By Gary L Flowers
Executive Director & CEO
Black Leadership Forum, Inc.
I read with breathtaking bafflement an editorial by Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post (dated Sunday, September 20, 2009) entitled “Playing the Racial Deck.” In sum, Ms. Parker asserts that while Congressman Joe Wilson’s exclamation, “you lie” to President Obama was a “rude display”; the comment was not necessarily racist. With all due respect, is she serious?
In short, I agree with Reverend Al Sharpton when he said: “One cannot play the ‘race card’ if every card in the American deck is racial.”
A review of world history reminds us that civilization is barbarianism all grown up. From the earliest civilizations of humans on the Continent of Africa to more recent nations, all have respected differing opinions by codification of social mores and rules of decorum.
With centuries of civility behind us, the un-civility of Representative Joe Wilson is averse to the American way of amicability, and not a good look for our nation as the “civil police” of the planet. As a relative “baby” of the world family, the United States of America at 230-something years old has established, for the most part, civil codes of behavior. Of course, I am aware of the rape, pillage, and plunder of Native Americans, the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, the American Civil War, and the racial Apartheid system that followed are uncivilized behavior at its worst.
Yet, America has always at least sought honor—albeit by hypocrisy—through civil discourse. For example, the American transference of leadership without bloodshed is commendable. The discouragement of personal attacks in writing with the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution is a good thing. Thus, the American agreement to disagree with temperance is our nation’s contribution to world civilization. Not to do so is inherently un-American.
As a former field director, and activist for progressive public policy, I understand that policy protest is healthy for our democratic republic. However, there are rules. Congressman Wilson traveled way across the line.
That is why the argument of Mr. Wilson’s comments not being race-oriented falls short of believability. In her historical journalistic sojourn, Ms. Parker admits that the Congressman: 1) Is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans; 2) Referred to the revelation of Senator Strom Thurman’s African American daughter out of wedlock as a “smear” on the Senator’s legacy; and 3) his opposition to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the South Carolina State Capitol. She also admits South Carolina’s support of the racially disenfranchising policy known as the Southern Strategy that baited southern whites to vote against politicians who supported racially inclusive legislation.
To view such public positions as anything but racist is at least naïve. Perhaps, as a South Carolina resident, Ms. Parker cannot view such anti-Americanism with objectivity. By the way, it is illegal to fly the swastika flag is Germany. So too should be the case relative to the Confederate flag in America.
After all, the Confederate flag symbolized slavery, succession, sedition, and racial segregation. Notwithstanding her point that many southerners view the Confederate flag as a symbol of their ancestors’ valor, I, too, am from a former Confederate state, Virginia (the Capital of the Confederacy).
Truth is, the Confederate flag was not publicly displayed until after the Brown v. Board Supreme Court ruling in 1954. Why? The “symbols of vanquished nations” must be surrendered after losing a war. South Carolina and the south lost the war. After 1954, White southerners, sympathetic to the traitorous Confederacy, used the flag to represent their racial hatred and opposition to racial desegregation of public facilities.
There is a direct historical connection to Congressman Joe Wilson’s racially rude outburst and a sign I saw at one of the Tea Party gatherings. A woman held a sign reading, “We want our country back.” We? She was White, and definitely not Cherokee, Blackfoot, or Apache. The glaring historical reality is that some people in this nation have never—and may never—accept that the United States of America is the embodiment of the Latin phrase, I pluribus Unum (out of many, one).
Congressman Joe Wilson and his Confederate supporters should come across the American bridge and get over it!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Health Care: Private Profits vs. Policy Prophets
Health Care: Private Profits vs. Policy Prophets
By Gary L. Flowers
Executive Director & CEO
We the conscious people of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect union, must, by way of votes of our elected representatives in Congress embrace the need of health care recipients rather than the greed of the health care providers.
America must listen to policy prophets rather than be victimized by the profits of privateers. To do so is not new for Black America.
For Black Americans who are Christian they need look no further than the Biblical book of Jeremiah in which, according to scripture, the Prophet Jeremiah initially carried immense favor amongst the people until his vision for their well being led him to expose views that were not popular. Scripture holds that God’s blessing of the Prophet’s plan was greater than the evil of his adversaries due to the righteousness of his words (not unlike Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s speech, “Difference Does Not Denote Difference”). In order to move his people forward he chose to speak truth to power.
President Barack Obama must do as the Prophet Jeremiah did relative to his policy priority of insurance reform in health care—be audacious enough to challenge the status quo and throw a policy punch in the fat belly of the insurance industry that rakes in enormous profits by denying health care to needy Americans.
After all, change is spelled with the bended line of a C, Inadequate is spelled with a straight line of an I. In other words: if there is not a single payer/public option in the final health care legislation, the promise of meaningful change in the cost and delivery of health care will be reduced to rhetoric, and thereby inadequate to the ill.
Yet, throughout the continuum of public policy leadership within the Black community men and women have influenced legislation based on the needs of the people and not what was politically expedient.
