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Racism

Racism

From the Left Field Bleachers: Explicit

Published by communitypublishingabq@gmail.com on August 28, 2020 Respond

When unarmed people are being murdered by “law enforcement” officers without due process should the support for the solution(s) to this ongoing tragedy be implicit or explicit? Let’s back up for 2:58.

The Pros

The Milwaukee Bucks decided to boycott/strike and refused to take the court for the 1st round NBA Playoff game against the Orlando Magic. Shortly thereafter the other NBA teams scheduled to play along with the WNBA, MLB and WNBA games were cancelled), on Tuesday (08/27/20) in protest of the attempted murder of Jacob Blake by a Kenosha Wisconsin Police Officer. Originally ,when discussions were being held for the NBA to restart play in the “Bubble” atmosphere in Orlando Florida, many players were outspoken in dissent against the idea, George Hill of the Milwaukee Bucks for one stated that he did not want Pro Basketball to distract from the ongoing Black Lives Matter struggle in particular.

What Can We Do?

According to this ESPN article, NBA players and the Players Union were trying to figure out what the best path forward in offering solutions to the issue of police brutality against African Americans. Stars like LeBron James and others have used their significant social media platforms to express frustration, anger and call for societal change in order to the address the issues being put forth by the Black Lives Matter movement. Today LeBron went so far as to leverage the power of his team the LA Lakers and the LA Clippers to force owners to use their resources to help find a solution for these ills. But here is the rub, his actions and all other athletes utilizing their platforms are being implicit instead of explicit. Stay with me here.

Can anyone make a real case that the modern (Kennedy era) Democratic Party has more closely represented the interests of African Americans, way more than the modern (Nixon era) Republican Party? Sanity dictates that we cannot even be a serious conversation about which party has because the answer is obvious. The Democratic Party is extremely flawed with Corporate Democrats still firmly calling the shots but even this terrible reality pales in comparison to the atrocities committed and furthered by Republicans and Donald Trump. Voter suppression like tactics like closing polling locations and now pulling out mailboxes in African American communities is part of the past and current strategy of disenfranchisement.

So if this is the case, then the solution is clear, athletes can use their influence to EXPLICITLY endorse, support, and help elect candidates that will become leaders that will truly represent us and tackle the root causes of inequity-racism-brutality. Does becoming an internationally recognized individual forfeit your right to express your ideas for solutions to many of society’s issues?

Emboldened

(Now) Senator Bernie Sanders 1965 Property of Chicago Tribune All Rights Reserved

So picture this, here is LeBron James emboldened and determined to help change things, “I support the progressive movement brought to the public consciousness by Senator Bernie Sanders and led into the future by the squad: made up of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. I support this movement because I know progressives like Senator Sanders were chained to, and arrested in support of African American’s during the 1960s, fighting for their right to the same rights that white Americans enjoy; while others were putting human rights behind political calculations of “personal evolution” or wondering about what the country is “ready for.”

Explicitly vs Implicitly

LeBron didn’t say that, I did. And I also say we ALL need to come out and support and vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, then hold their asses to the fire to start adopting progressive, people first policies that are going get to the root causes of racism, police brutality, inequity…all that. I said that, and LeBron and his fellow NBA players should be explicit and say it too. Way too many have died to be beating around the bush lost in implicit messages. Sometimes the solutions are as simple as, well, Mathematics…

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The Ink is Black, the Page is White: The Omission of People of Color in Children’s Books

Published by communitypublishingabq@gmail.com on December 4, 2015 Respond

By Alex Paramo


If the song “Black and White” (made famous by the 1970’s band, Three Dog Night) was written today, I would hope they would add to it’s title, “and the Pencil is Brown,” to symbolize the many brown faces that have changed the demographics of the country. The song was actually written by David Arkin and Earl Robinson in 1954 in response to the Supreme Court’s landmark anti-segregation decision, Brown v. Board of Education.

Lack of Representation of People of Color in Children’s Literature

Photo Credit: Christopher Meyers

Illustration by Christopher Meyers

According to according to a study by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin, only 253 of 3,200 children’s books surveyed were about people of color (described as African-American, American Indian, Latino, Asian & Pacific Island Americans). Additionally only 213 authors of color were found in the random sample. Additionally, with over 52 million Latinos in the U.S., (a number which is continually growing) the New York Times did not include a single book which included either a Latino protagonist or written by a Latino author, on it’s New York Times notable children’s book of 2013. 

