A Beaming Light-Celebrating Coach Henry Jones

A Beaming Light-Celebrating Coach Henry Jones

As we get older, we gain the ability to reflect on our childhood and those aha moments that shaped us and the people that have had a lasting impact on us.

I recently wrote in my journal, “This journey has made me see Panama in a different light, love everything about being from Colon, celebrate being a product of Rainbow City, know with purpose that my Black is Beautiful and has deepened my Love for those I call Friends.”

It has also deepened my love for those I call mentors and teachers.

Many say, once an athlete always an athlete. The discipline, teamwork, focus that you develop will carry you through life. What I learned from Coach Jones has stayed with me off the track.

With my young women, I always highlight the talent I see in them and hope that they hold it close through good and bad times.

Coach saw me run at the age of 10 and saw something I did not know I had. He worked hard with so many of us. My parents trusted him and allowed me to gain more than good track skills from this amazing man.Coach was an Olympian, teacher, mentor father and confidant to many.

On my recent birthday, I heard that Coach was in the US with his children. I was so excited and on the spot decided I would give myself the gift of going and sitting with him and saying Thank you. I have seen him throughout the years but I was not able to sit and have a long conversation. I was always overcome with tears.

I wanted to ask him so many questions. I wanted to understand why he meant so much to me and to so many others.

I got to see Panama with him as a member of the Colon track team. I learned to push pass class differences with my teammates who are still today some of my closest friends. My love for running comes from this time period of being trained by him.

When I arrived to visit him I was overwhelmed with love for this man. I laughed with him, cried, held his hand, read to him and got to know him all over again on a deeper level.

One of my friends and teammates gave me a joke to share with him. As I told him I saw his face light up. I had shared my plans with others and many took the time to send him a message. They were many wonderful stories, jokes yet I will only share a few.

-He was always about simply doing your best.

-He really helped me…Please tell him, he is often thought about and some things he said to me, I’m passing to my son and daughter.

-Coach Jones was the best track coach ever at Cristobal.!! Striving for excellence with every stride, regardless of the outcome. He was always an encouraging Coach.

-Please tell Coach Jones hello. He taught me a lot about life. He is the man!!!

-Please give him my best and remind him of all those he had a great impact on.

He was moved by the messages and his face was filled with such pride. I was able to read some of my work to him. I would ask him if he was tired and he said he wanted to hear more. I asked about the challenges he faced at home during segregation and what he did to overcome them. One of the things he did was to keep studying. I found out that coach received his Masters in Education from NYU.

The more he shared, the more I realized that this man shaped many of my views on life,moving pass class differences and pride.

On the last day of my visit I woke up early and wrote this to him.

A Beaming Light

Faster than a speeding bullet,
Charming and Gracious as an African King.

Believe in self was part of your DNA.

You walked with pride that was passed on to each
and every one of us.

Doing your best was your song,
Being our best was our chorus,

I am you Coach Jones
because I am disciplined.

An Olympian, a star in our eyes,
Education was your key to success.

You were more than just a man who showed
us to pick up our legs and move our hands.

Father to many, Mentor to all.

I am you Coach Jones
because I am strong.

Preaching Unity from your starting block pulpit,
we were all Colonenses, Beep Beep Colon!!!

We hold your love for running as we find clarity and peace
on a long run through the streets.

I am you Coach Jones because I see love
and give love.

Many ask, who taught you this, I say, this beaming light
on the track field.

Then they ask, what did he say and I share a line that
I will forever hold, “not to worry about them, let them
worry about us."

I see you in me, running past the given line standing
straight and tall.

This is not an accident. I was "saved" in you hands.

Thank you Dario and Kimaura for sharing him with us.

I am you Coach Jones because I am family.

The sun rises and sets on my love for you.

You gave me long life friendships that allows me to sit and
laugh about the cow milk in Coclé, the bunk beds in Bocas,
and the loud music on the bus after another victory.

I am you Coach Jones because you are you,

The runner, the coach, the mentor, the star, the king,
The light that I will always be reaching for.

When I finished reading it, I asked what I should name the piece. I then looked up and saw the light in his eyes and the name came to me, A Beaming Light. I now speak to him weekly and get to share my life as an adult with him.

So today, I ask you all to stand and shout out, Happy 80th Birthday Coach Jones. Thank you, thank you thank you for having a lasting impact on who I am as a woman, a friend and an activist. May the ancestors continue to fill your life with joy and surround you with love.

Love you!!!