For example, just after the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909, Dr. W.E.B. Dubois and Ida B. Wells joined forces to push for a federal policy outlawing the lynching of Black people. They won.
During the height of the Civil Rights Movement of African Americans Dr. Martin Luther King and Dr. Dorothy Height partnered to influence the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In the 1970’s and 1980’s Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr., and Dr, Marian Edelman teamed up to bring about legislation to increase educational and health opportunities for poor children of color, resulting in the PUSH for Excellence Program and the Children’s Health Insurance Policy (CHIP) in each state.
This week, President Barack Obama (with the assistance of Senior White House Advisor Valerie Jarrett) prophetically clarified the Administration’s plan reform the insurance industry by offering Americans the option of purchasing health insurance from the government (much like the Medicare Program or Veteran’s benefits). Makes sense to me. Without such a public option profits will soar while the people remain sore of no health care.
After watching the movie John Q starring Denzel Washington and Michael Moore’s documentary Sicko a few years ago I was baffled as to how the insurance industry could predicate their enormous profits on the by denying coverage to ordinary people, and do so in the wealthiest nation on earth. The equivalent would be to only offer fire protection to those who could afford fire insurance. Imagine that?
We as a nation must join the world community in providing—not denying—health care to all of our citizens.
And for those who shout down supporters of a single payer/public option, the Prophet Jeremiah symbolizes that one need not be guilty to be vilified.
Gary L. Flowers
Executive Director & CEO
Black Leadership Forum, Inc.
Washington, DC 20004
Office: 202.689.1965
Fax: 202.689.1954
Cell: 773.230.3554
By Gary L. Flowers
Executive Director & CEO
We the conscious people of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect union, must, by way of votes of our elected representatives in Congress embrace the need of health care recipients rather than the greed of the health care providers.
America must listen to policy prophets rather than be victimized by the profits of privateers. To do so is not new for Black America.
For Black Americans who are Christian they need look no further than the Biblical book of Jeremiah in which, according to scripture, the Prophet Jeremiah initially carried immense favor amongst the people until his vision for their well being led him to expose views that were not popular. Scripture holds that God’s blessing of the Prophet’s plan was greater than the evil of his adversaries due to the righteousness of his words (not unlike Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s speech, “Difference Does Not Denote Difference”). In order to move his people forward he chose to speak truth to power.
President Barack Obama must do as the Prophet Jeremiah did relative to his policy priority of insurance reform in health care—be audacious enough to challenge the status quo and throw a policy punch in the fat belly of the insurance industry that rakes in enormous profits by denying health care to needy Americans.
After all, change is spelled with the bended line of a C, Inadequate is spelled with a straight line of an I. In other words: if there is not a single payer/public option in the final health care legislation, the promise of meaningful change in the cost and delivery of health care will be reduced to rhetoric, and thereby inadequate to the ill.
Yet, throughout the continuum of public policy leadership within the Black community men and women have influenced legislation based on the needs of the people and not what was politically expedient.
For example, just after the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909, Dr. W.E.B. Dubois and Ida B. Wells joined forces to push for a federal policy outlawing the lynching of Black people. They won.
During the height of the Civil Rights Movement of African Americans Dr. Martin Luther King and Dr. Dorothy Height partnered to influence the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In the 1970’s and 1980’s Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr., and Dr, Marian Edelman teamed up to bring about legislation to increase educational and health opportunities for poor children of color, resulting in the PUSH for Excellence Program and the Children’s Health Insurance Policy (CHIP) in each state.
This week, President Barack Obama (with the assistance of Senior White House Advisor Valerie Jarrett) prophetically clarified the Administration’s plan reform the insurance industry by offering Americans the option of purchasing health insurance from the government (much like the Medicare Program or Veteran’s benefits). Makes sense to me. Without such a public option profits will soar while the people remain sore of no health care.
After watching the movie John Q starring Denzel Washington and Michael Moore’s documentary Sicko a few years ago I was baffled as to how the insurance industry could predicate their enormous profits on the by denying coverage to ordinary people, and do so in the wealthiest nation on earth. The equivalent would be to only offer fire protection to those who could afford fire insurance. Imagine that?
We as a nation must join the world community in providing—not denying—health care to all of our citizens.
And for those who shout down supporters of a single payer/public option, the Prophet Jeremiah symbolizes that one need not be guilty to be vilified.
Gary L. Flowers
Executive Director & CEO
Black Leadership Forum, Inc.
Washington, DC 20004
Office: 202.689.1965
Fax: 202.689.1954
Cell: 773.230.3554
Monday, August 31, 2009
Back to School; Black to Basics
By Gary L. Flowers
Executive Director & CEO
Black Leadership Forum, Inc.
