February marks the beginning of black history month. Even though we have a black man and woman occupying the highest office in the world, lurid complaints of inequality are the norm when it comes to race. Blacks are quick to point out that Obama and wife are down with the struggle, and that the justified criticism of them is unfair and prima facie evidence of the deep seated racism in America today. Of course, omitted in this mantra is the fact that blacks were not singularly responsible for electing Obama. Omitted is the fact that it took a lot of white votes for him to be elected.
Also omitted in the complaint, is the fact that while Obama and wife play to the image of sticking it to the white man, their policies have specifically contributed mightily to the degradation of the black family. Many blacks, may live vicariously through the Obama’s and black celebrities, but at the end of the day, that does not translate into solving what is admittedly a problem.
To that end, in February 2005, I wrote the following syndicated piece – that despite massive amounts of money and blame, remains as true today as it did then. The true contagium for said inequality, such as it exists, is not racism – is the refusal to recognize and address the real problem. That said, the following while directed at black families, is just as imperative for the families of all children.
TEACH SCIENCE, MATH, ENGLISH TO BLACK CHILDREN:
Why should we not question the value of Black History Month as such? Why should we not study the true value of a month dedicated to teaching measured snippets of the past, when the children of the present go uneducated?
I am not opposed to the teaching of black history. I am opposed, however, to the charade Black History Month has become. American black history is not dashikis and pan Africanism – nor is it Arthur Haley’s mythical account known as “Roots.”
Black History Month’s goal – properly taught as originally intended – was to teach factual history with the inclusion of blacks who contributed to same. One could also make the case that we need a Shakespeare month, a Mark Twain month, a Founding Father’s month and a history of war month to compensate for the fraudulent revisionist exclusionary teachings in most public-school classrooms today, but I digress.
Black History was initiated (as Black History Week) as a method of inclusion. Today, it has become a tool to further self-imposed separation and exclusion. But again, I digress.
Black children in disturbingly large numbers are receiving an inferior education. And while it is easy to blame everyone from the president down – ultimately the fault lies with the parents, children and academic culture of the National Education Association.
It is more important children are able to spell the names of Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Dubois and Malcolm X (albeit I personally consider these least worthy of recognition) than it is for them to simply hear about same. It is important they can recognize those names on the printed page, which means it is more important they can read.
I know I am treading on the holy grail of “blackdom,” but it is time we view things in their proper perspective.
I recently observed students leaving a local inner-city middle school. It was deeply disturbing watching black male child, after black male child exiting the school with pants below their hips, hats cocked to the side and /or scarves tied around their heads, gaudy fake jewelry and over sized jackets or hooded sweat shirts … but with not one book to be seen.
It could be argued, I suppose, that perhaps they did their lessons in study hall, but I wouldn’t be inclined to make “book” on that bet.
I submit it is time to pull the curtain back and reveal the wizard pulling the levers of failure for these children. Black children must be equipped with competitive math and science skills. They must possess communication skills that exceed Ebonics. They must, without question, possess social skills beyond those embraced on the street corner. Black children must be taught that the world doesn’t end at the corner of their neighborhood – nor does it begin with rap music, drugs and violence.
It is an incomparable injustice perpetrated on these young to waste a month with TV commercials and charlatans fomenting a prescribed history of social injustice when the children being indoctrinated are unable to read, write or comprehend at their grade levels.
When Carter Woodson initiated Black History Week, black children took pride in being able to read and write. Today the polar opposite is the case. It is the lack of marketable linguistic, social and educational skills that cause the disproportionate rates of unemployment and income disparity among blacks.
The primal cry is more money will cure these ills. But decades of bowing to those voices have produced naught save higher property taxes, as evidenced, for example, by the District of Columbia, New York and Philadelphia. Better parenting, discipline and less social progression is needed. An insistence upon increased levels of academic performance and more time spent teaching in the present are critical keys to success.
