December 10, 2012 - BLOGGING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

“In order for us as poor and oppressed people to become part of a society that is meaningful, the system under which we now exist has to be radically changed. This means that we are going to have to learn to think in radical terms. I use the term radical in its original meaning-- getting down to and understanding the root cause. It means facing a system that does not lend itself to your needs and devising means by which you change that system.” - Ella Jo Baker

 

 

THE U.S. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM AND AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS

As an African American native of Oakland, California, a product of the Oakland Unified School District’s (OUSD) educational system, and a mother of children who were also students of the same system, I am aware of the weaknesses that continue to exist with the instruction of African American children and youth. As a child of the OUSD system, I remember reading about American history and the building of the Americas, and how rarely were there images of African Americans or any attention, by teachers, given to Africans and African American’s contributions. As a parent of children in the OUSD, I observed the same lack of African American imagery in my children’s homework assignments, teaching instruction, and classroom settings. Overall, When it came to images of people with the same complexion, the same hair texture, the same thick lips, the same broad nose, as my children, family, friends and I, there were many images of people of African descent with these features that were considered to be savages, primitive, and uncivilized – a people that had to be “made” civilized through the Eurocentric teachings of Christianity. The rare images that I did observe and came to appreciate were few: Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Dr. Martin Luther King., Jr. I remember often wondering as a child, “Were there only a handful of people with the same African/Black features as me that made significant contributions to society? - Were people of my likeness vicious beast that were un-intelligent, lazy, ignorant, etc.?” Having this mental dilemma at such an early and impressionable age, could and would have a lasting impact on my self-identity, my self-worth, and would lead to another self-imposed question unanswered; “Where would I fit in society?” Had it not been for my parents, extended family and my community teachings of the importance of education and Black Pride; I would have so easily been able to answer “yes” to my self-imposed questions, based on the traditional and mainstream educational system, teaching practices, and the curriculum of the OUSD educational system. In the same vein, when I observed the homework assignments and projects that my children were given, they were not representative of who they were as African Americans. My children were being assimilated and acculturated in the same system that viewed Africans as objects as opposed to the subjects of their existence.

Historically, the U.S. educational system’s curriculum and teaching practices has been culturally centered on a Eurocentric worldview, not taking into account the various ethnicities and cultures that create these classroom settings. The Europeans continue today to use the educational system as a crucial tool in the advancement of white supremacy and domination. Within this cultural hegemony, Africans and African Americans have been adversely affected by the Eurocentric form of education. In the early 20^th century, Carter G. Woodson (1933), the Father of Negro History and Black History Month proclaimed in his critical novel, “The Mis-Education of the Negro”, that African Americans have been disenfranchised educationally in the United States.  He explains:

“The oppressor…teaches the Negro that he has no worth-while past, that his race has done nothing since the beginning of time, and that there is no evidence that he will ever achieve anything great…Lead the Negro to believe this and thus control his thinking. If you can thereby determine what he will think, you will not need to worry about what he will do.”

“If you teach the Negro that he has accomplished as much good as any other race he will aspire to equality and justice without regard to race. Such and effort would upset the program of the oppressor in Africa and America…Let him learn to admire the Hebrew, the Greek, the Latin and the Teuton. Lead the Negro to detest the man of African blood-to hate himself. The oppressor then may conquer, exploit, oppress and even annihilate the Negro…without fear or trembling.”(p.192)

 

 

"We must voice our protests on the inequalities that continue to exist in the educational system in order to perpetuate mainstream propaganda that one culture and people are superior to all others. We must allow All cultures to become grounded in their own existence."         Chinue X