Peace
Yvette

Reflection- Footsteps to Unity

Footsteps to Unity

I am often reminded of why the word Encuentro is important to me and to this journey. It is defined as, meeting and encounter yet, when the name of the organization came to me it meant more.

The meaning of the word as we see it becomes, the gathering, meeting, seeing, acknowledging, accepting and knowing of the African Diaspora. Our collaborative event, Healing from the Roots: Africa in Hispaniola, with the Dominican student association, M.A.N.G.U. and the Haitian student association, Haitian American Society at UMASS Boston allowed all in the space to move with our expanded definition.

We spend a lot of time wanting others to see us, to understand our complexities as people of African descent. Today our focus needs to be how we see each other and accept each other while building towards a better understanding of the complexities of our individual regions.

Looking deeper into understanding that what is happening in Haiti has an impact on Santo Domingo. Santo Domingo has an impact on Puerto Rico. Nicaragua impacts Costa Rica. Colombia impacts Panama. Venezuela impacts Ecuador. Adding to this understanding, our experience in this country and our relationship with Africa Americans, we should see the advantage to building a unified message.

In preparing my opening for the dialogue, I kept saying, Afro descendents of Latin America and the Caribbean need to rename and reclaim history that would speak to our truth.

I shared in my opening a quote by Audre Lorde, “divide and conquer in our world, must become define and empower.”

It is time to redefine Latin America and the Caribbean by placing our African ancestry at the root.

By empowering ourselves to move past all the misunderstanding, address the racism and some might even say the hate, we can then take footsteps to unity.
I commend the students for taking this brave step to engage in this difficult dialogue moving from pain to hope.

Posing the following questions helped us move in that direction. Who has benefited from the struggle of the working class and the poor? Do you think you have African roots? How do we deal with the presence in each country?

Zenaida Mendez was our Dominican speaker. Folks remember that name!! She is a true feminist leader. Zenaida spoke of the similarities between Haitians and Dominicans. She shared the fluid exchange of Dominicans and Haitians in her upbringing, highlighting food, music and spirituality. It was also necessary and important to speak of the painful history which many would say, feeds the existing tension between these communities that share an island.

Other points to highlight: Dominicans helped their neighbors during the earthquake crisis. The other many would say, speak to the internal struggle in Santo Domingo. Dominicans do not have “Black” as an option on their passport. What does it mean that you do not have the option to self identify? She then, in Zenaida fluid style, shared a famous phrase, “todos tenemos negro, detras de las orejas.”

Alix Cantave was our Haitian speaker. Prof. Cantave also began by sharing a personal perspective of the connection of Haiti and Santo Domingo. His tone was of hope and development. He shared that something to recognize is that our legacy is rooted in a hierarchy of class and race.

Visuals can always take your thought process to another level, especially when numbers are presented. Prof. Cantave shared a power point that highlighted the disparities that exist such as economic inequality, poverty and education. Of the 10 million Dominicans, 1 million are of Haitian origin. The poverty level in Santo Domingo is 40% while in Haiti it is 80%.

When I travel to Santo Domingo I see Haiti and vice versa. One of the many blessings of this journey is that I see myself in the faces of all people of African descent. There is something wonderful and special when they also see you.

Haiti and Santo Domingo are two nations trapped by historical circumstances. It is time to dismiss the anti-propaganda, this ideology that has benefited the dominant class.

It is time to open our hearts and minds, to listen, to really see our neighbor.

Zenaida and Prof. Cantave shared a profound willingness to support the students by using the momentum of the event to create a project that will continue the exchange.
Prof. Cantave pointed out some specifics to keep in mind.

-Understanding the disparities
-Economic development
-Collaborative approach
-Inter-Country planning and strategies

The Dominican and Haitian students at UMASS Boston have begun taking their footsteps to unity. The Professors present pledged their support. The Encuentro family will walk closely with them as they seek truth and wellness for their communities.

We should all move with the students as a Region and as a people who continue to be invisible and excluded from the larger dialogue in our perspective countries.

Success for one is success for all!!!

Join us by putting on your best shoes and begin taking your Footsteps to Unity.


Peace
Yvette

Reflection- Guerrera Spirit

Guerrera Spirit

“It is days like these when I stand with and before these amazing women, with the spirit of the ancestors, that my journey/purpose makes absolute sense.” 9/10/10

I shared that statement with friends at the end of the first day of the IV ONECA/CABO (Central American Black Organizations) Conference of Afro Central American Women. Our call for this conference was, “ La lucha con identidad de Mujer.”

