they can just give them lots of love and that will be enough for their

child to have a happy and healthy, productive life. Learn how to do

hair. Read James Baldwin and Ta-Nehisi Coates, become familiar

with black history and literature*, learn the words to “Lift Every

Voice and Sing” and really understand that it’s the story of our ex-

perience in this country since the 1700s and our hopes going forward.

What do you think all non-black parents MUST know or re-

member when raising black children?

Batman: I want them to remember that wanting to protect the child

from the prejudices of the world isn’t going to help. The child will

have to interact with society at some point and the fine line is going

to be between fostering self-esteem telling the kid they can be any-

thing they want if they work hard enough and raising them to be

aware that some people will see him/her as “less than” and to go on

despite the hardships because that’s what has brought us through to

the 21st century.

How does being bi-racial (and non-black) affect your experi-

ence as a parent of a non-white child?

Ripley: I think it helps me be more sensitive to race and culture dif-

ferences, and definitely not as shy about talking about those. My non-

white parent and I are able to talk about white people, and not being

the same as white people, where my white parent just assumes we

are exactly like the majority culture. So that understanding is present

with my parenting of my black child - knowing that while she walks

comfortably in the white world, she isn’t white and knows she isn’t,

and navigates it differently. And that she thinks about it.

101 is a zine created in and for cville. The authors

are multi-national, multi-ethnic, multi-racial,

multi-generational and multi-dimensional. We

write these words and draw these pictures to record

our observations of race in cville in our current

times of trouble and hope. We want to further dia-

logue that leads to real change and unity in our

community. Introduce Yourselves.

Contact the authors at cville1012017@gmail.com

In Issue 2

This timeline of the events of Saturday, July 8, 2017 was created by several community members who were present at the protest against the Klan rally. We documented the events of the day by comparing timestamps of pictures that we took, our recollections, and videos and photos that have been shared in social media and in the press. When possible the jurisdiction of the police are indicated. When the generic term “police” is used, it indi-cates no record of which jurisdiction was involved.

1:00-2:00 Community members gather in Justice Park and at First United Methodist Church (FUMC) in anticipation of protesting the Klan rally.

~2:20 Commu-nity members leave FUMC singing, and join the crowd at Jus-tice Park. Com-munity members fill the street for at least 2 blocks.

2:30 A young man stands on the corner of High and 4th Street with bucket of roma tomatoes asking community mem-bers if they would like some to throw at the Klan. He has no takers.

3:00 - 3:15 Several altercations occur. A young white man wearing a confed-erate flag as a cape is surrounded by members of the crowd who shout “shame” at him. The press of bodies moves him along High Street. Police intervene by surrounding him, separating him from the crowd. They move him into the barricaded area where the Klan will be assembling. In a sepa-rate incident, also on High St, another young white man is pushed forcibly against a tree by a police officer. The young man and a young woman con-vince the officer to let him go.

3:18 A soft blockade of community members forms. A city police officer in-teracts with them, presumably giving them warning of imminent arrest. A couple people choose to leave the blockade line. Eventually a double row of blockaders forms. State police arrest them with some officers using exces-

black children?

Batman: I wish they knew how to deal with black hair ;-) (e.g. don’t

wash their kid’s hair so often, find the right hair care products, and

moisturize!). Also, recognize what you don’t know and find some black

people that can talk with the child about how to successfully walk in

the world in a black body. Of course, tell them they’re beautiful,

smart and talented because they’re going to need to get enough your

reassurance and love at home to carry them out into a world that con-

stantly tells them that they’re different, substandard, “less than”, and

that they don’t belong.

Why is hair such an indicator of good parenting? Most of my

advice from other black parents is about hair.

Batman: I said it partially tongue in cheek, but black hair is IMPOR-

TANT. It’s drier, softer, and obviously curlier so it needs to be taken

care of differently and in many cases you can’t use the same grooming

methods as white hair. Treating your black child’s hair “just like eve-

ryone else’s” can damage it. Society upholds the “colonial” standard of

beauty: blonde hair, blue eyes, pale skin, straight hair (all recessive

genetic traits btw) as the ultimate in desirable features. In trying to

fit into of this standard of beauty black folks have risked scalp burns

from relaxers containing lye, burnt ears from hot straightening

combs, and firing from jobs prohibiting “natural or ethnic” hairstyles.

