Social Justice: "YOU KNOW YOU CAN NEVER BE WHITE, RIGHT?"

I presented this week on Social Justice this week, I really took the time to understand what Hilliard, Sleeter & Grant, and Anderson & Kharem discussed on this topic and I hope that was present in my questions I posed to the seminar. I want to hightlight two topics that I discussed that I feel that when leading the discussion in the back of my mind made me emotional, as I reflected on my place as a Black man who hopes to be an exception to the rule.

“No one form, image, or norm of Blackness exists.” How do you associate with a word or Blackness that doesnt have one meaning. How do you have a Black Liberation movement with so many types of Black people. I really feel that its hard being a Black person who I feel is and will be an exception to the rule. And a reason why its so hard to progress at times is the negative image of the race that im associated with. White people dont have to deal with this and I am angered that this is a reality I face. Being Black serves at a motivation to succeed but I can honestly say that having to think about being Black discourages me at times and really has an affect on me as an individual.

The second thing that has always been on my mind, is the reality of me never being white. No matter what I will be Black and that is understood. I dont want to be anything that I'm not but White being the norm, what is normal is soceity, it is disheartening that the reality a person who is Black will never be able to live without acknowledge that they are Black or the possibilities of that being reminded at any given time. Social Justice in this sense seems that it will never be a reality but it is necessary that people who strive for success and become those exceptions, that as a unit will be able to bring about change. I really am uncomfortable with my race, being a Black man is hard for me but I dont make any excuces. I hate to have that feeling of being reminded that I am Black or questioning outcomes.

Below is a work of art, that may be able to show why I feel it is so hard to be black. Yet why one can have pride

That Word Black
by Langston Hughes
"This evening," said Simple, "I feel like talking about the word black."

"Nobody's stopping you, so go ahead. But what you really ought to have is a soap-box out on the corner of 126th and Lenox where the rest of the orators hang out."

"They expresses some good ideas on that corner," said Simple, "but for my ideas I do not need a crowd. Now as I were saying, the word black, white folks have done used that word to mean something bad so often until now when the N.A.A.C.P. asks for civil rights for the black man, they think they must be bad. Looking back into history, I reckon it all started with a black cat meaning bad luck. Don't let one cross your path!

"Next, somebody got up a blacklist on which you get if you don't vote right. Then when lodges come into being, the folks they didn't want in them got blackballed. If you kept a skeleton in your closet, you might get blackmailed. And everything bad was black. When it came down to the unlucky ball on the pool table, the eight-rock, they made it the black ball. So no wonder there ain't no equal rights for the black man."

"All you say is true about the odium attached to the word black," I said, "You've even forgotten a few. For example, during the war if you bought something under the table, illegally, they say you were trading on the black market. In Chicago, if you're a gangster, the Black Hand Society may take you for a ride. And certainly if you don't behave yourself, your family will say you're a black sheep. Then, if your mama burns a black candle to change family luck, they call it black magic."

"My mama never did believe in voodoo, so she did not burn no black candles," said Simple.

"If she had, that would have been a black mark against her."

"Stop talking about my mama. What I want to know is, where do you white folks get off calling everything bad black? If it is a dark night, they say it's black as hell. If you are mean and evil, they say you got a black heart. I would like to change all that around and say that the people who Jim Crow me have got a white heart. people who sell dope to children have got a white mark against them. And the white gamblers who were behind the basketball fix are the white sheep of the sports world. God knows there was few, if any, Negroes selling stuff on the black market during the war, so why didn't they call it the white market? No, they got to take me and my color and turn it into everything bad. According to white folks, black is bad.

"Wait till my day comes! In my language, bad will be white. Blackmail will be a white mail. Black cats will be good luck, and white cats will be bad. If a white cat crosses your path, look out! I will take the black ball for the cue ball and let the white ball be the unlucky eight-rock. And on my blacklist––will be a white list then ––I will put everybody who ever Jim Crowed me from Rankin to Hitler, Talmadge to Malan, South Carolina to South Africa.

