EDITORIAL
ducation v . real education
.. Whites, it mu t frankly b aid, are not putting in a ma
effort to re-edu ate th In lve out of their ra ial i nor ance.
It i an aspect of th ir n of uperiority that the white
people of America b lieve they have 0 little to learn .....
- Dr. Martin Luth r King, Jr. (1 (7)
t th core of the education "reform" ugge t d la t week
by Pre ide nt George Bu h i the idea that education i to
pr par orkers for w rk. Bu h' appeal to corporations to
c me in and work with the chool 'highlight hi belief that
h I are ervant r the bu ine world - another cog in
reat \ h el of ornmerce and capitali m.
The In lucnce of bu me in the chool ha: in rca ed in
prop rtion to the ri e of JO Ie nes. More and more from
encral conver ation to pre idential policy iate ments,
hooling i' linked to job. Go to chool nd get a good job.
When did you la t hear anyone exorting youth to go to chool
to learn to think critically. to, analyze and challenge. to
appreciate the rich diver ity of people and their culture.
The en e of uperiority Dr. King refer to, though more
u tie now than 25 year ago when he wr te th e word , is
a tuall y tronger nd more perva ive.
Hollyw od ha adapted beautifully to perpetuating the
r a c i m and en e of superiority Dr. King mentioned.
Filmmaker may have abandoned the Aunt Jemima's in
m vie, but Black remain historically impotent. From Mis-
i ippi Burning. to Glory, to the recent relea e wi th Whoopi
Goldber and Si y Spacek. the idea drummed into viewers'
head i that whites suffered and acrificcd to allow Blacks
to do what they had to do. The three movie perpetuate the
idea that peoples of color are incidental to hi tory; Object of
inre re t, not the maker of hi tory.
The di tortion is ca trating: in Glory. the Blacks could be
heroes only becau e of the sacrifice of the I inle whi te officer;
In Burni ng, thanks to the FBI, there i a civi I right move­
ment; And Whoopi needed Sissy's altruism for there to be a
tory. .
It i the arne en e of superiority that prompt people to
say Columbu "discovered" America; the folk in the covered
wagon were "pioneers" rather than I and- teal i ng colon] t ;
or, Lincoln "freed" the slaves.
We urge the communi y to back chool reform efforts that
put Afro-centri m, multi-cultural education at the forefront.
Until all the tudent learn the truth, we arc doomed to the
kind of ociety we find 2 years after Dr. King: growing
racial divi ion; increa ed military control; 10' of per onal
freedom; and a foreign policy that dump mi 'cry and death
on people of color from Grenada to Panama, to iraq.
Dr. King talked about the Black revoluti n. The push for
multi-cultural education is part of that revolution. He said:
"America is deeply racist and its democracy is flawed both
economically and socially. The Black revolution is much
m re than a truggle for the rights of Negroe . It is forcing
Ameri a to face all its inte rraelated (law -raci m, poverty.
militari m, and materialism. It i expo ing evil that are
rooted deeply in the whole tructure of ociety. It reveals
sy temic rather than uperficial flaw, and ugge t that radi­
cal recon tructio n of ociety it elf i the real is ue to be
faced. "
What better argument to corui nue the. truggle Ior real
euu anon reform, multl-cultural education Ior all.
THE MICHIGAN' CITIZEN
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Correspondents:
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{
I'
om Pr 1-
with the
en th t the
u or le ve us. Ther
i the view that Black h ve
nowhere to go given the con er­
vative and often reactionary po -
tur of the Republ ican Party.
Hen e Black are now locked in,
dep nd nt and trapped on the
Demo ratic plantation.
The fa t r the matter is that
neither t he Democratic or
Republi an Party is committed
South Africa: IIOld
World Order"
by Benjamin . Chavi Jr.
Pre ident Bush's call for a
"New World Order" is becoming
more the reestablishment of an
"Old World Order". by which
Amer ic an and European
domination of the world'
resources i the norm. The
recent unanlrnou d�ci 'on y
the twelve-nation Eur pe an
Community to -lift remaining
economic sanctions against
racist South Africa is another
clear indication of what is being
meant by the term "New World
Order."
Those of us in the anti-apart­
heid movement in the United
States and throughout the world
must remain vigilant. While the
European Community nations
believe that they should reward
South African de Klerk because
or his i n i t i a ti o n of some
reforms, thousands of persons in
South Africa arc still being mur­
dered. imprisoned and exploited
all at the hands of the apartheid
regime.
What are the ethical and
moral bases for the so-ca lled
New World Order? Is it the
respect and protection of fun­
damental human rights for all
persons without discrimination
due to race or other political fac­
tors? Or is it notion that multi­
�ational corporate profit
outweigh concerns for human
dignity?
For sure the action of the
European Community were in­
fluenced by the greed and
materialism which still form
much of the basis of European
foreign policy. Before the
economic sanctions were im­
posed on South Africa, the
European nations imported
more than $700 million worth of
South African gold coins each
year.
THE NEED for South
African diamonds and other pre­
cious minerals ha lured the
European Community to be-
come les concerned with chal­
lenging one of the greatest
forms of oppression in the world
today: South African apartheid.
