EMBRACING BUFFALO / HEALING MOMENTS

EMBRACING BUFFALO / HEALING MOMENTS “No podemos dejar que la gente abra brechas entre nosotros… porque solo hay una raza humana.” / “We can’t let people drive wedges between us … because there’s only one human race.” —  Dolores Huerta It has been almost a year since the horrific racist massacre on May 14, 2022, and the community is still reeling from the vicious, hate-infused murders by a white supremacist. At the Pursuit of Truth Conference and Launch organized by Ruth Whitfield’s family (oldest victim of the attack, at 86), leaders in the struggle made the same point that Dolores Huerta makes in the above quote.  National/international luminaries included Jelani Cobb, Dean of Columbia University School of Journalism; civil rights attorney Ben Crump; and Alice Wairimu Nderitu, Special Advisor to the UN Undersecretary for the Prevention of Genocide. Local leaders included Dr. Henry-Louis Taylor, UB Center for Urban Studies; John Washington, People’s Action Lead Housing organizer; Franchelle Parker, Executive Director Open Buffalo. And many more. Racism and bigotry are used to separate us. Trauma, with its fear and anger, creates and/or amplifies those separations. The brutal trauma at the (especially Southern) borders, the economic hardships, and the deep injustices to BIPOC (Black Brown Indigenous People of Color) have taken a terrible toll on all, and healing together is deeply needed.  We know we are stronger and better together, as our progressive leaders, activists, and organizers stress, and as our hearts tell us. That is why we’re Embracing Buffalo. Embracing Buffalo is a collaboration between the WNY Peace Center, faculty at the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, and the UB School of Social Work. We know how deep the trauma goes and can offer some tools both for coping and for change. Onward!  Join us in Embracing Buffalo – Healing Moments, with Music and the Arts, on Saturday, May 13, 7 pm-9 pm, at 1272 Delaware Ave. Carriage House, Buffalo 14209, the WNY Peace Center’s own mini-community center.  We will have Dr. Sabrina N’Diaye, social worker, storyteller, peacebuilder, and activist, who splits her time between Baltimore, Maryland, and Senegal, West Africa. She has responded to multiple communities that have suffered brutal massacres, violence, and injustice including Houston, South Bronx, Parkland, Washington DC, and the prison system. (She will come in spite of the fact that her new book, Big Mama Speaks, about her grandmother, is coming out that very weekend).  Dr. Carol Penn, MD, GP, dancer/choreographer (formerly with Alvin Ailey Dance Theater), of Movement is My Medicine, may also come. Dena Adler, Art Therapist, will bring art materials for expressive works to – again – work toward individual and collective healing. All are faculty at the Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM), a worldwide center for helping communities (and individuals) develop the tools they need to heal from population-wide trauma and build resilience. Deidra EmEl, WNYPC Executive Director, and I (VBR, WNYPC Board Chair), will have completed CMBM’s Advanced Training by that time.   Come enjoy healing moments to talk, laugh, groove, move, dance, make art, make music, and make our community and our world a better place.  #SiSePuede #Juntos! Read More From This Writer All Post Food Health Interviews Lower West Side Business & Economic Development Peace People RACISM IN THE BUFFALO POLICE DEPARTMENT (BPD)? March 16, 2023/No Comments “The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be anti-racist. Anti-racism Read More BLIZZARD RESPONSE? February 16, 2023/No Comments We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society to a ‘person-oriented’ society. When machines and computers, profit motives, and Read More The WNY Peace Center had a great 55th Annual Dinner — A follow-up: January 16, 2023/No Comments The WNY Peace Center had a great 55th Annual Dinner — A follow-up: Algunas personas preguntan, “Como estaba, la Cena Read More Load More End of Content.

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Focused on What Counts: “The People” MEET RENATO GRAHAM

Focused on What Counts: “The People” MEET RENATO GRAHAM When I thought of which Uncrowned King in our community that I have not highlighted in this publication, I ironically received a text message about the free piano class being offered in my ComeUnity!  I have known Renato Graham as a community advocate for over 10 years. He has worked tirelessly for and in the community. He has received recognition from the Mayor’s Office, County Legislator’s Office, and Senator Tim Kennedy’s Office amongst many others! He has also been recognized and awarded a “Father of The Year!” Renato’s main efforts have been to help residents of low-income households residing in Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority apartments to realize their full potential as residents and the power they have collectively. He’s met much resistance from a lot of people throughout the years. Tenants that have misunderstood the realities of his limitations in his various leadership positions have brought issues to him. Without much hesitation, he empowers them to take the initiative to resolve issues on their own within their rights as tenants within the framework of tenant councils that are formed at various complexes. When the complex didn’t have a functioning Tenant Council, he encouraged them to begin one! He had even encouraged me to run for the President of the Resident Council at A.D. Price – which I did, and I won and held the position for a little over a year. Renato had also worked with the Employment Opportunity Center which was a job training & acquisition assistance program. For a couple of years, he assisted people in public housing to acquire full-time jobs and/or in learning a trade so that they may eventually move out of public housing. Unfortunately, that program somehow lost funding even though it was gaining traction and getting results. Your guess about why this happens to programming in Buffalo, NY is as good as ours. For many years, I’ve helped Renato Graham in various campaigns for leadership positions in BMHA as a President of the Resident Council of Lakeview Homes; President of the Resident Advisory Board – which oversees all Resident Councils under BMHA – and most recently as a Tenant Representative Commissioner at BMHA. All these positions are tenant-driven elections with special elections held throughout BMHA with the assistance of the League of Women Voters Buffalo NY.  Since 2020 he’s helped with community food drives for many of the elderly and shut-in at the many BMHA high-rise apartments throughout the pandemic.  In the past few months, he has worked diligently at reigniting Life at the Martha Mitchell Community Center with Food Drives & Food Distribution. As well as cultural programming and offerings all for free. Monday nights there are Community Piano Classes and being added this month: Drumming and Percussion Classes on Tuesdays & Thursdays. My son is a participant in the piano classes and I am looking forward to seeing their Recital in June! Renato Graham is also the Owner and CEO of Ragtime Multimedia, which is a photography, video production & editing business. You can count on him to bring your family and community events to print and video for live viewing or future reflection.  To stay connected to “Renato Graham” and all he does for the community, you can follow him on Facebook. You can also follow the “BMHA Tenant Council/Resident Advisory Board” Facebook Page. There you will witness that Renato Graham truly is “Focused on what Counts, The People!”   Read More From This Writer All Post Food Health Interviews Lower West Side Business & Economic Development People Focused on What Counts: “The People” MEET RENATO GRAHAM May 4, 2023/No Comments POST TITLE (CAPITAL) Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus Read More NO FRACKING WAY! April 13, 2023/No Comments NO FRACKING WAY! As I witness the finale of Women’s History Month, and enter Earth Month, I think about the Read More “MODERN MODESTY BEGINS WITH ME” March 13, 2023/No Comments “MODERN MODESTY BEGINS WITH ME” “Our  Mission  is to  help  women  feel  Empowered in their  modest  clothing,  leaving  you  feeling Read More Load More End of Content.