Apart from these, teaching history from a distorted perspective for one month – while ignoring the urgency of our present – is a promising way to further marginalize and promote the lack of opportunity that isn’t based on pass, punt, hit or kick. (WND.com; 2/15/05)
dennis mccutcheon: doubtful that we’ll see that happen…but we can hope…
ken: it is tragedy that we have yet to see the full results of…
james saxon: i wouldn’t attempt to make that connection…I think its a reach at best…that said the fact that we have seen more spectacular crimes may be the evolution of same…
jeanne S: I addressed black history and black children for reasons of same…that said…the same can be said of a majority of our young…
swamprat: he is better described as the loser who came to dinner and stayed…
chris: ignorance knows no bounds…
richard (cherokeebob): agreed that we america has been let down by those who are supposed to act in our best interest….
tony: agreed…
tony: sadly there exists settings where such is not far from the truth…
tony: I suspect we’ll see or hear about something inappropriate…
kelso: hey my friend…you are exactly right…the bottom line is if more people realized we were all americans…they’d realize we were part of the same community…
john mcclain: my friend thk you for sharing this so all can benefit from it…you’ve shared same w/ me in the past and I appreciate your sharing same here…
stormrider900: the current educational system requires a herd mentality in order to persuade our children that evil and sin isn’t just that…
marilyn: I agree in part…some are just to lazy or they accept that the public schools know best…
piggy1010: lol…well maybe not the best…
fullcirclethinker: I was not raised to be color conscience…
seafarer: you are precisely right…I made the same comment during an on-air interview today…
mrsjb: we shouldn’t confuse ignorance w/ racism…I am convinced that more times than not that which is ignorance is labeled racist…
marilyn: we shall see…
caveman: I agree tangentially…I say that w/out God there is no limit to the depths a person will sink…
patricia: actually during the 2008 presidential election anyone black or white who dared to suggest they wouldn’t vote for obama was branded racist or sell out…
amelia: I don’t care who feels uncomfortable…the truth is still the truth…their running from it or getting upset w/ me makes it no less the truth…
amelia: ditto…
gary thomsen: liberals are happiest when they can project themselves as the protector and provider of po blacks…
Bread and circuses worked for the Caesars of Imperial Rome for many years, but eventually the barbarians stormed the gates and the system came crashing down. We have food stamps and WIC, the NFL, NHL, NBA and HDTV. We haven’t progressed very far in the last 2000 years. I have said for years that the Democratic party of the Klu Klux Klan has only changed strategy for controlling the inferior race. Nobody hates a black man as much as a liberal: one of the self-appointed arbiters of social justice. The thing which has only become obvious in the last years is that they not only hate the black man, but all humanity. Everyone is inferior to them. All must be controlled for their own “good”. The demonic experiment they performed on the black family has worked. It is almost completely destroyed, with the young black man paying the heaviest price. They must supply the black race with extra “help” so they can compete. If the black man and woman is allowed to have equal education and get equal pay only through equal effort, then the sham of superiority will be revealed once and for all. I have been indignant for years about how the liberals are controlling their inferiors, but now I have a great fear for my own race and a great sense of shame. Those of us who knew what the liberals were doing kept our mouths shut, for fear of being labelled racist. Now the white family is about to go into the same abyss which the black family was dropped into. Unwed mothers, drugs, willful ignorance are not only accepted but approved of. For years I have heard the statement: God has blessed the United States. Well, if our choice for President this year is between a narcissistic communist muslim and a socialist mormon, this is a sign that God has lifted His protective hand from our nation. May God have mercy on our children and grandchildren; it’s too late for us.
John McClain, Thanks for your story. Have a wonderful life in NC. Beautiful country for sure. And with your experiences, I feel certain that you will be able to encourage the next generation. Thanks.