"I am black. When I look in the mirror, I see myself, daddy-o, but I am not ashamed. God made me. he also made F.D., dark as he is. He did not make us no badder than the rest of the folks. The earth is black and all kinds of good things comes out of the earth. Everything that grows comes out of the earth. Trees and flowers and fruit and sweet potatoes and corn and all that keeps mens alive comes right up out of the earth––good old black earth. Coal is black and it warms your house and cooks yo ur food. The night is black, which has the moon, and a million stars, and is beautiful. Sleep is black, which gives you rest, so you wake up feeling good. I am black. I feel very good this evening.

Equity & Diversity Awareness Quiz

On the Equity and Diversity Awareness Quiz I received a 7 out of 15. I wasnt surprised by my score on this quiz because some of these questions I have never asked myself in the past and never discussed with my peers. Although a lot of the questions I answered were wrong. I believe that my guesses were fairly close to the real answer. There were several questions that really caught me off guard.

Question 1.
40% of schools have no teachers of color on staff. THATS CRAZY!!! This is an injustice to the development of a student, as I feel that a student should not only come into contact with a diverse curriculum but also be taught by teachers who are also diverse. I thought 20% because I thought in this day schools would be more diverse but I guess I was wrong. I am grateful for having teachers who were made up of different cultures, and I feel that any student should also have this opportunity. Im starting to think if having teachers of color in the classroom is something that is nonexistent, it might be a reach, unrealistic to think a school system or education a student comes into contact with would be multicultural.

Question 5.
African Americans comprise 15% of the percentage of U.S. drug users, having very high percentages of people convicted and sent to prison. I thought 30% but when answering, I thought of this as a Black-White thing, thinking 70% of drug users were White. I failed to acknowledge populations in this example, ie: Latino's, Asian's, etc. Although I answered this question wrong, it saddens me that Blacks make up such a small population of drug users yet they are being sent to prison at such high rates. A sad reality!!!

Question 8.
Latina and Native American women with the same level of education as White males, making 30,000 less is something that is very sad. What really counts in this society should be ones education, not their gender or their race. I would love to know where I would stand as a Black man.

Below is the link for the Equity and Diversity Awareness Quiz:
http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/quiz/quizNEW.pdf

TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN: Guest Speaker Rev. Lee Trollinger

On Thursday March 18th, I attended a guest speaker event held by Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and Malik Fraternity, Inc. titled TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN. The event featured Rev. Lee Trollinger a member of Malik Fraternity who has over 20 years of experience working with youth. Although many were inspired by the words of Rev. Trollinger, and his involvement working with inner city youth is something that I myself respect, I found myself saying "tell me something I don't already know." I later considered that maybe his entertaining story and humor would have been better for a different audience, maybe those that he seeks to and currently helps.

To open the event the guest speaker had us watch a clip that discussed the paths that many youth of color take, the reality of today's poverty stricken environments. Boys seeing success in the lights of becoming a basketball player, a rapper, or taking on the role of the neighborhood hustler. Including drop-out rate statistics and the opinions of Black success stories (authors, athletes and entertainers), this film aimed to show the importance of an education. Although I enjoyed the clip, again I feel that it would have been better for a younger population, not for a room of college students who know that an education is their key to success. Rev. Trollinger opened his speech with a letter from a child that he is currently caring for and then spent the next half hour telling us why its necessary for us to go back to our community and make a difference, as if most of us being "minority" students don't already know this. Speaking on his personal experiences I wasn't too sure if this event was one that was to be informative or motivational, as I looked back on to the flier which the organizations posted around campus. If he drove 3 hours to tell this room of students that they should go back to their communities and help the youth, I think that he only reiterated something that many of us know and are currently doing.

A Black man, who attends a four-year university, I do not need anyone to tell me about a reality in which I have faced my entire life. I currently mentor and sacrifice my weekends to travel to NYC to mentor two 11th graders who also face the harsh realities of an urban society. I stress to these students the importance of an education but I do discourage them from their aspirations, one being a basketball player. I feel like the clip showed by Rev. Trillinger was one that didn't embrace the harsh reality of why many students want to be a rapper, a professional athlete or the neighborhood hustler, the only images of success that are visible to many youth. How do you uplift a child who doesn't have positive role models? This is a question that I felt needed to be addressed, not telling me what I already know.

