The Broken Shackle

This site urges all to question, resist, and create. If you are looking for reflections on ethnic studies, cultural identity, sexuality, spirituality, and gender, you came to the right place!

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To Black Parents Visiting Earth: LIST OF RESOURCES

To Black Parents Visiting Earth: LIST OF RESOURCES

  If you read To Black Parents Visiting Earth:  Raising Black Children in the 21st Century, first of all THANK YOU SO MUCH!  Second, here is the list I was telling you about in the book.

Whether you have the book or not, please feel free to enjoy this list of resources comprised of books, articles, handouts, slide presentations, and videos on a range of topics including:

Black History Education

C…

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TO BLACK PARENTS VISITING EARTH

TO BLACK PARENTS VISITING EARTH

What if Black parents from other planets visited Earth?  

What kind of advice would you give them to safely navigate the world given today’s social climate?  

In a book that is part memoir and part self-help guide, 

Janet Stickmon writes a collection of letters to Black parents visiting Earth on 

topics ranging from the politics of hair to generational wealth, 

from education to self-care,

offer…

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List of Resources: White Privilege, White Socialization, & Construction of Whiteness in the U.S.

List of Resources: White Privilege, White Socialization, & Construction of Whiteness in the U.S.

Here is the list of RESOURCES on White Privilege, White Socialization, & Construction of Whiteness in U.S.   White folks, educate yourselves. If you believe in racial justice, do this work. Turn inward to see how your white privilege and unconscious biases interfere with your ability to connect with POC and prevent the creation of a racially just society. Whites who don’t do this work are…

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CLINGING TO A MASCOT AT WHOSE EXPENSE

CLINGING TO A MASCOT AT WHOSE EXPENSE

  CLINGING TO A MASCOT AT WHOSE EXPENSE  A Call to Change the Native American Mascot at Napa High School As a professor of Humanities at Napa Valley College for the past eleven years and former high school social justice teacher for seven years, I have taught my students about the history of Native American communities and their representation. We have examined the effects of genocide, loss of…

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DAYS WHEN THERE’S NOT ENOUGH

DAYS WHEN THERE’S NOT ENOUGH

DAYS WHEN THERE’S NOT ENOUGH He bought a box of instant mashed potatoes, some canned tamales, a small bag of frozen bon bons, and a few other things.  It wasn’t much.   Enough to get him through the week if his meals were small. He put each item on the conveyor belt slowly, carefully, almost as if it was painful.   Mashed potatoes from a box felt sad to me. I was thinking of the freshness of real…

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MALE STRIPPERS AS HEALERS AND THEIR EMCEE AS GRIOTTE--WHY MAGIC MIKE XXL IS DEEPER THAN YOU THINK

MALE STRIPPERS AS HEALERS AND THEIR EMCEE AS GRIOTTE–WHY MAGIC MIKE XXL IS DEEPER THAN YOU THINK

MALE STRIPPERS AS HEALERS AND THEIR EMCEE AS GRIOTTE– WHY MAGIC MIKE XXL IS DEEPER THAN YOU THINK Introduction It was already a good day because it was summer break, and I was eating chocolate malted crunch ice cream from Rite Aid.   I was window-shopping, trying to get to my ice cream before the sun did.   I silently gloated as I passed by Cold Stone Creamery, imagining the people in line…

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Beauty Revealed: Bringing Out the Best in Others

Beauty Revealed: Bringing Out the Best in Others

Preface          Exploring what it means to “bring out the best” in others was a collaborative endeavor that began in 2011 between colleague Carlos Hagedorn and I. Reflecting upon how much pain and neglect exists in the world, we believed that based on our experience as educators and our work in the community, we could offer some tools that could perhaps spare people the anguish of being treated…

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TO BLACK PARENTS VISITING EARTH-LETTER #5: DOLLS

TO BLACK PARENTS VISITING EARTH-LETTER #5: DOLLS

Letter #5: Dolls To Black Parents Visiting Earth: I was sorting through Baby Girl’s old dolls and came across Taraji and Wangari. Taraji is a brown-skinned baby doll from Target and Wangari is a brown-skinned Cabbage Patch Kid we received as a gift. My daughter was just a baby when these dolls entered her life, so I took the liberty of giving them African names. The Target doll was named Taraji…

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Beauty Revealed: Bringing Out the Best in Others

Beauty Revealed: Bringing Out the Best in Others

Preface Exploring what it means to “bring out the best” in others was a collaborative endeavor that began in 2011 between colleague Carlos Hagedorn and I. Reflecting upon how much pain and neglect exists in the world, we believed that based on our experience as educators and our work in the community, we could offer some tools that could perhaps spare people the anguish of being treated in…

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TO BLACK PARENTS VISITING EARTH--LETTER # 4: TERROR

My family: (L-R) Me, Baby Girl, and my husband, Shawn Taylor.© 2015 Shawn TaylorTo Black Parents Visiting Earth: To Black Parents Visiting Earth, So much has happened in the last month and half. I bounce between wanting to tell you what happened and wanting to tell you how all of it makes me feel. Just when I think starting with how I feel will be easier, the words stop because my feelings are…

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TO BLACK PARENTS VISITING EARTH--LETTER #3: HAIR (Part II)

TO BLACK PARENTS VISITING EARTH–LETTER #3: HAIR (Part II)

Letter #3: Hair

Part II

To Black People Visiting Earth:

For the first few months of kindergarten, I styled my daughter’s hair in braids and twists because I was afraid of subjecting her to more ignorance at this predominantly white private school.

On November 22, 2013, my daughter wore her hair down for the first time at school. As soon as she walked through the gate to sign in, a white female…

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TO BLACK PARENTS VISITING EARTH--LETTER #3: HAIR (Part I)

TO BLACK PARENTS VISITING EARTH: LETTER #3--HAIR (Part I)

Letter #3: Hair

Part I

 To Black People Visiting Earth:

It took many jars of relaxing cream and scabs on my scalp before I stopped strangling Africa.  The day I stopped putting chemicals in my hair was the day I began loving it for being natural.

Despite my Filipino mother’s attempt to get me to love my hair (as she gently ran my fingers through my scalp to feel the beauty of my own waves and…

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