Janelle Gray's Blog, page 7

Echoes on air!

Special note from JanelleEchoes on air! is officially a thing!You asked for it; now, you got it! It's official! The Echoes Blog now has a little sister! Echoes on air! will bring together folks willing to talk about their experiences, how we interact with each other, and what they are doing in the world to facilitate change. In episode one, Carlos Brumfield, Emilia Cedercreutz, and Justin Willis join me as we talk about our experience having those hard conversations about race, gender, and sexual orientation. We're still coming to you once a week but will be alternating podcast episodes and articles. So you can keep checking us out on the blog for a deep read, but now you can also take us along on your commutes. As always, you are part of the conversation. Feel free to keep sending in your articles and maybe you will also be invited as a guest host on the show. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave comments. That helps our visibility on the iTunes charts. Without further ado, ECHOES on air! EPISODE 1 Thank you! This podcast wouldn't be possible without your suggestions, encouragement, and participation! Special shoutout to my friend and co-producer, Jack Piland, for his dedication to helping me get this out. 2018 is lookin' all right! create hope. forge a path. change the world. j

Scarlet River

© 2018 by Djoré NanceThe river that runs twixt Texas and Oklahoma Native blood the same as the native color The river that runs from the gulf to Canada Contains parts unknown in the negro panacea It’s an unrest that passes all confusion How do we awaken from this demonic illusion Hallucination of collusion with power that’s softBut it’s flacidity doesn’t merit a scoff Pay attention to the way they speak And the stupidity we seek will show a river of red A river bed that’s capitalism’s fellow Nevermind that their blood is hallowed To them but really their hearts are fallowed cuz they are insatiable for Red blood, red blood red blood I said There’s a reason we’re called red blooded Americans Because they feed on us from the top on in Vampires of energy and matter alike #Nolivesmatter pay attention to the chatter Red Russia red life Scarlet River

He Had a Dream

© 2018 by Nicki PryorHe had a Dream Yet it's still my Nightmare... The stares slicing The blank faces stabbing The uncomfortable glancesHe had a Dream Yet it's still my Nightmare... The oppression surviving The hurt unwavering The want of just mere chancesHe had a Dream Yet it's still my Nightmare... The bullets piercing The graves revealing The gone too soonsHe had a Dream Yet it's still my Nightmare... The divisive names The apoplectic diction The pseudo banters on the newsHe had a Dream Yet it's still my Nightmare

I Am Brown in Small-town America

© 2018 by Leila MartinezMy name precedes me everywhere I go andI am assumedand categorizedbefore I walk through the door.I am brown skin, blue black hair and dark brown eyes.I am suspicion.This is what it means to be brownin small-town America.I am spoken to slowly.I am a study of constructs.I am wide eyed,Slant eyes“Mexican-passing” in sea of yellows, whites and blacks.This is what it means to be brownin small-town America.I am background noise,my culture’s voices diming silent and quickly.I am assimilation.I am generalization and catalogued,A label,an “other.”I am brown in small-town AmericaTo keep up with Leila, follow here on Facebook and go to her website at .

