BLM – Peaceful Reader

Today and tomorrow

I anxiously awaited the end of the Chauvin trial, as millions of others did, because I wanted a trend to be set and I am very happy with the outcome. In fact I cried. If we can convict one police officer then it can happen again and hopefully start a fire burning for better policing. City and state budgets need to be spent on training for officers on how to de-escalate with more emphasis on better understanding and compassion. Long live the memory of George Floyd! It’s one tiny step to restorative justice in these United States.

I finished The Night Watchman Louise Erdrich’s excellent novel which recounts the story of her grandfather in 1953.. There has been no time in our country’s history where we’ve treated the First People with the respect they deserve and this book recounts the “emancipation bill” created by Senator Arthur V. Watkins, a Mormon, of Utah. This bill was set to relieve the Native people of their status as a tribe and force integration into bigger cities like Minneapolis/St Paul. Watkins pushed this idea as the Emancipation Proclamation for Natives. Erdrich’s ability to weave facts into her beautifully-written prose makes this a majestic book to read. I strive to read whatever she publishes. My favorite quote from The Night Watchman:

“We’re from here,” said Thomas. He thought awhile, drank some tea. “Think about this. If we Indians had picked up and gone over there and killed most of you and took over your land, what about that? Say you had a big farm in England. We camp there and kick you off. What do you say?” Barnes was struck by this scenario. He raised his eyebrows so fast his hair flopped up.” I say we were here first!”

Many aren’t aware that Erdrich has a historical fiction series that begins with The Birchbark House for elementary students. This 5 book series is a wonderful look into Native life as they attempt to survive while European explorers and settlers encroach on their land and way of life.

I’m feeling burned out from school and look forward to summer. I will be happy to have Groovy Girl back home and hope for somewhat of a “normal” summer with threads of pre-pandemic moments. I am taking my worries to my yoga mat and have challenged myself to show up everyday for at least 20-30 minutes with Adriene. I thought I would have so much extra time this year and I just ended up juggling more work and stress. I always have hope and know this is temporary. Be good to yourself. Peace be with you…

December thoughts

I recently finished an amazing book, The Overstory by Richard Powers. I completely understand why it was a NYT bestseller and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for 2019. The book is startling good, crisp literature. It was intriguing to follow nine distinct characters all in their own stories to find how they all connect in some way or another. I love trees, am a known tree hugger, and get riled up by people who don’t care about simple things like one use items that just get tossed away so this book spoke to me on the level that all our actions should lead us toward a greater good. I’m not a fan of paper napkins, paper towels, cardboard coffee cups, and small plastic beverage containers even though some of this is recyclable or composts naturally as paper does but why buy consumables that are just to be thrown away? It’s just me, I get it, most people don’t think about these things at all. I believe that in certain areas of the country clear cutting forests for profit may be changing as public opinion, research, and natural disasters like mudslides show how groves of trees benefit our habitat as well as animals. Richard Powers does an amazing job of helping us to see the connection between trees and other living beings. “They stand under the circle of camouflaged Platanus, that most resigned of eastern trees, on the spot where the island was sold, by people who listened to trees, to people who cleared them.” (451) I will remember and treasure the message in the book for a long long time.

I’m also one and a half chapters away from finishing Ibram X. Kendi’s NYT’s bestselling book, How to be an Antiracist, which I began way back last February. I’m not good with nonfiction. I started reading it with a teacher group through Facebook but I slacked off about chapter 12 and then I was invited to join another book group with two friends and that motivated me to push me through to (nearly) the end. I appreciate Kendi’s writing and his willingness to share his own story with mistakes and racist ideas. It’s a lot of unpacking and deep thinking and probably a book I will refer back to as I continue to understand our journey better.

Now as I stay up past my bedtime to write I am mindful of my sleep issues. For eight long years I have struggled with insomnia and waking up in the middle of the night unable to go back to sleep. I don’t feel stressed, I’m in good overall health, and I practice meditation and yoga, drink tea, and generally am not on screens at night. Recently a writer on Twitter that I follow mentioned her own struggles with sleep during menopause and I literally heard an Hallelujah choir sing as I read her comments and others over this issue. I’ve battled this for so long without real understanding from the medical community and found no similar experiences when I discussed it with other female friends! In just one small social media post I felt relief to know that I was not the only one. Thank you Jo Knowles; your simple statement gave me relief, still no solution, but maybe that’s somewhere close at hand as well. Life affirming changes happen through books and even small snippets on social media!

More on being anti-racist…

I am continuing my journey to better understanding by watching and I want to share the most interesting with you. We should keep learning and pushing ourselves while we actually work to dismantle the racist systems in place that keep people of color from succeeding at life. We need to push our schools, banks, city councils, police departments, landlords, and neighbors to do better. If you work in an area that should help more get your people on board. If you are a parent, teacher or administrator you need to push for real change in what and how we teach. This video shares how students in the South were explicitly taught to respect the Confederate flag, and it’s so-called “heritage”.

Also I read this great article, When black people are in pain white people just join book clubs, by Tre Johnson in The Washington Post about how easily white people dismiss the struggle. I feel like I’m stuck in this myself by how much information I’m taking in yet in order to be a better ally and teacher I have to understand how and what to say. I was asked to be on our district’s equity committee, which I understand has been in place for years w/out getting much done, so we are still dealing with a lot of old/same hurt, outrage, and anger.

Teaching Hard History in K-5 is a webinar I watched from the Teaching Tolerance website, which is filled with valuable resources. This webinar already took place but if you register they will send you a link to it within a few minutes. I’m going to keep an eye on other webinars they may host as I would like to be part of the real-time Q/A

This video with Emmanuel Acho is helpful and he has several others to watch. I either stumbled upon this one or someone shared it on their FB feed. It’s shocking that people still don’t understand the mental trauma and racist systems that Black people have experienced. This is one of many areas where the race has not been fair for generations. I encourage you to subscribe and take a look at each of his videos.

And one last one that I found on our list of resources for the school equity committee about micro aggressions. I love the dialogue that happens in this particular classroom. My head cannot wrap around things that people say out loud; like stop people and think before you speak and also how about a little mind-you-own-business! What would it look like to be more welcoming and accepting of people who don’t look just like you.

Be kind out there and seriously do better. There are many ways to get involved and help even if just by donating or making phone calls. 8 can’t wait is a great tool to help you. Breonna Taylor’s murderers are still out there and here is a good article talking about this. And Elijah McClain in Colorado. We need to stop this before the list continues to grow…
Thank you for continuing on this journey with me…