Importance of representation of people of color in Children’s Books

Princess Marisol & the Moon Thieves

The lack of people of color in children’s books is terribly unfortunate and alarming. Books provide a way for children to envision themselves within the world around them. The demographics of the U.S. is rapidly changing to include more people of color. The importance of modeling in education is well documented. It is imperative that children of color see the images and read the words of the people around them that look like them. Therefore, if our books do not represent the many faces of the people that constitute our country, then we are under-serving and disenfranchising a significant portion of our population.

As a parent of a 7 year old, (3/4 Latina and 1/4 Native American) I have noticed the dearth of characters in children’s books that look like us. After reading the New York Times pieces, “Where are the People of Color in Children’s Books,” by Walter Dean Myers and the “Apartheid of Children’s Literature” by Christopher Meyers, I became fully aware of this unacceptable reality.

Book Choices for Parents

Viviana Hurtado and Monica Olivera of Latinas for Latino Lit, have created their own notables list of recommended children’s books that includes Latino authors, illustrators and protagonists. They both speak on the importance of this issue on National Public Radio: listen here.

Photo by Becky Archuleta

Photo by Becky Archuleta

This past Friday I played the Multimedia Book version of my book, Princess Marisol & the Moon Thieves, with it’s multicultural theme, and music, at Chaparral Elementary in Albuquerque, NM. Albuquerque Public Schools has a population of students which is 55% Hispanic/Latino. The characters in the book are real people, Marisol Paramo, Matias Pizarro, Juan Ramirez, Jackie Zamora: I insisted they be illustrated to their true likeness. As I scanned the classroom viewing all the interested little brown, black and white faces, I was proud of the fact that they were experiencing a multicultural story characters that resembled them, on the screen!
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Alex’s bilingual multimedia book, Princess Marisol & the Moon Thieves print version is available! Click on link for more info and to purchase!

Read more of Alex’s articles by clicking here. 
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This article was originally published on April 14, 2014

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Alex Paramo Community Publishing

Alex Paramo

Alex Paramo is a native New Yorker of Colombian descent. He is an Author and Co-Founder of Community Publishing. He currently resides in Albuquerque, NM. Read More about him here.

Community Publishing brings local artists of all mediums together in creative collaborations for distribution as Multimedia Books while promoting literacy in our communities. We are proud to be a community partner and digital marketer at the Rail Yards Market and the Monte Vista Fire Station. Need help with your web presence and social media marketing? Click here to find out how we can help you!

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Guest Poet: Yesterday

Published by communitypublishingabq@gmail.com on March 18, 2015 Respond

By Hakim Bellamy

Yesterday,
the USDOJ discovered racism

and Christopher Columbus
was pissed.

Because he
was under the impression
that he,
and he alone,
invented racism.

Acting alone.
No gun. No knoll.

Last night,
The Department of Justice
tried to put two
in the head of racism.

Tried to put two
in the heart.

Two in the towers,
that used to stand
in the middle of Manhattan
like a pair of crucifixions
that dropped its wings.

The day before yesterday
The US DOJ
rode in on a “white” horse
and the obvious
was not lost on me.

A few days ago,
US DOA late
and a dollar short.

In other news
the US DOJ
filed a report.

And just this morning,
the U.S.
D.O.
J.

found racism,
in Ferguson.

And the people,
even the Black people,
didn’t rejoice,

just relief

at what was finally reported.

And the report read
“We can see it too.”

It read,
“You are not crazy.”

It read
“We believe you.”

It said
sorry.

Then, it gave us
USD
O.J.

Because every so often
justice has nothing to do with innocence,
everything to do with equal.

Occasionally
The Department
of Justice
is as advertised,
even on clearance.

A few moments ago
The DOJ
signed a confession

the Hancock
matches the Constitution

‘cept on this contract
the ink
is still learning
how to dry.

(c) Hakim Bellamy March 13, 2015
Originally published in BE-SIDE

You can hear and share Hakim reading this poem here.

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Hakim Bellamy

Hakim Bellamy

Hakim Bellamy is Albuquerque’s Inaugural Poet Laureate, and counts, educator, musician and community organizer among his many ventures. Hakim’s multimedia Children’s book, Samuel’s Story is scheduled for release by Community Publishing in the Spring, 2015. Image courtesy of Joy Godfrey

Community Publishing brings local artists of all mediums together in creative collaborations for distribution as multimedia eBooks while promoting literacy in our communities.

