Celebrating Black and Women’s History Months with Toya Qualls-Barnette

A 14x Boosted Writer explains how Toya Qualls-Barnette’s stories are an example to follow

Some years ago, I ran downstairs with my iPad to the kitchen, saying to Mom, “See, I was right!”

“Oh no…is this about race?”

“How did you guess?”

“Because you are only that angry when race issues crop up.” She sighed. I could tell she was definitely not in a good mood that day. “Instead of complaining about it to me, why don’t you do something useful – like write about it?”

“Mom, you should know by now how useless that is. How many times have I told you? The last time I did it, I got kicked off a forum for discussing discrimination against Asians in academic hiring. When every fricking editor is white, who’s going to accept any of my articles on race?”

That was fifteen years ago – when Mom was still alive.

Thanks to Medium, I began writing more formally on race: a medium where editors are not as slap happy in censoring speech — or at least, in my experience.

My first story focused on racism in academia– the very subject that got me booted from the Chronicle of Higher Education forum. That’s where I dared address both macro- and microagressions against students and faculty of color. Not to mention discrimination against scholars of color in publishing, especially where peer review and editing are involved.

So when my story, “Racism in the Ivory Tower,” was boosted (not booted!) in early October, I felt vindicated. It is still my most read piece.

I felt equally vindicated when my story on MLK, “No Work is Insignificant” and more recently, “’Reverse Racism’ and a Tempest in a (Boston) Teapot” were also boosted.

Although I’ve grown to admire Medium for not only providing a space for my thoughts but to reward them too, I am well aware that this great platform is not perfect by any means. This is not because of any discriminatory policies imposed by the editors or powers-that-be, but rather the ways in which general readers tend to overlook work by minorities.

It stings even more when the work of Black, brown, and yellow writers is excellent and an example for ALL of us to follow.

So in the true spirit of affirmative action – recognizing that the work of marginalized communities reveals at least as much talent and brilliance as those in the white community — I want to showcase exceptional work by those of us who don’t get as much attention as we deserve even when we write one boosted article after another.

Yes, we shall overcome. Let us truly be judged by the content of our work and character!

Since last month was Black History Month and this month Women’s History Month, I want to focus on some of Medium’s best writers. Today, on International Women’s Day, I’m taking a deep dive into the work of Toya Qualls-Barnette

Toya

In case you don’t know Toya, she’s not only been boosted at least 11 times (the last I counted) but has also been selected as a Staff Pick! How incredible is that?

Not that this is astonishing at all. When you read any of her stories, whether boosted or not, you’ll see why she’s such a brilliant writer.

Many of her stories take the form of memoirs addressing race, gender, and their impact on her lived experiences. Having read those involving her relationship with her mother, I was curious to know the backdrop. According to Toya:

I wanted desperately to forgive her after she died and give my pain wings to fly, so reflecting on those times that came to the forefront of my mind helped me in moving on from the hurt feelings I’ve buried since childhood. I know within my heart she loved me. It was a very complicated relationship. I wanted love to transport me to the other side of acceptance. As I wrote those stories, I was seeing clearer than ever. Pure catharsis.

That is why there is so much intensity in her writing, one that compels us to read to the very end.

As a writer myself, I couldn’t help but notice the immediacy in her prose, one that allows you to picture the scene. Toya doesn’t shy from inconvenient truths either. Let’s look at that opening line of her story, “An Unexpected Cross-Country Roadtrip During the Watts Riots”:

Moments before our car started smoking, Mother Nature’s intense brush stroke across the horizon captivated my young soul.

You can not only see it, but smell it and feel it too.

The next two sentences are almost poetry in motion, its imagery eerily reminiscent of the rich opening scene in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes were Watching God. And indeed, that’s what it feels like when the young Toya asks her mother why people don’t believe in God because “People didn’t make the mountains, trees, sky, or the sun.”