August 23-30, 2009
This week, many students returned to school for another academic year. They did so after two and a half months of summer vacation. Vacation? People who are employed take vacations from work (but that is another column for another week). Students study. Let’s stay right there, According to most educational indices African American students—especially Black males—underperform their classroom counterparts. Thus, as Black students return to technology-filled schools, educational stakeholders (parents and school administrators) should go Black to basics.
Prior to directing the Black Leadership Forum, Inc., I served as a vice president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in Chicago, IL. Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr., under the PUSH for Excellence (PUSHExcel) Program, developed a 7-point educational plan that speaks to a central element of the educational equation—parental involvement.
The idea was to ask parents to:
1. Take their children to school;
2. Meet their children’s teachers;
3. Exchange home numbers with their children’s teachers;
4. Pick up report cards at the end of grading period;
5. Turn of televisions 2 hours per night;
6. Read to their children at least 1 hour per night; and
7. Take their children to a place of worship once a week
While not to sound sanctimonious and exclaim, “when I was a grade-school student my parents did all seven without encouragement”, my parents did so. Notwithstanding other societal factors facing today’s parents (economy, technology and others) adult involvement outside of school is critical to a student’s learning curve.
Take you child to school – Children remember more of where a parent takes them than what a parent purchases for them.
Meet your child’s teacher – Children’s academic performance tends to dramatically improve when parents meet their teachers
Exchange personal contact information with your child’s teacher – As cell parents share phone and email information and teachers information may be shared without the necessity of physical presence of parents outside of report card pick-up
Pick up report cards each grading period – The presence of parents in retrieving their child’s report card reflects their concern for academic accountability
Limit television viewing by your child – Television in most instances slows scholastic skill set development
Read to your child one hour per night – Reading is still fundamental. A child who reads well tends to excel in most subjects.
Take your child to a place of worship – Many behavioral problems student exemplify suggest the child is never in an environment that requires discipline. Places of worship demand discipline. Discipline and diligence determines a path to a degree.
Some parents react to such plans by rerouting responsibility to school administrators and external factors. No. The lenses through with a child views the world are focused by family. Yes, many poorer children have family members who lack educational skills, but that is no excuse for finding people or institutions that are equipped to assist.
Within the Black Leadership Forum, for example, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, National Council of Negro Women, 100 Black Men of America, and National Pan Hellenic Association (Black fraternities and sororities) have excellent programs designed to assist all students, regardless of socio-educational make-up of a particular family.
As for public policy, this nation cannot codify concern by parents. However, we can pass a Constitutional Amendment for an individual right to an equal and high quality education for ALL students (Black, White, Red, Yellow, and Brown), raise teacher pay, reduce classroom sizes, and equalize equipment in all public schools. Passage of such legislation would improve the educational climate, but parents alone must be equal partners.
By Gary L. Flowers
Executive Director & CEO
Black Leadership Forum, Inc.
August 23-30, 2009
This week, many students returned to school for another academic year. They did so after two and a half months of summer vacation. Vacation? People who are employed take vacations from work (but that is another column for another week). Students study. Let’s stay right there, According to most educational indices African American students—especially Black males—underperform their classroom counterparts. Thus, as Black students return to technology-filled schools, educational stakeholders (parents and school administrators) should go Black to basics.
Prior to directing the Black Leadership Forum, Inc., I served as a vice president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in Chicago, IL. Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr., under the PUSH for Excellence (PUSHExcel) Program, developed a 7-point educational plan that speaks to a central element of the educational equation—parental involvement.
The idea was to ask parents to:
1. Take their children to school;
2. Meet their children’s teachers;
3. Exchange home numbers with their children’s teachers;
4. Pick up report cards at the end of grading period;
5. Turn of televisions 2 hours per night;
6. Read to their children at least 1 hour per night; and
7. Take their children to a place of worship once a week
While not to sound sanctimonious and exclaim, “when I was a grade-school student my parents did all seven without encouragement”, my parents did so. Notwithstanding other societal factors facing today’s parents (economy, technology and others) adult involvement outside of school is critical to a student’s learning curve.
Take you child to school – Children remember more of where a parent takes them than what a parent purchases for them.
Meet your child’s teacher – Children’s academic performance tends to dramatically improve when parents meet their teachers
Exchange personal contact information with your child’s teacher – As cell parents share phone and email information and teachers information may be shared without the necessity of physical presence of parents outside of report card pick-up
Pick up report cards each grading period – The presence of parents in retrieving their child’s report card reflects their concern for academic accountability
Limit television viewing by your child – Television in most instances slows scholastic skill set development
Read to your child one hour per night – Reading is still fundamental. A child who reads well tends to excel in most subjects.
Take your child to a place of worship – Many behavioral problems student exemplify suggest the child is never in an environment that requires discipline. Places of worship demand discipline. Discipline and diligence determines a path to a degree.
Some parents react to such plans by rerouting responsibility to school administrators and external factors. No. The lenses through with a child views the world are focused by family. Yes, many poorer children have family members who lack educational skills, but that is no excuse for finding people or institutions that are equipped to assist.
