This new education in schools agenda designed to reduce racism threatens to promote and perpetuate it.

	In this section, we present some tools to help educators explore the significance of race through multiple disciplines. Lesson plans draw from the television series, the Web site and carefully selected resources. Be sure to check out the Teaching Tips included in the Go Deeper sections of each featured interactivity. Click on a lesson title to view the full document. NOTE: We are continuing to develop new lesson plans and will add them as they are ready. Check back regularly for new additions. Title: Jamestown:Planting the Seeds of Tobacco and the Ideology of Race Grade levels: 10th grade through sophomore year of college Subjects: U.S. History, American Studies Description: The focus of this detailed lesson is American racial ideology as it began to evolve in late 17th century Jamestown and Virginia. It aims to help students question their own assumptions about what race is and is not. Using segments of Episode 2 - The Story We Tell, the RACE companion Web site, and primary documents from online resources, students will examine the unique conditions and events that led to the world's first system of slavery based on race. Time Allotment: 8 class sessions + extensions Title: Just an Environment or a Just Environment? Racial Segregation and Its Impacts Grade levels: 10th grade through sophomore year of college Subjects: Civics, Government, Sociology, Institutional Racism, Environmental Racism, White Advantage Description: This lesson explores the multiple causes of racial segregation and environmental racism, and helps students understand how institutional racism is perpetuated in the post-Civil Rights era. Students will perform a mock tribunal in which they will research, interpret, analyze and apply historical evidence of factors that contribute to continuing racial segregation and disparity in the United States. Time Allotment: 5-6 class sessions + extensions Title: The Empirical Challenges of Racial Classification Grade levels: 9-14 Subjects: Biology, Anthropology, Genetics, Geography Description: This lesson will help students examine their preconceptions and assumptions about racial categories and understand the impossibility of constructing a consistent biological system of human racial classification. Time Allotment: 2-3 class sessions + extensions Title: Comparing mtDNA Sequences to Learn about Human Variation Grade levels: 9-14 Subjects: Biology, Physical Anthropology, Genetics Description: This computer-based lesson will enable students to test their notions of "racial" similarity and difference by comparing mtDNA sequences as the students do in the Episode 1 of RACE - The Power of an Illusion. Students can either sequence and compare their own mtDNA (with each other as well as with individuals from around the world) or compare public sequence files from different world populations to gain an understanding of human genetic variation. Time Allotment: 2-3 class sessions + extensions Title: Comparing Chimpanzee mtDNA Sequences to Learn about Races Grade levels: 9-14 Subjects: Biology, Physical Anthropology, Genetics Description: In this computer-based lesson, students will measure genetic diversity within and between three subspecies of chimpanzees in order to gain a better understanding of genetic distinctiveness and explore race as a genetic concept. Time Allotment: 1 class session + extension Title: The Genetics and Evolution of Skin Color: The Case of Desiree's Baby Grade levels: 9-14 Subjects: Biology, Physical Anthropology, Genetics Description: This lesson explores the diversity and origin of human skin colors, using a short story by Kate Chopin as a starting point.. Time Allotment: 1-2 class sessions Title: The Growth of the Suburbs - and the Wealth Gap Grade Levels: 11th & 12th grades Subject Matter: Economics, Social Studies, American History Description: This lesson demonstrates the important role that family wealth plays in shaping life chances and creating opportunity and it explores the roots and consequences of the current race-based wealth gap. Time Allotment: up to 4 class sessions    A newly proposed education-in-schools agenda designed to reduce racism threatens to promote and perpetuate it. If the curriculum is implemented, young teachers will learn and teach Black history and children will be exposed to America's racist past at an early age. It is unclear why educators thought this was a good idea but this would negatively impact future generations of students. This new education agenda focuses on teaching about racism through history. This education will begin in elementary school classrooms. According to PBS, teachers will be taught Black History so they can feel comfortable with discussions of race in their classrooms. These mostly young, white educators will recall the past, making Black children the focus  of information children never had access to so early in life, information which doesn't eliminate racism and might even increase it because racism is not about history; it's about a way of life that continues today.  There are many real-life examples to be used in explaining discrimination and racist practices.  Dredged up from the past, discriminatory practices will be pulled from the past into the present and into the hearts and minds of today's children. Children victimized by a racist history will be inadvertently seen as "different," less endowed, or less than equal, starting in elementary school. This will have a negative impact on white children's level of tolerance and black children's level of self-esteem. If schools teach black oppression and genocide, they need to also teach the same about the Native American massacres and the Holocaust. They need to teach about disenfranchised whites living in poverty. Otherwise, it makes black and brown children appear singled out. The negative impact of "outing" children of color could be devastating.  There are ways for teachers to learn OUR collective history and infuse it into the educational agenda without making Black children feel lost in a cycle of racist practices that has lasted more than 400 years. Written by EmH Johnson, Education Specialist

Express yourself;  it’s not  an  option.

