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Are You Aware? The Harlem Renaissance
This is part I in our Awareness Wednesday series for Black History Month 2021. Read the other posts in the series here. The Harlem Renaissance was a product of the Great Migration. Millions of rural Blacks left the South, which had failed them, for better opportunities in western, midwestern, and northern cities. These largely factory driven cities needed industrial workers, especially during World War I. Cities like Detroit, Chicago, Tulsa, and New York were the beneficiaries of the great pool of talent and labor that arrived. Once they had arrived, they built up vibrant neighborhoods full of art, music, and industry. Restaurants, barbershops, grocery stores, and pool halls were opened…
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Are You Aware? A Christmas Carol
This is part I in our “Echoes” Awareness Wednesday series. “A Christmas Carol,” written by Charles Dickens, is a story of how our past shapes our present, and how past and present affect our future — both because of circumstances beyond our control and those of our own making. The story illustrates how the events and choices of one’s life send ripples throughout. Maturity can help us shake off our pasts to some degree, but sometimes — because of force of habit and personal equilibrium — we have a hard time changing. But perhaps most importantly, the ripples we make in the world can have negative or positive effects in…
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Are You Aware? Face Value
This is part IV in our Awareness Wednesday series on the Asian American Experience. Read the other posts in the series here. As we anxiously awaited the birth of our daughter, I found myself, as countless parents before me, wondering about my baby and her future. What would she look like? What would her personality be like? What traits would she gain from us and our families? However, I also spent time thinking about how my baby girl would see and be seen in the world — how would she self-identify in terms of race, and how would others define and perceive her because of her appearance. In 1941, another first-time mother was…
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Are You Aware? The Model Minority Myth
This is part II in our Awareness Wednesday series on the Asian American experience. Read the other posts in the series here. I tried to step lightly across the hot sand in a graceful manner but failed as grains of sand made room for the weight of each step as I balanced three pairs of sandals and an extra pair of goggles that my daughters and husband didn’t need. We were vacationing in Kauai for the first time, and, as is normal, they all ran pell-mell into the surf leaving all their belongings behind. As I gathered their accouterments to the chair where I had staked out our spot on the beach, I…
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Are You Aware? A Brief Review of Asian American History
This is part I in our Awareness Wednesday series on the Asian American Experience. Read the other posts in the series here. Asian culture and peoples have always been the “East” to the European “West.” During the Roman Empire, trade routes and networks were established early on between these two regions and cultures. The fascination and desire to trade with the East and its otherworldly foods, animals, and the like is what compelled many, including Christopher Columbus, to embark on a voyage in search of Asia. Early migrations The first Asians to set foot in the Americas were mostly from China, Japan, and the Philippines, arriving in New Spain (Alta California and parts…
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Are You Aware? The Consideration of the Ongoing Colonizing Project of Education
This is part V in our “Nation to Nation” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. “They steal, then they take your memory of the theft.” — Shad (2018) I sit here, in my living room, by my window overlooking the intersection in downtown Provo, Utah (if there is such a place). On the four corners are the Provo City Center Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the county health department, an auto body shop, and the apartment building where I live — Church, state, commerce, and home. Cars buzz by. So do the clouds. The sky is blue. And today is Pioneer…
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Are You Aware? COVID-19 in Indian Country
This is part IV in our “Nation to Nation” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. The effects of COVID-19 in Indian Country have been devastating. COVID hit Indian Country later than many other places in America. The Navajo Nation was the first. The Navajo reservation is the size of West Virginia, making it the largest reservation in the United States. With 170,000 people living there, it is sparsely populated. The Diné (their preferred name) keep themselves fed and warm by sheep herding. The sheep are used for food and sheared for the wool to make yarn for weaving. Known worldwide for their beauty, Navajo rugs are…
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Are You Aware? The Hia-Ced O’odham and the Wall (a Crime Against Humanity)
This is part II in our “Nation to Nation” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. On March 20, 2020, a group of Hia-Ced O’odham leaders traveled to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument to visit our sacred place of being. While there, I gasped at what I saw. My heart bled in unbelief at the inhumane building of this counterfeit wall. It is counterfeit — not so much in its physical structure (because that is very real), but in its deceitful purpose. Truth be told, the majority of the drugs and human-trafficking come from the air, under the terrain, or corrupt officers. Cartels have a near-infinite…
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Are You Aware? Native Americans 101
This is part I in our “Nation to Nation” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. In the United States today, the federal government recognizes 574 tribal communities as sovereign nations. Dozens more are recognized within the boundaries of states. Canada recognizes 674 First Nations communities as sovereign nations, and in Mexico 89 different Indigenous languages are spoken. First Nations and Indigenous Mexicans are all Indigenous and relatives of the Native communities within the United States’ current borders. Understanding a bit of history and the existence of tribal communities today is an important undergirding of any movement toward an “ethical” governance on these lands. We must be…
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Are You Aware? Waves of Change
This is part VIII in our Awareness Wednesday series on disability. Read the other posts in the series here. I sit down at my desk, grab my laptop, and open a new document. I look around my desk at the chaos that lies in front of me. There’s a stack of booklets and research papers and policy recommendations from states around the country. Lots of sticky notes, dry erase markers, my detailed planner, and my long to-do list. My dry erase board is filled with scribbled notes and flowcharts about contact tracing the spread of COVID-19 in “hard to reach” communities. I see a stack of reports from Utah’s Medicaid trends…
