Spring Break

April 14, 2023

Picture of tree in full bloom with white and pink flowers on a street with sunlight off the tree. Photo credit Erin Okuno

It is spring break for me, so tonight’s post is going to be short. Before I start it is Arab American Heritage Month, an important time to honor and recognize our Arab American relations and to work to make their work and culture visible.

Since it is spring break, here is my to-do list – maybe it will inspire you too. Punchline — this list is not like the wild spring breaks of reality TV, much duller and simpler.

Read some of the books in my growing pile – My attention span for reading is a bit short these days, so one goal is to read a paper book. I have been enjoying audiobooks as I walk my dog. My pile of books is exclusively POC or about disabilities, so it is even more urgent to get back into them. If you need some book suggestions for your own reading stack check out last week’s post or previous Fakequity book posts.

I recently learned April is National Poetry Month. Spring is a great time to pick up a book of poetry by POC authors. I just found Nikki Grimes One Last Word book at the library. Like its companion book Legacy, it is written in Golden Shovel methodology which makes it very intriguing.

Walk outside and enjoy the changing scene. I grew up in Hawai’i where the season changes are a bit muted, but still lovely year-round. Now that I’m in Seattle it is very neat to see how the cherry blossom trees are coming back, flowers popping up, and the sun is staying out a little later.

Learn about native plants and pollinators – I read up on milkweed plants and butterflies and found the topic fascinating. If you’re in an area where you can grow native milkweed plants, it might be fun to plant some to see if you can support monarch butterfly migration. I’m still figuring out which milkweed plants are native to my area before ordering.

Take in a cultural festival – On Sunday I’m planning on visiting a Cherry Blossom festival to watch a taiko performance. And the Merrie Monarch Hula Competition also just started. Merrie Monarch is a huge deal in Hawai’i. It is the place where the best hula halaus perform and compete. More importantly, it helps to keep hula and Native Hawaiian culture and language alive.

Cook veggies – Last week I went to the Asian grocery store in my neighborhood and bought some veggies, they have been languishing in the fridge. Tonight, I pulled them out and made an impromptu stir-fry with some Korean condiments to use those down too. The no-recipe dish came out pretty good and I’m giving myself a high five for a vegan dinner and using what I had on hand. I’ve been reading more about indigenous foods, climate change, and environmentalism — which indirectly influenced tonight’s dinner.

Watch Beef on Netflix. I haven’t started it yet – I need to finish my current show first.

Civic learning. Today I took one of my kids to the state capitol since I had to run a work errand in that area. He asked a lot of good questions. We learned more about representative democracy together, including who is not represented well in civic life because of access, privileges, and purposeful exclusions. There is also a special election where I live — earlier in the week I voted and walked my ballot to the ballot box. I am grateful Washington State is a vote-by-mail state and my ability to vote is intact. I wish I could take this for granted, but over the past few years I see how fragile voting rights have become.

Play a few board games – Ok this one has very little value to racial equity since most of the games we currently have and play are based on capitalism and resource hoarding. But I like games and it stretches critical thinking skills. It also opens space for learning life skills and having fun. Earlier this week my youngest bankrupted me in Monopoly by building a hotel on Boardwalk, which I landed on TWICE – game over.

I hope your spring break list includes a mix of learning, fun, and enjoying the seasonal shifts.

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Adrienne, Agent001, Aimie, Alayna, Alessandra, Alessandra, Alex E, Alexa, Aline, Alison FP, Alison P, Allison, Amanda, Amber, Amira, Amy, Amy K, Amy P, Amy R, Andie, Andrea J, Andrea JB, Andy, Angelica, Angelina, Ashlie, Aya, Barb, Barbara, Barrett, Betsy, Big Duck, Brad, Brenda, Bridget, Brooke B, Brooke DW, Cadence, Caitlin, Calandra, Callista, Cari, Carmen, Carolyn, Carrie B, Carrie C, Carrie S, Catherine, Chelsea, Christa, Christina C, Christina S, Clara, Clark, Courtney, Dan, dana, Danielle, Danya, Debbie, DeEtta, Denyse, Dennis, Dennis F, Diane, Don, Ed, Edith, Edith B, Eileen, Elizabeth, Emily, Erica J, Erica RB, Erin, Gene, Genita, Hannah, Hayden, Heather H, Heather M, Heidi and Laura, Heidi, Hilary, J Elizabeth, Jaime, Jake, James, Jane, Janet, Jelena, Jen C, Jen E, Jen H, Jena, Jenn, Jennet, Jennifer, Jess, Jessica F, Jessica G, Jillian, Jody, John, Jon, Jordan L, Jordan S, Josie, Julia, Juliet, June, Karen, Kate, Katharine, Kathryn, Katie O, Kawai, Keisha, Kelly, Kiki, Kim, Kimberly, Kyla, LA Progressive, Laura, Lauren, Leah, Leslie, Lily, Liora, Lisa C, Lisa P-W, Lisa S, Liz, Lola, Lori, Lyn, Maegan, Maggie, Maile, Maka, Maki, Marc, Mareeha, Marilee, Mark, Matthew, Maura, McKenzie, Melissa, Melody, Meredith, Michael, Mickey, Migee, Mike, Milo, Mindy, Misha, Molly, Nat, Natasha, Nicole, paola, Peggy, PMM, Porsche, Rachel, Raquel, Rebecca, Sarah B, Sarah D, Sarah H, Sarah KB, Sarah R, Sarah S, Sarita, Selma, Sharon B, Sharon Y, Shaun, Shawna, Siobhan, Steph, Stephanie, Su, Sue, Susan, T Wang, Tania DSA, Tania TD, Tara, tash, Tim, Titilayo, Tracy G, Tracy TG, virginia, Vivian, Ward, Wendy, Willow, and Zan

If you subscribe to the blog, thank you. Please check fakequity.com for the most up-to-date version of the post. We often make grammatical and stylistic corrections after the first publishing which shows up in your inbox. Please subscribe, the sign-up box on the right sidebar (desktop version). To see what Erin is reading and recommended books check out the Fakequity Bookshop.

