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WORDS CAN CHANGE
​THE WORLD

Beloved Community Series: Reclaiming Black Pasts, Creating Black Futures

3/23/2021

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At Humanities Amped in 2021, we are celebrating the first of our three core values: beloved community. As we look toward the future and its challenges, this aspect of our organizational vision, to nurture a dynamic, beloved community of lifelong learners and civic leaders, has never felt more essential to our individual and collective well-being. Over the next few months, we will release a series of think pieces reflecting on the theme of beloved community and how it shows up in our work at Humanities Amped. Click here to learn more about the heart of beloved community and why it matters so deeply to us. 

​Our second beloved community reflection is from Asia Reese, Humanities Amped Community Educator, Program Manager, and Serve LA corps member. 
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Asia is currently a graduating senior in Sociology and Anthropology at Spelman College. During high school, she first became involved with Humanities Amped as a youth poet and peer organizer at McKinley Senior High. Asia is a Community Educator at Belaire High School and at Amped Studio Afterschool and also leads special initiatives, including the BlackFutures: A Sankofa Series city-wide Black History program.
areese@humanitiesamped.com

Reclaiming Black Pasts, Creating Black Futures

Asia Reese

I went to school in "The Bottom" at a high school initially named Hickory Street School, later renamed The Baton Rouge Colored High School, but you most likely know it as McKinley Senior High School. I am an alumna of a predominantly Black school system and the state's first high school open for Black people, yet I only remember ever talking about Black History once every school year. The conversation, when we did have it, focused solely on a heavily sanitized story about our Civil Rights Elders: always teaching us their sacrifices, but rarely did we hear their critiques--especially the ones they made towards the end of their lives.
Since this erasure was so normalized, it did not feel like an erasure at all. It just felt like school. Not until one day in my Advanced Placement U.S History Class did the extent of this disservice become clear to me. We had just finished learning about all of the different factors that made British colonizers, "Pilgrims," come to the United States and lead a genocide against the country's Indigenous People. We were learning about the start of the Triangular Slave Trade that began after the colonizers got settled. It seemed like we skipped a part. My classmates and I asked, "Well...what were Black people doing before the slave trade?" Despite being one of the best teachers I ever had, even she was left unequipped to answer. ​

Since this erasure was so normalized, it did not feel like an erasure at all. It just felt like school.

With that erasure, dissatisfaction and disinterest began to grow. As someone who always loved school, I began to grow skeptical of its purpose if it did not aim to culturally affirm the primary population that it served. This dissatisfaction is why I think many students may leave the state, as I did, in search of knowledge--and more importantly--Beloved Community. Beloved Community is only created when the space you are in is dedicated to acknowledging the full extent of your existence: your multiple identities, your past, present, and helping you create your future.​

Beloved Community is only created when the space you are in is dedicated to acknowledging the full extent of your existence: your multiple identities, your past, present, and helping you create your future.

I eventually graduated from McKinley and went to Spelman College, an HBCU dedicated to educating Black Women in Atlanta, Georgia. ALL first-year students have to take two semesters of African Diaspora and the World. It was only in college that I learned about Africa's diversity, the linkages of the practices Black folks do now to our cultural practices prior to slavery, and felt AFFIRMED in the classroom. Having Beloved Community is what helped me mature from a girl to a woman and helped me heal from the precariousness of feeling like there was a larger force determining my life that I could not name or did not know. I think about Frederick Douglas’s caution “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." I think Beloved Community may be the only way we can empower children to grow into the adults the world will need. 
When COVID-19 provided me the opportunity to come back home, I knew that the time was ripe to push for a change. With the renaming of Liberty High School, an initiative that has been discussed since my good sister Tyari Heard--one of its original organizers--and I were in high school, I saw that the seeds of our dissatisfaction were ready to bloom. Thus, after becoming a Program Manager at Humanities Amped, I made it my mission to create culturally relevant work. We were asked by MetroMorphosis to partner with them in the release of their phenomenal article 'Black Baton Rouge Yesterday and Today.' Black History Month was on the horizon, and there was a need for programming since many of our East Baton Rouge students have not had one activity day since the transition to hybrid learning. I suggested we host a Black History Month Program that talked about what Black people have done and CONTINUED to do right here in our city. That decision was what I like to call a perfect full-circle moment: a moment where you are able to come back to a previous point of frustration or unrealized expectations and finally address them. ​

a perfect full-circle moment: a moment where you are able to come back to a previous point of frustration or unrealized expectations and finally address them. 