Part of our work at this conference was to look closely at the UN documents such as CEDAW, CEPAL, Beijing, Durban and Belem do Para by posing some of the following question; do they speak to our reality? Are the governments responding to our needs as Women of African Descent?

Women of African descent in Latin America and the Caribbean are faced on a daily basis with issues of gender, race and poverty. We are constantly addressing how it affects us as individuals and how it relates to our communities.

HIV/AIDS, Prostitution, Trafficking, Immigration and Education were a few of the topics on our agenda. Violence against us and towards our communities was a topic that brought about many emotions.

How many of us are faced with racial violence in our work place or as we walk down the street? Many times we think it is random so we leave one job to go to a “saver” environment. We then realize that there is a stigma, a label that is placed on us as Black women that dismisses our performance.

Afro descendent women need to begin naming Racial Violence which would lead us to have deeper conversation of the long term effect. Moving in that direction, we can then challenge these documents to truly represent what we face by speaking on the internal pain and impact on our self esteem.

I spoke at the conference as a Panamanian woman and a woman of the Diaspora. It was my first time speaking publicly of an incident that filled my family with sadness. I felt a heavy wave of tears coming and in that moment, I felt her spirit, the spirit of my young cousin Gisela Crawford, holding my hand telling me it was time to tell her story.

Gisela was raped and killed in my home town of Colon. I speak of her because the system victimized her all over again. One, by posting the picture of her naked body in the newspaper, two, by not doing a proper rape test because there was no one available during Fiestas Patrias and three, by not wanting to touch her because she could be HIV positive. The lack of process, of outrage and education, led to not having an investigation on this brutal incident.

We ask that our governments develop a process that would better respond to human rights violations. As women in our perspective regions, we need to stand with all women who are faced with any level of violence that affects her well being.

As we prepare for 2011 which has been named, the year of people of African descent, Afro Central American women will continue to speak our truth.

When we come together we work hard, hold each other with care as we carry the weight of our communities on our shoulders and the spirit of our ancestors in our hearts.

The last evening of the conference, we celebrated the spirit of the Garifuna Guerrera Barauda. Barauda was the wife of the great Garifuna leader Satuye. They are stories that speak to her courage while standing next to Satuye during Hondura’s time of war against the British.

That Guererra spirit lives deep in the women who fight for the visibility, recognition and empowerment of the Afro Central American community. You hear it in their voices, see it as they stand and speak their truth, when they walk with pride and hold you with love. I commend one of our guererras, Mirtha Colon, who leads the women’s division of ONECA/CABO for moving with that energy.

We, women of African descent, move to the beat of our ancestral drum. It does not matter how tired we are at these conferences, we always leave celebrating and dancing. When we dance you see grace, joy and an ability to get down low like no bodies business.

Guerrera Spirit moves with those women who fight hard, love hard and see the light that leads to justice for our communities.

La lucha continua,

Peace
Yvette

Reflection-Grounded in Blackness

Reflection- Grounded in Blackness

Honoring my Mother

In continuing to share my internal dialogue out loud, I share my Reflection, Grounded in Blackness. In writing on this week, I celebrate my mother on her birthday and honor her on the anniversary of her passing. Thanks Mama for grounding me in my Blackness.

I write this with a Malcolm X phrase in mind. Malcolm X stated many times, “Being Pro Black does not mean I am anti-white, it just means I am Pro Black.”

I ask myself and you, what does that mean for people of African descent today?

What does it mean to the community we live in? What does it mean to you?

What led me to ask these questions and continue repeating Malcolm X’s words were a few incidents and moments that have left a lasting impact.

In telling one of the stories, I hope I bring you along to the realness of the pain I felt at that moment and since.

I was on a bus in the community. A Latina, visually to me, of African descent, was sitting in the front with her two children. The little girl was so charming that we had already chatted while waiting. Soon after an African American woman came in with a baby carriage.

She looked at the Latina woman and said, get up. She did not say please or excuse me just, get up. The Latina woman looked at her and would not move. The stand off prohibited others to enter the bus.

Finally another Latina woman said, “sientate aqui,” sit here. The woman with her two children seemed to be struggling deeply with moving but she finally did.

Everyone began to enter. An elder West Indian woman was one of the first to
enter. One thing I have learned with my West Indian elders is that they will speak their mind and she was no different.

With her strong presence and accent she said, “cho, that child fresh, I would not move, me move with that rudeness, cho.” I kept saying to myself, this is getting uglier.

My luck, the West Indian woman sits next to me. Now I feel that I am fully engaged in the situation. She keeps going on about how rude the woman was. The African American woman then directs her words to the West Indian woman. She yells, “shut up, go back on the boat that you came from with your stupid accent.”

