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If
Black Teachers Should Get 20 Years In Prison for Helping Students Cheat
on Tests in Atlanta, How Much Time Should Bureaucrats at the U.S.
Department of Education and various State and District Boards of
Education Get for Cheating Black Children Out of a Decent Education for
150 Years? "Don
't Hate the Playa--Hate the Game!" - Brittney Cooper
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America is criminalizing Black teachers: Atlanta's cheating scandal and the racist underbelly of education reform Our educational system stacks the deck against Black children -- now we're throwing their teachers in jail
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(Opinion of The Black Star Project) - Irony is Black women guards are forced to take away a Black woman teacher for "cheating" Black children.
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By Brittney Cooper
April 8, 2015
Last
week, an Atlanta jury convicted 11 teachers and school administrators
of racketeering in a system-wide cheating scandal. Yes, you read that
correctly. Teachers and administrators inflating student scores on
standardized tests is now considered "organized crime" in this country,
and is punishable by more 20 years in prison, in these cases.
I
am an educator. I am a Black woman who may someday mother a Black
child. I have taught other Black mothers' children. Much of my
educational success in elementary school is directly attributable to
high performance on standardized tests that caused my white teachers to
notice me and intervene on my behalf to get me "tracked" into
higher-achieving classrooms. I believe all children deserve access to a
good, high-quality,public education.
Therefore, I don't have to
condone cheating in any form (and I don't) to assert that what has
happened in Atlanta to these teachers is a travesty. The pictures that
emerged last week of handcuffed Black schoolteachers being led out of
Southern courtrooms in one of the country's largest urban Black school
systems were absolutely heartbreaking.
Scapegoating Black teachers
for failing in a system that is designed for Black children, in
particular, not to succeed is the real corruption here. Since the early
1990s, we have watched the deprofessionalization of teaching, achieved
through the proliferation of "teacher fellow" programs and the massive
conservative-led effort to defund public education in major urban areas
throughout the country. There is no longer a consensus that a good
public education - a hallmark of American democracy - should be
considered a public good.
Black children have for
generations been the primary victims of this continuing social mendacity
about the national value of education. More than 51 percent of children
who attend public schools live in poverty. In Georgia, the percentage
of Black children living in poverty hovers right around 39 percent.
For Latino children, the number is consistently over 40 percent.
Nationally, the number for Black children is 39 percent, according to
most recent data, and 33 percent for Latino youth.
Eighty percent of
children in Atlanta Public Schools are Black. Eleven percent are white
and 3 percent are Latino. However, only 50 percent of children in
Atlanta's Gifted and Talented programs are Black, whereas 40 percent are
white. More disturbingly, 98 percent of all students expelled from
Atlanta public schools during the 2009-2010 academic school year were
Black.
These numbers taken
together paint an abysmal picture of students who are disproportionately
poor, over-disciplined, and systematically "tracked" out of
high-performing classrooms. And yet we expect teachers to work magic in
conditions that are set up for failure.
But
now we are expected to believe that prosecuting these teachers as
racketeers is an act of justice. Nothing is just about making Black
women sacrificial lambs of an educational system hellbent on throwing
Black children away. The images of their handcuffed Black bodies being
led in shame from the courtroom gives Black parents angry about the
miseducation of their children a convenient target for their angst and
outrage over a failing system.
Meanwhile,
the real racket - privatization and defunding of public schools,
diversion of taxpayer resources away from education, and increasing
political clout and payouts for school reformers proselytizing the false
gospel of high stakes testing - gets obscured. And white children still
get educated well, either in private schools or in suburban schools
funded through a solid property tax base.
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Dr. Yosef Alfredo Antonio Ben-Jochannan (1918-2015) Joins the Elders
By Patrick Delices
April 8, 2015
Dr. Yosef
Alfredo Antonio ben-Jochannan (Dr. Ben) was the preeminent "Multi-Genius
of Our Time." Therefore, he cannot be defined nor scrutinized by
western academic standards given the fact that he forever altered how
classical African civilizations, in particular the Nile Valley, can be
viewed and examined in colleges and throughout the global African community.
Furthermore,
Dr. Ben's contributions to academia and the global African community
stand alone as he represents not the floor of our potential, but the
ceiling in which we can rise to. We, the global African community,
adulate Dr. Ben for his groundbreaking scholarship and unprecedented
service. Moreover, we praise enthusiastically his great work and
sacrifice along with his love for African people and the Nile Valley.
As such,
when it comes to the study and understanding of the Nile Valley, no one
had a greater impact on the minds and hearts of African people at a
global and grand scale than Dr. Ben. As an exceptional thinker and
prolific writer, Dr. Ben's scholarship regarding the Nile Valley along
with his service within the global African community is not only
exemplary, but unmatched - exceeding all others in terms of scholarly
influence, community based impact, and global outreach.
In regards
to the African origin of western civilization and religion, Dr. Ben's
contribution to the production of knowledge is monumental as evident in
his most celebrated and best-selling magna opera: The African Origins of
the Major Western Religions (1970), Africa: Mother of Western
Civilization (1971), The Black Man of the Nile and His Family (1972),
and We, The Black Jews: Witness to the White Jewish Race Myth (1983).
Lesser-known, but no less important texts include collaborations with
his frequent associate Professor George E. Simmonds, The Black Man's
North and East Africa (1971) and Understanding the African Philosophical Concept
Behind the 'Diagram of the Law of Opposites (1975) with Evelyn Walker,
Dorothy Lee Cobb and Calvin Birdsong. As a spirited public intellectual
and iconoclast, Dr. Ben published nearly fifty books and manuscripts.
As
an engaged scholar and involved activist, Dr. Ben, like his mentors
Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X, lectured gratuitously to the masses of
African people on the street corners of the United States and globally.
