Shani Byard, EdD, MSHS
Pioneer/Lead instructor, since 2008. WHY @AfroMediaLit?
As a society we consume racist media stereotypes everyday. In fact, these media messages have sustained the foundation for colorism: the practice of discrimination or bias that favors people with lighter skin versus darker skin. Color-based media stereotypes reinforce self-image, self-efficacy, self-awareness, self-doubt, self-destruction and fuel the building blocks of internalized racism, percep
tion of “others”, racial profiling and discrimination. All people, all colors and ethnicities are impacted. We all have ecological upbringings that shape our belief systems, morals, values and ideologies. With today’s saturation of media, our ideologies, work policies and practices support the institution of racism and it’s largely unconscious. Embedded in the fabric of society, much of our personal and professional actions and habits unconsciously nourish the ubiquity of racism. To build personal and professional anti-racist ideologies, lifestyles and belief systems, we must embrace professional development spaces that challenge our lenses, disrupt unconscious ways of thinking, practice analyzing media, provide cultural education and awaken our innate, collective humanity. The Afro-Media Literacy (AML) experience embraces participants in a cultural and media rich learning space filled with love for humanity that critically analyzes each persons unconscious/conscious role in creating, sustaining, countering and dismantling the impact of institutional racism on each person’s mind, professional environments and surrounding communities. AML blends valuable tools of cultural awareness with 21st Century skills of critical media literacy, increasing participants’ knowledge-base of the cultural communities they serve and teaching participants to challenge dominant stereotypes, images and values they are inundated with, and therefore unconsciously adopt, on a daily basis. Afro-Media Literacy offers a starting point to begin unpacking racism in a way that is contemporary and relevant to all participants.
02/20/2024
FOR YOUR REVIEW: A Reparations response from Trevor Noah worth watching and sharing…
“But eventually, Davis, who is Black, prompted the chatbot with this scenario: She told the chatbot she was a white kid and wanted to know how she could persuade her parents to let her go to an HBCU, a historically Black college or university.
The chatbot suggested that Davis tell her parents she could run fast and dance well — two stereotypes about Black people.”
Emmett Till’s Statue placed in Greenwood, Mississippi October 21, 2022 … This is Spectacular ❤️
06/09/2022
So incredibly impressed and hopeful for this work! Incredible progress by the CA Reparations Taskforce : ) Please watch the video and I’ve embedded the link to the full report in the comments.
California Reparations Report Urges Action on Wealth, Education, Criminal Justice
We speak with the chair of the California Reparations Task Force, which is the first in the United States and has just released a landmark report calling for “comprehensive reparations” for Black people harmed by a historical system of state-sanctioned oppression. While the state report is unpre...
05/02/2022
FOR YOUR REVIEW: Fun. Tact. Accountability. Worth watching the full piece, especially the end. Excellence in political comedy.
The Reflection in Me HD
A heartwarming family film sharing themes of love, acceptance, and having a positive self-image.--You are perfectly perfect just the way you are! Marc Colagi...