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“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 20th 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
