We Could Be King!

#wecouldbeking #michaelbrown #ferguson #teaching #children #savethechildren #books

We Could Be King is a documentary that tells a tale about a long history of a steadfast rivalry between two Philadelphia high schools.

 Unfortunately in 2013,  the School District of Philadelphia was forced to succumb to more  budget cuts,  and  among the  many schools affected was Germantown High School.  It was forced  to graduate its final class in June , and thus, coalescing into one institution with its archrival Martin Luther King High.

Needless to say, the media had a field day percolating tension between the two schools with unpleasant speculations of what was thought to be a perilous outcome.

The new Martin Luther King Promise Academy was then  fortunate to receive  talented and  sagacious  Coach Dunn and Principal William C. Wade. They joined  forces with spiritual leader , Rev. Dr. Alyn E. Waller of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church,  and the outcome resulted in MLK Cougars 2013 Championship !

Although I am deeply dishearten by Michael Brown’s story and the many homogeneous cases like it around the country, I am inspired by We Could Be King, a beautiful example of brotherhood in the midst of turmoil.

The Ferguson decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for fatally shooting Michael Brown, compelled me to take to social media with a vengeance .

Now that we have taught our children how to protest, is it possible that we can help them redefine self-love?

Below you will witness the many pleas  poured out , attempting to no avail to evoke prominent figure heads from the Black community to help bring about real and concrete change for the sake of our children.

(The social media dialogues haven't been censored nor edited)

___________________________________________________________________________________

Face Book

A. Is Anybody else Surprised about the Decision For Michael Brown- no different than Trayvon Martin, no different than Rodney King, No Different than Emmett Till and No Different than Kunta Kente-Wake up people, How will anyone take us Serious When We Kill Each Other Every Day, All Day?-Wake the F@&k Up!!!! ‪#‎IJS— feeling angry.

Face Book Post Response : 11/24/14 We can not be hypocrites...kill our own and then rebel when others do... Nobody listens because our love for each other appears superficial...very weak .

B.  Come Friday. ‪#‎BlackFriday. Don't buy nothing. Invest in your children. Invest in your family. Invest in your relationships. Sit with them and tell stories. And if you don't have stories then figure out how to create some. Play taboo. Support small businesses. Black Businesses in your communities. That's what you can do with your anger.

Face Book Post Reponse: 11/24/14, can our , the black community, prominent figures pull weight and call for nationwide town hall meetings to teach about the part of Martin's dream that deals with character. Can we define self love. Can we reaffirm our beliefs in ourselves... Whatever happened to Lift EVERY Voice and Sing...Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud! Right now we need Self Love

C. As we await the grand jury's decision, I want to take this opportunity to say thank you -- a deep, heart-wrenching thank you -- to all the organizers and activi...sts who took to the streets following Michael Brown's killing and who refused to stop marching, raising their voices, and crying out for justice. It is because of them -- their courage, boldness, vision and stamina -- that the world is paying attention to what is happening in a suburb called Ferguson. The world is not watching because an unarmed black man was killed by the police. That's not news. What made this police killing different was that the people in Ferguson -- particularly the young people -- rose up and said We Will Not Take It Any More. Our Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter. And their cry has been heard around the world. No matter what the grand jury does, let us remember that true justice will come only when our criminal injustice system is radically transformed: when we no longer have militarized police forces, wars on our communities, a school-to-prison pipeline, and police departments that shoot first and ask questions later. True justice will be rendered not when when a single "guilty" verdict is rendered in one man's case, but when the system as a whole has been found guilty and we, as a nation, have committed ourselves to repairing, as best we can, the immeasurable harm that has been done.

Face Book Post Response:Yes! When can we start the repairing process? ... Concrete ways as to how to love on one another after the protests end.

D. The best Defense is Offense!!! Our BEST WEAPON IS EDUCATION!!! Becoming familiar with the Laws that govern the States, District or Common Wealth in which we reside will give us POWER.... BEFORE THEY KILL A MAN...THEY MUST KILL HIS NAME!!! God told Abraham he would make his NAME GREAT!!! We have lost many who were known to us and many many whom we have never heard of.....THE REVALUATION IS COMING TO YOU LIVE on CNN as I post this...

 No Reponse to this Face Book Post:

Top of Form

Twitter

Bottom of Form

1.    Rev Jesse Jackson Sr‏@RevJJackson14h14 hours agoThe jury concluded that #DarrenWilson was justified in killing #MichaelBrown. I disagree. The POTUS must convene a WH conf on urban policy.

Robin Muldor‏@muldorrobin14h14 hours ago@RevJJackson @SenatorHughes Great idea, Rev. Can prominent figure heads in the black community call for nationwide town meetings? 8:02 PM - 24 Nov 2014

Robin Muldor‏@muldorrobin14h14 hours ago@RevJJackson @SenatorHughes their certain articles that should never lose its fervor...Lift Every Voice and Sing!!! 8:08 PM - 24 Nov 2014

Robin Muldor‏@muldorrobin14h14 hours ago@RevJJackson @SenatorHughes can we have demonstrations about self love? I think what love means needs to be define and then modeled8:05 PM - 24 Nov 2014

Robin Muldor‏@muldorrobin14h14 hours ago@RevJJackson @SenatorHughes @muldor For Pete Sake no For our children sake, let's reaffirm our love for one another...8:10 PM - 24 Nov 2014

Children are our precious Queens and Kings! There are many things and many ways in which we can teach children about overcoming adversities. 

