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Patrick S. De Walt, M.B.A., Ph.D.

~ Communal Conversations for the Promotion of Active Critical Engagement

Patrick S. De Walt, M.B.A., Ph.D.

Tag Archives: social justice

She Calls

24 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, Culture, expression, free form, Freewrite, injustice, Performance, poetry, Sadness, social critique, social justice, society, Streams of consciousness

Silently beckoning movement forward
In fragmented steps
Destined to affect change
Tears radiate from sorrow
Entrenched in years of becoming
Or the denial thereof
As “American” as the fallacy of 1776
The ideal institution of indoctrination and subjugation
Of multiple differences who either were forced or willingly relented their uniqueness
Heritage
Language
Selfhood
Be mindful of the intoxicating effect of professed freedom
As it often renders us more dependent on the system outside of ourselves
Pawns on an uneven chess board
Without the benefit of a queen or rooks…
She has called for generations
Yet remains truly unheard
Through an unjust social and economic structure
An educational system of oppression and ideology
She calls yet remains unheard
She remains blinded by a misconceived belief in equality and hope
She desires and deserves as those who fed her ideals and coffers
She calls
She embodies
Yet does not ensure what she is believed to personify most
Freedom…

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Bipolar Nation

18 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, Community, Culture, Freewrite, healing, History, humanity, law, Performance, poetry, police state, Politics, self, social awareness, social critique, social justice, Social norms, society, Streams of consciousness, struggle

Civil unrest
Civil disobedience
Calls for subordination
Calls for enforcement of divisive ideologies of othering
Lives in turmoil as fear blankets them
ICE agents knocking on doors
Rounding up breathing, living, loving beings as if they were cattle being led to slaughter
Mothers and fathers separated from their children
Families in disarray as if they were being auctioned off for Southern plantations
For a simplified prescription for a complex circumstance
The hypocrisy of the time is one of major concern
Those who celebrate their ancestors’ arrival on such places as Ellis Island
Seem to not recognize that they too were from legacies of foreigners
Yet the romanticism ends quicker than it really began as this has been forgotten
We want them invisible to our lives unless they are speaking “our language”
Obeying our laws which we ourselves often abuse or ignore
Cooking our food
Washing our clothes
Making our beds when we travel
Manicuring our lawns
An underlying principle of the “American Way”
Exploitation of laborers in the form of free or significantly reduced labor
Voiceless
Faceless
Humanless
A nation is again putting those who are different on notice
Pray like us
Believe in our God
Believe in our Way
Concede your history and beliefs for a better way
A way made in “America”
Bipolar Nation
Should be our new anthem
For we have continually practiced a policy of forcing either or outcomes
Whether it was 1776
Or during the antebellum period
During the times of McCarthy and his hunt for Communists
We remain steadfast in being the obstacle in our own way
Bipolar nation
Either you have or you do not
That includes education, financial freedom, and health care
Yet we continue to look the other way until our hatred of others spills on our doorsteps
Our rhetoric of violence to not only those beyond our boundaries but those who reside within is disheartening
If you speak too sharply you may find yourself in the reach of the tentacles of the “Patriot Act”
More so like yelling “fire” in a crowded movie theatre
You are labeling yourself as if you wore a scarlet letter or Star of David
Bipolar nation
We are who we’ve always been yet most do not want to see
A nation whose fractured past prevents us from un-fracturing our present and future…

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In Hopes of Tomorrow

04 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, communities, conflict, Culture, humanity, Motivation, Performance, Politics, Purpose, social awareness, social critique, social justice, society, Streams of consciousness, struggle, voice

Testimonials provide snapshots into the hearts and minds of the deliverer
Yet listeners translate those messages through tempered receptors
Constructing organic truths
Privileging their distinct sensibilities
Progressivism, liberalism, moderatism, or conservativism
Frame the lenses
socially accepted or recognized
Furthering the national pastime of divisiveness
Found morally
Religiously
Intellectually
Sexually
Economically
Racially
Throughout the landscape
Forefathers are perpetually propagated without further interrogation of their imperfections as founders of a more perfect union
A union of enslavement
Classism
Patriarchy
Reservational warfare
A more perfect union that applauds systematic hate and oppression
The birth of a nation of, for, and by the people
is idealistically my hope and wish for the future inhabitants
Yet, a harsh reality exists of
Wall building
Segregation
Exclusion
Gerrymandering
Victim-blaming
Selfishness
1% has become synonymous with what it has always been
A form of tyranny that ironically is fit for a king
Yet, this is a nation without monarchies
Without caste systems
Without true democracy
Incompleteness is an unfortunate present reality where
Love is not equally recognized
Cultures are not equally recognized
Languages are not equally recognized
Opportunities are not fully possible
In hopes of tomorrow
We must truly address the dispair of today…