The hidden message is hair that doesn’t conform to the european

beauty standard is unacceptable when representing a company’s

brand to the public and if you want to advance in the dominant cul-

ture you have to look “non-threatening”. Think about lawsuits that

have been brought against airlines, other businesses, and schools as

freedom of speech cases. Wearing your natural hair in its natural

state because that’s the way you like it and you want to express who

you are is like thumbing your nose at the dominant culture and say-

ing “I’m beautiful just the way I am!” That’s not going to help you

blend in with a world that can deal with diversity as long as all of the

poc “act white”.

I’ve also heard that it’s a sign that parents care to learn about

their child’s blackness. Like, if you care enough to know about

how to treat their hair, you’ll care enough to learn about

other things too.

Batman Yup. I get irritated by white parents who just assume that

Ripley: I think she sees her blackness as something outside of herself.

It’s something she doesn’t really totally understand, but the need to

understand is getting closer and closer to her, and frankly that makes

her uncomfortable. She doesn’t fit in well with other black kids (both

because of cultural background, and because of what she perceives

black kids to be interested in, that she’s not), and has mostly white

friends, but is figuring out (with some help of some role models) what

she needs to do to be able to feel more comfortable with her black

peers. Some of her white friends have tried to stand up for her when

she’s teased by other black kids, and she knows that she can’t let

them do that for her, that she’s got to navigate those relationships.

Society, of course, shapes some of her views of blackness. I try to

shape her self-confidence, and so far (pre-puberty), she sees herself as

beautiful, smart, strong, and talented. If I can help maintain that, I

will feel really good. It’s hard shaping her other views of blackness -

society keeps intruding in very unwelcome ways. And it’s really,

really hard to discuss prejudice and racism and police brutality and so

on when we are sitting there with me not experiencing it, and her

feeling like she’s been signed up for the worst thing ever. There are

lots of strong images out there, too, but we are really realizing how

few and far between they are, and how limited.

How does your white privilege figure into having a multi-

racial family?

Ripley: I’ll be honest and say that I do try to leverage my white-ish

privilege (I am not white, but people don’t have time to figure me out,

so I just take the power away from them) to try to protect my child

and advocate for her. And when I think about the ways that I do that,

I often uncover unintentional stereotypes and racist thoughts of my

own. For example, I expect her teachers to get serious about her as a

student when they know she has white parents. Because I expect

them to understand that we are going to be involved parents, and

that we aren’t going to let things slide on their part. But that, of

course, reveals that I think that black parents may not be as involved

(or at least, that teachers don’t think they are). I have even consid-

ered putting a laminated picture of her family on the back of her li-

cense when she begins driving, hoping that the white faces of her par-

ents will offer a measure of protection from police if she gets stopped.

What is your experience observing non-black parents raising

sive force.

3:15 - 3:30 State troopers in riot gear make their first appearance. High Street had been occupied by state police in standard uniforms, but at some point state troopers in riot gear appeared. They’re wearing helmets, soft body ar-mor and holding riot shields.

3:46 The Ku Klux Klan arrives.

4:25 The Klan leaves. As promised, they were armed.

4:28 A large portion of the crowd runs down 4th St to the parking garage where the KKK were parked. A small group of about five people were in-tent on preventing them from leaving, but the remainder of the crowd was watching, in protest or out of curiosity. Initially the crowd is right in front of the garage doors, facing a small group of cops not in riot gear. At some point a large group of State Police in riot gear arrive and form a line be-tween the crowd and the parking garage, and begin moving the crowd back to the sidewalk to clear a path for the Klan to leave. There was a drone fly-ing above the crowd as well as the helicopter that had been there since at least 2pm.

4:38 In front of the parking garage on 4th St. police announce that the crowd will be arrested if they do not disperse.

4:38- 4:58 Police and community members have moved uphill to High St. Activists attempt to form a soft blockade on the ramp to the Juvenile Dis-trict Court. A police officer attempts to step over the activists and in the process kicks a young black man in the face with both feet.

5:00 City police are unmasked and talking with the crowd. A mental health medic alerts a city police officer that medics and activists are dealing with a medical issue on the ground. The city police officer acknowledges the situa-tion. State police have formed a line across High St. Video shot by a mem-ber of the crowd shows the police issuing a call to leave the area, but com-munity members within 150 feet do not hear the request. Community mem-

Photo by Alan Goffinski

bers are shouting, but witnesses see no contact with police, and nothing thrown.

5:03 State police put on gas masks prior to throwing gas canisters. 5:03 As activists realize that police will be dispersing gas, they form a soft blockade facing away from the police. There is at least 15 feet between the blockade and the police. The first gas canister hits the back of the line, while the second lands at the feet of the blockade.

