Please, let me introduce myself

I am a wanna be middle school resource teacher. And, I want to teach in one of Oaktown’s public schools. I am a proud Black Woman of privilege and yet the object of discrimination and prejudice all too often. My teaching experience includes more than two decades as a substitute teacher in the Oakland and Piedmont Unified School Districts, two years as a special day class intern teacher for 4th and 5th grade students and a year of teaching finance and accounting for non-profit organizations at John F. Kennedy University in Walnut Creek.

I have been blessed with a loving and supportive family and extended family who share an enduring commitment to civil rights and social justice. These compassionate and caring people have always led by example in facilitating the pursuit of freedom and true equity and equality for those in the African Diaspora in these dis- United States of America.

My maternal grandparents and my parents valued higher education and earned their degrees at historically Black Colleges and University. The grandparents at Hampton University. My parents at Morehouse for Daddy, then on to the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and Mommy, a degree in library science from Atlanta University.

My paternal grandparents did not have the opportunity to experience higher education. However, my grandfather who graduated high school, not possible for many Black Americans at his time because too often there was no “colored” high school available. Going to school with white people was against the law. Many people had to live with family members in another location.

My grandfather would have gone to college; except that he was the oldest of 14 children. When his mother passed, he was the responsible adult to care for his siblings. My grandmother came to the United States from Cuba, one of 5 children whose mother was from the Cayman Islands and whose father was from Jamaica. After they married, Cuba appeared to be a place where the family would be successful. Not the case. My great grandmother and her children arrived at Ellis Island. They were sponsored by an Episcopal Priest, George Plasket on his word alone. The Ellis Island “administrators” were concerned that this woman and her children would be a drain on the resources of the US. My great grandfather stayed in Cuba for a period of time, working and sending remittances as they are called now to support his wife and his children.

My grandmother completed the 8th grade, but described herself proudly at a graduate of the “school of hard knocks”. She and my grandfather raised 8 children all of whom attended college. The 16 grandchildren from those unions, all graduated college and at least half of us have graduate or professional degrees. Educational accomplishment continues into my generation. I have a 30 year old daughter who earned her BA at the University of California at Los Angeles and her MPA at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service. Music and other artistic experiences were a standard part of our daily lives.

Here in this blue gold town, I bleed cardinal red. I earned a BA in economics from Stanford University and a MA in public administration from the University of San Francisco. Currently, I am a mature graduate student at Holy Names University pursuing..well chasing my education specialist credential as well as an MA in urban education.

I developed this guide to be a resource for educators in every environment to complement whatever the required curriculum is to inspire and engage students of all ages to participate in civil society and political activity. Music, because of its connection to protesting difficult circumstances is a natural, organic way to raise activists. I look forward to the time when I will be one of those educators. The teaching strategy for this material is to have a seminar. Teacher and students are co-teaching and learning which results in enthusiastic participation regardless of the age of the students and feeds their imagination, curiosity and inspires life long learning if for no other reason than music is just plain fun to experience.

Music has the power to connect us, move us, heal us and inspire us. In recognition of the people of the African Diaspora’s 400 years of resistance to slavery and injustice, the University of California at Berkeley is providing a year long series of events that honour the extraordinary intellectual, social and cultural contributions of African Americans to the nation; examine the long-lasting impacts of slavery and explore the roots and consequences of continued discrimination , bias and inequality in our society.

In January 2018 a federal law was signed acknowledging the impact of slavery in the United States and mandating the creation of a national commission to commemorate the anniversary of the forced arrival of enslaved Africans in the English colonies at Point Comfort, Virginia in 1619. It is the responsibility of all of us to never forget that time and the unfortunate and enduring legacy it has on this country. And, to work together to truly have a more perfect union: Equality and Equity for All!

Music is the key to community harmony .