Miss Educated. Miss Inspired. Miss Directed. Miss Gifted-And-Going-Far!

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black girls, Black Learners, Black Parenting, Black Women, Girls Hold Up This World, Know Better Do Better, Re-Education, Teaching Black Children, Women of the African Diaspora

Over the past few weeks, I’ve focused on a lot of topics, but have strayed away from my primary focus and goal which is in re-education; Today, I regress.

It has occurred to me that many of our daughters are being painted with the broader stroke of mediocrity and unjustly so.  Young Black girls are often pressured by outside influence as to what they should look like, act like and who they should be liked by. During the tumultuous period of adolescence, it’s easy and natural for our daughters to be conflicted about their identities and sense of self. We parents are often confused as to who this new person is that we find ourselves living with. Someone we knew for 16 years and who was sweet and innocent only yesterday is suddenly argumentative and wanting a bum-length weave, false eyelashes, a lip tattoo and permission to drive your car. She’s undoubtedly finding herself and disturbing your reasonable enjoyment in order to do so. The princess of your loins has become a near stranger in personality as well as physical appearance.

Now, imagine this same character in the classroom for 8 hours a day already feeling conflicted about who she is and who she wants to be. Picture this person in a class with 30some other 16 year old freaks of nature with raging hormones, body odor, acne and attitude problems and then, imagine yourself as the teacher who has to deal with all of them at once for days at a time. Scary isn’t it? Makes the reality of having to deal with one at a time seem like a blessing doesn’t it? I understand, I’ve often taken it for granted too.

Teachers bear the burden of having to facilitate learning in environments best navigated by The Joint Task Force, this is the reality. Good teachers try to balance calm and stimulation while maintaining an atmosphere conducive for thinking.  A good teacher innately understands the challenges of kidulthood and adjusts his or her teaching curve to deal with the ebbs and flows of the teenaged attention span. A good teacher cares that our children leave the school day knowing one thing more than they did the day before and that their personal arsenal of critical thinking and mass communication skills are being cultivated in abundance. A good teacher notices when your child is expressing both fluency and difficulties in subject matter and coordinates with parents accordingly to address the situation in either case.  This is my short list of good teacher qualities and in a perfect world, our children would have the luxury of being placed in classrooms with caring individuals who are passionate about education however; This is not the reality. In many cases, what our children are experiencing is the complete antithesis of this dream.

Parents, be aware that our daughters are often left in the shadows of students who require more attention due to behavioural issues. Our daughters are being neglected in the classes because they don’t draw any special attention to themselves academically or attitudinally.  Sadly, our daughters educational needs are being ignored because of how they look. If they fit the description of a young-Black female-who-isn’t-destined-for-much-of-a-future-anyway, many teachers will not invest the time it takes to cultivate trust and respect in order to help to inspire her to reach her full potential.

In terms of the traditional education system, unlike our sons, as long as Black girls behave well and keep their “attitudes” in check, regardless of whether or not they complete their assigned tasks or are up to the class median, they pose less of a threat and therefore are treated with less interference. They can be virtually invisible.

Parents, this is an issue. Our girls need to be challenged, included and regarded as visible within the classroom environment in order to reap the benefits of academic exposure. We must ensure that our daughters are aligned in fully exploiting the full value of her education as this will help to assure the completeness of self-esteem, her confidence in her abilities and her future success.  Be ever vigilant of this phenomenon and commit to protecting our daughters from it. Demand parent teacher reviews and interaction. Get to know what her teacher thinks about her. Demand that her teachers actually get to understand her needs and challenge her accordingly. Demand homework, it’s practise. Encourage her to get involved with school citizenship and extracurricular activities and not only sports. (Unless it’s Girls rugby!) Support her to join the debate team, teen political and mock parliament societies. Encourage as much academic exposure that you can so that her brain grows at the same rate as her interest in boys. If you can’t limit her distractions, participate in them! Trust me, your teen won’t feel the need spend 23 out of 24hrs a day Tweeting her random musings if you become one of her followers…

Parents, especially us mothers, we must be good to our daughters. Our rule of thumb ought to be the role model she needs so that she can breathe life into her dreams and passions. Help her learn and express her abilities. Teach her to understand the implications of being overly sexually provocative. Show her how a lady acts and dresses while still accepting her need to explore her less than desirable fashion sense. Teach her the classic approach to sexiness: Sometimes less is more. Make your good demeanor the prime example of how hers should be. Allow her to be sensitive and express her feelings and softer side. Teach her to embrace and develop her natural gifts and talents. Teach her to be a good friend.  Be the one true person who advocates for her when she needs it yet demonstrates how she must advocate and assert for herself.
She will be a better woman for it. She will have better learning experiences for it. One day, she will become a better mother because of it. Don’t be her friend, be her mom; Her good teacher.

