Yep, Black History Month!
- Thread starter ParkBoyz
- Start date
The Egyptian Race According to the Classical Authors of Antiquity
To the Greek and Latin writers contemporary with the ancient Egyptians the latter's physical classification posed no problems: the Egyptians were negroes, thick-lipped, kinky-haired and thin-legged; the unanimity of the author's evidence on a physical fact as salient as a people's race will be difficult to minimize or pass over. Some of the following evidence drives home the point.
(a) Herodotus, 'the father of history', -480(?) to -425. With regard to the origins of the Colchians25 he writes:
it is in fact manifest that the Colchidians are Egyptian by race ... several Egyptians told me that in their opinion the Colchidians were descended from soldiers of Sesostris. I had conjectured as much myself from two pointers, firstly because they have black skins and kinky hair (to tell the truth this proves nothing for other peoples have them too) and secondly, and more reliably for the reason that alone among mankind the Egyptians and the Ethiopians have practiced circumcision since time immemorial. The Phoenicians and Syrians of Palestine themselves admit that they learnt the practice from the Egyptians while the Syrians in the river Thermodon and Pathenios region and their neighbors the Macrons say they learnt it recently from the Colchidians. These are the only races which practice circumcision and it is observable that they do it in the same way as the Egyptians. As between the Egyptians themselves and the Ethiopians I could not say which taught the other the practice for among them it is quite clearly a custom of great antiquity. As to the custom having been learnt through their Egyptian connections, a further strong proof to my mind is that all those Phoenicians trading to Greece cease to treat the pudenda after the Egyptian manner and do not subject their offspring to circumcision.26
Herodotus reverts several times to the negroid character of the Egyptians and each time uses it as a fact of observation to argue more or less complex theses. Thus to prove that the Greek oracle at Dondona in Epirus was of Egyptian origin, one of his arguments is the following: '. . . and when they add that the dove was black they give us to understand that the woman was Egyptian.'27 The doves in question - actually there were two according to the text - symbolize two Egyptian women who are said to have BEEN carried off from the Egyptian Thebes to found the oracles in Greece at Dodona and in Libya (Oasis of Jupiter Amon) respectively. Herodotus did not share the opinion of Anaxagoras that the melting of the snows on the mountains of Ethiopia was the source of the Nile floods.28 He relied on the fact that it neither rains or snows in Ethiopia 'and the heat there turns men black'.29
(b) Aristotle, -389 to -332, scientist, philosopher and tutor of Alexander the Great.
In one of his minor works, Aristotle attempts, with unexpected naivete', to establish a correlation between the physical and moral natures of living beings and leaves us evidence on the Egyptian-Ethiopian race which confirms what Herodotus says. According to him, 'Those who are too black are cowards, like for instance, the Egyptians and Ethiopians. But those who are excessively white are also cowards as we can see from the example of women, the complexion of courage is between the two.'30
(c) Lucian, Greek writer, +125(?) to +190.
The evidence of Lucian is as explicit as that of the two previous writers. He introduces two Greeks, Lycinus and Timolaus, who start a conversation.
Lycinus (describing a young Egyptian): 'This boy is not merely black; he has thick lips and his legs are too thin. . . his hair worn in a plait behind shows that he is not a freeman.'
Timolaus: 'But that is a sign of really distinguished birth in Egypt, Lycinus. All freeborn children plait their hair until they reach manhood. It is the exact opposite of the custom of our ancestors who thought it seemly for old men to secure their hair with a gold brooch to keep it in place.'31
(d) Apollodorus, first century before our era, Greek philosopher.
'Aegyptos conquered the country of the blackfooted ones and called it Egypt after himself.'32
(e) Aeschylus, -525(?) to -456, tragic poet and creator of Greek tragedy.
In The Suppliants, Danaos, fleeing with his daughters, the Danaids, and pursued by his brother Aegyptos with his sons, the Aegyptiads, who seek to wed their cousins by force, climbs a hillock, looks out to sea and describes the Aegyptiads at the oars afar off in these terms: 'I can see the crew with their black limbs and white tunics.'33
A similar description of the Egyptian type of man recurs a few lines later in verse 745.
(f) Achilles Tatius of Alexandria.
He compares the herdsmen of the Delta to the Ethiopians and explains that they are blackish, like half-castes.
