NARRATIVE PATHS JOURNAL Guest Column:

Wake-Up America! Part I

June 15, 2020

by Kim McMillon Ph.D.

Kim McMillon, Ph.D.

https://www.narrativepathsjournal.com/guest-column-wake-up-america-part-i-by-kim-mcmillon/

1.  Why do you believe the issue of racism is important?

2. Do you believe the individual can make a difference in a racist society?

3.  Have you ever been confronted with racism and how did you handle it?

4.  What do you tell your children about racism in the United States today?

5.  Do you believe it is possible to understand racial oppression if you are not a person of color?

6.  The title of the Poetathon is “Wake-Up America.”  What do you see America needing to Wake-Up from?

Have you ever been confronted with racism and how did you handle it?

Author Teresa Jade LeYung says:

“I am a sixty-something-year-old female American naturalized citizen, of Chinese ancestry, who has been sleeping a lot since March 16, 2020 (hours before our county was to adhere to COVID-19 ‘Shelter-In-Place’ order) when I experienced racial harassment at the local supermarket.  What happened? A fifty-something-year-old Caucasian man pushed his shopping cart into the right side of my body, and then walked away with his head held high.  When I told friends, they gave support through resources… including www.asianpacificpolicyandplanningcouncil.org/stop-aapi-hate/  to report the incident, and, www.ihollaback.org  to sign-up for Bystander Intervention Training to STOP anti-Asian/American and Xenophobic Harassment.  I kept sleeping. Until I followed through with both resources. Gaining knowledge and skills woke up my brain.

“I didn’t know that I had to stay awake. While heroes from all walks of life were helping communities cope with daily needs during this pandemic, others continued to commit racial injustices. Details of the murders of three Americans – Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd – woke up people from all parts of the world.

In Part II  of Guest Column: Wake-Up America!  by Kim McMillon,  we shall answer:

7.       How do you become an ally to those experiencing racial oppression?

8.       The public has not protested the atrocities that have been taking place in our country, but yet during a pandemic, people are taking to the streets to protest the death of George Floyd, why?

9.       How do you believe we can change the world for the better?

10.   As a poet, how would you like to be remembered?

11.   What line or stanza of poetry best describes you?

“Thank you, Dr. Kim McMillon, for giving us this forum to wake up in unity.”

author Teresa Jade LeYung, mask by Emily O., June 2020 COVID-19 pandemic

Bio:  Teresa Jade LeYung, American naturalized citizen of Chinese ancestry, is a manuscript-theme consultant, author of Love Made Of Heart (archived at the San Francisco History Center), Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days, and Talking To My Dead Mom monologues, and, an advocate for public libraries and public schools. http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/

Teresa Jade LeYung