(Still) Blogging for Obama

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson (via Jose Ometeotl)

My ticket to ride.

To say that President Obama is being “damned with faint praise” is to admit that some people’s expectations of him border on the ridiculous, and so his failure to achieve their policy goals or to fix the entire nation in three years make them appear petulant and absurd.

The latest in this line of “disgruntled supporters”, Matt Damon should actually be taking lessons from his Ocean’s Eleven mentor, George Clooney. Instead of deriding the President’s “lack of balls” (no, I’m not going to delve into the psycho-sexual fascination with black men’s genitalia here), he should be acknowledging the president’s inheritance, and the myriad successes he has been able to accomplish despite political opposition and intransigence, from both the “conservadems” and the Republican elected officials who’s stated goals have been recalcitrance, opposition and defeat of each and every initiative THIS president supports.

As we move into the election year, it is important to realize that the Republican candidates for president cannot honestly argue that President Obama hasn’t been successful in leading the country. He has ended the war in Iraq, assassinated Osama bin Laden, decimated Al Qaeda, shepherded the removal of Hosni Mubarak and Mohmar Qaddafi, staved off a national depression, turned the economy around (gaining jobs instead of losing, unemployment dropping) and passed a host of legislation aimed at “promoting the general welfare”. A very abbreviated list:

The Lily Ledbetter Act – equal pay for women

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act

Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009

Native American Heritage Day Act of 2009

James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and Roy K. Moore Federal Building, Jackson, Mississippi

Saving the Auto Industry

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

That was then. This is now.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010

Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010

James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010

While there are a few areas where I have been disappointed with the actions of the President and his administration, most notably:

PATRIOT Act Extension

FISA Sunsets Extension Act of 2011

PATRIOT Sunsets Extension Act of 2011

I don’t expect that he’ll do exactly what I want him to do on every issue. Unlike Michael Moore and Bill Maher, I don’t think that because I disagree with him sometimes that he’s somehow “more white” or “less black”. I do, however, support the job he has done and his presidency, and I’ll be working and writing just as hard in 2012 as I did in 2008 for his election.

And I expect those who supported him in 2008, whether members of the “Professional Left” or individual citizens to do so as well. I have many friends and acquaintances whose disappointment on signature issues has clouded their vision, undermined their confidence, or blinded them to the successes and the progress on the road to recovery that Barack Obama has managed to accomplish in the last three years.

George Clooney on President Obama

But I’m definitely here to help them see more clearly.

Cross-posted at Latino Rebels on Friday, 23 December 2011.

The Occupation Will Be Tweeted

Update: Maybe this is why the media hasn’t been covering the story. The police and the politicians won’t let them. Media Can Avoid NYPD Arrest By Getting Press Pass They Can’t Get.

The MSM is beginning to cover the occupation of the United States by many of its own citizens with greater regularity and veracity since police officers in their zest to clear space are providing television and print outlets with gestapo photos of jack-booted policemen pepper spraying and assaulting individuals whose sole offense is sitting in one space too long. Prior to the use of force to arrest people for closing their own bank accounts, the usurpation of public (and some private) spaces in protest of the unequal siphoning of resources was only being detailed by modern journalists without credentials, the bloggers and tweeters and tumblrs, snapping pictures with iPhones and digital elphs and uploading those to the cloud where they shot around the world in a flash thanks to “social” media.

The ability of individuals to broadcast their experiences from tablets and cell phones is remaking journalism, citizenship, and government, from Tahrir Square to Washington, D.C. And though the corridors of power remain hallowed halls tread by elites with the good fortune to have been handed the keys, this new democratization of world citizenship is ushering in a new era of accountability which will transform who is being represented by legislators, and who is giving the orders to the aforementioned jack-boots.

Whether #OccupyWallStreet maintains its momentum remains to be seen. Whether the movement of individuals which has catalyzed the occupation of Los Angeles, Denver, Portland, Seattle, Barcelona, Madrid, London, San Francisco, Athens, Chicago, Atlanta, San Diego, etc. But the power of the people to document and distribute is real and is quickly calling into question the abuses of authority which until the advent of television were incidents isolated by locale. With the advent of television, those images, like the Edmund Pettis Bridge were broadcast, but it was still simply one-way distribution. From Davey D’s live-tweeting of the violence at Occupy Oakland to the video of students being pepper-sprayed at Occupy UCDavis, social media is creating an interactive, quick-response culture which empowers the oppressed, the silenced, the citizens to speak out, to speak truth to power, to shift the very nature of power itself.

As Efrain Nieves’ tweet heard round the world said, “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” Yes, he was quoting Dr. King. But the fact that this sentiment has been retweeted across the globe in a matter of hours gives us a glimpse into the changing tide of communication, into the power of social media that is changing the world.

