In Wake of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling Police Shootings, Best-Selling Author Readies Third Book

To donate to Kickstarter Campaign R.I.P. RaShawn click here.

The nation’s latest victims of police-involved shootings were 37-year-old Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and 32-year-old Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Castile, a beloved public school employee, was shot by a police officer during a traffic stop on Wednesday, July 7, 2016. Sterling, a father of five, was tackled to the ground before being shot and killed by officers a day earlier. Both incidents were captured on cell phone cameras and uploaded on social media.

Author-therapist Ronnie Sidney, II, MSW recalls feeling numb after watching the two videos. “I feel so numb thinking about the pain and anguish their families are experiencing right now,” says Sidney, “The pain pushes me to keep publishing children’s books that raise awareness about social justice issues.”

Sidney is the author Tameka’s New Dress and Amazon best-seller Nelson Beats Odds. The transcript for his upcoming book, R.I.P. RaShawn, has been sitting on his laptop since January. R.I.P. RaShawn is tragic story about the extra-judicial killing of a Black teenager. Sidney believes the book is more relevant now than ever.

“The international response to the recent rash of police officer-involved shootings on social media has been overwhelming. People are standing in solidarity all over the country in protest to the extrajudicial killings of Black men in America,” says Sidney.

Celebrities Chris Brown, Beyonce and Jessie Williams publicly responded to the tragic deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling . President Obama said the fatal police shootings were “symptomatic of a broader set of racial disparities that exist in our criminal justice system.”

Sidney is well aware of the racial disparities that exist in the criminal justice system. In 2013, Sidney presented “Liberty and Justice for All? Examining the Untold Trayvon Martin Stories” at Virginia Commonwealth University. The presentation examined nearly a dozen African-American and Hispanic teenagers who died at the hands of vigilantes or police officers. Sidney wasn’t inspired to write R.I.P. RaShawn until the aftermath of Tamir Rice’s death. “I love children, to see one gunned down like that by police officers made me sick to my stomach. I wrote a story that illustrated the emotional pain families experience when their children are killed ” says Sidney.

R.I.P. RaShawn takes place in a fictional city called Bland- the city is named after the late Sandra Bland. A group of local boys who call themselves “Trill Squad” pick a fight with the book’s main character Jeremy. Jeremy is outnumbered and loses the fight. While Jeremy’s mother Mary is grocery shopping, Jeremy steals an airsoft gun. Jeremy carelessly shows off the weapon to Nelson and a shopkeeper calls the police. Meanwhile, Jeremy’s brother is sent to the park to pick up Jeremy and Nelson. RaShawn notices Jeremy has a toy gun and takes it from him. Two police officers pull up aggressively on the curb and things go from bad to worst…

Nelson and Jeremy

Sidney is an Outpatient Therapist and many of the characters in his book series struggle with a mental health disorders or learning disabilities. R.I.P. RaShawn explores PTSD, anger and grief because they are common reactions to traumatic experiences.

“This book will give teenagers a platform to process officer-involved shootings. It’s very important that we help our kids process these experiences because they can be traumatic,” explains Sidney.

A Kickstarter campaign  was recently launched by Sidney to finance  R.I.P. RaShawn. Kickstarter is a crowdfunding website that helps individuals fund creative projects. Sidney’s project goal for R.I.P. RaShawn is only $3,500 and the money will be used to cover illustrations, publishing and promotional costs. In exchange for pledging to the project, backers can gain access to rewards ranging from an autographed paperback copy of R.I.P. RaShawn to an appearance by the author at your community organization, school or corporate event.

Ronnie Sidney, II, MSW and Youth from the Westmoreland Children and Youth Association

Quotes from young African American and Hispanic teens will be littered throughout R.I.P. RaShawn. One of those quotes will be from a 14-year-old high school student from Portsmouth, VA named Lawrence. Below is an excerpt from an essay Lawrence wrote after reading the book’s transcript:

It’s a cold world. Where is the love and peace? It seems like life is on repeat. Dude had a toy gun and they still shot him. It seems like what Dr. King fought for doesn’t even matter, they still want to see our blood splattered. It seems like if we talk, we get a bullet. It makes me think about what to do in life. Do I need to carry a gun?

