March 17, 2012
I just saw this piece that I wrote just about 10 years ago. I have been following Citi FM;s great programming for the month of March, and I'm impressed with the breadth and depth of it all. This particular piece has been sitting idle all these years. I will share more as I uncover them.
I just saw this piece that I wrote just about 10 years ago. I have been following Citi FM;s great programming for the month of March, and I'm impressed with the breadth and depth of it all. This particular piece has been sitting idle all these years. I will share more as I uncover them.
Enjoy ... ...
Hi folks… just a little treatise about a few issues. I don’t know how many of you watched the symposia on C-Span over the weekend, organized by Tavis Smiley & Co. I found it very interesting and even taped it. It showcased black scholars, policy makers and motivational speakers such as Na’im Akbar (my former professor and advisor), Eric Dyson, Cornel West, Al Sharpton Barbara Lee, Lani Guinier and co….
From time to time, programs such as these remind me of those who’ve gone on before us. Many Africans that I talk to, take being in America for granted and are fairly unaware of the magnitude of what the Civil Rights Movement did for Blacks and other minorities…. And also how it stimulated the women’s rights movements. Through the struggles of both nameless and well-known people (black and white) America was compelled to face racial disparities, and if Malcolm X, Dr. King, Fannie L. Hamer and Co. had not been in the struggle, who knows what America would still have been like? In the same way, Mandela’s struggles and victories have pushed forward the freedom struggle and today many non-South Africans are flocking to that country to fill labor needs even to the point that doctors and other professionals from OAU countries are restricted from working in South Africa…. All this is to say that programs such as these, held in February and other times serve as reminders to us all… we may not have been part of the marches down the road, the sit-ins and lynchings, but those marches were real, and through those protests etc… the roads were paved for Blacks within and without the U.S. to have a voice and rights.
Many issues were discussed on this panel. One controversial topic was reparations. This issue is so complex that it does not cease to baffle me how people oversimplify it and take pro- and con- sides to it. First of all, there is the question of realism/reality. What is the criterion for determining who is “black” or “African-American?” Do proponents plan to go by the “one-drop” rule that was once used against Blacks of many shades in this country? Then I am tempted to ask, even if America will be able to pour billions of $$$ into reparations, how will that be distributed to the masses? The most important question to me is … “how effective will this be in elevating the well being of Blacks in this country?” Much as I do not ascribe to the “culture of poverty” theory, I have worked extensively enough with low-income people to know that whatever $$ that is dished out will fuel the consumerism that has made Blacks in America lose sight of what is important and focus so blindly on acquiring and consuming everything material in a frenzy. I don’t think it will take a genius to realize that access to more physical cash will inevitably lead to increased consumerism that furnishes the capitalistic needs of mainstream America, while equally credible Black-owned enterprises are left out of the economic loop.
All this is not to say that some kind of reparation is not in order. My opinion is that it must not be in the form of physical cash. That “money” from reparation can instead be set aside in a fund. A fund from which all African-Americans can receive grants (and loans where necessary) that pay for education from primary to tertiary levels, funds that give a financial base of some sort… collateral for financing home purchases, starting new businesses etc. In all these new efforts, there must be a high priority to be accountable. The student who receives a grant/scholarship for education must show progress in school – it must be both needs and merit-based. There are many more constructive ideas on this topic that will tackle the issues of imbalances that pervade the system… funds can be channeled into sustaining and building the quality of educational, social, legal and other institutions that genuinely have the interests of Black America at heart.
An interesting issue raised is school vouchers that can be used in private schools and the whole separation of Church and State debate. Before this issue is discussed, the separation of the political and the religious need to be discussed. It seems to me, that America trumpets this separation only as and when it is convenient. Since September 11 2001, we have heard prayers and have heard “God Bless America” in government institutions and gatherings, with no questions asked. Without being anecdotal and without putting forward rhetoric, many people will agree, that we have heard such strongly “religious” allusions carelessly made by people in power, introducing provocative concepts of “good” versus “evil” axes around the globe. When a policy is disliked in America, separation of Church and state is peddled, and used against the acceptance and implementation of that policy, and where a policy is endorsed, no contradiction is seen. Double standards? Maybe. Capitalizing on concepts and ideas where they benefit the decision-making bodies? Maybe.
I believe in choice – parents should be able to choose where their children should be educated (or miseducated for that matter). However, I would support any effort to improve public school systems rather than divert attention from them and inundate private schools with students. Running away from the most basic issues and problems of the public school system robs America of the opportunity to educate and train its masses (note: low-income Blacks, Whites, Hispanics or any other group) and equip them for progress in the society. What happens if in the name of choice, many parents move their wards to private institutions? Funding public schools will hardly be seen as a worthwhile venture, and these schools will fall into worse predicaments than ever.
In cities such as Chicago, where the school system depends on local property taxes, low-income neighborhoods are at an inevitable and unquestionable loss. The tax revenue needed to maintain the schools is not available, and even though the state attempts to channel funds into these schools, what happens is a simplistic and cursory treatment given to much deeper and crucial ailment embedded within the system itself.
