Hi Folks!

I have a new blog with a new life. I was never all that happy with my old (livejournal) blog- it didn't have the kind of spirit that I would want it to have. This blog will be the "real me" with thoughts as they come (don't expect daily blogging) answers to your questions, good resources as they come my way about anything and everything that is really important in the world.

You'll get to know more of me than you might already know- I'm not just the racism lady, although I know a lot about that. I'm not just an eco-freak, or a yogi, I'm lots of things rolled into one, just like the world is. Hopefully here, in this space we can find tools and tips to muddle through this world together- and to make it a better place along the way.

As I said at a recent talk- every day I wake up, I try to be a better person than I was the day before. I hope I can inspire you to do the same. This new blog is a space for us to take that journey together.

In peace and growth,

damali, http://damaliayo.blogspot.com/

A Final Note from MamaBird damali ayo and the whole CROW team

We are terribly sad to note to you, our friends, family and fans, that CROW Clothing is closing. After a tremendously successful outpouring of positive response from the media and you, our customers, we began to truly spread our wings. Then, sadly, the team here at CROW Clothing watched the economic instability of this summer turn into a steep downward slope in the marketplace from Wall Street to Main Street this fall. We simply couldn't fly fast enough to keep ahead of the storm, and didn't find shelter in an investor to keep us dry during these tumultuous days.

The whole CROW team is extremely proud that we brought you a new kind of company: one where you found inspiration and information about the the many ways you can change the world, celebrated your own beauty, experimented with our one-of-a-kind and first-ever sliding scale pricing, discussed the issues that are important to you, strengthened your own physical health and gave back to your community. All while looking absolutely eco-fabulous in our gorgeous designs and soft, organic clothes!

But, we are most grateful to all of you. Our dear CROW customers: you are what made our nest a home. Thank you for your tremendous support, for forwarding this very emagazine to your friends, for posting your photos of you rocking your CROW gear, for talking with us on NING and Facebook, for spreading the word to the media that we had the very clothes you loved. We are honored you were with us for this wonderful flight.
..
We're selling off the last of our merchandise now and closing up our online store. Don't worry: you'll still be able to access our Learn and Links pages (and we'd love it if you did!), but our clothes are going away. We're mostly down to the remaining inventory of our super awesome Think Tees. The Think Tees are made of 100% organic cotton and printed locally with water-based inks. You can choose from three separate inspiring messages and remind folks to imagine their own possibilities. But, we're only selling them in bulk so you'll need to buy at least a few for gifts if you want our bargains. Email us for special bundle pricing right away.

If you'd like to be connected to MamaBird damali ayo's other projects, please join her email list on her web page at damaliayo.com. She's headed out on the lecture circuit after taking a hiatus this year to run CROW Clothing and would love to see you.



Thank you again, from the bottom of our hearts, for your participation and celebration of CROW Clothing.

damali ayo returns to the stage to stir things up about racism once again.

I am writing today to announce that after six months off the racism-lecture circuit, I am returning to the stage to continue this much needed dialogue.

This year, I hit a wall of intense burn-out. There were many factors involved in my decision in April to take my leave from the battle to fight racism, but over the last six months, I've watched where our country is going in the new-found "age of Obama." What I've seen and experienced has been profound. This conversation is needed now more than ever. This is an incredible opportunity to examine the way racism works in our country.

Earlier this month as I was photographing some of the Panhandling for Reparations performers a nearby woman, who could not stop laughing, kept saying "things are changing...one of them is about to be president." This summed up the situation so clearly. Yes one of "them" is about to be president, so soon, none of "them" will need to be listened to any longer.

But then, what made the the timber of this time so clear to me was a simple gesture that occurred while I was walking my dog in my neighborhood one afternoon.

A man yelled "nigger" at me.

And it was here that I realized the dual level of what we will be dealing with in this new "changed" time.

I need to be with you in this conversation continuing the work I do to help people find the tools to advance their understanding of race, and to connect and learn from each other.

Let's do this together by bringing me to your community or school to present the tools of the I Can Fix It conversation, to talk about my experience as an artist and racism educator, and to help generate dialogue in your world. In appreciation for your welcoming me back, I would like to connect personally with anyone who brings me to talk. If you help to organize my visit to your community, I would include in that visit a personal chat over coffee with you and a group of your friends.

