Volume 6 Issue 15…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…April 18, 2003

Edward Franklin Frazier (1894-1962)

E. Franklin Frazier was born September 24, 1894 in Baltimore, Maryland. He received degrees from Howard (1916) and Clark (1920) Universities and a fellowship to the New York School of Social Work (1920-21). He accepted an American-Scandinavian Foundation grant to study folk high schools and the Cooperative Movement in Denmark (1921-22).

Frazier taught sociology at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. He organized the Atlanta University School of Social Work and later became its director. His 1927 publication of "The Pathology of Race Prejudice" in Forum created such a firestorm of controversy that Frazier was forced to leave Morehouse. He received a fellowship from the University of Chicago (1927), where he earned his Ph.D. (1931). His doctoral thesis, The Negro Family in Chicago was published in 1932.

Frazier taught at Fisk University (1929-34) and then Howard University, where he helped establish its sociology program. In 1995, Howard established the E. Franklin Frazier Center for Social Work Research in his honor. He wrote The Negro Family in the United States (1939) and Negro Youth at the Crossways (1940).

Elected first black president of the American Sociological Association (1948), Frazier was recognized as the foremost scholar on the black family and a leading theorist on social change and race relations. Frazier served as director of the Division of Applied Social Sciences UNESCO (1951-53). He worked on the Tension and Social Change Project assessing interactions between people of different races and cultures and the effect of these interactions on each community.

In Bourgeoisie Noire (1955), translated in 1957 as Black Bourgeoisie, Frazier critically examined the black middle class. According to Frazier, "Since the black bourgeoisie lived largely in a world of make-believe, the masks which they wear to play their sorry roles conceal the feelings of inferiority and of insecurity and the frustrations that haunt their inner lives." For Frazier, the black bourgeoisie's self-hatred was manifested in conspicuous consumption and fruitless efforts to escape identification with the black masses. It is this group that most likely criticized blacks in a vain attempt to mask their own inadequacies and shortcomings. Frazier published four additional books after 1948, but Black Bourgeoisie remained his most controversial. Frazier's Race and Culture Contacts in the Modern World (1957) dealt with African studies.

In understanding many problems affecting the black community, Frazier's work proved invaluable. He dedicated his life to creating a scientific approach to solving those problems. His studies on black youth and families garnered him worldwide acclaim as a scholar. Dr. Frazier died May 17, 1962 in Washington, D.C.

The following are notable Frazier quotes: "Education in the past has been too much inspiration and too little information. Educational institutes can no longer be prizes in church politics or furnish berths for failure in other walks of life..." "America faces a new race that has awakened. The Negro does not want love. He wants justice. I believe it would be better for the Negro's soul to be seared with hate than dwarfed by self-abasement." "The closer a Negro got to the ballot box, the more he looked like a rapist." (Sources: http://search.eb.com/blackhistory/micro/218/51.html, www.socialwork.howard.edu, www.britannica.com and www.creativequotations.com) History Homepage

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is aglow in anticipation of his tenth birthday celebration. Working overtime to earn the anticipated festivities, the Dark One/Ninja Zorro has obeyed all the rules. When asked for his comments, he said, "I did great at school." Back to the Bat Cave

By John Burl Smith

I enrolled at S. A. Owens Jr. College in Memphis, TN in 1967. Today, Owens would be referred to as a low-income institute or education on food stamps. Nonetheless, for blacks, it was a refuge for children robbed on every level of real educational opportunities by America's segregated all-white colleges and universities. Last of a dying breed of black church-supported schools that began during the 1930s and 40s, they countered the stereotype that field hands and maids could not be educated. Unfortunately, I enrolled only to learn that Owens' preacher dominated Board of Trustees had merged it with LeMoyne, a four-year college. The merger hid the Board's financial malfeasance and greed.

Although founded by preachers, Owens' Board of Trustees saw the school as their private piggy bank. The merger did not consider poor black children, who desperately needed the opportunities Owens' meager education offered them. Allowing Owens' current student body to transfer ignored the fact that LeMoyne's size and elitist entrance policies would block access to poor blacks in the future. The sad truth is, the financial situation at LeMoyne/Owens was not much better, and within a few years, it too was in trouble.

Guilty of the same practices employed at Owens, LeMoyne/Owens' Board of Trustees adopted a different strategy to avoid closure. First, they appealed to the community for help. The Board pledged to stop treating school funds like a piggy bank. Instead, the institution vowed that it would be developed as a community asset. LeMoyne/Owens agreed to accept a kind of receivership board organized by business and community leaders.

The community board promised to raise the necessary funds to put the institution on a firm financial footing. It hired professional administrators and brought in Judge Odell Horton as school president to oversee the process. All agreed that as LeMoyne/Owens' financial situation improved, the Board would grant more discretionary access to institutional funds.