Related articles

• Tracing the Roots of #OccupyWallStreet (greatfinds.icrossing.com)
• #OccupyUCDavis: Police in Riot Gear Use Chemical Agent on Students (crooksandliars.com)
• How the Occupy Wall Street Protesters Can Defeat the Corporate Elite (alternet.org)

Education By Example

As a teacher, I have often wondered how best to involve parents in the education of their children.  In my school experience, I’ve often heard that children learn from what we do, as well as what we say.  And a couple of recent experiences in my own home, with my own children, have shown me exactly how important it is to be actively teaching my children, as my parents did for me, by being the type of involved parent in their curricular and extracurricular education: I need to educate them by my example.

A few days ago, in conjunction with the national observance of Columbus Day, my children were exposed to what I felt was a one-sided, celebratory portrayal of Colón. For reasons too numerous to mention here, it was important to me to address the presentation with the person who spoke, and to speak with and teach my own children that evening.  I talked to them both about what was missing from the presentation they witnessed, and about my speaking up and meeting with the presenter.

The lessons I hoped to impart were at least two-fold: first, that Columbus was an explorer who brought knowledge of the new continents back to Europe at a time when they could exploit that information, and then took slavery, disease and oppression back with him on his second journey to colonize in the name of Christianity; second, and more important, is that I taught them how to speak up, even to people who have authority over them, when they believe that something is wrong, or someone is wrong.

I’ve written before about the importance of teaching children that they can change the world only if they speak up, and that they have a moral responsibility to make the world a better place by speaking truth to power when necessary.  As a parent, it’s imperative that I make this lesson clear by acting in the same way I expect them to act.

The second event was a sixth-grade science project which landed (to my surprise) on our dining room table late the night before it was due. Tired as I and my wife both were, we both realized that this was an assignment that our son would need our assistance to complete, a truth that was confirmed by the title of the assignment, “The Family MythBusting Project”.

Knowing nothing about the project (my wife had a little more information that I did), I had to read the directions and help him navigate his academic work. By working with him – running to get supplies, asking him questions to see what he had learned, having him teach me what he knew, letting him stay up a little past his bedtime to finish and staying up with him working – we showed him that his education, that his work was important. While the veracity of Power Balance Bracelets isn’t life-changing (he determined that they don’t really work), the memory and impression of his parents spending the time with him, challenging and learning with him, supporting him as he educated himself will.

I started this blogpost by saying that I am a teacher.  Todos los padres son maestros.  All parents are teachers.  We teach children by our example what is important, what they should focus on, how they should interact with each other and others, and how they impact and affect the world.

If we complain about teachers, but don’t speak to the teachers themselves, then we are teaching them cowardice. If we have issues with their schools, and we take those issues to the schools, we are teaching them to be assertive and have an impact. If we speak Spanish at home but make sure they learn English, we are teaching them to have more tools in their toolbox. By speaking up for bilingual education in schools, for smaller class sizes, for qualified teachers, for equitable distribution of education resources and attention from local and national governments, for Mexican American Studies Departments and Curriculum, for Indigenous People Day and whole host of other issues, we are teaching our children that they have value, that their education has value, and they should raise their voices to secure their birthrights.

When we do that, that is the moment they learn. Es el momento en el cual entienden. We are educating them by example.

Related articles

• Toronto Schools Promote Multicultural Teaching and Learning (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
• Barack Obama on Education (education.com)

Fear of a [Not White] Planet

Image via Wikipedia

A principal in Massachusetts is being attacked and disparaged because she had the audacity to acknowledge more than a single story. Far from the “e pluribus unum” approach she wants to take toward celebrations of Columbus over Indigenous People Day, or her aversion to celebrating ghouls and goblins instead of  All Hallow’s Eve at school, her detractors have no response or ideas except to simply hurl insults at her womanhood, intellect, citizenship and person.
They fear a not-white planet.
One of the comments on the article even proposes a “Hate White Male Europeans Day”, sarcastically offering that only that group is responsible for any and all advancements in the United States since they first set foot on it some five hundred plus years ago.
Sorry, it is a Not White planet.
Apologies, there is more than one story.
The reality check is that far from being “politically correct” (when did that become an epithet?) this principal is adhering to the most basic of American Ideals – that we are a nation of millions, multitudes of different hues and cultures, but out of the many, we are one.