About: Ronnie Sidney, II, MSW is an author (Nelson Beats The Odds,Tameka’s New Dress), publisher, therapist, app developer (Nelson Beats The Odds Comic Creator), philanthropist and literary activist. Ronnie partnered with his illustrators Imagine That! Design to publish Nelson Beats the Odds and Tameka’s New Dress. For inquiries email us at ronnie@creative-medicine.com or visit http://www.creative-medicine.com.

Nelson Beats The Odds Illustrates Our Failure To Educate Black Boys

 

Purchase a copy of Nelson Beats The Odds by clicking here.

Nelson Beats The Odds is a semiautobiographical graphic novel about an African-American boy who struggles with the stigma of being placed in special education. The book is written and self-published by Ronnie Sidney, II, MSW and illustrated by Traci Van Wagoner.  Sidney struggled academically and behaviorally as juvenile, spending five years in special education after being diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Specific Learning Disability (SLD). Sidney shares his childhood experience in Nelson Beats The Odds to bring attention to the plight of students with disabilities.

Sidney’s story is not unique, in fact, millions of African-American boys and men across the country share a similar experience. Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys, Vol. 1 by  Jawanza Kunjufu and Psycho-Academic Holocaust: The Special Education & ADHD Wars Against Black Boys by Dr. Umar Johnson examine ADHD and disproportionality. Since publishing Nelson Beats The Odds, former special education students have reached out to Sidney to share their experiences. “On a daily basis people come up to me and tell me how much my book resonates with them. Being a black male with a learning disability makes you feel like a double minority,” explains Sidney, “there were no books available like Nelson Beats The Odds when I was a kid so I felt the need to create one.”

Sidney believes Nelson Beats The Odds can step in and fill a huge gap in literature. “I think it’s extremely important for children of color to have their truth reflected honestly in children’s books. My book series features five resilient African-American and Hispanic youth who overcome challenges such as learning disabilities, trauma, parental substance abuse and bullying,” says Sidney.

Since 1985 the Cooperative Children’s Book Center documented the numbers of books they received that were written and/or illustrated by African Americans. In 2015 they received 3,400 books, only 106 were written and/or illustrated by African-Americans while 269 were written about them.

There is a growing movement in America and abroad to promote diverse literature that reflects the experiences of everyone. We Need Diverse Books™ launched an international campaign to address this issue.  The grassroots organization’s mission is to put more books featuring diverse characters into the hands of all children. By advocating for essential changes in the publishing industry, the group hopes more books will be produced and promoted that, “reflects and honors the lives of all young people.”

It is essential that African-American males see positive images of themselves reflected because the achievement gap between them and their white counterparts is staggering. According to a report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation there is a correlation between early childhood literacy and dropout rates. Below are some highlights from the report:

– On average, African American twelfth-grade students read at the same level as white eighth-grade students.

– The twelfth-grade reading scores of African American males were significantly lower than those for men and women across every other racial and ethnic group.

– Only 14% of African American eighth graders score at or above the proficient level. These results reveal that millions of young people cannot understand or evaluate text, provide relevant details, or support inferences about the written documents they read.

School psychologist, Dr. Kinette Richards talks about the risk factors African Americans in poverty face and how it may cause ADHD. African Americans generally have high rates of blood pressure, diabetes, pre-natural exposure to smoking and premature birth. Studies have found a correlation between those conditions and ADHD. Dr. Richard’s assessment of ADHD includes asking questions about hearing, vision, life changes and sleeping patterns. She said that any disruption in any of those areas can cause a client to be misdiagnosed.

Dr. Richards mentioned a Kaiser Permanente study that examined the health records of 850,000 kids. The study found that ADHD diagnoses were on the rise. The study found that there was a 70% increase in newly diagnosed African Americans with ADHD. The study found that boys were 3 times as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls, however, during the nine year period there was a 90% increase for newly diagnosed African American females. According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ADHD is one of the most common neurobehavioral disorders of childhood. Between 4 percent and 12 percent of school-aged children reportedly have the disorder. Researchers found that children with ADHD are more likely to miss school, experience learning problems and experience troublesome relationships with family members and peers.