You might be asking, "what happened to CROW Clothing?" Well, the economy happened to CROW. Sadly we launched just as things started going downhill and we were not able to get the backing we needed to continue past our proof-of-concept phase. We were not alone, two other eco-clothing companies in Portland alone closed this summer as well. It was a wonderful effort, and brilliant experiment and all of us who were involved can leave saying that we created a "first" in the world- the first sliding-scale clothing company. For this we are proud.


If you would like to bring me to your school or community, drop a line to damali@damaliayo.com. I look forward to seeing you all once again.

Yours always,

damali

Heya MySpace Friends!

I've been checking out your pages and you all are amazing! Whew!

So to celebrate your amazingness and to give all of you some extra special thanks for your tremendous support through the years I got something for you.

This month, when you shop at my new eco-style clothing company, CROW Clothing, for a total order of $50 or more, you'll get a $5 discount. Just enter MYCROW in the coupon code. If $50 is a bit high for you, not to worry, visit the site- you'll find something you can afford since we have a sliding-scale pricing system! Trust me, CROW has your back.

Shop here: http://crow-clothing. com

Check out our Think Tees while you're shopping. We think you'll love the soft organic cotton and fresh designs.

Our logo was designed by my super talented tattooer who is busy working on a new arm piece for me too!

Are you on Facebook?
Don't forget to check out the CROW page: http://www. facebook. com/pages/Portland-OR/CROW-Clothing/11535683647.



Everyone who becomes our fan on Facebook this month gets free shipping off their July order of any amount!



Hope to see you on CROW!!!



damali

Hey Y'all!

It's Earth Day!
and in oregon it is cold, rainy, blustery and i want to curl up and watch a movie with my dog.
what are you doing to celebrate?!


In honor of the day i want to share with you my passion for loving the planet and the people on it.
take a look at some of the many things i've done to "eco-fit" my life here:
http://damaliayo.com/pages/ecoliving.htm

Redbook Magazine found this page and interviewed me about it. The article should come out in July!

Enjoy!

damali

Hello friends and fans-

A part of my work that i don't enjoy as much as others is the regular arrival of hate mail in my inbox.
I've often thought about sharing the messages with you, but have decided against it because i instead, choose to buffer you from that. If i choose to be a public figure fighting against racism, then i've accepted the responsibility of fielding reactions to my work.

To hell with that.

Here is one of the kinder (by far) emails I receive when people don't approve of me. It arrived this morning April 16, 2008.
I pass it on to you because i simply don't have a response for this person as to why talking about racism isn't beating a dead horse.
Perhaps you have an answer for him/her.

As the writer included his/her contact information, and since i have a disclaimer on my web site (from where he or she wrote me) that i may use any correspondence in art works, i am passing this along to you. Please send the writer a response so that a dialogue may occur. Since you are not the one being personally addressed, you may have more objectivity and grace than i might.

for the record: here is the interview to which the email is a response.

Feel free to cross post.

damali

--------------------------------------

From: "Ross Bowler" RossB@tds.net
To:
Subject: On Point Interview


I was so, so disappointed to hear the absence of substance in your message.
You pound regrettable cliché's into the ground. Instead of advancing
thought, you mire us in the embarrassment of our past. Visiting your web
page I see the promotion of a product that has no purpose or value.

You showcase the ignorance of an unenlightened populace. Please consider
ignoring the ignorance and spotlighting the emergence of enlightenment and
ideas - black, white, yellow, gay, --who cares -- knowledge and insight
should rule. You beat a sad, unfortunate, unforgivable, dead horse.

Please produce an insight!

Ross Bowler
(608)833-7793
rbowler@2ndmarketcapital.com

Hello Friends, Fans and All!

I have been wanting to do a "five things" post for a while now and this morning this one seems like the right thing to do. Here is a chance to get to know me when I’m off-stage, off-line, and not being your "race activist artist." There’s a lot more to each of us and so I thought I’d share a bit more about who I am outside of the "race dialogue." I hope you enjoy. Note, there is a hint in the text below about a big announcement coming up in May!

1. I am a Domestic Diva
When I am not kicking ass on the lecture circuit about racism, I love to be home and in my garden. I hand sewed the pillows and curtains and decorations all over my house. I even made my own wallpaper for my kitchen. I grow my own food all summer and spend the summer drying tomatoes and making and freezing soups and saags to eat all winter.

