Parenting for Liberation

Mother and Literacy Activist, Dr. Kim Parker shares about hosting a family gathering in Boston for folks raising Black boys entitled "Free, Whole, & Happy Black Boys." We had the pleasure of connecting with Dr. Kim virtually sharing tools and resources. Listen for tips and strategies on how you can build a community of practice in your area.

Parenting for Liberation co-facilitated a Raising Liberated Children workshop series with mothers who are incarcerated at a California women's prison. This episode is dedicated to all the powerful workshop participants and their children. Listen to founder, Trina Greene Brown, and Cecilia Cabarello of Chicana Motherwork share how the workshop came together, why they picked mothering, healing, and intergenerational trauma as the workshop themes, how the workshops unfolded, the successes and challenges, the power of storytelling and communal healing, and what's next for more workshops with parents who are incarcerated as well as the wider community.

A discussion on being a liberated parent when talking with kids about sexuality, with Ignacio and Amanda Rivera, a parent-child duo who created the groundbreaking, heartfelt and witty online talk show, Pure Love. During our conversation, Ignacio and Amanda, offer practical ideas for how to have conversations with your children about sex(uality). Pure Love has been airing on different media hosts each month since March 15, 2017. You can find the video episodes of this session on Youtube (https://youtu.be/obQHh1XqB4Q). For more info visit the Pure Love website: https://www.igrivera.com/pure-love.html. ​

As we close out Black History Month, our founder, Trina Greene Brown, visited a local elementary school to do a read-along. After reading nearly 15 books with her son, who gave his reviews, she finally decided on “Lillian’s Right to Vote.” Lillian’s Right to Vote deals with the difficult topic of institutionalized racism in America. Using flashback memories, the book is a “split screen” that positions the current uphill battles to the voting booth side by side with the historical uphill struggle for racial justice in America.After engaging the students in a small discussion on the importance of voting, Trina facilitated a quick voting exercise to operationalize the concept of voting. This was a powerful way to engage the young people in Black History while looking forward to build a powerful Black Future, wherein young people wield their power at the polls for good.

According to Essence Magazine's "Black Girls Draw" series, "One of the greatest revolutionary acts as a Black person in America is Black motherhood." In our interview with illustrator, Jena Holliday, we discuss her artwork that represents the power of Black motherhood. In our discussion, Jena shares why she wanted to focus on Black motherhood, the importance of representation in art, and how being a mother inspired her own creativity. Jena also unveils an artist reflection of Parenting for Liberation's founder, Trina Greene Brown, being featured for her #100DaysofMotherhoodSOF To learn more about Jena's artwork, visit her design studio at www.spoonfuloffaith.com

We are so happy to talk to Jamia Wilson, author of "Young, Gifted & Black," a newly published Black children's literature book. In this interview we dig into this incredible book that highlights 52 Black heroes across the diaspora. In the welcome letter the book is described as a love letter to our ancestors and the next generation of Black changemakers. We discuss the importance of representation in children's literature, how this book is an homage to Nina Simone, and how it can be used all year long and in schools. This Black History month and all year long, read Young, Gifted & Black with your children to share a more expansive representation of Blackness with this beautiful book illustrated by Andrea Pippins. Buy Black! visit a Black online bookstore: http://www.huemanbookstore.com

We had the beautiful opportunity to speak with Malesha Taylor, a classically trained opera singer, and mother of three residing in San Diego, a suburban community in Southern California about how to build a community and instill cultural pride in her children. During our discussion, Malesha reflected on the trauma of her own childhood, growing up in California suburbs as "the only Black kid"  and she made a commitment to build community for her Black children. She shares types on how to manifest and build community in spaces that feel isolating, through the use of arts and culture. With a commitment to never "be the only" Malesha advocates for centering Black voices and other marginalized communities in the arts, through her organization, Muse Salon and  through her work as a vanguard Black opera singer.  Links to Malesha's written and creative arts are available at How I Round, Arts in A Changing America, and Mater Mea. For more information, visit www.musesalon.org or contact her at malesha@musesalon.org. For videos of her breathktaking vocals, see below: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNIkhAvVKSM?rel=0&w=560&h=315] [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGBEYwKCnNw?rel=0&w=560&h=315] [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeI5IXs1TKk?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

On the heels of Thanksgiving (aka Thanks-taking), we had the pleasure of catching up with long time friend, Professor TIffany Lanoix to break down how to talk to Black children about colonialism and other -isms as they intersect and impact the parenting for Black children. In this podcast Professor Tiffany shares the regular and ongoing practices she engages in to discuss potentially heavy theoretical topics of colonialism, racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, sex, and more in ways that are age-appropriate and allow the young person to lead and guide the conversation. Beyond sharing her own best practices, she also shares some resources for folks to access.