Related articles

• The Single Story of Christopher Columbus (powerfulbeyondmeasure.wordpress.com)
• All Hallows’ Eve (theonlinephotographer.typepad.com)
• Indigenous People’s Day at OccupyMN (redantliberationarmy.wordpress.com)
• Indigenous Peoples’ Day (fulcrumbookblog.com)

The Single Story of Christopher Columbus

“What’s so great about discovery? It’s a painful, penetrative act. What you call discovery I call the rape of the natural world.”

–Dr. Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park

Sitting in a presentation the other day, listening to the speaker extol the virtues of Columbus to students, it struck me that his presentation was exactly what Chimamanda Adichie calls “The Danger of A Single Story”. He talked about the bravery, the fortitude and the moxie of Columbus in setting out into unknown waters and the benefits that his journey [to the Americas] had for Europe. He gave what Europeans and white Americans have hailed for centuries as THE story of Columbus, overriding consideration of how it would play out for the students with indigenous heritages, or the students with African heritages, whose ancestors and families have been living with the burden of Columbus’s “discovery” for five centuries, whose ancestors were “honored” with disease, with murder, with chains…

He told a single story which instilled pride, and lied by omission.

I sat there quiet, struck dumb and mute by the fact that Columbia, British Columbia, the District of Columbia and Columbus, Ohio all bear the name of a man whose acts led directly and indirectly to the murder and massacre of millions. Where was that part of his legacy discussed?

It was not.

I felt trapped. This is the dilemma people of color face daily. “Do I disrupt this huge assembly? Do I have to educate the adults and children, publicly pointing out “their innocent ignorance”? Do I take this chance, risk what I’ve gained, to stand up, be heard and seen, to fight against being silently trampled?”

Sitting in a predominantly white audience, I saw my story omitted in favor of Columbus. The stories of my indigenous and African ancestors were erased in order to “honor” the architect of their degradation and demise. (Much like, upon reflection, my forebears were when the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria landed). What did my black and brown children see and hear? Did they feel themselves negated from the sacristy in the plainspoken words of a thoughtful man who sought to educate, but only succeeded in elevating because he told a single story? What did the white kids get out of the presentation? That the glory of Columbus is the THE story…

I grow tired of experiencing privilege from the under-side.

I grow tired of seeking the company of people who understand there is more than one story.

I grow tired of being the voice of balance, of cultural democracy, of inclusion simply because it is so easy for the inheritors of white privilege to travel on the path built on my back rather than to stop, look around, and notice there are other travelers, too.

I realize that Columbus introduced Europe to a land full of less-technological people, of abundant natural resources, and that that introduction is a source of pride and sustenance. That story is true.

However, for too long that has been the single story told of Columbus – no mention of theft from his own crew; no mention of rape and pillage which occurred when his ships set aground; no mention of infection and disease he and his unwashed brought with them from Europe; no mention of the millions who died immediately and in the years following when Europe “opened up” the Americas after “discovery”.

Those stories muddy the reflection of Columbus, chip away at the pedestal on which he stands even today. Those stories force a reevaluation of cultural values that is uncomfortable for those who benefit from his cultural legacies. But when those stories are told, they include me, and those like me, in the inheritance. Those stories allow all of us to assess the positive along with the negative. Those stories make all who hear them more inclusive, more understanding, more mature.

I’ll tell those stories in my classroom. There are no single stories there. But that’s not as powerful, which is perhaps my true frustration, as telling those stories out loud, giving them the power of the microphone, including them in the fabric of our schools and nation the way Columbus was that day.

That’s the discovery I’m working for.

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

Reconsider Columbus Day

Rebelde Poetry Showcase: @rscspokenword and His “Indigenous People Day Poem”

Testimony: young African-Americans on self-discovery and Black identity (“White Friends by Jennifer L. Vest”, p. 137)

Related articles

• Twitter Users Send Ironic Columbus Day Wishes (huffingtonpost.com)
• Columbus Day 2011 (andrewconard.com)
• Columbus Day (davidscommonplacebook.wordpress.com)
• Think You Know The Real Christopher Columbus? (npr.org)

It’s the media…the social media, that is.

UPDATE: It seems fitting that this is the post I wrote yesterday, the day before the passing of Steve Jobs. While I avoided the terms iPhone, iPod and iPad, Job’s visionary genius and Apple’s leadership in terms of technology are the foundation and infrastructure upon which these social media tools depend, and are the hardware students are using and will be using for years to come to access the universe we all inhabit. While the company will continue, and his spirit of creativity is no doubt imbued into the philosophy and plans for the future, his creative vision will be missed. Thank you, Steve.

