Culture club
Women and children gather to share common interests
Wednesday, March 25, 20091
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It was story time on a recent Saturday morning at Northampton's Forbes Library and the subject was Rosa Parks. Marisa Pizii, with her 9-month-old son, Quinton, nestled in her lap, was reading aloud from "If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks," a picture book about the iconic civil rights figure who helped launch the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott in 1956.
Written for children by author Faith Ringgold, the book is the story of a young girl who discovers she has boarded a talking bus. And while she's riding on it, she learns about Rosa Park's childhood in the deep South, and about how she didn't like seeing black people treated in ways that were disrespectful. The book recounted how one day Rosa had been tired and had taken a seat on the bus "even though she wasn't supposed to," Pizii explained.
Sarah Scott-Kunkel, one of several mothers there that day, was sitting on the floor with her daughter, Ava, listening. People of color, she quietly told Ava, weren't allowed to sit down on the bus.
"Does everyone know what a barber is?" Pizii asked, as she mentioned Rosa's marriage to Raymond Parks.
The story went on, describing how Rosa became well-known and respected because of her courage and the example she had set. She became so famous that a street was named after her, Pizii said. She turned the page and pointed to a drawing of Rosa Parks with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Do you know who that is, Marisa asked the children.
"Barack Obama," said Ava.
Same and different
In many ways, the gathering was like any other that brings together mothers and children. As kids do, those who were there listening to Pizii paid attention on and off, squirmed in and out of laps, and seemed alternately enthralled and distracted. And while they kept an eye on their children, the mothers chatted with one another.
The difference here was that most of the women were African-American, living with their families in a predominantly white area. And beyond the storybooks, the snacks, the friendships, the games and the crafts, the group has an additional purpose of providing women of color - the group originally called itself the Pioneer Valley Women of Color Moms Group - with a time to focus on their nonwhite heritage.
The free, drop-in group meets at the library on the third Saturday of each month at 9:30 a.m.
In addition to the gatherings at Forbes which are almost always centered around stories and crafts, the group has also held several family events, such as a Kwanzaa celebration last December. The hope is to have more activities like that in order to celebrate other cultures, such as the Chinese New Year, the mothers say. To reflect that broader vision, the group recently changed its name to the Mothers of Color Awareness Initiative.
Despite the Valley's positive attributes, people of color can feel isolated here, Marisa Pizii said later. Pizii, 32, came to this area from North Carolina to work on a doctoral degree in education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She, her husband and son live in Easthampton. The Saturday gatherings at Forbes are one way to give her child opportunities to play in a group in which he won't be the only, or one of the few, African-American children, Pizii said. Or, put another way, she won't worry that he'll wind up feeling as though "white is right and everything else is other," she said.
The mothers' group allows women to meet others with similar interests and concerns, said Pizii - namely, how to teach their children about race. It's a question of finding balance, she said. "We don't want race to be the sum total of their lives, but it's part of their identity."
On a practical level, it has also been helpful to share resources with other mothers, such as finding children's books that deal with race in a sensitive, positive manner. "We want to teach our children about the history we've had, but in a way that's appropriate," said Pizii.
Mom-in-chief
On that morning at Forbes, Bessie Jones was at the center of things, as she has been ever since she got the group started in November 2007. With energy and warmth, she greeted everyone who came in, settled the kids down for story time, and, later, handed out supplies for a crafts project.
Jones, who's 37 and lives in Williamsburg, moved to this area five years ago after living for nine years in Washington, D.C. Her husband, who is white, is a graduate of UMass; the couple met at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge and decided to settle in western Massachusetts.
For Jones, who is now a yoga teacher, the relocation meant profound changes. Besides leaving behind her network of women friends, she was also leaving a large, predominantly black city with "an awesome, diverse culture" that she missed here, she recalls. "I was feeling isolated and alone," she said, "and I felt like I was missing something."
The births of her two children - Afri, 4, and Malachi, 3 - deepened her interest in creating a diverse environment, Jones says. "I had to give my children a part of myself," she said.