(g) Strabo, -58 to about +25.
Strabo visited Egypt and almost all the countries of the Roman empire. He concurs in the theory that the Egyptians and the Colchoi are of the same race but holds that the migrations to Ethiopia and Colchoi had been from Egypt only
'Egyptians settled in Ethiopia and in Colchoi.'34 There is no doubt whatever as to Strabo's notion of the Egyptian's race for he seeks elsewhere to explain why the Egyptians are darker than the Hindus, a circumstance which would permit the refutation, if needed, of any attempt at confusing 'the Hindu and Egyptian races'.
(h) Diodorus of Sicily, about -63 to +14, Greek historian and contemporary of Caesar Augustus.
According to Diodorus it was probably Ethiopia which colonized Egypt (in the Athenian sense of the term, signifying that, with overpopulation, a proportion of the people emigrate to new territory).
The Ethiopians say that the Egyptians `are one of their colonies,35 which was led into Egypt by Osiris. They claim that at the beginning of the world Egypt was simply a sea but that the Nile, carrying down vast quantities of loam from Ethiopia in its flood waters, finally filled it in and made it part of the continent. . . They add that the Egyptians have received from them, as from authors and their ancestors, the greater part of their laws.36
(i) Diogenes Laertius.
He wrote the following about Zeno, founder of the stoic School (-333 to -261): 'Zeno son of Mnaseas or Demeas was a native of Citium in Cyprus, a Greek city which has taken in some Phoenician colonists.' In his Lives, Timotheus of Athens describes Zeno as having a twisted neck. Apollonius of Tyre says of him that he was gaunt, very tall and black, hence the fact that, according to Chrysippus in the First Book of his Proverbs, certain people called him an Egyptian vine-shoot.37
(j) Ammianus Marcellinus, about +33 to +100, Latin historian and friend of the Emperor Julian.
With him we reach the sunset of the Roman empire and the end of classical antiquity. There are about nine centuries between the birth of Aeschylus and Herodotus and the death of Ammianus Marcellinus, nine centuries during which the Egyptians, amid a sea of white races, steadily crossbred. It can be said without exaggeration that in Egypt one household in ten included a white Asiatic or Indo-European slave.39
It is remarkable that, despite its intensity, all this crossbreeding should not have succeeded in upsetting the racial constants. Indeed Ammianus Marcellinus writes: ". . .the men of Egypt are mostly brown and black with a skinny and desiccated look."39 He also confirms the evidence already cited about the Colchoi: 'Beyond these lands are the heartlands of the Camaritae40 and the Phasis with its swifter stream borders the country of the Colchoi, an ancient race of Egyptian origin.'41
Plutarch said that the tradition about Osiris was that he was Black........
Diodorus also said that Osiris was Mitzraim(Egypt), who was the son of Ham.........
To the Greek and Latin writers contemporary with the ancient Egyptians the latter's physical classification posed no problems: the Egyptians were negroes, thick-lipped, kinky-haired and thin-legged; the unanimity of the author's evidence on a physical fact as salient as a people's race will be difficult to minimize or pass over. Some of the following evidence drives home the point.
(a) Herodotus, 'the father of history', -480(?) to -425. With regard to the origins of the Colchians25 he writes:
it is in fact manifest that the Colchidians are Egyptian by race ... several Egyptians told me that in their opinion the Colchidians were descended from soldiers of Sesostris. I had conjectured as much myself from two pointers, firstly because they have black skins and kinky hair (to tell the truth this proves nothing for other peoples have them too) and secondly, and more reliably for the reason that alone among mankind the Egyptians and the Ethiopians have practiced circumcision since time immemorial. The Phoenicians and Syrians of Palestine themselves admit that they learnt the practice from the Egyptians while the Syrians in the river Thermodon and Pathenios region and their neighbors the Macrons say they learnt it recently from the Colchidians. These are the only races which practice circumcision and it is observable that they do it in the same way as the Egyptians. As between the Egyptians themselves and the Ethiopians I could not say which taught the other the practice for among them it is quite clearly a custom of great antiquity. As to the custom having been learnt through their Egyptian connections, a further strong proof to my mind is that all those Phoenicians trading to Greece cease to treat the pudenda after the Egyptian manner and do not subject their offspring to circumcision.26
Herodotus reverts several times to the negroid character of the Egyptians and each time uses it as a fact of observation to argue more or less complex theses. Thus to prove that the Greek oracle at Dondona in Epirus was of Egyptian origin, one of his arguments is the following: '. . . and when they add that the dove was black they give us to understand that the woman was Egyptian.'27 The doves in question - actually there were two according to the text - symbolize two Egyptian women who are said to have BEEN carried off from the Egyptian Thebes to found the oracles in Greece at Dodona and in Libya (Oasis of Jupiter Amon) respectively. Herodotus did not share the opinion of Anaxagoras that the melting of the snows on the mountains of Ethiopia was the source of the Nile floods.28 He relied on the fact that it neither rains or snows in Ethiopia 'and the heat there turns men black'.29
(b) Aristotle, -389 to -332, scientist, philosopher and tutor of Alexander the Great.
