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Volume 10 Issue 22…Dedicated
to the Dialogue on Race…June
2, 2007
Eurocentric Curricula Damage Black
Students
By Carl Noldon
What
I have to say is designed for the enlightenment of those who suffer from a
school system that hypocritically manipulates black history in a way that
causes a disconnection from black students and their history. If you try to
make a black child co-exist with a racist school system or a Eurocentric school
system, then you are basically putting that child back into slavery, perhaps
mental slavery…. There is something wrong with the educational system and the
country. I believe the parents should take an active role in challenging the
school system and even the curriculum of this school so that any residue of
Eurocentrism is gone.
All the history teachers I ever had were white and from every last one of them
I never received the link to the genius of Africa. Those teachers always taught
European history with a much stronger emphasis. The result was I was
brainwashed. I was brainwashed because I thought genius equated to white people
because the teachers talked about how much a genius a person like Einstein was
or the Greeks.
Later on I had to realize that those people that the white history teachers
talked so greatly about were used as devices to implant a slave mentality in me
and an inferiority complex. But, what the textbooks never taught me was how
Europe took a lot from Africa and how Africa precedes Europe with thousands of
years of philosophical, religious, mathematical, scientific, artistic, and
medicinal knowledge. The African represented a genius so powerful that advanced
civilizations flourished even before the concept of Europe was thought of.
In the world history textbook in this school, it doesn't directly say that the
Egyptians were black people. The Egyptians were just as black and diverse as
the black people in this country. In that world history textbook, it is quick
to point out how the Greeks called their own thinkers 'lovers of wisdom'
because they used observation and reason. But isn't that a characteristic of
the Africans? I realize that a lot of parents are just concerned about their
child or children learning as much as they can. But I think the parents have to
examine the psychological impact that the textbooks in the school system [has
on] black students as well as students of other nationalities and cultures.
History has been twisted to brainwash the genius of the black child. These
students are learning that African thought is primitive while European thought
laid the foundation for civilization… The parents have to take a stand and
challenge the school system, the teachers, and those that misinterpret black
history because the mis-interpretation of one's history will lead to a
mis-interpretation of the knowledge of who you are.
About Me: Noldon is a senior honor roll student
at the Bronx High School for the Visual Arts, which has a student body that is
45 percent black, 50 percent Hispanic and two percent white. The above excerpts
come from a speech he wrote, but never delivered, for a Black History Month
program. According to Noldon, who contacted NNPA News Service, the school's
white principal gave him two options. "The first one was to omit what I
was saying in my speech, the other option was to not read my speech at
all."
Summer
vacation is here! Alas, the Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro will have to
spend much of it in summer school after failing the reading portion of the
CRCT. Obviously, the young man is not applying himself, or so some of us have
concluded. When asked for his comments on this unfortunate situation, the Dark
One/Ninja/Zorro responded, "I'm ready for my medicine."
Dorothy West (1907-1998)
Born
on June 2, 1907 in Boston, Massachusetts, Dorothy West was the only child of
Rachel Pease Benson and Isaac Christopher West, a freed slave and successful
businessman that owned a wholesale fruit company and became known as the
"Black Banana King" of Boston.
West's formal education began at age two under the tutelage of Bessie Trotter,
sister of Monroe Nathan Trotter, editor of the Boston Guardian. As a result, West was capable
of doing work well ahead of her age and grade level when she entered the
Farragut School at age four. West wrote her first story, "Promise and
Fulfillment," which was published in the Boston Globe at age seven. She completed her
elementary education at Matin School in Boston's Mission District. In 1923,
West graduated from the Girl's Latin High School and continued her education at
Boston University and the Columbia University School of Journalism.
In 1926, her story "The Typewriter" tied for second place with a
story by Zora Neale Hurston in a contest sponsored by the New York-based Opportunity, the National
Urban League journal. After attending the awards dinner in New York City, West
decided to move to Harlem, where she became part of the Harlem Renaissance.
Because of her youth, West was nicknamed "The Kid."
In 1927, West' small role in the original stage production of Porgy made possible her
trip to London with the production company. During the 1930's, she was involved
with producing Black and
White, a documentary about racism in various cultures. The film's
production entailed traveling to the Soviet Union. While the film was not
completed, West extended her visit for another year.
On returning to New York in 1934, West founded Challenge, a literary magazine that published
works by many writers on a wide range of social and political issues. She
co-founded New Challenge
in 1937. Only one issue was published, but the magazine reflected West's
increasing interest in class issues and the struggles of black people. West's
magazines were among the first to provide a venue for black American
literature. Unfortunately, her efforts lacked financial support and both
magazines quickly folded.
