Tamarra Coleman: Hello everyone.
I'll, give us a few moments to join
the webinar today.
Looks like people are still coming in.
Welcome everyone.
We will go ahead and get started. I want to begin with a couple of technical notes to help you
enjoy the webinar, to the best of your abilities here. First off, the first hour of our program today will be focused on our presenters.
As attendees, you will have an opportunity to engage with us and ask questions about the program or questions you may have about any topics brought up in the program,
in the last half hour. There are two options to engage throughout the program, our question and answer
Q&A option will be available, you can type in your questions at any time we will respond to them during the last half hour.
In that last half hour, you will also have the opportunity to raise your hand and become audible.
You can use that option if you'd like to ask a question or comment during that time. If you need the closed caption that's also available. It's down at the bottom of your screen. You can click on that and enable those captions for your needs.
And this webinar will be recorded, so if you would like to watch it in the future,
we will make that available.
Next slide.
We will open today as customary for Juneteenth celebrations with the what we affectionately call the Black national anthem "Lift Every Voice and Sing".
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died; Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray. Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee, Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee; Shadowed beneath Thy hand, May we forever stand. True to our God, True to our native land.
Tamarra: Next slide.
Welcome
colleagues, community members and friends to this first event presented by the Ventura County College's Anti-Racism Alliance.
We are a diverse group of faculty, counselors and staff from all five institutions in Ventura County.
Moorpark College, Oxnard College, Ventura College, California Lutheran University, California State University Channel Islands and community based organizations. We welcome you today and we are here to center black voices.
In this alliance, we know for sure racism exists in all areas of our society. In this alliance, we know for sure there is no such thing as reverse racism.
In this alliance, we know for sure white supremacy is real and it needs to end. In this alliance, we know for sure white privilege is a thing.
Our work is to eradicate racism in our institutions of higher education and in our communities.
That work requires us to look at all aspects of our institutions and create an ethos of equity, equality, and opportunity for all of us,
including students, faculty and staff and members of our community to learn, grow, and self-actualize.
I am Tamarra Coleman, English faculty at Moorpark College. I am excited about and proud of what faculty from institutions across our country have prepared for you today in such a short period of time in celebration of Juneteenth and an honor of people who look like me.
In the next hour, you will hear black voices from the past and black voices from the present, you will feel the poetic words of black artists through their poetry and through their song.
You will see images of people who are not marginal in the history of America but are the roots of America.
As academics, scholars, researchers, teachers, counselors, and support staff and administrators on our campus, it is our job to educate our students
and our communities on the lives, the histories, the truths about black people. It is our job to equip our students with the knowledge that will enable them to move through the world with a sense of fairness and justice for all. Anti-Racism work begins in our institutions.
As a reminder, the first hour will be a time for you to sit back and soak in these voices. After the presentations will will open it up for Q&A.
There are two ways you can engage in this, you can use the Q&A feature through the entirety of the program. Simply type in your questions and we will acknowledge those questions during the last half hour.
Or you can raise your hand, using the hand symbol on the screen and someone will acknowledge you to ask a question or to speak during that time.
Next slide?
To open our program, we will hear the words of Anna Julia Cooper from her essay: "Has America a Race Problem? If so, how do we fix it?" published in 1892, by Desta Goehner, the Director of Congregational Relations at California Lutheran University.
Desta Goehner: "There are two kinds of Peace in this world.
The one produced by suppression, which is the passivity of death. The other brought about by a proper adjustment of living, acting forces.
A nation or an individual may be at peace, because all opponents have been killed or crushed. Or nation, as well as individual may have found the secret of true harmony and the determination to live and let's live.
Now I need not say that peace produced by suppression is neither natural nor desirable.
Despotism is not one of the ideas that man has copied from nature.
All through God's universe we see eternal harmony and symmetry as the unvarying results of the equilibrium of opposing forces.
Fair play in an equal fight is in the law written in nature's book.
And the solitary bully with his foot on the breast of his last antagonist has no warrant in any fact of God.
The law holds good in sociology, as in the world of matter that equilibrium not repression among conflicting forces is the condition of natural harmony of permanent progress and of universal freedom.
That exclusiveness and selfishness in a family in a community or in a nation is suicidal to progress.
Past and prejudice mean immobility.
One race predominance means death.
The community that closes its gates against foreign talent can never hope to advance beyond a certain point.
Resolve to keep out foreigners and you keep out progress.
Home talent develops, it's one idea and then dies.
Like the century plants, it produces it's one flower, brilliant and beautiful, it may be, but it lasts only for a night. It's forces have exhausted themselves in that one effort, nothing remains, but to wither and rot.
Tamarra: Thank you Desta. Next slide.
Now we'll hear from Ranford Hopkins, Historian from Moorpark College.
Ranford Hopkins: Since 1472, black people have long been victims of European slavery. To see the end of slavery, let's fast forward to the election of Abraham Lincoln. Next slide.
Lincoln was elected as many of you know in November of 1860. Was a sorely divided nation at the time. Next slide.
The nation was divided between free and slave states.
Next slide.
Three years before Lincoln was elected, there was an unprecedented volatile decision that decision was the Dred Scott decision. Essentially, it said
that holding a slave was constitutional. This means that anyone could hold a black person as a slave anywhere in the country. One could live next door to William Lloyd Garrison or Frederick Douglass and not be arrested or penalized for that act. Next slide.
In fact,
Lincoln was conflicted. Many people believe that Lincoln was conflicted over his view of slavery. Take his inaugural address in March of 1861, he said,
"I have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so and I have no inclination to do so." Next slide.
On the other hand, he said, "I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong. Nothing is wrong. I cannot remember when I did not so think, and feel."
Next slide.
If there was any doubt about confliction in
Lincoln's view of slavery, there was none when it came to southerners.
Lincoln was elected in November of 1860. By January of 1860, 7 of the 11 states who were slave states and you can see on the map here, the red states are the slave states, seven of them decided to secede from the Union. By the spring of 1861, it was a new nation born
called the Confederate States of America. Next slide.
Then two years later, in 1863, Lincoln issues the famous Emancipation Proclamation which freed all slaves, but with the
caveat that if you were a slave in the United States of America, you were still a slave. If you were a slave in those states in rebellion against the Union, you were at least in theory, free. Next slide.
Also in 1863,
Lincoln decided that the white man's war was no more. He was going to try to enlist blacks into service. Two men who stepped forward were, one, Frederick Douglass, one of the most popular black men
in America, and one of the most popular men, period, in America. He was an abolitionist, a journalist, and many considered him the black president of the United States.
Parallel with him was Martin Delaney, abolitionist, wealthy African American, who historians now see as the first black nationalist. Both of these men, along with Lincoln and hundreds and scores of other people helped to raise the first black,
so called, colored troops. Next slide.
As you can see, over 185,000 black troops were eventually enlisted. Blacks represented one in every
ten American soldiers was African American. The troops distinguished themselves well. They earned some 25 Medals of Honor. They probably would have
earned a lot more if it had not been the the mode of the time and the prejudice and discrimination, they would have earned far more than 25. Okay. Next slide please.
In April of 1865, the Union had defeated the Confederacy. There was jubilation in the North and tribulation in the South.