2. I live with PTSD and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
In 1999 I was sexually assaulted by a man I had only met one time before. He was an acquaintance of my friends. That was a huge learning experience and had a deep impact on my life and my understanding of my self. What it took me years to realize was how my body handles trauma. I saw the recognizable signs like being afraid, flashbacks and weight gain, but what I didn’t notice was that i was slowly developing a deep case of Chronic Fatigue. Eventually I would have such intense episodes that I could barely get out of bed to get the mail. These would last for two days at a time. It took me years of tests to figure out that it was not physical illness, but rather something I had to heal within myself. In a place of emergency where I couldn’t leave my bed for nearly two weeks, I opted for medication to get me back on my feet. This literally saved my life. Last year, I decided to go to a natural approach and took my health on full steam. I started doing Neruofeedback and EMDR, supported with a course of exercise, diet change, and getting deeply in touch with my body, with smashing results. I haven’t had an episode since starting that approach. I know it will be a lifetime relationship with myself to stay well, but I now feel i have the tools to do that. This has led me to a real passion for health, fitness, exercise and nutrition and I find myself wanting to help other people heal their traumas with similar methods.

3. I am Eco-Passionate (aka I’m a dirty hippie)
Yep, when I’m home you can find me wandering around the garden, turning compost and wiping my hands on my favorite gardening skirt. This fall I asked all my neighbors to give me their raked leaves and I built a sheet mulched garden on the side of my house. I think they think I’m crazy. They see me eating things out of the garden and wonder what it is. Nearly everything I grow is edible or medicinal. I compost everything. I have a minor obsession about water and funnel my rainwater into the land around my house and into the garden, which means using less water in the summer for growing. I could go on and on....but you can read all about that by clicking on the recycling symbol on my web page. If you’re in portland I may see you this summer. I’ve applied to be on the "gardens of natural delights" tour here in portland in july, and hope that i’ll have the chance to show off my obsessive eco-ways to everyone who visits on that day.

4. Jobs I’ve had:
House painter, retail- new age store, retail-cd store, bank teller, figure model, clothing designer assistant, physiology laboratory assistant, financial manager at a non profit, diversity trainer, art camp teacher, theatre company founder, assistant director, performance teacher, tarot card reader, life-coach, reiki master, set designer, actor. I’ve never been able to get a job as a waitress, not sure why.

5. Job’s I fantasize about when I think about leaving the "race game" behind:
Stand up comedian, tattooer, personal trainer, interior designer, clothing designer, model (yeah, too late for that), personal recycling consultant, rescue dog foster mom, nun (not kidding), yoga teacher, person who lives in a tent in my friend’s back yard.


Well, that’s a brief window into my world. I hope it’s been a useful, fun and inspiring trip for you!

Feel free to respond or react to anything I’ve shared, esp your eco passions, struggles with chronic illness and jobs you wish you had!

Warmly.

damali

Three rounds of thanks to people for saying what needs to be said regarding the recent pile of typical american racist behavior that Geraldine Ferraro has stepped in and left us all wondering where the stench came from.
Below is commentary from Patricia Williams, Tim Wise and yes...Keith Oberman. Thanks to each of you.

I blogged about each of these and so am passing my blog entries onto you here.
Remember to RSS my blog so you can keep up with my thoughts and links as they happen: http://damaliayo.com/pages/blog_LJ.htm


diary of a mad law professor by Patricia J. Williams
House of Cards
[from the March 24, 2008 issue of The Nation]
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080324/williams

It was delightful, those early days when Republicans were in fractious disarray and the Democratic field bloomed with interesting candidates like a pasture full of daffodils--any of them! All of them! Bluebirds sang. We were rolling in good will. Now, however, John McCain has unified the right with a lizardy, smothering oil of "my friend," "my friends" and "hey listen, pal." And Democrats are chewing each other’s legs off. Instead of discussion about substantive positions, a distressingly large proportion of the debate is epitomized by an e-mail I received from a good friend: "In my state, a black man trumps a white woman and that’s that. So what do you suggest?" Here’s what I suggest.

1. Black Jack does not always trump White Queen and vice versa. The problem with the formulation of race-gender "trumping" is that it flattens Obama’s and Clinton’s complexities--their relative eloquence, her vote on the war, whether some voters love him because he’s "so un-black a black man," their stances on civil liberties. It’s the kind of bad logic that led some people to expect that then-nominee Clarence Thomas wouldn’t be all that conservative because he’s a black man. It’s just bad algebra. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are black men, but it’s hard to imagine them "trumping" Clinton. Similarly, it’s not at all clear that Obama would fare as well against a more nimble and oratorically endowed female opponent, like the late Ann Richards, for example.