Forgive Me

© 2018 by Lisa LloydForgive me. Forgive my arrogance. Forgive my statements of ignorance. Forgive my unspoken, but definitive thoughts of superiority. Since I, for so long, saw you as the minority. I grew up in a white-filled town, People of color were almost nowhere to be found. It was not segregated, no, not at all, But my eyes only saw “sameness” in my school halls. My textbooks were penned by mostly Caucasian writers, Who didn’t teach me African Americans were the strongest of fighters.Multiple, ignorant voices teaching every white student, That the invention of the cotton gin was darn right prudent. I was taught our country’s prosperity was due the white man’s plantation,But I’ve learned since, it was his captives who birthed this nation. Why doesn’t this make waves. When will we say, “America was built on the backs of slaves.”I still have a lot to learn, and I make so many errors,But as the scales continue to fall I want to be better.So I’m asking you to forgive me. Forgive me for not seeking to understand the employee at the nail salon,Or the man on the roof working so hard at dawn. Forgive me for having wrongly speculated,That we are living in a post-racist world. Your pain is not dated.Forgive us for the Sunday school depictions, That have taught us to believe that Jesus was a description, Of a Caucasian, blue-eyed, English-speaking man.No this was not God’s plan.The Hope of the world is dark-skinned, non-English speaking Jew, who never hung out with white people.I, and my light skin, am not His equal. No. I am the ethnic minority in the kingdom of God.Huh. Now to many white ears, that sounds rather odd.Jesus set aside HIS power, HIS privilege, and HIS position. Because He had a greater mission. Listen. This Middle-eastern man, laid all that down and came into the conversation,And gave us the truest picture of reconciliation.Revelation 7:9, should awaken us from slumber, This multi-racial church, an assembly, that no one can number,Standing before the throne and before the Lamb, Wearing robes and holding palms in their hands. They are not looking at each other’s skin, Their eyes are on their Savior, He is their win. Their perspective is an eternal one, The hatred of this earth, of that, they are done.And I believe you and I, Heaven’s imager bearers,Can bring this here, we can make it much better.With God by our side, leading us on, Holding hands together bringing Heaven upon,The earth. So others who see us, see that. We need a NEW education, a reminder, reset.That we can’t give up on reconciliation, no not yet.Therefore we get over our differences. We go across the street. We spend time with those who don’t look like us and give the desire for comfort a backseat.We teach our kids the past, and we show them God’s grief, But we train them to see different, with the eyes of their Chief. We say, “I’m sorry”, and “Please forgive my old ways”, But we don’t give up if it’s not met with hugs and “let’s play”. We enter into the pain, we forgive the stupid things said, We change our hearts until the old us is dead.It will take effort, it will be hard, But don’t you think this, will glorify God? Let’s call heaven to earth, not more death and more hell.We lived that for too long, I’m ringing the bell.So forgive me, forgive me, and Father please forgive me,Help me remember that I am the key. To bringing your kingdom here, not further away, We want you famous Lord, please, every single day.Maranatha my Jesus, come back quickly Lord come,But please not until, like Heaven, we are one. From this day forward, with every opportunity, May we be a part of God’s great movement. Come. Unity.

Is the patriarchy finally falling?

Over the past month, the commemoration and celebration of women’s achievements through history have gone hand in hand with the continuing drive to recognise the economic, political, social, and cultural inequalities still faced by women today. From the #MeToo movement to the Time’s Up initiative, women, girls, men, and boys are coming together to demand justice. But are we really on the verge of smashing the patriarchy?Behind these very public manifestations of anger, solidarity, and strength, the practice of harassment and assault is perpetrated against the most intimate of women’s spaces: their bodies — bodies which traverse private and public spaces, but the violation of which produces very personal responses, emotions, and fears which control the way women are able to interact with and move through the world.I have always considered myself lucky with regards sexual harassment and abuse; I think I've experienced less of it than the average woman. Over the years, though, I have had my breasts fondled and my arse pinched, I have been flashed, I have been told I would “be beautiful if I wore more makeup,” and I am the object of street harassment about 30% of the times I leave my apartment unaccompanied. According to a 2014 study, 94.3% of women around the world have experienced street harassment, and more than half have been fondled or groped, too.[1]My first experience of sexual assault was when I was groped repeatedly at a Goldfrapp concert, and did nothing about it. I was paralysed for an hour and a half and then slunk home alone and kept my mouth shut, ashamed of my weakness. Even now, I am filled with guilt for not challenging the men who call, whisper, and kiss at me in the street. I am a white, middle-class, cis-gendered woman; I consider myself a feminist; and, I still shy away from confronting sexual harassment because I know I will either be met with flat denials and/or will be called irrational, angry, or a liar, as I have seen happen to other women. I mean, Donald Trump has so far been able to claim that all 18 women who have accused him of sexual misconduct are lying.[2] The unequal politics of power makes it incredibly difficult for women to report sexual harassment in almost every case, and especially when they are in some way dependent on the man in question’s good will, as has been the case with Harvey Weinstein. Of the 1 in 3 women between the ages of 18 to 34 who have been sexually harassed at work, 71% did not report it.[3]For me, the power of the #MeToo movement is in collecting these invisible, visceral, stories together, identifying the scale of the problem, and giving women (and men) an outlet for their justified anger and frustration. The task now, though, is to use this momentum to push against systemic sexism and sexual harassment; to recognise the economics of power which mean that women are not always able to walk away from or report harassment; to push for a more inclusive movement which takes into account the diversity of women’s and men’s experiences (bearing in mind their race, class, sexuality, migrant status, etc.); to believe individuals when they say they have been abused; and to take legal and political action to effect long-lasting, wide-reaching change. The Time’s Up campaign is a move in this direction with regards to workplace harassment, calling as it does for an improvement to laws, employment agreements, and corporate policies, as well as incorporating a legal defence arm (with funding).[4]Now that we’ve begun making the invisible realities of women visible and have started building collective action and solidarity with women’s human rights defenders, we need to transfer this into political will to demand that our governments implement policies which consider and promote gender equality across the board. Many policy decisions in recent years have been disastrous for women’s rights. Examples in the US include the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, reintroducing the global gag rule on abortion, and suspending tracking of the gender wage gap[5] while in the UK, austerity policies have been 86% paid for by women as the result of tax and benefit changes since 2010.[6] In Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, young women are on average 11% less likely to be in paid work than men (23% for mothers as compared to fathers), and there is a gender pay gap of 15%; only 33% of managers in central government are women, and only 29% of seats in national legislatures are held by women.[7]To build a safer, fairer world where we are all truly have control over our own bodies, gender needs to be at the centre of policy-making, and countries need to think about how policies will have differential impacts of women and men; they need to consider the issues of gender budgeting, quotas, the unequal sharing of unpaid work, labour market outcomes, migration, reproductive rights, and gender-based violence from a public policy point of view. Then the current surge of indignation will not only have helped create a space for women and men to report cases of sexual harassment, but will also help them to use their bodies to bring about broader political, economic, social, and cultural change in favour of all of our human rights.That’s an accomplishment I look forward to celebrating during future Women’s History Months.[1] https://www.ihollaback.org/cornell-in... http://www.latimes.com/politics/washi... https://www.timesupnow.com/[4] https://www.theatlantic.com/entertain... https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/op... https://www.theguardian.com/society/2... http://www.oecd.org/publications/the-...