Coming off the high from BlackFutures: A Sankofa Series, my favorite part was and will always be the student engagement. From their questions, art submissions, songs, and drama performances it felt beautiful to provide an opportunity for them to learn and reflect on their history, our city's shared history and showcase their talent. However, I think the embodiment of Sankofa--reaching back to retrieve what is at risk of being left behind--came from our intergenerational conversations. Listening to revered community elder Maxine Crump ask the change-agent Myra Richardson what inspired her to get involved made me reflect on my own "How did I get here?" journey. Hearing the legendary Dr. Press Robinson ask young organizer Anthony Kenney what activism means to him felt like a question to all the youth. And, in the spirit of Beloved Community, it simultaneously provided an affirmation and call to action. It recognized our potential to change the world and forced us to consider who we are when we are creating our Black future.
Now we have set the stage for another goal. We have expanded the Black History Month narrative to reflect a localized community truth through powerful oral histories and storytelling. Still, we must push for the account that reflects many students' lived reality to not be denied to them in their classrooms every other academic school day of the year. We acknowledge the influence of the Spanish and the French. Indeed, we can make space to honor the blood, sweat, tears, and culture created by the slave and their descendants despite white supremacy. We can teach our students that slavery is not Black people's shame but our nation's unaddressed violence. I truly believe once students' history becomes accessible and an intentional part of the school curriculum, we will empower young people to see the full extent of their humanity and heal a wound that has existed since before any of us reading this were born.

BlackFutures: A Sankofa Series Black History Month Program

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Introducing the Beloved Community Series

3/9/2021

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​At Humanities Amped in 2021, we are celebrating the first of our three core values: beloved community. As we look toward the future and its challenges, this aspect of our organizational vision, to nurture a dynamic, beloved community of lifelong learners and civic leaders, has never felt more essential to our individual and collective well-being. Over the next few months, we will release a series of think pieces reflecting on the theme of beloved community and how it shows up in our work at Humanities Amped.
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Beloved community is a notion that came into circulation during the Civil Rights movement. Dr. Martin Luther King is well-known for summoning the image of a Beloved Community, not only as a destination, but as the means of reaching that end. For Dr. King and the many others who laid the foundation of this concept, beloved community meant the practice of looking for the best in one another by calling up and nurturing our best human possibility. These civil rights elders believed that a love for one another is not only good in itself, but it is also a way to summon the strength and imagination and create our best collective futures.

The late Detroit-based philosopher and organizer Grace Lee Boggs, 
explains Dr. King’s vision of beloved community. To name the forces working against beloved community, she reminds us of King’s words, “When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” And then she interprets King’s vision of beloved community: 

Instead, King had a vision of people at the grassroots and community level participating in creating new values, truths, relationships, and infrastructures as the foundation for a new society. He called for programs that would involve young people in “self-transforming and structure-transforming” direct actions “in our dying cities.” He called for a radical revolution in values and a new social system.
​Indeed, at Humanities Amped our reflections often weave together this two-sided goal, to realize ourselves and to transform the world, not as separate processes, but as interdependent parts of a whole. We reflect on how our work together to change the circumstances around us can unsettle us and bring forth our own transformative journeys (and that’s true for all of us, not just the young folks!). By embracing each person’s belovedness, we ignite a confidence that enables us to navigate change, both the kinds of change we welcome, but also change that unsettles and genuinely calls for our personal transformation. ​
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As we practice doing youth work with the intention to change the world, we draw inspiration from the model set by Grace Lee Boggs. She created dynamic intergenerational spaces in Detroit through which young people could find meaningfulness and a sense of self as “solutionaries” by applying their creative energies to confronting the critical problems they identified. Her thinking has greatly influenced our work. But perhaps most importantly, Grace Lee Boggs, like Dr. King, encouraged us to live the questions in an intergenerational way, to see ourselves in a process of unfolding with an emphasis on humanizing our institutions through critical connectedness. In the spirit of these civil rights movement leaders before us, we look forward to living our questions and reflections out loud with you over the next few months as we take a dive into the theme of beloved community. 