I am writing from the lands of the 29 federally recognized and non-federally recognized tribes in now Washington State, including the Coast Salish people — Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Suquamish, Snoqualmie, Snohomish, and Native American organizations that have treaty rights and have been here since time immemorial. I give my thanks to the elders, Native and Indigenous colleagues and relations, and the land itself. Fakequity pays “rent” to Native organizations in Washington and Hawai’i; a small act to repair and work to be in more justice-based relations.

Middle Grade Graphic Novels by POC Authors

April 6, 2023

Image of two children reading a book together on a bed. Child on left looking down hands on book, child center covering mouth as if laughing. Stock Photo by Yaroslav Shuraev on Pexels.com

I invited my upper elementary school kid to write this week’s blog post. She loves to read graphic novels and has racked up a collection of favorites. I thought it would be fun to have her share a few of her favorites by POC authors or about disabilities. I limited her to five of her favorite graphic novels, otherwise, this blog post would be three times as long. Stay tuned for future posts with updated recommendations from her.

The below text is from my kid with light editing for clarity. She handwrote the post and I typed it up for her. My notes are in italics to round out her writing.

Just Roll With It

This book is about a girl named Maggie who loves RPG [role playing games] and figures out she has OCD [obsessive compulsive disorder].

Invisible: A Graphic Novel

This book is about a group of kids who help a little kid and her mom.

The book also explores the diversity within the Latino/Latinx community. A diverse group of Latino middle school students are sent to the cafeteria to fulfill community service hours. Through their time together they learn about each other and learn how to help others.

Black Blood Acolyte

This book is about two kids name Kita and Kanna who are mages but the king banned magic so they have to do it secret.

This is one of her favorite books. A bit of fantasy and science fiction, but not too much to keep it relatable. My kid hopes this book becomes a series.

Tidesong

This book is about a girl named Sophie who is awesome at magic and goes to live with her grandma to help her get better.

The Prince & The Dressmaker

This book is good. It is about a prince named Sebastian who likes to wear dresses in secret.

My kid’s teacher loves graphic novels as much as my kid. Her teacher handed her this book during independent reading time and it became a favorite. This is a good book to introduce gender fluidity and acceptance.

Erin’s Bonus Recommendations

I’ll throw in a few of my favorite middle grade graphic novels.

Stuntboy

My kid would probably argue this isn’t a graphic novel, but more of a reading book with pictures. In any case, the story is thoughtful, delightful, and funny as you follow Portico Reeves through several adventures. It also introduces what it is like to live with anxiety (mental health/disability) and working through ‘the frets.’

Superman Smashes the Klan

This is an oldie but goodie recommendation. Superman Smashes the Klan was one of the first graphic novels I read that sucked me back into graphic novels for middle grades. Gene Yuen weaves historical fiction (WWII anti-Japanese sentiment) with superhero charisma. My older kid enjoyed this too and introduced his middle school friends to the book.

I hope you find a few fun books to share with middle-grade readers or maybe for yourself. If you liked these recommendations hit the like button and we’ll see about bringing back my kid to share more of her recommendations.

Why I wrote this: To share diverse books for middle grade readers. There are many book lists out there but middle-grade lists are sometimes a little harder to find.

Social Justice Dogs of South Seattle

March 31, 2023April 1, 2023

One of my secret skills is writing bios for friends. Earlier this week a friend challenged me to write a bio for her dog, so I did. I’m taking the idea and running with it for this week’s blog post – this will not be a work of genius, just some doggie fun.

This week I present four Social Justice Dogs of South Seattle – MeiMei, Perigee, Sitka, and Miki. Read their bios to learn more about their stance on race and what they have to offer. These are tongue in cheek bios that are not meant to be taken seriously. These are wonderful dogs who are delightful and a handful. Hopefully you’ll enjoy their social justice not-dating bios.

Meet MeiMei

MeiMei is a poodle-lab mix with a lot of energy. Despite being white MeiMei does not believe in white fragility. When MeiMei senses a white person is about to shed white tears, she will lie down and ignore you. MeiMei will not come over and comfort you, instead, she’ll stare at you and remind you that your fragility around race isn’t about you. MeiMei will demand you pull yourself together. Her endless energy does not allow for wallowing in hurt feelings, she’s all about moving forward, which race work demands of us. Before you think MeiMei is being generous to you, please remember MeiMei is all about her queenly self – give her the attention she deserves and you’ll feel better cause snuggling a dog does help with the emo-feels.

Perigee is Side-Eyeing You

Perigee arrived in Seattle from Hawai’i Island as a rescue. At first, she wasn’t a fan of the Seattle chill – literally and figuratively. Perigee’s best skill is getting people to understand that whatever they are arguing about is not worth the time and energy. Tackling bigger systemic problems is worth the fight. She does this by literally barking and getting people to move along. Once they disengage from their one-on-one arguments, they can begin to see how messed up the entire system is and work to fix that instead of petty arguments.

Perigee is also anti-capitalist and dislikes gentrification. Perigee hates all of the Amazon delivery trucks that stop in the middle of the street to deliver packages. She makes her dislike of Bezo’s blue smiles known by barking very loudly at the trucks. She also is pro-environment, but doesn’t like bicycles since she can’t ride them.

