Monday, January 23rd:
Theatre Warm-ups
Twenty Second Characters
New student: Olive Ryan
Research:
Amy: white female officer who shot a black man b/c she thought he was
reaching for a gun. Her fellow white officer said "he looked like a bad dude.” White
female officer got off on bail. Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Royer: Eric Garner, 43 years old. Was selling cigarettes illegally. “I
can’t breathe.” In Kentucky.
Grace: Cultural Appropriation –
Speaking for Cooper: definition of cultural appropriation; the negative
side of cultural appropriation: ripping off a marginalized culture – renaming
and reclaiming cultural items;
“I Can’t Breathe” – Nicholas Evans
Luiza: Cultural Appropriation –
2015 List of Cultural Appropriation: Kerry Perry – Baby Hairs; etc.
Six Ways You Hurt Me When You Take My Culture
“I Feel ‘Othered’”
In other words, they exploit my culture for profit but they get to keep
their culture as the norm and treat my culture as trivial.
Tuesday, January 24th:
Theatre Warm-ups:
“Kitty Wants a Corner”
Sharing material from research: (Everyone should take notes)
Shania:
Cultural Appropriation: definitions of what it is
Amanda Steinberg has a video about cultural appropriation
Hairstyle – styles worn by celebrities and by regular kids,
too
Some white celebrities wear the hairstyle or wear black
styles but they don’t support “Black Lives Matter”
“What would America be like if it loved black people as much
as it loves black culture”
“I Am Me and I Am Beautiful” – why do cornrows look good on
Beyonce but mine are considered nasty.
Suggestion: Screen full of names of those who were killed by
police while actors come out in black hoodies with a speech by Martin Luther
King.
Abbey: Philando Castile, July 6, 2016, was shot and killed
by a police officer during a routine traffic stop. He informed the police
officer that he had a gun on him and he had a license to carry the gun. He made
it clear that he was not reaching for his gun, he was reaching for his registration. The police officer
shot him seven times. As he laid dying his girlfriend live-streamed the
confrontation.
Nona: Nineteen year old athlete named Christian Taylor, who
was shot and killed August 7, 2015, in Arlington, Texas, by the police.
During his autopsy, drugs were found in his blood system. The police said he was
acting peculiar. The officer who shot him was a rookie who was still on
probation.
Music: “A Change is Gonna Come” Marvin Gaye
Nush: Eric Garner was selling loose cigarettes in front of a
store when he was confronted by the police. He was killed by the police when he
was placed in an illegal chokehold for fifteen seconds. He said, “I can’t
breathe!”
John Crawford
Lindsay: “Racism in the Sixties versus Racism at Trump
Rallies”
Wednesday, January 25th:
I was absent today.
Students played theatre games
Thursday, January 26th:
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Suggestions
from Mr. Briggs
Mr. Bah Drumming
Black Anthem
Tai – poem
23 Ways to Die
Dance Guard
Cheyenne and Akili
Tai and Khalah – POW by Alicia Keyes
Jazmine – Poem “And Still I Rise”
As the student body is filing in
there will be live drumming, or recorded music
Martin Luther King, George
Washington Carver, Hidden Figures, Michael Jackson, Thurgood Marshall, C.J. Walker, Sojourner Truth, Nelson
Mandela, Lewis Howard Latimer – Inventor of the Traffic Light, Benjamin Benneker,
Harriet Tubman, Rosa Park, Malcolm X, Barbara Jordan, Abe Lincoln, Bessie
Coleman
Mohammed Ali – 20 second speech by
Ali (Flo)
Prince
African Tradition of Honoring the
Dead – Mr. Bah and Mr. Briggs
“Pouring of Libations” – 3 minutes
The Singing of the Black National
Anthem – 3:34
(Put up the lyrics on one side of the screen and pictures of
notable people on the other side)
Black National Anthem – Khalah,
Tai, and Chynna
Someone begins singing the anthem
onstage
Then “random” people with electric
candles scattered throughout the auditorium stand up and join in singing the
song
Tai – Poem (Two minutes)
Twenty Three Ways to Die
Dance Guard – Edith
(Choreographer) Chandler (Dancer)
Cultural Appropriation
Jazmin – “And Still I Rise”
Video Montage: “What Does Being
Black Mean to You?”
Akili and Polina
Prerecorded and edited video of
“What Does It Mean to be an African-American?”
Akili and Polina and Daesha
Three Questions in video: “What do
you want people to know about being a black man or a black woman”
The third question will be
forthcoming from Daesha Campbell
Will be shot in the NMA office
Dance – “Bottom of the River”
Cheyenne Dioh, Akili, Noah, Kaelen, Monai
Mr. Briggs:
Black Lives Matter – Twenty Three
Ways You Can be Killed if You’re Black in America (Khalah)
* Maybe have students do the 23
ways to be killed…
Tribute to Michelle Obama
Cultural Appropriation – (Briggs)
Bridges + 5th Period
Section is introduced by an actor
who explains what cultural appropriation is
Then a scene is played by actors
to illustrate misappropriation of African American culture (Shania)
Meaning of cultural appropriation
Prison incarceration rate of Black
males and females – Mr. Briggs
Why is it happening? – Flo
Scene showing two cocaine users,
one white, one black, and the disparate treatment of drug users based on race -
Beverly
Meaning of the rising of black
incarceration rates
Black Lives Matter (Tai Jones)
Begin with footage of the Rodney
King beating (suggestion by Flo to
put at beginning of assembly)
Then fast forward to the present
with the beatings within the past four years and the emergence of Black Lives
Matter
Archival Material
Students write sketches or
speeches about Black Lives Matter and present
Victims of Police Brutality
Examples: Sandra Bland
Have an actor walk on with a sign
“I died because I refused to put out my cigarette.”
The actor in the guise of Sandra
Bland tells her story.
Then the actor turns the sign
around and shows a photo of Sandra Bland.
Example:
The therapist who was shot while
attending his patient.
Example:
The man who was pulled over by the
police and shot and killed in front of his child while filmed by his
girlfriend.
Michelle and Barack Obama – Mr.
Briggs
A portrayal of the Obamas
Obama’s Farewell Speech
Ending:?
Following people want to
participate:
Tai, Jazmine, Chrishandala,
Madison,
Friday, January 27th:
Mr. Briggs’ Outline of Black
History Assembly
1. Slide
Show of Moments of 2016 – 2017
2. Negro
National Anthem (Projected on Screen)
3. Remember
the Fallen 2016 – 2017 – The Libation by Mr. Bah and Mr. Briggs
4. “What
Does It Mean to Be Black” – Akili and Polina
5. Dance
Guard
6. Anais
Poem
7. 23
Ways to Be Killed If You Are Black (Black Lives Matter Movement)
8. Dance
Crew
9. Tai
Jones – “Black Girl”
10. Cultural
Appropriation
11. The Obamas
12. Duo Dance
– Khalah and Tai
13. Jazmyn
Clark – “Still I Rise”
Events of 2016: The Presidential Campaign; Obama Leaving; Trump
wins; the Death of Prince; Black Lives Matter – Dallas, Louisiana; “Black
Panther” is the first black super-hero”; Mohammad Ali died, The Women’s March;
Kevin Hartt;
Shania worked with class blocking "Twenty-Three Ways to Be Killed While Being Black"