5:05 The third canister is released, landing about a block away from the state police, amidst community members who were not interacting in any way with the police.

5:10 Police cars are parked (and may have been for some time) on High St. There are five cars, thoroughly blocking High St.

5:18 City police leave Charlottesville City Courthouse ahead of a young Af-rican American woman being released. The city police are wearing face shields with batons and form a diagonal across High St. One young man throws a water bottle at the police. This is the only object that the compilers of this document see thrown.

5:22 Much of the crowd disperses.

5:30-6:00 A predominantly African American crowd stands in Justice Park facing city police and airing grievances. Some city police are wearing face shields, some are not; some are holding extended batons, some not. Abruptly, the city police leave Justice Park, and enter the county court-house. The crowd disperses.

In which Batman and Ripley discuss Ripley’s experience raising a black

child as a non-black parent.

How do you navigate being a multi-racial family?

Ripley: Not as well as we should. I mean, we don’t hide from issues,

and we talk about things, and everything I am learning has been

helpful. But we don’t seek out relationships with other black folks as

much as we should, mostly because that would put us out of our intro-

vert-comfort zone. We really need to step up and do that.

Did you have the “talk” with your child? How did it go?

Ripley: Yes, I did have “the talk” - not the birds and bees, but the

“how to stay safe and not get killed by the police”. I had to link it to

current events, but there is always something current. My daughter

sobbed. I sobbed. It was very hard. And, I’m not sure it was very effec-

tive, because I think she wanted to forget it and then did. And

frankly, I did too. Even though we have talked about it more than

once, we haven’t done it more than 2 or 3 times. We haven’t role-

played what she needs to do if confronted by authority, and I think we

need to do it. But it’s heart-breaking and soul-wrenching to tell your

child that the people she’s grown up believing are there to protect her

might actually be the biggest danger to her.

What do you wish more people knew about your family/child?

Ripley: I wish they knew that she was sensitive and fragile in some

ways. She’s athletic (and assumed to be so, from her physique), smart

and funny and kind, which you figure out in a few moments of being

with her. But she has things that trigger deep conflict and avoidance.

It used to be stuff only about adoption, but discussions about race are

starting to be something that she withdraws from as well. Sometimes

she’s really open, mostly with her parents, and that’s awesome. But,

she’s really trying hard to figure out how to navigate a variety of ex-

pectations while still being herself.

About our family, I wish people would know that we have a lot

of love, and every right to be a family, and that we are doing the best

that we can. But that we can do better, and if they want to help, we

will receive that offer gladly.

How does your child view her blackness? How have you tried

to shape this, or have others shape this?

nent folks were just lucky. I thought it was a destiny thing. They were predetermined to do amazing, or they had family with some money.

Now, I am still not 100 percent sure about my own blackness, meaning I am not sure I am comfortable with it yet. But I do know that I am attracted to it. I love rap and Hip Hop, I always have. When I started listen-ing to hip hop in different languages I began feeling a sense of pride I hadn’t felt before. Something about this art from my culture that has spread worldwide. That’s pretty dope! One thing I did love about being black in Charlottesville was the experiences I had while being black in high school. The memories made with my black peers. We were fun. We were loud and we looked out for one another. To this day, if I go to a cer-tain McDonalds in town, I still get the hookup of an extra fry and an ap-ple pie with my order.

Growing up in Charlottesville has given me many experiences I didn’t think I would have in this century. It’s a microcosmic view of what is go-ing on in the nation. I feel like Charlottesville has two faces; one face that

is helpful to Black people with events ran by good people with good hearts sharing good ideas. The other face doesn’t want to acknowledge the fact that we have issues here. Putting grocer-ies in my refrigerator can’t solve the problem-- it’s nice, but not really what we need.

In the week since the July 8 Klan rally, Charlottesville continues to debrief and process the events of that Saturday and work to work on preventing and preparing for the alt-right rally proposed for August 12. During this time of community reflection, several recurring themes deserve a response:

“You gave the Klan what they wanted.”