In one of his minor works, Aristotle attempts, with unexpected naivete', to establish a correlation between the physical and moral natures of living beings and leaves us evidence on the Egyptian-Ethiopian race which confirms what Herodotus says. According to him, 'Those who are too black are cowards, like for instance, the Egyptians and Ethiopians. But those who are excessively white are also cowards as we can see from the example of women, the complexion of courage is between the two.'30
(c) Lucian, Greek writer, +125(?) to +190.
The evidence of Lucian is as explicit as that of the two previous writers. He introduces two Greeks, Lycinus and Timolaus, who start a conversation.
Lycinus (describing a young Egyptian): 'This boy is not merely black; he has thick lips and his legs are too thin. . . his hair worn in a plait behind shows that he is not a freeman.'
Timolaus: 'But that is a sign of really distinguished birth in Egypt, Lycinus. All freeborn children plait their hair until they reach manhood. It is the exact opposite of the custom of our ancestors who thought it seemly for old men to secure their hair with a gold brooch to keep it in place.'31
(d) Apollodorus, first century before our era, Greek philosopher.
'Aegyptos conquered the country of the blackfooted ones and called it Egypt after himself.'32
(e) Aeschylus, -525(?) to -456, tragic poet and creator of Greek tragedy.
In The Suppliants, Danaos, fleeing with his daughters, the Danaids, and pursued by his brother Aegyptos with his sons, the Aegyptiads, who seek to wed their cousins by force, climbs a hillock, looks out to sea and describes the Aegyptiads at the oars afar off in these terms: 'I can see the crew with their black limbs and white tunics.'33
A similar description of the Egyptian type of man recurs a few lines later in verse 745.
(f) Achilles Tatius of Alexandria.
He compares the herdsmen of the Delta to the Ethiopians and explains that they are blackish, like half-castes.
(g) Strabo, -58 to about +25.
Strabo visited Egypt and almost all the countries of the Roman empire. He concurs in the theory that the Egyptians and the Colchoi are of the same race but holds that the migrations to Ethiopia and Colchoi had been from Egypt only
'Egyptians settled in Ethiopia and in Colchoi.'34 There is no doubt whatever as to Strabo's notion of the Egyptian's race for he seeks elsewhere to explain why the Egyptians are darker than the Hindus, a circumstance which would permit the refutation, if needed, of any attempt at confusing 'the Hindu and Egyptian races'.
(h) Diodorus of Sicily, about -63 to +14, Greek historian and contemporary of Caesar Augustus.
According to Diodorus it was probably Ethiopia which colonized Egypt (in the Athenian sense of the term, signifying that, with overpopulation, a proportion of the people emigrate to new territory).
The Ethiopians say that the Egyptians `are one of their colonies,35 which was led into Egypt by Osiris. They claim that at the beginning of the world Egypt was simply a sea but that the Nile, carrying down vast quantities of loam from Ethiopia in its flood waters, finally filled it in and made it part of the continent. . . They add that the Egyptians have received from them, as from authors and their ancestors, the greater part of their laws.36
(i) Diogenes Laertius.
He wrote the following about Zeno, founder of the stoic School (-333 to -261): 'Zeno son of Mnaseas or Demeas was a native of Citium in Cyprus, a Greek city which has taken in some Phoenician colonists.' In his Lives, Timotheus of Athens describes Zeno as having a twisted neck. Apollonius of Tyre says of him that he was gaunt, very tall and black, hence the fact that, according to Chrysippus in the First Book of his Proverbs, certain people called him an Egyptian vine-shoot.37
(j) Ammianus Marcellinus, about +33 to +100, Latin historian and friend of the Emperor Julian.
