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wendylewis · 4 years

Text

06.25.2020 White Privilege: Part One

It’s been a month today since George Floyd was murdered beneath the unrelenting knee of a dead-eyed policeman who I will not name. His fellow officers did nothing to stop him. Our city, the nation, and then—the world—exploded with rage and into activism. Everyone came together inside the nefarious embrace of a pandemic, masked and united, to protest yet another atrocity hurled into the Black community.

A powerful wave rose after that horrible event and I won’t break down all the details because we all know what happened next, and continued for many weeks, or at least, our versions of it. What I know is that Black voices and bodies came surging to the surface of the streets, in videos, podcasts and social platforms, in articles and interviews. I live in the country, relying on news, mostly via the internet, and I have learned so fucking much in the last month from the Black voices I’ve been listening to. I am a sixty-three year old white woman and I have always considered myself an ally but I remain a functioning if resisting-the-label racist and I have more to learn every day. I am getting there. I am staying as humble as I can.

Just last night, my youngest daughter called me out for a few things I said in a certain way that she took issue with. I got defensive, because I think of myself as an advocate, but she was right. Thank you, Kitty. Don’t stop! I want to continue learning to understand every minute detail from behind the blinders of my white privilege and my age, having grown up with so much white brainwash.

This is what we need to be doing, white ppl—friends, allies. We need to remain extremely humble, even if we believe we’ve been lifelong advocates for racial equity. We have not done enough or known enough and we have to do it right now and learn and listen and seek out Black voices and continue doing it until change is not only visible but viable and put into working action. Write your representatives weekly, daily if you wanna. They need to know what their constituents demand or else they will lose their jobs.

= = = = =

One hidden historical event that many of my white friends agreed they had never heard about, is the massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Eighteen hours of destruction rained down on a thriving black neighborhood (May 31-June 1,1921)—eerily aligned with the murder of a Black man in Minneapolis ninety-nine years later almost to the date which spawned a worldwide revolution. In Tulsa, 300 people were killed, hundreds were hurt and thousands of buildings were destroyed. It is considered to be one of the worst incidences of racially motivated violence in the history of America. Do you wanna know what preceded this massacre? You should click on my link above, but just in case you can’t take the time, I’m gonna tell you, in brief—even though you might wanna tuck in and learn a longer version of it. Jus’sayin.

A shoeshiner, Dick Rowland, had to ride an elevator to the top floor of the Drexel building because Black people were denied access to more readily available restrooms on ground level. No one really knows what happened when he stepped into the elevator operated by 17-year-old white woman, Sarah Page, but the historical museum of Tulsa imagines he may have stepped on her foot and she screamed. I’m thinking, she probably freaked because he got onto the elevator at all! He was seen running from the elevator, I’m sure, fearing for his life because she was young, white and had screamed. He was subsequently accused of raping her.

C’mon. Let’s get real. What can happen during the course of a short elevator ride and srrsly, what Black man would EVER have taken the chance of raping a white woman, especially in 1921, when the outcome would have surely cost him his life.

Here’s the thing. The Greenwood area in 1921, was a thriving business community and was sometimes referred to as the Black Wall Street of Tulsa, serving its 10,000 Black residents. I immediately jump to the FACT that white ppl don’t wanna support Black ppl if they are doing more than surviving, when they are becoming successful and gaining access to our way of life.

The riot broke out after an article on the incident was published in the Tulsa Tribune afternoon newspaper, which also said on its editorial page that a lynching was imminent. Crowds, of both Black and white people, gathered outside the courthouse. Twice, a group of armed African American men, mostly veterans of World War I, arrived on the scene fearing a lynching and offered their assistance to the police to protect Rowland. As they were leaving the second time, a white man tried to disarm one of the Black veterans and a shot was fired, triggering the riot, with whites pouring into the all-black Greenwood district. USA Today

It took 80 years for Tulsa to acknowledge the massacre as a racial atrocity.

(pause—take that in—80 fkn years)

I had seen the Watchmen series (Hulu/HBO) months ago and thought the opening episode that set the stage for the series was fictionalized. It’s shocking and embarrassing as hell, believing myself an advocate, to not know about that horrific event. Of course, it wasn’t in the history books when I was in school and I’m gonna guess it STILL ISN’T. I really hope I’m wrong. I’ll investigate that over the weekend. Having discovered, over the last month, that the Tulsa massacre was historically documented, I revisited Watchmen and it was a totally different experience understanding the context intended. I highly recommend. I say again, I highly recommend.

