Destroy/Rebuild: AUC Unity

      The Atlanta University Center also known as the AUC is the largest consortium of Historically Black Colleges and University (haha) in the nation. Schools included are Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, Morehouse School of Medicine and Morris Brown College. Unfortunately Morris Brown better known as Mo B lost their accreditation in the Fall of 2002 and has suffered tremendously since. The sad part about Morris Brown is they were immediately shunned from the AUC and the United Negro College Fund terminated its support as well. In times of need HBCU's should stick together and not back away from the problem. Morris Brown has a rich history and is the only HBCU that was founded by former slaves affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church. As a graduate of Clark Atlanta University it is disgraceful to know that we are not helping our fellow AUC institution member.
       This question automatically pops into my head: With all the "rich" African Americans living in the Atlanta area why can't they donate money to help the cause? If we are serious about restoring the legacy of HBCU's and keeping them relevant then we should start with one that was founded by our ancestors and one that is struggling greatly. Morehouse and Spelman alone receive enough grants and donations to give abundantly to Morris Brown. Why does this school continue to struggle when there are plenty of people/institutions that can give back? Currently the school has a $22 million long term debt that needs to be taken care of a $5 short term debt. The school has reached out to alumni, churches and other suppoorters to raise $40,000 toward the overdue bill. In March of 2009 students, teachers and alumni took to the street and phones to raise $150,000 to prevent water services from being cut off.
       Unfortunately Morris Brown isn't the only school that has lost their accreditation and are trying to rebuild. Schools such as FAMU and Texas Southern University were placed under probation in the past two years due to finacial issues. The inevitable question has been raised...Are HBCU's still relevant?

What happens when we DESTROY? #1

What does it mean to destroy something? To put an end to, extinguish; to kill or slay.


How many times have we watched things/people around us being destroyed? Whether it be through media, institutionalized acts or by word of mouth, destruction is happening all around us. Often we notice the destruction taking place but never say anything or we say (hey!) it's not happening to me. People across the globe have faced destruction and no one to speak out for them and say it is finally time to REBUILD.


How have people in urban communities been destroyed?

1. Language

2. Housing

3. Education

4. Media coverage


LANGUAGE
How has language destroyed us? What type of language do we use when we talk to each other?Which words do we use when describing other races? Think about it...and no Ebonics doesn't count. What is one way to confuse a people and have them lost forever? Take away their native language and you take away their culture. How do we refer to one another...negative terms have become so acceptable today we don't know what's right anymore. This new generation that continues to produce children at even younger ages no longer show the same level of respect when talking to their children. People of every race continuously tear each other down with the way we communicate.

In the previous paragraph I said native language. Let's elaborate on that. Native language meaning not only the language that is true to your culture but what brings your community together. Too often we get caught up in the stereotypical destruction placed upon us that we try to become something we are not. Language has been destroyed so much that often people are accused of trying to speak proper, or talking like a certain people. How do those people talk and why is that the standard?

One of the more serious points when describing the destruction of language is the family structure. It's saddening to see a mother use foul language and talk reckless in front of her child. The most frightening part about that is the child will grow up thinking it is acceptable to speak to others that way. Then the child will be labeled because the words they use will place them in a box. Ebonics can also be considered as a part of the language in urban places that has been destroyed. Some frown upon the mention of Ebonics as an official language but I see no problem with it. Ebonics speaks to the formation of the African person in America. Stripped of everything so you are forced to create your own language and culture.

Unfortunately the language we have used has contributed to the downfall of such great people. We call each other bitches and niggas. Not to mention how we ridicule other races and stereotype them by the language in which they speak.Why is that acceptable? And for those that say I don't say things to be mean, then you are apart of the problem as well. Let's stop disassociating ourselves and start to participate and act as one unit to move forward.

Destroy & Rebuild: 5 Yrs and 7mths Later Pt. 1

It has been 5 yrs since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf and left a nationwide devastation. Seven months ago Port Au Prince, Haiti suffered a 7.0 magnitude earthquake and spawned a massive out pour of suplies and money from neighboring countries. Throughout the next 3 months I will travel to New Orleans and Haiti to particiapte in several clean-up and rebuilding missions. These trips will be documented and the similarities between the two catastrophies will be highlighted and what can be done to move forward.

The residents of New Orleans were called refugees. How would you feel if everything you had was destroyed and the news portrayed you as a savage helplessly looking for salvation? On the actual day that Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans there were thousands of residents still in the city. Why? Because this isn't the first time they were threatened with the reality of losing everything they had and having to rebuild. However this time proved to be something different. Not only did the Katrina cause devastation but the breaking of levees is what really killed the lower 9th ward and other districts in the city. Many people say that the levees were blown up or that it was due to faulty contruction, but does that mean that an entire city is left to die because of carelessness?

"George Bush doesn't care about black people" - K.West

Four years ago, I traveled with a group of students from the Atlanta University Center to New Orleans to participate in a Hurricane Relief Trip. The people we spoke with and the sights we saw will never be able to be placed in words. I must say this that trip is what inspired me to continue on with the mission of helping others and trying to elevate the minds of people of color. Katrina took place August 2005 and we were there in October 2006...to say that it looked like it happened yesterday is an understatement. There were houses with dead bodies still inside that haven't been accounted for. Several blocks were empthy which dozens of house once stood. How can this happen in America where we run to help other countries but not the ones on our own soil...

Take a look at these pics from the trip

The New History

Gail Lowe, the chair of the Texas State Board of Education, told The Daily Texan newspaper "I don't see any evidence that people are pursuing any political or personal agendas,". The board, which is made up of 10 Republicans and five Democrats, seem to have concluded that Texas' classrooms have been tainted with a liberal preference. As a result, the board has spent numerous hours hearing from members of the community on subjects such as whether labor activist Chavez and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall deserve space in history textbooks alongside founding fathers like Benjamin Franklin. The issue of whether Christianity deserves more classroom time in the Texas public school systems, and whether Abraham Lincoln deserves so much. Last week, the board voted 7-6 to make some changes, so that the state standards will mandate that lessons include the causes and key organizations and individuals of the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including anti-feminism advocate Schlafly, the Contract with America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association. Discussions ranged from whether President Reagan should get more attention which received a yes, to whether hip-hop should be included as part of lessons on American culture which received a no. President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis's inaugural address should be studied alongside Abraham Lincoln's was also approved.

Contributers: David Knowles (AOL), Michael Birnbaum (Washington Post)

EAdams: Winston Churchill said "History is written by the Victors" and he was right, what he did not realize is that History is re-written by those with power. The separation of church and state is a policy that America’s founding fathers felt needed to uphold.

"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon, than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind," Thomas Paine writes in The Age of Reason, 1795.
"Question with boldness even the existence of a god," was said by Thomas Jefferson Letter to Peter Carr, 10 August 1787
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution," said James Madison’s Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments in 1785.

It would be a gross violation of those very principals to add more Judeo-Christian beliefs and bias to a government funded textbook association and educational institution. To disproportionately remove people of color’s contributions to the United States History is also a direct act of negligence on the part of the Textbook commission and could potentially be viewed as an attempt to promote white supremacy.
The significance of language is made very apparent when issues of slavery are brought up. One of the potential alterations of history are to change to Slave Trade that occurred in the Atlantic to calling the process simply the Atlantic Trade Route and removing the word Slave from it’s title. Slavery makes up the vast majority of American History and according the Textbook commission the chapters discussing the subject will have to be shortened to make more room for information on Presidents such as George Bush and Ronald Regan.

My Response: Fuck That...