Everyone looks out their own window.

White and black make up a spectrum that our society resorts to in conversations of race. By today’s standards, this binary is simply not sufficient. My vacation to the Southwest was a harsh reminder of this.

Recently, I returned to the Southwest for a range of reasons. First and foremost, it was a vacation. But by today’s standards, that does not mean I was not busy. As a former AmeriCorps volunteer in San Antonio, Texas; I find it important to not treat my year of service as only a year of service. It has shaped me in immeasurable ways. I was born and raised in Iowa, but have felt strongly rooted and cultivated in Texas.

I was 23 years old when my AmeriCorps placement in 2009 took place at a local community center. My primary responsibility was to interact with youth between the ages of 5-17 in an after school setting. That experience largely inspired me to further my work with youth, hopefully impacting their lives for the better and providing them a role model as fellow children of color.

Yesterday I visited the community center and spent the afternoon and early evening catching up with the youth I had previously worked with.  This visit was bittersweet. On the one hand, it was like any other day at the community center, as though I had never left. However, some of what I saw as a visitor reminded me of why I am so grateful to work at West Wind—why working to infuse race and equity into education policies is important.

Having recently moved back to Iowa , I am still experiencing the impact my year in San Antonio has had on me; spiritually, vocationally, etc. I reflect on my own childhood, growing up as one of the only Latina children in my classroom(s). To witness the youth at this community center in quite a reversal of settings (their neighborhood being 98% Mexican), and in relating it to my work thus far at West Wind, I have gained many insights:

• Being the majority, obliviousness to “the other” is almost unconscious.
• The other is either and both invisible and hypervisible at once.
• Being Latino further complicates the self-identification process for all Latinos; including those who are a part of a majority group like the youth I served on the San Antonio Westside.

These youth freely use the n-word. With conviction. To which their peers laugh. This created for me lumps in my stomach and pain in my heart. A third-grader, knowing how to use that word so harshly and not knowing at all the hurt it stemmed from and its persistent consequences is difficult to see.

They mention a student in their class who they make fun of because, “she is brown”.

“But, you’re brown; too,” I retort.

“No miss, I’m white. I’m Mexican.”

In a world where labels are forced upon all of us, but with the complexity of having to be succinct in our self-labeling , we rush to fit ourselves into boxes that can be easily checked. White. Latino. Non-White. Latino/Hispanic, and so on.

I grew up, the rare Latina in my classroom(s), molding into that binary of black or white. (No in between existed, or at least it wasn’t prioritized in conversations on race.) I wanted badly to be positioned with the white majority, but learned that would never happen, no matter how hard I tried because of how I looked. I responded by aligning with my black peers.

These youth grow up, only surrounded by “Mexicanness” in their homes and classroom(s). But they also are unconsciously aware that, “White is right”.

In 2011, narrowing one’s identity down between White and Black is not that simple.

As I experienced while living in San Antonio, most of these youth will be born, raised, rooted and cultivated in their current neighborhoods. They will only encounter other Mexicans and, if a black person is seen walking the sidewalks, he/she would be immediately questioned. If, by chance, one of their classmates is black, that student will struggle to confidently identity as such.

Black, white, brown, Latino/Hispanic or not. The checkmarks we so frequently are asked to make in a hurry, imply a lot more than we realize; more irreversibly than we realize.

I just read the New York Times best-seller “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” Henrietta Lacks was a black woman treated for cervical cancer at John Hopkins in the early 1950s. It was during this treatment that her cancer cells were taken without her knowledge, grown in a laboratory, and sold to scientists around the globe. Henrietta died in 1951 at the age of 31, but her cells, known to scientists as HeLa, live on in laboratories and medical schools around the globe. HeLa was vital to the development of the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and much more. In 1996, Roland H. Pattillo, M.D., a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Morehouse School of Medicine, began the annual HeLa Women’s Health Conference, and the BBC filmed  part of its documentary “The Way of All Flesh” at the event. Yet, before this book, her family was virtually unknown to the general public and could not afford health care that would give them access to the medical advances their own mother made possible.

While the book could have easily been couched as a “historical” account, white, female author Rebecca Skloot carefully demonstrated the very real, very contemporary significance of the story. As noted on the author’s website: “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew. It’s a story inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we’re made of.” In fact, the last chapter of the book describes the yet unsettled legal context in which these debates continue.  I hope we can expect the same treatment by the Oprah Winfrey/Alan Ball HBO movie being made.

I was especially impressed with the author’s continuing commitment to Henrietta Lacks’ family and to others like them. The author founded the Henrietta Lacks Foundation. According to the foundation website: “The Henrietta Lacks Foundation strives to provide financial assistance to needy individuals who have made important contributions to scientific research without personally benefiting from those contributions, particularly those used in research without their knowledge or consent. The Foundation gives those who have benefited from those contributions — including scientists, universities, corporations, and the general public — a way to show their appreciation to such research subjects and their families. The Foundation has already awarded 19 grants, including grants covering tuition and book expenses, health care expenses and emergency needs of multiple members of her immediate family. The Foundation’s goal is to continue to help the Lacks family as well as others with similar needs who may qualify, such as descendants of research subjects used in the famous Tuskegee Syphilis Studies, those injected with sexually transmitted diseases without their knowledge by the US Government, and others. To be eligible for a grant, an applicant must prove financial need and have made, or be the descendant of someone who has made, a significant contribution to scientific research as a research subject, including those who have unwillingly or unknowingly been used in research or contributed biological materials for research.”

