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By Strong Families • 11 years ago

Appropriate Cultural Appreciation

By Renee Bracey Sherman, contributor to the Strong Families project Echoing Ida.

If you’ve been watching the news, watching your Twitter feed, or posts on Facebook, many people have been discussing Miley Cyrus’ recent MTV Video Music Award performance in which she attempted to “twerk” on stage and on singer Robin Thicke during their duet of his song Blurred Lines. Lately much has been discussed about the rape culture language in his song and the sexual awkwardness of their performance in general, but most of the conversation has been about whether or not her performance was an appropriation of Black culture. As I perused through the social media conversations, I noticed a common thread: not everyone knows what cultural appropriation is.

So, let’s discuss and learn – what is cultural appropriation?

The short answer is when one from a privileged community uses something (a justice movement, style of clothing, dance, language, etc.) that is a part of a minority community’s culture and uses it as their own without citing credit, and often doing it wrong. In school, we have a similar idea called plagiarism, and students are held accountable for it. Cultural appropriation happens a lot. So much so, that we often don’t notice it when it happens.

Remember Madonna’s famous ‘Vogue’ song? Of course you do. It topped the charts and still gets played…everywhere. Did you know vogueing, which originated as a style of dance performed by gay men and transwomen of color in ...
By Strong Families • 11 years ago

When Zero Tolerance Makes Zero Sense

By L. Michelle Odom and Naimah Johnson, participants in Echoing Ida and the Black Women’s Blueprint Writing Circle.

Kiera Wilmot was spiritually assaulted.  She was spiritually assaulted by the over-reaction of the school and justice systems to a science experiment she conducted that threatened to land her in prison.  We are grateful, to be sure, that the prosecutor eventually decided against pursuing this case; and that a generously spirited person, 18-year NASA veteran, Homer Hickam, learned of her story and provided Kiera and her sister Kayla with scholarships to the U.S. Space Academy.

Nevertheless we are concerned that the damage to this young sister has already been done, and that a larger message has ...

By L. Michelle Odom and Naimah Johnson, participants in Echoing Ida and the Black Women’s Blueprint Writing Circle.

Kiera Wilmot was spiritually assaulted.  She was spiritually assaulted by the over-reaction of the school and ...
By Strong Families • 11 years ago

Pleasure Politics Part I: Employment, Economic Justice, and the Erotic

By Taja Lindley, participant in Echoing Ida, a project of Strong Families, originally posted on the Strong Families blog.

Too often we are led to believe that work must be something separate from pleasure: that we are to do what we love on the side, in our spare time; that pleasure is an extra-curricular activity, a hobby, a side gig. As if only a privileged few are supposed to do work that is fulfilling and passion-driven. As if pleasure is a luxury, not a necessity. Know: these are lies.

In the U.S. we have been conditioned to work to survive, to get by, to pay bills, to stay afloat, living a day-to-day and paycheck-to-paycheck existence. We have been conditioned ...

By Taja Lindley, participant in Echoing Ida, a project of Strong Families, originally posted on the Strong Families blog.

Too often we are led to believe that work must be something separate from pleasure: ...
By Strong Families • 11 years ago

A Letter to My Cousin, One of the ‘Good’ Guys

Written by Renee Bracey Sherman, participant in Echoing Ida, a project of Strong Families.

Dear Cousin,

I cried in the shower this morning, same as yesterday, and the day before. I’m hurt. Badly bruised by your words. I know your words weren’t intended to wound me, but they did.

It was a beautifully hot day in Oakland, and I decided to wear a dress; not to look cute, not to catch anyone’s eye, but because it was hot. I was headed to an event to celebrate mamas, all kinds of families, and life. I tweeted on my phone, smiling to myself, and then it happened. This man in blue walked up close to me and whispered, “Hey Girl, you’re beautiful”, then ...

Written by Renee Bracey Sherman, participant in Echoing Ida, a project of Strong Families.

Dear Cousin,

I cried in the shower this morning, same as yesterday, and the day before. I’m hurt. Badly bruised by your words. ...
By Strong Families • 11 years ago

How the Maximum Family Grant rule hurts families

Originally posted at Strong Families By Melissa Ortiz
 Melissa and her family

Most families who receive welfare live in dire poverty. Even with the aid that California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Children (CalWORKs) provides, families frequently cannot afford to obtain the basic necessities of life. One factor that determines the amount of cash benefits a family receives is family size. However, currently in California the Maximum Family Grant (MFG) law (also known as the family cap) prohibits an increase in grant money even if a family’s size increases due to the birth of a child. This policy is intended to control impoverished parents’ choices about the size of their families and when to conceive ...

Originally posted at Strong Families By Melissa Ortiz
 Melissa and her family

Most families who receive welfare live in dire poverty. Even with the aid that California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to ...
By Strong Families • 11 years ago

Indigenous mamas: Mothering resistance and reclamation

Originally posted at Strong Families

By Erin Konsmo 

In many ways, the Native Youth Sexual Health Network is a family that works together and throughout Turtle Island to reclaim ourselves through sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice.

Health:

For Mama’s Day our blog focuses not only on the range of Indigenous language definitions that exist for what ‘mama’, ‘mother,’ or ‘mothering’ means, but also on how we understand these words in our distinct Indigenous nations and how we stand in resistance to oppressive conceptions. What we see is that for many Indigenous Peoples mothering is a resistance to colonial definitions.The variety of words that are used for “mama” in different Indigenous languages is a good place ...

Originally posted at Strong Families

By Erin Konsmo 

In many ways, the Native Youth Sexual Health Network is a family that works together and throughout Turtle Island to reclaim ourselves through sexual ...
By Strong Families • 11 years ago

Why I live my life for my mamá

Originally posted at Strong Families

By Bernardita Yunis

For a writer, I could not have struggled more with getting words down on paper for this post. I consider my Mother to be the most important person in my life, the reason for my being, and the answer to all my questions about why I am the way I am. I am aware that it is not always healthy to live our lives for our parents, but on a basic level, whether rational or wise or not, I live my life for her.

And when she’s given everything for my life, how can I not live for her?

So how do I begin to write about this ...

Originally posted at Strong Families

By Bernardita Yunis

For a writer, I could not have struggled more with getting words down on paper for this post. I consider my Mother to ...
By Strong Families • 11 years ago

Finding strength through struggle: The most important gift my mom gave me

Originally posted at Strong Families

By Anthony Carli

Tears barreled down my face; I stumbled from my seat into the aisle of the school bus and hurriedly disembarked. My heart stung like a piece of its flesh had been torn off and left on the bus with the other fourth graders. Some shouted and laughed with treacherous glee, while others stood aghast at the horrible words just spoken. The only thing I knew how to do in that situation was run away. “At least my sister’s not retarded,” the boy yelled at me in response to some childish remark I made just prior. The entire school, my whole community, knew of my family’s situation. The ...

Originally posted at Strong Families

By Anthony Carli

Tears barreled down my face; I stumbled from my seat into the aisle of the school bus and hurriedly disembarked. My heart stung like ...

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