In 1940, West landed a job writing for the New York Daily News. She was among
the first black American women to receive a byline in a large publication. West
also worked as an investigator for the New York City welfare department before
joining the Federal Writers Project of the Works in Progress Administration
(WPA) until it ended in the mid-1940s. West continued to write, publishing
several short stories, including "Hannah Byde," "An Unimportant
Man," "Prologue to a Life," and "The Black Dress,"
during this period. She was also a frequent contributor to The Saturday Evening Quill.
After the Federal Writers Project closed, West moved to Martha's Vineyard,
where she wrote for the Martha's
Vineyard Gazette and completed her first novel, "The Living Is
Easy" (1948), a semi-autobiographical novel that critically explores
racism and class-consciousness among black Boston's bourgeoisie. West also
published a collection of essays "The Richer, The Poorer: Stories,
Sketches and Reminiscences" in 1994.
While she began her second novel, The
Wedding, in the 1960s, West did not complete it until after her
Doubleday editor and Martha's Vineyard neighbor Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
encouraged her to do so. Similar to her earlier novel and many of her short
stories, which dealt with the "white racism echoed in black society's
obsession with gradations of skin color and the possibility of 'passing,' The Wedding (1995) examines
issues of race and class among upper-middle class black Americans in the
Martha's Vineyard community of Oak Bluffs. The
Wedding was adapted for television by Oprah Winfrey; it starred
Halle Berry.
Dorothy West died August 16, 1998. She never married nor had children.
(Sources: www.aaregistry.com, www.pw.org/mag/West.htm and www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0764341.html)
Disgruntled
feels: Sold-Out!
While the silent majority certainly has not made her personal sacrifices of a
son, time, energy and money, most agree with the sentiments expressed in Cindy
Sheehan's resignation letter. Democrats sold us out after so many of us made it
clear in voting them into power that we wanted our soldiers brought home and
the nutcase in the White House out of office or at the very least neutralized
so he and his gravitas -- Dick Cheney-- could not start more oil wars of
choice. Instead, we get a Congress too willing to maintain the status quo to be
seen as different from the Republicans they replaced. We, the people, have been
sold a bill of goods. Sold-out and made to look like fools for believing things
would be different with Democrats.
Disgruntled wants to know: By now everyone has heard about the
Atlanta attorney-Andrew Speaker- that decided to go globe-trekking after being
diagnosed with an extremely drug-resistant form of tuberculosis. On Thursday,
the world finally learned the man's identity and saw his face on international
television. Even before learning his identity, many had guessed he was among
the world's white elite. Can you imagine a poor or middle class black, brown or
yellow person of any faith being allowed to roam free, even if he/she could
afford to do so, filled with a contagious disease? Moreover, can you imagine
them not being arrested and charged with some terrorist act?
Disgruntled says: Now the world knows the US went to war
in Iraq to control that nation's oil. No more guessing, oil is the US national
security interest that led to this disastrous war of choice. And, given that
the nation's legislative branch is either impotent, because Karl Rove's 'little
black book' holds dirty little secrets on most of its members, and/or they
directly or indirectly benefit from Bush's oil war, the world should brace for
more conflict just over the horizon. Everywhere there is oil, the US is
involved in destabilizing governments. In Iran, Venezuela, Sudan and other
African nations, the US is running black bag operations. You did not really
think George W. Bush cared about the genocide of black Africans in Darfur? How
naive, if you did, because he is only interested in oil.
'Typical' Modern-Day Slavery in US
In
May, federal officials brought slavery charges against Varsha Mahender Sabhnani
and Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani. The wealthy couple is accused of keeping two
Indonesian women enslaved in their Long Island residence, where the couple
operates a worldwide perfume business.
The women were brought to the New York area in 2002 by Varsha Sabhnani, who was
born in Indonesia. As is typical of modern-day slavery cases, the women were
abused for years, starved and forced to work without their promised pay. The
Sabhnanis, US citizens originally from India, were arrested after one of the
women, wearing only pants and a towel, was found wandering outside a Dunkin'
Donuts in Syosset, on the region's so-called Gold Coast. She escaped the
Sabhnanis' nearby Muttontown home when she took out the trash.
In the indictment, the Sabhnanis were charged with two counts of forced labor
and two counts of harboring illegal residents. The Sabhnanis pleaded not
guilty. However, following new allegations of bribery and threats directed at
relatives of the women that live in Indonesia, the couple was re-arrested, and
federal officials argued the defendants are a flight risk given their wealth.
If convicted, each faces up to 20 years in prison.
According to American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG) Executive Director Janie Kiser,
two lessons can be taken from this case of slavery, since it is not an isolated
incident. The first is that slavery is a problem all around us, even in 'good'
neighborhoods. The other lesson is that ordinary people can make a phone call
and rescue someone in need.
In the Sabhnanis' case, a Dunkin' Donuts' staffer called authorities after the
escaped victim showed her wounds and passport. A concerned neighbor in 2004
called AASG about the case of an Indian woman being held as a domestic slave in
Brookline, a wealthy neighborhood of Boston. In both cases, the actions of
ordinary citizens made a positive difference by snitching.
