Posted on 02/13/2002 2:48:04 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
When I entered college in 1963, the term "black power" was becoming popular on campuses with black students.
At first, it was used as an ideological umbrella under which so-called nationalists, culturalists and pluralists of all stripes were grouped. Gradually, we students used the term to convince ourselves that by uniting as one people, by loving our history and traditions, by pooling our vast resources, we could become a powerful bloc that could influence -- if not change -- the basic nature of the United States and thus improve our status as citizens.
I remember those days well, a heady time when African-Americans took education for granted as the sure route to self-improvement and the subsequent uplifting of the whole race.
On my tiny Texas campus of fewer than 1,000 students, only fools refused to read and study diligently. Only fools destroyed their brains with drugs. Only fools physically hurt their brethren. In fact, "being smart" was in. We called it being "heavy." We even expected jocks to be heavy. All musicians, especially the jazz types, were heavy.
Black power meant just that: being black and powerful, being armed with education and the drive to improve our lot in a hostile environment where the very concept of racial egalitarianism was still alien to most white Americans. Black power meant sharing the good and eliminating the bad.
In time, the concept of black power changed. Instead of being a sentiment that united us, it became a source of deep division. Those who followed Martin Luther King and his nonviolent movement, for example, were not as black as those who followed, say, Malcolm X's philosophy or that of the fearless Black Panthers.
No longer bringing us together, black power had become a negative litmus test for one's degree of "blackness." We had entered the "Blacker than Thou" era. On campuses nationwide, black students separated themselves into enclaves.
Groups whose members adopted African-sounding names, perhaps wore dashikis and other African garb and spouted words by the likes of Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver were blacker than those who majored in business and talked of Wall Street.
If you could quote from Frantz Fanon's book The Wretched of the Earth: The Handbook for the Black Revolution That Is Changing the Shape of the World, you were one black brother or sister.
And if you had an African name, wore a dashiki, sported a huge Afro, followed the Socialist Workers Party, talked like a Trotskyite, peppered your speech with Marxist aphorisms, majored in black studies and planned a trip to Africa, you were the essence of blackness.
The ultimate blacker-than-thou paradox occurred on traditionally black campuses. Nearly all of these campuses had parallel student government organizations. One was the legitimate body elected by the entire student population and was usually called the Student Government Association. It had the blessings of the administration and faculty.
The other was a self-appointed organization, usually called the Black Student Union. Assorted radicals belonged to it. In other words, the BSU was blacker than its duly elected counterpart, the SGA. I was president of the BSU at Bethune-Cookman College and founder and editor of the BSU newspaper.
These divisions -- who is black enough and who is not -- were not isolated to college campuses. The phenomenon defined black life at all levels in black communities nationwide.
When I lived in South Florida during the early 1980s, the supporters of beleaguered U.S. congressmen Alcee Hastings were the blackest of the black. Any black who thought Hastings was a crook was labeled an Uncle Tom or a sell out.
Here in St. Petersburg, Omali Yeshitela and his minions set the bar for blackness during the 1960s. Since then, if selected blacks disagree with him or choose to live a mainstream life, they immediately become something less than black or less African.
As a rule, then, only Uhuru members and the supporters of their ideas and programs are truly black. Everyone else is a "Negro."
Believe me when I say this situation helped shape the character of south St. Petersburg. Most blacks are reluctant to oppose the Uhurus publicly. Preachers hold their tongues when they should challenge a questionable philosophy. Blacks running for public office often dodge the nitty-gritty issues because they do not want to be labeled less-than-black. Who wants to be called an enemy of his or her own people?
Such blacker-than-thou nonsense should be packed away with other relics of a bygone era. Black History Month is the perfect time to do so.
Very rare. Most blacks despise Thomas and Powell. They are highly-educated, speak perfect diction and can focus on the topic.
Everytime I see Clarence Thomas on the news he looks heart-broken.
They haved morphed into a version of Hitlers National Socialist Party.
The Estrada filibuster(sp?) and the Carl McCall “snub” are two good examples.
Even the a-hole Sharpton is being targeted by them... his own party!
If Hubert Humphrey or “Skoop” Jackson ever saw the dems today, they would become Republicans!
Let's look at poverty in female-headed households. Divorce and death of the father might explain a small part of why there are so many female-headed households. But the bulk of it is explained by people having children and not getting married in the first place.
Having children is not an act of God. It's not like you're walking down the street and pregnancy strikes you; children are a result of a conscious decision. For the most part, female-headed households are the result of shortsighted, self-destructive behavior of one or two people. They might have bought into the nonsense of "experts" like John Hopkins University sociologist Professor Andrew Cherlin, who said, "It has yet to be shown that the absence of a father was directly responsible for any of the supposed deficiencies of broken homes." The real issue, according to Mr. Cherlin, "is not the lack of male presence but the lack of male income." That's a call for fathers to be replaced by a government welfare check.