We hope you’ll stay posted on our website as these think pieces from Humanities Amped staff roll out! Click below to start reading.
#CultureOverEverything
Reclaiming Black Pasts
The (Virtual) Talking Piece
Transformative Youth Work
A Virtual After School Program
Togetherness Is Change
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Beloved Community Series: #CultureOverEverything

3/9/2021

0 Comments

 
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At Humanities Amped in 2021, we are celebrating the first of our three core values: beloved community. As we look toward the future and its challenges, this aspect of our organizational vision, to nurture a dynamic, beloved community of lifelong learners and civic leaders, has never felt more essential to our individual and collective well-being. Over the next few months, we will release a series of think pieces reflecting on the theme of beloved community and how it shows up in our work at Humanities Amped. Click here to learn more about the heart of beloved community and why it matters so deeply to us. 
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Our first beloved community reflection is from Humanities Amped Community Educator and Program Manager, Marcel Williams. Marcel is a hip-hop educator who leads Amped classes at Westdale Middle and the Soul Cypher workshop series in Amped Studio Afterschool, which use hip-hop as a lens to explore mental health and peer advocacy. He developed and leads the Amped Community Care initiative, connecting youth to vital mentorship and resources when they need it most. Marcel is also a national independent touring hip-hop artist. He has over 18 years of youth development experience in education, asset based youth programming, and mental health. Marcel has a bachelors in History from Southern University A&M in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and has been recognized by national publications such as XXL, Hip-Hop DX, & Genius for both his art and youth advocacy.
marcelw@humanitiesamped.com

#CultureOverEverything

marcel williams

My first performance in front of a huge crowd was February 1998 at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, where I performed at the city's Black History program. I was oh so nervous, but I sucked it up and laid out a flawless performance. My anxiety was so high that when I finished and the crowd gave me a standing ovation, I walked as fast as I could to my dad’s van and cried my eyes out. As a touring hip-hop artist I’ve performed in front of thousands, but never have I been as nervous as I was that day. I’m comfortable being in front of crowds because I was taught how to “speak” by The Fox.
I first remember seeing the Fox when I was 6 years old at the Miss Black Ardmore Pageant at the Goddard Center for the Arts. She stood out to me because she dressed very flashy and was known to change outfits several times during an event. The Fox is originally from South Carolina, educated in DC, but came to Oklahoma in her 20’s and has been knee deep in the community saving Black youth in my small Southern Oklahoma town from the ills of the streets ever since. My hometown was recently named #1 of the most dangerous cities in Oklahoma, mostly due to its drug and gang problem. The Fox is a middle school teacher by trade, but she is a superhero at heart and action. She taught us to speak, walk, and most importantly “act like we got some sense.” 

THE FOX IS A MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER BY TRADE, BUT SHE IS A SUPERHERO AT HEART AND ACTION.

When I was in 6th grade, she told me when I got to 7th grade I was gonna be in her class. When I got to 7th grade she pulled me from my English class, and enrolled me in an elective class called Pro-Team. I’m not exactly sure what the curriculum was for Pro-Team, nor how it was so important I didn’t have to take 7th grade English, but I know she taught me how to do speeches, and I got so good she entered me in speech & oratorical contests all across the state of Oklahoma. I had memorized “God’s Trombone” by James Weldon Johnson, and I was killing it. 

The Fox was/is old school though. I was a church boy, a son of a gospel musician. I was supposed to be at choir practice, practicing my tenor harmonies for the African American Youth Achievers choir. I was in the 11th grade (I think), starting to act out due to family trauma that I didn’t know how to describe or communicate until I myself was a youth worker and parent well into my 30’s. Me & a few other homies, whom I won’t name, were on the corner doing Lord knows what, with who knows what tucked in the small pocket of some jeans that were probably Fubu. We was “outchea,” as the kids say.


Next thing I know, a car swoops up on the curb and a figure about 5’9, 5’11 with heels, hops the Nissan and charges towards us. 2 of the 3 boys were in the choir, one was not. The dude who was not got ghost on us, leaving us frozen until we were apprehended and thrown in the back of the Nissan, and summarily cursed out. I was just praying that my dad would not be called, and my guy just wanted the chastisement to end. Instead, the Nissan pulled up to the church house, and we were again cursed out in the most lovingly way possible. After receiving the most endearing rebuke ever, we were made to go sing our parts like nothing ever happened. Luckily for me, my father never knew about it, nor were my friend and I patted down. I’m not gonna say who had what, but let's just say I’ve never tried to sing with perfect pitch more than I did this night.

