Growing up I did well in school; Honor Roll, Graduation and on to College. However my younger sister, Tanya, seemed to struggle with the things that seemed so natural to me. Early on she was labeled a problem child, relegated to special classrooms and put into a box for her entire academic life. We all bought into it and went along with the school’s labeling of my sisters at an early age. Now, some 40 years later, I realize that my sister is one of the smartest, creative and innovative people I know. I realized that our academic attractions were very similar; we both liked Math, Science and creating things with our hands. The difference was that she was girl who was not supposed to like math, science and creating with her hands. Although Tanya has done well for herself, I often wonder what her academic journey would have been like if she was a boy – at least a school. I’m certain there are millions of “Tanya’s” in schools today struggling to fit into the ”cells” assigned them by the educational system. I see this same type of behavior going on today. I even see it in myself - placing restrictions on human beings based on their gender.
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Revolutionary 101: We all are pondering, planning and plotting ways in which we can strike a blow to the oppressive regime while mobilizing ourselves financially, politically and socially. In that vein I would like to propose our first course of action: SOLIDARITY! Let's support a black owned organization, that uses STEAM to teach and mentor children in urban areas in 6 different cities The Kids First Initiative. Feel free to check out their site and social media platforms and once your research is complete, I urge you to consider supporting KFI financially with a donation or a monthly pledge. This is how we move forward! This is how we strike back! This is Back Solidarity! We support our own and build our own institutions! No Government Contracts, No City Funding! Just Love and Support with Black Money! I Am A Revolutionary: As you know I work with youth & teens and one of my desires is to ignite the Activist in them. For many of us we when hear Activism our minds immediately go to protest, which can be a very effective form of protest. However I want our children to learn how the Music of Fela Kuti, the Writing of James Baldwin, the Poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks, the Politics of Shirley Chisholm and the Speaking of Dr. King are all radical weapons to fight oppression. Stay Tuned! Love Supreme: At the core of any sustainable revolutionary movement is LOVE; Love for People, Love for Community, Love of Justice and Love of God. Without Love we will end up repeating these tragic events; same struggle, same players, same hustle.
I want to hear your Love Story during these unfortunate of events. Drop it below... ,The Chicago Youth Center – Sid Epstein Makers Lab developed a STEM program specifically for girls called TinkerBelles, which exposes them to hands on projects, specialized leaning and career opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. As our first endeavor, we invited Arelia Jones, a web developer from Career Builder and an Instructor for Coder Space, to speak to our girls. Although we had a few technical difficulties, Arelia shared an engaging presentation that charted her journey in the tech field. Arelia also shared that even as a young girl, she developed websites. I asked her, “Knowing what you know now, how much money could you have charged for the websites?" Her response was anywhere from $500 - $1,000. After doing the math, we estimated that a person their age would have to work about 4 weeks at McDonalds to make that amount of money. Overall, the goal was to spark the girls' interest in coding websites and consider being a young entrepreneur. We shall see… We’re planning to take the TinkerBelles to see the movie Hidden Figures, a film about 3 brilliant African-American women at NASA who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history - the launch into orbit. Chicago Youth Centers – Sidney Epstein hosted a guest speaker from the Nehemiah Kingdom Development Group to facilitate a workshop for young men, Men Ain’t Boys. The young men were interested and engaged! The discussion was facilitated by the organization's President, Christopher Houston, and opened dialogue about masculinity, leadership, sexuality, being fatherless and other issues that pertain to young men. This was the first in a series of events that will launch a program that uses technology to address social issues – specifically violence. The next event is a Screening of Fences and an All Male Panel Discussion sponsored by Nehemiah Kingdom Development Group on Saturday, December 31, 2016 at Studio Movie Grill. Stay tuned for that Blog. The idea to use technology, of all things, to address violence in our communities it was inspired and confirmed by:
CALL TO ACTION: In the spirit in of non-violence and creativity Sonny Speaks in collaboration with Kusanya Café presents: Stand Up to Violence. In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday - join us a for a storytelling event that looks at solutions to violence. This storytelling event is a part of a series of community conversations called The Kitchen Table. This event will use storytellers to spark conversations about solutions to violence. Stay tuned for that Blog. Monday, January 16, 2017 | 11:00 am – 1:00 pm Kusanya Café | 825 West 69th St Free! Family Friendly Today at work, I had some old folders in the Makers Lab that I intended to discard. However, when the students saw the folders and learned of my plan, they were ALARMED! They said, "Don’t throw those away, we can make something out of them and we should REUSE them instead of throwing them away." So I postponed my lesson and went around the table to ask each student their idea for the old folders. They suggested decorating the folders like Christmas cards for parents, decorating them as their own Makers Lab folders and one girl said “ I just need a new folder for school." All of the ideas were good and most of them were doable, but more than that, the students have learned or are learning the fundamentals of a Maker or Tinkerer: REUSE, RECYCLE & REDUCE. Working with these children, I learn something new every day! Today I was a little perplexed about what to do with the CYC Teens in the Maker Lab. I began by showing a clip from the documentary film, The Interrupters. It tells the story of three "interrupters" who try to protect their Chicago communities from the violence in which they once engaged. I attempted to talk about last week’s shooting - referred to in BOYS DON’T CRY post. However, several students expressed their discomfort in talking about that situation. So I had to pivot the conversation to how we can utilize the resources available to us in the Makers Lab to address the violence that plagues our communities. The students were engaged and began to give some suggestions, some better than others, about how we could use the Makers Lab to address violence in the North Lawndale community. So we decided that we would start a slogan/campaign like “stop the violence” or “put the guns down” to affix to buttons, posters and T-shirts. I was impressed and inspired! So we move forward! Stay Tuned! #living2learn #teensonamission Enroute from school, the elementary kids that I work with drove passed a murder scene; they saw three bodies laid out, police, helicopters, tape and many on lookers. Many of the young girls yelled and screamed in terror as the bus driver told them to duck down. The young boys seemed to be numb and not affected by this, which we know is not true. Honestly I am as concerned for those who were expressive as I am with those who were numb. At least those who were able to cry, scream and express themselves have a healthy outlet. Unfortunately young boys, even as young as elementary age, are not allowed to cry or vent in these same humane ways because boys don’t cry. However if you spend any time with these same young boys you will witness this trauma seep its way out of them in ways that are unhealthy: rage, violence, outburst, emotional instability, breakdowns and the like. Our children are involved in and being affected by trauma on a daily basis and the repercussions of this violence and traumatic will affect us all for years to come. #violveenceaffectsusall |
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