Virginia’s largest children law program, JustChildren Program, published a report on May 1, 2016 entitled “Suspended Progress”. The report found that Virginia schools disproportionately suspend African-American students and students with disabilities. African-American students make up roughly 23 percent of the student population, but were subjected to 60 percent of long-term suspensions, 58 percent of short-term suspensions, and 55 percent of expulsions. African-American students were 3.6 times more likely than their white counterparts to be suspended.

Students with disabilities represent 12.3% of the student population in Virginia, but received 22% percent of long-term suspensions, 27.6 percent of short-term suspensions, and 21% of expulsions. Students with disabilities were 2.4 times more likely than students without disabilities to be suspended. According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities, Black and Hispanic students with disabilities face much higher rates of school disciplinary actions, drop-out rates and experience lower rates of graduation.

According to researchers, poor training and racial bias have contributed to children of color being assigned to “slow-moving special-education classes.” Virginia Commonwealth University researcher  Donald Oswald and others found that special education only contributed to unequal opportunities for minority students who are already inadequately served,  misclassified and segregated.  Studies have shown that students with learning disabilities face lower teacher expectations; carry around stigmatizing labels; develop lower self-esteem; and experience poorer academic outcomes than students without learning disabilities.

The Civil Rights Project’s papers concluded that black children were 3 times more likely than whites to be labeled as Mentally Retarded (MR) and outnumbered all other students labeled Emotionally Disabled (ED). They are also one and a half times likely to be diagnosed as Learning Disabled (LD) and twice as likely as whites to be labeled as ED.

Although African-Americans are overrepresented in Special Education, they are underrepresented in gifted and advanced programs. The U.S. Department of Education 2011-12 “State and National Estimations” report found that Hispanic and Black students make up 40 percent of public school students but only 26 percent of students enrolled in gifted programs.

Public education has become a gateway for youth to be placed in juvenile justice facilities due to “zero tolerance” discipline policies. This trend has been described by many as the “School-To-Prison Pipeline“. Many students are being referred to the school security officers instead of the having their issues addressed by counselors. While African-American students represented 16% of student enrollment, they represented  31% of students subjected to a school-related arrests and 27% of students referred to law enforcement, according to a 2014 report by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

A new report by The 74 found that many of America’s biggest school districts have more security officers than counselors. School counselors are outnumbered by security officers in four out of the 10 largest public school districts in the country according to the report.

Social Justice organizations like The Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC) are calling for school’s across the country to end discriminatory discipline policies that fuel the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Last August, several members of the DSC launched the Virginia “Pushout Tour” to highlight racial discipline disparities in Henrico and Chesterfield County. Although black students only made up about 37 percent of Henrico’s student body, they compromised nearly 70% of students receiving out-of-school suspensions. The organization also called for local lawmakers to address the state’s discriminatory discipline policies and the governor’s office responded.

Governor Terry McAuliffe announced his Classrooms not Courtrooms initiative on November 13, 2015. The initiative’s goal is to reduce and address the following:

– Reduce student referrals to law enforcement.

– Reduce suspensions and expulsions.

– Address the disparate impact these practices have on African-Americans and students with disabilities.

– Address the emphasis on subjective offenses like disorderly conduct.

Governor McAuliffe is calling on school superintendents, school board members and school leaders to push to make reducing the number their highest priority.

Despite the statistics and stigma, our boys and girls can beat the odds. Like Nelson, our youth need supportive parents and teachers who encourage them to reach their potential. Nelson Beats The Odds reflects the African-American male educational experience like no other book you’ve ever read. Purchase a copy of Nelson Beats The Odds by clicking here.  For information about the Nelson Beats The Odds Comic Creator, Teacher’s Guide or mixtape, visit the author’s website at http://www.creative-medicine.com.

Every Race Has A Flag But The Coon (Until Now)

While scrolling down my Facebook news feed this morning, I saw two separate photos- one of a white male holding a confederate flag and giving the Nazi salute and the other of a black male holding a Pan-African flag and giving the Black Power salute. The Pan-African flag, also known as the Black Liberation flag, has become a worldwide symbol of liberation for those of African ancestry. The man holding the Pan-African flag was a member of the Black Educators for Justice and they held a rally outside of the South Carolina statehouse on July 19, 2015. Their rally was held in opposition to the Loyal White Knights of the KKK’s rally protesting the removal of the confederate flag from the capitol building.