I agree with your statement “I’m fed up…” When I was much younger and in the work force there was never the kind of tension there is now. The black men I worked with were great. They worked harder than a lot of the white guys, were very pleasant and would always lend me a hand without any hesitation. Blacks I think are more spiritual, and family oriented, and more compassionate than most people who work in hospitals. My husband and I have black friends, and I feel like I am always on edge to even talk about black/white issues. Talk about anything but that. Heaven forbid even bringing up politics. We don’t have to agree, but the fear of being called a racist is palpable. Some times I hear in my head Roddy King saying, “Can’t we all just get along?” But the Blacks and a lot of whites are being used to undercut any effort to bridge the divide, indeed I think Obama has made it even wider. The pressure cooker is really heating up. God help us.
Outstanding, Mychal!
One comment — why is it all right for blacks to vote for a black man because he’s black and that’s not racist, but for a white to even say the word “black” and off to the chopping block!
Personally I’m fed up with this “racist” thing. How strange, the One Who was going to bring us all together has managed to divide us more than ever. OOps – probably just my imagination!
At the risk of being too redundant, and obvious, let us be reminded that when any people, of any persuasion or chemistry, are allowed and encouraged to live their lives and exist without any responsibilities or requirements for survival, those said people will always sink to the lowest level required of them. Food stamps, WIC, welfare, etc. were and are used by the ‘controllers’ to keep society at its least productive level. It is degrading, and un-Godly, to allow and equip people to exist at their lowest base appetites. This program of funding disfunctionalism is not a failure of our societies, but the greatest achievment of the international banking cartel/communist agenda to lower all of society to a manageable and controllable level. No monies are giving to non-achievers except for the express purpose of keeping them non-achievers. Feed them, give them condoms/birth control, and give them just enough to keep them from revolution and over-throwing the ultra-haves, and you have the most workable agenda of populace manipulation and control possible. Feed a man, and he won’t work. Give him shelter, and he won’t create. Allow him to self-destruct, and he will. Anybody ever read the Bible? Require no responsibility for self improvemnt, and you’ll get what you require. Wake up, Neo. They’re coming for you. Its not too late, but it is perilously close. I can smell Soros & Co. at the door.
Shalom, Ya’ll!
Oh, I hope so, Dennis. It appears we would get Biden or “Boner” but I think we could deal with that mess until November. I echo you, “Go Georgia!!!.” And, I hope other States will follow the lead. If Congress will not do anything about the fraud pres. maybe The People will do it. I’m wondering what Sheriff Joe has accumulated!?
I homeschooled my children and skin color was NEVER in a discussion. When my son started working with a black guy, Chris, my son made the “AWFUL” mistake of mentioning the word ‘black’ in reference to Chris’ shirt. All the employees ‘sucked all the air from the room’ and stood aggast waiting for the inevitable….what? Later they ‘informed’ him what a HORRIBLE mistake he had made. Who’s racist?-the man who mentions color in any context. How convenient for the accusing and inconvenient for an artist!
One could also say that the lack of quality education applies to whites as well. You can also substitute the work “White” in place of “Black” today (2012) and come to the same conclusions.
If we, as a nation, had realized way back in the 1950′s what was happening to our education system, our government system, we could have prevented “today”.
Maybe? Maybe not?
Let us pray that our United States continues despite what is being planned…
It is obvious to me in reading your daily ‘rants’ that you were raised in a home that expected nothing but the best, regardless of the color of your skin or the neighborhood you lived in. It also gives me hope that you and those like you were raised for such a time as this. May God truly bless and protect you as ‘we the people’ struggle to regain who we are as a nation before it is too late. It will take voices such as yours to combine as a present day ‘voice crying out in the wilderness’ if there is to be any hope for our nation’s future.
This is a great site for me to gain information about Black History. I enjoy reading
the articles & comments from all. Mychal you are the best……
Mychal> Your article (Rant) is very well thought out. Thank you. Myrdell, my once neighbor on Okinawa, and I discussed this very issue about the education of our children and what it meant to do our “home-schooling” as parents; plus the public/parochial school participation. But, we both agreed that good, moral as well as academic education of our children begins at home. Therein lies the problem. Some parents are so uneducated/ignorant that to even discuss “high school diploma” “college” with their children is beyond their ability.