2. There is no profit in styling a competition of oppression. One ubiquitous subtext of the black man-trumps-white-woman calculus is that it’s easier to be a black man than it is to be a white woman or, even more reductively, that sexism is worse than racism. It works alongside right-wing claims that racism isn’t a problem anymore. That in turn fuels the not-so-coded diminishments asserting that Obama is getting "preferential" treatment in the media; that he’s simultaneously "entitled" and "elite" yet "unqualified" and "not ready."

Here’s an alternative way to think about it. Take the unnecessarily polarizing comparative out and stop this inanity of ranking. We can all acknowledge that Clinton has been drubbed with the foulest sexist stereotypes since Anita Hill. It is true that Hillary nutcrackers are sold in airports and that there is not yet an accompanying Stepin Fetchit version of a Barack Obama doll. But that hardly means we live a country in which racist imagery is ipso facto kinder and gentler than gender stereotypes. Turn on the TV and watch Flavor Flav perform goggle-eyed minstrelsy more demeaning than in the Jim Crow era. Pick up the newspaper and read that one in every fifteen black adults is incarcerated. So cheer up: from sex trafficking to the disaster in New Orleans, there’s sufficient suffering to go around.

3. There are multiple narratives of sexism and racism. Stereotypes are malleable. They can be hybridized, coded, shifted across demographics, conjoined with other isms like class or ethnic prejudice, foregrounded or backgrounded. The "trumped white woman" version of sexism, for example, ignores the degree to which Michelle Obama is often described in terms depressingly similar to those of Hillary Clinton: she’s too outspoken, not domestic enough, going to tank her husband’s candidacy by not knowing her place. Similarly, if few are openly hurling the N-word at Obama, what to make of Bill O’Reilly’s hankering to "lynch" the missus instead? And why would anyone think that Barack Hussein "Osama--oops, I mean Obama" is getting a free pass from our new-age profiles in prejudice? There’s also the complication of how we inject class into narratives of race and sex. Any black person not categorizable as "underclass" has historically been sorted into one of two categories: (a) an upper-class person whose blackness is eliminated or (b) an uppity black whose personhood is eliminated. A large shadow of that anxiety-provoking split hangs over Obama: he’s the "articulate, clean" exception washed of all relation to race. And he’s also the daring "race man," the opener-of-doors for whose physical safety the community prays.

4. "If he were/if she were" has become the new "he said/she said." Recently, Geraldine Ferraro declared that "if Barack Obama were a woman, we’d be saying, Are you kidding?" By that she apparently meant that we wouldn’t be taking him seriously. It made me sag with utter dejection--even without trying to imagine what kind of silly, unserious woman she was imagining him to be: Indonesian-raised white? Harvard Law Review-credentialed black? Or perhaps she was speaking out of pure transference, so that he-as-a-she would look a lot like her. That same day Newsweek published a cover story asking if Obama might become our first woman President. By that it meant he listens, he negotiates, he plays well with others. Again my head began to throb: Bill Clinton is cast as our first black President because he’s such a bad boy, while Obama has to be our first female President because he’s too nice to be a black man?

If we are going to play this pernicious game of projection, why not pull out all the vulgar stops: If John McCain were a woman, we’d call him a girly-man. If John Edwards were Latina, we’d love his healthy head of hair. But this is patent nonsense. Why don’t we try "he is/she is" for a change? Both Democratic candidates represent diversely layered demographics--ones that describe our future. Clinton is a strong, determined, immensely resilient woman; Obama is a culturally amalgamous, quietly brilliant, elegantly intellectual man. They are both tremendously well educated, making all of us the lucky beneficiaries of affirmative action policies that have reconfigured the playing field to include the two of them.

Now we need to direct our attention where it belongs. As President, McCain would do away with what’s left of affirmative action, Roe and habeas corpus. He has been schooled for war and more war. He is committed to and implicated in almost all the domestic and economic lunacies of the Bush Administration. It would be tragic if he strolled in for a touchdown while the rest of us were playing card games in the end zone.



from "gazing through big black eyes: damali ayo’s blog"

We’ve seen in the last primary cycle some ugly tactics used to created doubt in the mind of the American public. I actually saw an interview on 60 minutes where one man said "i heard that Obama doesn’t know the National Anthem, won’t put his hand on a bible and is a Musilm."

The tactics and rumors are absolutely absurd and patently racist. The saddest part is that Americans are particularly prone to falling for that kind of deception.