defending Jane

Here we are in Women’s History Month and we cheer! We beam! We hug! We shout! We speak truth! We link our arms and shake our fists and step forward. We’ve come a long way. What a bitter uphill battle we’ve fought, and continue to fight. We have cause to celebrate. But….I daresay we have a long way to go.I see on social media, read in periodicals, and hear in conversation that women must continue to unite, must support each other and fill the Senate seats. I’m completely on board with that. I’m excited that the patriarchal walls are crumbling in almost every aspect of our Western society, and women are being heard and taking numbers. But (here’s the but), do we realize, as empowered women, we are still stuck with some bad habits such as gossiping about each other, passing judgments based on personal style and preference, and even naming outspoken strong opinionated women bitch or abrasive. Be honest. Do you exhibit old behavior that could use reform? Surely, we can all say “yes”.I’d like to talk about Jane. Jane Fonda, that is. Raise your hand if you watched the Oscars. If you raised your hand, were you amazed by the elders — Rita Moreno and Eva Marie Saint — and the grace and beauty with which they have aged? And conversely, did you reel at the pulled puffed faces of Jane Fonda and Faye Dunaway, and proceed to comment or joke on social media and to friends? I read many such comments, and then I had an uneasy feeling in my gut — in my ‘woman strength and sisterhood’ place. I thought, “We are traitors to one another.”Perhaps you only know Jane Fonda as an actor. Her professional body of work and achievements includes Emmy and Tony nominations, 2 Academy Awards, 2 BAFTA Awards, and 4 Golden Globes.I am old enough to remember Jane in her earliest public years. Though I was much younger than she, I remember her public resistance to the Vietnam War, that famous picture of her sitting on an anti-aircraft gun on a visit to Hanoi in ’72, and her mug shot, fingers raised in a peace sign. She stood in political protest against Vietnam, Iraq, and then again protested the Israeli-Pakistani conflict. She has been the subject of government surveillance, putting her life and reputation on the line to stand up for justice for the people. She is a bad-ass woman.Jane also became an early advocate for women’s rights and health, working to end violence against women. She and Gloria Steinam co-founded Women’s Media Center for women’s voices in the media. In the 1990s, she founded the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential (GCAPP), a charitable organization to foster education and adolescent reproductive health. Take note: She has been one of the most vocal and visible advocates for our rights in our lifetime, sisters.Jane is also an environmentalist, and I remember seeing her on the front lines of protest during the Standing Rock standoff for the Native Americans. Once again, Jane using her visibility and star-power voice to advocate for those who would not be heard. And if you are familiar with her interviews and work, you know she has a powerful straight-to-the-point voice.Her father, as many of you know, was the film star Henry Fonda. She revealed after his death that she lived under his constant scrutiny. He told her she always “had to look perfect.”She went on to launch her fitness videos and women all over the Western hemisphere did leg lifts and sit-ups on their living room floors with Jane instructing on the TV. She battled bulimia and survived breast cancer.I tell you all of this because Jane Fonda has her reasons for doing whatever she wants to her face, her body. She is a survivor in every corner of the ring. Those eyes have seen things we will never understand so that we can see the ceiling shatter. Those lips have yelled and screamed and chanted for US so that we may speak our truth. And that body has been pushed and handcuffed so that we can protect and honor our own bodies.This woman, still moving forward on this journey, never giving up, still working and expanding and speaking out, has my utmost respect. I would say we sisters all owe her not insults, but a huge measure of honor and gratitude.If we are to gain the ground we are poised to claim, I think it’s crucial that we lift each other up, not tear each other down. I have certainly been guilty of speaking before thinking. I’m now making a conscious effort to check myself before speaking or posting on social media. Do my words empower women and celebrate the sisterhood, or do they tear down the progress we’ve made? Are they borne out of the fears of the generations of women who’ve come before me? It’s time to name the fear and banish it. I am choosing to look beyond the exterior, to keep some of my opinions to myself, to forgive and raise up women each day. As we labor and walk next to each other, let us clear the path before us for those walking beside and behind, for our daughters and all the generations to come. Let’s leave that legacy for womankind and the future so that we may be the healers of our world.Thank you for paving the road, Jane.