Light reflected is enlightenment infinite.

~Rachelle

“Making the Black Community Sustainable” by Dr. B.B. Robinson

Op-ed submission by Project 21

If something is good and it is enjoyable, it’s not surprising that people want it to last forever. We want the goodness to be unceasing. We want it to be sustained. But the sad fact is that nothing lasts forever. Even the cosmos is subject to the vagaries of time and will one day cease to exist.

Within black America, despite the hardships we have faced, there have been many favorable developments that have benefited our people. They should continue. Unfortunately, many appear to be unsustainable.

Consider the example of the black family. Formerly the bedrock of our community, the black family is now failing. Around 70 percent of black children are currently being born out of wedlock, and the availability of marrying-age black males is restricted by a very high, albeit declining, incarceration rate.

Several of the nation’s historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), which many charge with maintaining a tradition of scholarly excellence in our community, are slowly but steadily falling by the wayside. Schools that were once virtually the only choice for black higher education are now failing to receive broad economic support because, in part, they become enmeshed in non-educational issues, reflect poor management and often produce graduates who exhibit sub-par academic achievement.

The rapid pace and major accomplishments of the Martin Luther King-era civil rights movement left the establishment black special interest groups with a hard act to follow and few critical hurdles to overcome. Today’s civil rights lobby is largely a “go along to get along” movement that often focuses on the wrong issues.

When presented with the declining black family, subpar educational achievement and a lack of progress on key economic issues, today’s self-professed black leaders seem quite ineffective in comparison with the greatness of their predecessors.

Even effective past efforts by the Nation of Islam to make black America more productive and independent are not being replicated today. Given Minister Louis Farrakhan’s current advanced age and declining health, we must wonder whether that movement will be sustained beyond his passing.

Conversely, there is an important institution that remains sustained, in form if not in substance. That institution is the black church. Why has the black church been sustained, and generally what are the keys to sustainability?

For institutions, organizations and movements that want to last, they must, at their core, contain the materials and the chemistry that it takes to be sustainable. Like kernels that always produce stalks of corn and create the kernels that grow yet more corn in the future, these institutions, organizations and movements must include what is essentially a genetic code that ensures their sustainability.

Sustainable entities must embody long-range plans with provisions for course corrections (consider the U.S. Constitution), systematic processes for leadership succession (consider the Catholic Church) and flexibility to evolve (consider creation itself).

Probably the most important key to sustainability for black American institutions, organizations and movements is a willingness on our part to work diligently and selflessly to make them successful. The reason that kernel of corn is successful in producing more corn is because earth, water, air and sun are always there to do their parts. Likewise, we must be committed to serving as the equivalent of the earth, water, air and sun to ensure that our institutions, organizations and movements are sustained.

While all good things inevitability come to an end, they do not have to suffer a premature demise. With work and care, good things can be sustainable for quite some time. As a result, we can avoid the hazardous stops and starts to our efforts to preserve ourselves as a people and as a community within the larger American nation.

B.B. Robinson, Ph.D. is a member of the national advisory council of the black leadership network Project 21. You can visit his website at http://www.blackeconomics.org

Educating Black Boys – Al Jazeera Correspondent

This documentary by Tony Harris takes an indepth look at the failure of the educational system, particularly for Black males and uses Baltimore’s inner city as the backdrop to address cartain issues. I found it rather fascinating that some of the issues he discusses are similar to the ones my wife and I contend with in Ottawa, Canada in regards to our 5 year old son. Although we reside in what could be describes as an upper middle class neighbourhood and our son attends a “good” school with dedicated teachers and abundant resources, we are forever cognizant and vigilant to the lower academic expectations and negative behaviour labeling that our “little Black boy” may be subconsciously or subtly subjected to by members of the school community.

However our son is excelling academically in school. He is enrolled in the senior kindergarden french immersion program. His success is due in large part to three factors. First, my wife and I take an active interest in his educational and athletic endeavours. We have made the commitment to take full responsibility for his education and not shift this responsibility to his teachers. We see them as a valuable resource in assisting us in his education and development. We have also enrolled him in piano lessons, which we find is a great tool not only in the development of his musical abilities, but also in his emotional progression as well as his logic and mathematical comprehension. Athletically, he takes swimming and ice skating lessons, plays organized soccer and T-ball.