With him we reach the sunset of the Roman empire and the end of classical antiquity. There are about nine centuries between the birth of Aeschylus and Herodotus and the death of Ammianus Marcellinus, nine centuries during which the Egyptians, amid a sea of white races, steadily crossbred. It can be said without exaggeration that in Egypt one household in ten included a white Asiatic or Indo-European slave.39
It is remarkable that, despite its intensity, all this crossbreeding should not have succeeded in upsetting the racial constants. Indeed Ammianus Marcellinus writes: ". . .the men of Egypt are mostly brown and black with a skinny and desiccated look."39 He also confirms the evidence already cited about the Colchoi: 'Beyond these lands are the heartlands of the Camaritae40 and the Phasis with its swifter stream borders the country of the Colchoi, an ancient race of Egyptian origin.'41
Plutarch said that the tradition about Osiris was that he was Black........
Diodorus also said that Osiris was Mitzraim(Egypt), who was the son of Ham.........
Who told you that? If I were to use old fashioned racial terms and genetics, the majority of so-called "African Americans" are still phenotypically "negroid" and can be linked ancestrally to Africa, be it maternally or paternally and The Genome Project confirms this. White America is actually becoming more diverse. And to tell you the truth, Egypt never lost its black identity, that can still be seen in rural and upper Egypt, and in the Fellahin and the Beja. Northern/Lower Egypt has always been the most subject to foreign influence as can be seen in Alexandria and the Delta. The culture transmission has always been from Aitheopia to Egypt(or south to north), all Nilotic peoples who still inhabit the region. The future of Black America lies in its culture and preservation more so than worrying about racial intermarrying, because that happens everywhere anyways. Just to know where we come from, learn from our mistakes and triumphs, and proceed, giving credit where it's due.
Fine example of the Egyptian issue:
Black or white? Egyptian immigrant fights for black classification
July 16, 1997
Web posted at: 4:22 a.m. EDT (0822 GMT)
From Correspondent Joan MacFarlane
DETROIT (CNN) -- An Egyptian immigrant is suing the U.S. government because they've told him he's white when his entire life he's been black.
Mostafa Hefny was born in Egypt and has always been proud of his Egyptian culture and his African ancestry. But when Hefny immigrated to America, the U.S. government told him he was no longer a black man.
"I was not told by Immigration that I was white until I passed the exam for citizenship and then I was told I am now white," he explains.
Hefny initially laughed when told of his new racial classification, but he's no longer chuckling. He recently filed suit against the U.S. government to get his race classification changed back from white to black.
"It hurts me. It definitely hurts me," Hefny says. "It hurts me because I am unable to reconcile my reality as a black person."
In addition to the emotional hurt, Hefny says that when the government changed his race, they also changed his social status.
"Definitely, I would've had more opportunity for advancement and even for hiring had I been considered black," he says. "I was prevented from applying and requesting positions and other benefits for minority person because I knew I was legally white."
Origin determines race
Hefny
One of the problems with the naturalization process, in Hefny's opinion, is that race is classified by geographic location and not ancestry. That's part of the immigration process his lawsuit hopes to change.
The lawsuit targets Directive Number 15 of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. The directive defines black as a person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. A white person is defined as having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa or the Middle East.
"In the late '60s and early '70s, they found that different agencies were using different definitions for the same categories of people, and they thought it was important to have comprehensibility across federal agencies," explains Sally Katzen of the OMB.
The OMB is hoping to change the way they define races by revamping the troublesome directive.
"The principle we thought very important is self-identification," Katzen says. "I think that it is almost beyond dispute that an individual should identify himself or herself rather than have someone else do it."
Although it seems the government agrees with Hefny in principle, it refuses to respond publicly to his lawsuit. He expects that response later this year.
http://edition.cnn.com/US/9707/16/racial.suit/
Black or white? Egyptian immigrant fights for black classification
July 16, 1997
Web posted at: 4:22 a.m. EDT (0822 GMT)
From Correspondent Joan MacFarlane
DETROIT (CNN) -- An Egyptian immigrant is suing the U.S. government because they've told him he's white when his entire life he's been black.
