Tag Archives: Black Education

The River Valley High School Slave Auction: What Does Black Male Participation in the Event Really Mean?

I am sure that you have seen the disturbing footage of members of the River Valley High School’s football team “auctioning” off their Black teammates. Yuba City Unified School District Superintendent Doreen Osumi remarked that the taped “auction” was both “unacceptable” and “deeply offensive.” To their credit, Superintendent Osumi and others reacted swiftly and barred those involved in the incident from participating in the remainder of the football season.

In a communication with CNN, Osumi penned the following.

 

Re-enacting a slave sale as a prank tells us that we have a great deal of work to do with our students so they can distinguish between intent and impact.

They may have thought this skit was funny, but it is not; it is unacceptable and requires us to look honestly and deeply at issues of systemic racism.

When students find humor in something that is so deeply offensive, it tells me that we have an opportunity to help them expand their mindset to be more aware, thoughtful and considerate of others.

I definitely understand the Yuba City Unified School District’s expedient actions and applaud the suspension and plans to educate their student body regarding such matters. I pray that their looming programmatic efforts are (a) successful and (b) does not exclude Black students.

From the moment I heard about this incident — by no stretch is this the first time that I have heard rumor of such antics in American classrooms — my mind immediately went directly to the looming question of what Black student in their correct mind would participate, willingly or unwillingly, in a “slave auction?” I then realized why my thought pattern was erroneous because one learns little about race, racism, and racial bias due to one’s blackness. This reality is further problematized for Black youth when their socioeconomic status shields them from egregious occurrences of racism and microaggressions.

If you ever have the opportunity to speak with Blacks about racial matters, you will find that the vast majority of them either know little about contemporary race issues or are incapable of articulating feelings of injustice beyond quips such as “you know how white folk are.”

It is my hope that Black America is so disturbed by Black students participation in this activity that they move past fleeting reactionary anger that leads to ineffectual public protests and decide to act on behalf of Black students by investing in our children by any means necessary, including, but not limited to, (a) donating to existing independent Black schools and (b) learning about race in America with the intention of teaching others.

Our failure to develop a plan that paves the way for us to do something tangible on behalf of Black America will be a continuation of how we have done things since the abrupt end of the Black Power Era. As I have been known to say, stop worrying about what white folk are doing and get busy doing something on behalf of yourself and your children.

The future of Black America depends on it.

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2022

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Why Ol’ Tom Cotton’s Legislative Proposal (Saving American History Act of 2020) Should Have Everyone Who Loves Black Education Concerned

It is a rare day that some type of racial conflict does not land at my doorstep. Predictably, many of the alluded to racial discussions are with total strangers. Yet, they still leave an indelible imprint on my soul regarding the both the present and the future of this nation that James Baldwin loved more than any other country. The catalyst behind these contentious debates is invariably some strangers flawed understanding of U.S. history. Those who attack me are cloaked in a tattered patchwork quilt of biased historical “facts” that paint “whites” as anointed by God to rule this and all other lands. Such thinkers are “a dime a dozen.” Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark) represents this populace.   

Just in case you missed it, ol’ Tom Cotton has introduced a bill titled “Saving American History Act of 2020.” Few of my countrymen seem to understand that the path to flawed public policy is a fallacious historical narrative that uses the silencing of contradictory voices and perspectives as a reliable foundation. For many of my white countrymen it appears that the propagation of a “standard historical narrative” is akin to a holy crusade. This fanaticism is the driving force behind Senator Cotton’s attack on the New York Times Magazine 1619 Project, that has the audacity to view American history through the lens of slavery.

According to Tom Cotton, the 1619 Project amounts to little more than

…a racially divisive, revisionist account of history that denies the noble principles of freedom and equality on which our nation was founded.

Senator Cotton’s perspective is a fairly standard one for whites seeking to extend their control over ill-gotten politico-economic monopolies; a privilege that trickles down more reliably than Reaganomics.