Books:

• The Warmth of the Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
• The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
• Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges
• White Socks Only by Robert Coles

Movies:

• We Could Be King a Tribeca Film released 11/11/14

Poems: by Langston Hughes

• Let America be America Again
• I, Too, Sing America
• A Dream Deferred
  

I Don't Hate...I Celebrate !

#books #children #youngadults #education

I am very proud for Ms. Jacqueline Woodson. 

Brown Girl Dreaming Won the 2014 National Book Award

Brown Girl Dreaming tells the story of my childhood, in verse.

Raised in South Carolina and New York, I always felt halfway home in each place. In these poems, I share what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and my growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement.

It also reflects the joy of finding my voice through writing stories, despite the fact that I struggled with reading as a child. My love of stories inspired and stayed with me, creating the first sparks of the writer I was to become.

Where it takes place:

Columbus, Ohio, Greenville, South Carolina and Brooklyn, New York

Where I wrote it:

In all of those places but mostly in Brooklyn.

Why I wrote it:

I wanted to understand who my mom was before she was my mother and I wanted to understand exactly how I became a writer. So I started researching my life, asking relatives and talking to friends – and mostly, just letting myself remember.

Children are My Business: Addressing the Academic State of Children in Foster Care

Children in foster care are often disoriented with the thought of being away from their natural families and they become totally perplexed with the notion of being cared for by strangers. Such traumatic stressors can cause children in foster care to lose focus and their ability to fully concentrate on the demands of school.

Marian Wright Edelman’s article, The Invisible Achievement Gap: Students in Foster Care, addresses the academic concerns of children in foster care. She says, “We must not let any of our children remain invisible or go without the help they need to receive a quality education.”

I believe if children read about what they live, not only will they gain a sense of direction and a level of comfort, it  will  begin to stimulate  the joy of reading, and thus, increase reading abilities.

Below are a few books I have discovered in my reading life.
   



The Road to Paris by Nikki Grimes

Printed, January 1, 2008 Juvenile Fiction - 153 pages

Paris has just moved in with the Lincoln family, and she isn’t thrilled to be in yet another foster home. She has a tough time trusting people, and she misses her brother, who has been sent to a boy’s home. Over time, the Lincolns grow on Paris. But no matter how hard she tries to fit in, she cannot ignore the feeling that she never will, especially in a town that is mostly white while she is half black. It isn’t long before Paris has a big decision to make about where she truly belongs.




Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff

Paw Prints, May 22, 2008 - Juvenile Fiction - 176 pages

After finding the perfect home with Josie, an elderly but forgetful artist, foster child Hollis Woods thinks she has finally found a stable place to hang her hat, but when Social Services decides that Josie may be better off in a home, Hollis won't let her dear friend get wrapped up in the system she despises.





The Pinballs by Betsy Byars

HarperCollins, Sep 25, 1992 - Juvenile Fiction - 144 pages

Stuck in a foster home with two other kids, Harvey and Thomas J, Carlie is just a pinball being bounced from bumper to bumper. As soon as you get settled, somebody puts another coin in the machine and off you go again. But against her will and her better judgment, Carlie and the boys become friends. And all three of them start to see that they can take control of their own lives.

Stay tuned for ongoing titles.

Children are My Business and They are Not Guinea Pigs

#notatest #TheJLV 

I am a former public school teacher who is passionate about staying connected to the happenings of education.  Therefore, in mid-October, I attended Philadelphia Teacher Convening’s at the First District Plaza where I received my free copy of This is not A Test.  Although I have not finished reading it, I have found Vilson's book to be strong, enlightening and delightful.  His book has compelled me to reassess the current  "deformed" state of education and the  way I presently think about teaching. I  now feel a powerful urge to advocate for ways that will positively reform the public school systems with the intentions of “saving the children" future. What I do know is , standardized isn't all inclusive and transforming public education into charter schools isn't necessarily honest improvement. 




About the Author: Jose Luis Vilson, who teaches middle school and is a committed activist, has written “This is not a Test" to give his truths about the joys and distresses of teaching. For more information: #Thejosevilson.com



  

Educators Have to Be Committed to Being Lifelong Learners

WHYY Visual Storytelling Basics for the Classroom

My Life Would Have Been Different...

I received an educator’s scholarship to attend a six hour learning session using IMovie to tell compelling and digitalized stories

SCRIPT

My life would have been different had I not attended college because my seventeen year old self would have missed many possibilities to arise from the ashes of life and become meaningful in the lives of children

I could not have grown to be this beautiful, intelligent, and secured woman

My ambition to work with and on behalf of all children would have diminished.

