News One: Is Nappy the New N-word?

Read my News One blog post: Is Nappy the New N-word?

By Charisse Carney Nunes

I recently watched a television show about standards of beauty around the world. I sat in awe as little Chinese girls went ga-ga for White Barbie, and their mothers and sisters stood in a drive-thru line to have a surgeon slice away the fat from their eyelids to make them more Euro-chic. On one level, it felt good to know that African-American women are not alone in the emotional struggle to love ourselves enough to call ourselves pretty. But that feeling quickly vanished as the show then focused on Nigerian women who loathed their natural locks, opting for lye to straighten them out and a needle and thread to weave in wigs of women’s hair from places like India.

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Nappy Narratives Week 4: Mary McLeod Bethune

Nappy Narrative_Mary McLeod Bethune from Brand Nu Words on Vimeo.

Nappy Narratives Week 3: Ida B. Wells

Nappy Narrative_Ida B. Wells from Brand Nu Words on Vimeo.

Celebrating Remarkable Women During Women’s History Month

By Charisse Carney-Nunes
For News One March 9, 2010 6:00 pm

This week marks the 35th commemoration of International Women’s Day (Monday), celebrated by the United Nations. This year’s theme is “Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities, Progress for all.” As a woman, I am grateful that for one day out of 365, women are recognized for our achievements. But outside of this special day and month – March is also Women’s History Month – I find myself humming Sojourner Truth’s tune, asking Ain’t I A Woman and questioning where I fit in popular culture, and even in my own community.

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Nappy Narratives for Women's History Month: Week 2 - Rosa Parks

Nappy Narrative_Rosa Parks from Brand Nu Words on Vimeo.

Nappy Narratives for Women's History Month: Week 1 - Sojourner Truth

School kids singing Obama song are inspired, not indoctrinated
By Charisse Carney-Nunes
9:00 AM on 10/13/2009

Charisse Carney-Nunes is Senior Vice President of The Jamestown Project and author of the children's book, I Am Barack Obama. She was the invited guest at the Burlington, NJ school where the kids sang for her a song about President Obama. A popular YouTube video showing the schoolchildren singing is currently at the center of the national controversy on alleged "school indoctrination."

Much political hay has been made over the video of the New Jersey school children singing about President Obama and I have since found myself at the center of this firestorm. Conservative commentators and media outlets have labeled this "indoctrination by schools," fueling their listeners recently to conduct a politicized protest in front of an elementary school while in session. Contrary to this position, I believe the song - which was initiated by the school's children, not by me - represents a refreshing example of civic expression, creativity and engagement that is sorely needed in our nation's schools.

Civic education is the teaching of knowledge, skills, values, and character needed to grow into a responsible and active participation in American democracy. It is an effort to instill the values of civility, understanding and respect. Through the civic education of elementary-aged children, I have found that they not only begin to understand their place in the world, but also begin to comprehend their power and potential to make a difference in their own lives, their family, their communities, and their country.

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In Today's Viral World, Who Keeps a Civil Tongue?

By Ann GerhartWashington Post Staff Writer Sunday, October 11, 2009

Late last month, Charisse Carney-Nunes fired up the computer at her home in Northeast Washington to check her e-mail. Her brain already was on morning drive time: breakfast for the kids, her day's work at a government agency. She glanced down at her screen, then froze.

Read full article with picture here.

Charisse appears on Inside Edition

On Friday, October 2, 2009, I appeared on Inside Edition to set the record straight and to discuss the so-called school indoctrination issue.

C-P Editorial: Burlco school video isn't indoctrination

This is an Op-Ed by the Courier Post Online
Published on 9/29/2009

Those who are trying to make a months-old school project into something sinister need to get over it.

It's clear a faction of Americans are dead-set against ever accepting Barack Obama as president of the United States.

But do these people really need to take a simple song or two -- sung barely a month after Obama's inauguration and sung, logically enough, during Black History Month -- and try to cast the project as some kind of organized attack against the nation?

Really?

Read the entire article here:
http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20090929/OPINION/909290305/-1/newsfront2/C-P-Editorial--Burlco-school-video-isn-t-indoctrination