Miki and his true feelings

Miki does not mask his feelings. If he thinks your comment is racist or doesn’t pass his sniff test he’s outta there. As a pointer who likes to sniff and point Miki will sniff out inauthentic people and comments.

Miki has better things to do, like napping, than hanging around racial equity projects that are dull and mediocre. Miki also does not believe in pretension, his prey drive and desire to keep moving are strong. This is very handy if you want to keep a project moving forward and need to drag people or dogs along to work toward racial equity.

Sitka – Everyone Needs a Special Friend

Everyone needs a special friend to help explain race at times. Sitka is here for you as a non-judgmental friend. She’s got you if you’re feeling down and need someone to cry or laugh with as you figure out race. As a golden retriever, she is a people pleaser, but you do have to build a trusting and long-term relationship with Sitka. A pocketful of treats and belly rubs go a long way in relationship-building with Sitka. Remember relationships need to go two ways, you can’t just take from Sitka. Sitka needs something back from you, take this as your hint to build relationships and not just transactions (aka I take without investing in you). Sitka does take fan-mail, please email it to fakequity@gmail.com.

I hope you enjoyed meeting these four special dogs.

Why I wrote this: To have fun and I didn’t want to think hard, however it backfired and I ended up staying up just as late to finish it.

Adrienne, Agent001, Aimie, Alayna, Alessandra, Alessandra, Alex E, Alexa, Aline, Alison FP, Alison P, Allison, Amanda, Amber, Amira, Amy, Amy K, Amy P, Amy R, Andie, Andrea J, Andrea JB, Andy, Angelica, Angelina, Ashlie, Aya, Barb, Barbara, Barrett, Betsy, Big Duck, Brad, Brenda, Bridget, Brooke B, Brooke DW, Cadence, Caitlin, Calandra, Callista, Cari, Carmen, Carolyn, Carrie B, Carrie C, Carrie S, Catherine, Chelsea, Christa, Christina C, Christina S, Clara, Clark, Courtney, Dan, dana, Danielle, Danya, Debbie, DeEtta, Denyse, Dennis, Diane, Don, Ed, Edith, Edith B, Eileen, Elizabeth, Emily, Erica J, Erica RB, Erin, Gene, Genita, Hannah, Hayden, Heather H, Heather M, Heidi and Laura, Heidi, Hilary, J Elizabeth, Jaime, Jake, James, Jane, Janet, Jelena, Jen C, Jen E, Jen H, Jena, Jenn, Jennet, Jennifer, Jess, Jessica F, Jessica G, Jillian, Jody, John, Jon, Jordan L, Jordan S, Josie, Julia, Juliet, June, Karen, Kate, Katharine, Kathryn, Katie O, Kawai, Keisha, Kelly, Kiki, Kim, Kimberly, Kyla, LA Progressive, Laura, Lauren, Leah, Leslie, Lily, Liora, Lisa C, Lisa P-W, Lisa S, Liz, Lori, Lyn, Maegan, Maggie, Maile, Maka, Maki, Marc, Mareeha, Marilee, Mark, Matthew, Maura, McKenzie, Melissa, Melody, Meredith, Michael, Mickey, Migee, Mike, Milo, Mindy, Misha, Molly, Nat, Natasha, Nicole, paola, Peggy, PMM, Porsche, Rachel, Raquel, Rebecca, Sarah B, Sarah D, Sarah H, Sarah KB, Sarah R, Sarah S, Sarita, Selma, Sharon B, Sharon Y, Shaun, Shawna, Siobhan, Steph, Stephanie, Su, Sue, Susan, T Wang, Tania DSA, Tania TD, Tara, tash, Tim, Titilayo, Tracy G, Tracy TG, virginia, Vivian, Ward, Wendy, Willow, and Zan

We Need to Talk About Saviorism

March 24, 2023April 3, 2023

Picture of a bright orange life ring with yellow rope, in front of a blue painted wall. Sign in upper left corner says “SAVING, ING” second word cut off. Photo by Erik Mclean on Pexels.com

Every few weeks I’ll sit through a presentation and someone, normally a white person, will wax passionately about how their program “literally saves lives.” The first eye roll is at the word ‘literally,’ more like figurately save lives. The second bigger eye roll, combined with throwing my head back and staring at the ceiling (if I’m online and watching from home) is at the ‘saving lives’ part. I have a very high threshold for claiming this credit, and the vast majority of policymakers or people working in nonprofits and government do not get to claim this credit.

When policymakers, educators, or others claim they are saving lives they are practicing saviorism. Saviorism does not acknowledge how messed up the systems we’re dealing with are and how we’re forcing people to endure them.

For those working in government or the nonprofit industrial complex, we need to acknowledge we benefit from these paternalistic and oppressive systems at the expense of Black and Brown people, poor people, people with disabilities, immigrants, and so many others who struggle because the system wants to ‘save them.’ What we endure in our jobs is little compared to what we force to put up with for meager handouts. We get paychecks, sometimes praise, professional networks, and other benefits from these systems that benefit us more than the people in them. We cannot take credit for saving people when we are doing it on their backs.

Saviorism is harmful and comes out of colonial practices. I grew up in Hawai’i and growing up I heard a lot about how white missionaries came to the independent island nation and imposed their will on Native Hawaiians in the name of ‘saving’ them. The missionaries felt they knew better and were superior, and in return, they decimated a way of life, language and culture was lost, and they brought diseases – they did not save people literally or figuratively. Saviorism implies those doing the saving know better than those having to live through the oppressiveness. Saviorism allows white people and people with privileges to make choices for others and put their values on other people. That is just icky – everyone should have the right to autonomy and choice.

