Bickmore Buzz June 14, 2020

Hi family! My mind has been consumed with the Black Lives Matter movement. Here are some of the many thoughts I've had:

Did you know that today is Flag Day? I know because it's printed on my wall calendar.

Did you know that Juneteenth is June 19th AKA Freedom Day? I did not know that until this week. It's the day when the last group of slaves heard the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas.  This was not printed on my wall calendar. How come this isn't a national holiday? 

Did you know there was a community of black people that built up their own town named Greenwood in Tulsa, OK? It was burned to the ground by white racist Tulsans. Why didn't my history lessons in school talk about this horrific event?

Have you ever been to the airport and hoped that you wouldn't get patted down because you knew it would feel so awkward and uncomfortable? I watched a PBS frontline on police and they were frisking kids in the neighborhood constantly for guns. No reasonable suspicion. Just a hunch. How are they getting away with this?

Did you know that Bryan Stevenson has proven 140 people to be innocent when they were on death row? William, my son, said, "Wait! We have the death penalty? I thought that was illegal and against the constitution." Sadly, no, son. I also discovered that Mr. Stevenson won a ruling at the Supreme Court in 2012 that banned mandatory life imprisonment-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or younger.  I heard him talking about ELEVEN year olds who were sentenced to prison for life without parole. What is the matter with this country where this was legal until 2012?

Isaac took a class on African American experience the first semester we were married. We had many discussions about race and I learned SO MUCH. My eyes were opened to the white privileges I have and the injustices that our black brothers and sisters experience. During the last few weeks, I feel like I've discovered more than I ever have about what is truly going on in our country regarding systemic racism. I'm just so exhausted by how little progress we've made. Then I think about my black brothers and sisters and how tired they must be living it 24/7. 

I felt very encouraged seeing the entire world protesting for the Black Lives Matter movement. I feel like maybe there is hope this time around for some real change. White people need to be willing to educate themselves---read about white privilege, study the other side of US History--the stories of slaves, lynchings, systemic racism--and then think about how it would feel to be a black person. Put yourself in their shoes. Look at the world through their eyes after learning about all the inequalities and tell me you don't feel motivated to do something to make changes. BIG changes.

Van said to me after attending a peaceful protest together, "Mom, I had no idea there was racism until you read me Trevor Noah's book." MOM FAIL. As I thought about what he said I thought back to how we teach racism in school. Every January, when MLK Jr. day comes, teachers (myself included) take the time to teach the kids about the Jim Crow laws and how this man Martin Luther King Jr. helped to change those laws. People were no longer segregated. Yay! Then Van leaves school thinking everything is good now because it's integrated.  In his mind, there is no more racism. WRONG! We've had many discussions about what I've been learning over the past few weeks and Van understands now that racism is alive and rampant. Van is my little activist. He wants to be president some day and cancel guns. He's now added ending racism to his agenda. 

Aside from our family educating ourselves, attending a protest and Black Lives Matter rally here in Warrensburg, here are some other things we've been up to:

Isaac has been diligently working on his presentation this past week. He presented on Friday with his dad at the YA Literature Conference. The good thing about COVID 19 is I was able to watch him present on Zoom from our kitchen table. Their presentation was about integrating music into the Language arts classroom. They specifically talked about using John Lewis's graphic novel memoir "March" and Janelle Monae's song "Hell You Talmbout". It was a great springboard for teachers and they were really excited to build on Isaac and Steve's ideas and formulate musically integrated lessons. 

I went to Hazel Hill Lake with my friend Tessie. I used her paddle board and she used her kayak. We explored the lake for about 2 hours. This was my first time visiting this lake. It's only 7 miles away! I think it would be fun to get a family inflatable boat and take the boys.

Overheard at our house:

• Van: "Mom, I'm going to get another apple. This one was a let down."
• Will loves to sneak up on us and scare us. Today I found him hiding between the washer and the water heater, ready to make his move, but I caught him!
• We played ultimate frisbee with a football and Van kept wanting Isaac to launch the football all the way to him in the end zone. It was hilarious because he couldn't catch a single one, but he was bound and determined. Finally, at the end, he caught it and won the game!