Today marks the third week that my family has been on lock down due to the Corona Virus Pandemic.  I am learning how to navigate this new, No regular schedule for me, No regular schedule for the youngins, lifestyle, and I am literally, ALL OVER THE PLACE.  With two adult children, 22 and 20 years old, and three young children, 12, 9, and 2 years old, each day looks, sounds, and feels different from the last.  Today will be the first day that my young children will begin online learning, through ZOOM meetings and Google classroom expectations, we will work on not losing the basic skills, reading, writing and arithmetic.  I, Mama, will worry about the heavy stuff, you know HIStory (explaining how their great grandfather lived through the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic), science (how to light the stove with a lighter), Art (No! Painting on the walls does not count, SMH), Music (yes, you can say the cuss words but learn to turn that filter on when, or if you do return to school), and Technology (if Youtube is loud enough to interrupt my quiet time, I am turning it off).  
                  
                  In the meantime, take advantage of picking up a Chrome book if your child is in the San Diego Unified School District.  Look in to all of the free courses that are being offered online, for both yourselves and your children.  For example,  I have found free drum lessons, sip and paints, and hip hop classes.  Read your emails, schools are doing their best to distribute educational resources to provide our children with some sort of normalcy so take advantage. 
 
            You see none of us seen this coming and like Parenthood, we all have to navigate this newness, this Pandemic, the best way we know how.  So for now, take a deep breath, lay down some basic, at home rules, and figure it out, with your children’s needs in mind.  Have conversations, cook together, play outside, read books, and BREATHE!
 
 
 
Resources for parents:
 
Technology distribution sites and times 
https://www.scribd.com/document/455038565/Alpha-Distribution-List-Final
 
Free Sip and Paint with artist @pinklomein_
https://www.instagram.com/tv/B-f6ipuJqMZ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
 
ST Math for youth 
https://1155307.app.netsuite.com/core/media/media.nl?id=18703092&c=1155307&h=f72fbe75c9f5c6cf5987&_xt=.pdf
 
Corona Virus Information 
https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/coronavirus.html
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Most know me as a Realtor but my career path has always been full-time accountant. All I know is math, I’ve loved math since I was a kid but now, it’s gotten me to a point where I absolutely hate it. I never thought I would ever see the day where those words, “I hate math” would be a thought. Math has always been my thing. It’s literally like putting together the smallest pieces of a puzzle together or simply telling a dope ass story with numbers. When I dissect why I no longer love math, it comes down to simply being Black in Corporate America.

I’ve been through the shit and back. Written up, “are you having problems at home,” “do your kids live with you,” “your hair is cute, I just want to touch it” I’ve had to keep a journal of my work life, documenting every incident when all I’ve ever wanted was to be a damn accountant. Instead, I’ve become an author, writing an autobiography of the last year of my life, wanting someone to publish me and the world to simply read and understand my story. To protect me and my passion for numbers but I was failed countless times. I was written up on 20 items that were filled with discrimination and lies. I had to take 4 hours of my life to write a rebuttal, “reference page one and two" and explain how management style was hostile in nature causing a hostile environment which caused me serve mental anguish. Did I grab your attention? Spending time in HR to explain all of the facts only to have majority of my write up removed because in their words, you were very professional, articulate, and chose the high road. As if I’m some dumb little black girl that doesn’t know how to act outside of being ghetto. Man, fuck y’all! (Is that ghetto enough)! I told you 6 months ago but only because now it’s in black and white, its enough to start an investigation. You see, you didn’t realize I was well organized and well versed in accounting files. You only saw one thing in me that allowed you to overlook that your notes didn’t match the facts. Most would call you a liar, but I would like to call you a racist. (Again, fuck y’all) Have I grabbed your attention other than the color of my skin, or the color of my braids. Now we’re on to mediation to “solve and make a healthier environment but you know it won’t happen overnight.”  Well, how about 2 ½ months? Is that enough time to make the discriminator stop or do I need to continue to suffer through more pain before you get it.
 
On Jan 13, 2020, I finally had enough. Enough of the belittling, enough of the down talking, the overloading of work, the harassment and the discrimination. I simply had enough. My mental capacity just couldn’t and wouldn’t’ allow another day of being Black in Corporate America
 
So, when you say effective immediately, you mean….
 
It means, my desk is clear, here are my keys, I’m done.
 
 
What does it truly mean to be Black in Corporate America?
 
It means having to work harder, smarter, longer, without mistakes. It means being a robot and saying yes, whatever you need done, while your counterparts can work less, with mistakes and be less qualified. Being Black in Corporate America will have you questioning and doubting your worth, thinking maybe it’s time for a career change because you’re not cut out for this kind of work. You’re not good enough. But in all actuality, the system was not designed for us to succeed in a cultural that needs diversity and inclusion training. Why does this type of training exist anyways? I mean, I know not to walk up and ask why do your chink eyes look that way. I know better than to ask are you having problems at home. I also know better than to single you out based on the color of your skin. We don’t need any diversity and inclusion training but for some reason others do, others like you.  Is it a sense of entitlement or is it just plain ignorance?
 
Society says, go to college, get a degree, find a good job in corporate America, so you can afford to live the American dream. However, what society failed to mention was the American dream didn’t include me and my blackness. It didn’t include my perfectly versatile hair, nor did it include my black thoughts and black feelings.
 
I am no longer Black in Corporate America; I don’t know if I ever will be again. I fought so long for a seat at their table but now, I’m choosing to create my own table. Who needs a seat?

