Where is our love of learning? "we must destroy all of our self-imposed barriers"*** Each time I had a black student, I spoke with her or him about my concern. A handful understood and began to read and show interest in other intellectual matters, such as watching television news each night and hanging out at museums and exhibits. Most, though, dismissed me either as an Uncle Tom or a strange old man with nothing better to do than to "f-- around with books and white-people s--," as a student told me when I taught at the University of Illinois-Chicago Circle. When I inquired as why he was at U of I, he said, "To get my degree and get out." His vehemence persuaded me to drop the whole thing then and there.***
Time to redefine black culture***Being intellectually capable is black people's most important possession. Acquiring knowledge and using our intellect to better ourselves are the most powerful and most useful acts we can commit to subvert a system that has kept us down.
My fraternal and maternal grandparents were quiet, determined subversives. I loved listening to them talk about the "days before welfare." I remember how these unflappable people put their families before everything else; how children dared not insult an elder inside or outside the home; how doing well in school was taken for granted; how "cutting up" in public and "shaming the family" were not tolerated.
Calling me old-fashioned and an Uncle Tom does not change this simple truth: If African-Americans are to succeed and enjoy the benefits of this rich culture, mature adults must persuade our children to strive to be admired for all the right reasons.***