Within the Black Leadership Forum, for example, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, National Council of Negro Women, 100 Black Men of America, and National Pan Hellenic Association (Black fraternities and sororities) have excellent programs designed to assist all students, regardless of socio-educational make-up of a particular family.
As for public policy, this nation cannot codify concern by parents. However, we can pass a Constitutional Amendment for an individual right to an equal and high quality education for ALL students (Black, White, Red, Yellow, and Brown), raise teacher pay, reduce classroom sizes, and equalize equipment in all public schools. Passage of such legislation would improve the educational climate, but parents alone must be equal partners.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Awareness of African Ancestry
By Gary L. Flowers
Executive Director & CEO
Black Leadership Forum, Inc.
August 9-16, 2009
Many African Americans beginning with this writer have wondered exactly where in Africa our roots can be traced. I had a heritage honor last week to present to my mother’s side of our family DNA results of our origin on the Motherland. Words cannot express my feelings in learning the most probable basis of our family’s lineage.
In 1976, as a thirteen year-old I watched with fascination Alex Haley’s Roots. I remember entire families—of all ethnicities—collectively musing about their family origins. For African Americans, Roots began, in earnest, a nationwide discussion of exactly where on the Continent of Africa we originated. My paternal uncle used “property” records, church records, and Census data to proceed on the avenue of ancestry. However, Roots symbolized the on ramp the genetic highway of heritage.
I began my DNA journey by researching companies offering DNA testing. I found that most of the DNA companies began to test in 2003. I remember viewing television shows on which celebrities were tested and their results aired publicly. Among the several options of DNA companies I selected one that focuses on mitochondrial DNA (tracing DNA of the mother’s side of the family). My rationale was that since European men raped an untold number of African women during the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade the most reliable predictor for African origin would be found in the DNA of African American women.
As a good researcher I also probed in to doubts of companies’ methodology. For example, mitochondrial DNA is widely thought to be reliable for identifying a region of origin and not necessarily a specific people (tribe). However, most scholars find that DNA research combined with genealogical tools such as historical records, archeology, and folklore provides families with the best chance of identifying their ethnic origin.
As the second part of our ancestor recognition at my maternal family reunion in Richmond, Virginia, my cousin and i unsealed the results: our matrilineal (mother’s side) roots are most probably connected to the Balanta people of the nation of Guinea-Bissau, and to the Mende people of the country Sierra Leone. Our patrilineal (father’s side) people of origin are most likely the Bamileke people of Cameroon. A sacred silence permeated the family gathering upon learning one more piece to the puzzle of our people’s past.
Relatives were provided research material that pulled demographic information form African countries genetically connected to our family. However, one of my cousins wanted to know: How are the genetic results read? Not being a scientist I explained that DNA is read in sequences. Because most humans have similar sequences (i.e. TGTACG an TCTACA) the DNA symbol that is different is considered a mutation. DNA mutation place in the sequence is then matched with a mutation in the same place of the DNA sequence found in African countries, and among specific regions and ethnic groups. Whew, that is as simple as I can make it!
Therefore, I recommend that ALL African American families purchase a test from some DNA company and dig deeper into their roots in African countries. As my cousin stated, “I was always wanted to know how to answer the ‘ancestor’ question without merely saying my people were ‘from Africa’. Now I can not only answer with a Continent but a country and a community.”
Awareness of African Ancestry is awesome!
By Gary L. Flowers
Executive Director & CEO
Black Leadership Forum, Inc.
August 9-16, 2009
Many African Americans beginning with this writer have wondered exactly where in Africa our roots can be traced. I had a heritage honor last week to present to my mother’s side of our family DNA results of our origin on the Motherland. Words cannot express my feelings in learning the most probable basis of our family’s lineage.
In 1976, as a thirteen year-old I watched with fascination Alex Haley’s Roots. I remember entire families—of all ethnicities—collectively musing about their family origins. For African Americans, Roots began, in earnest, a nationwide discussion of exactly where on the Continent of Africa we originated. My paternal uncle used “property” records, church records, and Census data to proceed on the avenue of ancestry. However, Roots symbolized the on ramp the genetic highway of heritage.
I began my DNA journey by researching companies offering DNA testing. I found that most of the DNA companies began to test in 2003. I remember viewing television shows on which celebrities were tested and their results aired publicly. Among the several options of DNA companies I selected one that focuses on mitochondrial DNA (tracing DNA of the mother’s side of the family). My rationale was that since European men raped an untold number of African women during the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade the most reliable predictor for African origin would be found in the DNA of African American women.
As a good researcher I also probed in to doubts of companies’ methodology. For example, mitochondrial DNA is widely thought to be reliable for identifying a region of origin and not necessarily a specific people (tribe). However, most scholars find that DNA research combined with genealogical tools such as historical records, archeology, and folklore provides families with the best chance of identifying their ethnic origin.
