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“Education, the Key to Prosperity.”
When are, we, as a people, going to start working with our youth to eliminate the lies that are fed to them by the media that prevent them from achieving to their fullest potential? When are we, going to stand up and fight the idea, pervasive in our youth, that if you are excelling in school, in advanced classes and dominating (academically) you classmates, you are “acting white”. This idea is absurd! Throughout history, we have pushed education when it was forbidden upon pain of death! Even during Jim Crow, we created over 150 colleges to serves our children when the mainstream ones refused to let us in. When mainstream businesses refused our money, we became entrepreneurs and set up thriving districts such as Little Hayti in Durham, North Carolina and Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This all happened, because we educated ourselves, either formally or informally!!
Now, after our people fought to open doors to the mainstream of American intellectual life, a thief come in the night to steal the victory and perseverance from our kids; the idea that academic excellence is “acting white”, our ridicule of our brothers and sisters who strive for educational and professional excellence. As they go forward in their academic accomplishments, we have Black idiots taunting them with the label “acting white.” Do not confuse professionalism or academic excellence with “acting white.” One has nothing in the world to do with the other. In fact, those Black folks who do not encourage nor support their fellow Black students or Black businesses are actually the ones “acting white.” They also act white when they do not sound their objections or defend against other races that denigrate their Black brothers and sisters, or when they mistreat their own Black people with the same lies, injustice and incorrectness as white supremacist do. Those who are accusing other of “Acting white,” are simply being niggerish, or, put a better way “stupid”, themselves!
I issue a challenge to everyone! Check you state’s, your individual district’s, your child’s school’s status on proficiency tests. You will see a great gap in the performance of black and white students. Check the ACT, SAT, AP, and other tests. With affirmative action about to go off into history and the standards rising, we must reaffirm our intellectual tradition. Start reading (newspaper, books, magazines, etc., use the public library, etc.). As a special treat, give your kids gifts certificates for bookstores. Take your children to museums, galleries, parks, etc. We must challenge the idea promulgated through BET and throughout history that all we do is play sports and rap!!
View my sites at:
- http://www.geocities.com/jvbzook
- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Afro-American_Intellectual_Association/
- http://groups.msn.com/BlackIntelligence
- http://jvbafro.tripod.com
Or, you can email me at [email protected]
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Comments
# Submitted by Kimberly (not verified) on Tue, 08/14/2007 – 10:40.
I agree with your comments and share your passion on this topic. As a product of public education in the CIty of Cleveland and Cleveland Heights in the 70’s and 80’s I was lucky to have had parents who were actively involved in my education and making sure that I succeeded and excelled. Many of my peers during that time experienced the same support. However, times have changed and social ills, such as poverty, crime, a lack of community cohesiveness in the black community, as well as other social problems, have contributed to black students lack of achivement. I am appalled at the fact that it has taken the govenor of the state of Ohio to shed light on this tragedy. Black parents, community leaders, educators and the church should have addressed this issue years ago – if they had, our black children would not be in the state it is in today. We need a mass community effort where at least 25% of the black residents in NE Ohio commit themselves to becoming volunteer teachers, counselors, mentors, and surrogate parents to black children on a full time basis. Whatever they don’t receive in school, the community will provide afterschool and on the weekends. We don’t need legislation or goverment approval to provide to our children what they lack. We don’t need grants and funding streams to provide this. We already have the resources – most of us are working, have homes or rent apartments, buy cars, clothes, food and spend money on entertainment, not to mention tithing 10% to the church. if we took even 1%-5% of what we normally spend on ourselves and spend it on a child, we would be able to overcome major hurdles.
We need a massive, long-term black movement in Ohio. It’s long overdue and it’s greatly needed. If it doesn’t happen now, the black race will be nearly obsolete by the end of this century.
