I was a little apprehensive to look at the Be More sight. I figured it would be just another website telling youth how we can be racist, how race inhibits life in America and things of the such. Surprisingly, it was not that at all. It left me asking myself the question, what am I? […]
Any emotional significance attached to the burial grounds did not affect me until I found myself standing in the small gift shop tucked away to one side of the exhibits, examining a handmade African bracelet. Memories hit me furiously, awakened from slumber: snippets of Afrikaans thrown between merchant and consumer haggling over goods, thumbing through […]
On Wednesday, March 30th, Mark, Sandy, Robin, and I left Brooklyn College to head to the African Burial Ground in Manhattan. We left immediately (by immediately, I meant we stopped by Burger King and bought food; we had coupons yaaas!) after English class at approximately 11:00 am. We went ahead of the rest of the […]
Wednesday, March 30, 2016 As I walk into the African Burial Ground, I am scanned by security. I understand that I am walking into a government building that holds great significance. The first thing I notice is the timeline of the creation of the burial ground. It was a long process creating this building that […]
I didn’t really know what to expect when I first opened up “Be More”, I didn’t know what the website would advocate, so I was a little surprised when I saw that it had to do with the issue of race. And I guess that the reason I was surprised was because the issue of […]
The website Be More, predictably, tries to urge people to move beyond race and ethnicity and literally be more. While I think its aims are certainly honorable, I am skeptical. While the team behind it, both the staff and expert advisors, is relatively diverse, it consists of mostly highly educated professionals. In order to truly […]
On March 30, 2016, we visited the African Burial Ground. It took about an hour to get there from Brooklyn College, but it was simple; I took the 5 train from Flatbush Avenue to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall. The walk from City Hall to the African Burial Ground was pleasurable and inspiring. As I exited the […]
“Lai Lai, oh Lai Lai.” “Lai Lai, oh Lai Lai.” “Ago.” “Ame.” The entire train ride home that song in the voice of a young girl was running through my head. A rush of emotions and questions ran through my head. I was building comparisons between my previous visit to the African Burial Ground in […]
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While browsing through the Be More web page, the section that caught my eye included a series of short videos exemplifying the damaging affects of micro aggressions. They are termed as such because they aren’t blatant displays of racism, often passed off as genuine compliments. However, they are indicative of a deep-rooted sense of racial […]