Saviorism is also about poverty parading or even poverty pimping. I know some of you are recoiling at that terminology, but I can’t find a better way to talk about it. Poverty pimping is when we take people out and use them as examples of our great work in ways that benefit us or our programs with little benefit to the person. It is icky to exploit another person’s story for our gain (e.g., fundraising, policy advancement, etc.) – stop it.

Instead of Saving People

Instead of talking about saving lives, we need to acknowledge the barriers and harms systems put in place. These might be barriers we’ve inherited and they are now our responsibility to remove to ensure people can survive and overcome the harm done by racist and ableist policies and practices. While acknowledging the barriers and harms, we need to be specific in naming them. Naming barriers allows people to understand and work to undo them.

We also need to stop speaking for others. People can speak for themselves and know their own stories. When we speak for others, especially white people speaking for POCs, we are taking away from authentic narratives. Instead, share your airtime with someone if they are ready to share their stories. I’ve seen this done well, where people will answer a question briefly and then smoothly pass the mic to someone with lived experience on the topic to speak about their experience. Make sure the person is willing and ready to share so you’re not putting them on the spot unfairly.

If you must save someone, save yourself.

Why I wrote this: I wrote this because I was annoyed listening to people talk in euphemisms and practicing self-praise while not acknowledging the barriers our systemic work puts up. This is a challenge to undo the systems we force people to live through.

Adrienne, Agent001, Aimie, Alayna, Alessandra, Alessandra, Alex E, Alexa, Aline, Alison FP, Alison P, Allison, Amanda, Amber, Amira, Amy, Amy K, Amy P, Amy R, Andie, Andrea J, Andrea JB, Andy, Angelica, Angelina, Ashlie, Aya, Barb, Barbara, Barrett, Betsy, Big Duck, Brad, Brenda, Bridget, Brooke B, Brooke DW, Cadence, Caitlin, Calandra, Callista, Cari, Carmen, Carolyn, Carrie B, Carrie C, Carrie S, Catherine, Chelsea, Christa, Christina C, Christina S, Clara, Clark, Courtney, Dan, dana, Danielle, Danya, Debbie, DeEtta, Denyse, Diane, Don, Ed, Edith, Edith B, Eileen, Elizabeth, Emily, Erica J, Erica RB, Erin, Gene, Genita, Hannah, Hayden, Heather H, Heather M, Heidi and Laura, Heidi, Hilary, J Elizabeth, Jaime, Jake, James, Jane, Janet, Jelena, Jen C, Jen E, Jen H, Jena, Jenn, Jennet, Jennifer, Jess, Jessica F, Jessica G, Jillian, Jody, John, Jon, Jordan L, Jordan S, Josie, Julia, Juliet, June, Karen, Kate, Katharine, Kathryn, Katie O, Kawai, Keisha, Kelly, Kiki, Kim, Kimberly, Kyla, LA Progressive, Laura, Lauren, Leah, Leslie, Lily, Liora, Lisa C, Lisa P-W, Lisa S, Liz, Lori, Lyn, Maegan, Maggie, Maile, Maka, Maki, Marc, Mareeha, Marilee, Mark, Matthew, Maura, McKenzie, Melissa, Melody, Meredith, Michael, Mickey, Migee, Mike, Milo, Mindy, Misha, Molly, Nat, Natasha, Nicole, paola, Peggy, PMM, Porsche, Rachel, Raquel, Rebecca, Sarah B, Sarah D, Sarah H, Sarah KB, Sarah R, Sarah S, Sarita, Selma, Sharon B, Sharon Y, Shaun, Shawna, Siobhan, Steph, Stephanie, Su, Sue, Susan, T Wang, Tania DSA, Tania TD, Tara, tash, Tim, Titilayo, Tracy G, Tracy TG, virginia, Vivian, Ward, Wendy, Willow, and Zan

Reading* Challenge – Book and Food

March 17, 2023March 17, 2023

Picture of a darker-skinned hand seasoning a dish of chopped-up purple shallots or onions, orange veggies, in a black clay dish, on a wood table. Photo by Dapur Melodi on Pexels.com

Several years ago on a whim, I made a BINGO board for food and books/media. I’ve been wanting to make another BINGO board on the same topic ever since, but with some new categories to encourage people to think about food and media together. Both food and entertainment shape cultures and define cultures and adding diversity and richness to our lives.

Since I’m getting a late start on tonight’s blog post, instead of a BINGO board I’m making a list where you can choose your own adventure. Choose as many as you like and give yourself a point for each one achieved. Do at least five of the categories to give yourself a BINGO, ten checked off the list and you a gold star, all of them and you earn the tall-chef hat.

*When it says read or book, don’t feel like you have to read a book. For some, watching a video might be a more enjoyable way to participate, or if a book is too long, find an article or podcast related to the topic. Not everyone takes in media the same way and that is great – diversity in learning and entertainment is important to recognize and honor.

Street Food – Find a book about street foods by a POC author or about a POC chef. Chef Roi Choy and the Street Food Remix is a good one if you need a suggestion.

Reviving Family Recipes—Find a book or podcast that talks about reviving family recipes. Mamacita: Recipes Celebrating Life as a Mexican Immigrant in America is a lovely cookbook about this very topic. I discovered it by listening to a podcast with the author.

