes president).

That is the backlash our nation is up against. People, many of them in positions of authority, are denying that there are systemic injustices in America and that we need to address them. It is so frightening. We need to speak up, so our nation becomes more perfect, not less.

I’ve known all along about the powerful book Saira Rao and Regina Jackson wrote and was published by Penguin Books last fall:

White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better

However, it took me until last month to finally purchase it. I don’t know why. Here is a great taste of their book in a Time.com article.

Are you a white woman? I would invite you to buy the book, read it, and discuss it with a small group. You are invited to join in this free Race2Dinner book club. After you access the book club, register, and then RSVP for one of the small groups. The first group met today, and three more are starting this week. Go and check it out. At the first meeting, the group will discuss the preface of the book. Then they will talk about one chapter a month after that.

I hope to see you in the Race2Dinner community. Do let me know if you join, please.

 

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. Thank you, Two Writing Teachers!

Poetry Friday – Justice

“Blah, blah, blah,”
he spoke incessantly,
arms expressive.
As I sat in the doctor’s waiting room,
I wasn’t hearing the audio as
I watched the recorded “highlights”
of the testimony.
I thought tears
would flow anytime as
I began thinking of that
other trial last week,
with those infamous tears.
The chyron below gave me
some of his words:
“Defendant testifies
‘This was a life-or-death situation.'”

I remembered the video evidence,
submitted by one of the murderers–
Three men against one,
three aggressors against one victim,
two vehicles against two shoes,
two guns against none,
three against one,
white against black.

Ahmaud Arbery was an unarmed jogger
just hoping for a country
he could
exercise
his right to live.


I wrote about Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers in September 2020 here in “Say His Name–Ahmaud Arbery,” the third poem on that post.

Today is Poetry Friday. Thank you to Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink. Her post today is filled with beautiful autumn verses and photos: “Unveiling of Bedecked in Autumn Gallery“.

Anagrams of My Name Poem

Today’s Ethical ELA poetry prompt is by Anna J. Small Roseboro “Mixing Them Up Today: Anagram Poetry.” She had us find anagrams for our name and use them in a poem about a person or event in fiction or in real life, or a concept we’ve taught. I wrote about Cora, the main character in The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead.

Cora redressed as Bessie 
wasn’t able to kiss freedom
on her underground rides.
She resided in sirens
of berserk oppression,
misery and evil her forced drink.
Cora’s chosen kindred died,
Desires denied,
Seeker of choice,
Risker of hell,
Her end.

The powerful
sneered and reeked 
of the monstrous beds they made,
Serene skies their lie.

Stand beside Cora’s memory,
America’s dressed in this history.
May a keen sense of ownership
indeed send us to our knees
to repent, rise, and render hope
for a new day.

Paralysis

This chapter about the Juneteenth celebration at Galveston Island has helped me walk further along a new path of truth in America’s history. This passage, written by a young black man, also speaks to me, an older white woman, who learned history in a similar way with white-washing and lies to hide the deeper truths of white supremacy that people didn’t want to say aloud. We are also seeing it in our lived day-to-day history in this, the 21st century.

I watched these young people read to the audience parts of history that placed our country in context. I felt, in that moment, envious of them. Had I known when I was younger what some of these students were sharing, I felt as if I would have been liberated from a social and emotional paralysis that for so long I could not name—a paralysis that had arisen from never knowing enough of my own history to effectively identify the lies I was being told by others: lies about what slavery was and what it did to people; lies about what came after our supposed emancipation; lies about why our country looks the way it does today. I had grown up in a world that never tired of telling me and other Black children like me all of the things that were wrong with us, all of the things we needed to do better. But not enough people spoke about the reason so many Black children grow up in communities saturated with poverty and violence. Not enough people spoke about how these realities were the result of decisions made by people in power and had existed for generations before us.

Smith, Clint. (2021) How the Word Is Passed, Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition.

Paralysis

For so long
arisen from history
lies told about slavery
lies about our country
Not enough people
spoke about
realities of power
for generations before us

I’m trying to find a balance in how to read these rich chapters. For the first few chapters, I highlighted things I wanted to remember on my Kindle. This time I took notes in a journal. After three pages of notes and two poems, I was still only half finished with the chapter. Hmmm…I’ll keep trying.