Diversity Threads - Weaving the strands of diversity through literacy

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The Burden of the Vote

I posit that on November 3, 2020 what will be on the ballot will not only be the name of candidates for President of the United States. But also on the ballot will be an opportunity to restore leadership, integrity, dignity and personal veracity. There is a hunger and thirst in America for leadership that is credible, trustworthy and takes responsibility for tough decisions. What is on the ballot will be ethics, empathy, emotional intelligence, moral courage and a connection with the human condition.
Jorge D.H. Prosperi

Find the latest essay: The Ballot of November 3, 2020: Beyond Candidates ~ Beyond Party here.

An additional essay just added:
Education’s Greatest Failure: Ignoring Racism from Pre-K Beyond

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What Will The New Normal Look Like

Take up the White Man’s burden—
Ye dare not stoop to less—
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloak your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your Gods and you.
Kipling

A 2-part series of America struggling to get back to normal.
Will America return without pausing to critically examine the normality of the past or seek a new vision and mission in the 21st Century?

“Back To Normal Soon – Big Time!”: God I Hope Not!, Part I of II
Denormalizing Our Future: A Critical Vision and Mission, Part II of II

Confronting Inherent Inherited Racism

Doing Violence to America’s White Soul

by Jorge Dante Hernandez Prosperi 2020

This next series introduces two new poems and one new essay. Included in the links below are two companion essays previously published. A continued reminder of the pain, anguish, and suffering untold.

“Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit with the core belief.”
Frantz Fanon

White America will not change its inherent inherited racist pathology until it does violence to its white racist soul and deals with the pain.
Continue reading this essay…

New poems by Jorge Dante Hernandez Prosperi

Read On Both Knees
Read Detrás Alambre Cruzado / Behind Crossed Wire

Previous essays related to this topic

Read Separatocide Part I
Read Separatocide Part II

Truth or Dare

“A version of America is dying. We hear its death rattle, loud and violent. But a new America is desperately trying to be born. We are its midwives. We have the responsibility to imagine America anew. Will we do so, or will we turn our backs once again?”
Eddie Glaude Jr. In His Own Words – on MSNBC Kasie DC – June 7, 2020

Eddie S. Glaude Jr. is an American academic. He is the chair of the Department of African American Studies and the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University.

To read an essay on our current state of affairs, click the link below
White America! Where Have You Been?!

And consider this 6-part series

White Ties That Bind – I of VI
White Privilege – II of VI
White Knapsack – III of VI
White Dominance- IV of VI
White Aversive Racism – V of VI
White Loss – VI of VI

Joy Harjo awarded and recognized for a second term as U.S. Poet Laureate 2020-2021

The reappointment was announced by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden calling Harjo “an inspiring and engaging poet laureate,” who would “help the Library showcase Native poets from coast-to-coast.”

Harjo is the nation’s first Native American Poet Laureate, and her own poetry often draws on her Muskogee Creek background, as well as feminist traditions. As Laureate she has been working on an upcoming anthology of Native poetry as well as an online map that the Library says will include “Native poets’ biographies and recordings of them reading and discussing one of their poems.” Harjo recently kicked off a Washington Post/Library of Congress series, The Poetry of Home, where she read her her poem, “Perhaps The World Ends Here:” She will serve as Poet Laureate to promote appreciation and awareness of poetry throughout the country and world.

Read the latest essay –
America’s Essential Workers: COVID-19 Reminder of Necropolitics

Maldita ~ Bendita a new poem in Spanish & English by Jorge Prosperi 2020

COVID-19 is not the enemy – not someone or something to blame. It should not become another excuse to not look into the mirror . . . images we own. COVID -19 views earth as it was always meant to be . . . without borders, flags, anthems, walls or caged children. It does not recognize contrived constructions. Damn it for its presence. . . masking . . . unmasking . . . blessed it be for removing the shadows . . . for casting reflections . . .

Go to Maldita – Bendita

New 2-Part Essay – What is the New Normal?

There is no insurmountable solitude. All paths lead to the same goal: to convey to others what we are. And we must pass through solitude and difficulty, isolation and silence in order to reach forth to the enchanted place where we can dance our clumsy dance and sing our sorrowful song — but in this dance or in this song there are fulfilled the most ancient rites of our conscience in the awareness of being human and of believing in a common destiny.
Pablo Neruda (Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto) Nobel Prize winning Chilean poet – diplomat – politician – 1904-1973

“Back to Normal Soon – Big Time!”: God I Hope Not! – Part I of II
Denormalizing Our Future: Independent Democratic Vision and Mission – Part II of II

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In Consideration of Current Events – New Essays Added

Where is it we are headed…

The following essays can be found under the menu topic Truth Serum

Surviving the Coronavirus at Home: With Humanness…Courage…and Eloquence

Discourse with Mutual Respect and Dignity: Norms When Discussing Controversial Issues

Gaslighting America – A 3-Part Series
Part 1 – Gaslighting America: The Gaslighter in Chief
Part 2 – Gaslighting: “Psych!”
Part 3 – A Light That Shines For All: Self Evident

NEW Essays Published (updated with 2 additions)

I call upon you to draw from the depths of your being to prove that we are a human race. To prove that our love outweighs our need to hate. That our compassion is more compelling than our need to blame. That our sensitivity to those in need is stronger than our greed. That our ability to reason overcomes our fear. And that at the end of each of our lives, we can look back and be proud that we have treated others with the kindness, dignity, and respect that every human being deserves. Thank you and God bless.
Elizabeth Taylor’s acceptance speech (closing) at the 1993 Oscars on receiving the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Follow the links below to read the critical commentary on recently published essays.

“Low Information Voters and National Populism”: Who Are They? What is it? Surprise!

Mother Earth: A Letter to Each child and their Future

Trumpism: Legacy of Omnishambles and Ashes – Part I of II

Republicanism in 2020: Trumpism by Any Other Name – Part II of II

“Right is Right … Right?!” The New Annoying “OK?! . . . OK?!”