Second, “we’re are constantly on his azz!” lol! He is fully aware and constantly reminded of our high expectations of his academic performance as well as his behaviour. He goes to school half day, so we have purchased academically based activity workbooks (math, science, phonics, vocabulary, reading comprehension and logic), as well as writing exercises which we do with him when he gets home. He has lunch, then has to do at least an hour of this work before he is allowed to watch televison or play with his toys. He reads to one of us every night (we don’t read to him) before bedtime. He is only allowed to play his Wii on the weekends, i.e. Friday and Saturday evenings, if he has performed and behaved to our expectations! Therefore playing video games for him is a privilege and not a right.

Third and most importantly, his parents are married to each other and we all live in the same household. We are both Black and professionally employed. Neither my wife nor I have children from previous marriages or relationships, so we can focus all our time, energy and resources on him and his sister. He is also expected to do his chores, which includes assisting us in taking care of his baby sister.

Is all this the formula for success for Black boys? We don’t know, we’re just doing the best we can with what God has blessed us with. So far it is working for us. It literally punched me in my gut and broke my heart when a mother in the documentary discusses what her realistic expectations are for her son: click 31:48 – 32:45. It really brings home the point that by the grace of God go we all!

Byts and Bytes

1. Two Classes, Divided by “I Do”
2. The Morehouse Male Initiative: Black Male Statistics
3. Obama’s Scramble for Africa
4. Mauritania: Slavery’s Last Stronghold
5. Echwalu Photography

Thoughts for Father’s Day

“A Painful (Yet Familiar) Ritual” by Michael W. Waters

Excellent article by Michael W. Waters

My only son turned five years old last week. He is a handsome, articulate, energetic, intelligent, fun-loving and gentle young man. He is the apple of my eye!

There’s only one problem: he is Black.

And as his father, I am challenged to do for him what generations of African American fathers have had to do for their sons for far too long in this country; I must inform him that because of his unique blend of gender and pigmentation, there are a different set of rules with which he must contend while growing up.

Nineteen years ago, on a frigid December night in Waco, Texas, what was intended to be a quick stop at the convenience store turned into a two-hour lesson on the racial history of America. A teenager, I was wearing a large jacket with a hood. As I readied myself to exit the car, my grandfather, with whom we were visiting for the holidays, proclaimed, “Take that hood off your head before you go in that store or they will blow your brains out!” Such sudden outbursts were uncharacteristic for my rather mild-mannered grandfather. I found his proclamation of the possibility of my abrupt and violent demise rather upsetting. And it was difficult for me to comprehend. I was simply going to buy some sodas, a rather non-hostile action in my opinion.

For what felt more like an eternity than two hours, my grandfather, grandmother, mother, and uncle awakened me to some troubling realities: 1) That my dark skin, then embracing a 5-foot-10-inch, 13-year-old frame, was a considerable threat for some people, and 2) that some people would not be patient enough to judge me based on the content of my character but rather would be fixated on the color of my skin, and that the color of my skin, viewed through the lens of their own prejudices, meant that I was the physical embodiment of their greatest fear (a big, Black man), fears reinforced daily by mass media. Ever since that fateful December night, I have lived life in full view of these realities.

Having added over five inches and one hundred pounds to that 13-year-old frame over the years, when riding in elevators, I have learned to give quick and easy smiles to disarm my fellow passengers and to ensure them that they are not in any imminent danger. I am mindful of my tone and the inflection of my voice when in conversation in mixed groups as I have learned that I am not afforded the same terms of conversation as others. For if I slightly raise my voice, instead of describing me as passionate, some will label me an angry Black man. Like countless generations of Black men, I have been followed in stores and stopped by police so many times without cause that I am pleasantly surprised when it does not happen.

Now, I, a latter generation Gen-Xer, must pass down to my post-Millennial son some of the rules of engagement for a Black man in this society: 1) If the police stop you make sure you stop in a well-lit area and don’t make any sudden moves. In fact, verbally broadcast your actions (i.e., Officer, I am now reaching into the glove compartment for my registration). 2) Always get the receipt after making a purchase, no matter how small, so no one can falsely accuse you of theft later. 3) It doesn’t matter if the white kids are doing it. Your punishment will always be much more severe if you are caught doing the same. This is also true for adulthood.