From Boys to Men: A Journey to Feminism

As a man, it’s always hard to write about women. It shouldn’t be; however, you risk the chance of not knowing what to say. More than likely you will say too much or not enough.With that being the challenge, let me begin by saying men have heard the roar of an empowered sisterhood. I grew up in an unrepentant sexist world in the sixties and seventies. As a young man, I was influenced by the rights and privileges borne to me as a boy.Let’s face it, as a boy you could be called “mannish,” and people would laugh at you, because it is expected that boys were little men with all their flaws. I could be loud and abrasive as a boy, and people would say, “Boys are just being boys.” But assertive girls were told to be more ladylike. Girls were taught that boys were to be aggressive and assertive and girls were to defer to boys — even if the girls came in first place. To be a girl, you were taught to defer to the boys.As I transitioned from being a boy to man, not much changed. In the hiring of employees, young men were hired first over young women because employers feared lost production. It was believed that because women bore children, they would become a liability. As we both, young men and women climbed the corporate ladder, men were looked first for promotions. It was said that women couldn’t handle the stress due to their menstruation cycles. Yeah it’s true. That’s the word in the suites of corporate America as men had another drink. “Women just couldn’t measure up,” they said. That was the labor force I entered in 1980.The evolution of man probably began with a woman telling a caveman not to play with fire. My true evolution as a man began with having four daughters. As I got older I wondered what type of workforce they would enter. My sensibilities changed not necessarily with the times but in my role as a father and protector. I could not protect them as I sent them into a world dominated by patriarchy. Would they enter a workforce where they would be valued by their intelligence and hard work? Would they be limited by being too intelligent for those men who were not as talented? Would their physical attractiveness make them unwilling targets of unwanted sexual advances? These are not the issues my son would ever encounter.Women have come a long way since 1980. When I entered the workplace, there were some jobs in my industry women didn’t do. Now they run entire departments, divisions, and companies. My daughters have fought battles in which I won’t have to say “me too.” They have made it through the fire. However, it’s a new day and I wonder what fires my granddaughter will have to fight.

