Dr. Boyce Watkins And Rev. Al Sharpton Talk About The Black Agenda on MSNBC
4 comments:
Anonymous
said...
You know all this talk about black america and white america. I am tired. I am with Rev.AL. He has had our backs for a long time. Right are wrong he has our back. I do not know where Tavist came from I am thinking he voted for McCane anyway.
Barack did not get us in this mess. It took four years of Bushshit to get us in the trouble we are in and four years of Bush covering up to keep us here. So as a black american I am going to say Give Barack his eight years. Stop riding him on shit he is trying to clean up. You did not blame the plumber for the toliet running over. So Don't blame him for cleaning the shit up that was left behind. Black, unemployed, and still lovin' me some Barack
Note to Dr. Boyce, scholars of his ilk and to Black America: U.S. Justice Department and other studies published within the past ten years consistently point to the fact that African American females are among the fastest growing prison population in America. Some are afraid that if they continue along this trajectory, their numbers in American prisons will eclipse, or at the very least equal those of Black males. This means that Black youth are going without both their mothers and their fathers, and in many cases are raising themselves with limited support from others in their communities. Please expand your narrow focus on the needs of, and statistics facing Black men to also include a focus on what is happening to our women -- the people who have historically held this community down when Black men could not because they were under fire. Dr. Boyce's continual focus on the plight of Black males and his absence of focus on Black females, as represented here, saddens me because I believe that he loves all in our community, and because it is a common practice among our men and women -- both lay and educated. Women are the children's first teachers. If our women are incarcerated, uneducated, underemployed and untrained in effective parenting skills because they are being run in and out of prisons and loaded down with felony convictions for a host of non-violent crimes, most commonly associated with drug use (self-medicating), that could be better addressed through drug treatment or psychological counseling programs, then we are doomed. Black females are the second lowest-performing group in American schools today, only a few points ahead of Black males, yet we put all of our national funding,policy focus and resources toward Black males, with no particular support or attention to the needs of our girls, based upon a long held and dis-proven stereotype that teaches that black females are doing considerably better than the males. One example is the claim that there are more college-educated black females than males. The data actually shows that more Black girls than Black boys in the 18 - 24 age category go to college, however, the case is the reverse in the 25 - 34 age category, where far more Black males than females enroll in college. Therefore, if a Black girl does not continue to school directly after college, she is less likely than Black males to go back to school. I agree with both speakers, there are serious systemic problems within our community that must be addressed. I believe that one of the greatest problems, however, is working from a recovery framework that does not provide an equal focus on uplifting both African American males and females, as our mind-frame drives everything that we do to move forward. We can not move forward with only one half of our community in tact. "Not less for the boys, but more for the girls," is needed.
Thanks to Dr. Watkins and Rev. Al for their efforts at setting a Black Agenda. However, we believe that those efforts are misplaced. Their efforts would increase Black Americans' (Afrodescendants') dependence on the U.S. Government and on the American people.
Shouldn't we grow up and do for ourselves?
Excitement over having a Black president has caused Black Americans to forget what our task should be at this juncture (the beginning of a new millennium). In our view, Black Americans should be engaged in a process of nation formation at this time.
Please see Essay 3, "Point Zero Nation Formation for Black Americans" in CHOICE: BLACK AMERICA'S CALLING at http://www.blackeconomics.org/BEAP/CHOSEN.pdf.
We believe that you will find consideration of this information to be of value.
WE HAVE TO STAY HONEST WITH OURSELVES AND KNOW THAT IT'S JUST AS DO OR DIE NOW AS IT WAS DURING AND AFTER SLAVERY.BREAKING THE CURSE OF WILLIE LYNCH IS GONNA TAKE ACTION ON OUR PART,BUILD ON THE THINGS WE HAVE IN COMMON,WE SEEM MORE DIVIDED AS A PEOPLE NOW THEN EVER,LIGHTS CAMERAS AND MICS SEEM TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN ANY WHIP.WE BETTER STOP PLAYING WITH OURSELVES
4 comments:
You know all this talk about black america and white america. I am tired. I am with Rev.AL. He has had our backs for a long time. Right are wrong he has our back. I do not know where Tavist came from I am thinking he voted for McCane anyway.