I hope that you are not shocked that I do agree with Tom Cotton’s belief that how we as a nation reconstruct our past, matters mightily. Put simply; the history lessons American schoolchildren digest shape their understanding of this nation’s past, present, and future possibilities. Consider for a moment the potential destructive power that a whitewashed history curriculum has on the psyche of black and brown children. If black parents are not careful, their children will carry the shame of chattel slavery and integrate beliefs that black poverty is not caused by institutional racism, rather their ancestors’ laziness. According to psychologist Derrick Wilson, “far too frequently, the educational process is a traumatic one for black children.” Undoubtedly, if the referenced trauma, is left unchecked, the intellectual curiosity of black children will be dimmed.

The absence of riotous opposition to Senator Tom Cotton’s bill disturbs my soul for many reasons.

The alluded to silence means that far too many Americans agree with Senator Cotton’s perspective that the inclusion of contrary viewpoints amount to little more than “left-wing garbage” or progressive Americans do not understand its inherent dangers.

In many ways, Senator Cotton’s bill amounts to an outlandish counter-attack against “an activist movement (that) is now gaining momentum to deny or obfuscate this history by claiming that America was not founded on the ideals of the Declaration but rather on slavery and oppression.” Those who agree with such conjecture will find it difficult to accept the following historical facts. Thomas Jefferson’s reverberating words that “All men are created equal” is one of many signs of his undeniable hypocrisy and inconsistent relationship with the truth. Even Abraham Lincoln, the great emancipator, is recorded as responding with a stern response of “nothing” when asked what he planned to do about chattel slavery.

Unfortunately for Senator Tom Cotton, the silencing of contradictory voices will never erase America’s sordid racial past from the historical record. Those opposing the Tom Cotton’s of the world realize that time is on their side. In many ways, it is ironic that those seeking to turn back the hands of time to “Make America Great Again” are motivated by the realization that time is not on their side. In time, those who agree with Senator Tom Cotton will realize that time, just like truth, marches forward and there is no way of stopping its procession.

In this case, the passing of time and expiration of those who agree with Tom Cotton will be a good thing, a very good thing, for American schoolchildren of all races.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2020.

Unlocking the Genius of Black Males: Why Black America Must Act in a Decisive Way

Although I have not conducted a “scientific study” that elitist academicians would consider worthy of being published in some high-brow Academic Journal that approximately six people, and that is being generous, will ever read. I know through face-to-face interaction that many, not all, of the African-American males sitting in my classes, have purposely muted their intellectual gifts due to a desire to fit in with their peers. Unfortunately for my students, acceptance into that world hinges on a most-unfortunate construct of “blackness.”

The most obvious sign of this on-going process is that the public face of my students conflicts with the one that they show within what can be termed the safe confines of my office.

To my chagrin, it is common to hear critics place the voluminous centuries-long problems affecting Black America at the feet of Black men. The most familiar form that the alluded to criticism arrives is the charge that contemporary Black males do not understand what it means to be a Black man in America. This tired refrain is a clumsy assertion that avoids impactful matters such as discrimination, racial bigotry, and institutional racism. According to critics, it is the shortcomings of Black males, not structural problems that are the root cause of Black male misery.

From my post as an African-American Studies Professor, I have mentored hundreds, if not thousands, of African-American males. This frontline experience has taught me that the vast majority of my students carry an unnecessary burden that erodes essential portions of their being that will be needed to confront a hostile unsympathetic White world. Richard Majors characterized the referenced burden as “the cool”.

According to Majors, the most pernicious portions of “the cool” are found in its ability to cause Black males to secretly lock away their intellectual curiosity in a dark place where no one, including themselves, will ever find it. Despite what critics may choose to believe, anyone who has raised or interacted with Black boys can attest to the fact that they enter this world overflowing with curiosity. Evidence suggests that in time, these natural inclinations are muted by external factors. By the time Black males reach my classroom, they have done everything in their power to avoid being labeled a “nerd”; a descriptor that is diametrically opposed to Majors’ “cool”.

Now I do understand that much of what is shared with me flows from the fact that many Black males consider my office a “safe space” where they can expound on hidden interests and goals. The repetition of this situation convinces me that many of my Black male students’ are afraid to display their intellectual curiosities in public spaces. They are apparently paralyzed by a fear that a coalition of friends, strangers, and family members would persecute them for harboring such interests.

I view these young men as kinsmen as I also harbored intellectual curiosities that I am certain caused my “outsiders” status among my peers. Fortunately, I was oblivious to such matters as I was too busy pursuing my intellectual interests.