The interviewer just looked at the man and said "You know that none of that is correct, right?" When asked about it, Obama had the same response...."Did you correct him?" His approach, though it may fail ultimately, is to opt for the honest truth and the real story. He refuses to play these spin-games and his supporters admire him deeply for it. The thing that scares me the most is that these are the leaders we have systematically destroyed over the course of our history. (I just watched an amazing documentary of Bobby Kennedy in action during the Universty of Alabama desegregation).

One of the things i found really interesting in the last week was an interview i saw on Charlie Rose with three British journalists. their comment on the "Obama in Muslim dress" picture was "We wished there were pictures of more American presidents like this." They really saw it as a wonderful and diplomatic gesture worthy of a world leader.

They also said that Europe has "Obama Fever!" that he represents everything they love about america.

If only our own citizens were as smart......

Here are two new essays on the election by my favorite white anti-racist, Tim Wise:

Tim writes:
They are my two latest essays: the first addresses white support for Barack Obama and what it does (and, importantly, doesn’t) mean about race in the U.S. The second looks at, and responds to, the increasingly common refrain I’m hearing from many whites, to the effect that black support for Obama is reverse racism (I know, I know, sigh...). It also addresses more generally the difference between black and brown solidarity and white racial solidarity, for example, which is actually an important issue above and beyond this election, and which lots of white folks seem to have trouble with.

Anyway, thanks and pass ’em around!


Uh-Obama: Racism, White Voters and the Myth of Color-Blindness
http://www.lipmagazine.org/~timwise/Obama.html

Another Batch of White Whine: Obama, Black Voters and the Myth of Reverse Racism
http://www.lipmagazine.org/~timwise/Obama2.html

Thanks Tim.
Your work makes my work so much easier some days.
and thank you to the white people who have stepped up to their responsibilities and risen to fight racism. I look forward to wholly passing this particular torch to you one day.


from "gazing through big black eyes: damali ayo’s blog"

Well, I never thought I’d be citing Keith Oberman, but i thank him for this open letter to Hillary Clinton regarding Geraldine Ferraro. It’s good to see white people step up and say what needs to be said to change the course of racism in our culture:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/2360132923601329

i particularly like the part where he points out her pattern of subtle racist gestures (it’s really always been white people who play the race card, not people of color) and when he states so clearly that as a woman she should be against racism with every fiber in her body. Much agreed!



damali

..
We've seen in the last primary cycle some ugly tactics used to created doubt in the mind of the American public. I actually saw an interview on 60 minutes where one man said "i heard that Obama doesn't know the National Anthem, won't put his hand on a bible and is a Musilm."

The tactics and rumors are absolutely absurd and patently racist. The saddest part is that Americans are particularly prone to falling for that kind of deception.

The interviewer just looked at the man and said "You know that none of that is correct, right?" When asked about it, Obama had the same response...."Did you correct him?" His approach, though it may fail ultimately, is to opt for the honest truth and the real story. He refuses to play these spin-games and his supporters admire him deeply for it. The thing that scares me the most is that these are the leaders we have systematically destroyed over the course of our history. (I just watched an amazing documentary of Bobby Kennedy in action during the Universty of Alabama desegregation).

One of the things i found really interesting in the last week was an interview i saw on Charlie Rose with three British journalists. their comment on the "Obama in Muslim dress" picture was "We wished there were pictures of more American presidents like this." They really saw it as a wonderful and diplomatic gesture worthy of a world leader.

They also said that Europe has "Obama Fever!" that he represents everything they love about america.

If only our own citizens were as smart......

Here are two new essays on the election by my favorite white anti-racist, Tim Wise:

Tim writes:
They are my two latest essays: the first addresses white support for Barack Obama and what it does (and, importantly, doesn't) mean about race in the U.S. The second looks at, and responds to, the increasingly common refrain I'm hearing from many whites, to the effect that black support for Obama is reverse racism (I know, I know, sigh...). It also addresses more generally the difference between black and brown solidarity and white racial solidarity, for example, which is actually an important issue above and beyond this election, and which lots of white folks seem to have trouble with.

Anyway, thanks and pass 'em around!


Uh-Obama: Racism, White Voters and the Myth of Color-Blindness
http://www.lipmagazine.org/~timwise/Obama.html

Another Batch of White Whine: Obama, Black Voters and the Myth of Reverse Racism
http://www.lipmagazine.org/~timwise/Obama2.html

Thanks Tim.
Your work makes my work so much easier some days.
and thank you to the white people who have stepped up to their responsibilities and risen to fight racism. I look forward to wholly passing this particular torch to you one day.

best,

damali