As the second part of our ancestor recognition at my maternal family reunion in Richmond, Virginia, my cousin and i unsealed the results: our matrilineal (mother’s side) roots are most probably connected to the Balanta people of the nation of Guinea-Bissau, and to the Mende people of the country Sierra Leone. Our patrilineal (father’s side) people of origin are most likely the Bamileke people of Cameroon. A sacred silence permeated the family gathering upon learning one more piece to the puzzle of our people’s past.
Relatives were provided research material that pulled demographic information form African countries genetically connected to our family. However, one of my cousins wanted to know: How are the genetic results read? Not being a scientist I explained that DNA is read in sequences. Because most humans have similar sequences (i.e. TGTACG an TCTACA) the DNA symbol that is different is considered a mutation. DNA mutation place in the sequence is then matched with a mutation in the same place of the DNA sequence found in African countries, and among specific regions and ethnic groups. Whew, that is as simple as I can make it!
Therefore, I recommend that ALL African American families purchase a test from some DNA company and dig deeper into their roots in African countries. As my cousin stated, “I was always wanted to know how to answer the ‘ancestor’ question without merely saying my people were ‘from Africa’. Now I can not only answer with a Continent but a country and a community.”
Awareness of African Ancestry is awesome!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Profiling of a Professor’s Pigment
By Gary Flowers
Executive Director and CEO
Black Leadership Forum, Inc
July 26 – August 1, 2009
Professor Henry Louis Gates has arguably learned and taught his most profound lesson of his academically acclaimed career in handcuffs.
Dr. Gates’ arrest last week by the Cambridge, MA Police Department has generated a renewed national discussion relative to the issue f racial profiling of people of color. Although Dr. Gates and the officer Crowley, the arresting officer, have conflicting accounts of what was said by whom, the essential facts are not in dispute.
Officer Crowley responded to a call from one of Dr. Gates’ neighbors who reported a possible break-in occurring by two Black men at Dr. Gates’ home. Upon arrival of the officers, Dr. Gates was in his home and produced his driver’s license bearing his home address and a Harvard University faculty identification card. Dr. Gates asked for officer Crowley’s name and badge number and was told to step out of the house to receive the information. Upon stepping on to the porch Dr. Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct.
Under Massachusetts law, an individual cannot be charged with disorderly conduct inside of his home (thus officer Crowley conditioned the provision of his name and badge number on Dr. Gates’ exiting his house only to arrest him). Therein lies the central issue: officer Crowley acted improperly (I agree with “stupidly” as President Obama opined) by luring Dr. Gates into custody on an unrelated charge to the original call to police of a possible break-in of Dr. Gates’ home.
Once Dr. Gates produced his identification the officer should have left the home (or at least asked nicely to search the home for any burglars). Instead officer Crowley racial profiled the professor’s pigment and made yet another unnecessary arrest of a Black man.
Racial profiling of Black and Brown people in the United States has been-and is-a daily occurrence by police and private citizens. During the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Africans were racially profiled and subjected to the most atrocious dehumanization in world history. Following the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution outlawing slavery, southern corporations seeking cheap labor racially profiled African Americans into virtual enslavement in the form of sharecropping and actual neo-slavery. Corporations such as U.S. Steel, 1st National Bank (Sun Trust), Alabama Coal Company, and Southern Brick Company worked with southern sheriffs to enforce “vagrancy” laws on Black men alone on street and roads in the South. Black men would be bonded to White executives and worked for free until the “bond” was paid (determined arbitrarily by the sheriff). Such practices are exposed in the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Slavery by Another Name (Blackmon).
According to the National Black Police Association (member of the Black Leadership Forum), Black men have a far greater chance of being racially profiled and arrested than any other ethnic demographic.
According to Amnesty International, approximately 32 million people (near the population of Canada) are victims of racial profiling, and excessive force by police officers, which actually undermines law enforcement efforts. Moreover, racial profiling is a human rights violation of the Standards Against Non-Discrimination in treaties signed by the United States. Among them are the UN Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the International Convention of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
In the case of Dr. Gates, and although the preponderance of blame should be shouldered by the officer Crowley, he is not the lone culprit. Dr. Gates exacerbated the situation by exclaiming, “Do you know who I am?” Was he serious?
Such a statement implies that, if officer Crowley “knew” of his cerebral celebrity, he should have treated him with more respect. No! If professor Gates is a true advocate for the victories of racial oppression then it should not matter “who [he] is.” All citizens of the United States of America-regardless of race or resources- should not be subject to racial profiling. No one!
The biggest lesson learned by Dr. Gates may well be that he was misinterpreted Dr. W.E.B. Dubois’ view of a “talented tenth” within the Black America. Dr. Dubois suggested that the Black intelligence should lead the masses in fighting oppression, not that the Black elite should expect a “pigment pass” due to their academic acumen.
But, in the final analysis, how far down the “post racial” road is American society when today there are racially charged placards planted in front of Dr. Gates’ home. Hmm….