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Assail

18 Saturday Feb 2017

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry, Uncategorized

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Advocacy, Community, Culture, Discrimination, Diversity, expression, Florida, Freewrite, Gender, homosexuality, humanity, Identity, injustice, oppression, Performance, poetry, police state, Politics, power, Race, racism, sexual orientation, social critique, social justice, Social norms, society, Streams of consciousness, violence, voice

A festive congregation of diverse forms
Gathered in joy and celebration
Unknowingly targeted for reasons
Subjectively debated and/or ignored
The setting places those who truly
Seek to be advocates and allies
In perilous conundrums
Scared hearts and bodies
Others cold and riddled
Propaganda is the last thing needed
Or wanted to be heard
By a family, lover, and/or friend of anyone
Who was assailed
Violated
Traumatized
Or even scapegoated
Identities fractured by incomplete
Or politicized objectives
The absolute truth may never truly be known
Yet we can concretely deduce
There are no true winners if all of us
Truly embrace our humanity
Advocacy means we share our voices with those
Who oppression continues to work to mute
Advocacy means not playing the victim-blaming game
That often becomes the means of historical erasure
With each last breath or aching wound
Whether physical or emotional
We have all lost and are under assail
Race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and culture among other aspects of our humanity
Have been further eroded
Orlando is just one of many examples of the
Detrimental effects of hate no matter the rationale
Love is not the solution when it is cloaked in complacency and inaction that shuns levels of sacrifice
Until each breath inhales this unalterable truth
There is no true we, yet the current national, societal, and political stances
Empower an assailant that has historically mutated
Each second, minute, hour, day, year, decade, and century
Known as the “American” F
Fear…

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Timorous Island

29 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, Community, Culture, expression, humanity, injustice, law, Performance, poetry, police state, Politics, power, Purpose, Revolution, social awareness, social critique, social justice, society, Streams of consciousness, voice, World

Fixed in an outdated past
Where sheeted figures assailed the night
Burning lumber at the entries of those deemed inferior
A time fallacy was accepted truth to preserve a stunted status quo
One that could find a charred figure extended from a tree
We are supposedly beyond those moments within our history
Yet, as much as most continue to deny, as a nation, we have not healed
A legacy of contempt and hatred for those who are systematically “othered”
Made to disavow their identity and personhood to stay or enter
By the embodiment of a misguided arrogance
of a figurehead whose political stances should upset most’s sensibilities.
We are hoarders of a figmented freedom and truth as espoused.
We are fragmented factions of individuals who are forever works-in-progress towards ideals that were more exclusionary than collectivizing.
Internment camps, reservations, plantations, and forced institutionalization mark a history that is often absconded by revisionists.
As the rights of women continue to be decided by those who seek to objectify and posses them while not listening
oil continues to be placed at a premium in respect to the lives and traditions of Native Peoples.
Black lives are forever contemplated whether or not they matter.
Theoretical boarders are being replaced by executive orders and cowardly Congressional puppets.
Reclamation of antebellum doctrines and ideologies reignite divisions reminiscent of the North vs. South.
Those who love the same sex are denied all or many aspects of their civility because of debatable rules and rationales.
Allies are being made into enemies.
Neighbors are disrespected while simultaneously depended upon for their labor.
The continued poaching of a fragile morality is what remains.
Silence and pre-war isolationism didn’t work then and won’t work now.
While an audacity of hope was an idealistic battlecry
we are left with an undeniable truth on this metaphorical timorous island…

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From Beyond the Prism

16 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Identity Politics, Poetry, Racialization Impacts, Uncategorized

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Art, Community, Culture, expression, Freewrite, healing, humanity, law, oppression, Performance, poetry, policing, Purpose, social awareness, social justice, Streams of consciousness, voice

