Melanated Neurons™

In August 2022, I birthed Melanated Neurons

after my 7-year-old great nephew was called a racial slur- “Nigger” and “Black monkey” at school. I quickly found out how common this was with other family members. Around the same time, I experienced “white-injected oppression,” commonly known as internalized racism, during graduate school. Both moments made one thing clear: our children need identity-affirming education that tells the truth and uplifts their brilliance.

So, I fundraised and began a month-long pilot program with a friend in Southern New Jersey with children ages 7–12. Here’s what we did together:

Walked a 75-acre Black-owned farm for the first time in 250 years and ate with elders while discussing resilience, culture, the enslaved who previously worked on the farm, and heritage. The children witnessed the artifacts of an enslaved schoolhouse on the property.

Visited their first Black-owned bookstore- (Harriet’s), connecting history to present-day Black enterprise

Learned financial literacy through the legacy of Black Wall Street and a Black banker

Explored science, nature, and colorism while hiking trails and studying trees, leaves, and learning about neurons

Celebrated at The Harlem Children’s Festival, where they saw streets full of Black vendors (some as young as ten), heard old-school political rap and rappers, tasted ethnic foods, and even met Black politicians—one child shouted, “OMG-I never saw so many people who looked like me!”

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