Cookbook from somewhere you haven’t visited or lived

Cookbook from somewhere you have visited, your hometown counts too – Learn about the foods of where you are whether POC traditions local to your town or city, or the foods of the Indigenous lands you’re on

Media about Black farmers – Find a book or video about the Black farming experience. If you want a good drama to watch, Queen Sugar is so good. It is based on a book by the same title.

Read about food and the Civil Rights Movement – If you need some suggestions on places to get started read about the sit-ins at restaurants and diners, look up Georgia Gilmore and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and Dick Gregory’s Natural Diet cookbook – who I just read about.

Read a cookbook by an Asian author – One of my new faves is The Wok of Life. It started as a blog by the same name and the family of bloggers recently released a gorgeous new cookbook. For vegetarians and vegans, The Korean Vegan is a great cookbook.

Food Justice Movement – Learn about food sovereignty, food deserts, farming rights, factory farming, food waste, government food programs, etc. Learn about these from POC perspectives.

Food Sovereignty from an Indigenous Perspective – Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kilmer is such an important book for understanding our connection to the land and being in a just relationship with the land. On the fiction side, Seed Keeper is a new-ish novel that touches on food sovereignty.

Graphic Novel Centered on sharing food/meals, POC authors – Invisible starts in a school cafeteria (middle grades), or for the older crowd Umma’s Table or J&K (both of which I haven’t read, but the reviews look interesting).

Food Memoir by a POC author –A few to get you started: Crying in H Mart, Taste Like War, or Fatty Fatty Boom Boom a memoir of food, fat, and family.

Learn about festive dishes from Black traditions – Black Foods serves this category very well.

Women of color and reshaping the food scene — Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America and Arabiyya: Recipes from the Life of an Arab in Diaspora are both now on my to-read list thanks to some research for this category.

How people use food to celebrate or mourn – Lunar New Year’s (the list in the link are children’s books), Persian New Year’s, Juneteenth, etc.

Island Food – Learn about food from an island, bonus points for non-European islands

Snack or Meal time – Your choice!

Adrienne, Agent001, Aimie, Alayna, Alessandra, Alessandra, Alex, Alexa, Aline, Alison, Alison P., Allison K., Amanda, Amber, Amira, Amy, Amy, Amy P., Amy R., Andie, Andrea J., Andrea J.B., Andy, Angelica, Angelina, Ashlee, Ashlie, Avery, Aya, Barb, Barbara B., Barbara M., Barrett, Beth, Betsy, Big Duck, Brad B., Bridget, Brooke B., Brooke D.W., Cadence, Caitlin, Calandra, Callista, Cari, Carmen, Carol Ann, Carolyn, Carrie B., Carrie C, Carrie S., Caryn, Catherine S., Catherine S., Chelsea, Christa, Christina B C., Christina S., Christine, Clara, Clark, Claudia, Courtney, Crystal, Dan, Dana, Danielle, Danielle, Danya, Darcy, Deb, Debbie, Denyse, Diane, Don, Ed, Edward, Edith, Edith, Eileen, Elizabeth K L., emily w, Erica J., Erica L., Erica R.B., Erin, Gail J., Genita, Gene, Hannah, Hayden, Heather H., Heather M., Heidi and Laura, Heidi S., Hilary, J Elizabeth, Jackie J., Jaime, Jake, James and Gloria, Jane, Janet, Jean, Jelena, Jen C., Jen S., Jena, Jenn, Jennet, Jennifer M., Jennifer S., Jennifer T., Jess G., Jessa, Jessica F, Jessica G., Jessie, Jillian, Jody, John, Jon, Jordan L., Jordan S., Josie, Julia, Julia S., Juliet, June, Karen, Kate, Kate, Katharine, Kathryn, Katie D., Katie O, Kawai, Keisha, Kelli, Kelly, Kelly S., Kim, Kimberly, Kimberly F., Kyla, Kymberli, LA Progressive, Laura B T., Laura G., Lauren, Laurie, Laurie, Leah, Leslie, Lily, Liora, lisa c., Lisa C., Lisa P.W., Lisa S., Liz, Lori, Lori N., Lyn, Lynn, Maegan, Maggie, Maile, Maile M., Maka, Maki, Marc, Mareeha, Marge, Marilee, Mark, MaryBeth, Matthew, Maura, McKenzie, Meghan, Melissa, Melody, Meredith, Michael, Mickey, Migee, Mike, Mike Q, Milo, Mindy, Misha, Molly, Nat, Natasha, Natasha, Nicole, Nora, paola, Peggy, PMM, Porsche, Rachel, Raquel, Rebecca, Reiko, Risa, Rise Up for Students, Ruby, Ruchika, Sandra, Sarah B., Sarah D., Sarah H., Sarah K. B., Sarah O., Sarah R., Sarah S., Sarena, Sarita, Sean, Selma, Shannon, Sharon B., Sharon Y., Shaun, Shawna, Siobhan, Skyler, Steph, Stephanie, Stephen, Su, Sue, Susan M., Susan U., T W, Tania DSC, Tania T.D., Tara, tash, Terri, Tim, Titilayo, Tracy G., Tracy T.G., virginia, Vivian, Wendy, Will, Willow, Yvette, and Zan

Your Opinions are Valid, But I Don’t Need to Hear All of Them

March 9, 2023

Photo of a panda chewing bamboo in front of a grey wall. Bamboo shoots are in the foreground. Photo by Laura The Explaura on Pexels.com

A few weeks ago I got a long email from a white woman who didn’t like a proposal I had put out to a group to start a new project. I’m new to the group and don’t have a lot of established relationships within the group. The details of the project are not relevant, but I will say it involves money and asking the group to think of money and resources that challenge very long-held norms.