Captivating in ways that are detrimental
Far fetched and historically incomplete
Figments of others’ imaginations
Yet fundamentally an ascribed reality
Fear has reintroduced itself as fictive kin
Predating hands being raised
Votes being denied
Necks being roped
Bodies being burned
Left to be
To rot
To never become because many viewed us as never complete in the first place
Or maybe the 3/5 place
As compromise often happens to us but not for us
From beyond the prism
We are in a land that still finds ways to question our humanity
Personhood
Sense of self-actualization
Young boys and grown men recognize that Predator’s sights are historically locked on them
Young girls and grown women are both recipients and protectors of generations of young people who are precious gems even when a society seeks to denigrate them
As history tells us…
when not found in the history books of revisionist dehumanizers
whose fear of those who have been “othered” continues to permeate
The pores of a nation as many revisit its birth within theaters
The sweat off one’s brow from determination and a false belief of Meritocracy
Leaves much to be desired for those who were constitutional add-ons of the 13th, 14th, and/or 15th varieties
If we’re honest about Abe then would we really see the
Emancipation of physical bonds only to preserve psychological and economic ones can not be erased nor flipped as done by the party he’s so adamantly revered by
No donkey nor elephant seems to reach deep enough
Effectively address
Morally renounce
The effects resulting
From beyond the prism

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Standing Alone

30 Saturday May 2015

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, Culture, Discrimination, expression, free write, Freewrite, Identity, Inequity, oppression, Performance, poetry, Race, social critique, social justice, spontaneous thoughts, Streams of consciousness

Often the challenge faced requires one to go against the grain
The question of being a leader or follower is one that faces us time and time again
Society suggests a contradictory message in which we are both isolated but viewed as a collective
We are grouped and segregated by a host of descriptors that are now the norm
Normal for whom?
Normal for what?
Normal for the maintenance of a status quo that shames, demeans, and oppresses
Any who does not meet the “eye test”
The “actions test”
The “American Patriot test”
These are very challenging times where fear has a strong grasp on the lives and realities of so many
News features and calls for fear, resonating with a collection of persons who have been taught not to question or ask
but instead to accept
How did this happen you ask?
It actually has always been,
for this country
It just depended on who you were and how you were classified.
If you were female, patriarchy ruled your world
If you were African, Asian, Irish, Indigenous, and many other identities you were relegated to inferior status or worse
This is the context in which our realities have been shaped
Our worldviews are fortified with institutionalized oppression in the forms of racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, ageism, and the list continues to grow.
We are undoing our existence through the enabling and pacifying of our rights
Not the rights to oppress those who do not
Look like us
Love like us
Think like us
Speak like us
Pray like us
We are standing alone
because we are and have been taught
to be afraid to stand together…

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Sirens Blazing

24 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry, Racialization Impacts

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Art, blacklivesmatter, Blackness, blackwomenlivesmatter, citizens' rights, Culture, expression, Freewrite, humanity, Identity, in memoriam, injustice, law, oppression, Performance, poetry, police state, policing, power, Race, sayhername, social critique, social justice, Streams of consciousness, underrepresented groups

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

A vicious cycle plaguing a nation full of rage
Rage that was neither emancipated in the age of Lincoln
Nor transcended with the election of Obama
In the spirit of bell hooks,
Black Looks and Killing Rage
Are still points of contingency for The Souls of Black Folk

Where are our Ida B. Wells or Sojourner Truths as the noose is replaced by the shield?
As the white sheets that supposedly aided The Birth of a Nation appear to be replaced by the “women and men in blue”
Is this a visceral reaction to a troubling time in this nation’s history?
For some, the answer will ultimately be “yes” but for others it will be more of the status quo.

A status quo response to the historic oppression and denigration of a collection of people who seem to have never received the promise of humanity
A collection of people whose bodies are riddled with emotional, physical, psychological, and visual assaults

Perceptions that continue for Africana women in the manner in which their bodies are assailed in a land of Patriarchy
Perceptions that continue as men of African descent no matter how well groomed or dressed still receive the “clench your purse” and/or “lock your door” treatment

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

Bloody streets along dilapidated buildings
Underfunded communities make for easy targets
Not solely for the spectacle of media coverage but for the many corporate and venture capitalists who will undoubtedly swoop in for bargain prices to fulfill their duties of gentrification

Bye-bye Fourth Ward AKA Freedmen’s Town in Houston, TX
Bye-bye to as many indicators of the past that cannot be revised by our Educational Agencies and elected/appointed officials who wish to promote a particular narrative

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

Sirens blazing
Shots fired
Lives lost
Tears flowing

Are chickens coming home to roost?
El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz once raised such a point
And we are still waiting for an explicit answer