In Texas, not so much. In Texas, there were no significant Union forces, there were some, and no significant Southern forces. There were no major battles between the North and the South in Texas, even though technically Texas was a southern state and it was a slave state.
Some slave owners, after the emancipation, picked up themselves and their so called "property" and brought them to Texas believing that they would be free there. Many African Americans who were slaves did not have any idea
that the Emancipation Proclamation
had been listed two hours earlier.
Then, general Gordon Granger comes with 1800 federal troops and he in fact
reads the General Order No. 3, the military order frees all slaves.
Next slide.
One African American who was free said this, "We was free. Just like that. We was free. Abe Lincoln freed the nigger with the gun and the trigger. And I ain't going to get whipped anymore. I got my ticket, leaving the thicket and I'm a-heading for the Golden Shore!" Last slide.
And here you see a picture of
African American freed slaves on Juneteenth Day 1900. Thank you.
Tamarra: Thank you Ranford. Now we'll hear from Perry Martin, Business faculty at Moorpark College and he's going to introduce us to another perspective, Frederick Douglass.
Perry Martin Jr.: The Declaration of Independence signed on July 4, 1776 did not grant liberty for all, slavery remained in place. In his famous speech, in 1852, Frederick Douglass, a former slave turned abolitionist put it this way,
"This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice. I must mourn. Fellow citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, on my call to speak here today?
What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence,
extended to us? Am I, therefore, called upon to bring a humble offerings to the national altar, and to confess the benefits express the devout gratitude for blessings resulting from your independence to us?
Would to God, both for your sake and ours, that affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then my task would be light and my burden easy and delightful.
For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who's dead to the claims of gratitude that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits?
Who so stolen and selfish, that would not give voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude have been torn from his limbs. I am not that man.
And in this case the dumb might eloquently speak and the lame man might leap as an hart. But such is not the state of that case.
I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. I am not included with the pale of this glorious anniversary.
Your high independence only reveals immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice either enjoyed, or not enjoyed, in common.
The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence given by your father's is shared by you, not by me.
The sunlight that brought light and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.
To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhumane mockery and sacrilegious irony.
Do you mean, citizens, to mock me by asking me to speak today? If so, there's a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn
that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty,
burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! I can today take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and Woe-smitten people.
Fellow citizens, above your national joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! Who's chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them.
If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorry this day, may my right hand cleave to the roof of my mouth!
To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most scandalous and shocking,
and would make me be a reproach before God and the world. My subject then, fellow citizens, is American slavery. I shall see this day and it's popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing there identified with American bondman, making his wrongs mine.
There, I do not hesitate to declare with all my soul, the character on this Fourth of July, where the declarations in the conduct this nation seems equally hideous and revolting.
I will, in the name of humanity, which is outrage. And the name liberty is fettered in the name of the Constitution and the Bible. I denounce with all emphasis I can command
everything that serves to perpetuate slavery, the great sin and shame of America. I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will use the severest language I can command, and yet not one word shall escape
that any man whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice shall confess right and just.
What, to the American slave, is Fourth of July? I answer: the day that reveals more than all days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license." Now,
what does it mean to Frederick Douglass? What does Juneteenth mean to Frederick Douglass?
Tamarra: Next Slide.
Perry: Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, US. Let him get upon his eagle, a button, and a musket on his shoulder, and bullets in his pocket.
There's no power on earth that can deny his earned right to citizenship. On June 19th, Union soldiers, led by Major General Granger,
landed in Galveston with the news that the war had ended, and the enslaved were now free. This was two and a half years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth is the real day of Jubilee for black people. Thank you.
Tamarra: Thank you, Perry Martin.
Now we'll hear more about Juneteenth and celebrations across this nation by Patty Colman, in the History department at Moorpark College.
Patty Colman: Thank you, as we heard Juneteenth originated in Texas, and the first Juneteenth holiday was celebrated there in 1866. New slide.
But that date and event was specific to that community. Emancipation happened at different times, in different places, to different people during the Civil War. So, African Americans in the 19th century celebrated freedom differently across the country. Next slide.
Take for example, Los Angeles. In the 1860s LA was a small town as this photo shows. This is actually showing you downtown Los Angeles near where City Hall stands today.
In the 1860s, there were less than 100 African Americans living in the city. Many of them were former slaves and were no doubt overjoyed when the news of the Emancipation Proclamation made its way to the newspapers in California.
Emancipation Proclamation was issued September 1862, but went into effect January 1st 1863.
Therefore folks had a few months to plan, and even though the African American community was small, they were brave, and active, and celebrated emancipation on January 1st 1863.
Probably somewhat quietly in someone's home, given the vast number of southern sympathizers here in Los Angeles, and because the war was still ongoing. But over the years, the community, and the celebrations grew. Next slide.
At sunrise on January 1st 1886,
A 23 gun salute was shot from the first street Hill in downtown LA to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Later in the day the program included sermons, speeches, dinner, a dance, all held in this hall, which no longer stands by the way, that organizers procured for the occasion.
Elaborate celebrations like this continued January 1st throughout the 1880s, 1890s, and one celebration even included, quote, "a Freeman's Jubilee and praise meeting,"
3 to 10 minutes would be allowed to each ex slave to tell what he thought and did upon receiving the good news of freedom.
And every ex slave is requested to bring one cent for each year he or she had been free, and each negro who has never been a slave, is requested to bring one cent for each year he or she has not been a slave.
Money raised will go to the education efforts for the Southern colored people." End quote. Next slide.
Into the 20th century, celebrations continued in Los Angeles on January 1st and many were connected with local churches as this article from 1900 shows.
But then in 1914 an interesting ad appeared in the Los Angeles Herald. An emancipation celebration in June.
This is pretty amazing, because the traditional historical narrative suggests that Juneteenth didn't spread out of Texas until many years later.
Just goes to show you that LA has always been cutting edge, but it also shows that the African American community was connected in ways historians may not fully understand yet.
Over the next few decades celebrations continued, but would have become difficult as things like the Great Depression, World War Two came.
But Juneteenth got a real resurgence during the Civil Rights Movement, especially during the late 1960s and early 70s, the movement inspired black people to celebrate their history and take pride in black culture.
Juneteenth not only educated Americans about what happened in Texas back in 1865, but it also underscored the paradox of celebrating freedom when African Americans were still not fully free. Next slide.
Juneteenth also provided people across the country a universal time to unify and celebrate their heritage on its own day. Celebrating emancipation on January 1st, you know, you got to compete with
the Rose Parade and football. So, it grew in popularity and continued the tradition of picnics, barbecues. Next slide.
They also continued music, dancing. Next slide.
Then in 1980, Texas became the first state to officially recognize Juneteenth, and you see there California did so in 2002.
Today, most states do now recognize Juneteenth but there is a call to make it a national holiday.
After all, Juneteenth isn't just a black holiday. It commemorates events that are central to American history, and all Americans should celebrate. I would encourage everyone to contact your senators and your representatives to show your support. Thank you.
Tamarra: Thank you Patty.
Now we'll take a moment to listen to a bit of music. Take Me to the king by Tamela Mann. This is an example of the contributions that gospel music have made to our culture, particularly in the black community.
Music please
Next slide.