She also wanted to find other women who would instantly understand how Jones had felt one day when she was shopping in a Northampton store with her daughter in her arms. "Where's your mommy?" a clerk in the store asked her daughter. "She never really looked at me," Jones said, "and I think she just assumed I was the nanny. It was really hurtful and upsetting."
At a time when the United States has elected its first African-American president, some people like to say color doesn't or shouldn't matter anymore, Jones says. But in terms of understanding one's heritage, she believes it does. "I want my culture to be supported and embraced," she said. "I want to share my culture with my children."
Like millions of others, Jones says she has been watching Michelle Obama, the self-described "mom-in-chief," with great interest. Obama comes across as "so strong and so powerful," Jones said, that she may well have a great impact on how black women are perceived. "I am so excited about our present family in the White House," she said.
Getting started
Through her husband, Jones met Phoebe Kami Gooding of Westminster, Vt., a woman of mixed ancestry who was born in the Caribbean and whose father was from the Philippines. Gooding shared Jones' interest in connecting with other women of color and still travels from Vermont for the gatherings when possible. The mother of two young children, Gooding says she too wants her children to be around people of many races, cultures and backgrounds. And if you live in Vermont, she says, that experience isn't ready-made: "You have to create it."
Together Jones and Gooding wrote a mission statement about what they hoped to accomplish. It read in part: "By celebrating and exploring our cultural diversity and heritage through playgroups, socials, and community outreach our aim is to nurture, educate, and create a healthy life maintaining a positive self image for ourselves and an environment where our children can flourish."
To spread the word, Jones hung fliers, got public service announcements broadcast on Valley Free Radio, and relied on word of mouth. The story-time gatherings have generally attracted about a half dozen to a dozen women and more are welcome, Jones says.
The group is now sponsored by MotherWoman Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Amherst that provides programs to support and empower mothers to create personal and social change for themselves, their families, their communities and the world. MotherWoman supports the moms group with a $1,200 stipend to help cover activity costs.
"Bessie is a remarkable woman who is working extremely hard for women of color," says Melanie DeSilva, the organization's executive director. "What she's doing is absolutely vital and it fits in with our mission to make sure mothers have strong community support."
In addition to the mothers' gatherings, Jones has also started a support group for all women of color that meets every Tuesday. The group offers a safe, respectful, confidential environment, Jones says, in which women can discuss many issues, including race.
Next up, spring
"Goodbye, bus!" said Marisa Pizii as the story about Rosa Parks and the talking bus came to a close.
"Who wants to make a bus now?" Jones asked. Several of the children moved over to the table, where Jones had spread out her supplies - milk cartons, strips of bright yellow tape and markers. With their mothers helping out, the kids used the tape to transform the cartons into yellow buses. Then with the markers they drew wheels and pictures of passengers sitting in rows. At another table, Marisa Pizii was talking with Marianne Bullock, 24, of Northampton. The two mothers, along with Bullock's 2-year-old daughter, Sora, were knotting together pieces of fleece to make a quilt that would help tell the story of the Underground Railroad. The crafts project, Jones said, was inspired by a children's book they'd all read earlier that told of how messages for slaves escaping via the Underground Railroad were hidden within quilts. Being part of the group, Bullock said as she tied the fringed pieces together, had expanded her social network and made her feel that "we can create a real community here."
At around 11 a.m. the moms began cleaning up leftover snacks, and organizing their kids' jackets, books and toys. Jones busied herself packing up all the crafts supplies she'd brought.
The next time they'll meet it will officially be spring. To welcome the new season, Jones said later, she was thinking about bringing in a little potting soil and seedlings so the children could plant something. And, as always, they'll read a storybook or two. She'd been looking at a few already, she said, including "The Colors of Us" by Karen Katz and "The Skin You Live In" by Michael Tyler and illustrator David Lee Csicsko. Both books celebrate the differences in skin color. Or as Tyler writes, diversity is about loving "your butterscotch gold skin/your lemon tart bold skin/your mountain high apple pie/cookie dough rolled skin!"
For more information about the Mothers of Color Awareness Initiative, contact Bessie Jones by email at pvwcmg@gmail.com.
Suzanne Wilson can be reached at swilson@gazettenet.com.
