“For Trayvon” by artist, A’driane Nieves. Acrylic on paper.
In college, I had a black professor for a “Racism in the Americas” class. The students were overwhelmingly white and there was one brown girl, who had to give the opinion of what it was like to be black in America for everyone who is black in America when it came to discussion. The professor came to class every day with a nice suit jacket on, which wasn’t common of all the liberal arts professors in the building during that time. It was a little fancy. He explained that he had to wear it. He explained that it helped him from not being pulled over by the police.
This was the first time I had ever heard of such a thing. I was 19 or 20 when I took the class, yet, I had no idea that racial profiling existed.
The professor said that he had been arrested 6 times just because he fit the description, 6 foot black male. Sometimes on his way to the university to teach his class, “Racism in the Americas”, at an esteemed private university. He said that if he was dressed up, he hoped he was less likely to get stopped. That was in the mid 90s.
Fast forward to the 2010’s and the internet has shed a great big spotlight on racism across America. And it’s HUGE. And racial profiling, IT’S STILL A THING. A really big thing. And black people being MURDERED FOR NO GOOD REASON IS A THING. We can’t turn our heads, America.
So today, I’m asking you to follow two black American women who have been very vocal in the conversation of the social injustice of black people in America. I have learned more and more about my own country from following Kelly Wickham, who founded “Being Black at School” and US veteran and artist, A’driane Nieves, also known as addyeB.
Through the site, Being Black at School, Wickham empowers “parents and educators to make the school system a safe place for black children.” You can also donate to make this happen, too.
And Nieves says, “I live for sharing my thoughts, heart, and stories through my work, be it on a canvas or written word. I also live for seeing and loving those in the margins because that is where I’ve always existed.” Not only can you read her passionate stories of activism, but you can buy her gorgeous art.
Wickham and Nieves’ messages are strong and needed in this country. They are pushing to make a difference to help end racism. They are both a HUGE inspiration to me, and I want to share them with the world.
#BLACKLIVESMATTER
This is an original post to World Moms Network by founder, Jennifer Burden.
Photo credit to A’Driane Nieves.
Jennifer Burden
Jennifer Burden is the Founder and CEO of World Moms Network, an award winning website on global motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. World Moms Network writes from over 30 countries, has over 70 contributors and was listed by Forbes as one of the “Best 100 Websites for Women”, named a “must read” by The New York Times, and was recommended by The Times of India. She was also invited to Uganda to view UNICEF’s family health programs with Shot@Life and was previously named a “Global Influencer Fellow” and “Social Media Fellow” by the UN Foundation. Jennifer was invited to the White House twice, including as a nominated "Changemaker" for the State of the World Women Summit. She also participated in the One Campaign’s first AYA Summit on the topic of women and girl empowerment and organized and spoke on an international panel at the World Bank in Washington, DC on the importance of a universal education for all girls. Her writing has been featured by Baby Center, Huffington Post, ONE.org, the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life, and The Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists.” She is currently a candidate in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the Executive Masters of Public Affairs program, where she hopes to further her study of global policies affecting women and girls. Jennifer can be found on Twitter @JenniferBurden.
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I cannot express in words how I feel about your post today. I couldn’t be more proud to be part of this network. Thank you.
Jennifer, thanks so much for sharing this. Social justice is of utmost importance, and what’s happening in our country is a travesty. Thanks for shining a spotlight, and sharing information about these two women. The more we learn, the better we can act as allies. THANK YOU.
Sadly what you wrote about, Jen, is a worldwide problem. I live in South Africa where “white” people are the smallest minority group, yet a kind of “subliminal racism” still exists here. I live in a middle-class suburb. Since he abolition of Apartheid you can live anywhere you like (provided you can afford to). The truth is that the majority of black people still live in “townships” and / or shacks (whilst Zuma and his cronies live in multi-million rand homes, but that’s another story). Anyway, one of my neighbours shared with us the following story: “A coloured man (in SA “coloured” refers to Malay, Indian and / or descendants of interracial couples, and “black” refers to someone who belongs to one of our indigenous tribes like Zulu, Xhosa etc) knocked on her door and asked if her “madam” was home (“madam” is what most domestic workers call their female employer). She didn’t want to make him feel bad (because she was a “black” woman who owns a “fancy” house in a “good” neighbourhood) so she replied that “madam” wasn’t home but she’d be happy to have her garden attended to. Then she paid him extra saying that the “madam” was very impressed with his work. This story clearly illuminates how entrenched certain stereotypes are, even after over 20 years of Black Rule!
I actually feel the sorriest for our so-called “coloureds” because they weren’t “white enough” to benefit from Apartheid or (even worse) one member of the family could be classified “white” making it illegal for him / her to live with any family members classified “black” or “coloured”, and now they aren’t “black enough” to benefit from Affirmative Action and Black Economic Empowerment!
The saddest truth is that most domestic workers are without work now, because we’re in a very bad place economically (it seems that every time our President opens his mouth the rand loses more value) and the first thing people cut back on are “luxuries” like domestic workers and gardeners. 🙁