Mostafa Hefny was born in Egypt and has always been proud of his Egyptian culture and his African ancestry. But when Hefny immigrated to America, the U.S. government told him he was no longer a black man.
"I was not told by Immigration that I was white until I passed the exam for citizenship and then I was told I am now white," he explains.
Hefny initially laughed when told of his new racial classification, but he's no longer chuckling. He recently filed suit against the U.S. government to get his race classification changed back from white to black.
"It hurts me. It definitely hurts me," Hefny says. "It hurts me because I am unable to reconcile my reality as a black person."
In addition to the emotional hurt, Hefny says that when the government changed his race, they also changed his social status.
"Definitely, I would've had more opportunity for advancement and even for hiring had I been considered black," he says. "I was prevented from applying and requesting positions and other benefits for minority person because I knew I was legally white."
Origin determines race
Hefny
One of the problems with the naturalization process, in Hefny's opinion, is that race is classified by geographic location and not ancestry. That's part of the immigration process his lawsuit hopes to change.
The lawsuit targets Directive Number 15 of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. The directive defines black as a person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. A white person is defined as having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa or the Middle East.
"In the late '60s and early '70s, they found that different agencies were using different definitions for the same categories of people, and they thought it was important to have comprehensibility across federal agencies," explains Sally Katzen of the OMB.
The OMB is hoping to change the way they define races by revamping the troublesome directive.
"The principle we thought very important is self-identification," Katzen says. "I think that it is almost beyond dispute that an individual should identify himself or herself rather than have someone else do it."
Although it seems the government agrees with Hefny in principle, it refuses to respond publicly to his lawsuit. He expects that response later this year.
http://edition.cnn.com/US/9707/16/racial.suit/
Simply put, white people are the majority and history in the class room is disproportionately taught from a Eurocentric perspective and with recent historical bias. This is a fact as most of the things that I've learned about Africa, East Asia, and Ancient America was not in a school text book, and is not usually standard curriculum. This even when minority groups (especially in the Bay Area), in some instances seem to predominate numerically.
Damn, I made you mad... But trust me duke, you don't sense one ounce of fear in me... I've been playing this game with your cornball ass for the last few days and you haven't beasted me at all... You have your and coment, that's it... I told you to hit a dictionary and you did... Then you went back and studied my old posts for mistakes... Boy, I have you putting in work...Hahahahahaha... But back to the subject at hand... For all your ranting, name calling, and dick jokes you have yet to show me where my millions were off... There were 37 million Hispanics in the US in 2002, 11 million Asians, and 1.2 million Arabs (I googled those numbers)... So my initial point was... Out of a combined 49 million people, 2 million don't celebrate their own heritage? Not withstanding White or Black folks who may also celebrate those heritage months... No need for me to try and save face, I don't have to create smoke screens, or duck from your 'challenges'... I can back up any claim I make... But when you try and get cute with your stale remarks I have no problem going a few rounds over some bullshit... Just keep your cornball shit away from me and we can spar 'til the cows come home... So hit me with something Johnny... I'll be back tomorrow...
Every other month, or every month for that matter is no more or less white history month than February is for black history. But by no means will you find the general white public celebrating. History teachings are hardley disproportionate because after all, as has been pointed out, whites are the majority, by and large. So of course you are going to find most schools teaching European history because that is where most of the students in these classes trace back to. I'm really interested in learning how this is a problem. So please, endulge.
I can't even think about white history month without laughing.
I did read it, ParkBoyz. However, you are still living in the United States, which is comprised primarily of white people. So If you are to be taught the history of this country, what face do you think you are going to see in school history books? To me it makes no sense to--even in a class full of Mexican-American students--teach the history of Mexico on a regular basis.
I did read it, ParkBoyz. However, you are still living in the United States, which is comprised primarily of white people. So If you are to be taught the history of this country, what face do you think you are going to see in school history books? To me it makes no sense to--even in a class full of Mexican-American students--teach the history of Mexico on a regular basis.
