Black pledge draws angry e-mails

Millwood Public Schools Superintendent Gloria Griffin says she is "dumbfounded." Since Monday, she has been swamped with angry e-mails accusing her administration of espousing black separatist doctrine to Millwood students. She said nothing could be further from the truth.

At the center of the misunderstanding is a copy of "The Black Pledge of Allegiance," which appears on the Millwood Public Schools Web site immediately beneath the traditional American Pledge of Allegiance.

Griffin said the pledge, the origin of which is unknown to her, has appeared on the Web site since it was created last spring. She said she had forgotten all about it until the angry e-mails started arriving.

The pledge is not something the students recite in school, she said, although it apparently has been characterized that way in e-mails that have circulated over the Internet.

"Let me tell you how this came about," Griffin said. "Two or three years ago, one of the middle school teachers was doing a study on black pride or cultural pride.

"This particular pledge was among the items the students found through their research."

Black students make up about 99 percent of the Millwood school system's population, she said.

Some students found the pledge to be encouraging and inspirational and asked if it could be used in the Student Planner, a book where students keep track of their assignments, Griffin said.

Griffin said the idea that some people might interpret the pledge as advocating separatism never occurred to her when she read it.

"When I read it, I focus on the words 'united in love, freedom and determination,'" she said. "If you look at history, there is a great need for African Americans to love. It is very important that we appreciate freedom. And it is very, very important to have self- determination, and I don't mean that in a sense of separatism."

One of the nicer e-mails Griffin received said: "So much of the Millwood Web site is worthwhile. However, it is a shame that this pledge to black separatism is allowed in your school system."

Another says: "I am offended by the Millwood Black Pledge of Allegiance. It is one of the most racist pieces of propaganda I have read in many years. In a nation which encourages equality, I am surprised to see such stark racial division being taught by a public school."

Griffin said she is particularly upset by e-mails that have been blatantly racist, e-mails that falsely accuse the district of asking students to recite the pledge and e-mails that seem to question students' patriotism.

The pledge is not recited in Millwood schools, she said. The Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag is recited often.

"The elementary school opens each assembly with the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag," Griffin wrote in a response to one e-mail. "Since August, this pledge is recited each morning. With a backlog of requests for American flags, the elementary school art teacher made attractive American flags for the classroom."

Middle school assemblies begin with a presentation of colors by the Civil Air Patrol and students reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag. At the high school, the Junior ROTC posts the colors and the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag is recited, she said.

"Other than being the target of misinformation, I don't know what to make of this," she said. "Something has been taken out of context. As a result, it really borders on slander."

Griffin said she doesn't know the origin of the black pledge or the red, black and green flag it refers to -- although she does recall seeing the flag surface during the 1960s civil rights movement.

She also said she didn't know whether the pledge would remain on the school's Web site. She said she has asked the middle school principal to research its origin so appropriate action can be taken. At the least, a paragraph of explanation identifying the pledge as cultural study material needs to be added, she said.

Don Ross, a black state representative from Tulsa, said he is unfamiliar with the pledge. Like Griffin, he recalls the flag surfacing during the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

"I don't think it has anything to do with black separatism. If anything, it symbolizes unity," he said.

Ross referred to the red, black and green flag as the "freedom flag." He said it is frequently presented, along with the American flag, at gatherings of many traditional black groups that have nothing to do with black separatism.

However, as is the case with many symbols, the red, white and green flag apparently means different things to different groups.

The Kwanzaa Information Center Web site has an article on the origin of the red, black and green flag. It said the flag "has become the symbol of devotion for African people in America to establish an independent African nation on the North American Continent."

"Red is for the Blood. Black is the Black People. Green is for the Land," the Web site says.

They've asked the Middle School Principle to look into whether the offending racist material should be removed from the website based upon the origin of the flag, colors, and pledge.

