Friday, January 22, 2010
Coming Together
It is time to come together as a people to help Haiti. Please help to spread the word about the Black Global Development Corps and Diaspora Development Fund. They were created to help those of Haitian descent and all from African descent learn the necessary skills to compete globally and help before, during and after disasters.
Friday, January 15, 2010
A note about volunteering during a disaster
Often we want to go to the nation and offer our services. However, unless specially trained in disaster relief, communications logistics, search and rescue and medicine, a volunteer is actually more of a hindrance than a help. Precious time is taken from those who are truly in need. The aid organization has a greater obligation to help those in need. The best thing to do is to donate your time at home with organizations that send aid. The boxes and materials have to get sorted and stacked. It's not as glamorous, but remember, the situation is about getting the victims the needed assistance from those who are trained to give it to them quickly and accurately. For more information, visit http://www.cidi.org/guidelines/guide_ln.htm
Tigeorge's Fundraising Dinner
We were at the fundraising dinner at Tigeorge's in Echo Park. Watching the solidarity, participating in planning was an amazing thing. To see the amount of donations pouring in was truly heartwarming. The good doctor who spoke was very eloquent (footage to come at a later time). The gist of the speeches were that the Haitian community in LA and California are joining together to help coordinate relief efforts and to act as a resource for those who wish to donate. Also, the people within the diaspora need to come together to help rebuild Haiti. Everyone is grateful to the world for their empathy and their donations of time, goods, money and services. In terms of donations: ONLY DONATE TO REPUTABLE AGENCIES THAT ARE ESTABLISHED!!!!! On a side note from the BKN, those are agencies that have logistics down to a science and have a distribution network. Your donations will go to Haiti and the people there.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Member Featured on Ch. 7 News
Rosanita Ratcliff, founder of Black Kinship Network was one of the volunteers at Giving Children Hope on Wednesday. She went as volunteer through Disney's Give A Day Get A Day program. Says Ratcliff of the experience, "I responded to an ad saying they needed volunteers to sort medical supplies to set up clinics for children overseas. This was before the earthquake hit. The organization is blessed to have many donated items in their warehouse. We took a break from sorting food, clothing, toys and other supplies to make medical supply boxes for the people of Haiti. It was an amazing experience, seeing enough supplies to create complete medical clinics from scratch. They have truly done an amazing job in serving children in need and I hope they continue to receive the necessary donations to continue their work of helping children across the world and throughout the USA."
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=weather/earthquake_center&id=7217433
To donate to Giving Children Hope, please visit http://www.gchope.org. To specifically donate items to them for Haiti, please visit http://www.aidtohaiti.org.
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=weather/earthquake_center&id=7217433
To donate to Giving Children Hope, please visit http://www.gchope.org. To specifically donate items to them for Haiti, please visit http://www.aidtohaiti.org.
Rebuilding Haiti's Infrastructure
According to the experts, rebuilding Haiti to its condition before the earthquake could take up to a year. As people descended from Africans we ALL need to pitch in and help. People who have skills in construction, education, medicine, disaster training, transportation,counseling, business, etc from the international community of those descended from Africans should be helping by donating our expertise to help make Haiti a better place than it was before the earthquake. We need to band together to teach the people the skills and give the resources needed for their true independence. They are an independent country, but the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. It is our duty to help make sure a disaster of this magnitude does not happen again.
Haiti Earthquake Relief
The Network members recently read articles on Haiti and relief efforts. We visited websites of US-based non-profits and were shocked by results. Some non-profits are using the disaster in Haiti for their own benefit. They are requesting donations, yet not line iteming the donations for Haiti in their paperwork. They are using Pay Pal, which charges tax exempt organizations a processing fee, yet promising that 100% of all donations will go to Haiti. Some have histories of making empty promises, yet are getting new people who are compassionate to donate money. Others, who lack disaster relief training are trying to go to Haiti and are stating they can buy what is necessary once they arrive to the island, which is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Tips to those who wish to help: Donate to ESTABLISHED tax exempt organizations and in the memo of your check write Haiti Relief. If donating online, donate to organizations who have bases or already frequent Haiti. The same if donating via text message. In any disaster, the items needed most are food, shelter, water, medical attention and clothing. Donate bottled water, water filtering systems, non-perishable boxed food items (really who has a can opener if everything around them collapsed?). Although you may want to go there to help, you're more of a danger unless you have sheltering, search and rescue or medical experience. If you've never participated in a local disaster, don't use an international one as your first experience.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Black Kinship 2010: TracingKinfolk with an Eraser
Recently, a friend posted a status on a major social networking site about the upcoming census. Apparently, there are several distinctions of black, negro, or African American that census takers may choose from. A fiery debate ensued on this post about how people felt this was unfair and we should not be putting emphasis on race, etc. Some were offended, some stated it would be a new way to place labels and keep us held down, and several implied that they planned to lie on the census just to rebel against the idea of classification. I, against my better judgment, commented against the grain by stating that I would like to investigate the intent behind asking this question as I see this as another type of research and that we, non-Eastern European abstracts, tend to be leery of research; however, there are direct linkages between research and how energy and monies are allocated and political and social reform.