Sirens
Shots
Lives
Tears…

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The Legacy of Forgiveness and Conviction (Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela July 18, 1918-December 5, 2013)

07 Saturday Dec 2013

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

activism, Art, Blackness, Conviction, Culture, expression, Forgiveness, Historical Figures, Identity, in memoriam, Inequity, Legacy, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Performance, poetry, Race, Reflective Practice, social critique, social justice, South Africa, Streams of consciousness, World

With the passing of yet another of our important historical figures
I am left to give both pause and thanks
Pause to remember a person who I never had the pleasure of meeting
yet feel as though their vision for social justice, equality, and freedom were envisioned for the journey that I’m currently engaged
Well before I was born,
the legacy against oppression was begun
The mantle has been passed amongst the worthiest candidates of all genders and abilities
Yet again, I am given pause to reflect on yet another figure whose life
as we currently conceive it on Earth has ended
Another figure who engaged in the good fight
Sacrificed and endured for all that he believed in beyond his own needs
Instead for those of his beloved people
Never to be placed on some iconic pedestal that allows for those who deem it necessary
to attempt to unseat him
He was in fact very human and had his flaws as all humans do
Yet I must give thanks
for what he has offered me
is another model
of why my journey is to be as challenging
as it has been
and will be
Yet I must endure
I must recognize that I may also exist in my own form of exile, for not as long, 27 years
Separated from my loved ones and community beyond the limitations of select and sanctioned visitations
The human memory
and the wishes of those who chose to enact revisionist history
should be called into question
as those who are viewed as deviant and/or misguided
are often those who we later realize
we were just unable to comprehend the beauty
of their gift, vision, and/or passion
at the time of our encounter
We must not let ourselves and others
off the hook
for our misguided and/or misplaced deeds and thoughts
We must also hold ourselves
as well as other
accountable
not in the current sense
but one of humanism
The legacy of forgiveness and conviction
calls us to task each and every day
we must consciously seek out our truths, passions, and obligatory destinies
Revelations don’t guarantee change
Our conscious and proactive actions regarding them do
Today, work to become better than you were yesterday
in order to build on that reality tomorrow
with a legacy of forgiveness and conviction as its essence…

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Welcome to…

18 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Art, Culture, expression, Hegemony, Inequity, Performance, poetry, Politics, Poverty, Self interests, Social Class, social critique, social justice, Social norms, Status quo, Streams of consciousness, underrepresented groups

A society that consumes all that it can
without any regard to others
is a troubling reality for many.
An insatiable diet
of appropriated culture and stagnant ideologies
that benefits those who’ve always received social favor.
Corruption is a word used
yet avoided for certain acts
when dominant norms are sustained or even cultivated
to protect the invaluable status quo.
Change requires more than most beneficiaries wish to entertain
as the theory’s interest reigns supreme
in a land which indulges in cultural gluttony
at the expense of all who have been deemed expendable.
An appetite of this variety knows nor accepts any limits
as its privilege and power
have historically been made clear
to all who have the ability to comprehend.
Welcome
Welcome to the tragic world
of the donkey and elephant
during the Barack Obama presidency….

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Amid A Changing Landscape

13 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Poetry

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Advocacy, Art, children, communities, Culture, Diversity, elderly, expression, Identity, Inequity, marginalized groups, oppression, Performance, poetry, Politics, Poverty, social critique, social justice, Streams of consciousness, underrepresented groups, World

Language, both constructive and damaging, is often used without thought of consequence
Impacting the thoughts and minds of all those within reach
Challenging is the nature of life’s path
Causing us to reflect on what has been as we seek to make things anew
Laws are passed with the expectations that they will
in some form or fashion
Provide a livable framework that we, the people, will experience the benefits
Our worlds are based on this idea
Whether it’s accurate or inaccurate is not often what we wish to ask ourselves
Anarchy is not an option, as it requires things from us that we are more inclined not to:
Demand
Sacrifice
Persevere
Fail
Resist
Become ostracized
These sets of circumstances are foreign to those who seek the comforts and the spoils of a system that historically and habitually negates those who are most vulnerable
And then blames them for all that these influences result
Echoing words or images of “Che” or El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
on commercialized t-shirts does little to represent the struggles and ideals
resulting in their martyrdoms
Instead they further alienate us from key principles that should acknowledge the complexities that exist within our figured worlds
We are a collection of beings that range an array of beliefs, sizes, and histories
All of which only capture a glimpse of who we really are
As each are vulnerable to the limited interpretations of all who come in contact with us
As if we were a painting from one of the great artists over time
Yet, we don’t get the luxury of intense and time demanding reflection and understanding that is often afforded these inanimate objects
We are passed over as if we never existed in the first place
And then society wonders why those who are marginalized dare to:
Resist
Rise
Yell
Revolt
As if the world has gone deaf to their calls and cries
To remind all of us that they are
Still here
Still human
Still belong

