Tonya E. Walls, PhD
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A Reflective Poem for My People!

10/16/2016

16 Comments

 
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There are times when I wonder if we will ever defeat this European experiment called colonialism.  I also wonder if we will ever return to those pre-colonial days when our people were nurtured and their humanity embraced.  I wonder these things for our children, especially as I serve in schools where their humanity is stripped away and their bodies subjected to colonial violence wrapped in the psychological and emotional underpinnings of low expectations, poor instruction, racist pedagogies, and deficit thinking.  During these times of my wondering I ponder education and schooling, and as I ponder, I also imagine education before the colonial experiment.  My spirit yearns for those days, those days I see in my imagination, even as I know that they are not imagined at all.  I write this poem in the midst of such ponderings, from the depth of my spirit, and as an anti-colonial call for restoration back to the days when education nurtured the very spirit of "My People"!  This is for the people, a poem of reflection, in honor of the children:  My People!

My people, OUR PEOPLE,  
wore skin as rich as the soils upon which their feet walked, 
shades of black and brown, imbued with hues of yellow, shaded in tones of red, 
 a richly diverse people,  
speaking a plethora of languages across many diverse lands practicing varied 
religions, traditions, and modes of knowing.  
Diverse! Yet one! 
 
And the children? 
They learned… 
learned what they lived and lived their experience! 
Values and knowledge, shared through tongue,  
tales woven through story,  
characters built, spirits developed, accomplishments honored,  
ways of being reinforced. 
Listening gave way to life, 
life gave birth to the people –the people gave birth to humanity
humanity? – it nurtured, preserved, extended  
UNTIL
 
THEY CAME!
They came dressed in sheep’s skin, speaking in forked tongues
pulling wool over eyes
turning truths into lies
humanity disrupted
tongues silenced
bodies broken
lands stolen
tribes torn apart
stories transformed, the people's ways?  forever changed!
Characters seized, spirits crushed, accomplishments hidden away
ways of being pushed to the margins!  Silenced!  Rendered invisible!
 
And the children?
They learned…
learned what they lived and lived their experience!
white privilege, patriarchy,  and colonial oppression shared through schooling
tales woven through institutions reminding them of their worth
or lack thereof
teachers telling tales, tall on whiteness, short on cultural relativity
spirits crushed, souls destroyed, minds enslaved, life taken away, 
the people no more - emotional and psychological violence!
Violence birthing ethnic genocide
and ethnic genocide birthing 
this thing we call race - RACE
nurtured, preserved, extended, and
the people no more - dehumanized - marginalized – silenced – racialized!
BUT WAIT
the people?  We are here!  We ARE HERE and we fight back!
the people, WE, the people
wearing skin as rich as the soils upon which our feet walk
shades of black and brown, imbued with hues of yellow, shaded in tones of red, 
 a richly diverse people,  
speaking a plethora of languages across many diverse lands practicing varied 
religions and traditions, presenting in diverse sexualities, uniquely abilitied, embracing gendered modes of knowing.  
Diverse, yet one! 
 
And the children? 
They will learn!
Learn from WE the people!  The people are US!  Teachers! 
We the people will teach and our children?  They will learn…
learn what they live and live their experience! 
Values and knowledge, we will share through our tongues,  
tales we will weave through story,  
their characters we'll build, their spirits we will develop, their accomplishments we will honor,  
ways of being we will reinforce. 
drawing on our rich histories we will remember our legacies
invoking the land we will nurture our connection to spirit
by telling our stories we will honor our elders and pay tribute to the ancestors
proudly and together, we will walk to the center, moving across borders 
and refusing to stay on the margins!  Not silenced or rendered invisible
We will stand proud and tall, raising our voices and fists in revolution
we will break the chains of mental slavery, rejecting this thing called race
right here, right now, in this space
we will de-center whiteness and re-center US
fear will not stop us, white shame will not cause us to retreat
we will not allow our efforts to be appropriated or coopted
control, white privilege will not take
colorblindness? we will shade with the same rainbow
 flag that we wave with pride when heteronormativity shows its ugly head
and its sister hegemony? we will stamp out each and every time 
whiteness forgets that it  must, and can only be allies, not saviors!
this will not become their story...no peace corp antics will reside here
here in this space, at this time, on this day, for our children, in our communities
we will take back our schools
we will not stay silent, we will raise our voices loudly
We the people – US
We are teachers kissed by the sun and WE WILL TEACH!
 