I see what you mean (I think), but if you're going to push a non-racial agenda, and support integration, then you can't base history from a racial bias. If we're to learn U.S history, it should be U.S history, including the black elements, hispanic, native american, and asian ones.. Also when taught world history why are we to learn about Greece and Rome so much? And not China, Meso-America, Egypt, West Africa, and the Middle East? You couldn't even justify that historically because Anglo-Saxons of America descend from the Nordic branch of North/West Europe, while they (especially the Greeks) were Mediterraneans and were more similar culturally and ethnically with middle eastern peoples. So I'm just pointing out a particular western bias going on, a lot of it fabricated history...
It's going to be an extremely hard process unfortunately IMO.. We first have to reverse several centuries of mind fucking.. If black people could sue for slander, then that would be reparations with in its self. The common perception of the black person connotates slavery, underdevelopment, savagery, and lack of history. This destroys our public relations, causes us to think low of our selves, and takes away the motivation to fully assimilate (as a part of America and/or world culture). Those in Africa are in a colonized mind state and in most instances are worse off than us Americans from their legacy of colonization and instability. Firstly, it starts with Africa. They need to embrace democracy, get these thieving countries to renegotiate, and stop letting them use the continent for oil, gold, diamonds, and other natural resources in exchange for cheap manufactured goods. Rewrite history, tediously follow the history of your own people and take it out of the hands of your oppressors, because they've fabricated your history from day one to justify your enslavement. A call for Pan-Africanism, the unity of all African peoples forming one solid political entity in the best interests of the black diaspoiric people abroad.
Africans in America need to re-connect. We are being bombarded with words like Nigger, visions of slavery and Jim crow, national riducule, under acceptance, and we have no defense for any of it. Africa is the source of our information, be it our past or future, so it starts there, not here. The main problem is that African Americans have no identity at all, it's crazy. You're faced with the cold harsh reality that you're a part of a lost tribe, and that the furthest you can go back is to when your ancestors were mere slaves which isn't very uplifting. Poverty separates people, causing tension and desperation. Overall we need better leaders, much better than these colonized house slaves like Oprah, etc.. How can you open a $50 Million private school (only for a limited amount of girls) in the middle of Soweto, South Africa, but neglect the very community in which you were raised and benefited from? I have no issue with S. Africa, but if you're going to spend it, don't waist it, make a wiser investment because honestly, how many people is that school going to benefit, it only allows 150 people? 50 Million can save so many lives other than 150 females who want to learn about greece, rome, and how their country got fucked (unless of course they're curriculum is different).
In the end though man, blacks can't blame anyone if we have the power to get out, so it starts with Africa. They need to clean up their act, open their eyes, ignore false history, and proceed accordingly. American Africans need to encourage Africa, learn about our ups and downs, open our eyes, stamp better leaders, and just keep fighting. There's been progress, but the situation is so complex and tangled that all we can do is try to slowly unravel.
Africans in America need to re-connect. We are being bombarded with words like Nigger, visions of slavery and Jim crow, national riducule, under acceptance, and we have no defense for any of it. Africa is the source of our information, be it our past or future, so it starts there, not here. The main problem is that African Americans have no identity at all, it's crazy. You're faced with the cold harsh reality that you're a part of a lost tribe, and that the furthest you can go back is to when your ancestors were mere slaves which isn't very uplifting. Poverty separates people, causing tension and desperation. Overall we need better leaders, much better than these colonized house slaves like Oprah, etc.. How can you open a $50 Million private school (only for a limited amount of girls) in the middle of Soweto, South Africa, but neglect the very community in which you were raised and benefited from? I have no issue with S. Africa, but if you're going to spend it, don't waist it, make a wiser investment because honestly, how many people is that school going to benefit, it only allows 150 people? 50 Million can save so many lives other than 150 females who want to learn about greece, rome, and how their country got fucked (unless of course they're curriculum is different).
In the end though man, blacks can't blame anyone if we have the power to get out, so it starts with Africa. They need to clean up their act, open their eyes, ignore false history, and proceed accordingly. American Africans need to encourage Africa, learn about our ups and downs, open our eyes, stamp better leaders, and just keep fighting. There's been progress, but the situation is so complex and tangled that all we can do is try to slowly unravel.
The explanation for that very question that I heard was that Oprah, like a lot of other successful and rich black people, has tried in America and given up. Apparently she visited dozens of American schools and South African schools asking the kids what it is that they want, and all the American kids said an iPod, while the South African kids said stuff like books, school supplies etc. She was more emotionally moved by the South African kids than she was with the African American kids who gave her the impression that they didn't give a fuck about learning.