Amid a changing landscape
one thing remains constant
The world can be a cold and uninviting space
for those who do not fit within the acceptable box
A box that is too rigid and constraining for many of us
Yet, we operate as if we are willing participants
of a pathological social experience that
Destroys more than it helps
Devalues more than it promotes
Hates more than it loves
Constrains more than it frees

Freedom is what we were sold
Yet, how many of us actually reviewed the bill of sale as we do when buying our favorite pair of jeans in our favorite store?
How many of us ask for a refund or exchange when our purchase doesn’t suit our needs?
Why does freedom not receive the same level of critique, if not more?
A self-proclaimed “land of the free, home of the brave”
could at least not default on its promises to all of those who it has depended on since before its inception like it’s currently attempting to do
during this present-day
Debt Limit Ideological coup d’état
that’s ultimately affecting those same persons who often go nameless
until we want to blame them for their perceived deficiencies
The members of our society who are poor, uneducated, ill, unemployed, disabled, elderly, and/or children are on our economic and social frontlines
These lines are invisible to most of us until life’s challenges place us there
To toil, linger, or bounce back
Welcome to the new age
Which is actually an evolved representation of a segregated past that maintains our separation from each other and more importantly to any meaningful and life sustaining form of an inclusive humanity

Amid a changing landscape what will your role be?
What will your actions amount to?
Amid a changing landscape…
Will you represent the change that it truly needs?
Or will you represent what’s already represented?

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[Un]Muting the Voices of Africana Woman Leadership: Highlighting Herstorical Narratives

27 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by Patrick S. De Walt, MBA, PhD in Blog, Identity Politics, Racialization Impacts

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

African American women, Africana woman leadership, Black women, Blackness, Keynote, leadership, Patriarchy, social justice, Student leadership, USF

Today I had the pleasure of speaking to student leaders at the University of South Florida in honor of Black Heritage Month. I have decided to include the speech below:

Black women are a prism through which the searing rays of race, class and sex are first focused, then refracted. The creative among us transform these rays into a spectrum of brilliant colors, a rainbow which illuminates the experience of all mankind (Margaret B. Wilkerson as cited by Hine & Thompson, 1998).

During this time of the season, Black Heritage Month, as we reflect and honor all of those who have and continue to advocate for our communities, I am reminded of the power of the human spirit and voice. The echoes of our ancestors who critiqued, endured, fought, strived, engaged and protested for this very opportunity for me to stand before you and articulate this message….

This message of leadership starts where most human life enters, the womb. While this acknowledgment may appear out of place when one thinks of leadership, it ironically is inherent in the messages many of us have heard and may be even restated ourselves. “Leaders are made and not born.” Again, the womb plays an important role in this perspective of many as a fertile ground where those uncompromising factors of a person are fused. Is this message to be tempered by current political and moral debates? I cannot answer that question. I only seek to link the humanity found in the process of birth to illustrate the historical power found in such a monumental aspect of human existence. And more importantly, to express the significant role that Africana women play in its occurrence.

Birth…

“The Birth of a Movement…”

This is how we often refer to Africana history’s pivotal moments in which levels of change were fought for: Abolition, the Harlem Renaissance, Negritude, Civil Rights, Black Power Period to just name a few. Each of these identified moments in history project images in which its champions held masculine voices while those who did not were often left in obscurity. What would Frederick Douglass be without Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth or W. E. B. Du Bois without Ida B. Wells-Barnett or Anna Julia Cooper? What would Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen be without such women as Jessie Redmon Fauset and Zora Neale Hurston? What would Dr. King be without the likes of Ella Baker, Septima P. Clark and Fannie Lou Hamer?

Each of these female counterparts held and maintained powerful voices and courage in spite of the ever present reach of patriarchy. Voices that, no matter how significant, have been somewhat muted.