Tamarra: Thank you Tamela Mann. Gospel music and the black church has always been a place of healing and a place of fighting for freedom as well for black people.
Now we'll hear poetry from Langston Hughes by Beth Gillis-Smith English faculty at Moorpark college.
Next slide.
Beth Gillis-Smith: "Theme for English B".
"The instructor said go home and write a page tonight and let that page come out of you, then it will be true.
I wonder if it's that simple. I am 22,
colored, born in Winston-Salem. I went to school there, then Durham, then here to this college on the hill above Harlem. I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the Hill lead down into Harlem through a Park, then I cross St Nicholas, Eighth Avenue, seventh, and I come to the Y, the Harlem branch Y, where I take the elevator up to my room, sit down, and write this page.
It's not easy to know what is true for you or me at 22, my age, but I guess I'm what I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you. Hear you, Hear me-we two-you, me, talk on this page. I hear New York too. Me-who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love. I like to work, read, learn, and understand life. I like a pipe for Christmas present, or records-Bessie, Bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me not like the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write? Being me, it will not be white. But it will be a part of you, instructor. You are white, yet a part of me, as I am a part of you. That's American.
Sometimes, perhaps, you don't want to be a part of me, nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are. That's true!
As I learned from you, I guess you learn from me. And although you're older, and white, and somewhat more free.
This is my page for English B.
Tamarra: Thank you Beth. Wow.
Our next poem will be read by Cynthia Barnett, Sociology faculty at Moorpark College. This is a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Cynthia Barnett: "Sympathy".
"I know what the caged bird feels, alas! When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; when the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
and the river flows like a stream of glass; When the first bird sings and the first bud opes, and the fake perfume from its chalice steals-I know what the caged bird feels!
I know why the caged bird beats his wing till it's blood is read on the cruel bars; for he must fly back to this perch and cling
When he fain would be on the bough a-swing; and a pain still throbs in the old, old scars and they pulse again with a keener sting-I know why he beats his wing!
I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, when his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, when he beats his bars and he would be free. It's not a carol of joy or glee, but a prayer that he sends from his hearts deep core, but a plea that upward to heaven he flings. I know why the caged bird sings!"
Thank you.
Tamarra: Thank you, Cynthia. In keeping with the theme of the caged bird, we'll see a video made by Elissa Caruth, English faculty at Oxnard College, and Emily Zwaal, American Sign Language faculty at Oxnard College.
Elissa Caruth: Hello, I'm Elissa Caruth and this is Emily Zwaal.
We are from Oxnard, and we are here to present "Caged Bird" by Maya Angelou.
"A free bird leaps on the back of the wind, and floats downstream till the current ends, and dips his wing in the orange sun rays, and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill, of things unknown, but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze, and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees, and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright line, and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied, so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown, but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.
Thank you very much.
Tamarra: Thank you Elissa, and Emily.
Next, we'll hear from Brian Burns English faculty at Moorpark College, giving us Dudley Randall, poet, his perspective on W.E.B DuBois and Booker T. Washington.
Next slide.
Brian Burns: Hello, I was going to read a poem by, as Tammy was just saying, by Dudley Randall, but I think it's important to have a little bit of context here. So I'm a literature professor. So
I always want to give some some cultural context. But I think a theme that I would really want to emphasize in all of these presentations
is this idea of voices and conversation. We're following the thread of these presentations. We're seeing these different voices, these different points of view,
and how certain people are responding to each other are in conversation with each other, of course, we're seeing that directly with Dunbar and Maya Angelou. But really there's this thread of ideas and voice kind of running throughout the entire history
of literature in general, but especially now we're zoomed in right now on a number of African American
writers and thinkers and historians. And so Dudley Randall, I think, is a helpful and interesting
example of a writer who's thinking about the way these voices come together or are in in conversation with each other.
So we see a little bit of information about Dudley Randall here, he was involved in the Black Arts Movement and he was especially active as a poet
in the late 60s and early 70s and moving through that time period. But he was reaching back further, in this particular poem that I would like us to take a look at,
and he's referring to these two specific really important figures in African American history and culture. And if we could have the next slide, please.
And the title of the poem is "Booker T and W.E.B.", and he is explicitly and specifically referring to these two really important figures:
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois. Now, I don't have time to get into detail about this, but I really recommend and invite
everyone to learn more about these two men. Now there were lots of other really important figures
in this particular period. So, what we're talking about here is the late 1900s and moving into the 20th century and the ways that these two thinkers had a huge influence on conversations about race, and rights, and education. And if we could have the next slide please.
And I didn't really have time to get into great detail about them, but I what I really wanted to do for the sake of the poem to really help us get some some context and grounding for the poem,
is to kind of contrast, at least when it came to education, the differences between Washington and DuBois. This should be clear, these guys weren't necessarily
adversaries, they didn't hate each other, but they did disagree on a number of different topics and especially when it came to some of their core ideas about education.
So Booker T. Washington had this idea that education for the black community should really focus on trade and jobs. And he had this larger political philosophy that
first, African American communities should have an economic sort of stability and prove themselves worthy to white leadership and white politicians
that they were trustworthy and hardworking and all of this. And so that in generations down the road, eventually they can start asking for more equal rights, equal representation,
you know, access to positions of leadership and things like this, whereas Dubois really deeply disagreed with that idea. Now, DuBois himself was an academic. He had a PhD. The first
African American to get a PhD from Harvard. He founded the field, well was one of the founders, of the field of Sociology and quite a few other things. And DuBois had this idea that
following Washington's sort of idea would lead to a permanent situation in which black communities would be in a hereditary second class status. They would always be in positions of
service and trade work and not be in positions to set policy, to take leadership, and so education in that sense should focus on,
you know, those who want to do trade, that's great, but African Americans should 100% have the opportunities to be in positions that would lead to positions of authority
in legal matters, in education matters, in political matters, in commerce, and so they deeply disagreed on this sort of idea. And so the poem here from
that we're about to read, was, you know, from the late 60s. But reaching back and imagining these authors having a conversation
in the context of where we're at, at this time, you know, in, the late 60s, early 70s, and all the political situations going on at the time. So if we could get the next slide, please, we will go ahead and just read the poem.
"Booker T and W.E.B." "It seems to me,' said Booker T, it shows a mighty lot of cheek to study chemistry and Greek. When Mr. Charlie needs a hand to hoe the cotton on his land, and when Miss Ann looks for a cook, 'why stick your nose in a book?' 'I don't agree,' said W.E.B.
'If I should have the drive to seek knowledge of chemistry or Greek, I'll do it. Charles and Miss can look another place for hand or cook.
Some men rejoice in skill of right hand, and some in cultivating land, but there are others who maintain their rights to cultivate the brain.'
'It seems to me,' said Booker T, 'That all you folks have missed the boat, who shout about the right to vote. And spend vain days and sleepless nights in uproar over civil rights. Just keep your mouth shut. Do not grouse, but work, and save, and buy a house.' I don't agree,' said W.E.B.
'For what can property avail, dignity and justice fail. Unless you help to make the laws, they'll steal your house with trumped up clause. A rope's as tight, a fire as hot, no matter how much cash you've got. Speak soft and try your little plan, but as for me, I will be a man.'
