Friday, February 26, 2010

The Makings of Modern Mis-Education



By Ezrah Aharone

Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the father of Black History Month and second Black PhD to graduate from Harvard, wrote the acclaimed The Mis-Education of the Negro way back in 1933.  In the 1940s, psychologist Kenneth Clark’s “Doll Test,” demonstrated that Black children were being psychologically conditioned to yearn and favor the looks of White people at the expense of self-dislike.  His critical findings were cited during Brown vs. Board of Education when theSupreme Court desegregated schools in 1954.
            Here we are, decades removed and Dr. Woodson’s book is still widely sold and studied, while Black children are still predisposed to view White dolls as “prettier and nicer” with hair that’s “better” than Black dolls.  Educationally, we face ever-dismal challenges where Black children enter kindergarten a full year behind Whites; by high school the gap extends to 4 to 5 years; and 58 percent of Black males don’t even graduate high school. 
Princeton researchers recently published a 7-year study, concluding that a 20-year “Manhattan Project-effort” is necessary to close today’s education and economic gaps of racial inequality.  Just so you’ll know, the original Manhattan Project was a massive pursuit, costing the equivalent of $22 billion and comprising thousands of scientists who developed the A-Bomb in 1945 to nuke Japan into a crisp.  So, to infer this same category of endeavor, speaks to the comparative enormity of the challenge.   
There’s good reason for skepticism since Black kids who dropout commonly say “classes aren’t interesting.”  And as far back as my childhood in the 1960s, “Acting White” has been a tagline used by Black kids to ridicule those who academically excel.  Naturally, adults respond by saying, “there’s nothing White about being smart.”  Although this is absolutely true, it absolutely misses the point and fails to address the sociopolitical and mis-educational factors that confound young minds to misconstrue smartness with Whiteness 
Children worldwide learn that the earth is round and 1 + 1 = 2. These are universal facts that are neither Black nor White.  However, the functionsand end-uses that nations apply such facts to educate kids are neither neutral nor universal.  Hence, “Acting White” is a troubled way that youngsters express something that we have lacked the power to change – Which is that the functions and end-uses of America’s “System of Education and Intellect” are based on skewed purposes, processes, and interpretations that place European images, ideals, and institutions as the central and supreme frame of reference and relevance.  This lack of intellectual and institutional equality, encapsulates the essence of the mis-education identified by Dr. Woodson.
Our mistake is that we consider it sufficient to simply insert Black people into existing White institutions, and then paste tidbits of sanitized versions of “Black History” into America’s larger body of education.  By contributing without properly correcting the end-uses and known partialities withinAmerica’s “System of Education and Intellect,” we have allowed “the problem to masquerade as a solution.” 
Ask yourself – To what end-use is our current system of thought being applied, and who are the ultimate beneficiaries and end-users?  With our 4 centuries of collective intellect and institutions, we can’t stop our youngsters from shooting and killing each other.  We can’t even stop them from cursing in front of elders.  We have communities nationwide being held hostage to Black-on-Black crime.  Mis-education is making us intellectually and functionally unfit to “rescue ourselves from ourselves.”
Black leaders and educators have convened for decades to debate and decipher “what’s wrong.”  But here’s a hard truth – The very psychological inducements that trap Black children to idolize and overvalue White dolls, mutates into sociopolitical mindsets that induce Black adults to idolize and overvalue European ideals and institutions just the same . . . its one yoke with two levels of shackles.
Centuries of mis-education won’t simply evaporate, yet the purging process would undress America’s character and historiography in ways thatAmerica would find uncomfortable and unwilling to concede.  So unless we mount ample intellectual and institutional capacities, The Mis-Education of the Negro will not only be the title of Dr. Woodson’s book, it will be an accurate description of a permanent reality. 

Ezrah Aharone is the author of two political books: Sovereign Evolution: Manifest Destiny from Civil Rights to Sovereign Rights (2009) and Pawned Sovereignty: Sharpened Black Perspectives on Americanization, Africa, War and Reparations (2003).  He is also a founding member of the Center for SovereigntyAdvancement.  He can be reached at Ezrah@theCSA.org. 