“Social Media” conjures up a variety of thoughts and images: kids hunched over their smartphones in groups, not speaking to each other but laughing about the text they are sharing; teenagers or college students snapping pictures of each other, posed and unposed, and uploading them to Facebook for consumption by that website’s “more than 800 million active users”; people wasting time in front of screens, mobile and desktop, instead of talking to each other or appreciating nature and athletics. All of these pictures portray a negative, narcissistic environment doomed to collapse under the weight of it’s own self-indulgence. But what if they’re wrong?

Mobile computing, social media, smartphones and iPads are toys that adults are turning into tools (or tools masquerading as toys) that have the power to transform education as we know it. Latinos are already the largest ethnic group of users on Twitter and Facebook. Rather than fear this fact, muttering to ourselves in Spanglish about how children are spending too much time playing on their phones, we need to encourage them to put those tools to work, creating a revolution inside the classroom, inside the schools in this country, inside our minds to empower our children.

The power of social media played out earlier this week when thousands of people, Latinos and others, logged in to Ustream to participate in a town hall on the state of education in the Hispanic community with US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. What was notable was the immediate access and interaction granted the citizens of the United States via Twitter, allowing real time interaction with the man responsible for shepherding education policy in the United States. We got to ask questions, from the philosophical to the financial, and get some answers. It will play out again when people from across the country gather in Chicago next month for the LATISM National Conference. Imagine if we shared that power to learn and interact with our students.

Teachers are already finding that student success is increasing using technology and social media across the country. It simply takes a shift in thinking to understand that what our kids are using for fun can be used to teach them both the content and skills, that the same apps and sites they’re using to KIT (keep in touch) can be used to create songs, films, podcasts that speak to who they are and share their gifts and talents with a larger world.

In doing this, using new technology and social media to interact with their own education, they will learn that the power to transform the world rests in their hands; the tools they need to impact their school, their neighborhood, their city, their state, their country can be used inside the classroom as well as with their homies.

And there is definitely an app for that.

Originally posted 10/03/11 at Latinos In Social Media for Edu-Wednesday.

Related articles

• Time to Vote for LATISM’s BEST of 2011 (juliorvarela.com)
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Spreading the Word Goes Live!

Image via Wikipedia

Today is the inaugural broadcast of our internet radio show!  To listen in (and call in) click the link below.

Spreading the Word – blogtalkradio

We’ll be going live at 1pm PDT.

Today’s discussion will focus on The Myth of Race in Barack’s First Term.

In the last few weeks, the definition of race and the politics of identity have been sharply brought into focus. From the continued racial attacks on PresidentObama, to the definition of “The Other” in Arizona, to the vibrant community ofLatinos in Social Media and This Week In Blackness, the perception of self and projection of unity continue to weave their way in and out of our political and everyday lives. Does race exist? Or is it a paradigm that the historically disenfranchised have adopted to maintain a semblance of personhood and sanity? Join Reynaldo Macias and Lybroan James as they dive deep to find out.

We’ll be joined by Lybroan James, mathematician, scholar, and author of the blog for the love of math.

Here’s the Call-in number for you to join us: (818) 369-0351

Related Articles

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• You are what you look like: biracial, multiracial, black, white, well, most of the time (heloise8.wordpress.com)

Why I Unfollowed Bill Maher and Cornel West

There are many people who are unhappy with the President of the United States. There are also many people who are unhappy. When the groaners are standing behind you, it’s hard to tell that the expression on their faces doesn’t change, regardless of what they’re saying. When Bill Maher was howling about President Bush, I was right on his team, tuning in every Friday Night to hear his latest screed. And while I knew his politics were a little more libertarian than mine, it didn’t occur to me that his basic career premise for twenty-plus years has been to gripe at whomsoever is in power.

Then President Obama, after a brief honeymoon, began receiving the same treatment. There was no real acknowledgement of a difference. No space for Obama to begin to fix or address the problems and issues left by the last administration. It was “gimme my pot” and “pull out of Iraq yesterday” and “why aren’t you listening to me?” More crying, whining and demanding without recognition of anything done well. It got boring. If I wanted to listen to that, there’s Fox News.

And Brother West. His “critical friendship” leaves no room for opposition. While I’ve been trying to read Race Matters with the made up words he uses in it (and yes, I know, he’s smart enough to actually make up words when he’s got an idea that hasn’t been languaged yet), his constant drumbeat of “what Brother Barack’s not doing” gives me a headache. It’s unfortunate that these two talented individuals find no space to appreciate what has been accomplished, and instead rely on collecting funds and paychecks by harping on what isn’t happening.

But that’s why I unfollowed (in all senses of the word) both of them. They are a little disingenuous and they made my head hurt.

OBAMA 2012

The President of the United States is only running against one person next year – himself.  And while his leadership has been questioned, by Democrats, Republicans, people in between and people on the extremes, it is ultimately his own record which will determine whether or not he gets reelected in 2012.