'It seems to me,' said Booker T, 'I don't agree,' Said W.E.B." Thank you.
Tamarra: Thank you, Brian, for that.
We have another song,R&B Soul, Change Gone Come, by Sam Cooke.
Change gon' come, oh yes, it will It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die
'Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky It's been a long, a long time coming But I know a change gon' come, oh yes, it will
I go to the movie and I go downtown Somebody keep telling me don't hang around
It's been a long, a long time coming But I know a change gon' come, oh yes, it will
Then I go to my brother And I say, "Brother, help me please"
But he winds up knockin' me Back down on my knees
There've been times that I thought I couldn't last for long But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming But I know a change gon' come, oh yes, it will
Tamarra: Next slide.
We'll now hear from Dolores Ortiz, Sociology faculty at Oxnard College
talking about intersectional activism.
Dolores Ortiz: Thank you. Next slide.
So when we were planning, I noticed that we were mostly all choosing
accomplishments by black men. And so I'm going to just give a little segment on black women abolitionists and a little bit on Queer Civil Rights icons. Next slide.
So of course we will start with Sojourner Truth.
So Sojourner Truth, you know,
was an outspoken advocate for obviously Abolition, Temperance, civil rights, women's rights. She ran away with her infant daughter.
But she famously said, I did not run away, I walked away by daylight. And she actually was the first black woman to successfully sue a white man. She was suing for her son and she won.
She was a preacher, a charismatic speaker. She renamed herself, and although she was illiterate, she gave very powerful speeches about the evils of slavery and she dictated her own autobiography.
She gave the famous "Aint I a Woman?" speech, which was rewritten and retold. She was actually from New York. So
some of that dialect that they put on it wasn't really hers, but basically saying, shouldn't I have the same rights as other women, and shouldn't black folks and black women
be freed from these notions of racial and gender inferiority? She toured and spoke nationally. She helped free other folks from slavery. She was a tireless advocate.
She actually, you know, wanted to help folks gain land, 40 acres and a mule, she founded a home for the aged, for the elderly, and she actually died in the home that she founded for the elderly. Next slide.
I'm timing myself, but I started late. So Harriet Tubman, of course, extremely famous. She suffered physically a head injury, a severe head injury, as a young woman.
She's one of the most famous conductors on the Underground Railroad, nicknamed Moses, for freeing so many people putting her life on the line, time and time again.
So historical accounts will say she freed 300, she freed 370. The truth is it's hard to count, right? Just in the Combahee Ferry incident she helped free over 700 people at one time.
After the Civil War she was a spy, nurse, recruiter for the Union. She dedicated her life to helping impoverished slaves and the elderly as well.
So a quote from her. "I had reasoned this out in my mind. There was one or two things I had the right to. Liberty or death. If I could not have one I would have the other;
for no man should take me alive." And they didn't, she passed away in a home that she founded for elderly black folks. Next slide please.
Anna Julia Cooper, who we heard from, was a prolific writer, teacher, activist, who championed black women's education, education for ll black folks.
She received her bachelor's in 1884. she was the fourth black female PhD in the US. Her first book out of the gate was called "A Voice from the South by a Black Woman from the South", so she wasn't playing around.
Cooper lectured across the country on education, civil rights, the status of black women. She helped found the Colored Women's League. She was on the first executive panel for the Pan-African Conference, which was in 1900.
And this quote from her. "The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class-it is the cause of human kind, the very birthright of humanity," was from the US passport book and she was the only woman to be published in that book. Next slide.
And Ida B. Wells-Barnett.
So she was a journalist. She helped co-found presses, owned presses. She was a writer.
Prolifically published on lynching. So she published statistics, detailed accounts and records
of lynchings and basically exposed the fact that, you know, white folks often use the myth of the black male rapist as a reasoning for lynching. And she said that was a tired and threadbare explanation.
She really exposed how that institution served to stifle economic competition by black individuals who were starting businesses and gaining standing.
And she tried to reason with the country, she was kind of like the, you know, social media content carrier today, right?
And she couldn't reason with the country. And so she eventually advocated for armed defense against lynching to protect black lives.
So she joined other leaders in boycotting the World's Columbian Exposition. She traveled internationally.
England, Wales, Scotland, a lot. She was the first woman of color to publish in a white press and it was actually in Europe, founder of the National Association of Colored Women's Club. Yes.
So a quote from her. "The people must know before they can act. There is no educator to compare with the press." So the importance of the press. Next slide.
And I'll try to be quick. So here I have some other women, queer, trans, civil rights activist. Obviously don't have time to really
read their quotes. But Audre Lorde, black woman, mother, poet, lesbian warrior, right? There's no such thing as a single struggle issue, we do not live single issue lives.
Fannie Lou Hamer wanted people to vote, right? She wanted women to run for office, seek office. Ella Baker, activist for five decades behind the scenes, right, alongside Bayard Rustin.
So working for (background noise: timer)
Sorry, my timer.
You have also Stormy here, who was in a scuffle that, you know, sparked the Stonewall uprising. "She says it was a rebellion. It was an uprising. It was civil rights disobedience. It wasn't no damn riot."
Also Marsha P. Johnson, outspoken trans activist pioneer who helped also in the gay and queer liberation movement. James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room,
The Fire Next Time. He says, "I love America more than any other country in the world and that is exactly for this reason I insist on the right to criticize her." So James Baldwin, Bayard Rustin are both queer men.
Bayard Rustin helped organize the March on Washington and often sat behind the scenes due to being queer, so we just wanted to give a voice to those folks. Thank you.
Tamarra: Thank you,
Dolores! You all can see how excited our faculty are about sharing this information. So we definitely will have to have another venue for these conversations. Now we have another poem by Kim Hoffmans, President of Ventura College by Nikki Giovanni, "The Women Gather."
Next slide.
Kimberly Hoffmans: "The women gather because it is not unusual to seek comfort in our hours of stress. A man must be buried.
It is not unusual that the old bury the young, though it is an abomination.
It is not strange that the unwise and the ungentle carry the banner of humaneness though it is a castration of the spirit. It no longer shatters the intellect of those who make war call themselves diplomats.
We are no longer surprised that the unfaithful pray loudest every Sunday in church and sometimes in rooms facing east, though it is a sin and a shame. So how do we judge a man.
Most of us love from our need to love, not because we find someone deserving. Most of us forgive because we have trespassed not because we are magnanimous.
Most of us comfort because we need comforting, our ancient rituals demand that we give what we hope to receive. And how do we judge a man.
We learn to we learn to greet when meeting, to cry when parting and to soften our words at times of stress. The women gather with cloth and ointment, their busy hands bowing to laws that decree willows shall stand swaying but unbroken against even that determined wind of death.
We judge a man by his dreams, not alone his deeds. We judge a man by his intent, not alone his shortcomings. We judge a man because it is not unusual to know Him through those who love him. The women gather strangers to each other because they have loved a man.
It is not unusual to sift through the ashes and find an unburnt picture..." Thank you for allowing me to be part of this historic event.
Tamarra: Thank you, President Hoffmans.
And now we'll hear from Jose Alamillo in the Chicano\Chicana Studies Department at California State University Channel Islands.
Jose Alamillo: Hello.