Ouch, I thought. There was no need to go there, this is getting really bad. I then look at the West Indian woman and in my own Caribbean accent said, “Maam, please let go, this is not good and you should not be spoken to that way.” She looks at me and says, “Sweetie, you West Indian” I say yes, Maam, my grandparents are. That was her introduction to share her disgust with what she was seeing and hearing.

I am thinking this is done then, the African American woman directs another statement to her and says, “you don’t belong here, go back to where you came from.”

This situation becomes deeply painful to me. Why? All these women are connected, connected in their Blackness, connected in their history as people of African descent.

My spirits is on fire as I sit with this pain. I know I will need to say something. I have already calmed down the woman next to me. The Latina woman’s daughter was looking at me for comfort through the entire incident. I then feel the need to connect with the sister at the front.

My stop is coming up so, I stand and move closely to the front, I slowly step next to her and say, “Sister, the next time you tell anyone to go back on the boat to where they came from and that they do not belong here, ask yourself, how did you get here, peace.” I slowly walked off and have not been able to shake off the visual pain of the incident.

I ask again, what does it means to be grounded in Blackness or Pro Black? Why did I see the connection?

First, Being Pro Black means loving self and loving my Black brother and sister unconditionally.

Pausing for a moment, I know that putting this out is thought provoking and may mean some isolation but there is a sense of freedom that hugs you when you are speaking truth to your own reality. This is not the time for easy conversations if we really want to transform our world.

I made a list of a few things that answer the question for me at this moment in my life.

Being Grounded in Blackness means;

-Feeling the pain of all who face the inequality and racism that exist in our society.

-Feeling responsible for the city that shaped me. Acknowledging the obstacles it faces and looking at those who say, “I cannot go there” that I can because that is who I am and what I come from.

-Naming the Health Care disparities that exist that places my family in the position to fight for the best treatment for my nephew who is battling cancer.

-Loving a Black man and all he brings to the table.

-Hugging my nine year old nephew and letting him know that he is bright and can think outside the box.

-Telling my niece everyday that she is FABULOUS.

-Feeling the hurt of any Black woman who is rejected by any Black man for the stereotypes that have been placed on us, such as, too aggressive, confrontational and not those that speak to our depth as, survivors, loyal and loving.

-Acknowledging the deeply rooted Institutional racism that exists in the Americas and naming those who benefit from the division in our communities.

-Telling my girls from the H.E.R. Project and every young girl of color, that they are strong and intelligent.

-Embracing, learning and acknowledging a spiritual philosophy that has been labeled as devil worshiping.

-Standing strong while you sit with your discomfort as we continue to face the inconsistencies in health care, education and economics.


-Feeling responsible for not being home to push back at those who think Colon is what it is only because of the people. Colon is not in the state that it is only because what many say, the people are lazy, the crime, which I acknowledge is really bad, but also because the government has forgotten about the people specifically those who make up the majority of the community.

-Loving the texture of my hair, the curve in my hips and the rhythm of my soul.
Grounded in Blackness is not being taken off the path that people of African descent will be loved, held, acknowledged for the work and the depth that we awake to everyday.

These are many questions and thoughts as we transform and grow. Once your eyes are open you see so much and feel so much that there is no going back.

Some others;

-Walking in Chota, Ecuador and crying from the deep sense that we were and are here.

-Continue to learn about my family and sharing the real story.

-Defining myself, my identity.


-Walking away from your insult because nothing you can say, including, “ I have a Black friend” can change the fact that you crossed the line.

-Knowing that those who walk close to me and have had a lasting impact on me who are not Black find our similarities, our humanness, but in opening my eyes to the reality of my childhood and my experiences as an adult, that our roads take different destinations when my Blackness come into play.

-Not loosing focus to the discomfort of others who refuse to hear our reality.

-Believing in my power to change and give to my community.

I give thanks to my mother for leaving a legacy of being proud and not allowing anyone to shake that, for showing me the connection between every Black Panamanian, leading me on a deeper search of that unity. Thanks, for the gift of seeing myself in Nicaragua, Belize, Ecuador and the women of Nigeria.

Thanks Mama for supporting my need to break down the barriers that I saw as a child, for reminding me to take my shoes off to be one with my teammates on the track team and for sitting us down as a family to watch Sounder.

I will continue to build a list and walk with the spirit that keeps me Grounded in my Blackness. Build your list and allow yourself to be free.

Peace and love,
Yvette