I worked with a few leaders to shape the draft of the proposal and it got sent out to the group. We also announced an online meeting where members could learn more or ask questions. Several people emailed right away to say they understood the proposal and to count them in. A few were tentative and said they would attend the online meeting. A few, mostly white people, were quick to criticize the proposal and challenge the assumptions in it.

This is where I need to pause and acknowledge a few things. First, anytime you put something out into the world it is open to criticism — fair game. Critique and thoughtful criticism or feedback lend important pieces of information and perspectives we may not have. Sometimes it is important to listen to the feedback and consider it carefully.

However, I’ve had to sit through a lot of sessions and read a lot of emails over the years where opinions from people who feel they have a stake in the conversation. They feel they have more expertise or want to voice their thoughts because that is how attention is sought and given in American/Western cultures, but really they are not that important to the overall conversation. If you need attention there are healthier ways to fulfill that need than making comments on everything.

Your Opinions are Valid to YOU

Your opinions are valid to YOU, but not everyone else all the time. Unless we are in a relationship or in a community grounded in accountability and trust I don’t always need to hear your opinions. I’ll give an example. Very rarely are anonymous comments in newspapers or blogs worthy of the time it takes to write or read them. People use that space to rant or throw down empty statements. To the person writing the comment, their thoughts and feelings are valid, but to many others who don’t know the person who wrote it the comments are not interesting. Often, the comments are hurtful and mean.

As a person of color, I hear and see criticism directed toward people and communities of color. It is an entrenched system of thinking where people with privilege, especially white privilege, feel the need to comment on anything race related. Sometimes the comments are veiled and coded. They come off as questions but questions that are used to point out faults, sometimes they are comments to center themselves and their needs thus taking away from the POC cause, sometimes they are mean comments we have to tolerate because we are told to “assume best intent” from the speaker, and there are the comments where people like to tell others what is best for others because they know better, or the speaker has the solution even if the person didn’t ask for one. I’m guilty of this too, I am trying to be aware of it and curb my instinct to solve problems that aren’t mine to solve.

Your comments may be valid to you, but many times many of us do not need to hear them. We’ve heard versions of your opinion many times in different ways. If you want to talk about your opinions please seek out someone you know and have a relationship with where you can also hear their feedback. You need to hear their thoughts so you can learn too. Over time when people are in a community or relationship built on mutual trust, then you can share your opinions.

To circle back to the story at the top about the person who wrote me a long email about her feelings and thoughts, I took a week-long pause before replying. I hope I was polite, but I have a feeling my reply was met unsatisfactorily and the message quickly met the delete button. The person who emailed me is not accountable to me nor vice versa, thus it isn’t my job to explain my positions to them nor to educate them on race, defend my positions, or invite them into a dialogue. I sincerely hope they do find a trusted friend who can help them understand race, but that isn’t me.

Why I wrote this: To share a perspective on feedback and opinions. (Apologies for forgetting to put this line in over the last few weeks, opps.)

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Amplify the women of color in your life

March 3, 2023March 3, 2023

Photo of peach blossoms, small pink open flowers. Photo by Brett Sayles on Pexels.com

Before I start writing, Happy Girl’s Day – Hinamatsuri, Japanese Girl’s Day. I grew up celebrating the Hawaii-Japanese American version of the day. It is a family favorite celebration since we make, eat, and share chi chi dango mochi.

Last night I went to a fabulous dinner hosted by a friend to celebrate her book. It was a carefully curated guest list of women who supported her over the years. It was an honor to be there and to be in the company of women who understood the power of the collective.

Being in that room reminded me how we need to support and sponsor each other willingly and joyfully. Supporting women of color is an act of honoring our past and building for the future. It is something we can all do, including white people.

Since it is hinamatsuri, Girl’s Day, here are some ways you can amplify women of color in your life.

Find the women of color in your life and support them. Think about the women of color in your life that you have an authentic relationship with. How do you know them? How can you authentically (not weirdly) support them? Maybe it is sharing information with them that can help them land their next job. Or maybe something more personal that can show them you care like cooking a meal during a time they need one (make sure it is on their terms).
Do small things in ongoing ways. Support for women of color needs to be ongoing, not just one off big gestures. The little things count. Have you said thank you to the women of color in your office that support everyone? The janitors, baristas, the crossing guards at your kid’s school? Say thank you. Also offer them support – small gestures like a coffee gift card, fresh produce, tips, or saying something nice can go a long way. Also, say thank you to the women of color leaders in your life — they appreciate hearing how their leadership impacts others.
Use your influence to support women of color. We all have influence in different spheres of our lives. Use that influence to support another woman of color. When I was an admin assistant at a nonprofit many of us at the support staff level would make sure we helped each other out and looked out for each other. I mention this to say influence comes in many ways it doesn’t always have to be formal power.
Read writings by women of color. Learning from women of color is important – read their work. Please read Ruchika Tulshyan’s book Inclusion on Purpose; her book just celebrated its first book birthday! Ruchika’s book is about creating spaces where women, especially women of color can thrive. Angela Garbes Essential Labor is another great book talking about women of color labor. There are so many women of color authors we need to keep reading their work and amplifying it so they keep writing.
Don’t ask women of color to justify their decisions. Too often women of color are expected to explain and justify their decisions. Trust women of color, if you don’t then maybe ask yourself why that is. Often the work is on you to build that trust and reciprocate it back.
Support the collective. Women of color need each other and need the support of allies. Find ways to support individuals but also the collective space to build each other up. I remember a Black friend saying “Sometimes we just need a comfy couch and some snacks,” that really sounds doable as a way to support other women of color – lend them your couch or help to provide the snacks.
Invest in women of color owned businesses. If you need ideas on how to find women of color owned businesses, check out the Intentionalist. As their motto says, “Spend Like it Matters.”
Finally, be authentic with the women of color in your life. If you try to fake it we’ll see it, just be real, be you, and if you can’t support women of color authentically tap out, we don’t need your emotional burden.

