The I Like Brown Project
When my niece was four years
old, she was the only child of color in the Pre-K class and through the
first grade only two others joined the classroom. She was always
friendly yet often was told by whatever given little girl on the
playground that they weren’t going to play with her because her hair was
different or her skin was brown. I decided, after yet one more
incident that I would write a book for children about the color brown.
I Like Brown was born. When I asked my friend, fine artist Charlotte
Riley-Webb to give the book an objective read, she felt so strongly
about it, she decided that she must do the illustration of the book.
Subsequently, I have shared the illustrated draft manuscript with
teachers, preachers and parents alike. All are enthusiastically in
support of its message; one teacher said that as soon as it was
published they would have use for it.
My
vision for this book is huge. I want the book in the hands of
students, nationally, grades K – 12. I want it to be a part of the
dialogue in every church, on every university campus, around the
watercooler at the office. I want to see the book integrated into every
diversity training class a corporation may give. As a former corporate
facilitator of diversity training, I believe that in order to affect
change in the paradigm of racism, one must approach the subject boldly
and on all age, gender and class levels. We do believe that Attorney
General Holder was on to something when he said that we have not been
brave enough as a nation to directly approach the subject of race.
Prejudices
are wired into us at an early age. Psychologists have no ready roadmap
for undoing such overt and especially hidden stereotypes and prejudices.
We must start with the youngest minds. As a part of our comprehensive
strategy, our initial objective will be to incorporate the distribution
of I Like Brown into the Living Masters Project, a series of fine art
exhibitions, as a part of the program event. We will also include an
animated DVD of the book in semi-animation with a surprise ending*. The
DVD will be distributed to K-12 teachers as a part of the program. A
discussion is currently underway to integrate this project into
corporate coaching and consulting, as well as a part of diversity
training programs. The project is a timeless yet provocative.
We
have yet to uncover any statistics that define the effects of racism
pre-k through 12. However, there is an assistant professor, Mica
Pollock, at the Harvard Graduate School of education whose experiences
as an English teacher in a school whose students were inexplicably
behind in their results. She ultimately wrote a book, Colormute: Race
Talk Dilemmas in an American School which clearly outlines the end
effects of ignoring the matter of race in the educational system. While
it is certainly ambitious to tackle this subject on a national level, we
believe that in combination with other program events, conferences
(i.e. NEA, NLA, etc.), and through a planned media strategy we will
accomplish our goal. Note: Our objective is to print enough books to
initiate the project. Our goal is to use corporations, such as yours, to
sponsor the publishing and distribution of the books throughout the
country.
I
began facilitation of diversity training for AT&T management in
1986. I was very successful in providing an eye-opening experience to
the participants, who expected the workshops to be a motionless
exercise, and my co-facilitators who had no idea that systemic racism --
that was acted out in a manner against the code of conduct of the
company -- existed. In the process of certifying as an instructor with a
company specializing in diversity training, we co-facilitated a class,
which seemed to have a propensity for sexist points of view. My
co-facilitator, a psychologist, told me afterwards that he was going to
take some of my talk points and techniques and incorporate them into
future workshops.
I
have a research article that has been on the internet for years, called
The Reality of Our Mentality, which explains the connection between
African America and the Stockholm Syndrome effect. Every year I'd
receive e-mails from high school students and not a few college students
of all races, wanting the complete version to use as a part of their
term paper -- and one thesis dissertation. A shortened version of the
essay is a part of the MoAD Stories Project, Museum of African Diaspora
in San Francisco.
An
honest dialogue on race needs to begin and soon. Without a change in
how we view our differences, be it color of skin, length of hair, how
short or tall, large or small we are, it will be impossible to move on
to the more important perspectives that come with living in this fast
paced society. You and I are responsible for being mature enough to
have that dialogue, as well as teaching our children what acceptance is
and how it benefits them to see past the physical. Everyone wins.