Something that I do quite frequently that is pretty depressing is take a detailed look at high schools. This is important b/c I do firmly believe that if you're African American and have very good grades from atleast a decent HS, you're set. College will be an option at a significantly reduced rate. My mother works as a college recruiter and I've seen this constantly. So usually I'll be watching a ballgame and see a really good athlete and want to learn more about the kind of high school the guy is from (the most recent time I did this was to learn more about Jamarcus Russell's background in Mobile AL). So I'll go to greatschools.net and get all of the numbers to classify that school (i.e. rural/suburban/urban, race, economic status, test scores broken down by race) but the more interesting part is looking at the parent/student reviews.
What is so depressing about this is that I'll be reading the reviews of black schools and half the time, I think those reviews essentially exonerate the school and the politics of education from any blame. An example will be a mother talking about a school saying stuff (in incredibly broken English that is hard to even understand) like "I graduated from LHS in '91 and my oldest son graduated in '05 and my 5th boy will graduate in '10" and I'm reading this thinking are you fuckin serious, and you're blaming the school?
Reading these kinds of things have kind of given me the view that fixing the social/family stuff (like trying the educated white people schedule of having kids in the late 20s early 30s) will improve the quality of life for these people exponentially more than anything the white guys wearing suits in Washington DC can do.
Something that I do quite frequently that is pretty depressing is take a detailed look at high schools. This is important b/c I do firmly believe that if you're African American and have very good grades from atleast a decent HS, you're set. College will be an option at a significantly reduced rate. My mother works as a college recruiter and I've seen this constantly. So usually I'll be watching a ballgame and see a really good athlete and want to learn more about the kind of high school the guy is from (the most recent time I did this was to learn more about Jamarcus Russell's background in Mobile AL). So I'll go to greatschools.net and get all of the numbers to classify that school (i.e. rural/suburban/urban, race, economic status, test scores broken down by race) but the more interesting part is looking at the parent/student reviews.
What is so depressing about this is that I'll be reading the reviews of black schools and half the time, I think those reviews essentially exonerate the school and the politics of education from any blame. An example will be a mother talking about a school saying stuff (in incredibly broken English that is hard to even understand) like "I graduated from LHS in '91 and my oldest son graduated in '05 and my 5th boy will graduate in '10" and I'm reading this thinking are you fuckin serious, and you're blaming the school?
Reading these kinds of things have kind of given me the view that fixing the social/family stuff (like trying the educated white people schedule of having kids in the late 20s early 30s) will improve the quality of life for these people exponentially more than anything the white guys wearing suits in Washington DC can do.
I agree 100%.. The only problem with that is the childish nature of the black parent. It's a vicious cycle brought down from slavery; the same ignorance, low self-esteem, lack of courage, and lack of responsibility that can be seen in these kids, can be reflected in the house hold (not in some cases, but in a lot) as well.. These are the same parents and grandparents that used to get sprayed with fire hoses, beaten down, locked away, kicked out of public places, humiliated, taunted, teased, and I shouldn't have to bring up Crack and Heroin. Someone has to save the parents first, that's why we need better organization as a community, and strong leaders. It's almost like every nigga for his/her self and no one sees the big picture. Not to mention that we hate each other and feed into our own stereotypes. It's extremely sad for me to say at this point, but I feel more comfortable around other races than my own sometimes (as far as safety goes).. Too rebellious, rebellion is good, imo, but not when there's rebellion vs. rebellion, or rebels rebelling against rebels to see who's the biggest rebel. That macho shit is useless, because when it gets to that point you're not a rebel anymore, just a criminal. Too much confusion in the black culture. It's like, we refuse to fully accept Euro culture, yet we don't have one so we make up shit as we go along, calling it "black".. I can't emphasis enough about how important Africa is in attaining our identity. I don't give a fuck if it takes a DNA test and a trip back, we need a starting point and don't have one. That's why in a way, things are getting worse, (not the condition so much, but the attitude/consciousness).... But ultimately I agree with you, only if we can somehow get it into these parents heads that education, history, and common sense for these kids will get them anywhere that they need/want to go. Africa is a different story, they basically just got sucked dry, and still are.