We are emotional beings, so it is important to find ways to release emotional energy. Self-expression is an attempt to clarify or share emotions and feelings. It allows us to release emotional energy so that we have the emotional capacity for problem-solving, compassion, and love. Self-expression can be achieved in many ways.

Ten easy ways to express emotions are:

1. Talking and sharing

2. Writing and reflecting

3. Complaining

4. Singing and songwriting

5. Listening and moving to music

6. Cooking and entertaining

7. Drawing and painting

8. Driving and admiring the landscape

9. Dancing

10. Shopping

People who stifle their feelings and emotions get stuffed up. People who get stuffed up, eventually get “stuck.” When we suppress our feelings and emotions, we fail to connect with our emotional state of mind. We interrupt the normal flow of thoughts. As a result, we can become disconnected from ourselves and others. This leaves us vulnerable to emotional disorders that affect our ability to cope with day-to-day living and decision-making. Traumatic events like witnessing a tragedy and natural disasters can cause us to become emotionally overwhelmed. Without self-expression, this can lead to PTSD or depression. We are emotional beings and it’s important to have an outlet for expressing emotions.

However we choose to release emotional energy, it’s important to remember that expressing emotions is not an option. Willingly or involuntarily, emotions will be expressed. Unexpressed emotions will eventually rise to the surface causing us react positively or negatively. We either express emotions and feelings in positive or creative ways, “act out” or “act in.” When we “act out,” unexpressed emotions can cause us to take dangerous risks due to stress of holding emotions in. We might drive recklessly or indulge in reckless or dangerous activities. When we “act in,” emotions are kept in. We might keep silent while raging inside. This can lead to physical and emotional illnesses.

Any act of releasing emotions leads to a happier, healthier life. When you feel stuck in a negative place, using the list above, you can find your balance and pull yourself from an emotional state of “stuck.” Try each of the behaviors on the list and see what works best for you.

Legislation to put guns in schools has been discussed, but I say, a gun is only as safe as the person who holds it. There's something about a gun that certain types of people can't understand: It kills. But crime of all crimes is, killing for sport--whether it's aimed at people or animals.

The head of an active male
                              -prose poem by EmH Johnson

A predator knows the feeling of love–loaded gun, sharp hunting knife, the head of an active male. Love is ripping the face from a lion, watching the blood spill and clot into a shiny mask of screaming red and burgundy undertones, yellow eyes grown vengeful and cold, the slit openings now round as black marbles, a muffled roar more like a grumble, drooping head as though disgraced in being so exposed.

But not every ounce of the animal is defiled. A subtle defiance remains and you can feel the hot breath of its existence. The breathing in and out, slow and melodic, is soothing to the ear; a pair of gigantic paws and outstretched claws served their master well. The head and coat must be carefully preserved. I savor thought of frenzied bidding at the open marketplace and ponder the final price to be paid for a trophy brought down in such an explosive escapade.

Taking the life of something beautiful comes easy when you keep your wits about you, keep your emotions in check so that you rise above the fray. They want to shut it down, the killing, but it serves a purpose. It’s giving humanitarian aid to those starving in places you never want to see, not really, especially not the children. You simply want to pay for the thrill of it, nothing more. The fat cats up on The Hill want to take our guns, but it’s not the firearms. It’s the absence of fire in my soul. I kill so I can live peacefully. I will die fighting for my constitutional right, unlike the lion. It fights because that’s what a lion does, nothing more or less.

Robyn Crawford wrote a book about Whitney Houston; I wrote a poem.

I watched as Robyn Crawford, friend and confidante to the late Whitney Houston, talked about her newly released book, A Song for You: My Life with Whitney Houston. I was reminded of a poem I wrote after hearing the sad news of Whitney's death.