I must inform my son that even if he were blessed to graduate from an Ivy League law school with high honors, having served as the editor of that prestigious school’s law review, and go on to be elected the President of the United States of America, even then, some people will consider him to be unqualified for the job and question whether he is a “true” American on account of his Blackness. I will tell him about James Byrd, Jr., the fake drug scandal of Dallas, the Tulia drug busts, and other contemporary instances of societal racism in our home State of Texas, even as previous generations of Black fathers have spoken to their sons of Emmett Till, the Tuskegee
Experiment, and COINTELPRO.

And yes, I will tell him about Troy Anthony Davis. I will tell him that even in the face of compelling doubt surrounding his conviction, the cries of other nations, or the pleas of former U.S. Presidents and Nobel Laureates to spare his life, poison can be injected into his veins, for in the eyes of some, he is considered to be an animal that must be put down at all costs.

I will take part in this familiar, yet painful, ritual, for as the Apostle Paul articulated to his sons and daughters in the faith, I would not want my son to be “uninformed…about the troubles we [have] experienced” in this country (2 Corinthians 1:8).

Then I will tell my son, “Go and change the world!”

“Social Networking to Achieve Racial Unity” by Dr. B.B. Robinson

Op-ed submission by Project 21

While I’ve supported a far less radical and more free market version of black nation-building than the New Black Panther Party, I realize that, for many reasons, nation formation in the traditional sense is a difficult and unlikely prospect today.  

At the same time, I am intrigued by cybernetic governance — the notion of conducting government affairs via computer. In a world of cyber governance, citizens are informed of societal issues and concerns and can then participate in the decision-making process through their electronic devices.  

Cybernetic government creates a non-spatial society where it does not matter what physical area one occupies. As long as someone has Internet access, they can use a centrally-derived user ID and password to log in and participate.

Online “social networks” such as this were a key tool recently in facilitating fundamental change in places such as Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria and Bahrain. Computers may have fostered more democratic societies there.

Black Americans can learn from these powerful developments abroad and begin using computers for their betterment.

While it’s not necessary to bring about a change in government here, a black social network could instead strengthen the race. Allowing blacks the opportunity to virtually assemble as a group — even those currently living abroad — can potentially help us solve problems and create unity.

Blacks could use this resource, for instance, to report on and address critical issues in local communities. If concerns at that level receive sufficient interest from others in the network, a network manager can alert everyone about it.

Rather than having an important issue swept under the rug or co-opted by one of black America’s many self-appointed “leaders” probably more motivated by their own political gain, a black social network could provide a more telling and reliable consensus of black opinion.

If the network developed enough trust, perhaps it could even facilitate the collection of financial resources. For example, how many black Americans have thought about contributing to the completion of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (scheduled to open on the Mall in Washington, D.C. in 2015)? Rather than relying on large corporate grants and a few black Americans for contributions, all black Americans could be solicited to contribute. This larger number of smaller donations might help get this job and others done more efficiently and successfully.

A social network for black Americans is a real possibility, and it would allow our “nation within a nation” to be connected in ways never before possible. We could all actually be on one page at the same time — and support each other for optimal impact on issues and concerns that face us all.

The question now is: who’s going to create black America’s online meeting room?

Facebook was created by enterprising college students. Creating a black social network just needs initiative. Why aren’t the NAACP or the National Urban League ready, willing and able to create such a potentially powerful tool to advance our race? In the expectation they are not, who will take up the slack?

If Oprah Winfrey is powerful and wealthy enough to inspire a new television network, why can’t she or someone like her amass the talent and resources required to develop a black online community?

We don’t need to re-invent the wheel. The technology is available. What this idea needs is the person or group to get the ball rolling.

Want to improve conditions for black Americans? Create a social network. Information is power! The key to black American power today is not standing in the street with a clinched fist as so many did in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Black advancement may now be as simple as joining together, online in a social network, so that we can stand united in our political, economic and social actions.

B.B. Robinson, Ph.D. is a member of the national advisory council of the black leadership network Project 21. You can visit his website at http://www.blackeconomics.org

Byts and Bytes

1. Psycho-Slavery: Black Boys, White Female Teachers & the Rise of A.D.H.D.  

2. How China has created a new slave empire in Africa

3. Afro-Futurism: The Marketing of Revolution