Dr. Rosalyn | On the 5th of July
I think my neighbors are done with fireworks for tonight. I hope so because after I finish this I'm going to bed. This year has been a roller coaster to put it mildly. From COVID to revamping classes to the protests to recruiting a new graduate cohort and graduating the current one to being out front on some of our diversity efforts it has been a busy four months. I can't say I've done much for fun outside of read oh and I guess I took a few classes this year which was fun for me because I am a giant nerd. I highly recommend Daniel Smith at Bloomington for the first level of American Sign Language but I digress.
Last year was our first IU Kokomo sponsored Junteenth event. This year of course we cannot have it and I was sad at missing the exchange of knowledge but also the celebration of Blackness in that space. We had a good time at home and we recorded a lovely video giving people a good breakdown of what Junteenth is and what it means to the Black community. I engaged with a ton of friends in ways that we normally wouldn't because we were slowed down--there go the fireworks again--and it was good. The protests led to companies and people, including the NFL color me surprise but big ups to Ben and Jerry's for just calling folks out, wanting to learn about another piece of Black culture they never knew about. That led to conversations about the destruction of Black Wall Street and Rosewood and the Trail of Tears and the Stonewall Riots. All of which people need to know more about other than the communities directly impacted by them. That was great and while I loved that people were learning I wasn't sure what or how I'd be feeling by the 4th. The holiday when most of the rest of America sits down and celebrates the independence of a nation.
To be honest I was just tired. We planned, advertised and hosted our first town hall, Community Conversations is what we are going to call them, in a very short time frame. It was a good talk and I hope it energizes us to do the work we have to do going forward. We are in a moment when people are willing to listen so we have to be willing to talk it out and commit to change. I had also been in a ton of meetings and wrapped up my two graduate classes. I typically go through a lot of effort to make dinner on each holiday but this morning--well yesterday now--I just didn't care. I did cook and it was delicious but that has more to do with the fact that I'm a pretty good cook than it does any planning on my part. The day felt more like Juneteenth 2 than the 4th for me. People are still learning. They were just introduced to Frederick Douglas's thoughts on the holiday What To the Slave is the 4th of July? They may have just stumbled upon the second verse of the National Anthem. I know they are just learning about the Negro National Anthem. No matter what anyone else tells you that's what we call it. I get it. Negro is not in vogue right now but that's what we call it. It's official name is Lift Every Voice and Sing which is great but that's not what we call it. And I know I've seen at least a few people say "well not even most Black people know all the verses" and I say I don't know those folks. If you went to Black church, a Black school for K12, a Black college or university, are in the NAACP, Urban League or a similar organization you grew up singing this song and sing it at least once a year. It's kind of like Melodies From Heaven in that everyone in those aforementioned groups knows, can find their part of the melody and make an amazing choir as long as whomever starts the song doesn't go for some crazy pitch. But even then I've seen us work around them. That was a very long aside.
Regardless, I needed to be steeped in my culture today more than I needed to be American. I needed a break from being bicultural. To be clear I didn't mean biracial. I mean bicultural. If you are a racial/ethnic or other minority in this country you grow up with at least two cultures. The school system takes care of giving us the rundown on why America, and in some case your state--I'm looking at you Texas, is great. Your family, friends, after school programs, churches, organizations and if you are really lucky a librarian or teacher help you learn about your culture. When we had a college fair in high school, there wasn't a single HBCU represented even though there are several in the state of Texas and one literally across town from where I went to school. My decision to attend one was questioned by my school counselor and she said Black school with such derision that it only increased my resolve to go. My family and friends, as well as a few teachers, knew how hard it was to get into my destined school and celebrated me. I went there because I needed a break too if I think about it now. I could just be Rosalyn instead of one of the few Black kids in honors classes. In that space I got to walk on part of the Underground Railroad. I got to see one of the only Black medical schools in this country. I got to bask in Black Excellence for longer that I should have but that foundation led me to achieve more than I dreamed of when my parents dropped me off freshman year. I got to love on Nikki Giovanni and Toni Morrison and Amiri Baraka. I got to hear about the founding of the Association of Black Psychologists from one of the founders. I got to breathe in Blackness unfiltered and unbothered by America most of the time. It was everything I never knew I needed. Kind of like yesterday was.