Monday, February 8, 2010

VENDOR COLLECTIVE FORMING IN ATLANTA, GA

(please share with your friend in Atlanta)

Greetings Vendors, (Seasonal and Full-Time), Merchants, Manufacturers And Small Business Owners, As business professionals we all share one thing in common: The desire to do all that we can to present our products/services to the public in the most cost effective, productive, timely, and professional manner. Of course at times this requires us to participate in various events, festivals, and trade shows which as we know comes with its' own share of challenges. 

A multitude of problems have resulted due to the lack of communication, poor advertising, over priced fees and just the overall disrespect from the organizers of these events towards the vendors.  As vendors and professionals we all are looking for more effective strategies to gain exposure for our companies and to produce more proficient sales.

A serious group of vendors and merchants have come together to form a unity collective organization to share, exchange, develop, and coordinate strategies and tactics to create better and more efficient markets to sell and distribute our goods and services.
 
We are cordially inviting you to become a part of this group.

MEETING DATE: Thursday February 18th 2010                  
TIME: 7:00pm      
LOCATION: 575 Boulevard SE, Atlanta GA   30312


*This is an old church building which has been restored to a business office and center for the arts.
*Please park in the parking lot behind the building and enter through the double doors.
*This is a Martial Arts School . Please be prepared to remove your shoes.                        
*After this meeting we will be closing all incoming membership to allow us the opportunity to structure the group therefore your attendance is required.

This is a serious group for serious people only. 

Please bring your business cards to network with others.
We look forward to see you at the meeting!

If you have any questions, you can contact the any of people listed below:

Nyemay--------------770.442.6181
Warren---------------404.379.5116
Antoinette-----------770.642.8549
Susie------------------404.758.2153
Vanessa--------------404.751.7087 


Thank you and have a blessed day! 



From: Green, Warren [mailto:wgreen@morehouse.edu
Submitted by "Rudwaan"

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) announces the passing of Dr. Edialeda Salgado do Nascimento

Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) announces the passing of a great Pan Africanist, Partner, Colleague and Friend.

She was the Keynote Speaker at our first annual conference (2007) held at Howard University in Washington, DC.

- Received from Prof. David Horne, posted by Sis. Iman Hameen.

(Translation from Portuguese)

Dr. Edialeda Salgado do Nascimento, National Secretary of the Black Movement of the Democratic Labor Party in Brazil, died in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, January 30, 2010 of a heart attack.

Ediadela was 69 years of age and was survived by two sons, Antonio Augusto and André. The funeral will be held Sunday, February 7, 2010 in the Cemetery of the Garden Sulacap at 4:30.

The wake will be in two localities: Memorial of the Carmo, from this Saturday to noon Sunday in the chapel, and the Cemetery Garden of the Nostalgia, in the Sulacap, up to the hour of the burial at 4:30.

On the 15, 16 and 17th of January, in Brasilia, Edialeda had just recently presided over the National Seminary of the Black Movement of the Democratic Labor Party, which she had co-founded with Leonel Brizola. Part of the discussion there was how to advance government policies to benefit Brazil’s Afro descendants.

She was the State Social Promotion Secretary in the government cabinet with Brizola in 1982, and a candidate for federal Senator in 2006.

She was very active through her last months, participating, for example, in the campaign to promote former Senator Abdias Nascimento for the Nobel Peace Prize that U.S. President Barack Obama eventually won. Fluent in French, Italian, Spanish and English, Edialeda Nascimento represented the Democratic Labor Party in diverse meetings and Congresses both inside and outside the country, including the International Socialist Congress and the first Congress of Black Women of the Americas in 1984 in Ecuador.

She also participated in and was an International Spokesperson at conferences in Latin America, the United States and Europe, particularly those which dealt with the questions of promoting the advancement of women and Black people.