Their plan saved LeMoyne/Owens and kept the doors of opportunity open for thousands of black children struggling to better their prospects in life. According to many so-called leaders today, all black schools have out lived their usefulness. However, for black students, victims of mis-education and institutionalized racism, this dying breed of institutions is their only hope.

Finally, although I graduated from Memphis University, I am convinced without my earlier educational experiences at LeMoyne/Owens, I would not have developed sufficient academic confidence to challenge the inferior mind stereotype used to deny black students access to education and professional advancement. I graduated with honors and won the prestigious Milton C. Addington Award as the top student in psychology 1981. I was the first black to receive a National Science Foundation fellowship to attend graduate school at Memphis University. Other Essays by John Burl Smith

By Edwin Starr

War-huh-yeah! What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing!

Say it again

War-I despise...'Cos it means destruction

Of innocent lives

War means tears

To thousands of mothers how

When their sons go off to fight

And lose their lives...I said War-huh!

It ain't nothing but a heartbreak

War...Friend only to the undertaker

It's an enemy of all mankind

The thought of war blows my mind

War has caused unrest

within the younger generation

induction then destruction,

Who wants to die?

It ain't nothing but a heartbreaker

War it got one friend that's the undertaker

War has shattered many young men's dreams

made him disabled, bitter, and mean

life is much too short and precious

to spend fighting wars these days

war can't give life,

it can only take it away

It ain't nothing but a heartbreaker

War Friend only to the undertaker

We've got no place for it today

They say we must fight to keep our freedom

But Lord knows there's just got to be a better way

War War War-Good God, y'all

Give it to me, yeah

What is it good for?

About Me: Recorded by Motown singer Edwin Starr, War was a number one hit during the height of the Vietnam conflict (1970). The legendary soul singer died this month at his home in England. Starr was 61. Since April is poetry month, War is an excellent choice for the current state of affairs and a fitting tribute to an artist for peace who has gone home, but whose words will live on. Venue Homepage

Dé jà vu: Last of A Breed

By John Burl Smith

Revoking the accreditation of Morris Brown, the last of a dying breed, will deny hundreds of black students, hoping to attain an education there, access to federal financial assistance. The lack of accreditation severed the school's affiliation with the United Negro College Fund. A major financial backer, UNCF bylaws automatically revoke membership, if a school loses accreditation. One of 105 historically black colleges, Morris Brown is experiencing serious financial problems. More than a dozen black colleges have closed since 1985.

Established by the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1885, Morris Brown is the only college in Georgia founded by blacks. Its possible demise begs the question, if George Bush's claim that race is not a factor in disparities in educational access, attainment and achievement for blacks relative to whites, why are the majority of black students still educated in majority black colleges? Moreover, if Bush is sincere in his expressed desire to improve these areas of education, why does he refuse to assist financially strapped black institutions?

America has never wanted to educate black children. Segregation was state-sponsored discrimination based solely on skin color. Schools, like Morris Brown, exist because they were the only places where blacks could get an education. Victimized by institutionalized racism, most black children attend substandard defacto segregated schools. While Brown v Board of Education of Topeka (1954) outlawed "separate-but-equal," today the vast majority of black children still attend segregated public schools. Their inferior education insures that large state and private universities can exclude first generation blacks, while reinforcing legacy admissions for whites.

The fate of Morris Brown reflects the lesson the movie Barbershop teaches. "Blacks must cherish the institutions they create and not lose sight of their real meaning and the needs they fulfill." There are enough blacks with money to save every black school in financial trouble. The problem is commitment.

For instance, Willie Nelson has sponsored Farm Aid every year and has raised millions of dollars to help farmers. When Michael Jackson did "We are the World," entertainers of all races and genders became a part of an effort to feed hungry people around the world. Since 90% of Morris Brown students receive financial aid, its student body is comprised of young people from the lower end of the economic spectrum.

Statistically, these students will not achieve spectacular success at anything. But against all odds, they will eke out an education with great difficulty, find dead end jobs, get married and raise families. This makes them the backbone of the black community, because they find an accommodation with life. Closing Morris Brown hurts them not the thieves and poor administrators that robbed the school. Taking Morris Brown's accreditation away is tantamount to throwing the baby out with the bath water. The aim should be to increase opportunities not limit access to education. Other Essays by John Burl Smith

Strip Poetry!