Except that unlike Hurston’s novel, this is all taking place in the 1960s. I like how she slips the history in so seamlessly:

Character-driven by the hands of fear, Mom drove her trusty white Pontiac this time. Except the ensuing Watts riots replaced her usual romantic heartache as the catalyst fueling her growing angst days before.

Police brutality and widespread institutionalized racism spawned a common reaction in the mid-60s.

I also liked the following reminder that not much has changed over the course of six decades:

Ever wonder why almost 60 years later, this police scene plays on a loop daily in Anytown, USA like a relentless cash cow sequel in Hollywood? Some say we’ve come a long way.

Yes, yes, and YES — especially in the wake of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and numerous others who have died at the hands of police brutality. Sadly, we have not come a long way in the 21st century.

I admired the deft twist in the plot when mother and daughter run from the smoking car, unknowingly venturing into a perilous field of snakes — when the police call them back.

Because this is taking place in Texas, a part of the Jim Crow South, we prepare for the worst. Pick your poison.

But it turns out that the police were well-intentioned, surprising the mother, who’s had a bad experience with them. And here, we get a wonderful lesson:

“All policemen aren’t bad, just like all Black people aren’t criminals. All religious people aren’t good and free will gives us the ability to choose who we want to be and what we want to believe.”

“Some people choose not to believe in God, and that’s okay, too.”

The young Toya gets the last word, saying “I see God in everything he made on earth.” After the fortunate encounter with the police, her opening affirmation is vindicated. This brings back the theme from the very opening.

Considering that this is only a 5-minute story, it’s truly amazing to find such vivid details, a surprising plot twist, and a meaningful theme all packed into one. You can read it here:

Now, let’s look at her superb Staff Pick, “The 1619 Project, MLK, and the Subtle Indignity of a Lazy History Teacher’s Assignment.”

Like the other story, this is also a brief 5-minute story that packs a punch. Here, Toya describes a history teacher with a canny combination of justified outrage and humor.

She opens by mentioning Nicole Hannah-Brown’s informative 1619 podcast before shifting to her 1970s high school teacher, a male WASP who can barely conceal his contempt for the Black students in his class.

The feeling is reciprocated among the students who can’t tolerate him either. The ugh factor looms forth as Toya depicts a man “stuck in the past decade with a mindset mirroring his backward thinking,” frequently swatting “greasy strands of a muddy brown hairpiece from his shifty blue eyes.” It doesn’t get any more vivid than that.

And while “He couldn’t change the history book,” he nonetheless “had the power to help us mitigate our perceptions of being on the wrong side of history.” That’s because “Never once did he consider how it might feel to be a Black student in his history class.” The unstated question, of course, is why is this man a teacher at all?

The plot hinges on a particularly derogatory final assignment given by the teacher as he creates an assignment that entails the designing of a “detailed poster board depicting your place in history.” It’s an assignment that provokes Black student ire to the point that many refuse to complete it, preferring to fail.

But this was not an option for the college-bound Toya. Instead, she cleverly gets a friend to help her recreate a scene from her history book, whereupon she “aced the assignment, bid him adieu and good riddance.”

In other words, she had her cake and ate it too!

From here, Toya cycles back to Hannah-Brown’s 1619 project. As a cultural historian, I couldn’t agree more how important it is for educators to bear in mind the importance of acknowledging “the integral role of an entire race.” This is at least as crucial as teaching the contributions of the white working class and poor in America.

But it’s not just educators, Toya adds. At a time when the Right is doing its best to suppress the true history of slavery — much like the teacher in the story, it’s also important for parents to impart truth as well:

Parents must own the responsibility of teaching their children who they are and where they come from so they are able to decipher between a half truth and the real truth in American history.

Magnificent, isn’t it? Here’s the story:

If you want to read more of Toya’s boosted stories, check out this list:

A big thanks to Toni the Talker for suggesting this story!

Frances A. Chiu, March 8, 2024. All rights reserved.