That doesn't mean I hate America even if it sometimes feels like America hates who I am and what I represent--from attacks on Affirmative Action, the emphasis on implicit bias instead of explicit actions, the need for a CROWN act in the first place. It means that I'm still watching people learn and hoping that they catch up soon to what every kid born as part of the figurative "other" in this country has been doing since they started elementary school. Just like I'm still doing. Maybe next year we can celebrate together, sans fireworks please, and we can share what we've learned.
Last year was our first IU Kokomo sponsored Junteenth event. This year of course we cannot have it and I was sad at missing the exchange of knowledge but also the celebration of Blackness in that space. We had a good time at home and we recorded a lovely video giving people a good breakdown of what Junteenth is and what it means to the Black community. I engaged with a ton of friends in ways that we normally wouldn't because we were slowed down--there go the fireworks again--and it was good. The protests led to companies and people, including the NFL color me surprise but big ups to Ben and Jerry's for just calling folks out, wanting to learn about another piece of Black culture they never knew about. That led to conversations about the destruction of Black Wall Street and Rosewood and the Trail of Tears and the Stonewall Riots. All of which people need to know more about other than the communities directly impacted by them. That was great and while I loved that people were learning I wasn't sure what or how I'd be feeling by the 4th. The holiday when most of the rest of America sits down and celebrates the independence of a nation.
To be honest I was just tired. We planned, advertised and hosted our first town hall, Community Conversations is what we are going to call them, in a very short time frame. It was a good talk and I hope it energizes us to do the work we have to do going forward. We are in a moment when people are willing to listen so we have to be willing to talk it out and commit to change. I had also been in a ton of meetings and wrapped up my two graduate classes. I typically go through a lot of effort to make dinner on each holiday but this morning--well yesterday now--I just didn't care. I did cook and it was delicious but that has more to do with the fact that I'm a pretty good cook than it does any planning on my part. The day felt more like Juneteenth 2 than the 4th for me. People are still learning. They were just introduced to Frederick Douglas's thoughts on the holiday What To the Slave is the 4th of July? They may have just stumbled upon the second verse of the National Anthem. I know they are just learning about the Negro National Anthem. No matter what anyone else tells you that's what we call it. I get it. Negro is not in vogue right now but that's what we call it. It's official name is Lift Every Voice and Sing which is great but that's not what we call it. And I know I've seen at least a few people say "well not even most Black people know all the verses" and I say I don't know those folks. If you went to Black church, a Black school for K12, a Black college or university, are in the NAACP, Urban League or a similar organization you grew up singing this song and sing it at least once a year. It's kind of like Melodies From Heaven in that everyone in those aforementioned groups knows, can find their part of the melody and make an amazing choir as long as whomever starts the song doesn't go for some crazy pitch. But even then I've seen us work around them. That was a very long aside.
Regardless, I needed to be steeped in my culture today more than I needed to be American. I needed a break from being bicultural. To be clear I didn't mean biracial. I mean bicultural. If you are a racial/ethnic or other minority in this country you grow up with at least two cultures. The school system takes care of giving us the rundown on why America, and in some case your state--I'm looking at you Texas, is great. Your family, friends, after school programs, churches, organizations and if you are really lucky a librarian or teacher help you learn about your culture. When we had a college fair in high school, there wasn't a single HBCU represented even though there are several in the state of Texas and one literally across town from where I went to school. My decision to attend one was questioned by my school counselor and she said Black school with such derision that it only increased my resolve to go. My family and friends, as well as a few teachers, knew how hard it was to get into my destined school and celebrated me. I went there because I needed a break too if I think about it now. I could just be Rosalyn instead of one of the few Black kids in honors classes. In that space I got to walk on part of the Underground Railroad. I got to see one of the only Black medical schools in this country. I got to bask in Black Excellence for longer that I should have but that foundation led me to achieve more than I dreamed of when my parents dropped me off freshman year. I got to love on Nikki Giovanni and Toni Morrison and Amiri Baraka. I got to hear about the founding of the Association of Black Psychologists from one of the founders. I got to breathe in Blackness unfiltered and unbothered by America most of the time. It was everything I never knew I needed. Kind of like yesterday was.
That doesn't mean I hate America even if it sometimes feels like America hates who I am and what I represent--from attacks on Affirmative Action, the emphasis on implicit bias instead of explicit actions, the need for a CROWN act in the first place. It means that I'm still watching people learn and hoping that they catch up soon to what every kid born as part of the figurative "other" in this country has been doing since they started elementary school. Just like I'm still doing. Maybe next year we can celebrate together, sans fireworks please, and we can share what we've learned.
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