We are proud to be a community partner and digital marketer at the Rail Yards Market.#JoinOurCommunity at http://communitypublishing.org

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Guest Poet: Zachary Kluckman

Published by communitypublishingabq@gmail.com on November 26, 2014

Winter Wears me Naked by Zachary Kluckman

I.

As much as I love their whispers
I cannot touch the trees today.

Jesse Washington. George Meadows. Emmett Till.

Their crooked fingers, naked in winter
like accusations of the nightmares
we have made them party to.

Today, I picture the bodies.
Hundreds of men and women killed by fear.
The thought of their lynchings
crawls under my skin and shivers
like a dying thing,
a small dog in the rain.

Does this make you uncomfortable

Let it.
In fact go deeper.

Imagine the knots that held them
slipped loose and down , around
your wrists, then pulled
until your pale, fish belly body
swung in the wind, imagine
your eyes as bird feeders for crows
your body, your bones
a secret left for the sun to expose
and maybe, finally,
touch the edge of what it means
to live in fear of your skin.

Stephen Watts. Tamir Rice. Michael Brown.

You’ve stopped asking us to do your dirty work
but you’re still killing them

They are shrieking through wind whistles.
Worse yet, they are right,
I don’t know what to say.

Racism is a conversation we need to have every day.
The sunken hollows where their eyes
used to be are an urgent punctuation.

Are you afraid? Do you have trouble
imagining yourself castrated and tied
to a cotton gin in the middle of a swamp.
There is a word for that.
Privilege. They are screaming. Privilege.

I am afraid that I am guilty as birds
for removing them from their bones.

II.

When Michael Brown was shot down
Officer Wilson took the privilege of watching him
bleed out, knowing his white skin
would protect him from prison,
then told a that Brown looked like a demon.

They tell me there is a war on,
in this country, against people of color.
I disagree.

In war there are survivors.

III.

When organized men armed with tactical gear
and training assault people of color in the streets,
this is not something as civilized as war, this
is genocide.

In war, both sides are fighting,
both armed and prepared for conflict,
in battle there has at least been
an open declaration of war.

There are no treaties here.
No peace talks or rules
for the treatment of prisoners.
Our nation’s young black men
and women are not given these considerations.
The police just kill them, and tell us
they looked like demons.

IV.

The Geneva convention(s) protects
prisoners of war from violence
to life and person, in particular
murder of all kinds,
assaults upon personal dignity,
passing sentence or carrying out executions.

Tell me how a child is shot ten times
and left to bleed in the street,
how prisoners of war are treated
with more dignity than our own citizens.
how a black man is killed
every 28 hours by the police,
tell me again how we are free.

Between murder and incarceration
tell me again how this country
does not keep slaves.

V.

I can not begin to understand what it means
to carry a target in your skin, as if
there were some genetic marker for murder,
to look at a tree and wonder how many
of your ancestors swung from its branches
at the end of a rope, what it means to live
in a country whose entire history
is built on the ashes of your kin,
on their blood, and their skin,

But I can refuse to repeat that history,
refuse to roll in those ashes,
I can speak truth, speak of trees
like Langston Hughes spoke of rivers.
I can promise the trees
I will never be silent again

VI.

This is my skin, like winter.
A tree cannot be blamed for the dirt
or the blood at its roots, but this skin
carries a history of violence, my silence
would only make me complicit

we must speak with our brothers and sisters
we must speak in a voice of thousands
until the killers are scattered

The time for resistance
is always.

Winter Wears Me NakedZachary Kluckman is a multi-award winning author, poet and spoken word artist recently named the 2014 Slam Artist of the Year at the National Poetry Awards. A two-time member of the Albuquerque National Poetry Slam team, and touring artist, he has performed across the nation, sharing the stage with many of the top artists in the world. His writing, performances and workshops around the world have earned him distinction, but at heart he is an activist, youth advocate and community organizer. In 2014 he received a Gold Medal award from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards as a Teacher for his work with young writers. Zachary has written and edited several books, most recently, Some of It is Muscle (Swimming With Elephants Publications, 2014), Trigger Warning: Poetry Saved My Life anthology (Swimming With Elephants Publications, 2014), Animals In Our Flesh (Red Mountain Press, 2012). Read more about Zachary by clicking here.
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