Happy Mother's Day!

That beautiful woman in the picture with me is my mother. This picture was taken 3 years ago on my wedding day in her backyard. Physically, I am just like my mother. We have the same smile, the same shape, the same feet, the same walk, the same freckles...I guess you could say I'm a brown version of her.

I've mentioned in previous posts that I had an interesting childhood because even though both of my parents are black, I was often treated as if I were biracial. My mother is often mistaken for a white person because of her fair skin. When I was little and my mother worked in my elementary school, everyone just assumed she was white and assumed I was mixed--either that or adopted (never mind that I look just like her).

It's no secret that there is a lot of intraracism in the black community and a long history of people being plagued with color complexes. Recently one of my good friends asked me if I had a color complex growing up because I am the darkest person in my mother's family. I had never really even thought about it until she asked me that question. My answer was no, and I have my mother to thank for that.

As a child, I don't think I ever even knew I was darker than the rest of my family. They never made the distinction. My mother always made it a point to have black art and black images in our house. She was proud of her brown babies and she showed us with her love every day. I have always loved the color of my skin, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I look at young black girls today and I see how they struggle with their identity, trying to live up to society's standards of beauty. It is hard to believe that you are beautiful when everything around you is telling you that you are not.

My mother has always said she has a PH.D in motherhood and I agree. She stayed home with me until I was old enough to stay home by myself. She exposed me to different cultures and taught me to be proud of my blackness. She has been with me through every triumph, every heart ache, every trial and every success in my life. She always has a listening ear, a lending hand, and an insightful answer. She is my mom and my friend. She is more than I could ever dream of in a mother. She is my blessing from God. I'll always love my mama!


Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Mixed-Race Twins

This is maybe the third story I've seen like this in the past year. Apparently it is unusual for twins of mixed-race parents to come out favoring one race more than the other. Even though this seems to be medically true, I'm not sure why this is so shocking to people. Black children come in various shades and their shades don't always resemble that of their parents. Regardless of that, I feel sorry for these children because already at a young age people are putting way too much emphasis on the color of their skin. I mean it was "priceless" when the father said, "I'm still in shock...you just love 'em the same." Um, gee thanks Dad. Because for a second there I thought you were going to treat the "white children" white and the "black children" black. I hope that someone in these children's lives has enough sense to treat them and teach them as equals. If society won't do it, the parents should at least make an attempt.

Closing the Achievement Gap

"WE MUST REJECT THE IDEOLOGY OF THE "ACHIEVEMENT GAP" THAT ABSOLVES ADULTS OF THEIR RESPONSIBILITY AND IMPLIES STUDENT CULPABILITY IN CONTINUED UNDER-PERFORMANCE. THE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT GAP IS MERELY THE EFFECT OF A MUCH LARGER AND MORE DEBILITATING CHASM: THE EDUCATOR ACHIEVEMENT GAP. WE MUST ERASE THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE TYPE OF TEACHERS WE ARE, AND THE TYPE OF TEACHERS THEY NEED US TO BE."
http://roomd2.blogspot.com/ by TMAO

One of my fellow What If? Diversity bloggers posed the question of what we should do about closing the achievement gap in our schools—address diversity or poverty. The quote above embodies my feelings on this topic.
If we look at education like we do business, the business of education is failing one of its most rapidly growing clientele base--children of color. When businesses are not performing well, they restructure and fire people who are not producing for the company. They don't blame the clients! They change their practices to satisfy their clients. Why are we not getting this in education? Of course all of the outside influences that our children who are living in poverty bring with them to school don't make teachers' jobs any easier, but teachers and administrators mustn't dwell on it. If you want an easy job, don’t choose teaching—you’ve got the wrong profession. More focus needs to be put into teacher quality and training (and yes I know that resources are limited, but something needs to change so that teachers have more resources). The bottom line is that teacher education programs do not prepare teachers for even half of what they will face once they reach the classroom, and our children are suffering because of it. Of course diversity is a big piece of the puzzle too. School systems should really ask tough questions and try to get to the heart of teachers' philosophies of education during the hiring process. If a teacher professes to "not see color" and possess some sort of inherent "colorblindness", that teacher probably should not be placed in a school where all of the faces are shades of brown--or any school for that matter. In order for the achievement gap to change, teachers need to change, the institution of education needs to change, and our society as a whole needs to change.