During the interview, I felt the angst of riding an "emotional roller-coaster" with a loved one whose life was being transformed by drugs. Whitney Houston clearly experienced joy and pain. She died at a time in life when women transition into a new phase of maturity. Some adapt very well while others do not. At this stage of her life, Whitney appeared to be struggling.

Most fans hoped Whitney Houston might overcome obstacles, given enough support. As she spiraled out of control, her fans wondered why loved ones abandoned her. But if information in Robyn Crawford's book is accurate, Whitney abandoned loved ones, not the other way around. 

The day it was reported Whitney Houston had died, I expressed my grief in the following poem:

“Tribute to Whitney Houston” © 2012 by M. H. Johnson

So many people watching, some hoped to see you fall

Side-stepping this, performing that, you tried to do it all.

You found your voice in a Newark church at a very early age

But then you found your purpose and the joy of a global stage.

You sang to us with a golden voice gifted straight from Heaven.

Your beauty, grace and resonance will warm our hearts forever.

You ventured on a journey that led to a fall from grace

While accolades and honors hid the demons that you faced.

You found love and married, a soul mate, so it seemed

Despite the joy of wedded bliss, you were struggling.

You found your strength and self-esteem, regained dignity

While cameras and performances disgraced you on TV.

Rare as lilacs in December, a diva in distress,

You stood and fell and rose again in haunting loveliness!

But perfection has its price and there comes a reckoning day

In summer’s wane or winter’s frost, the Maker has His say.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, an angel’s quiet confession

You walked a journey of your own seeking love and perfection

But you never seemed to realize the gifts at your command

Your value to a desperate world you didn’t quite understand.

But we are only burdened with as much as we can take.

He walked a path alongside you then ushered you away.

Whitney Elizabeth Houston, the world wishes you well.

You will be missed by a universe, but now you can exhale.

When you get a handle on a daily routine, one day at a time you'll be ready for writing.

Surviving a day requires a strategy, a master plan, and it requires good health. It helps that you write, especially poetry. To write poetry you need to start reading poetry and reading about poetry. You'll be inspired. Good writing starts with a healthy body and mind.

Start with deep breathing when you awake, drinking two glasses of warm water 45 minutes before breakfast, eating meals that contain NO white or processed bread, pasta, biscuits, pastry and NO fast foods at breakfast time. Keep your intake of chemicals reduced all day, in fact. This will help steady your emotions, calm your nerves, and regulate your metabolism. Eating the right foods, especially at the start of your day takes some effort, but it makes a HUGE difference. Coffee is okay, without sugar, and a good breakfast has a nice balance of protein and carbohydrates. I like a product that I'm not paid to recommend. It has 25 grams of protein. Eggs don't have nearly as much protein, but some people prefer them for breakfast. I suggest organic eggs because if my eggs are NOT organic, I have sinus issues and feel shaky all day. Shaking like a leaf, how can you function, how can you stay sober, how can you provide good customer service without smoking, vaping, drugging or drinking?

If you want to have a great day, start with a good breakfast.Then catch no more than 5 minutes of NEWS; it's too depressing. Find 5 -10 minutes for meditation or silent words of gratitude and 10 minutes of walking three times a week. Find an ideal time to do 5 minutes of writing EVERY day you can. Increase to 20 minutes slowly, one day at a time. Create a writing routine that is easy to follow and choose a place where it's easy to be writing. Start with brief writings, and follow this routine every day. You will see your life circumstances start to improve, ONE DAY AT A TIME, which is not an eternity; it's only 24 hours. 

Let tomorrow come, but it's only about surviving one day--today. When you get a handle on a daily routine, one day at a time you'll be ready for writing. I like starting with poetry because poetry demands FOCUS, and it forces me out of my comfort zone. No matter how you feel, poetry requires your very best effort, every time. It does not care who you are or what problems are brewing; its only concern is that you let the poem be itself. This requires concentration and it requires your full attention. Poetry requires letting go of anything that interrupts the out-flow of a good poem. It takes your mind off of YOU. 

Poetry uplifts and inspires, offers a different perspective than the one you're hanging on to or that's hanging on to you. Once you write a master plan for how you will conduct your life day to day, and once you eliminate processed foods and find at least 10 minutes of walking or exercise, you will be ready to write, not just anything, but something meaningful. Maybe it will be poetic--or not, but it will be your best and that is as good as it gets.