Even though I did not receive any virtual "dap", I maintain my position. Black folks, or whatever term you identify more with, have been literally erased from American HIStory for CENTURIES! When other cultures voluntarily came over for religious convictions or the American dream and claiming the family tree we planted, our families were hanging from it! Black genealogists have a better chance of tracing the history of a horse than a descendant of a slave! At least with a horse you will find a bill of sale. wth?!!
As recently as 1965, it was common practice for hospitals to classify your race. Many Americans of Latino or Native American heritage where classified as either black or white. Last year, I had the priviledge of meeting CNN News Anchor Soledad O'Brien. She spoke, in candid humor, of the irony that her parents were not seen as married for the first seven years of marriage because their state government prohibited interracial marriage and classified her Dad as white and her Mom as black, completely ignoring the fact that she racially identified as a Latina.
No matter what your religious, political, or personal stance on race is, there is one truth I think we can agree on. Racial identity poses real life situations and implications. There is not cartoon escape to a kaleidoscope world of appreciation of all colors, shapes, and sizes. People sort, classify, and interact with others based upon perceived norms. In America, these norms are primarily based on statistics and research. American politics, goverment, and reform is largely based upon research. We hardly have enough data collected about black folks in this country to create a thesis. Data drives research. Research drives funding. Funding drives more research and interest that can translate into social, political, education and health care reform. This reform yields money, programs, education, and other resources. It is no wonder that black people in this country have been left out of history, politics, civil rights, education, jobs, health care and other resources. We have been ignored! Hence, is my dilemma: how will we address the needs of black people in this country when we continue to be ignored, erased, and have our rightful command for equality diluted as anecdotal whimperings? I don't have the answer; but I most assuredly don't think the answer is pressing the delete button on our race and heritage.
Even though I did not receive any virtual "dap", I maintain my position. Black folks, or whatever term you identify more with, have been literally erased from American HIStory for CENTURIES! When other cultures voluntarily came over for religious convictions or the American dream and claiming the family tree we planted, our families were hanging from it! Black genealogists have a better chance of tracing the history of a horse than a descendant of a slave! At least with a horse you will find a bill of sale. wth?!!
As recently as 1965, it was common practice for hospitals to classify your race. Many Americans of Latino or Native American heritage where classified as either black or white. Last year, I had the priviledge of meeting CNN News Anchor Soledad O'Brien. She spoke, in candid humor, of the irony that her parents were not seen as married for the first seven years of marriage because their state government prohibited interracial marriage and classified her Dad as white and her Mom as black, completely ignoring the fact that she racially identified as a Latina.
No matter what your religious, political, or personal stance on race is, there is one truth I think we can agree on. Racial identity poses real life situations and implications. There is not cartoon escape to a kaleidoscope world of appreciation of all colors, shapes, and sizes. People sort, classify, and interact with others based upon perceived norms. In America, these norms are primarily based on statistics and research. American politics, goverment, and reform is largely based upon research. We hardly have enough data collected about black folks in this country to create a thesis. Data drives research. Research drives funding. Funding drives more research and interest that can translate into social, political, education and health care reform. This reform yields money, programs, education, and other resources. It is no wonder that black people in this country have been left out of history, politics, civil rights, education, jobs, health care and other resources. We have been ignored! Hence, is my dilemma: how will we address the needs of black people in this country when we continue to be ignored, erased, and have our rightful command for equality diluted as anecdotal whimperings? I don't have the answer; but I most assuredly don't think the answer is pressing the delete button on our race and heritage.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)