In discussing education, one prominent issue raised on the Smiley panel was the lack of prominent black scholars in HBCUs. I think Cornel West did a good job of explaining why there is this “deficiency” in HBCUs. There are practical issues that have to be addressed – research time and funding, visibility, smaller course-loads, better remuneration and other reasons. I do not think it is fair to ask these scholars to be in HBCUs just because they are black. That is similar to asking someone to patronize a business only because it is Black-owned, regardless of the quality of service. If we encourage alumni support for HBCUs, build academic excellence etc, that will draw scholars. The quality of administrative processes is another major issue that works against quite a number of HBCUs. Procedures ranging from admissions to hiring of staff are perceived as disorganized and unstructured, and often, complaints are voiced by both students and staff/faculty. That is not to ignore the reality that there are some HBCU’s that operate in excellence and provide good quality education and teaching experiences. Besides, I think it is important for African-American scholars to be planted in mainstream institutions without being perceived and labeled as “sell-outs” especially by their colleagues in HBCUs.
There is an imminent danger in creating separate domains of ideology because those separations and barriers confine ideas and issues, leaving the mainstream exactly as it was, to begin with. For instance, where there is a strong detachment of women’s issues or African-American issues et cetera from the mainstream general discourse, there is a risk of keeping these crucial conversations and ideas in their restrictive domains, leaving the mainstream unchanged. Consequently, issues of concern to women or blacks, are pushed into the created imaginary confines, where they may grow, but may never be openly discussed side bye side to mainstream issues.
It is thus very important to have black scholars in every kind of educational institution – Ivy League, small liberal arts college or HBCU, to introduce alternative viewpoints to otherwise very conservative discourses and further create opportunities for enhancing institutional diversity. Professors West and Dyson both expressed that they had never been invited to teach at HBCUs, and this is not surprising in a country where they may be seen as ‘sell-outs’.
An issue that I would like to see tackled is that of the visibility and activity of black leaders in the black community. It is not uncommon to hear comments and even academic discussions that suggest that the black community no longer has leaders who can initiate positive changes, and that there are no leaders comparable to Civil Rights Activists. I would like to suggest that there are indeed priceless black leaders who utilize contemporary, institutional avenues to initiate change. Thanks to the Civil Rights Movement, blacks have access (in some opinions not yet equal access) to legal, educational, business and political pathways to change. Congressmen and women, state representatives, mayors, attorneys amongst others are using new methods to fight for the rights of blacks in America.
What I would personally like to see is an increased visibility in local communities. Any black politician can talk about provision of affordable housing, equal employment and educational opportunities, et cetera, et cetera in the political hallways of America, but they need to make themselves visible and accessible to local communities. The masses for whom they fight need to hear their messages. There are so many social service agencies that try to cater to the needs of the poor, in whatever ways possible. Their work will be more effective if black leaders – political, religious, business and others would go to the masses and interact with them. Rather than lobby for more projects in urban areas, they could be on the ground talking to the people in the existing projects and encouraging them and pushing them to move out of the projects and carve out better lives for themselves. Many black people do not vote, not just because they are not interested, or disenchanted with the political machinery, but also because they do not know who the leaders are. Interface is very important in proactively building community rather than passively welcoming chaos in many black communities.
One very interesting issue was the Anti-Terrorism bill and its potential impact on the black community within and without the U.S. of A. This issue was of immense interest to me as an African. There are so many complexities that need to be resolved if possible (and that is doubtful). In the wake of September 11th events, the thirst for revenge is instigating many responses to “terrorism.” First of all, one may ask for the definition of a “terrorist.” Who is defined as a “terrorist?” Please remember, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom-fighter. Africa has witnessed both overt and covert interferences of the U.S. in supporting rebels who fight incumbent governments. Once these groups get in power, their undemocratic systems and their non-compliances with the “wish lists” of world powers such as the U.S. leads the latter to incite and support insurrection. The roots of many African wars lie without the continent. Using this new “crusade” (another carelessly and ignorantly used word in American politics today) against terrorism as a legitimate way of ousting non-democratic governments has great potential of further aggravating the issues of political instability that plague the African continent. While the world waits for the U.N. to define “terrorist,” the connotations of the word would make past freedom fighters from Malcolm X, Lumumba, Nyerere and Mandela “terrorists.” These are people who opposed the powers-that-be, and through their liberation struggles, some followers perpetrated violence in the name of revolutions. The main issue I am concerned with is not the semantics of the word per se, but the legitimizing of foreign interference of countries that have in the past assassinated African leaders and continue to co-opt and “adopt” regimes until these regimes attempt to detach themselves and face the wrath of the powers-that-be. Africans must be alert – with ears all open, we must pay attention to the current discourse, critically analyzing ways in which we as Africans living on and away from the continent will be affected.