Somewhere along this path called life, I learned that it was crucial that I developed “knowledge of self”; meaning, an examination of what has occurred to me. Experience has taught me that the process of knowing thyself is an arduous one that forced me to closely examine success, failures, likes, dislikes, trials, and tribulations. This particularly difficult process led me to view my environs and those that populated them in a less than favorable light.

The pain associated with my examination of life pivoted along a dangerous rail that led me to an examination of from whence my feelings of inadequacy emanated. I know that I am not alone in such matters. If you are a Black man born and raised in a nation that enslaved your ancestors and maligned you merely due to your physical appearance, rest assured that something and I mean something significant, happened to you. Your failure to examine and address what occurred is akin to a death sentence.

I’ve learned that a breakthrough that allows you to escape from the hangman’s noose can occur at any moment. For many Black men, the stay of execution never arrives.

My stay of execution arrived while reading the writings of noted intellectual James Baldwin. It was Baldwin’s generosity to allow me to view his rocky relationship with his father that illuminated crucial portions of my relationship with my father, grandfather, uncles, cousins, and associates. In the referenced commentary, Baldwin penned the following.

I am not so much my father’s son as he was his father’s son.

I have yet to find a more poignant line that illuminates the unspoken uneasiness and angst that I developed regarding Black men.  

In time, I understood that many of my issues with the Black men surrounding me were due to the fact that we viewed the same world through vastly different lenses. I am a portion of the first non-Southern generation in my family. Therefore, my interests were formed by an urban setting, while my father and grandfather (the foremost influences on my understanding of manhood) hailed from an undeveloped, rural Stone Mountain, Georgia. I am certain that their love for fishing and hunting was partially born from necessity; I never developed the love. My compulsions flowed from likes, not needs forced on be due to survival purposes. I learned that for the sake of camaraderie the need to suppress my interests and engage in fishing.

I, like many of my students, learned that my likes and dislikes were a double-edged sword that simultaneously provided enjoyment and a distancing from those that I desperately desired approval from.

This situation was exacerbated by the fact that my peers’ favorite pastime of socializing was a true allergen for me. While others busied themselves socializing, I spent my time with a “who’s who” of Black intellectual thought.

Richard Wright became a friend.

Huey P. Newton a comrade. 

W.E.B. Du Bois an advisor.

Alice Walker taught me what a man ought to be and ought to do via Grange Copeland.

I relished the fact that books provided endless opportunities to avoid social settings. Yet, my experience was markedly different from my students.

Unlike many of the male students that I advise, I never felt “peer pressures” as I was too busy pursuing my intellectual interests to be bothered with such triviality. The ability to pursue my interests without restraint is one of the most reverberating gifts I received from my beloved mother. She created a safe space for me to pursue my intellectual endeavors at every moment. There is little room to argue against the notion that I was what others termed a “nerd” and even less room to question if such a characterization affect me at all.

I am not an overly optimistic person; however, I do recognize that many of the young black men I speak to regarding this matter are suppressing genius inside of them. In many ways, the suppression of genius that would undoubtedly benefit themselves, their family, their community, their Race, their nation, and the world is an unbelievably selfish act. I have found that so many of these young men need permission to unveil their true identity.

Black America could help the activation of this latent genius by seizing and reversing a daunting narrative that has denigrated Black people for centuries. The lies regarding Black inferiority and inefficiency have been repeated so often that even Blacks have joined others in denouncing their own. This psychosis reminds one of the infamous “Black and White baby doll test” performed by Kenneth and Mamie Clark that proved pivotal in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education (Topeka, Kansas) case.

The maligning of African-American males intellectual capacities and lack of intellectual curiosity has created a public discourse that suffocates their intellectual interests. Black America must busy itself altering this narrative. Such is the only purposeful path capable of positioning African-American males on a path to success.

It is time that an environment that encourages Black males to venture beyond typical expectations such as sports and music emerges with the force of a Hurricane. Although difficult for many to comprehend, the seizing of a tired narrative that disenfranchises Black males is the most reliable path for them to both discover their purpose while securing success against formidable odds. At least that is what two decades of teaching has taught me.

And, I am willing to bet that I am not wrong.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III