By Gary Flowers
Executive Director and CEO
Black Leadership Forum, Inc
July 26 – August 1, 2009
Professor Henry Louis Gates has arguably learned and taught his most profound lesson of his academically acclaimed career in handcuffs.
Dr. Gates’ arrest last week by the Cambridge, MA Police Department has generated a renewed national discussion relative to the issue f racial profiling of people of color. Although Dr. Gates and the officer Crowley, the arresting officer, have conflicting accounts of what was said by whom, the essential facts are not in dispute.
Officer Crowley responded to a call from one of Dr. Gates’ neighbors who reported a possible break-in occurring by two Black men at Dr. Gates’ home. Upon arrival of the officers, Dr. Gates was in his home and produced his driver’s license bearing his home address and a Harvard University faculty identification card. Dr. Gates asked for officer Crowley’s name and badge number and was told to step out of the house to receive the information. Upon stepping on to the porch Dr. Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct.
Under Massachusetts law, an individual cannot be charged with disorderly conduct inside of his home (thus officer Crowley conditioned the provision of his name and badge number on Dr. Gates’ exiting his house only to arrest him). Therein lies the central issue: officer Crowley acted improperly (I agree with “stupidly” as President Obama opined) by luring Dr. Gates into custody on an unrelated charge to the original call to police of a possible break-in of Dr. Gates’ home.
Once Dr. Gates produced his identification the officer should have left the home (or at least asked nicely to search the home for any burglars). Instead officer Crowley racial profiled the professor’s pigment and made yet another unnecessary arrest of a Black man.
Racial profiling of Black and Brown people in the United States has been-and is-a daily occurrence by police and private citizens. During the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Africans were racially profiled and subjected to the most atrocious dehumanization in world history. Following the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution outlawing slavery, southern corporations seeking cheap labor racially profiled African Americans into virtual enslavement in the form of sharecropping and actual neo-slavery. Corporations such as U.S. Steel, 1st National Bank (Sun Trust), Alabama Coal Company, and Southern Brick Company worked with southern sheriffs to enforce “vagrancy” laws on Black men alone on street and roads in the South. Black men would be bonded to White executives and worked for free until the “bond” was paid (determined arbitrarily by the sheriff). Such practices are exposed in the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Slavery by Another Name (Blackmon).
According to the National Black Police Association (member of the Black Leadership Forum), Black men have a far greater chance of being racially profiled and arrested than any other ethnic demographic.
According to Amnesty International, approximately 32 million people (near the population of Canada) are victims of racial profiling, and excessive force by police officers, which actually undermines law enforcement efforts. Moreover, racial profiling is a human rights violation of the Standards Against Non-Discrimination in treaties signed by the United States. Among them are the UN Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the International Convention of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
In the case of Dr. Gates, and although the preponderance of blame should be shouldered by the officer Crowley, he is not the lone culprit. Dr. Gates exacerbated the situation by exclaiming, “Do you know who I am?” Was he serious?
Such a statement implies that, if officer Crowley “knew” of his cerebral celebrity, he should have treated him with more respect. No! If professor Gates is a true advocate for the victories of racial oppression then it should not matter “who [he] is.” All citizens of the United States of America-regardless of race or resources- should not be subject to racial profiling. No one!
The biggest lesson learned by Dr. Gates may well be that he was misinterpreted Dr. W.E.B. Dubois’ view of a “talented tenth” within the Black America. Dr. Dubois suggested that the Black intelligence should lead the masses in fighting oppression, not that the Black elite should expect a “pigment pass” due to their academic acumen.
But, in the final analysis, how far down the “post racial” road is American society when today there are racially charged placards planted in front of Dr. Gates’ home. Hmm….
Monday, July 13, 2009
Africa: Over Exploited, Not Underdeveloped
By Gary L. Flowers
Executive Director & CEO
Black Leadership Forum, Inc.
July 12 – 19, 2009
This week, the worldwide media reported that President Barack Obama visited “Africa” for the first time. Wrong. Egypt was, is, and all ways will be in Africa. Correctly stated, President Obama is the first African American president of the United States of America to visit the first post-colonial independent nation on the African continent—Ghana. The lasting message from President Obama’s visit: Over exploitation of the Continent by neo-colonial countries must be met with the willingness to once again develop democratic institutions in African nations.
Today, many African nations are often portrayed as “under developed.” The opposite is true. In most cases, countries with inferior infrastructure, commerce, and production capability are the victims of “over exploitation.”
As the world community learned of southern Arica’s epidemic rise is HIV AIDS nearly 10 years ago I remember learning from pharmaceutical companies of the infrastructure barriers in delivering medical supplies due to the lack of adequate roads and bridges. As a result, jumbo-jet loads of medicines sat on tarmacs, unable to be delivered to most needy of people.
Likewise, I remember learning from rice farmers in Ghana of the inability to sell their crops because the price of imported Chinese rice was cheaper. By undermining the rice market in Ghana, farmer’s production capability was stunted, negatively impacting the Ghanaian economy.