According to a NPR/Kaiser/Kennedy School Poll, the leading cause of poverty identified by both the poor (75 percent) and non-poor (65 percent) was drug abuse. Again, it's not like you're walking down the street and you're struck with drug addiction; to use drugs is a conscious decision. Drug-users tend not to be very productive. They drop out of school, abandon their families, have scrapes with the law and don't hold down jobs. Would anybody be surprised that poverty is one result of drug usage?
Most middle-class Americans, including black Americans, are no more than one, two or three generations out of poverty. How did they manage this feat; what's the secret for avoiding poverty?
I think it's a no-brainer. Finish high school and take a job, any kind of a job. Today, but not when I graduated in 1954, if a person graduates from high school, with even a C average, there is a college or some kind of skills training program somewhere for him, and often financial assistance to boot. So if a person doesn't take advantage of today's available opportunities, particularly those during the boom of the 1990s, and engages in self-destructive behavior, whose fault is it?***
White was unswayed: ''You're in school. I run this school, and I meet with you when I want to.'' Parents in the back clapped and nodded. ''That's right!'' said a few, calling out as if they were in church. White said he knew that some students in the crowd were making straight A's, but he wanted them to help boost the performance of the others.
One student asked the superintendent if any other Indiana school districts were hosting similar convocations. White is one of only three black superintendents in Indiana's 293 school districts. White superintendents tell him they would be accused of prejudice or profiling if they targeted black boys to improve their academic performance. ''To me, it's the truth,'' White said. ''The truth will set you free.''***
…………….. What happened? The Edwardses, and other black Cy-Fair parents, asked the district to challenge their children, to raise, not lower, the bar. Most importantly, they took responsibility for preparing their kids to compete. They partnered with area churches to enlist parents in their effort. They disseminated information about tutoring, enrichment opportunities, how to get into college and shared common stories and strategies. They also give large credit to Superintendent Rick Berry, who then was new to the district, for accepting the challenge. Now, the district has "recognized" status due largely to black students now passing the TAAS test in the 90 percentile.
Progress was not easy. District officials were initially skeptical and parents were disinterested and "lazy," DeBra Edwards said. "I can't blame this (failure) on the white folks any more because it's really not their fault," she said. "It's our fault. In so many cases our parents don't want this responsibility. It is easier for them to allow their children to become a part of the sports programs." And that is shameful. ***
You are right that a citizenry that is not divided is harder to fool and harder to control. But I think you could substitute the word 'political' for Marxist - as this is not limited to the Marxist or to the democrats - but the Republicans have been doing a bit of the old racial politics themselves.
Guess I'm one of those "bad names." [shrug]
Been there, done that; got the t-shirt...
We have black men to lead; unfortunately, those who would choose to ignore that have louder voices and more powerful and visible soapboxes that those of us who are leading by example.
But as opposed to those whose voices carry simply noise and are quickly forgotten, our voices carry power, and carry messages that reach below that surface veneer. We provide true support and a true vision.
And as more hear our message, it spreads. I'll admit that it's only a little at a time, but it spreads.
Help me spread that message; help me spread that vision.
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So the answer is to find the lowest performers and slap a Special Ed label on them. What does that do to the kids? Who cares. The ends justifies the means.
Yep...it's all about winnin' over the hearts and minds, one-at-a-time and fer however long it takes...at some point, everyone can come to the realization that becoming ENSLAVED to the Federal Leviathan in DeeCee is a DeadEnd!!
FReepOn, my FRiend...MUD
Special Ed is a huge industry, powered by Federal dollars. Naturally, where there are dollars and jobs up for grabs, the ranks of Special Ed students will grow.
That's INTOLERABLE!! Any "SpecialEdDesignation" should be scientific and deeply-involve the parents of the child!!
FReegards...MUD
Only if the parents of these children knowingly allow their kids to be used as pawns fer the EducRATS...the PTA meeting at my kids' school would be RIOTOUS were this to happen to my child!!
FReegards...Slim
Agreed. But there are plenty of parents that are more than willing, especially since there are goddies attached in many cases.
I wouldn't worry about your child, Slims the world over are recognized as superior genetic stock.
That's the assumption I have a quibble with...are there really a whole lotta parents out there who don't want their kids to have all the opportunities that life offers?! One thing that I believe unites US all is our desire to see our kids live happy and fulfilling lives, and knowingly allowing YER child to be put on a SpecialEd track just so yer child's school can afford a few more non-teaching teaching consultants ain't something ANY PARENT should knowingly allow happen.
FReegards...MUD
BTW...yer right about the slims...LOL!!
True, these families are in the minority, but there's lots more of them than we'd like to see. And, in the interest of keeping the school administration and "advocacy" groups quiet, many teachers, principals, etc... go along with it.
Mrs. Slim is very glad she's retiring next year, she's had enough. After 25 years in Special Ed she's seen it go from being relatively benign to a self-perpetuating monster in many ways.
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