Every Party Held Responsible ... No Child [Teacher, School or Community] Left Behind

In this weeks seminar, we discussed the popular No Child Left Behind Act, dissected by Linda Darling-Hammond's article. Reflecting on this discussion and reading Hammonds article, there seems to be no opposition that the NCLB is great in theory. Sadly, the harsh reality of its application to school systems, is one that contributes to educational inequities, that the Congress passed framework seeks to combat. An education initiative that took on the outcome of "victory" prematurely, the NCLB will likely lose this war, unless its policies change to reflect the needs of those traditionally underserved by public schools.

I was in shock to find out that the NCLB has had such a negative effect on the education system. The setting of high standards on assessment tests, bringing about a culture that takes the focus off of the student, but creating a system that is widening the Achievement Gap. Hammond states, that “the child and the school are accountable to the state for test performance, but the state is not held accountable to the child or his school for providing adequate educational resources,” something that I find to be the biggest problem of all. The successful execution of educating youth is contingent on a strong relationship between all parties involved, everyone must play its role and take responsibility for such.

Using Hammond's evaluation and Lisa Delpit's reading from "Other People's Children," I have come up with a model for which I would use as my foundation to rewrite the NCLB. This involves the teacher/school, the government, the community, all parties that influence a child's development. I feel that if no child is to truly be left behind each party listed must understand what their role is and whom they must hold accountable (making sure every party does what they are required by law, even the government).

The teacher/school must be the executer of the plans listed by NCLB and their focus should be the student. The teacher must provide them with the best possible instruction and take interest in every student and their individual story. Making sure they are not "teaching down" or making a child "invisible" as Delpit discusses in her article. The school must develop a "multicultural staff," a recommendation of Delpit to a teacher, which I find to be very important, because a students learning experience should never be biased and nothing should come between that teacher fostering the best learning environment/experience. In addition, schools must take on the responsibility of knowing who they are serving and make it a priority to bring about change to meet the needs of this population/community. The school is to the teacher as the teacher is to the student.

The government I feel plays the biggest role in "No Child Left Behind." A great education should be the priority of any government in this global economy. Homeland issues taking priority over those taking place overseas. I feel that the government should know that they cannot demand great outcomes from teachers/schools if they don't provide them with the necessary resources to do their jobs. Teachers should be rewarded financially for taken on this respectable and influential role, and shouldnt have to take on the burden of dealing with poor resources. Doctors need adequate hospitals, teachers should have adequate classrooms. I see teaching to be of the same caliber as healing, thus become a teacher should hold such wait of that of a doctor. The Federal government must understand that it is not only their duty to provide an adequate education but also tend to the needs and welfare of its citizens, understand that also affects their development.

And lastly, the community which is made up of parents/guardians must understand that they play a key role in their child's development. Schools/teachers must acknowledge parents as "a resource and not as a problem," says Delpit. Teachers should take advantage of this non governmental resource, while parents make themselves available to assist. The community serves as the glue, that I feel stabilizes the relationship between student and teacher. I feel that learning goes far beyond the classroom, parents and teachers should be working as a team.

Standardized testing to me isn't the problem, the problem is when you have a child take a test that you haven't prepared them to achieve on. With all parties taking on an important role and holding another party responsible, it is then and only then that, I feel NO CHILD WILL BE LEFT BEHIND!!!!

Below is a link to a NY Times article that I found surfing the net, the article over 20 years ago touches on several topics that we have discussed so far this semester. With a very blunt title this article opens the discussion on whether race plays a part in a child's development.
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/24/nyregion/do-black-and-white-children-learn-the-same-way.html?pagewanted=1

Black, White and the "N" word.

Who has the right to say this word? Can one really empower and revamp its meaning? Is it ever appropriate to use? Are some of the questions that came to mind when I participated in this weeks class discussion on the word Nigger. I felt the mood change compared to a setting that is usually filled with laughter. A WHITE classmate tells a story of when he was assaulted by a group of males who happened to be BLACK and says when speaking about the situation uses the word Nigger (over BLACK) to articulate the level of disgust and hatred that he felt toward those individuals. He was then asked the question, "Are you a racist?" He replied, "No." Although I appreciated his honesty on the subject, I was offended. The use Nigger is a "hate word" and using this word is an act of RACISM. In addition, the word reflects a history of oppression faced by Blacks and the power of White Supremacy in the U.S.