An Example During Abolition…

The period of history that encapsulates the antebellum period where equality was not achieved for many members of our community due to racism and the institution of slavery is where I wish to start. The roles of Africana women and men were limited across the nation due to the unjust beliefs and dehumanizing practices that relegated many to that of solely the property of enslavers. During this period, as the recently released movie Lincoln failed to acknowledge, the roles that people of African descent, namely that of Frederick Douglass, played in fighting for their emancipation. Frederick Douglass represents for this period one of the main figures outside of Lincoln who is made the focus of any and most debates about the institution of slavery and the abolitionist movement. Yet, in a similar way to what Stephen Spielberg did with Douglass in his film, many of the heroines of this period we find that their voices are muted within history. The significance of both Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth seem to serve as mere backup singers to Douglass’s lead—their voices are muted. We do not fully engage the pivotal roles that both heroines played in a period where the masculinity of Africana males was under attack in very explicit ways. We also do not fully recognize the way in which both women disrupted the gendered roles of their time. They occupied leadership roles in many different forms within many dissimilar settings. We all know of Tubman’s roles in championing the Underground Railroad, but we may not all know of the many other roles of leadership she played throughout the Civil War, especially as a woman of African descent. She continuously disrupted the oppressive structure of the time, yet historically her voice remains muted.

Sojourner Truth’s voice represents another example of the power of Africana women: Sojourner Truth Photo

To advocate the cause of the enslaved at this period was both unpopular and unsafe. Their meetings were frequently disturbed or broken up by the pro-slavery mob, and their lives imperiled. At such times, Sojourner fearlessly maintained her ground, and by her dignified manner and opportune remarks would disperse the rabble and restore order (p. 98).

When recounting her meeting with Abraham Lincoln, Sojourner stated,

As I was taking my leave, he arose and took my hand, and said he would be pleased to have me call again. I felt that I was in the presence of a friend….I have always advocated his cause, and have done it openly and boldly. I shall feel still more in duty bound to do so in time to come (p. 132).

Sojourner Truth Photo2

Abraham Lincoln Photo2
Yet, in history we are exposed to a muted version of the power in which she channeled as an Africana woman activist. She, as with other Africana women, found ways in spite of the influence of patriarchy to “maintain [their] ground” for the uplift of a people in the face of injustice.

Ida B Wells Barnett PhotoA transcendent figure of this period was Ida B. Wells-Barnett. The significance of her anti-lynching campaign and work as an organizer must also be brought to center stage.  Author Linda McMurray, in To Keep the Waters Troubled : The Life of Ida B. Wells, discusses

For several years in the 1890s, no African American, except for Frederick Douglass, received more press attention than Ida B. Wells….When Douglass died in 1895, Wells was his logical heir apparent; they had closely collaborated on several projects. She was better known than Du Bois and more ideologically compatible with Douglass than Booker T. Washington – the two men who eventually became the main contenders to fill Douglass’s shoes. However, Wells had a major problem: She was a woman (p. xiv).

Du Bois Photo

Booker T Washington PhotoYet again, we find another’s voice muted…

A Harlem Renaissance example…

Author Carolyn Sylvander conveys  Jessie Redmon Fauset’s significance in the following: Jessie Fauset Photo

Fauset’s contribution to Black American literature includes the definable and the indefinable. It is possible to say from the extant evidence that she was central to the role palyed (sic) by The Crisis in the literature of the 1920s, and that she went beyond mere professional assistance to real personal encouragement to Hughes, Cullen, McKay and others (p. 84).

Sylvander continues by stating, Fauset’s “influence on Black art in the period of the Harlem Renaissance cannot be measured. It can be exposed as it has not been before, and it can be evaluated on the basis of that exposure” (p. 232)

In other words, her voice can longer be muted…

A Civil Rights example…

Nobody sang ‘This Little Light of Mine’ as Fannie Lou Hamer sang it. ‘I’m convinced she chose that song for a reason,’ [Eleanor Holmes] Norton said, ‘that she knew that summarized her life. All she was was a little light, and she fastened upon the notion that every little light could make a difference (p. 85).

Author Vicky Crawford conveys Annie Devine’s recollection of Mrs. Hamer’s speech on behalf of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in front of the U.S. House of Representatives on September 17, 1965.

She said that no matter how the nation looked on this challenge, we weren’t there to play. We were there because we wanted the nation to know it was sick. Everything we testified to was true. ‘I hope,’ Mrs. Hamer said, ‘I live long enough to see some changes made, some hearts soften, some people begin to do some right things in Mississippi’ (p. 133).