Of late, there have been a good number of progressives disappointed in him for not being as progressive as they are: Lt. Dan Choi was irritated with the lack of movement on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell; Representative Kucinich is raising the question of impeachment over the United States’ bombardment of Libya; in these very pages, I myself have been disappointed at some of his administration’s actions over the past two years.

And of course, the birthers, the Teahadists, political opponents and haters-at-large who have been calling for his brown head, or his “most liberal” head, or his “fascist communist” head, have been calling for his removal, impeachment, assassination, etc. since before his election.  Unfortunately for them, their most likely candidate is a serial philanderer whose most recent political experience is resigning from Congress to yell from the sidelines instead of doing the work of the nation.

President Barack Obama hasn’t done all the things I wanted him to do when he was elected.  But he has done a lot of them. And he is guiding the country on the best path back from the brink President Bush abandoned us on.  That’s why the campaign begins now.

OBAMA 2012!

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Our Life Is Better

Martin Luther King, Jr. was an ordinary man.  He brushed his teeth.  He put on his pants one leg at a time.  He went to school.  He used a pen and paper to write down his ideas.  He believed in God.  He looked at the world with two eyes, smelled the world with his nose.  He loved his wife and he loved his children.  Martin Luther King, Jr. was an ordinary man.

In other ways, Martin Luther King, Jr. was extraordinary.  He went to college when he was fifteen years old.  The ideas that he wrote down with his pen and paper helped the government of the United States live up to its promises to its all of its citizens.  The words he spoke inspired people when he was alive, and continue to inspire people today, over forty years after his death.  He was the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize.  He was made a saint in the Episcopal Church.  Martin Luther King, Jr. was also extraordinary.

Both in his ordinary and extraordinary senses, though, Martin Luther King, Jr. was just one person.  He had one brain, one mouth, two eyes, two hands, two feet.  He couldn’t be in Washington, D.C. and Selma, Alabama at the same time.  He couldn’t give a speech at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church while he was giving a speech at a synagogue.  He couldn’t be in jail, arrested for civil disobedience, and speaking to the President of the United States at the same time, though he did all of these things in his lifetime.  He couldn’t teach people to be non-violent protesters, lead protests, write speeches, go to college, preach at his church, go on television, fight for civil rights, speak out against war, sleep, eat and be a good father all by himself.

He needed help.  Just as we all do, he needed to work with other people in order to accomplish all of the great things that he accomplished.  He needed parents to show him how to brush his teeth, and how to put on his pants, and to introduce him to God.  He needed teachers to instruct him how to use the paper and pen, and how to string his words together to express his ideas.  He needed other people who believed that the laws in the United States were wrong in order to get those laws changed.  He needed others who understood that each person is a child of God, deserving of love and respect and support, in order to battle for change in a non-violent and peaceful way.

Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, “Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.” Who knows what a drum major is?  What is their job? Yes, they are the leaders of a marching band.  A drum major is the person out in front, usually in a crazy costume, keeping time for the band while entertaining the crowd.  Why would this ordinary, this extraordinary, man call himself a drum major?  Because he understood one simple thing:

Life is better when we work together.

As talented as he was, as talented as we all are, we can do much, much more when we work with (and for) other people.

This is a truth that allowed the founding fathers and other English colonists to form a new country called the United States of America; this is a truth that supported abolitionists who fought to end slavery in these United States; this is a truth that helped women gain full citizenship, and people working in hard jobs get fair pay to feed their families.  Working together is how people in the Civil Rights Movement, including Martin Luther King, Jr. changed the laws to make black people, brown people, yellow people, red people, Christian people and Jewish people equal in the United States.

And here at school, that truth holds, too.  From the soccer field to the basketball court; from class retreats to physics projects; from everyone throwing away their own trash and unplugging their chargers in order to help the planet; from putting on medieval town plays to performing the school musical;  Our life is easier when we work with (and for) each other.  And we can make a difference in the world when we find people to help us, or find people we can help, who share our goals.

And though we take this week to learn from Martin Luther King, Jr., his lesson is one that we can learn everyday from the ordinary, from the extraordinary, people around us.  People like Les Frost, who sets an example of love, respect and EKG for parents, teachers, staff and students each day; people like Howard Anderson who demonstrates by the smile on his face and the bounce in his step the blessing we have to be alive; people like Kristin Barberia, who reaches out each and every day to help us open our eyes, open our hearts and open our minds to the grace we can find in each other.

Dr. King said that he was a drum major, because he knew that the drum major needed help, too.  The drum major is nothing without the band.  Our life is better when we work together.