Parenting for Liberation had the privilege of interviewing Mia Birdsong a powerhouse Mama-activist doing big things to shift the stories being told about Black families! During our interview with the Mia Birdsong, Co-Founder/Director of Family Story, we discussed the limitations and false narratives that exist about the make up of the Black family such as: extending beyond the traditional nuclear family and paying homage to our African cultural traditions of raising children in a village and naming the ways that racist housing policies have intentionally separated Black families. In addition to being a story shifter and narrative expander in her work, Mia is also committed to expansiveness in her parenting. When she couldn't find enough books for her daughter with people of color, she curated literature and created Canerow so her daughter could see herself reflected in books.  From books to the streets, Mia shared  the ways to she engages her children in social justice, through conversations on Charlottesville and her son participating in children-led protests in the Bay Area with Abundant Beginnings. We concluded our talk with visions of communities of families practicing and living liberation collectively. Check out all of Mia's inspiring work at www.miabirdsong.com; and watch her world renown TedTalk at https://www.ted.com/talks/mia_birdsong_the_story_we_tell_about_poverty_isn_t_true/transcript

Shifting from Tough Love to Liberated Love with Ambreia Meadows-Fernandez. During our interview, we discussed her recent articles featured in On Parenting in the Washington Post, and reflect on slavery and the historical traumas that lead to fear-based parenting styles and explore that there is no safe place to raise Black children given the context. We share how we are breaking through our families generational inability to show love and affection, and how we are resisting tough love and physical discipline approaches. To learn more about Ambreia's work check out her site: https://onekoo.wordpress.com/ and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/onekoolknitta

In this mini-podcast, Parenting for Liberation teamed up with Chicana M(other)work to debrief our session Mothering the Revolution session at the 2017 Allied Media Conference. Cecilia and I discuss why our work centers mothers of color, our experience of holding space in a mixed race group, and also share reflections from conference attendees, recorded live from the AMC!

On the eve of Father's Day, we share an interview with Neil Irvin of Men Can Stop Rape, where he reflected on Black fatherhood and parenting for liberation, gender equity in the house-hold , the responsibility of Black keeping Black children safe, the role of Black male role models, and much more. This Father's Day, we here at Parenting for Liberation, honor, acknowledge, and celebrate Black fathers and male role models who are parenting their children for liberation!

While participating in a California Network Weaver Lab, we had the opportunity to chat with Dia Penning, live from Earth Rise Retreat Center, about liberated schools and liberated discipline practices. #parentingforliberation visit us at www.parentingforliberation.org About Dia Penning Dia Penning is an Inclusion Facilitator, Yin Yoga Instructor, and founder of the Equity Collective. She has worked with a diverse group of clients, from the National Parks Service to various yoga teacher training programs, from city departments to tech executive coaching. Dia supports clients in investigating limiting assumptions and expanding their ideas of what is possible. Working one on one or in large groups, clients examine blockages in their bodies and minds, parallel them to external structures in interpersonal relationships, accumulated history and policy. They then investigate new possibilities, use the breath and mindful attention to challenge long held habits and create change. www.theequitycollective.com

We had the honor of interviewing Jacqueline Roebuck Sakho who recently launched Black Activist Mothering. Jacqueline performs #BlackActivistMothering as a conceptual framework that is a capturing and both shedding of what it means to be a black mother who engages problems of practice unfolding in urban school settings as community work. A #BlackActivistMother herself, Jacqueline has been trailblazing in the fields of Restorative Justice, Community Based Educational Leadership, and of course Radical parenting six children for over the last 20 years. During our conversation we explored the following: Creating counter narratives to the dominant narrative about Black women and Black motherhood The role of inter-generational dialogue How Black Activist Mother can be used a tool for nation building Next steps for collecting Black mothering stories of liberation. To learn more about BAM visit www.BlackActivistMothering.com

During our interview with Mikala Streeter, Founder, Principal, and Lead Teacher of The LIFE School, we explored: -how The Life School provides an alternative environment to interrupt school pushout, the school-to-prison pipeline, and the need for more African American children being home-schooled because of the toxic educational climate; -the impact of positive adults on campuses (https://parentingforliberation.org/2016/08/19/kids-interactions-with-adults-may-affect-their-education/) -the role of teachers and educators in parenting and/or nurturing children through education The Life School is an independent, progressive Atlanta high school where students develop their own vision of success through interdisciplinary, experiential learning. It's innovative approach connects student interests, the real world, and traditional academic subjects through projects, internships, and travel experiences. To learn more about The Life School visit: http://thelifeschool.co