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Reimagining holidays in nonprofits

February 23, 2023

Artwork by Nina Yagual from Amplifier Art. Light blue background with people and colorful flowers, words stronger together

By Rochelle Hazard

For 117 years, Neighborhood House has fought to end the cycles of poverty, racism, and social inequities. We have committed to becoming a fully inclusive, anti-racist, multi-cultural organization (see our 2021-2024 strategic plan here). As such, we recently reevaluated our holiday structure to create a more equitable organizational culture.

We recognized that our holiday structure excluded different faiths and values that are held by Neighborhood House employees. Neighborhood House has 350 staff members who speak over 40 languages. 72% of staff members identify as Black, Indigenous or POC. 33% self-identify as immigrants and 36% report that English is not their primary language.

The holiday structure we inherited was based on white, Christian-centric values and beliefs. Historically our agency recognized federal holidays, such as New Year’s Day, Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving, as paid holidays for employees. Neighborhood House is a diverse organization that employs people with many different faiths or no faith at all. Many people celebrate events or individuals that are not significant to others for various reasons (see Fakequity’s List of Culturally Significant Dates here). Limiting our paid holidays to federally recognized holidays only was inequitable for many Neighborhood House employees.

Christmas is one example of how this inequity was playing out. For some Neighborhood House staff, December 25 is an important day to spend with family and friends. But what about other faiths such as Orthodox Christians, who do celebrate Christmas but not until January 7? Still, others may not celebrate Christmas because they have different values and beliefs, such as atheists or agnostics. For some Indigenous and Native American people, Thanksgiving Day is not a celebration, but a day of mourning. For some African Americans, Independence Day/4^th of July is not a celebration of freedom, but a reminder that even though Black people are no longer shackled with chains, they are still fighting for the full actualization of promises made by the US Constitution (see Frederick Douglass’ “What is the 4^th of July to a Slave” speech).

The question was not if the agency holiday structure was good or bad. The question Neighborhood House had to answer was: Who are we leaving out by not recognizing that we are a multicultural agency with people of many different faiths, beliefs, and values? As part of our journey to becoming a fully inclusive, anti-racist, multi-cultural organization, I knew we had to change our holiday policy.

Neighborhood House’s internal equity committee proposed the following solution: take the 12 agency’s paid holidays and turn them into floating holidays. This new All Floating Holidays policy allowed staff of different faiths and beliefs to be paid to celebrate the days that are important for them and their families, without forcing employees to observe a holiday that they don’t believe in, or having staff dip into their vacation time to celebrate their holidays. As an example, between July 19-20, 2021 (the dates of Eid al-Adha, an important holiday for Muslims), 19% of Neighborhood House staff requested vacation time or other paid time off. With our new proposed holiday policy, staff could use their floating holidays to take time off for holidays and use vacation time for actual vacations.

Some staff expressed concern about converting all holidays to floating holidays because they worried large numbers of staff might request the same days off and leave teams short-staffed. Once we analyzed the HR data, we realized large numbers of staff would continue to request time off for their holidays, whether Neighborhood House chose to recognize them as holidays or not. The only difference with the new policy is that staff won’t have to use their other paid leave to take time off for holidays. The real change will be that staff of all faiths feel valued and seen. Further, because we are intentional about hiring staff who reflect the languages, cultures, and faiths of the communities we serve, our staff and clients often observe the same holidays and take off similar days to be with their families. We already see a drop in preschool attendance and requests for services on days like Eid and Lunar New Year.

This was not an easy policy to change. It took months of listening, talking, and negotiating with board members and staff at all levels of leadership. Neighborhood House’s new All Floating Holiday policy went into effect 1/1/23, and we are excited to be taking this next step toward becoming a multiracial, anti-racist agency. We will be keeping a close eye on how this policy change affects people’s ability to celebrate holidays that are important to them. We will track data to see how staff utilize their floating holidays and other types of leave, as well as ask staff for their input on the policy throughout the year. We understand that we may need to make adjustments in how we implement this policy, and Neighborhood House will remain committed to making space for everyone’s faith (or no faith) and joy.

Rochelle is the Neighborhood House Director of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA). Rochelle identifies as a biracial queer Black woman who oftentimes is mistaken for butch, but identifies simply as a woman who wears comfortable shoes.

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Undoing My Anti-Blackness, revisited

February 16, 2023

Artwork by Rommy Torrico, Amplifer Art. Child wearing a red shirt with New York printed on it, staring upward, holding an open jar with gold light swirling out of it. Behind a cityscape, a building with banner saying Dignitiy & Hope logo, POCs looking up. Words: Communities Rise Up

February is Black History Month. It is an important time to reflect on and to deepen my anti-Blackness and to hopefully invite many of my non-Black colleagues along with me, maybe some of you will even lead the way for me and others.

A few years ago I wrote about undoing my anti-Blackness. It was during the never-ending middle of COVID lockdowns and so much unknown about the disease. It was also during the murder of George Floyd and too many other Black people dying because of state-sanctioned violence (aka law enforcement caused violence). During that time I, and many others, had to face ourselves and ask how did we allow another Black man to be killed by everyday brutality? How were we complicity in this modern American Black history being made.