Global technology advances are in large measure moved by minerals found in African soil. For example, columbite-tantalite (or tantalum) found in the African Congo is a key component of I Pods, cell phones, computer circuit boards, and television VCR’s. Forces in African nations that advocate for African companies, rather than American or European ones, controlling mining operations are often labeled as “rebels.”
Africa remains the Cradle of Civilization. As such, rather than exploitation, the global community should court African countries with respect as elder members of the world family. For example, if ancient African nations such as Mali (Nigeria), Nubia (Sudan), and Kemet (Egypt) once were world leaders in commerce, math, and science, why are their descendants excluded from economic meetings of global leaders (i.e. G-9 and G-20)?
In part, I agree with President Obama’s assertion that “Africa’s future is up to Africans”, and that former colonizing nations are not responsible for all of Africa’s woes, but much of what plagues the Mother Continent now is too much debt and not enough development. The result of which is a virtual “sharecropping” arrangement between African nations and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, wherein Black nations in Africa cannot develop due to derived debt, not of their own making, entirely.
President Obama should be careful not to “blame the victim” by suggesting African nations’ biggest problem is corruption. As an allegory to Reverend Al Sharpton’s message to Michael Jackson’s children, African countries are not corrupt as much as the corruption in the powerful nations that control them. Sons and daughters of Africa must be aware of such.
If African nations were to produce and market natural minerals to the world (as it once did) their economic viability would be strengthened. Over exploitation of Africa must be addressed by the United States Government. Not to due so is to turn away from justice
By Gary L. Flowers
Executive Director & CEO
Black Leadership Forum, Inc.
July 12 – 19, 2009
This week, the worldwide media reported that President Barack Obama visited “Africa” for the first time. Wrong. Egypt was, is, and all ways will be in Africa. Correctly stated, President Obama is the first African American president of the United States of America to visit the first post-colonial independent nation on the African continent—Ghana. The lasting message from President Obama’s visit: Over exploitation of the Continent by neo-colonial countries must be met with the willingness to once again develop democratic institutions in African nations.
Today, many African nations are often portrayed as “under developed.” The opposite is true. In most cases, countries with inferior infrastructure, commerce, and production capability are the victims of “over exploitation.”
As the world community learned of southern Arica’s epidemic rise is HIV AIDS nearly 10 years ago I remember learning from pharmaceutical companies of the infrastructure barriers in delivering medical supplies due to the lack of adequate roads and bridges. As a result, jumbo-jet loads of medicines sat on tarmacs, unable to be delivered to most needy of people.
Likewise, I remember learning from rice farmers in Ghana of the inability to sell their crops because the price of imported Chinese rice was cheaper. By undermining the rice market in Ghana, farmer’s production capability was stunted, negatively impacting the Ghanaian economy.
Global technology advances are in large measure moved by minerals found in African soil. For example, columbite-tantalite (or tantalum) found in the African Congo is a key component of I Pods, cell phones, computer circuit boards, and television VCR’s. Forces in African nations that advocate for African companies, rather than American or European ones, controlling mining operations are often labeled as “rebels.”
Africa remains the Cradle of Civilization. As such, rather than exploitation, the global community should court African countries with respect as elder members of the world family. For example, if ancient African nations such as Mali (Nigeria), Nubia (Sudan), and Kemet (Egypt) once were world leaders in commerce, math, and science, why are their descendants excluded from economic meetings of global leaders (i.e. G-9 and G-20)?
In part, I agree with President Obama’s assertion that “Africa’s future is up to Africans”, and that former colonizing nations are not responsible for all of Africa’s woes, but much of what plagues the Mother Continent now is too much debt and not enough development. The result of which is a virtual “sharecropping” arrangement between African nations and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, wherein Black nations in Africa cannot develop due to derived debt, not of their own making, entirely.
President Obama should be careful not to “blame the victim” by suggesting African nations’ biggest problem is corruption. As an allegory to Reverend Al Sharpton’s message to Michael Jackson’s children, African countries are not corrupt as much as the corruption in the powerful nations that control them. Sons and daughters of Africa must be aware of such.
If African nations were to produce and market natural minerals to the world (as it once did) their economic viability would be strengthened. Over exploitation of Africa must be addressed by the United States Government. Not to due so is to turn away from justice
Africa: Over Exploited, Not Underdeveloped
By Gary L. Flowers
Executive Director & CEO
Black Leadership Forum, Inc.
This week, the worldwide media reported that President Barack Obama visited “Africa” for the first time. Wrong. Egypt was, is, and all ways will be in Africa. Correctly stated, President Obama is the first African American president of the United States of America to visit the first post-colonial independent nation on the African continent—Ghana. The lasting message from President Obama’s visit: Over exploitation of the Continent by neo-colonial countries must be met with the willingness to once again develop democratic institutions in African nations.