Making History

March marks the month that celebrates women’s history. We take time to look at the women who have had an impact on shaping our history as a society.I asked around at various locations — at work, with friends, random strangers at the library — to see what names first came to mind when they thought about women in history. And these are the names that I was told: Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, Amelia Earhart, Frida Kahlo, Mother Theresa, Harriet Tubman, Michelle Obama, Serena Williams, Malala Yousafzai, Artemisia Gentileschi, Tarana Burke, Ntozake Shange, Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, Nella Laren, Charlottle Perkins-Gilman, Naomi Wolf, Betty Friedan, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Shirley Chisholm and Lizz Winstead.The women named were playwrights, took a stand on voting rights, started entire movements, and were the first in many of their fields. You should google some of these names if you’re like me and didn’t recognize every single name. These women have all made their mark in history and they are people you should know.I think, though, if you were to ask me who stands out the most in women’s history, you know what names pops to mind immediately?Emma González.This name may not ring any bells right away. She’s new to history. As in, she’s making history right this minute. Who is she? She’s an advocate and activist for gun control. She also happens to be a survivor of a mass school shooting and she wants change. And Emma González is demanding just that.González first went viral after her passionate 11-minute speech in front of the Broward County Courthouse at a gun control rally in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and she just happens to be one of the leading voices now making the case for stricter gun laws. She and other survivors spoke with Florida state legislators just five days after the school shooting and had to stand by and witness the legislature vote down the debate on an existing gun control bill.After her speech went viral, she appeared on Ellen DeGeneres, has amassed more followers than the NRA on Twitter, and wrote an essay calling out President Trump for wanting to arm teachers with firearms. She is quoted as saying, “Teachers do not need to be armed with guns to protect their classes. They need to be armed with a solid education in order to teach their classes.”Emma González is just 18. She is who we need to make the changes that we so desperately need to see right now. And I’m not just talking about gun control, which obviously I’m for making changes in. I’m talking about feeling passionate enough to make said changes. Emma González is the role model I want for my children, what I want for the future generations watching social media and feeling helpless by today’s events. “Hey, do you see her standing up there? Do you see her making a difference in the world? Do you see that passion? Guess what? She’s 18!” I find her passion a beautiful example of what we need in this time and in this place that we are at in society. Do you want to see change? Well, go do something about it and make it happen. Emma González is just 18, and she’s making history. This, to me, is a woman in history worth celebrating. "Emma González is just 18. Emma González is just 18, and she’s making history. This, to me, is a woman in history worth celebrating.

Doubly Invisible

FEMINISM IS NOT THE SAME AS BLACK FEMINISM!Let me tell you why.Being black in America is no joke. You can argue this with me if you want to. But I’ll just side eye and point to the pages in history books that people keep trying to tear out, the talks of police brutality sparked by the dead brown faces littering my newsfeed, and really…just my life in general (and mine has been pretty privileged).BUT THEN there’s being a black woman in America.So now I’ve gotta deny the creation of systemic oppression by referring to my ancestors as participants in the “Atlantic Triangular Trade” as opposed to calling it what it is (being kidnapped and enslaved), not get pulled over and/or shot and killed, AND THEN deal with a glass ceiling while trying not to accidentally ask for accidental gropes by men in power.Got it. Totally cool.Black women have always thought they were included in all the social movements. And for that reason, black women have been carrying around the same tired pompoms for centuries. We’ve been marching for white women to get equality and for black men to get equality — and somewhere along the way everybody forgot about us over here in these old 1900s cheerleading uniforms, holding the beat up megaphones, and waving the two-stringed pompoms.When I think of a movement, I think of recognition of strength and power and dedication to self-advocacy. This goes for both the feminist movement and the racial equality movement. As much as we would love to cry out that we are equal in this fight, we are not. The fight for equality of the black woman is significantly more nuanced.As I cross this bridge from Black History Month into Women’s History Month, I want to highlight some figures that fall out of the cookie-cutter Rosa Parks and Amelia Earhart references. When looking back in history, specifically black history, women were not only involved in the civil rights movement; they were often leading it.It was the Women’s Political Council, a group of black women, who first called for a bus boycott and then later put foot to pavement printing and passing out literature to ensure the continued participation of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.It was Aurelia Browder, Claudette Colvin, Susie McDonald, and Mary Louise Smith who stood up in court and challenged bus segregation.It was Diane Nash who organized and coordinated the reinforcements for the Freedom Rides when the original protestors were brutally attacked and could not continue.It was Daisy Bates whose leadership helped desegregate Little Rock Central High School.It was Ella Baker who picked up and moved to help organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.I literally just pulled those off the top of my head without research. So I’m sure there are COUNTLESS others.And when it looks like defeat is on the horizon, we step in like no other. Black women have almost always picked up the stick when people thought the race was over. Coretta after Martin. Betty after Malcolm. Myrlie after Medgar. The fact that they were so easily able to immediately step into these roles is sheer indication that we were absolutely a force and power behind the movement.And black women are still starting movements. #metoo #blacklivesmatter and #blackgirlsrock were all started by young black women just trying to help protect and uplift our community.So since we are so often doubly invisible, I’ll just take this light and shine it on us and proclaim this Black Women’s History Day.Being a woman of color has a very specific set of challenges. But fighting sexism and racism has definitely gotten my weight up. And sure, this month is about women and I will be there to march with all women — both white and of color. But to deny, or at best dismiss or belittle, our particular struggle, our power, our passion, our dedication, our organization, our past success is like putting a bullet in your own foot.Limp around if you want to. Meanwhile, I’ll just be over here…changing and saving the world…again.You’re welcome.