Also, if you haven’t seen 13th I hope you’ll add that to your watch list.

+ + + + +

Meanwhile—addressing the White House cronies:

Reading this article in Medium was so difficult but I could not deny its truth. I posted a comment in protest, however, saying that there are so many of us in this country who are NOT subscribed to the darkness and confusion issuing from our nation’s capitol.

TEASER from linked article: I don’t use the term as an insult — the American idiot. I mean it in a precise way, as I try to remind people. For the Greeks, “idiot” carried a precise and special meaning. The person who was only interested in private life, private gain, private advantage. Who had no conception of a public good, common wealth, shared interest. To the Greeks, the pioneers of democracy, the creators of the demos, such a person was the most contemptible of all. Because even the Greeks seemed to understand: you can’t make a functioning democracy out of…idiots.

Consumer tip: T-shirts! Support Black clothing lines! I love T-shirts. I’ve linked only one option and there are many more. Scroll down the main page for a list of Black-owned grocery stores, book stores, coffee shops and brunch spots—and feel free to Google the same in your location. Let me know what you find.

I’ll leave you with this. My nephew is production manager for a tap dance crew out of NYC. Enjoy! Here’s Dorrance Dance.

Please leave notes here, subscribe to my page and talk to me. We need to be communicating right now, more than ever. Keep love alive.

1 note · View note

wendylewis · 4 years

Text

06.25.2020 White Privilege: Part one

It’s been a month today since George Floyd was murdered beneath the unrelenting knee of a dead-eyed policeman who I will not name. His fellow officers did nothing to stop him. Our city, the nation, and then—the world—exploded with rage and into activism. Everyone came together inside the nefarious embrace of a pandemic, masked and united, to protest yet another atrocity hurled into the Black community.

A powerful wave rose after that horrible event and I won’t break down all the details because we all know what happened next, and continued for many weeks, or at least, our versions of it. What I know is that Black voices and bodies came surging to the surface of the streets, in videos, podcasts and social platforms, in articles and interviews. I live in the country, relying on news, mostly via the internet, and I have learned so fucking much in the last month from the Black voices I’ve been listening to. I am a sixty-three year old white woman and I have always considered myself an ally but I remain a functioning if resisting-the-label racist and I have more to learn every day. I am getting there. I am staying as humble as I can.

Just last night, my youngest daughter called me out for a few things I said in a certain way that she took issue with. I got defensive, because I think of myself as an advocate, but she was right. Thank you, Kitty. Don’t stop! I want to continue learning to understand every minute detail from behind the blinders of my white privilege and my age, having grown up with so much white brainwash.

This is what we need to be doing, white ppl—friends, allies. We need to remain extremely humble, even if we believe we’ve been lifelong advocates for racial equity. We have not done enough or known enough and we have to do it right now and learn and listen and seek out Black voices and continue doing it until change is not only visible but viable and put into working action. Write your representatives weekly, daily if you wanna. They need to know what their constituents demand or else they will lose their jobs.

= = = = =

One hidden historical event that many of my white friends agreed they had never heard about, is the massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Eighteen hours of destruction rained down on a thriving black neighborhood (May 31-June 1,1921)—eerily aligned with the murder of a Black man in Minneapolis ninety-nine years later almost to the date which spawned a worldwide revolution. In Tulsa, 300 people were killed, hundreds were hurt and thousands of buildings were destroyed. It is considered to be one of the worst incidences of racially motivated violence in the history of America. Do you wanna know what preceded this massacre? You should click on my link above, but just in case you can’t take the time, I’m gonna tell you, in brief—even though you might wanna tuck in and learn a longer version of it. Jus’sayin.

A shoeshiner, Dick Rowland, had to ride an elevator to the top floor of the Drexel building because Black people were denied access to more readily available restrooms on ground level. No one really knows what happened when he stepped into the elevator operated by 17-year-old white woman, Sarah Page, but the historical museum of Tulsa imagines he may have stepped on her foot and she screamed. I’m thinking, she probably freaked because he got onto the elevator at all! He was seen running from the elevator, I’m sure, fearing for his life because she was young, white and had screamed. He was subsequently accused of raping her.

