Going in Circles, Part Two
By Dr. Gloria Latimore-Peace Presented by Omni-U Virtual University
"Every people should be the originators of their own designs, the projectors of their own schemes, and creators of the events that lead to their destiny, the consummation of their desires."1 Martin Robinson Delaney In order to facilitate our examination of the issue raised in Part1 of "Going in Circles"- that " Black people still don't get it"- I believe it would be beneficial to seek the counsel of those, such as Ancestor Martin R. Delaney, who clearly did "get it" to such a far-reaching extent that he developed a plan of action to elevate the " Colored People of the United States". After having reminded them of their condition, he called their attention to their human rights,i.e.," to be the originators of their own designs, the projectors of their own schemes, and creators of the events that lead to their destiny..." To this premise, we take the liberty of adding: Every people should practice the way of looking at the world that achieves these outcomes. It is from the foregoing that we re-invoke the question- if not Us. who? If not Us, who will be the originators of our designs, i.e., plans, blueprints? If not Us, who will be the projectors of our schemes, i.e., plans? If not Us, who will be the creators of the events that lead to our destiny…? These are fundamental questions that must be answered by every people in the context of their way of looking at the world through the lens of their own culture. Therein lies the solution to the problem. For the more than 500 years since our conquest, we have been - and are still being- subjected to a protracted process of " mind/behavior modification" In "The Miseducation of the Negro," Ancestor Carter G. Woodson teaches Us: …the Negro's mind has been brought under the control of his oppressor. When you control a man's thinking, you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his proper place and stay in it."[2] Thus, for more than 500 years, we have not been Us and the Who that has been suppressing our human right to be human has been creating the events that, thus far, have led to our tendency to " walk in circles" while they create the events that lead to the consummation of their- not Our- desires Since the preceding quote was taken from a book on the " miseducation" of Us, it stands to reason that "education"- which, for all America intents and purposes, is synonymous with schooling- has a major role in our inability to "get it."
Since the "it" that we still don't get is a good "education" or a "good job"- which we also don't get because working for others, who profit more from our labor than we do, can never be equated with "good"- we ought to ask- and answer-: "What functions(s) do schools serve vis a vis, Black children?". If the schools don't serve Us either as another source of self-development or, at least, as a pipeline to life-sustaining employment, whose purposes do they serve? Getting a "good education" or a "good job" is not likely to be the reason for mandating school attendance so those objectives should probably be ruled out. In "The Mis-Education of the Black Child," Useni Eugene Perkins writes: "The public schools serve as the cradle for institutional racism. It is in these institutions that the [B]lack Child is first introduced to the myth of American democracy, which acts as a veil for America's posture toward [B]lack people. And it is in these institutions that the [B]lack Child first begins to form a negative concept of himself because there are few things in the public schools which place emphasis on his own cultural heritage… And the remainder of his early years are saturated with the noble legends of the Founding Fathers…the romanticism of America's free enterprise system, the justification for [B]lack slavery, learning Mother Goose rhymes, and reading an array of white fantasies, ranging from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs " to the charming escapades of "Goldilocks," "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Cinderella." And when time permits, he is taught the three R's of education, but they are secondary to his orientation of white history and white mythology."[3] For more insight on "What is happening to our children in the public schools" and/or why we need to "get it together," please view "Going in Circles," an H3O Art of Life Show, Featuring: Ancestor Dr. Barbara A. Sizemore. ( The link is provided below). If not us, who will get "it" together for Black America? "Who will take care of our lives and those of [our] children"? It ought not to take Dr. Sizemore's declaration to convince us that, "We can't leave this up to other people because they're not going to do it!". To reiterate an old Jacksonian Proverb: "Nobody is going to save Us but Us!"[4] If we are to be "the originators of [our] own designs, the projectors of [our] own schemes" and *the creators of the events that lead [our] destiny…", We must overcome. If not now, when?
BlogNotes/Recommended Reading [1] Martin Robeson Delany. The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States.
[2] Carter G. Woodson. The- Mis-Education of the Negro.
[3] Useni Eugene Perkins. Home is Dirty Street: The Social Oppression of Black Children.
[4] Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson
Recommended Viewing https://youtu.be/NgzSarSChEo Additional Recommended Reading Jeannie Scott Case. The Importance of Teaching Dred Scott. Ancestor Amos N. Wilson. Blueprint for Black Power: A Moral, Political, and Economic Imperative for the Twenty-First Century Earl Conrad. The Invention of the Negro.
Dr. Barbara A. Sizemore. Walking in Circles: The Black Struggle for School Reform
Dr. Jacob H.Carruthers. Intellectual Warfare Dr. Margaret Taylor Goss Burroughs."What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black?::..."
Useni Eugene Perkins. Home Is A Dirty Street: The Social Oppression of Black Children
Kiarri T.H.Cheatwood. The Race: Matters Concerning Pan-Afrikan History, Culture, and Genocide
Lerone Bennett, Jr. Forced Into Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White Dream
Ishakamusa Barashango. African Genesis
Dr. Chancellor Williams. The Destruction of Black Civilization
Dr. Bobby E. Wright. The Psychopathic Racial Personality and Other Essays
Dr. Amos N. Wilson.The Falsification of Afrikan Consciousness
Dr. John G. Jackson. Man, God, and Civilization
Dr. John Henrik Clarke. Christopher Columbus and the African Holocaust
Dr. Yosef Ben- Jochannan. Cultural Genocide in the Black and African Studies Curriculum,
Dr. Walter A.McCray. The Black Presence in the Bible and the Table of Nations