Hello, I'm Jose Alamillo and you're going to hear me talk about anti-blackness in Latinx communities and black, brown solidarity struggles in history.
So I want to start with the next slide, an image of the racial caste system. Now due to the colonization of Mexico, Latin America, the Spanish implemented this racial caste system called sistema di castas.
And since they were out-numbered by natives and black slaves, the Spanish implemented this casta system to control the population.
This caste system was based on the notion of blood purity, Limpieza de Sangre.
And so basically you had a ranking, a racial ranking where the Peninsula Spaniards on the very top, followed by the Spanish Creoles or Criollos.
Then the Mestizos, which is a mixture of the Spanish and indigenous people and then follow that with the mulattoes and mulattas the black Spanish mixture.
And then at the bottom you have the Zambos, who are essentially the black and indigenous mixed race people and so
Then you have, of course, the black slaves. It's important to note this because Spain imported around 200,000 black slaves to Mexico, second to Brazil. They had the largest black slave population.
Most of them arrived in the state of Veracruz on the eastern coast of Mexico.
And it's important to remember that black slavery was permitted and allowed in Mexico until it was outlawed in 1821 when Mexico was granted independence from Spain.
And although this caste system was abolished, ultimately, it still remains in very much Latin America, throughout Latin America and Mexico, and it's also in a lot of US Latinx communities today.
So I always ask my students to talk about their experience with anti-blackness and a lot of them revealed to me how there's many racist comments that are said by their parents, grandparents,
especially when you see a child is born to be dark skin. You hear terms like La Prieta
or negrito and still very much termed a single colorism which is really the notion that
color of skin matters, but not in a positive way, it matters in a negative way. So there's a push to Latinx families to marry white. Even with Eva Longoria right who is considered the black sheep of her family, and so she talks about her experience.
And so in the next slide I want to share with you the history of Afro Mexican communities.
You probably have heard of Nat Turner's Rebellion and the you know the Haitian Revolution, but you probably never heard of
Gaspar Yanga who in 1570, fought the Spanish and escaped from slavery and Veracruz and he created a maroon colony
of 500 former slaves. And so this is considered to be one of the earliest successful slave rebellions in the Americas and this happened in Mexico.
It's so important for us to know this history. So today we have descendants of Yanga and the 500 escaped slaves who are still living with us today. So I encourage you to read books like Black Mexico<\i>.
and many others, to learn more, that history because again we have
Afro Mejicanos in our community. And so it's important to recognize and so even not only African and Mexicans, but even African Americans who sided with the Mexicans and for example Cinco de Mayo,
George Washington Williams, a black soldier, right who essentially was part of the Battle of Puebla to defeat the Spanish
rulers who essentially wanted to reintroduce slavery. So George Washington's a really good example of how he was essentially fighting for freedom in Mexico to make sure that Mexico kept the abolishment of slavery. And so,
there's many other examples that I could talk about of Afro Mexicans and African Americans who sided
with Mexico. I want to, in the next slide, talk about this important black\brown solidarity that we continue to see and witness. So Martin Luther King has this famous quote in writing a telegram message to Cesar Chavez and this is, remember when Cesar Chavez was
marching 300 miles from Delano to Sacramento 1966. Drawing attention to the mistreatment of farmworkers. He said in this telegram,
"Our separate struggles are really one. We struggle for freedom, for dignity, and for humanity." And so it was this connection that we see in the 1960s with black
and black power movement that's really important to recognize. So it wasn't just Martin Luther King supporting Cesar Chavez and US farmworkers, but it was also NAACP.
The National Urban League, SNCC, Black Panther Party would also help in the boycott of race, in Oakland, and many other cities throughout the country.
But I want to share a local story too. A local story that's really important for us to recognize and that is the famous court case of Soria VS. Oxnard School Board of Trustees 1971,
this court case was considered to be the first desegregation case to be generally filed by Mexican black plaintiffs.
And they argued essentially that school segregation was by design, strategic, and maintained, basically they tried to maintain school segregation in the city of Oxnard.
And so what we see is this black\brown solidarity struggle. When the NAACP got together with the community service organization of Ventura County chapter and they essentially filed a lawsuit. And so you have many individuals like Fred Brown, John Hatcher,
William Terry, Margaret Tatum Potter, Albert Duff, many African Americans in Oxnard helped
in the school desegregation of the City of Oxnard. And so I encourage you to read Strategic Desegregation by David Garcia, who goes into that history. And what's interesting about
the, because they won this case by 1974. What's interesting is that, in part of the Integration Plan, right, to integrate the schools, they promised to implement
a curriculum that was diverse, an Ethnic Studies curriculum. So it's really important that we support Ethnic Studies in the K through 12,
high school, but also community colleges and four year universities because this is the kind of history we're learning. And so I want to share with you
a reading list that I prepared. And I'll share with all the attendees and panelists through the chat. Because again, this is brown\black struggles that we need to know more about. So I encourage you all to,
you know, catch up on your summer reading. Thank you. Thank you for making me part of this webinar.
Tamarra: Thank you, Jose. I just want to mention just to piggyback on Jose's comment about ethnic studies.
California legislature just passed a bill that would require Ethnic Studies for students at CSUs. So that is certainly progress in that area.
Thank you. And now we have Dr. Julius Sokenu, President of Moorpark College, and he's going to be reading the words of Gil Scott Heron and his poem, "The Revolution Will Not be Televised".
Julius Sokenu: "The Revolution Will Not be Televised". You will not be able to stay home brother, you will not be able to plug in, turn on, and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag, and skip out for beer during commercials, because The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox in four parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John Mitchell, General Abrams, and Spiro Agnew, to eat hog maws confiscated from a Harlem Sanctuary. The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by the Schaefer Award Theatre, and will not star Natalie Woods and Steve McQueen, or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal. The revolution will not get rid of the nubs. The revolution won't make you look five pounds thinner,
because revolution will not be televised brother. There will be no pictures of you and Willie Mae pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run, or trying to slide that color TV into a stolen ambulance. NBC will not be able to predict the winner at 8:32 on report from 29 districts
The revolution will not be televised
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers and the instant replay. There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers on the instant replay.
There'll be no pictures of Whitney Young, being run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process. There will be no slow motion or still lives of Roy Wilkins strolling through Watts in a red, black, and green liberation jumpsuit that he has been saving for just the proper occasion.
"Green Acres", "Beverly Hillbillies:", and "Hooterville Junction" will no longer be so damn relevant, and women will not care if Dick finally got down with Jane on "Search for Tomorrow".
Because black people will be in the street, looking for a brighter day. The revolution will not be televised
There will be no highlights on the 11 O'Clock News, and no pictures of hairy on women liberationists, and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb or Francis Scott Keys, nor song by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, Engelbert Humperdinck, or The Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be right back after a message about a white tornado, white lightning, or white people. You will not have to worry about a dove in your bedroom, The tiger in your tank, or the giant your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke. The revolution will not fight germs that may cause bad breath. The revolution will not put you in the driver's seat. The revolution will not be televised. Will not be televised. Will not be televised. Will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers. The revolution will be live.
Tamarra: Thank you for that.
Our last song is
a more contemporary song. A blend of hip hop and Opera.