In and out of this seminar, I tried to come up with a word that historically was on the level of such a word or even more offensive, yet nothing came to mind. Take this situation that occured above and switch the races of the characters. Now picture a group of White men assaulting a Black man, has anything really changed? Does using the word Nigger to describe those assaulted him apply? In my opinion the crime is wrong on both ends but a Black man cannot use that word to describe his offenders, and no historical hate word that would be fitting. Especially in a society where White men have lynched and killed Black men, a country that burned crosses on the lawns of people of color. Because in no way has the White man ever been oppressed.

The use of the word "NIGGER" is a constant reminder that I live in a country where being White rains supreme. That racism still exists, and even scarier that its existence is hidden and denied by many. It doesn't matter who says it and it doesn't matter why it was used. Just know that if you use that word, you are internalizing and accepting a history of oppression towards people of color.


Below are two skits creatively constructed by comedian Dave Chappelle, that play on the use of the word Nigger and also White Supremacy.


Chappelle's Show, "The Niggar Family" Skit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7iemlsT6xc&feature=related

Comedy Central, Chappelle's Show, "Clayton Bigsby, Black White Supremacist"
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?title=clayton-bigsby&videoId=24400

Injustices of the Education System...

Multicultural Education (an education that is Multicultural) can be defined in many ways, which was shown in the Gay reading. In the reading, "A Synthesis of Scholarship in Multicultural Education", Gay provides a diverse array of definitions for Multicultural Education but I feel that there was one that stood out the most; "A philosophy that stresses the importance, legitimacy and vitality of ethnic and cultural diversity in shaping the lives of individuals, groups, and nations."

I feel that an education that is Multicultural is one that includes all demographics present in the classroom. No child being left behind or out and a space that is not only enriching but comforting. I find this to be nonexistent in the current NYC education and the places which it is, is definitely the exception to the rule.

If "Multicultural education is a process that permeates all aspects of school practices, policies and organization as a means to ensure the highest levels of academic achievement for all students (NAME)," then society must not want all to succeed. Reflect on your personal experiences K-12 and compare that to that of others and let me know if every teacher and school provided the daily Multi[cultural]-vitamins required for a healthy development. Inadequate learning environments, empathetic educators and lacking educational resources are the norm. If your reality was different consider yourself lucky.

A multicultural education "advocates the belief that students and their life histories and experiences should be placed at the center of the teaching and learning process and that pedagogy should occur in a context that is familiar to students and that addresses multiple ways of thinking," NAME says. This is a statement I firmly co-sign. I believe that an educator should internalize the lives of the constituents that it serves. In addition to that, a teacher should spread the truth rather than ignorance of history. Like that depicted in the Wu reading, where a teacher told her students a story of Thanksgiving and colonialism that was far from the truth. I believe children want to learn, children want to know the truth and anyone that doesn't follow this is an injustice to the education system.


Lean on Me, Inspirational Speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWW4KogocfQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ1hKtYOx_c&feature=related
I feel that these youtube clips from the movie LEAN ON ME, depicts the effects of investing in ones students, embracing their struggles in society and paints a picture of an education system that rejects students based on the color of their skin and social class; showing the true essence of Multiculturalism.

Multiculturalism: One Book and Infinite Chapters [Stories]

Africa = Catastrophe

"Beasts who have no languages" - John Locke

"A half devil, half child" - Rudyard Kipling

I don't know how others feel when they hear such words as the ones listed above but myself am often offend, disgusted and angered by the words of those describing a population that represents my ancestry and the roots of others just like me. So firmly said, that ignorant ears would normalize this into their very existence, perpetuating stereotypes. The words of Locke and Kipling reflect views of a "SINGLE STORY;" stories that create stereotypes, stories that result in the "empahsiz[ing of] differences rather than similarities," stories that do not, I REPEAT DO NOT breed MULTICULTURALISM.

The idea of Multiculturalism was captured in its rawest form in the video "The Color of Fear." The men chosen by Lee Mun Wah for this discussion were representatives of different walks of life, with different positions, experiences and fears; collectively telling each mans story. It was the mixing of these stories, the melting pot spilled onto the lap of David, that was the true essence of Multiculturalism.

WHO ARE YOU? WHAT IS YOUR STORY? IS IT MULTICULTURAL? I look forward to telling my story and hearing yours.

M.