This argument presupposes that the sum total of what they want is to be seen. As long as we ignore them, the argument goes, then we deny them life-giving attention. Soon they will wither and die, and even better, we don’t really have to do anything. The KKK is a deadly flower, but one that will die without our care. I used to think the same thing about Madonna. But that’s not all they want. Yes, the KKK, Jason Kessler, the alt-right, they all want to be seen. It’s why Jason films himself like he’s channeling Andy Warhol. They want their message heard and their flags noted. But they also want an America that never was. They want a continent for white people, straight people, Christian people. They want to hurt and kill us, and those whom they haven’t harmed they wish to terrify. They want to nullify modernity. They want to erase progress. They want to be kings, and they believe America is a zero-sum game. Is it within my power to give them that? Is it in yours? No-body can give them what they want, least of all them, and this enrages them. Meanwhile, we showed up by the hundreds.. We commandeered the very air with chants and songs and drums and hands and the air said we don’t want you here. And only by being there could we make that happen. The City could have had Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Co-bain and Living Unicorn doing a 150 decibel jam on “Kumbaya” and it wouldn’t have drowned out the KKK like we did. So, no, we didn’t give them what they wanted. Nor will we next time, or the next time, or the time after that.

Police as institution vs individuals & people with families

Police officers choose to take on a job with a great deal of responsibility and power. Po-licing has an institutional history (and present) that includes ties with white supremacy, enforcing racist policies and maintaining the present order. Regardless of the characteris-tics of the individual -- is polite, has a loving family, is a good neighbor -- when the indi-vidual puts on the uniform, the individual becomes subsumed by the office. Many people critique the institution of policing, and individual police often bear the brunt of that critique in the form of anger. Police break trust with the communities that they serve when they fail to hold other officers accountable for their misdeeds, use of excessive force, or wearing and using gear for the purposes of intimidation. It is people of color who are unduly affected by these misdeeds, and it’s unreal-istic to think that won’t feel anger at this continued injustice. Generations of people of color have trained themselves and their children to not show that anger, lest they be con-sidered at best, “uppity,” and at worst, a dangerous criminal. When they do show that anger, our racist institutions have a record of punishing them more harshly than members of the dominant culture. The insistence that police be respected as individuals seems disingenuous when the people doing the insisting refuse to see angry community members as individu-als themselves, individuals with serious grievances.

“You should have just gone home”

Why? These are our streets. We live here. Also, with a crowd that size, dispersal isn’t an easy task, especially when not everyone could hear the order to disperse, and when there was no clear reason to do so. Where was the danger? It looked to a lot of people as though the police were just breaking up the crowd because they could. To many, it felt like a completely arbitrary show of force. We stayed because it has been all too clear lately that black lives are in danger at the hands of the police. We stayed to keep our community safe. We have had too much evidence that black lives are in danger at the hands of the police. We stayed to keep our community safe.

Personal Essay

During middle school I went through what I call an identity crisis. Be-cause my skin is lighter than most of the black girls I went to school with, I got a lot of questions about my race. My father is lighter and my mother is brown. They both identify as Black, so naturally that’s what I identify as. At one time, I remember many kids asking me about what I was mixed with? I would say I’m black and would get shot with the “are you sure?” or my favorite is the disinterested “oh”. They made me question everything about myself. I started asking my mom if we were mixed with anything and the answer usually was “no”, or “a little white”. I did-n’t want to claim that. Since I spoke Spanish I claimed to be Dominican. Speaking with their accent wasn’t difficult since most of the Spanish art-ists I listened to had a caribe accent. Easy to imitate. As soon as that was the answer, kids began to flock to me like bees would to honey. The guys I wanted to talk began to show interest in me. I was even cool with the Latino crowd. I had gotten so perfect and precise in my lie I could name off cities within the little island where these so called “relatives” of mine lived. For some reason, another kind of blackness was accepted rather than my being Black. This nation has a fascination with anything re-motely “exotic”.

After awhile I started feeling like I couldn’t keep up the act. Actually, I felt I didn’t want to anymore. I also didn’t want to lose the cred I got from being Dominican. This was around the beginning of high school. When I was asked the same question, my face felt hot and I didn’t want to answer anything. I ignored people. I began to hate them and hate my-self for even thinking of doing something dumb like that. I never told my mom because I was afraid she would question me and I wouldn’t know what to tell her. I was afraid she would be mad at me for wanting to dis-own my race. Now that I think about it, I get really uncomfortable telling this story and admitting this problem because it feels like I’m spitting in the face of those who came before me. Saying all their efforts to make sure that I can have basic rights like free speech and expression, that I could get an education, and have the right to vote were in vain.

It’s hard to want to claim something when everyone promotes only the stereotypical and hurtful aspects. Even in history class, we learn about slaves, and their terrible conditions with maybe two or three prominent black figures in history sprinkled in. To be honest, I thought those promi-