April is Poetry Month and SPEAK (Sister Poets Embracing Altruistic Kinship) wants you to witness the naked truth as they present Strip Poetry. Guaranteed to please the most discerning spoken word connoisseur, the evening will showcase some of the hottest spoken word artists in the Atlanta Vibe. Featuring Kimotion, Malik Salaam, Yohannes Sharriff, Tamara Madison-Shaw with appearances by Blactext, Jon Goode, Sunshynethadevine and Voluptuous, Strip Poetry will set your soul on fire. On April 19, 2003, the only place to be is the Apache Café - 64 3^rd Street in downtown Atlanta (behind the Varsity). Doors open at 7 PM; show time is 8 PM. Mark your calendar and do not be late. For directions or other information, you can call 404-247-1106 or 770-374-8329 or email speakproductions@hotmail.com. Vibe Homepage

Disgruntled wants to know: Before the Bush regime, there was a high degree of international cooperation. In fact, the buzzword was globalization. Now, preemptive aggression and disrespect for the rule of law will surely ignite a proliferation of unilateral action and a race to acquire weapons of mass destruction. How else will little nations feel protected against well-armed bullies that crave global subjugation?

Disgruntled feels: Double standard! Before its nuclear-tipped bunker busters blew the Taliban out of Afghanistan for harboring Osama bin Laden, i.e., to crave an oil pipeline route, the US decried the destruction of ancient Buddhist statues. After unleashing looters in Iraq that stole and smashed priceless artifacts in the cradle of civilization, the US said nothing. This is a double standard that becomes more acute when we consider US Middle East policy on weapons of mass destruction. While it used its impressive arsenal to dismantle the Iraqi regime, the US opposes any of the countries in the region possessing similar weapons, except Israel.

Disgruntled says: Charles Barkley is an entertainer. Like other bourgeois blacks, he is paid to pretend racism does not exist and to trash blacks for speaking out against discrimination in employment, housing and auto financing, redlining and police killing unarmed black men. Living a make-believe life with a white wife in a gated community, Barkley is out of touch with reality; filled with self-hate, he is a product of a racist society. More Disgruntled Moments

On US Racism Y2K3

By Dot

In the 1960's civil rights struggle, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. eloquently shared his dream of the USA finally living up to the democratic creed espoused in its Declaration of Independence (1776). Dr. King hoped the principle that "all men are created equal" would one day be codified in the Constitution and realized in the daily lives of black Americans. On the 2003 anniversary of his April 4, 1968 assassination, his dream remains elusive.

The most important concession made to the civil rights struggle to address economic inequities created by slavery and its racist legacy is under attack. Ironically, King's staunchest opponents back then today use his color-blind society dream to render affirmative action synonymous with reversed discrimination and quotas, violations of the Constitution. A testament to the success of their rhetoric, affirmative action programs that assisted minority contractors have been axed in cities, such as Atlanta. In higher education, no such program exists in universities and colleges from California to Florida.

In a matter of weeks, the US Supreme Court will issue its ruling on affirmative action. Its much-anticipated ruling involves the undergraduate and law school programs at the University of Michigan. As the country has grown more conservative, odds are the court will rule against these programs. Without affirmative action, there is no remedial measure in place to address the economic imbalances created by slavery, Jim Crow segregation and today's racism.

Despite efforts by many whites and bourgeoisie blacks to deny that slavery and Jim Crow segregation, which were legal, had any lasting impact on the welfare of blacks, the socioeconomic strata that exist today is a function of those institutions. Doing nothing to correct the imbalance they created and counteract their ongoing vestiges dooms blacks to a second class status.

Elsewhere, we have empirically shown that the chasm of inequality or economic welfare gap between blacks and whites exists. It dates back to1787 when the founding fathers legalized slavery in codifying the Three-Fifth or Great Compromise in Article 1 Section 2 of the US Constitution. This is the first law of the land. It established the value of the black man at 3/5 or 60% of a white man and laid the groundwork for the Electoral College, an institution that circumvents one-person one-vote, the cornerstone of a true democracy.

Today, the Electoral College is still the mechanism used in presidential elections. Moreover, the 3/5 Compromise is equally as viable. Black and white median family income data for the latest year (2001) were $29,470 and $44,517, respectively, making blacks about .66 whites. The stability of this ratio defies competitive market analysis. For lack of a better name, this 3/5 aberration has been termed institutionalized racism, a by-product of slavery.

Since most Americans derive income primarily from employment, the difference in unemployment rates play a key role in maintaining this gap. The black unemployment rate averages twice the white rate, regardless of economic conditions. In March 2003, the black and white unemployment rates were 5.1 and 10.2 percent, respectively. A higher rate for one group assures an income gap; twice as high guarantees perpetuation of the 3/5 Compromise.

Affirmative action is the only remedy advanced to ameliorate this economic inequality. In reality, it is little more than a bandage over a mortal wound. Yet, if we succumb to the rhetoric of its opponents, blacks will continue to be neo-slaves in this millennium. Only reparations and repeal Article 1 will bridge the divide. Without these changes at a minimum, we will never achieve Dr. King's dream of democracy in America. DISHing It Up Hot! Homepage

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