Dr. Ben also secured teaching positions at Malcolm-King Harlem College,
Marymount College, Pace University, Borough of Manhattan Community
College, State University of New York at New Paltz, Temple University,
Howard University, Cornell University and Al-Azhar University in Cairo.
The
influence and presence of Dr. Ben are still felt with the likes of Dr.
Leonard Jeffries, Dr. James Turner, Dr. Charles Finch, Dr. Wade Nobles,
Dr. Maulana Karenga, Dr. Molefi Asante, award winning journalist Herb
Boyd, Tony Browder, Ashra Kwesi, Runoko Rashidi, and Professor James
Small. Dr. Ben also had a special influence on our female scholars,
public intellectuals, and activists such as Dr. Rosalind Jeffries, Dr.
Patricia Newton, Dr. Vera Nobles, Dr. Iva Carruthers, Dr. Marimba Ani,
Dr. Adelaide Sanford, Dr. Joy DeGruy, Dr. Jewel Pookrum, Rkhty Amen,
LaTrella Thornton, and Dr. Frances Cress Welsing. Furthermore, Dr. Ben
has inspired a new generation of scholars, public intellectuals, and
activists such as Bro. Reggie Mabry,
Dr. Greg Carr, Dr. Mario Beatty, Nayaba Arinde, Manbo Asogwe Dòwòti
Désir, and Professor Patrick Delices among countless others.
Dr.
Ben is therefore recognized as the last of the great Black history
scholars, public intellectuals, and activists which include the late Dr.
John Henrik Clarke, Dr. Edward Scobie, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, Dr.
Charshee McIntyre, Dr. Jacob Carruthers, Dr. Richard King, Dr. Asa
Hilliard, Dr. Amos Wilson, Steve Cokely, and Dr. Khalid Muhammad.
Dr. Ben's
service to the community is seen by his collaboration and partnership
with Minister Louis Farrakhan, Reverend Al Sharpton, and Attorney Alton
Maddox. Dr. Ben also worked closely with local community leaders and
elders including Sybil Williams Clarke and Drs. Mary and Arthur Lewis in
addition to the masses of African people at home and abroad.
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A conversation for
young Black men
about being a man
Discussion and Book Autographing
Saturday, April 11, 2015
3:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Culture Connection
400 W. 71st Street
Chicago, Illinois
For more information or to purchase a copy of the book, please Click Here |
The
Black Star Project is partnering with the Pipefitters to give
interested candidates an introduction to the trade of Pipefitting.
Monday, April 20, 2015
6:30 pm
The Black Star Project
Suite 2B
3509 South King Drive
Chicago, Illinois
Please call 773.285.9600
to RSVP for this session
Pipefitters assemble and repair pipe
systems of various shapes, sizes, and pressures. Ensure proper placement
and alignment according to blueprints and instructions. Require a high
school diploma or its equivalent and 0-2 years of experience in the
field or in a related area. Have knowledge of commonly-used concepts,
practices, and procedures within a particular field. Rely on
instructions and pre-established guidelines to perform the functions of
the job. Work under immediate supervision. Typically reports to a
supervisor.
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Attend the
2015 Black Star Project
College Fair
on
Saturday, April 25, 2015
The Chicago Lake Shore Hotel
4900 South Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, Illinois
10:00 am to 1:00 pm
50 colleges and universities will exhibit including:
- Alabama A&M University - HBCU
- Benedictine University
- Carthage College
- Central Michigan University
- City College of Chicago
- Columbia College
- Cornell College
- DePaul University
- Dominican University
- East West University
- Eastern Illinois University
- Fisk University HBCU
- Florida A&M University - HBCU
- Governors State University
- Harris-Stowe State University - HBCU
- Illinois Institute of Technology
- Indiana State University
- Indiana University Bloomington
- Indiana University Northwest
- Kentucky State University - HBCU
- Lane College - HBCU
- Lawrence University
- Lincoln University - HBCU
- Luther College
- Mississippi Valley State University - HBCU
- Morgan State University - HBCU
- National Louis University
- New Mexico State University
- Northern Michigan University
- Northeastern Illinois University
- Northern Illinois University
- Northwestern University
- Prairie State College
- Prairie View A&M University
- Ripon College
- Robert Morris University
- Rust College - HBCU
- Southern Illinois University
- University of Chicago
- University of Illinois Chicago
- University of Illinois Springfield
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- University of Southern Alabama
- University of Southern Indiana
- University of Wyoming
- U.S. Coast Guard
- U.S. Marines
- U.S. Naval Academy
- Valparaiso University
- Vincennes University
- Wilberforce University - HBCU
- Xavier (LA) - HBCU
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| The 2013 College Fair attracts more than 1,000 participants. |
Students, parents and educators from are encouraged to attend this college fair. Please call 773.285.9600 for more information.
Click Here to see and hear the last Black Star Project's College Fair.
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There
is no reason for your child to be left behind in school or in life. You
must take control of your child's education. Those who control the
education of the children control the future of that race.
The Black Star Project
is recruiting:
1)
10 male or female high school students interested in learning to build
websites and in understanding code in our Youthtech program
2) 10 young men and young women in 6th to 12th grade who want to accelerate in math for our Math Bootcamp
3)
10 boys in 1st to 4th grade whose parents want them to become serious
and effective readers for our Black Male Reading Academy
4) 10 young women and young men in 5th to 8th grade for our Saturday University focusing on reading, writing and math.
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Coaches Seated - Ivan Lee, Ava Myles and George Solorio
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All
classes are at The Black Star Project, 3509 South King Drive, Chicago,
Illinois. Please call 773.285.9600 to register for any of the above
classes or for more information about these free programs. Parents must
have a high level of support and engagement with our academic programs.
Enrollment is limited.
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