C’mon. Let’s get real. What can happen during the course of a short elevator ride and srrsly, what Black man would EVER have taken the chance of raping a white woman, especially in 1921, when the outcome would have surely cost him his life.

Here’s the thing. The Greenwood area in 1921, was a thriving business community and was sometimes referred to as the Black Wall Street of Tulsa, serving its 10,000 Black residents. I immediately jump to the FACT that white ppl don’t wanna support Black ppl if they are doing more than surviving, when they are becoming successful and gaining access to our way of life.

The riot broke out after an article on the incident was published in the Tulsa Tribune afternoon newspaper, which also said on its editorial page that a lynching was imminent. Crowds, of both Black and white people, gathered outside the courthouse. Twice, a group of armed African American men, mostly veterans of World War I, arrived on the scene fearing a lynching and offered their assistance to the police to protect Rowland. As they were leaving the second time, a white man tried to disarm one of the Black veterans and a shot was fired, triggering the riot, with whites pouring into the all-black Greenwood district. USA Today

It took 80 years for Tulsa to acknowledge the massacre as a racial atrocity.

(pause—take that in—80 fkn years)

I had seen the Watchmen series (Hulu/HBO) months ago and thought the opening episode that set the stage for the series was fictionalized. It’s shocking and embarrassing as hell, believing myself an advocate, to not know about that horrific event. Of course, it wasn’t in the history books when I was in school and I’m gonna guess it STILL ISN’T. I really hope I’m wrong. I’ll investigate that over the weekend. Having discovered, over the last month, that the Tulsa massacre was historically documented, I revisited Watchmen and it was a totally different experience understanding the context intended. I highly recommend. I say again, I highly recommend.

Also, if you haven’t seen 13th I hope you’ll add that to your watch list.

+ + + + +

Meanwhile—addressing the White House cronies:

Reading this article in Medium was so difficult but I could not deny its truth. I posted a comment in protest, however, saying that there are so many of us in this country who are NOT subscribed to the darkness and confusion issuing from our nation’s capitol.

TEASER from linked article: I don’t use the term as an insult — the American idiot. I mean it in a precise way, as I try to remind people. For the Greeks, “idiot” carried a precise and special meaning. The person who was only interested in private life, private gain, private advantage. Who had no conception of a public good, common wealth, shared interest. To the Greeks, the pioneers of democracy, the creators of the demos, such a person was the most contemptible of all. Because even the Greeks seemed to understand: you can’t make a functioning democracy out of…idiots.

Consumer tip: T-shirts! Support Black clothing lines! I love T-shirts. I’ve linked only one option and there are many more. Scroll down the main page for a list of Black-owned grocery stores, book stores, coffee shops and brunch spots—and feel free to Google the same in your location. Let me know what you find.

I’ll leave you with this. My nephew is production manager for a tap dance crew out of NYC. Enjoy! Here’s Dorrance Dance.

Please leave notes here, subscribe to my page and talk to me. We need to be communicating right now, more than ever. Keep love alive.

1 note · View note

wendylewis · 4 years

Text

06.25.2020 White Privilege: Part one

It’s been a month today since George Floyd was murdered beneath the unrelenting knee of a dead-eyed policeman who I will not name. His fellow officers did nothing to stop him. Our city, the nation, and then—the world—exploded with rage and into activism. Everyone came together inside the nefarious embrace of a pandemic, masked and united, to protest yet another atrocity hurled into the Black community.

A powerful wave rose after that horrible event and I won’t break down all the details because we all know what happened next, and continued for many weeks, or at least, our versions of it. What I know is that Black voices and bodies came surging to the surface of the streets, in videos, podcasts and social platforms, in articles and interviews. I live in the country, relying on news, mostly via the internet, and I have learned so fucking much in the last month from the Black voices I’ve been listening to. I am a sixty-three year old white woman and I have always considered myself an ally but I remain a functioning if resisting-the-label racist and I have more to learn every day. I am getting there. I am staying as humble as I can.