Here's his info:

Mr. Nathan McGuire
Principal
Millwood Middle School
Phone: (405)478-0360
nmcguire@millwood.k12.ok.us

Send him this info from the Kwanzaa Information Center:

Origin of the Flag of Pan-Africanism and/or Black Nationalism Red is for the Blood. Black is the Black People. Green is for the Land.
Red, Black and Green are the oldest national colors known to man. They are used as the flag of the Black Liberation Movement in America today, but actually go back to the Zinj Empires of ancient Africa, which existed thousands of years before Rome, Greece, France, England or America.
The Red, or the blood, stands as the top of all things. We lost our land through blood; and we cannot gain it except through blood. We must redeem our lives through the blood. Without the shedding of blood there can be no redemption of this race. However, the bloodshed and sorrow will not last always. The Red significantly stands in our flag as a reminder of the truth of history, and that men must gain and keep their liberty, even at the risk of bloodshed.
The Black is in the middle. The Black man in this hemisphere has yet to obtain land which is represented by the Green. The acquisition of land is the highest and noblest aspiration for the Black man on this continent, since without land there can be no freedom, justice, independence, or equality.
The colors were resurrected by the Hon. Marcus Garvey, Father of African Nationalism, as the symbol of the struggling sons and daughters of Africa, wherever they may be. Since the 1950's, when the independence struggle began to reap fruit, the Red, Black and Green have been plainly adopted by Libya, Kenya and Afghanistan. Other African States have included the colors Black and Red, combined with yellow or white.
The colors were established in 1920 as the banner of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), and adopted as the symbol of Africans in America at the convention of the Negro People's of the World. It is a symbol of the devotion of all African people to the liberation of the African Continent, and the establishment of a Nation in Africa ruled by descendents of slaves from the Western World.
In addition, with the formation of the Republic of News Africa, it has become the symbol of devotion for African people in America to establish an independent African nation on the North American Continent.
Thus, the colors were not chosen at any limited convention of Black persons; but, have been, in centuries past, and are now the emblem of true Black hope and pride, as embodied in all theories of Pan-Africanism and Black Nationalism.

Garvey used to march around Harlem, NY in uniform with sword as the "Commander-in-Chief" of the "Universal African Legion" to prove his militant support of a separate black nation.

Note: This is no marching band.

He was later sentenced to prison and deported for crimes committed while the leader of the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).

While he did not espouse creating a separate black nation in North America - a modern black nationalists do - he was the champion of the "back to Africa" movement which was just another black separatist idea.

Kwanzaa is the modern-day, mainstream method of supporting black nationalism. If you need more information on that, let me know and I'll post it. The bottom line is - for all the talk of unity between the races (see Martin Luther King), there sure is a great deal of black racist and black separatist crap going on with seemingly little opposition. This Martin Luther King Day I would love to see the so-called "Civil Rights" leaders denounce this racist trash and reestablish the goals set out by MLK in his "I Have A Dream" speech.

--it can't be taken out of context, and the only misundertstanding came about when whomever posted that on the website thought that it wouldn't get noticed by white people eventually, or that people are too stupid to read the thing and understand the words. I've heard this same deal from numerous black aquantainces over the years, more or less generally speaking here, especially in the black muslims or this other large loosely organized group called 'the brotherhood". They have made no bones about eventually having a violent armed revolution and forcing the issue. They want the south eastern states of the US for a new "homeland'. I *think* the plan is to at some time seize several large cities in the nation, hold hundreds of thousands of people hostage, and to hold the wealth they grab hostage, and work out an exchange for the states. They will do this by totally controlling the infrastructure in those cities at the time, hold the elected offices and especially the police departments and the public utilities, etc. There was even a novel written about this same scenario, but I can't recall the title at this point. In the novel they seized manhattan and held it for ransom. It was a scaryu book, I'd like to read it again actually.

Bottom line is, the website and the ledge is pure racist, and un-american to the max, but it's also a sentiment that probably won't go away, either. This nation messed up bad after the civil war,IMO, we should have either completely bred our way to total mixture, like brazil more or less did, or actually humanely repatriated them back to africa, liberia or anyplace else they wanted to go to. This multi generational chip on the shoulder is just not going away it appears. Several trillion bucks have gone to affect arrears, and continual preferences in everything from schooling to employment, solely based on race. It ain't worked that great. All the other races and ethnicities present in our culture who are not pure native american indian came here voluntarily, and are (mostly) striving to be 'american", but this is not evident as much in the domestic black population. heh, I met this nigerian immigrant, he was really trying hard to build up his business here and be an "american", not a african american or nigerian american, just "a dude" who lives here and wants to live here and is happy to be here and not in nigeria. He told me he can't hardly stand the black folks born here, his words, not mine. this was in atlanta, oh, around 12 years or so ago. Said they were sorry and naieve basically.

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