I also work hard to fill in the gaps they may have overlooked while doing their version of the lord's work.

The Fox loves real real hard, and expects the best out of you. She wanted us to be great, but never did much to help us deal with the emotional side of being a kid. She always told us what to do, and how we needed to do it, and I love and thank her for that. Ultimately, she is a huge reason why I do what I do today, why I am a success and not a statistic like so many of my homies, cousins, teammates, classmates, etc. ended up being, coming where I’m from. But something tells me that if I would have had an adult who could meet me where I was, someone who took the time to listen to help me sort through my troubles, someone who provided a healthy outlet to express myself based on what I was interested in, she would have never had to pick me up off that corner and drag me to choir practice that Tuesday night.
Now that I’m grown, I look at all the things the people who love and care about me did to make me a better person, and I also work hard to fill in the gaps they may have overlooked while doing their version of the Lord’s work. That’s why I do what I do, that’s why I do it how I do it.
​
As an adult, I will never not be that same kid from a small town where a lot of people do not get to leave. A kid through the benevolence of The Most High, my ancestors, my loved ones, grew to be a college graduate who travels the country spittin’ Pan-African conscious hip-hop for gang members. The pandemic took away touring, so I’m now functioning as a Hip-Hop educator who teaches an elective middle school class with Humanities Amped that intersects hip-hop culture with social justice themes. I too will pull up on some youth brothers on the corner who may or may not be doing Lord knows what, the difference is I will meet them there, and ask them how they are doing. If the rapport is there, I’ll ask them why they are on this corner, and what I can do to help them get off it.
I took my first job as a youth worker when I was 18, working at a summer camp, and I loved it. Even though my degree is in history, 95% of my work experience has been working with young people over the last 19 years. I feel I have been successful because I meet young people where they are and with no judgement. I too deal with childhood trauma and could have easily gotten caught up in the streets, so I’m never looking to chastise or be condescending. I use hip-hop music and culture as a conduit to speak with young people on their terms, letting the dialogue and thoughts grow organically. Most importantly, I use Hip-Hop as a conduit to LISTEN. I use hip-hop to amplify voices in a way that may get ignored if they are not given the outlet to do so. 

MOST IMPORTANTLY, I USE HIP-HOP AS A CONDUIT TO LISTEN.

There’s a rapper named Li’l Baby from Atlanta, GA, known mostly for his autotuned melodic raps about hustling, flossing, and all types of street stories. In the summer of 2020 after Rayshard Brooks was murdered by Atlanta PD there were several protests, some even turned to riots where buildings were vandalized. Baby was so moved by the events that he left his million dollar mansion in the suburbs of Atlanta and started attending the marches & protests. This was the inspiration for his now Grammy nominated song “The Bigger Picture.”

In our #FreeHipHop class, our beloved community has created a space where we can be us, free of judgement & limitations.

On the ‘The Bigger Picture,” Baby talks about the traps of the streets, the unfair prison sentencing guides, stopping crimes & violence in the Black community, and the importance of young people voting. There’s thousands of conscious raps songs talking about social injustices in the era of Black Lives Matter protests, but this song cut through to the young people because he articulated in their language. Raw, uncut, pure, and in their voice. Making it a million times more potent & effective that if an old school conscious rapper like KRS-One would’ve said the same thing. This is why we HAD to discuss this song in our Humanities Amped #FreeHipHop classes.
When I say Hip-Hop, I’m not talking about simply rapping or beats. I’m speaking to the way people think, interact, & express themselves. We can be hip-hop without ever mumbling a rap lyric or tapping our toes to the beat. In our #FreeHipHop class, our beloved community has created a space where we can be us, free of judgement & limitations. We listen, we learn, we love. We praise successes, and support when there’s tragedy. We meet each other where we are. In our beloved community, we put our culture over everything.
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  • Home
  • About
  • Curriculum
    • Amplified Classrooms >
      • Adaptable Methods
      • Reading the Word and the World
      • Youth Development
      • CPAR >
        • CPAR Archive
        • CPAR Resources
    • Amped Guide to Online Engagement
    • Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
    • Standing at the Intersection (SAI)
  • Support
  • Get Involved
    • AmpedStudio
  • Contact
  • Spotlights