For more on modern slavery and how to recognize its signs, see www.iabolish.org.
Confronting US Empire on House Floor
By Jim McDermott, US Representative
Mr.
Speaker: This president and vice president have vowed to repeat the mistakes of
history, and they have put into motion a plan to do just that in Iran, even as
the House is about to send the president a box of blank checks for Iraq,
against the will of the American people.
The history is worth knowing. In 1953, the United States and United Kingdom
launched Operation Ajax, a covert CIA operation to destabilize and remove the
democratically elected government of Iran, including then Prime Minister Mohammed
Mossadegh. Why? Oil.
Under Mossadegh, the Iranian government decided to reclaim Iran's rightful
ownership of its national oil treasure, which had been exclusively controlled
by the British who were taking 85 percent of the profits. Oh, and by the way,
the UK also kept the books secret, merely telling Iran what its 15 percent take
was.
As soon as Mossadegh began to reclaim Iran's oil treasure, it was all over.
Operation Ajax was set into motion. The US embassy in Tehran provoked phony
internal Iranian dissent, while the Brits engineered an Iranian financial
crisis by orchestrating a global boycott of Iranian oil. We brought down the
Iranian government and installed the Shah.
For two decades, we propped up the Shah against the will of the Iranian people.
It was all about controlling Iran. It still is. Today, ABC News is reporting
exclusively that this president has authorized a new covert CIA plot to bring
down the Iranian government.
I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the journalism produced by
chief investigative reporter Brian Ross and Richard Esposito of ABC News. This
is their lead sentence in the story. "The CIA has received secret
presidential approval to mount a covert 'black' operation to destabilize the
Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community
tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com."
We're back in 1953, and that worked out so well. Of course, the vice president
wanted to invade Iran, so we can be sure he will spin new tales of fear in
coming days to keep his preferred option, invasion, very much alive.
The president knows only one way - my way or the highway. His vice president
knows only one way - invade and seize control of what you want - and he wants
the oil treasure of Iraq and Iran to become wholly owned subsidiaries of the
western oil companies he so favors.
With Iraq in civil war, the president has authorized a secret plan to repeat
the doomed mistakes of history in Iran. How many billions of reconstruction
money for Iraq will be siphoned off for the deconstruction of Iran? The
American people are virtually shouting at us to pay attention and get our
soldiers out of Iraq, now.
Vast sums of US taxpayer money are flowing into Iraq and billions of US dollars
are missing in Iraq. The special inspector for Iraq reconstruction told a San
Antonio newspaper last week that corruption in Iraq is endemic and
debilitating. But, Prime Minister al-Maliki has granted ministers and former
ministers immunity from prosecution by Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity.
And, in turn, the ministers can shield their own employees from prosecution.
And, a government that has been told by this president and vice president to
pass an oil law that transfers control - and profits - to Western oil companies,
just like the good old days in Iran.
Overthrowing Iran in 1953 was all about oil. Invading Iraq was all about oil.
And the new secret plot against Iran is all about oil. Oil is the only
benchmark this president and vice president want, and they will keep American
soldiers fighting and dying until an oil law is passed in Iraq that gives
Western oil companies control of the spigot.
It is time to unmask the latest doomed plot to overthrow Iran and past time to
get our soldiers out of Iraq. Nothing less that protecting our troops is
acceptable. Thank you. (Source: www.alternet.org/waronirag/52388)
On Bone Straight!
By Dot
Bone
straight is a goal of salon stylists and amateur hairdressers when it comes to
black hair. As a goal, bone straight basically means making black curly hair as
lifeless as possible to make it appear more like the limp tresses of whites or
at least pliable enough to be coiffed into hairstyles traditionally worn by
European women.
Once black hair has reached the desired bone straight goal, it is rendered
lifeless. Yet, black women and more and more of late very young girls are
reaching for hair relaxers and straightening combs, rather than embracing
natural hairstyles that compliment their African features.
Recently, I had an opportunity to see up close my former neighbor's
granddaughter's hair. A victim of the black contemporary obsession with
straight hair, the child had little hair left. What remained looked dry and
brittle, even though there was oil on her scalp. She appeared really
self-conscious about her short hair, constantly touching it, sometimes pulling
on it as though doing so would make it grow longer faster.
In reality, only leaving behind the disastrous bone straight regime will help
her hair. Unfortunately, the likelihood of her doing so, in the short term, is
slim and none. Every female in her household, including her grandmother, wars
her hair bone straight. Moreover, black children are inundated with Eurocentric
media that carry few naturally black or positive images that a young girl can
imitate. Instead, she is left imitating white by trying to achieve bone
straight, which lays waste to naturally curly black hair.
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