No I’m not number 1 cuz I’m in my own category\ The perfect blend of evident and allegory\
The perfect supplement to this triumphant story\ Of black renaissance and its ascent to glory\
Academics like to call it double-consciousness\ I call it melanin-induced confidence\
I call it representing every continent\ And making sure those asleep are now cognizant\
Not really a rapper but limits don’t occur to me\ Graduated 1st—Ripshop University\
They’re tryna figure out which box to put me in\ I told them pick any one and I’ll make it bend\
Whether in the ghetto or at the symphony\ I carry my naps like wives carry Tiffany\
They call it inappropriate I call it history\ Making black as legit as Becky’s sanctity\
This for my peoples’ that twerk but still read\ This for my posse that’s bright but smoke weed\
This for them eyes too limited to see\ That black is just as Michelle as Cardi B\
That black is just as Lupita as it is me\ That black never gets in with the keys\
That before we can grow we must receive\ All the forms we’re blessed to conceive\
It’s Hip Hopera It’s Hip-Hopera It’s Hip-Hopera It’s Hip-Hopera It’s Hip-Hopera It's Hip-Hopera It’s Hip-Hopera It’s Hip-Hopera
Let your tongue form the smooth sounds of Ebonics\ And when they ask why, tell ‘em that your culture’s chronic\
Sicker than the flu but even better yet iconic\ Unlike the people tryna copy it—how ironic\
If ethnic ain’t professional enough for the corporate\ Don’t assimilate, instead readjust the orbit\
Put your fro in the center of it and absorb it\ And come wash day, throw that ish in the toilet\
And yes just as real eyes realize\ Recognize that negro eyes, negroize\
Put respectability politics aside\ And replace it with a strong stride of black pride\
As your ears consume this opera mixed with rap\ Note where the world is lacking and then fill the gap\
Now grab your neighbors hand and join in as we make a pact\ To never let our wish to fit in compromise our black\
I know my history is excellence personified\ And if I do embrace it then that greatness will be multiplied\
I promise to reach out to my brethren who forego the mission\ If it’s cuz they’re scared of darkness, give it a new definition\
I know black was made to represent all that’s bad and evil\ Only cuz power this profound had to be illegal\
Attempts to subdue my spirit are an act of violence\ I’ll speak loud for every long century my voice was silenced\
It’s Hip Hopera It’s Hip-Hopera It’s Hip-Hopera It’s Hip-Hopera It’s Hip-Hopera It’s Hip-Hopera It’s Hip-Hopera
Tamarra: Thank you all, for participat...
Sorry, my video. Thank you all for participating in today's event. There's a lot here. I'm actually moved just sitting here watching and being a part of this.
I want to remind you of the group that presented this to you today, the Ventura County College Anti-Racism Alliance. And if you're interested in being involved in this work on your campus,
we've included the contact information for the campus leaders on each of the five campuses. You can email them for more information, and there'll be more information about our
meetings when we get together, and the specific work that we're going to be doing that we have planned on our campuses.
I want to take this time now to open it up to questions. You can either leave questions in the Q and A, or you can use the hand raising feature, and once we call on you that will make you audible if you have questions or comments for the panelists.
Can we put all the panelists on the screen?
Dolores: Lorena...do you want to...are they able to speak, or they need to put it in the Q and A?
Tamarra: You can speak if you...you have to use the raise hand feature and then
we'll find you, you'll be promoted up to the top and we can select you and then allow you to speak.
Dolores: So there's one hand up,
Lorena Ortiz
Tamarra: Is she audible?
Lorena Ortiz: Hello. Can you hear me?
Dolores: Yes.
Lorena: I have a question in regards my daughter actually has a question. She wants to know how she could be able to get this information in her elementary?
Tamarra: Hmm.
That's a good question. I'll just quickly provide my thoughts on it. I don't really have an answer to the question, but other people may. This is something that I think that
at the K through 12 level, advocates should really be pushing for and advocating for on their campus. I do know that the Conejo Valley Unified School District is currently working, doing some work. I've actually been
hearing about an equity task force. But that's certainly something that I think you would have to advocate for because as of now, at least in CVUSD, this kind of stuff is not required. The state doesn't require
that we include this sort of information in this way.
Lorena: Thank you.
Julius: Lorena, I think it's very important for parents to advocate for the voices that are not included in the curriculum to be articulated and be meaningfully integrated into the curriculum.
So, as a parent, I think it's part of your responsibility to sort of take the resources that we have here to your school district and be clear and emphatic that this is information that your students need to have.
There are various groups in the community that will be able to provide this and provide some context for our teachers. I would say also look at a faculty member, or a teacher, or counselor
and partner with them, and share that information with them so that they can then be an insight advocate on behalf of integrating the curriculum.
Tamarra: Other questions or comments?
Dolores: I guess I will ask a question, just to follow up. So we know that the CSU just passed AB1460 to require Ethnic Studies for CSU right?
So since we have some admin here. Do you see the possibility that. Sorry to put you on the spot. Julius, but do you see the possibility that the California community colleges will follow suit,
And have an Ethnic Studies requirement because then it would go down, you know, a lot of high schools are actually choosing to do it? I think that's how the pressure gets put on to include the curriculum for elementary.
Julius: I agree. I think that part of the work that we're doing. And part of the work that this moment calls us to do is to really look at our curriculum across the systems.
And looking at our curriculum across the systems where we see gaps that we that reinforce those gaps. I know from the Moorpark College associates degree that there was there was initially
a component of Ethnic Studies and ethnic literature, that was that was included in that in that study and clearly wasn't included at ADTs or our AATs. But we also know that there's a new ADT that is a social social institutions ADT that brings the voice of various
underrepresented communities that have Latinx perspective as the African American perspective,
the Asian American perspective and it brings Native American perspective to bear. So I think part of the work that we do as a community colleges is to embrace that ADT and to
embrace that curriculum and then begin to do the work within our systems to the curriculum committees to center, those what we consider specialized literature's but there really are sort of fundamental literature's right in that work that we do.
Kimberly: I would just add, is we have an opportunity with Guided Pathways that as we're recommending courses to our students that we are inclusive of
history and the richness that opposite opinions and in our
community of color can share with our society so that they understand the differences. So even if it's not mandated by the state. I think that through those recommendations and working with our faculty, we can have that as an opportunity for students to learn more.
Tamarra: I will also say that as an alliance, as a group of faculty counselors and staff that we are now forming, this is one of the things that certainly on our radar and that we're thinking about in that we would defend discussing even before
it was voted on the vote for CSUs was voted on yesterday. So if you are interested in this work and looking at what that looks like at the community college, I invite you to, you know, join us in our efforts
toward that because it is important, right, when we're talking about history, especially if we're talking about American history. I'm always confounded by the idea that
black history is separate from American history, as if the people were living in different places know they were closely connected to one another in the same point in history, right?
So, those things should also be privileged and I'll use the word privileged our history should be privileged brown histories, Chicano history should be privileged as well.
Jose: Now I just want to add that we've already started doing that work with me in Ventura College faculty Rubisela Gamboa.
We already created a pathway for students to essentially take three courses at Ventura College and then transfer to CSUCI
to earn the Chicano Studies BA degree within two years and we're now creating a road map to do a dual major with Spanish and Chicano studies.
