Blog Post #10: Day Thirteen
Day 13
"Be passionate and move forward with gusto every single hour of every single day until you
reach your goal." - Ava DuVernay
Friday was Day 13 of my Hawken Project (my third to last day). It was crazy for me to think
about the fact that two weeks have gone by that fast! I couldn't believe just how much work
that I did in such a short amount of time! It was also bittersweet for me because I
knew that my time with my Hawken Project was coming to a close soon. However, just
because my time with the Hawken Project may be over soon, that doesn't mean that my
journey with creating the curriculum for the AA Studies Program or my work is done yet!
There are still so much rich information that can be included in these courses and so much
to explore (ie: allyship, athletics/ sports, entrepreneurship and the economy, etc.). So, the
work still continues on after the Hawken Project!
On Friday, I had the opportunity to check out two amazing books that I've incorporated into
the curriculum: Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine and Dispatches
from the Vanguard by Patrick A. Howell. Just Us: An American Conversation is a
conversational book between the reader and Rankine as she recounts personal
anecdotes of her life and moments where she confronts people in spaces that are deemed
to be "neutral" and "polite" (ie: the airport, the voting booth, a dinner party, etc.) on the
surface and contain the underlying tone, beliefs, entitlement of prejudices. When Rankine
makes certain points throughout the book, she will use certain images, clips from videos,
excerpts from articles, and even a whole chapter dedicated to Thomas Jefferson's racist
views in Notes on the State of Virginia to make a statement about the current state of
racism and how it has progressed in the United States. From an encounter
with a parent who claimed that his son didn't get into Yale's Early Action program because
of affirmative action to a waitress serving a nearby passenger on one of her flights twice
before ever serving her to listening to another passenger talk about how he "doesn't see
color" but is working with his company on diversity and inclusion initiatives, Ms. Rankine
doesn't stray away from the uncomfortable truth about talking about the racial power
dynamic that has been ingrained into the values of the country and challenges the
authority and superiority complex that has been adopted into everyday life. Ms.
Rankine's thought provoking stories and candid views of her conversations
with each of the people mentioned in the book help the readers to address uncomfortable
situations when addressing race and how we should view ourselves in regards to race. The
second book, Dispatches from the Vanguard, contains a series of interviews with little known
black figures in poetry, literature, art, politics, and social entrepreneurship who have used
their talents to provide a platform for marginalized voices during this past presidency with
former president Donald J. Trump. The book features interviews with Nikki Giovanni,
Ishmael Reed, Rich Fresh, Tori Reid, Ingrid LaFleur, and so many others who deserve to
have their stories told in the midst of the white privilege and fragility that was displayed
during the past four years and especially at the Capitol siege. Both of these books speak to
the importance of speaking up and out against the injustices and systems put in place to
silence marginalized voices and definitely represent some of the topics that should be
covered in the courses!
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