and the children?
they will listen.
they will listen and they will learn
learn to listen
Listening will give way to life, 
life will give birth to the people –the people will give birth to humanity
humanity will give birth to a reclamation of us
we will become one people again, 
nurtured, preserved, extended 
for as long as we remember to raise our voice, fight our fight, teach our children, tell our stories 
woven and shared through the lives and experiences
 Of OUR PEOPLE! 
16 Comments
Queen
10/17/2016 05:42:45 pm

Learning and living our experiences will leave our personal footprints to guide others. Therefore we must live each day/gift striving to be better than we were the day before. Sometimes we sow, sometimes we water, and other times we harvest. Think I'm going to really enjoy this blog. I feel safe here to speak my most basic truths.

Reply
Tonya
10/18/2016 08:14:53 pm

Thanks for the response sistah Queen. I love the line "sometimes we sow, sometimes we water, and other times we harvest." Yes indeed! So when are you going to write a blog post for my other website...TFSJLV! Better yet, when are we going to write that book together! We have stories to tell in only the way that we can.

Reply
Laweeda Ward
10/17/2016 06:56:31 pm

Powerful! There is a lot to unpack here. "Heteronormativity shows its ugly head and its sister hegemony." Wow. I admit, I had never seen the word "heteronormativity" used in a sentence. This might become my new favorite word. Can't wait to read more material. Right on!

Reply
Tonya
10/18/2016 08:18:36 pm

Thanks Soror. I love that you love the word "heteronormativity"and glad I could use it in ways that moved you. Now if only we can get people to think about how it shows up in our daily lives, our bodies and words, and systemic structures...Even I have to wave my rainbow flag often to remind myself to rid myself of my own homophobia and open my heart to learning how not to lean too heavily on my own heteronormativity! No more heteronormativity over here! Well, at least I am claiming it so I can work on it that is...LOL!

Reply
June
10/17/2016 08:36:16 pm

Beautifully written, deeply profound, heart-breaking, yet brutally honest. I am beyond impressed. This deserves a national recognition and I will do my best to spread your messsge. I look forward to your future blogs, and the career awaiting you after graduation/PhD.

Reply
Tonya
10/18/2016 08:20:07 pm

Why thanks Ms. June. Your words mean much. I too look forward to the career path that awaits and am eager to learn just how that path will unfold.

Reply
Askia Talib-deen
10/17/2016 09:10:04 pm

'Presenting in diverse sexualities.' I expect excellence from you. I expect you to leave your nur (light), your texture, and hikmah (wisdom) on the heart and psyche of people of color. You rock!

Reply
Tonya
10/18/2016 08:19:06 pm

Thank you brother. I am trying to live up to the expectations!

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Tawnya
10/17/2016 09:26:57 pm

Tonya, the honesty presented in this poem is beautiful and powerful. I will have to reread this work again and again to truly absorb and digest the truth. Looking forward to reading future blogposts.

Reply
Tonya
10/18/2016 08:22:25 pm

Well thanks Ms. Tawnya! Your words are appreciated, and I like you will have to come back to them often, especially on those days that the work darkens my spirit...As a teacher, I know you understand, and am glad for educators like you to breathe light into those dark places just when our babies need it! Thank you for your service! The People Will Learn!

Reply
Kathy Wilson
10/17/2016 09:52:12 pm

This poem embodies how I have been feeling these past couple of weeks. I like the dichotomy of what was, is and the embodied hope of what can and will be. Thank you for using your words to understand! Love it. Definitely sharing

Reply
Tonya
10/18/2016 08:24:09 pm

Thanks Mama Kathy! Glad the words spoke your truth, they certainly spoke mine just when I needed it. Thanks also for sharing. Share on sistah and keep doin' what you doin' because our babies need loving, caring, teachers like you to ensure they learn, so too do their teachers!

Reply
Lisa
10/18/2016 05:05:00 pm

Very, Very Powerful, and thankful for the words of Truth. Truly here to say " I Over-Stand......".
Of OUR PEOPLE

Reply
Tonya
10/18/2016 08:24:49 pm

Thanks sis! I too OVER Stand!

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    TonyaTalks EquityMatterz

    Welcome to TonyaTalks Equity! This blog space will soon be full of radical poetic ramblings meant to capture my lived experiences as an early scholar activist committed to equity and racial justice. Watch this space ya'll.  I am busy working it out, and the poetic ramblings that appear here will no doubt cause a rumble!

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"One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world!" ~ Malala Y.


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