You nailed it, Tony. Non conformists always seem to be ostracized by those who would rather be with the “in crowd”. Those who would rather be independent thinkers and see things as they really are, are the ones who our hip culture looks at as nerds or retards. It is amazing to look back and to realize that they were the people who really understood what was “real”, and suffered for their being true to themselves. I wonder how long it will take to change this culture of conformists to a culture of free thinkers. Our current educational system seems to foster the herd mentality, and unless that is changed, we will continue to slide down the slippery slope into mediocrity.
Having been born into a navy family, I lived my early life entirely outside the United States, and entirely without a knowledge of racism, having learned the history of our Nation, and in that, learning of the subjegation of the African People sold as slaves by the Arab Empire controlling North Africa, and I learned it in that way.
I was born blind in my left eye, it being crossed to the point of blindness, and only by the Grace of God, my parents chose to live in the town on the outskirts of Barcelona where the eye doctor who invented the method of straightening “skew eye” practiced, and I am perhaps the first, or one of the first Americans to ever get that surgery, but this meant I struggled with the two years of recovery, at the time I was learning to read.
I learned to read years before kindergarten, because of my mother’s ways, which could be summed up as the exact methodology of Sheherezad, of the 1000 and one tales, reading to my sister and I each night, and stopping at the best part, leaving us willing to do anything at all to get to the rest of the story.
Going to kindergarten and first grade in base schools in Naples, Italy, our next duty station, great care was taken at that time to be absolutely egalitarian, and if there was any sign of racism, it was beyond my seeing. I came to live in America devoid of any idea of racism other than the knowledge it had existed, and having concluded in my own mind, by simple reason and logic, it was not only wrong, but simply foolish in every bit of defense, and obvious as nothing more than stealing the lives of others for personal gain.
The most fascinating reading I did as a young boy, was the books given to me by my father, which came to him from his own father’s personal pursuit of education, and were carefully selected for their accuracy in historical context.
From them, I learned how the colonies were formed, the trevails all experienced, and the means of overcoming the hardships and difficulties that were natural in coming to a new world. The beauty of both the means of getting to our Declaration, and of the statements made in it has driven me ever since, knowing nothing in the whole or the parts is rationally confined to our own people, but can be taken up by anyone, and used as a firm foundation for any people to stand up a government.
In spite of my advanced reading skills, my dyslexia left me near failing in every year of formal schooling, and while I got at least as good an education as any of my peers, I was unable to demonstrate, and I graduated from high school with among the lowest grade point averages ever recorded, with a graduating class of some 1100, in a town on the outskirts of Chicago.
I have known all my life my only saving grace has been my personal pursuit of knowledge, first for the sheer pleasure of filling my mind, and only later because I needed to answer the questions that filled my mind endlessly. I’ve been mechanically inclined since birth, and I have never been able to stand not understanding how something worked.
I look back at the many different schools I attended, from 1962 through 1975, and I know they were all at least in the median of schools in the Nation, and for the most part, before serious work had been accomplished in destroying the nature of “education” into “indoctrination” and yet they were not sufficient to meet my most basic needs to be competitive in working and earning a living.
Had it not been for my personal pursuit, I would never have reached the levels of education I have, and would be living at a far lower standard of living, for lack of education.
When slavery was still existent, the wisest of such chose to defy both their “masters” and the law, and taught all who would sit still and listen, how to read, with only The Bible generally, as their tool. From those slaves who became educated, the entire Black culture which arose after abolishion, and before it, in such places as Canada, where the underground railroad ended, it was those self educated Black People who fashioned and formed a culture able to integrate with that which surrounded them, and ultimately formed the foundation of our common culture, even having great obstacles constantly put before them.