Read more in http://www.pdt-rj.org.br/

-- University Leonel Brizola - Bahia
Eduardo Rodrigues

Also goto:
SECRETARIA NACIONAL MOVIMENTO NEGRO
http://secretariamovimentonegropdt.blogspot.com/
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Black Voices Must be heard re Haiti



Black Voices Must be heard re Haiti
By Alton H. Maddox, Jr

 If Blacks enjoyed political representation and not just political presence in the United States , it would be unnecessary for me to ask you to make a clarion call to get medical treatment for Haitians in dire need of medical treatment. 
Former Sen. John Edwards and actor, John Travolta, can freely travel to Haiti while the passports of our leaders have been lifted.  Moreover, these leaders have refused to initiate a class action lawsuit against the U.S. State Department.
 The U.S. military is now refusing to evacuate Haitians in dire need of critical medical care to the United States .  Florida has filed a complaint for having to help Haitians while Gov. David Paterson can only be found in suspect locations.  Hospitals in New York are not open to Haitians.  This is a shame.
 In a racist response to the flawed immigration policy towards Haiti , this country has fashioned a policy of "humanitarian parole" towards severely-injured, Haitian children.  The name of the policy itself is sinister and racially-defamatory.  Black faces are associated with crime even when they are children.
 When it comes to all persons of African ancestry, including Haitians, this country is invariably engaged in racism and it is of no moment that the United States is indebted to Africans for building this country and fighting off its enemies.
If the United States is not going to grant reparations to descendants of enslaved Africans, it should, at least, be susceptible to granting humanitarian aid to afflicted Africans.  Instead, through threats, intimidation and buy-outs, Blacks have no right to legal or political representation.  In other words, it is illegal for Blacks to use their tongues for their own benefit.
 This country got bogged down in a war in Vietnam .  Afterwards, it airlifted Vietnamese refugees out of Vietnam .  It also airlifted Albanians from Kosovo.  Black people must rise up and speak out.  We have no leadership.  Preachers and politicians are in Uncle Sam's back pocket.  Are they in Haiti today?
 Spread the word today.  Power rises up from the bottom.  The cream goes to the top.  Call members of Congress at 202-224-3121.  Call Gov. David Paterson at 212-681-4580.  Remind him that politics is a two-way street.  "If you scratch my back, I will scratch yours."
 The following are the specific telephone numbers and websites of  designated members of the House of Representatives:
Yvette Clarke
202-225-6231
202-226-0112 (fax)
www.clarke.house.gov.

Gregory Meeks
202-225-3461
202-226-4169 (fax)
718-725-6000
www.house.gov/meeks

Donald Payne
202-225-3436
202-225-4160 (fax)
973-645-3213
www.house.gov/payne

Charles Rangel
202-225-4365
202-225-0816 (fax)
212-663-3900
www.house.gov/rangel

Jose Serrano
202-225-4361
202-225-6001 (fax)
718-620-0084
www.house.gov/serrano

Edolphus Towns
202-225-5936
202-225-1018(fax)
718-855-8018
www.house.gov/towns

Nydia Velazquez
202-225-2361
202-226-0327 (fax)
718-599-3658
www.house.gov/velazquez

 "Those who fail to learn from the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them."  "History is repeating itself."  Nearly a century ago, the Marines invaded Haiti and illegally occupied it for nearly three decades.  Under the pretext of helping afflicted Haitians from the January 12 earthquake, the military has reoccupied Haiti .

 The situation in  Haiti today resembles Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq .  There is no functioning state apparatus in Haiti .  The entire infrastructure of Haiti has been gutted.  Looting is running amuck in Haiti and it should not be attributable to the Black masses.  Haiti will be rebuilt in the image of the United States for the benefit of the United States .
 White missionaries are up to it again.  This time it is happening in Haiti .  Thankfully, the kidnapping scheme of the body snatchers from Idaho was foiled.  Obviously, the United States is in cahoots with this illegal activity since these white body snatchers would have had to re-enter the United States with scores of kidnapped children of African ancestry.  The Congressional Black Caucus is, once again, asleep at the switch.

From TheBlackList
Contributed by "RodJuan"