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INTERVIEW #29: CHRISTINA RODRIGUERZ

“The movie must have at least two women in it, who talk to each other, about something other than a man.” 20 words that will flip your literary, cinematic, artistic, and otherwise critical lens inside out. The Bechdel-Wallace test is a measure of the representation of women in film and other fiction. The day I learned about this “test” which seems so obvious “test” seems like a misnomer, was the day that Christina Rodriguez answered my pleas, and agreed to let me write about her. I grew that day. Christina is from California, just like Hollywood, and strikingly brilliant- just like the Bechdel-Wallace Test, my May column was shaping before me. The founder of “Latinas with Masters”- Christina’s genius is wise, and not all genius is so. My first Latina representing Nicaragua is the proud daughter of undocumented Americans, and that is a specific use of the term on my part, a mother, and ‘Latinaherstorymaker.’ She created “Latinas with Masters” as an Instagram page and it later grew into a movement, one of which I am humbled to consider myself part of. A doctoral student, a wife, a sister, a homie, a cool kid, a city dweller, a teacher, a friend, a poet, the list could go on, she is a strong spirit. A beacon of light- one that I could see from 2,657.00 miles away in the dark through my swiping. I saw myself in her, in her path to becoming Dr. Rodriguez, in her passion for the brilliance of everyday people, and in her dedication to telling their stories. The ancient home of highly organized and expressive artisan indigenous people, Nicaragua has been the site of complicated coalitions of diplomats for thousands of years. A posit into why Christina’s oratory skills seem highly practiced. Descendant of leaders are modern Latinx people, who like Nicaragua, have multiracial and multilingual contemporary histories I uncovered in my research. Christina is the perfect ambassador for her culture, her state, her city, and for our way of life, which centers healing and family values over material possessions and trending superficialities. A sister in the celebration of lifting other people, her Instagram stories are often full of hopeful faces of the recently graduated, the newly admitted, and the award-winning Latinx student. Her gift to the world is the counter-stereotype. There have been times I have walked into a room full of people and insisted that even though I have not personally lived some of the experiences that my sisters have, that women who have the same last name as I have, and that for the RODRIGUEZ reason, it was my duty to speak for them. Christina is the epitome of who I was talking about. For every two of us, there are two million more Latinas who deserve better, and I do not even need to ask Christina, because she is a Rodriguez for one and two, she and I will be FIGHTING FOR THEM… sure thing, bet your bottom dollar… For every little girl who is working tonight as I tap my fingers across this keyboard, because they are out there, and they are going to have to go to school in the morning, and they are going to be exhausted, going to be sitting in class worried sick; thinking about if someone is going to think that her parents are not American enough, and is going to take them away. Those kids are out there, and working harder than us, and for them, and for every other story of incomprehensible bravery, fortitude, and love we will be here. The storytellers, waiting, and my stories will be stronger told next to Christina’s. A TALK WITH CHRISTINA: The name of my business is Latinas with Masters, which I originally started as an Instagram page. I wanted to share my experience of how I obtained my master’s degree. That included being the only Latina for most of my cohort but then also sharing in real-time my experience of attaining my Doctoral degree. So, what originally started as just an Instagram page, organically turned into a business, which turned into a movement, and turned into a brand. I was motivated because I was receiving a lot of feedback from people that were starting to follow my page; the content that I was sharing was resonating with them. And the content that I was sharing was that I wanted to drop out of Graduate School, as I felt like I did not belong. I had feelings of imposter syndrome even though, technically, I did not even know what that term was.  It was not until my doctoral program, that is when I dug deeper as to the meaning of impostor syndrome, but I was able to now name a lot of these experiences that I was dealing with both in higher education and in the workplace. There are a lot of things that are not told to us right; we are sold and told “a dream”, and so it works to a certain extent but then you walk into these spaces where people do not look like you or you feel like you do not belong and then, suddenly, you start thinking, wow nobody told me this. You know, I was going to experience these microaggressions or that my education is still going to be questioned even though I have advanced degrees and that is more education than most of the people in this room. Those are the things that were not told to me, those are the things that I had to experience on my own, so I am here to change that narrative, here to tell you the things that many people may be scared to share for whatever reason. But I could only speak for my personal journey, the lessons that I have learned from those experiences, and those that are also willing to share their experiences you know I share my platform for us — to have a counter space and provide

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