I have a model, a plan that I could share with anybody else because I think we're looking forward to continue that with Oxnard College and Moorpark College. So I need a faculty
in these two colleges so I can work with. And I know Patty Colman and I will talk tomorrow about this.
But I would encourage Oxnard College if they do have a faculty member, I can speak with I want to work with you to develop that
pipeline, right? And so I think this can only happen if we hire more faculty of color at community colleges.
It's not going to happen without Ethnic Studies faculty. I'm really convinced that we need more black studies faculty, Chicanx Studies faculty,
Asian Pacific Islander faculty and we need indigenous faculty as well, hiring to add, and Chumash history should be taught you know from K through 12 to community college to four year university. Where is that? So I think we need to have a lot of work to do still.
Tamarra: Can I ask if
Diane McKay is still one of the attendees and if you wanted to respond to this question. It looks like.
Dianne McKay: Yeah, I actually do. Yesterday, we met. I'm on a state committee of trustees, where we talk about educating ourselves to be better trustees.
And we reworked, we decided we needed to rework our certification for being better trustees to include an equity piece, not just equity because it was student success and equity together.
And we realize that that was just inadequate, didn't answer the equity piece and the understanding of
our privilege and that from a policy matter that if it doesn't start from us, and this is the whole state of California's trustees, if we don't have policy to demand this curriculum
of our institutions, It's never going to happen. And so we had a really great conversation at our meeting yesterday to start educating trustees to do a better job,
and pushing this down from a policy level. So I was really, really encouraged yesterday. As a white woman of privilege, this is still very meaningful to me to make sure that we do a better job with this because right now we are not.
Tamarra: I just want to point out for folks who don't know, Diane McKay is a trustee on our Ventura County Community Colleges board. Thank you for that input.
Tamarra: Now,
I think there are a couple questions in the Q&A Johnny?
Johnny Conley: Yes. So if we're going to stay aligned with the topic that we're talking about now, there is a question from trustee Perez. What conversation about Ethnic Studies have MC, OC, and VC held with your academic senates and with state senates?
Dolores: I am a faculty member and
I would just say that those conversations are being had and have been being had, but if we don't prioritize offering the social justice studies classes,
or Ethnic Studies classes, we need the institution to back us to prioritize offering them. And we know that budget cuts are on the way, but we have to protect these areas of study and prioritize them. The faculty, you know, they're there. We want to do it.
Ranford: You know,
one possible conundrum to all of this. We've had the Ethnic Studies requirement in the community college for a while, the CSU's I thought they also have had them for a while. But let's say they don't. I remember
in teaching African American history, some of the Cal States would not accept the Ethnic Study class, let's say, African American history or Chicano history
at the CSU's because they wanted their students to have that addressed by their faculty. So it could be,
you know, we're getting in the weeds but that's one of the issues that needs to be resolved. Maybe there should be a course that one is required to take in the lower division as well as the upper division.
Something to consider.
Tamarra: That's a really good point. And that conversation Ranford, I think that's one of the nice things about the group of us here. We have folks at community colleges and then we have folks at the
CSU's and then we also have folks at the private institution within our county. And so those are the some of the conversations that we will have to have along these lines.
Are there different questions on other topics? And I know we have gone past time. I think we could answer a few more questions.
Johnny: I do have another question Tammy. I'm sorry to interrupt. I do have a high schooler online from Tobias. His question is, I'm a high school student surrounded with racial based nicknames. How do we fight this mainstream name calling?
Tamarra: Can...I don't know if this was written down, but can we get clarity on what he means. You mean the use of the N word and other types of words on campus?
Johnny: I'm assuming so. He didn't write that in and Tobias if you're online, feel free. I would assume to maybe ask the question, to kind of give some more context on your question. Um,
Tamarra: While he's doing that. I just want to quickly comment that I have kids in the Conejo Valley Unified School District, and this is a conversation that we've been having...
Patty: He just said yes, in the chat. Tammy. Tamarra: Okay,
apparently, this is a thing on the campuses and my kids being young and being a part of, you know, sort of the youth culture and
the N word being a popular word used in rap music and then translating to the students. My kids seem to not think that that's a bad thing.
But I think in conversation with them, what I'm seeing is that they aren't comfortable with it, but they're pretending like they're okay.
Especially being one of very few black kids on their campuses in the school district.
And I said to them, the other day, that this is a conversation that we need to have with the district. I don't know what the answer is to that.
But I do think if you can imagine being at a predominantly white institution, and you're one of five black students there, and everybody's running around yelling the N word in this very informal way,
what does that feel like? Or whatever other racial slur people are using that for whatever reason is appropriate amongst the youth in their culture. I certainly think this is a conversation that needs to be had in the
K through 12 system. But it also happens at Moorpark College. I walk through campus sometimes and I hear
the N word and I turn around expecting it to be a group of black kids, not that that's okay, but it's a group of white kids. And so we have these conversations, also in my class, in my English class. What does that mean? How does that feel? Where does that come from?
The other panelists, any thoughts on that? I know we're not in the high schools but...
Desta: Zero tolerance policy.
And white people need to start speaking up saying it's not okay and telling every single person that they hear say it that it's not okay.
Julius: I do think it's very important to provide youth the context for that word, or for those words, because I think a lot of our young people, as you said,
Professor Coleman, they come to it from having heard it in music. Or they come to from having heard it in popular culture and they just think oh it's what we say.
And part of it is that the kids don't have that historical context. And they may know that it is an offensive word, but they don't have the historical context. So when it's been, you know, it's been revised, you know, there's the mythmaking has
changed the impact of it, that our kids then just assume it's okay.
And I think part of our work as parents, but also part of the work of the school district is to provide them context for the word.
Not just to say, you can't say that, but provide context. With that context then brings all this historical baggage. It brings all this historical hurt.
So that kids understand what it means. So they don't say it on a reality TV show and think it's okay. And then they get shocked that people are actually constantly,
you know, offended by that, because they've grown up in a culture where it was acceptable.
And our kids didn't stop them, and the school district didn't stop them, and so it becomes the norm. So part of that is really, again, as we said, going back to the curriculum and bringing that knowledge base to them.
Perry: You know what, Tammy, I can speak to this having taught at Conejo Valley having teenagers gone through the Conejo Valley system as well as taught all across the nation, at high school, at community college and university levels. The one thing that we must do in our generation
is to stop judging or condemning and criticizing the younger generation, we need to listen to them. For those individuals that decide to use the word,
we have to make sure that we provide a safe place in order to have real dialogue about it because many of them own it,
and they own it as a right to be able to say it because they feel like they pay some dues and they have a right to say it.
And when you bring in the historical context, for many of them, they lose a little, little bit of attention when you when you when you go too deep. So we need to try a different approach
than what we've been doing. Well, this, what we've done today, and what is happening all across, is something different. I say to the Board of Trustees, as we spoke about just the other day,
there's an EEO committee that has been doing lots of work. Let's make sure that we empower that committee as well as look at what we're already doing.
For those folks that are on campus, talk to your...those individuals. Stop and talk to that student and then ask that individual, what is it that makes them feel
like they're qualified to use that word? And then, ask them where they come from. And then many of you ask yourselves, and ask your children, do they use it and where they come from, rather than judging or pushing on them, ask them where they're coming from in that regard.