As a recruiter in the Marines, an officer recruiter, I took great pride in visiting the campus of Hampton University, which I had known was established by a slave, freed by the war, a man who opened a whole industry by his own studies, and established Hampton University, George Washington Carver.
He did this by taking what had been given to the slaves for their own feeding, the lowly peanut, which was of no value except as fodder for draft animals and for slaves, and from this peanut, he developed over three hundred different chemicals which were useful in manufacturing, and he alone is responsible for the peanut becoming a major crop, which was a major source of trade for more than three hundred reasons, beyond its food value.
It has never been enough for any person to be merely taught by another, to excel, a child must be infused with a burning desire to learn, and this is seldom possible by any but parents, themselves knowing the true value of education.
If it has never been enough for those who personally love us and nurture us, obviously institutional education can’t hold a candle to that, and the very idea one can get a full education through school must be seen as ludicrous.
It is long overdue for our Nation to return to the notion that an education can begin from the outside, but the limits of such are severe and absolute, and real education can only happen if one learns to read to the point where one can’t live without books. Where one learns mathematics to the point where one applies their principles to everything they experience, and one learns to write well enough that it is impossible to refrain from putting one’s thoughts down on paper, and flawed as the early renditions may be, they are entirely one’s own, and by this, one knows one is capable of getting a real education.
The founders of this nation were for the most part, volunteers, and most did so because they were self-educated, and thought it possible to establish a new form of government, never assembled before, by taking only such good aspects which history provided, and carefully parsing history and choosing with the greatest care, and discarding everything which was not sure and certain.
Even as self educated men, they spent as much time researching during that second Continental Congress, as they did debating the ideas they had gleaned from their research. While all the fifty six members were absolutely necessary for the success of what they assembled, the product of their labors, the Constitution, was essentially written by one man, James Madison, as one who was capable of assembling the many differing perspectives, and putting in on parchment in such a way as to be acceptable to all who put their own best efforts forward.
It was an enormous setback that the abolishionists of the day, who were very active, and very hard set on cleansing the new Nation of this abomination, and all knew the acceptance of the Constitution, while retaining slavery was both of the highest moral wrong, and definitely to be the source of our greatest threat to remaining a Nation, they understood, it was better to stand up a Nation on a firm foundation of principle, with this beam of a flaw, than to allow it to fail for the lack of committment to the ratification.
I have often been beside myself in watching well intentioned people losing sight of the principles set in our Declaration, which are beyond doubt, capable of supporting the full equality of Blacks, and using physical activist means of achieving goals which are at best only partially achieved, because fullness requires the spiritual aspect, the sure and certain knowledge these things are true, while the physical nature of much which has brought about change has only proven might is right, and principle has been lost in the joy of succeeding on the physical level.
It is a distinct pleasure to read the words of so many well educated Blacks who have chosen to be the equals of anyone, and who simply refuse to be considered lesser, and because they confront with principles, natural law, self evident truths, they always win the debate, and they always reach the heart and souls of those who are open to the truth.
As a human being, I was gladdened to watch Dr. King and the success of his non-violent movement which had great impact on all aspects of this issue.
As heartening as that was, the civil riots on 1968 were as brutally demoralizing as the uplifting was, because I knew they would feed the hatred which some will never let go, and carry to their grave.
I hope and pray we can get past the extraordinary damage this dyed in the wool communist has done, and we can someday look back and see him as so many of us look back at Carter, and his debacles.
When I turned eighteen and enlisted in the Marines, it was a great day to discover there was no tolerance what so ever for racism there, than there had been where I grew up, before returning to the States. The almost complete lack of racism, coupled with the full weight of the Marine Corps, coming down on those who could not lose it has always given me hope we can put it behind us, as a Common People with a truly common bond. It is in part, the reason I retired from the Corps in Vanceboro, N.C. a farming community by far majority Black, but among my most pleasant times of my life.
God Bless the voices calling for truth, and for standing up for what is right. Mychal Massie is among the many leaders who are making our Nation capable of accepting ourselves for who and what we are, and my prayers are always with him.