This book will change how you think about race, medicine, science, and your own control of your body.  Not only it is a must read, but I believe it is an example of responsible and ethical storytelling with and for the people whose stories are being told.

Teachers everywhere are preparing lessons to teach our children. In the minute it takes you to read this, teachers all over the world are investing their time and often investing their own money for your child’s literacy, prosperity and future. Thanks to teachers everywhere for all you do. We appreciate and respect you.

OUR BACK-TO-SCHOOL BUNCH

Bonnie: Doesn’t matter how old you are in my house, you can’t escape the First-Day-of-School photo or the mom and dad send off full of pride and hopes for the future. Pictured top left: BMac, a junior at Tate High School, Iowa City, IA.

Deanna: And they’re off…A picture of the boys on their first day of school—2nd and 5th grade already! Pictured top center.

Valerie: First there were three, now there is one. JMAN on his first solo day at elementary school since big brother is off to jr. high. and bigger brother is off to high school. Pictured top right.

Circe: My baby (ahem, son) off to high school, my daughter off to junior high, our new family member from France who was staying with us off to first day of school too! Pictured bottom left.

Mandi: My oldest off to first grade – and this year he made me stop one block from the school to kiss him good bye. Pictured bottom right.

This year West Wind Education Policy, Inc. is celebrating its 10^th anniversary.  To honor the goals and purposes of West Wind,  staff chose to celebrate by completing service projects in our community to support local K-12 education.  In June, the West Wind team assisted the Mayor’s Youth Empowerment (MYEP)  and Fast Trac Program as they transitioned into a new building.  MYEP provides day-habilitation, respite, residential, after school and summer care opportunities for youth and adults with disabilities. The Fast Trac Program provides support for youth in grades 4 through 12, bringing together teachers, community leaders, families and students to provide activities, events, mentoring and academic guidance to students.  The Fast Trac program offers the following as a statement of purpose:

“Our goal is change.  Giving students a reason to change has always been the missing piece in motivating students to focus on their education.  Since the FasTrac Program began, these students have exceeded all expectations set by themselves and by their parents.  This program has grown from six original African-American students to currently over 100 students of all ethnic backgrounds.  Additionally, the program assists students in 4th through 12th grade, now with a program for elementary school students, FasTrac-E,  which follows each student in the program beginning in 4th grade, all the way through their high school career.”

MYEP and Fast Trac are amazing organizations, getting wonderful results for students.  When we arrived, the staff was busy preparing materials for students and moving equipment through the rooms.  Donated art work had been hung on the wall; games, books, and toys filled the rooms; foosball tables and televisions were available as well as school and art supplies.  We spent the morning wiping out bins, locating missing puzzle pieces, dusting furniture, arranging books, and even moving a very heavy foosball table.

On the morning of August 3 the West Wind team joined other volunteers and organizers from To Gather Together, a local organization that gathers donations to buy school supplies from churches, individuals, businesses, and social services agencies.  To Gather Together provides school supplies to over 3,000 children in Johnson County, Iowa. West Wind staff assisted by counting out supplies such as crayons, markers, folders, and paper.  We sorted the supplies into stacks for specific schools and teams of volunteers delivered these the next day.

West Wind wants to offer our thanks to both the Mayor’s Youth Empowerment/Fast Trac Programs and To Gather Together for providing us the opportunity to support them in their work.  Both of these programs are an amazing asset to our community and the staff and volunteers who make these programs function deserve a round of applause for their hard work and dedication to education for all children.  Thank you on behalf of the West Wind team.  It is heartening to work with individuals on the ground dedicated to educational opportunities for each and every child.

Labor Day has always been, for me, a symbol of one last chance to partake in summer’s delights—a barbeque with friends, a roadtrip before children’s school activities dominate the calendar, one last dip at the city park pool before it’s too cold to enjoy, a small town parade.

It’s easy for me to answer the questions of where to plunk my lawn chair along the parade route and whether or not to toss in a sweater for the weekend roadtrip; it is not so easy to answer another question that crossed my mind today: “Why do we celebrate Labor Day?”

Most of the accounts I found that answer the question, “Why do we celebrate Labor Day?” talk about the first Labor Day (September 5, 1882) and argue over who founded Labor Day (Peter J. McGuire or Matthew Maguire) and the reason the first Monday of September was chosen as the permanent date for the holiday rather than the alternative choice of May 1 (Haymarket Affair).

Those accounts don’t talk about labor unions or the benefits that have resulted from the collective action of unions. Since their inception in the1800s, labor unions exercised the tenets of democracy to leverage rights for workers such as the 8 hour work day, child labor laws, equality in pay, and protection for worker safety and health.

Many workers in this country, including myself, have never been and may never be union members but it’s important for me to know and appreciate how I benefit from the toils both of my fellow workers, past and present, and the labor unions that represent them.

So, this weekend, as I barbeque, head out on a roadtrip, swim, and clap along to the beat of the bass drum as the band marches by during the parade, I will know I have got the labor unions to thank, not only for my long holiday weekend but also for so many rights and protections I take for granted every day.