Yet with all of her efforts, her voice still remains muted.

A Floridian example…

marymcleodbethune2Mary McLeod Bethune represents an important model for leadership as well. In her many roles, as an educator, activist and governmental administrator (with the National Youth Administration) among other duties, her impact can be felt in her influence of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. FDR

Mary Mcleod Bethune Eleanor Roosevelt
This influence is elegantly captured by author Catherine Owens Peare:

In many parts of the South the fifteen-dollar or twenty-dollar check each month means real salvation for thousands of Negro young people,”… “We are bringing life and spirit to these many thousands who for so long have been in darkness. I speak, Mr. President, not as Mrs. Bethune but as the voice of fourteen million Americans who seek to achieve full citizenship. We want to continue to open doors for these millions” (p. 155).

From these espoused words, Peare highlights the President’s emotional response with the following, “Tears were coursing down the President’s cheeks when she finished. He leaned across the table and grasped her hand in both of his” (p. 156).

“Mrs. Bethune,’ he said, ‘I am glad I am able to contribute something to help make a better life for your people. I want to assure you that I will continue to do my best for them in every way” (p. 156).

Even with her voice being clearly heard and felt by one of the most powerful people of the era, today her voice still remains muted in history.

Fusing contemporary approaches of leadership…

Within each narrative it must be made clear that the issue is not with the voices of the women highlighted but moreover the elements of society in which they are situated—patriarchal society. Implications from learning the valuable lessons of yesterday are important parts of developing a strong sense of self and key principles for demonstrating the ability to lead. In today’s world, you will be challenged in ways that are both new and reminiscent of some of the challenges faced within the periods that I have identified. With the new ways in which we, as a society, are engaging and/or disengaging each other through social media and person-to-person interactions, your challenge remains consistent. Who are you in this life’s journey? What does that person who you discover that you are facilitate the accomplishments of your life’s mission, whatever that may be? Do you embrace the difficulties associated with being a trailblazer or do you actively accept roles as a passive participant in your own life? Do you inspire others to pursue their dreams and passions to the fullest or do you personify complacency and apathy?

In rhetorically asking you all of these questions, I hope to redirect your thoughts back to the center, which is found in you and all that you hope to offer to your respective communities and the world. The task that lies before you is one that will potentially lead you along a very exciting path that will include many highs and lows. How you handle those moments without sacrificing the voice that you are continuously shaping here at USF and your respective communities becomes even more important in a time that more of us are following the paths of others instead of recognizing and following our own.

As I close, I gently remind you to, when those moments in your life become their most difficult, reflect on the legacies that I have attempted to capture here and beyond through the powerful narratives of Africana women in history. Their powerful voices, even in the midst of being muted through patriarchy and other forms of social injustices, provide invaluable inspiration for the tenacity that you will need and already possess as student leaders here at USF. Embrace that inner voice for all that it offers not only you along your journey, but all of those who will be within its range. Continue to use this time to develop the harmony in which your inner voice possesses, as we, citizens of the world, will need to hear its cadence; for our melody is not complete without you leading your part. As the student leaders of today, who will shape tomorrow, I wish you well and all the wisdom of our ancestors because we are eagerly waiting…

Bibliography

Hine, D. C. & Thompson, K. (1998). A shining thread of hope: The history of black women in America. New York: Broadway Books.

Kennedy, K., King, J., Lupi, D., Macosko, K., Skoll, J., Somner, A., & Spielberg, S. (Producers), & Spielberg, S. (Director). (2012). Lincoln [Motion Picture]. United States: DreamWorks Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Reliance Entertainment, Participant Media, Dune Entertainment, Amblin Entertainment & The Kennedy/Marshall Co.

McMurry, L. O. (2000). To keep the waters troubled: The life of Ida B. Wells. New York: Oxford University Press

Mills, K. (1993). This little light of mine: The life of Fannie Lou Hamer. New York: Dutton.

Peare, C. O. (1951). Mary McLeod Bethune. New York: The Vanguard Press, Inc.

Sylvander, C. W. (1981). Jessie Redmon Fauset, black American writer. Troy, New York: The Whitston Publishing Company.

Truth, S. (2005). Narrative of Sojourner Truth [with an introduction and notes by Imani Perry]. New York: Barnes & Nobles Classics.

PSDW~

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