Had I not gone to college, the skill sets that I have obtained, which allows me to ignite the joy of reading in all children, would have been an empty scope

I would have missed out on many accolades and appreciations for my efforts, such as the letter from little four year old Chase, it shows gratitude for his weekly recommendations

At the end of the day, attending college helped to develop my self-worth, gave me a career that I love and, a home that I am proud of and can reflect from

As you will hear, it's not easy recording oneself....  several times I mistakenly went off script

Please click on link below to listen

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10203448409350868&l=8857787104431030391

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10203448409350868&l=8857787104431030391

A Proper Disagreement

Children are My Business: A Proper Disagreement

Back Story: On Thursday, October 23, 2014, the wonderful children and young adult author, Jacqueline Woodson received the above video posted to her FB wall.  Because I value her work, I became intrigued with her   response to endorse this video with a purchase of a tee shirt or a sweatshirt.  

Immediately I was offended by the title, “F-Bombs for Feminism” and before I passed judgment, I viewed the video in its entirety and was terribly bothered.

It is not my intent to be at war with Ms. Woodson who has given children of color a unique voice in literature but, I strongly advocate against any form of child abuse, no matter how subtle, and I encourage adults who are in position to be role models to be careful as to what they endorse for children as activists.

Below I have posted the thread of posts that ignited a disagreeable discourse between a children’s librarian and a children’s author.

By the way, I am very fond of Ms. Woodson’s work (Locomotion is a favorite) and I will continue to place her works on the list of books for children and young adults to read.

Robin Muldor to Jacqueline Woodson...Am I missing something here? Really Miss? Since when do we use children to fight adult battles or issues... particularly if it doesn't benefit their current state in childhood? I find this to be appalling and abusive. “The devil is a liar.” You are a children's and young adult author, and a mother, and you mean to tell me that you condone children using street vernacular or profane language (Miss. Author who has supposedly mastered the King’s English) so that you can order a tee shirt. Wow, disturbing and unbelievable. Please don't use our children, they are going through enough.

Karen Clark to Robin Muldor Initially, I found this a disturbing video - it is startling to see these "adorable little girls" shouting out these words, indeed. But I think that's the point. Every single one of them is going to grow up and - far too soon - have to deal with the issues they are raising, namely, rape, financial inequality, and a culture of violence and disrespect towards women" that "keeps them in their place" by telling them to be sweet, pliable and decorative, and never under any circumstances to raise their voices in protest in the same language employed by males, because then they're not "nice." There is a lot of food for thought in this video, and it runs far deeper than the surface shock value of having a bunch of pretty little girls in princess outfits shouting out four-letter words. When they point out that "One out of five women will be raped in her lifetime," count off from one to five and demand, "Which one of us will it be?" - the fact that they are speaking a statistical truth is far more of an obscenity than merely uttering a word that used to get Lenny Bruce, the groundbreaking comic and social critic who also employed shock-value words to get his point across, put in jail. What's the real despoiler of innocence here - the fact that they were given a script with this language, or the fact that they are living in a society in which they are, in fact, going to feel afraid to walk to their own car at night after leaving a job for which they are nt being paid according to their merits and deserts

Robin Muldor  to Karen Clark, it is not so much the f... word that is bothersome ( as a child I know I used some choice of words that would make some cringe, and if my grandmother had found out  she would have punished me for it ) it's the overall message of allowing children to fight adult battles. We are a doubled jointed society. We want the children to "stay in a child's place" only when we see fit. It is the adult’s responsibility to make sure all children's futures are secured, not the other way around. Yes, we should bring them into the fold of awareness but we shouldn't put them on the battle field at such tender ages...they lose a sense of innocence. If adults use prudence and wisdom that comes with living and maturing, then we wouldn't have to have children help fight our battles. I advocate on behalf of the wellbeing (the holistic approach) of all children.

Jacqueline Woodson to Robin Muldor And it's true, children are fighting these battles. I know I was before I could even talk - and always was grateful for any way to be empowered these battles. We have to have the 'talk' with our Black Boys. We have to have yet another talk with our daughters. They are not immune as much as we want them to be. As children, we live in two worlds, the world of both adult and child, sadly. They are not 'protected' no matter how much we want to protect them. But if they are lucky, they are loved and safe and well-fed and getting prepared to have the tools to walk out as strong people into the adult world. Our work as adults is to guide them as best we can. That said, this facebook page is for my friends who are not judging what I post and by the way, I don't speak any "King's English", thank you. If you're looking for Jacqueline Woodson, Author -- that's my Fan Page which young people ARE allowed to view. Please don't use this page as a space to judge what I post. Thanks.

Robin Muldor to Jacqueline Woodson, I always say, I stand to be corrected and can learn from another's point of view. What is judgment? If by me not seeing "eye - to - eye with you on this issue and not being afraid to say so, and if I can only agree with everything thing you say to consider myself friendly, then out of respect for your feelings of being bothered or offended with my point of view, then I must  bow  out of your fold... The judgment is in the passion I hold as a child’s advocate and I don't compromise.

 Please click onto link to  view video http://vimeo.com/109573972