Today, many African nations are often portrayed as “under developed.” The opposite is true. In most cases, countries with inferior infrastructure, commerce, and production capability are the victims of “over exploitation.”
As the world community learned of southern Arica’s epidemic rise is HIV AIDS nearly 10 years ago I remember learning from pharmaceutical companies of the infrastructure barriers in delivering medical supplies due to the lack of adequate roads and bridges. As a result, jumbo-jet loads of medicines sat on tarmacs, unable to be delivered to most needy of people.
Likewise, I remember learning from rice farmers in Ghana of the inability to sell their crops because the price of imported Chinese rice was cheaper. By undermining the rice market in Ghana, farmer’s production capability was stunted, negatively impacting the Ghanaian economy.
Global technology advances are in large measure moved by minerals found in African soil. For example, columbite-tantalite (or tantalum) found in the African Congo is a key component of I Pods, cell phones, computer circuit boards, and television VCR’s. Forces in African nations that advocate for African companies, rather than American or European ones, controlling mining operations are often labeled as “rebels.”
Africa remains the Cradle of Civilization. As such, rather than exploitation, the global community should court African countries with respect as elder members of the world family. For example, if ancient African nations such as Mali (Nigeria), Nubia (Sudan), and Kemet (Egypt) once were world leaders in commerce, math, and science, why are their descendants excluded from economic meetings of global leaders (i.e. G-9 and G-20)?
In part, I agree with President Obama’s assertion that “Africa’s future is up to Africans”, and that former colonizing nations are not responsible for all of Africa’s woes, but much of what plagues the Mother Continent now is too much debt and not enough development. The result of which is a virtual “sharecropping” arrangement between African nations and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, wherein Black nations in Africa cannot develop due to derived debt, not of their own making, entirely.
President Obama should be careful not to “blame the victim” by suggesting African nations’ biggest problem is corruption. As an allegory to Reverend Al Sharpton’s message to Michael Jackson’s children, African countries are not corrupt as much as the corruption in the powerful nations that control them. Sons and daughters of Africa must be aware of such.
If African nations were to produce and market natural minerals to the world (as it once did) their economic viability would be strengthened. Over exploitation of Africa must be addressed by the United States Government. Not to due so is to turn away from justice
By Gary L. Flowers
Executive Director & CEO
Black Leadership Forum, Inc.
This week, the worldwide media reported that President Barack Obama visited “Africa” for the first time. Wrong. Egypt was, is, and all ways will be in Africa. Correctly stated, President Obama is the first African American president of the United States of America to visit the first post-colonial independent nation on the African continent—Ghana. The lasting message from President Obama’s visit: Over exploitation of the Continent by neo-colonial countries must be met with the willingness to once again develop democratic institutions in African nations.
Today, many African nations are often portrayed as “under developed.” The opposite is true. In most cases, countries with inferior infrastructure, commerce, and production capability are the victims of “over exploitation.”
As the world community learned of southern Arica’s epidemic rise is HIV AIDS nearly 10 years ago I remember learning from pharmaceutical companies of the infrastructure barriers in delivering medical supplies due to the lack of adequate roads and bridges. As a result, jumbo-jet loads of medicines sat on tarmacs, unable to be delivered to most needy of people.
Likewise, I remember learning from rice farmers in Ghana of the inability to sell their crops because the price of imported Chinese rice was cheaper. By undermining the rice market in Ghana, farmer’s production capability was stunted, negatively impacting the Ghanaian economy.
Global technology advances are in large measure moved by minerals found in African soil. For example, columbite-tantalite (or tantalum) found in the African Congo is a key component of I Pods, cell phones, computer circuit boards, and television VCR’s. Forces in African nations that advocate for African companies, rather than American or European ones, controlling mining operations are often labeled as “rebels.”
Africa remains the Cradle of Civilization. As such, rather than exploitation, the global community should court African countries with respect as elder members of the world family. For example, if ancient African nations such as Mali (Nigeria), Nubia (Sudan), and Kemet (Egypt) once were world leaders in commerce, math, and science, why are their descendants excluded from economic meetings of global leaders (i.e. G-9 and G-20)?
In part, I agree with President Obama’s assertion that “Africa’s future is up to Africans”, and that former colonizing nations are not responsible for all of Africa’s woes, but much of what plagues the Mother Continent now is too much debt and not enough development. The result of which is a virtual “sharecropping” arrangement between African nations and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, wherein Black nations in Africa cannot develop due to derived debt, not of their own making, entirely.
President Obama should be careful not to “blame the victim” by suggesting African nations’ biggest problem is corruption. As an allegory to Reverend Al Sharpton’s message to Michael Jackson’s children, African countries are not corrupt as much as the corruption in the powerful nations that control them. Sons and daughters of Africa must be aware of such.
If African nations were to produce and market natural minerals to the world (as it once did) their economic viability would be strengthened. Over exploitation of Africa must be addressed by the United States Government. Not to due so is to turn away from justice
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