Several years later, I need to reflect and continue to work on my anti-Blackness. A few weeks ago a Black friend pointedly and gently called me out for acting in a way that didn’t make Black girls visible. I was working on a volunteer project that had a lot of complicated moving parts. It is a new project and a hard lift to get buy-in from a very heterogeneous American-normed group. We got to a point in the project where the group was comfortable using race as a factor in decision-making – a really big step. I sent out an email to the larger group explaining this shift. My friend wrote back and said unless we were specifically calling in Black girls it wasn’t enough — it was good, but I couldn’t call it anti-racist. Just acknowledging POCs, financial aid, and other factors did not account for Black girls who still faced huge challenges but did not fit those criteria. I read the email early in the morning and on the first pass didn’t understand it, but later in the day when I had the brain energy to read it deeply, I understood her call out to me. I wasn’t acting in a way that affirmed Black girls; it was a challenge to go deeper and to act in anti-Black ways.

Continuing to undo my anti-Blackness will take a lifetime. I know I still need to learn about the intersections of Blackness and Asianness. There are times our relations are kin and in solidarity, and there are many times where we perpetuate hate on each other for no reason other than hate and oppression.

Earlier tonight I was looking up Black and Asian people – Blasians to see who is out there. There are so many – tennis star Naomi Osaka, Vice President Kamala Harris, and many others. I hope we see and understand their identities as complex and as how they want to be seen, not reduced to either Asian or Black.

Undoing my anti-Blackness also means I have to understand other intersections of our shared movements. How does anti-Blackness, anti-Asian, and disabilities justice find solidarity and be true to our racial identities (the disability justice movement can be very white). Too often when a crime is committed and labeled anti-Asian hate or something happens to a Black person, people jump to labeling the behavior due to mental illness. Hate and racism aren’t mental illnesses. We also need to see where we can be allies to Black and Asian disabled kin.

The same for other intersections of identity – immigration, agism, language, and so on.

I’ll continue to work on my anti-Blackness, which also means understanding the depth and breadth of the Asian American experience.

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Policy Work as a Blunt or Pointed Instrument of Change

February 10, 2023

We the Future – Power to the Polls artwork from Shepard Fairey, Amplifer Art. Image: Black woman with an afro, holding a fist up, wearing a red shirt and button “Future Voter.”

It is Black History Month and an important time to reflect and learn more about Black History wherever you are. Please take some time to learn more about Black history and reflect how we’re a better community because of it.

Lately, I’ve been following a lot of policy work at a lot of different levels – organizational policies all the way up to state and even some federal level policy work. One of the trends I’ve noticed is how so much policy work is race neutral, and is like a blunt instrument trying to make important changes. The image I have in my head is higher-level policy work (e.g. federal and state policy work) is like a hammer coming down on a carnival game and the bell ringing because of a hard whack. At lower levels (e.g. organizations, city level, school districts, etc.) the work can be more precise and like a chisel to carve out the desired change.

In order for us to achieve racial equity we need to train ourselves to understand how to embed racial equity principles in all levels of policy work. The more embedded into higher level policy work I can see how hard it is to make changes and shift conversations from being race neutral to being open in talking about race. It is also hard to take a sweeping policy bill and break it down into thinking about how it could impact people of color.

As an example, if we think about education funding bills those will touch every student in the public school system, but the impacts will be felt differently. Yet bills are not written in ways that make these differences clear. The bill is purposely written to be race neutral (at least in many government bodies). This is where we need to do the deeper work of analyzing a bill to think about how it will impact people of color and which people of color will benefit or be harmed.

Many times it is also a zero-sum calculation when trying to figure out which policies or bills can have the greatest impact for people of color. Such as during budgeting sessions there is only so much money to go around, and it needs to be prioritized and hopefully put towards activities that will close racialized gaps and improve POC lives.

An example of how this plays out during a policy making session; let’s say there are three policies up for debate:

A health care clinic in every public high school
Free school lunch
Driver’s education will be available in Title 1 high school, a tiered fee structure is allowed

All of these ideas are worthy of funding, but without deeper analysis it is too easy to just accept the ideas as being good. Some deeper probing might help to understand the racial equity implications:

A health care clinic in every public high school – What is gained by placing a health center in every school? Do some students already have access to health care and can the money be better spent on a targeted strategy?
Free school lunch for all students – Who doesn’t currently qualify for free lunch? Turns out many immigrant students may be going hungry because they don’t apply for free lunch programs because they are afraid of being tracked. Or they don’t qualify for aid because of their immigration status.
Driver’s education in Title 1 schools – This program is targeted to Title 1 high schools. In many schools, Title 1 status often correlates to schools with more POC students. Does the data support the need for students of color not to have access to affordable or free driver’s education classes? Are the schools where this will be implemented in zones where public transit isn’t available?

These examples are to show how it is important to dig a little deeper and interrogate ideas further.

Chisel Approach

One of the advantages of working closer to communities is we can often target interventions more. Often times the closer we can get to communities (e.g. schools, neighborhoods, city) policy work can be targeted. The drawback is the change isn’t as sweeping as at the federal or state level.

At the community level policy work still needs to be done thoughtfully and scrutinized to ensure it can impact people of color in positive ways. In policy work at this level, it is important to be clear about intentions and proposed outcomes.

Tools like the Equity Matters racial equity mapping tool can help you figure out how to target your interventions more. Other racial equity tool kits (often a series of questions) can help you hone your racial equity analysis.

Why I wrote this: To think about how we can target policy work differently

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FAKEQUITY

Fakequity=Fake Equity. Fakequity is bad. It shows up as all talk and no action.