Sincerely,
John McClain
Vanceboro, NC
I am not a member of the black community, but I *DO* understand human nature. People don’t want to change, they want others to change around them. Which is easier–defy peer pressure/study hard/work hard/raise a family, or follow peer pressure/not study/have babies without commitment then pressure others to accept this behavior? It’s not a race thing, it’s sinful human nature.
Another great Rant, Mychal! Keep speaking Truth.
Blacks will almost all vote for Obama b/c he is black. Whites will split theirs b/t Obama and the Republican ticket. I wonder if we will see the Black Panthers manning the voting stations in ‘select’ neighborhoods again this year. Maybe Acorn will once again jump into the fray. I received an email from one of the syndicated sites that stated that the Democrats have figured out a way to rig the voting machines and can do what they wish with the numbers. Wonder where THOSE machines will be tampered with. Bet is isn’t Idaho.
It “ain’t” cool to be seen with books. It will get you killed. Besides, its a lot more fun to be in the street hanging out and talking like a drunk sailor about stuff you don’t know the slightest thing about but heard somewhere which makes you an authority. And it “ain’t” cool to speak a proper sentence. One has to use one laced with mf, mfer, sheet, mo,fo,do,ho. Gotta be ‘down’ and have ‘game’. And, you must always end a sentence with “know what I mean”. Books………..sheet. Ain’t happening.
That is entirely correct. The great majority of these problems totally begin at home. That combined with peer pressure and the entertainment world are horrible influences.
I personally do not beleive Obama is even an American Citizen, you can be whatever you want in Chicago if you are willing to pay the Man for it.
Our Congressmen and Senators have let this country down bt not insisting his status be defined at the onset. Hide some School records, have a non legal Social Security Number, Have a Certificate of live Birth, not a birth certificate, had lived in Indonersia and adopted by another man there, they are all indicators that something isn’t exactly on the up and up, to me anyway.
Just a year ago, I nominated Herman Cain at my employment as a “Influential Black American” for our Black History month recognition. Back then, he still had his presidential exploatory committee & was not a widely recognized name. I had been reading his columns on WND for a couple of years & was impressed with his credentials. I still stand behind my nomination of him. I noticed others picked the usual left-wing “leaders” (and I use that term loosely) of the black community & thought how sad that they don’t know their own history of some of the greatest (earlier)black patriots who broke ground. I, of couse, reference a fantastic book called “American History in Black & White” by David Barton. That was eye-opening to me! The election of Barack Hussein Obama was certainly an anomaly as originally I recall hearing that many of the “leaders” felt he wasn’t ‘black’ enough & stayed silent when he first announced his candidacy. Keep up the fantastic job you’re doing Mychal -I may nominate you this year to bring attention to the work you’re doing!!
Dennis – thanks for reminding everyone that Obama could also be considered a white man. Had his skin been white he would NEVER have been elected Senator let alone President! Racism in reverse?
Since returning to the south after many years on the west coast, I am shocked when I hear people talk and truly have difficulty understanding what they are saying … but it is not only black children but also white children who cannot speak proper english. How are these children supposed to get ahead? This is the fault of the parents … or perhaps the fault of the grandparents. I am afraid that in not too many generations, language skills will have degenerated to the point of no return.
Is it my imagination or has black on white violence increased since the Obamas took over? I am old enough to remember when white on black violence was at deplorable levels in the ’50s and early ’60s. Are young blacks, many of whom benefit from liberal remorse, using this time to pay back violence done to earlier generations?
I hate to admit this as a college instructor but you hit it on the head about the time when we were proud to know how to read and now we view reading as a crime.
Obama raised abandoned by his father, raised by a socialist white mother and socialist grandparents, adopted in Indonesia during his young school years by a muslim… has no black “experience” and little or no American experience. We are paying an expensive price for this anamoly too. Maybe he will be out before November.
Go Georgia!!!
Dennis McCutcheon