Today is the 106th anniversary of the birth of Rosa Parks.
Dolly Chugh reviews The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks for Forbes. She describes why this should matter to your organization (and everyone’s!)
Discussing race: “Be Uncomfortable A Lot!”
In honor of Black History Month, I will begin livetweeting Seattle writer Ijeoma Oluo’s book, “So You Want to Talk About Race.” It will take as long as it takes, but today is a great day to start!
This is an accessible and important read. I hope you will join me in reading or follow along in reading and discussion.
Twitter thread begins here.
For more of Ijeoma Oluo’s writing, see her writing page.
For a bit of background on Ijeoma Oluo’s perspective on race, this KUOW page has a brief archived podcast and transcript.
PHOTO CREDIT: NED AHRENS, KING COUNTY
Check out upcoming events on the Lancaster Black History Month events calendar!
Support Black Women’s mental health:
And watch some better entertainment!
There is a reason we must remember, and that is so that we may see and avoid allowing genocide to unfold again:
Kaitlin Byrd’s piece describes how prioritizing absolution and niceness can hinder the real, uncomfortable, confrontational work of civil rights progress:
The famous speech “I have a dream” is what many remember the Baptist preacher Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for, but there is more to his legacy. The activist led the civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until he was assassinated in 1968. MLK was greatly responsible for the passing of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act for African Americans, both in the mid-1960s. We now celebrate his life and achievements every third week in January, just days after his actual birthday, January 15.
Today we would like you to remember and celebrate what he has done to pave the way for our future and rights. It’s not just a day off from school or work.
You can celebrate with different events today in Lancaster. United Way is encouraging you to engage with the community in acts of service (link below). The YWCA Lancaster is hosting many for children 3-12 (link below). BOTH FREE to the public. Just remember you don’t need a holiday to get out and help your community.
YWCA Lancaster- https://ywcalancaster.org/mlkday/
-Jessica Yingling, Administrative Manager
It’s very good to support women and be anti-sexist; it’s not okay to use racism in critiquing sexism.
It’s very good to support BIPOC and be anti-racist: it’s not okay to use anti-gay prejudice in critiquing racism.
It’s very good to support LGBTQ folks and be anti-heterosexism/transphobia: it’s not okay to use classism in critiquing heterosexism/transphobia.
It’s very good to support financially marginalized people and be anti-poverty: it’s not okay to use ableism in critiquing classism.
It’s very good to support the disability community and be anti-ableist; it’s not okay to use ageism in critiquing ableism.
It’s very good to support the agency of children and elders and be anti-ageism; it’s not okay to use fatphobia in critiquing ageism.
It’s very good to support body positivity and be anti-fatmisia; it’s not okay to use sexism in critiquing fatphobia.
You can mix these up all you want and they still apply!
If we are pointing out someone’s problematic behavior or words, we must remember not to use problematic words of our own to characterize them.
If we do, we’re not just criticizing that person, we are playing into stereotypes and making life harder for vulnerable others who are not that person. We are engaging in bigotry ourselves!
For useful, practical ways to call out problematic behaviors and words, check out this helpful guide from Southern Poverty Law Center.
Unsurprisingly, research supports women’s–especially Black women’s–descriptions of their experience of online abuse:
It’s pretty hard in 2018 to avoid being online, so it can be hard to avoid abusive interactions. This can leave vulnerable people with increased depression, anxiety, and other trauma-related symptoms. Ideally, various platforms would develop better algorithms and reporting mechanisms to limit online abuse. Even more ideally, people would stop being abusive!
Failing that, you need to support your own mental health as best you can:
- Be mindful of how much time you spend on social media. Take breaks!
- Find supportive groups / circles / allies to focus on
- Find supportive, helpful media sources and check in regularly
- Develop a free “block” or “mute” hand – you don’t owe others your energy, attention, or explanations!
- Document any threats or threatening communications before they are removed, and report abuse
- Know that you are NOT crazy–it really is bad!–and you are not alone ❤