Just last night, my youngest daughter called me out for a few things I said in a certain way that she took issue with. I got defensive, because I think of myself as an advocate, but she was right. Thank you, Kitty. Don’t stop! I want to continue learning to understand every minute detail from behind the blinders of my white privilege and my age, having grown up with so much white brainwash.

This is what we need to be doing, white ppl—friends, allies. We need to remain extremely humble, even if we believe we’ve been lifelong advocates for racial equity. We have not done enough or known enough and we have to do it right now and learn and listen and seek out Black voices and continue doing it until change is not only visible but viable and put into working action. Write your representatives weekly, daily if you wanna. They need to know what their constituents demand or else they will lose their jobs.

= = = = =

One hidden historical event that many of my white friends agreed they had never heard about, is the massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Eighteen hours of destruction rained down on a thriving black neighborhood (May 31-June 1,1921)—eerily aligned with the murder of a Black man in Minneapolis ninety-nine years later almost to the date which spawned a worldwide revolution. In Tulsa, 300 people were killed, hundreds were hurt and thousands of buildings were destroyed. It is considered to be one of the worst incidences of racially motivated violence in the history of America. Do you wanna know what preceded this massacre? You should click on my link above, but just in case you can’t take the time, I’m gonna tell you, in brief—even though you might wanna tuck in and learn a longer version of it. Jus’sayin.

A shoeshiner, Dick Rowland, had to ride an elevator to the top floor of the Drexel building because Black people were denied access to more readily available restrooms on ground level. No one really knows what happened when he stepped into the elevator operated by 17-year-old white woman, Sarah Page, but the historical museum of Tulsa imagines he may have stepped on her foot and she screamed. I’m thinking, she probably freaked because he got onto the elevator at all! He was seen running from the elevator, I’m sure, fearing for his life because she was young, white and had screamed. He was subsequently accused of raping her.

C’mon. Let’s get real. What can happen during the course of a short elevator ride and srrsly, what Black man would EVER have taken the chance of raping a white woman, especially in 1921, when the outcome would have surely cost him his life.

Here’s the thing. The Greenwood area in 1921, was a thriving business community and was sometimes referred to as the Black Wall Street of Tulsa, serving its 10,000 Black residents. I immediately jump to the FACT that white ppl don’t wanna support Black ppl if they are doing more than surviving, when they are becoming successful and gaining access to our way of life.

The riot broke out after an article on the incident was published in the Tulsa Tribune afternoon newspaper, which also said on its editorial page that a lynching was imminent. Crowds, of both Black and white people, gathered outside the courthouse. Twice, a group of armed African American men, mostly veterans of World War I, arrived on the scene fearing a lynching and offered their assistance to the police to protect Rowland. As they were leaving the second time, a white man tried to disarm one of the Black veterans and a shot was fired, triggering the riot, with whites pouring into the all-black Greenwood district. USA Today

It took 80 years for Tulsa to acknowledge the massacre as a racial atrocity.

(pause—take that in—80 fkn years)

I had seen the Watchmen series (Hulu/HBO) months ago and thought the opening episode that set the stage for the series was fictionalized. It’s shocking and embarrassing as hell, believing myself an advocate, to not know about that horrific event. Of course, it wasn’t in the history books when I was in school and I’m gonna guess it STILL ISN’T. I really hope I’m wrong. I’ll investigate that over the weekend. Having discovered, over the last month, that the Tulsa massacre was historically documented, I revisited Watchmen and it was a totally different experience understanding the context intended. I highly recommend. I say again, I highly recommend.

Also, if you haven’t seen 13th I hope you’ll add that to your watch list.

+ + + + +

Meanwhile—addressing the White House cronies:

Reading this article in Medium was so difficult but I could not deny its truth. I posted a comment in protest, however, saying that there are so many of us in this country who are NOT subscribed to the darkness and confusion issuing from our nation’s capitol.

TEASER from linked article: I don’t use the term as an insult — the American idiot. I mean it in a precise way, as I try to remind people. For the Greeks, “idiot” carried a precise and special meaning. The person who was only interested in private life, private gain, private advantage. Who had no conception of a public good, common wealth, shared interest. To the Greeks, the pioneers of democracy, the creators of the demos, such a person was the most contemptible of all. Because even the Greeks seemed to understand: you can’t make a functioning democracy out of…idiots.

