Your Hands Are in My Panties

I Don’t Deserve to Feel Powerless

Angel is a mom of four. She runs a daycare, and she is also a part-time student in school to earn her master’s degree. She moved from Chicago’s west side to a much smaller city in hopes of a better life for her and children. Her new neighborhood is predominantly white. The families are affluent and many of the moms are stay-at-home parents. Because of her schedule, Angel has very little time to volunteer at her children’s school, she struggles to make it to parent-teacher conferences on time and her children are not always “polished” when she sends them to school. What is undeniable, however, is her love for her children, the bond they share and the fact that they are united in their mission for a better life. The people on the outside fail to see the mom’s efforts. All they see is a stereotype: a single black mom, with a bunch of kids, all with different last names and that she is not always “polished” in her presentation as a parent. She is the sore thumb that sticks out. And it makes them feel uncomfortable. They “worry” for the kids. It is this worry that leads them to calling CPS multiple times, not for anything serious, but to conduct a wellness check. In their minds, her family is an accident waiting to happen, and these “concerned” parents want to make sure that the children are ok. The first time this happens, Angel is taken by surprise. By the third time it happens, she has become paranoid, guarded, and feels powerless in a community she refuses to leave, mainly because her children are getting a better life, even though she isn’t. Angel doesn’t deserve to feel powerless, surveillanced, and anxious just because her reality makes other people with different backgrounds uncomfortable. Something should be done about this. 

  • "Sagashus was simply phenomenal!! What an amazingly powerful way to close a day full of learning! I felt unified with and mesmerized by Sagashus. Her standing ovation was well-deserved! A brilliant speaker who gave of herself so whole-heartedly. I'm humbled and honored to have been in the room."

  • "This was my favorite talk of the day. I appreciate Sagashus sharing from her heart and being so vulnerable in front of us. Her talk really moved me."

  • "Sagashus was an amazing speaker, and was very touching and personable."

  • "She was amazing and her story was amazing and so inspiring. The standing ovation at the end was not enough to show her just how moving her speech was. I am glad she shared things that must have been extremely difficult, especially things people would say to her when she was pregnant. Reminds you to not judge so quickly, etc but also reminds you that there are cruel people in the world and you need to be YOU and not let that get you down."

    sagashus

Often, parents feel powerless raising their children because the CPS know rules they are often not privy to—rules about disciplining children, medical neglect (what does that look like) and truancy— but are held accountable for. When that is not the case, they are at the mercy of mandated reporters or neighbors calling for “wellness checks” based on their own biases. The parents are left to pick up the pieces and deal with the trauma of these undeserved experiences…and they feel powerless. Your Hands Are in My Panties is the talk that explores ways we can begin to remedy these issues.

Learning Objectives that will help you leverage the life you have to create the life you want

  • To understand the importance of empowering mothers with the rules and laws before they make it into the system

  • To explore ways we can cultivate environments and communities that value and support all kinds of parents as much as we value and support children

  • To explore ideas about making the field of social work more diverse

ALL KEYNOTES

  • Inconceivable

  • Naked

  • Your Hands Are in My Panties

  • Covet

  • Nothing’s Wasted

  • Story

  • Perseverance/Tenacity

PRE -PROGRAM SETUP

What is the best way to set up the room? 

Please, if possible, make sure the stage or platform is as close to the audience as possible, 10 feet or less is great! 

While Sagashus will move around the stage, she will require a lectern with a told that holds her water, book and notes and a hidden shelf for her purse. 

If the AV requires the computer on stage, please make sure the lectern has space for it. Otherwise, please create a setup where the notes, book and technology can all be in the same space. The goal is for Sagashus to be able to move seamlessly between the technology and materials without having to separate them. 

AV REQUIREMENTS

Sagashus requires the following A/V equipment be provided:

Wireless lavalier microphone 

Computer 

LCD projector with the capacity to play audio and video 

Large screen or screens 

Confidence monitor 

Sagashus will bring her program on a Flash Drive in a PowerPoint format. But she will also have a backup in Google Sheets.

Is audio/video recording allowed? No audio or video recording of any kind is permitted during the presentation without Sagashus’s prior written permission.

All rights reserved. No selling, distribution, or reproduction of the contents of this article are permitted without the prior written consent of the author.

Dr. Sagashus T. Levingston was born in Chicago and raised in the area now known as Bronzeville. She holds a bachelor’s in English Literature from the University of Illinois. She also holds a master’s in Afro-American Studies and a PhD in English literature—both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While her research focused primarily on literature, it was informed by theory and criticism from rhetoric, motherhood studies and black feminism.