Barack did not get us in this mess. It took four years of Bushshit to get us in the trouble we are in and four years of Bush covering up to keep us here. So as a black american I am going to say Give Barack his eight years. Stop riding him on shit he is trying to clean up. You did not blame the plumber for the toliet running over. So Don't blame him for cleaning the shit up that was left behind.
Black, unemployed, and still lovin' me some Barack
Note to Dr. Boyce, scholars of his ilk and to Black America: U.S. Justice Department and other studies published within the past ten years consistently point to the fact that African American females are among the fastest growing prison population in America. Some are afraid that if they continue along this trajectory, their numbers in American prisons will eclipse, or at the very least equal those of Black males. This means that Black youth are going without both their mothers and their fathers, and in many cases are raising themselves with limited support from others in their communities. Please expand your narrow focus on the needs of, and statistics facing Black men to also include a focus on what is happening to our women -- the people who have historically held this community down when Black men could not because they were under fire. Dr. Boyce's continual focus on the plight of Black males and his absence of focus on Black females, as represented here, saddens me because I believe that he loves all in our community, and because it is a common practice among our men and women -- both lay and educated. Women are the children's first teachers. If our women are incarcerated, uneducated, underemployed and untrained in effective parenting skills because they are being run in and out of prisons and loaded down with felony convictions for a host of non-violent crimes, most commonly associated with drug use (self-medicating), that could be better addressed through drug treatment or psychological counseling programs, then we are doomed. Black females are the second lowest-performing group in American schools today, only a few points ahead of Black males, yet we put all of our national funding,policy focus and resources toward Black males, with no particular support or attention to the needs of our girls, based upon a long held and dis-proven stereotype that teaches that black females are doing considerably better than the males. One example is the claim that there are more college-educated black females than males. The data actually shows that more Black girls than Black boys in the 18 - 24 age category go to college, however, the case is the reverse in the 25 - 34 age category, where far more Black males than females enroll in college. Therefore, if a Black girl does not continue to school directly after college, she is less likely than Black males to go back to school. I agree with both speakers, there are serious systemic problems within our community that must be addressed. I believe that one of the greatest problems, however, is working from a recovery framework that does not provide an equal focus on uplifting both African American males and females, as our mind-frame drives everything that we do to move forward. We can not move forward with only one half of our community in tact. "Not less for the boys, but more for the girls," is needed.
Thanks to Dr. Watkins and Rev. Al for their efforts at setting a Black Agenda. However, we believe that those efforts are misplaced. Their efforts would increase Black Americans' (Afrodescendants') dependence on the U.S. Government and on the American people.
Shouldn't we grow up and do for ourselves?
Excitement over having a Black president has caused Black Americans to forget what our task should be at this juncture (the beginning of a new millennium). In our view, Black Americans should be engaged in a process of nation formation at this time.
Please see Essay 3, "Point Zero Nation Formation for Black Americans" in CHOICE: BLACK AMERICA'S CALLING at http://www.blackeconomics.org/BEAP/CHOSEN.pdf.
We believe that you will find consideration of this information to be of value.
Thanks.
BlackEconomics
WE HAVE TO STAY HONEST WITH OURSELVES AND KNOW THAT IT'S JUST AS DO OR DIE NOW AS IT WAS DURING AND AFTER SLAVERY.BREAKING THE CURSE OF WILLIE LYNCH IS GONNA TAKE ACTION ON OUR PART,BUILD ON THE THINGS WE HAVE IN COMMON,WE SEEM MORE DIVIDED AS A PEOPLE NOW THEN EVER,LIGHTS CAMERAS AND MICS SEEM TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN ANY WHIP.WE BETTER STOP PLAYING WITH OURSELVES
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