Because when that word has so much power,
and you start making policies around it, which you'll find out that some of the black folks that are on this
call, or some of the black kids that are in this...they'll be the ones that are getting suspended because they're using it.
So be careful around the policy making. I think we use this, it's overused by having crucial conversations, but we really have to have a deep conversation about that, and it starts with individuals
gaining more knowledge. Now many of you won't be able to get just from this one event today,
when folks have been involved in this fight for 20, 30 years. You've gotten today, but you will not be able to build upon
years of knowledge and applying that knowledge. So what it's going to take is for you to read books like Disintegration<\i> by Eugene Robinson. There's so many other books that that will help you understand before you attack the use of the N word,
you're going to have to to really do some more reading because the emotions are going to subside.
And that's when the real commitment is going to take place. When your emotion leaves, and right now everybody has a negative attitude toward police brutality and what they're seeing,
but when it subsides, and you realize that we are still dealing with Covid and other issues,
then when the commitment is there, then we can find out who the true stakeholders are that are willing to take on conversations like the use of the N word. So unfortunately, the young person that asked that question, somebody should have
a conversation with them about how they feel about it and what they think should be done before we start pushing too much on them. And that's just my take.
Tamarra: Thank you for that, Perry. That's an important point.
Did we want to, before we wrap up, because we are 15 minutes past time,
get to the hands that are raised? I think there's a Peter, Ava, and Sarah.
Johnny, Do we know if those folks are still in?
Peter H. Sezzi: I'm here, sorry
Johnny: Peter and Sarah are still on, it looks like. And there's no other questions in the Q&A that I can see at this point. Peter: Hi. Tamarra: Hi Peter.
Peter: My name is Peter. I'm a librarian at VC and I've also been a curriculum coach, an Academic Senate President, a lot of other things as well. I just want to point out one thing.
Our local, and I put this in the comments and Patty responded, our local AA\AS degree, not the AAT\AST, but the local degree, and I hope couple board members are still on the line to hear this, our local degree still has an Ethnic Gender Studies requirement.
Now when the AAT\AST's
came on board, eight, nine years ago a lot students chose to go with the AAT\AST, because it has that more streamlined path
to get in for admission to a CSU. But our local degrees since the 70s has still had our Ethnic Gender Studies requirement. So
i've heard in several different venues people saying we should have this requirement. We still do. So sometimes it just matter of looking at our catalog, which can be very unwieldy and very difficult to
read and understand I'm part of the Guided Pathways team
at Ventura college, we're trying to streamline it, but sometimes it's just like highlighting what we already have present in our inventory of resources. So just something for everyone to be aware of, that we still do have the Ethnic Gender Studies requirement for the local AA\AS degrees.
Thank you. Tamarra: Thank you, Peter.
Sarah.
Sarah S: Hello? Tamarra: Hi, Sarah. Sarah S: Hi, thank you so much for this presentation. I'm a student in the district at the colleges. I'm a stem student and I thought that the poetry and presentations are really beautiful. I think,
as an intersectional component, just wanted to bring up since we have like board members on and professors that,
sometimes in my stem classes, these are hard conversations to get to and to have, but they're equally important. There's plenty of
racism and racist ideology also in STEM, and so just to like acknowledge the history there and I know the curriculum is already jam packed, but making sure that gets discussed and is talked about as well
so that when we go on, and move on in STEM, we have the ability to have those difficult conversations as well. So I just wanted to bring that up just because I hadn't heard as much said around STEM, but thank you all so much for this presentation. I really appreciate it.
Tamarra: Thank you, Sarah, we should make you the spokesperson.
It's always the conversation with STEM classes, trying to incorporate some of this stuff because, as you say, the curriculum is so packed right, and everything builds upon the next in ways that in Humanities is not so strict.
And so it's often hard to have those conversations but it is certainly an important one. Thank you.
Brian: I can kind of add to that too and point out there are some work going on the curriculum level.
You know, there's the Project CHESS, we're doing between Moorpark and CLU talking about curriculum and
equity and anti racism at the curriculum level. And it's not just for the Humanities. It really is thinking about the subject specific courses, the STEM courses and things like that so that work is
in starting. But I really appreciate Sarah for mentioning that and adding to that, this conversation here.
Julius: I think it's also important that we acknowledge that how we teach matters. So not just integrating the conversations, but I think really does, you know, culturally responsive teaching matters. So if we
realized that the curriculum is packed. I think if you provide a learning opportunity that is aligned with a cultural perspective and a cultural way of being
our students then realize that the way they see the world, and the way they feel the world, and the way they experience the world matters. So again, I think part of the work we're doing and doing our professional development week this fall.
We will be looking at ways in which we deliver instruction. Ways in which we contextualize knowledge for our students. And that really has to do with pedagogy.
That really has to do with the theories around the role of the instructor in the classroom or in the learning environment.
That is equally as important as bringing the experience of the contributions of
African American scientists or women scientists. It's the way in which we frame our experience and frame our conversations in the classroom
that also matters. So I think as we talk about re-diversifying the curriculum, we also need to talk about diversifying the way we teach. Diversifying the way in which we engage in a learning context.
Tamarra: Thank you, Julius. To wrap this up, is it possible, Matt, for us to go back to the slide with the contact information on it?
I just want to remind folks as we're trying to figure out that moving back to the slide,
particularly for faculty and staff who are in the webinar and interested in these conversations and those of you who have commented already
that this is what we are trying to do, kind of get out of our silos, because there is work going on, right? And I think as folks who are part of the alliance, now we've had this conversation, and we know that work is happening on our campuses.
But it's not streamlined in a way that we're actually all working together with one common goal, right? And so part of what we're trying to do with the alliance is find out what people are doing at Cal Lu,
find out what people are doing at Moorpark and take those same models that they're using
and kind of adapt those things to each of our campuses, so that we do have a teaching men of color advocate
group on every campus and not just at Moorpark, and that we're learning from one another. So I would encourage you, not sure if we can get that slide back up, or am I just not seeing it...to contact one of the leaders on
your campus. Julius: It's on
Tamarra: It is on?
Julius: Yeah. Tamarra: Okay.
Tamarra: One of the leaders on your campus to get involved with this work.
Panelists, any other comments before we close out?
Ranford: I have one.
Can you hear me? Yes. Tammy said, "I have a dream. I have a dream that in seven days, we will do
Juneteenth day with proper respect." This is a dream that was not deffered.
Thank you Tammy.
Tamarra: Thank all of you for participating. We have so much talent in our county and I hope we continue to do this work and to grow our group.
Johnny: And there's....while know we're wrapping up, there is one more hand by Dr. Amanuel Gebru. I don't know if he had a question or statement. I just wanted to let you know before we close out. Tamarra: Dr. Gebru?
Dr. Amanuel Gebru: Can hear me? Tamarra: Yes, we can hear you. Amanuel: I just want to thank everyone on the panel and Tammy for your leadership to put this on. This was highly educational, critical, and hopefully we can continue this work. So I just appreciate everyone today and thank you for for putting this on today.
Tamarra: Thank you for your work and your support.
Thank you all. There's lots of activities happening in our communities today. There are marches and celebrations for Juneteenth. I hope you're able to participate in those. Have a wonderful day.