The age-old debate over whether the confederate flag represents heritage or hate was renewed after a white gunman walked into a South Carolina African Methodist Episcopal Church and gunned down nine worshipers.

  
In Newark, New Jersey on November 30, 1971 there was another divisive flag controversy- one involving the red, black and green Pan-African flag. The New Jersey State Education Commissioner Carl. L. Marburger overruled the Newark Board of Education in 1972, which elected to raise the red, black and green flag in schools with predominantly black student populations. The commissioner found that the display of the “Black Liberation Flag” in certain city schools was contrary to state and federal law and reversed the action.

The resolution was sponsored by Lawrence Hamm, a 17-year-old school board member who sought to raise black awareness in Newark. He was appointed to the school board by Kenneth Gibson, former mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Hamm’s resolution passed in the absence of four of the nine school board members. A December 13, 1971 article published by Time entitled “The Nation: Black Flag” described Hamm’s idea as “naively incendiary” and reported that it had thrown Newark, New Jersey “into mild turmoil”. The article also questioned whether Hamm’s intentions were to “build up black pride or encourage quasi-revolutionary notions”.

The history of the Pan-African flag can be traced back to Richard Allen, founder of the American Methodist Episcopal Church. Allen was a former slave who purchased his freedom for $2,000. He went on to open a day school for black children and maintained his home as a stop on the Underground Railroad.  In 1786, Allen began preaching at the St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church. Racial tensions began mounting after the number of African American attendees increased to 50. The regular morning services were segregated and Allen became convinced that a separate church for black parishioners was necessary. Allen and his parishioners went on to establish the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first Methodist church in the United States specifically for those of African ancestry. Allen would travel throughout the United States, including South Carolina, to preach.

Richard Allen is considered by many to be one of the forefathers of Black Nationalism. His work inspired Marcus Mosiah Garvey and Amy Ashwood (later Amy Jaques Garvey) to create the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) on July 20, 1914. I came across the work of Marcus Garvey during my freshman year of college after reading The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey: Africa for the Africans by Amy Jaques Garvey and viewing Marcus Garvey: Look for me in the Whirlwind. I remember being angry because it took me 18 years to learn about him and his achievements. Marcus Garvey was an intellectual visionary whose work influenced Malcolm X, the Nation of Islam and the Rastafarianism movement. Garvey and the UNIA operated an international newspaper and started the Black Star Line so that black people could establish trade between America, Africa and the Caribbean. By August of 1920 the UNIA had over 4,000,000 members!

One of the Marcus Garvey’s most lasting achievements was the creation of the Pan-African flag. The Pan-African flag contains three colors- red, black and green. The red is for the blood that unites all people of African ancestry and the blood that was shed for their liberation. The black represents black people’s existence as a nation and the green represents the abundant natural wealth of Africa.

The flag was adopted in 1920 by members of the UNIA in response to  “Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon,” a popular 1900 coon song. In 1921, the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey replied to the song in Africa Times and Orient Review:

Show me the race or the nation without a flag, and I will show you a race of people without any pride. Aye! In song and mimicry they have said, “Every race has a flag but the coon.” How true! Aye! But that was said of us four years ago. They can’t say it now….

The spirit behind the Pan-African flag is one of self-determination and self-reliance. The Pan-African flag embodies the legacy of Black Nationalists like Marcus Garvey and Richard Allen and creates an identity for black and brown people throughout the diaspora that extends beyond political boundaries. I don’t view the Black Liberation flag as racist, I see it as a response to racism. Where one flag was created to defend a system of oppression, the other was created to dismantle systems of oppression throughout the world. Dismantling systems of oppression is serious work and will require more than just removing the confederate battle flag from the capitol building. Symbolically it was a historic gesture, but no real progress will be made until we remove the attitudes, opinions and beliefs of racial superiority that go along with the flag. As a country we need to reevaluate how we react to racism and privilege because doing the same thing and expecting different results is insanity. Instead of being reactive, we need to be proactive and respond strategically in ways that improve the quality of life for black and brown people all over the world.