- A Quiet Girl, with a lot of Shit to Say 

Some Black in Corporate America reads:
www.nytimes.com/2019/12/09/us/black-in-corporate-america-report.html

www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/blacks-corporate-america-still-largely-invisible-study-finds-n1098981
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www.talentinnovation.org/_private/assets/BeingBlack-KeyFindings-CTI.pdf

I do not owe you shit.
But, I will give you everything that I have.

​I spend my days searching for messages that I know when posted, could perhaps “make someone’s day.”  

​Rather it be finding a hairdresser, a gardener, a moving truck, or a family lawyer. 
When someone needs a post approved urgently, they hit our inboxes because they know that we are a part of the community and they know that we’ve got their backs.
When someone is having an event, they come to the page to post, because they know that we will do whatever it is in our power to make the event successful.  Even if that is simply a share, a like, or a comment.

We have worked tirelessly, as a sort of glue that aids in binding the community together.  
At the heart of what we do is promoting Black businesses as well as community events.
Which is why I am extremely frustrated.  Frustrated that no matter how hard we work, there will still be folks who feel as if their damaging agenda is bigger than our unifying agenda.  Frustrated that the agenda that can be used to tear us apart, supersedes the agenda that is working to hold us together. When will we learn that together we are mightier than when we are divided?

Two days ago I was sent an inbox message from a writer with The Reader, Eric Bartl.  He asked if Shane Harris, Nick Cannon, Jason Crawford, or Anthony Bell exerted any pressure on BSD Admins to get an article that he had written, blocked from the page.  My answer to MY community is no! The post that he was referring to was actually approved not once, but twice.  Eric Bartl then followed up with a article with a quote from the BSD page, that he is not even a part of. 

My thoughts;
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​Before you let the narrative of someone on the outskirts of OUR community influence what you feel about issues that are taking place inside of our community, check yaself.  Realize that outsiders will, and successfully have, used US against US while they sit back from the outskirts and watch it all unfold. We have to be smarter than the average, we have to be strategic, we have to be loyal to one another and agree on a cause, and we have to hold each other accountable, on our own terms though, not on the terms that outsiders have placed upon us. 


- Tinicia Co-Founder of Black San Diego

Sunday, we each received a message from Eric Bartl with the san Diego reader. Great right? I mean we’ve done a bunch of interviews regarding Black San Diego but nope, not this time, he didn’t want to do a story on us creating a platform for black owned businesses, or how we started with a directory of 20 and now have over 300 businesses or an App that we created to bring everything black in San Diego right to your fingertips. He didn’t want to write a story on how our platform has created connections for people who didn’t have jobs, who were homeless, or who just needed help that 211 wasn’t going to provide. He didn’t want to write a story on the phenomenal women who have created this system to circulate the black dollar in the community, to grow businesses, nor did he ask what our plans were for 2020. Instead he asked, "Do you know why the story about the female Lincoln victims was being blocked from the group? Did Shane Harris, Nick Cannon, Jason Crawford or Anthony Bell exert any pressure or influence to get it blocked?"  Tuh! What! Talking about offended. How did an honoree award turn into this? How did our hard work turn into this? We allowed the article to be posted multiple times, yet it wasn’t good enough. We were accused of silencing the article for a hidden agenda when the only agenda is fighting for Black owned businesses and our community.
 
Growing up, my mom always told me and my younger brother, we were not allowed to fight in the house because there were so many things to fight outside of the house. Your home should be your peace. I didn’t fully understand it until I got older. I didn’t fully grasp the concept until I received that message from Eric. We have to stop fighting within our community because we have people like Eric waiting to strike and tear down our own community. We have spaces like The Reader waiting to create their own narrative of our community. A tip? It wasn't our tip. This is The reason why The San Diego Monitor exist, the reason The Voice and View Point exist. We have to create our own spaces. There are so many other places to fish, The San Diego Unified School District, Lincoln administration, Summer Stephs, the DA, etc but yet you come fishing in the smallest pond.
 
 We do too much work, scratch that, we do too much free work to allow someone to come in and water down our efforts and hard work in the community. Searching for a story within us that doesn’t exist. They say "all publicity is good publicity and there's no such thing as bad publicity." I say the only publicity we need is from our own CommUNITY...  We still don't owe you shit. 


- Sheri Co-Founder of Black San Diego

Eric Bartl, San Diego Reader 619-235-3000 
https://twitter.com/americanericb?lang=en

​https://www.facebook.com/eric.ba.5621

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Okay now it blogging timeeeeeeeee.

So a lot of people in this entertainment industry want to always collaborate and stress that as creators we should collaborate to help each other brand grow. Well let me tell you something y’all must not know what the definition of collaboration is then LOL. So let me give you the PROPER definition of it… Collaboration- “the action of working with someone to produce or create something.” That's what it means but a lot of y’all ain’t doing this sh** Lol. This what y’all be doing…Let someone come up with the idea, spend they money (if money is involved), do all the Damn grunt work with executing an idea and what the fu** y'all do… y’all just be there like a plug in, take no damn action to do anything and then get the creation and try and take credit for it with giving credit where credit is due LOL (Y'all sound like a Damn Rich White Man for real). Also on the flip side don’t say you want to collab with someone and then you don’t even use any of they ideas/input and don’t even pay they a** for they time and basically want them to be your lil flunky and then don’t even give they a** no damn credit lol y’all basically IT at this point (CLOWNS if y’all didn’t get that ref lol). O yeah I been through this and that’s why I’m speaking on it. With that being said… F**K collabing with you muthafu**a Lol naw I’m playing (somewhat). For real though I love collabing with people that actually know how to collab RIGHT  Check out my work below and if you ready to actually collab and not be on the f**k sh** lets get this stuff popping…

​O yeah like the Tuber say like, share, comment, subscribe and push that damn notification button on my Channel you little thugs…
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