Consumer tip: T-shirts! Support Black clothing lines! I love T-shirts. I’ve linked only one option and there are many more. Scroll down the main page for a list of Black-owned grocery stores, book stores, coffee shops and brunch spots—and feel free to Google the same in your location. Let me know what you find.

I’ll leave you with this. My nephew is production manager for a tap dance crew out of NYC. Enjoy! Here’s Dorrance Dance.

Please leave notes here, subscribe to my page and talk to me. We need to be communicating right now, more than ever. Keep love alive.

1 note · View note

wendylewis · 9 years

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On LGBT Rights, Bernie Leads and Hillary Follows

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wendylewis · 13 years

Text

July already... ?

Wow. Well. It's summer and it goes by fast here in Minnesota. The garden is overgrown but the vegetables look pretty happy peeking between the weeds. It's been unseasonably cool but now, we'll suffer a week of payback with temperatures in the 90's and humidity to match.

I've been working pretty steadily at Target, styling women's clothing. Love the studio atmosphere and the people I've been working with.

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wendylewis · 13 years

Photo

Rockin the laydowns at Target

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wendylewis · 13 years

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flavorpill:

Kyle Bean’s Pencil Shaving Portraits

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wendylewis · 13 years

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May... YAY! ( a recap)

I've been out of touch here, because I've been working & planting a garden.

Had a great seven days (stretched across three weeks) for Target Media working overnight HD shoots in three different Target stores. Met an entirely new crew of people from creatives to directors, DPs and grips. Teresa Anderson was Producer Extraordinaire and I worked alongside Elinor Anderson-Genne dressing actors and extras, organizing aisles and backrooms—wherever the camera was pointed we were there making things look good.

I rounded the out the month shooting a couple days for Encompass with Lance Vicknair and lastly, over at the Target NE studio doing a beauty page for the circular with Todd Hafermann shooting and Sara Halgrimson art directing. Molly Meehan and David Anderson assisted and teched, respectively. We all kept each other duly entertained while we got our work done.

Meanwhile, I've gotten tomatoes, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, peppers and greens growing in between sturdy perennials that are ready to burst into bloom. Basil, thyme and mint were added to the already abundant herb garden of sage, Mexican oregano, chives (to name a few). Tomorrow, I'll finish preparing the last garden patch on the north side of the house planting butternut squash, beets, spinach and swiss chard. The weather's offered something much more like a real spring than we've had for quite awhile, with some cooler weeks and plenty of rain.

I also had fun floating around Art-O-Whirl this year, looked at some great art, stopped by to visit with a number of friends in their studios and caught Dosh's set at the 331 outdoor stage.

There have also been recent and horrific acts of Mother Nature south of us, and even our own northern neighborhoods of Minneapolis! These events are completely out of anyone's control and deliver such incredible hardship for a long time. As many of you, I've been reading, donating and sending good thoughts aloft.

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wendylewis · 13 years

Text

Did a little copy writing for Friends + Johnson. They represent amazing commercial artists. Just sayin'.

https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:21499.9242334800/rid:36d2b6a15a2005cfa718acbba7972458

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wendylewis · 13 years

Text

Shots at Target this week

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wendylewis · 13 years

Photo

PASTELS!

#advertising #styling #clothing

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wendylewis · 13 years

Photo

STRIPES!

#advertising #styling #clothing

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wendylewis · 13 years

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WHITES!

#advertising #styling #clothing

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wendylewis · 13 years

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Seriously. I want one of these.

(styling Target baby togs)

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wendylewis · 13 years

Photo

Today I planted seeds Lynn Byrd sent from her prize Cherokee Purple south'ren tomatoes. We went to high school together in Winston-Salem, NC—when I was a seedling. She's finishing her masters in holistic food. We'll see how these babies agree with northern soil.

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wendylewis · 13 years

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A new Target circular page done with art director Sally Hermanto and photographer Lars Hansen.

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wendylewis · 13 years

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I did a little chicken sitting for neighbors down the road last weekend. They've got an organic farm all summer long. I'll load up a couple grocery bags with vegetables and pay $10. Can't beat them prices.

0 notes