Our moral emotions--shame, guilt embarrassment and remorse--assure our moral integrity, whether people are watching or not.

Emotional “shaming” may or may not require action, but it requires acknowledgment.

Have you ever stayed on the phone with a close relative or friend bad-mouthing another close relative or friend and lived to regret it? Did you notice the guilt, shame, remorse or embarrassment you felt after the conversation ended? You were simply telling the truth, but did you go too far? If you violated your sense of what’s morally right, your moral emotions were switched on and you felt emotionally “shamed.” For some people, the moral reprimand is too much to bear, but usually, we remember to take the moral high ground next time around.

Moral emotions provide immediate punishment or reward. “Moral emotions provide the motivational force—the power and energy—to do good and to avoid doing bad (Kroll & Egan 2004).” Moral emotions are based on intentions and what we know to be wrong or right. We are emotionally uplifted or emotionally shamed as a result. When such emotions as shame, guilt, embarrassment or remorse show up, our emotional system is letting us know we violated some rule about morality. We feel spiritually diminished. On the other hand, when we do what we inherently know to be right, we feel pride and self-approval. Our self-esteem is heightened and we feel spiritually uplifted.

In the battle between what is morally wrong or right, our emotional system is our guide. Our emotional system knows when we went too far and won’t let us rest until we acknowledge this. With such strong emotional feedback, we monitor ourselves when it comes to taking the moral high ground. Being sent a warning signal in the form of shame, guilt, embarrassment or remorse, we follow what we have been taught in our treatment of others and in determining right from wrong.

Whether we owe someone an apology is a matter of circumstance, quality of the relationship, or what we have been taught. Emotional “shaming” may or may not require action but it requires acknowledgment. When Joe Biden shared publicly that he had negotiated and worked well with members of the opposing party, he was commending himself. When confronted about the ambiguous situation of keeping with the enemy, he defended his integrity and his actions. In so doing, he became an easy target for other presidential contenders. After the backlash and drop of popularity in the polls, he reconsidered his original statement and offered an apology to would-be voters. Was it simply fear of rejection that caused him to apologize or one of the moral emotions--shame, guilt, embarrassment or remorse? This is clearly a question only Joe Biden can answer, but until he acknowledged his emotions, they wouldn’t let him rest.

Our emotional system offers punishments and rewards that control our behavior towards each other. Our moral emotions--shame, guilt, embarrassment and remorse--are strong motivators. They assure our moral integrity, whether people are watching or not. They are the gate-keepers of our humanity and in case of violations, they demand to be acknowledged. They are an important aspect of our emotional and societal well-being, and they accept nothing less than what an individual has been taught by society, parents and relationships: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Resource: "Moral Emotions and Moral Behavior." 

Retrieved on 7/8/2019 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16953797.

As we gain confidence by responding appropriately and maintaining positive relationships with others, we acquire the best skills to effectively manage ourselves and become masters at living a positive, purposeful life.

Everything I know, I learned by Mistake: 111 Ways to Inspire Emotional Mastery is a book that focuses on building emotional competence one day at a time. It is a collection of my positive thoughts accumulated one day at a time. It will be published later in 2019.

In discussions of numerology, the number 111 represents inner-wisdom, intuition, and optimism. This number reflects spiritual guidance, mindfulness and encouragement, and it signifies an energetic and purposeful mission toward achieving our spiritual life purpose.This book focuses on building strong emotional competence through self-awareness, awareness of others, and writing as a form of self-expression. I write what I have learned because knowledge is meant to be shared, and sharing strengthens bonds between people.

In this life, I have faced disappointments, trauma, loss of family and friends, workplace bullying, harassment and more, but like so many others, I have survived and overcome what might have been insurmountable obstacles. In the process of overcoming setbacks and adapting to changes in my life, I have rediscovered my mission in life: to make a difference.

Beginning in childhood, we build emotional intelligence and gain a sense of emotional mastery, which includes the ability to respond appropriately to others every time, despite circumstances. As we gain confidence by responding appropriately and maintaining positive relationships with others, we achieve emotional competence and acquire the ability to effectively manage ourselves and others. We become masters at living a positive, purposeful life.