President de Klerk thanked
the European Community tor
their "positive and most en­
couraging" action. For the
African National Congres and
millions of exploited South
Africans. the action by the
European Community to end
Benjamin
Chavis
sanctions against South Africa is
certainly "negative and dis­
couraging." ,
We have reported before con­
cerning evidence that it is the
government of South Africa that
is orchestrating and coordinat­
ing the escalating violence in
the African township .. Now we
are receiving ignal from the
White House that President
Bush would al 0 like to
"reward" de Klerk by relaxing
some of the U.S. sanctions
against South Africa.
We should let all the members
of the U.S. Congress know that
sanctions against South Africa
should be maintained. Now is
not the time to "reward" South
Africa. We must demand justice
and we should not be persuaded
that the reordering of the world
by the .histortc regimes of op­
pression and e xploi tation will
lead to a "better way of life for
the world ': populations."
American foreign pol icy con­
tinues to emerge out of its
domestic policy. African
Continued on Pa 5
Helluera/La Jornada/Muico City
bilize to overturn the re trictive
federal and tate rule nd
re ul tions hich f vor the t 0
e t bli hment p rtie while di -
cour ging the development of
new partie or independent can­
didate .
We mu t also fight for elec­
tion finance reform to hatter the
de th grip that those with wealth
have over the electoral process
in this country.
'':!:·;tt:::;;:':;;,*�;�{::';::s¥i;;(��t� need a multi-party system'
which more accurately reflects
the pol i tical diversi ty and
pluralism in the U.S.
The dominance of the two e -
tab hment parties must be
ab Ii hed iJ�order to facilitate
the flowering of a new and more
meaningful democra y in this
ation. It is from thi new en­
vi nment that the new America
which must become will emerge.
African Americans must be in
the vanguard of the movement to
foster the environment which
will spawn the creatio of a new' .
society.
re
the
Demo rat , curb
orne of th "exce e" of the
y tern, take the rough edge off
in order to promote ind of
"benign capitali m".
African Americans must leave
the plantation of both e tab­
Ii hment parties.
African Americans face the
challenge of organizing a Black
led, independent, progressive
third force or new poli tical
party; an independent political
organization which will articu­
late an agenda based on the
. human need of African
.American , minori ties. poor and
working people.
A progre ive agenda and the
goal of creating a new society
must be the driving force behind
our politics.
Mi
ery Research
Daily, via TV, radio and
througn the print media. {he
African American and Pan
African communities (include
Afro Latino. Afro Caribbean and
Con ti nental African) are
flooded with negative reports.
Much of what is reported war­
rants questioning. In Part 2 of
this series, we continue to refer
to these reports and studies as
MISERY RESEARCH.
As a doctoral student at one
of the top research institutions
on the west coast and an
educator with national ex­
perience spanning three
decades. I have known of
" cholar " and practitioners who
have received Ph.D. 's, masters
degrees and research grant for
announcing and documenting
how" ick" the Pan African com­
munity is.
The following are more ex­
amples of MISERY RESEARCH
that are often cited whenever
our communities are discussed.
HILTON: HIGHER EDUCA­
TIQN continues to go on record
as questioning the "complete"
purpose of these and similar
sta tements.
YES, SOME VERY real
problems do exist, however. the
fact remain that if the African
community was as bad off as
some would have us believe, we
would have become extinct
some time ago.
HILTON: HIGHER EDUCA­
TION would like readers to end
in example of POSITIVE and
CONSTRUCTIVE RESEARCH
that counters the following nd
imilar:
- Middle income 8 well as
low income African Americans
experienced a dramatic decline
in college enrollment over the
pa t decade (The American
Council on Education - ACE).
- African American students
comprise 9.2 percent of all un­
dergraduate but received only
5.7 percent of all bachelor'
degrees. "Hi panics" comprised
5.3 percent of all under­
graduate. but received 2.7 per­
cent of all bachelor's degre s
(ACE).
,
or n w
to f ce t cold
tic
Ie
of
ociety,
Ron Daniels serves as Presi­
dent of the instit,,,e for Com­
munity Or g anl zat ion l-r and
Development in Youngscown,
Ohio. He may be contacted at
(216) 746-5747.
Keith O.
Hilton
HIGHER
EDUCATION
- Between 1978 and 1988.
the number of doctorate degrees
awarded non-U.S. citizens
jumped 63 percent. For the
same period. the number 'of doc­
torates awarded "Black" males
fall 47 percent (ACE).
- Between 1985 and 1987.
the number of education degrees
awarded African Americans.
Latinos and Native Americans
fell 22 percent, 12 percent and 6
.percent respectively. European
Americans and Asian Americans _
earned one percent and 42 per­
cent more education degrees
respectively (American Council
on Education - ACE).
- Forty-two percent of all 13-
year-olds lack intermediate read­
ing skills, which allows them to
interrelate ideas and make
generalizations. Sixty-one per­
cent of African American 13-
year-olds cannot read at that
level (Ed uca tion Tes fi ng Ser­
vice. under a grant from the Na-,
tiona] Center for Ed uca tton
Statistics).
- For African American
men, it will take 73 years at the.
current rate of progress to close.
the racial gap in earnings (The­
Urban, League, The State of
Black America 1990). .
- In 1985, African American,
family earnings had dropped to
57.7 percent of European
American family earning, corn­
pared to 59 percent in ]967.
(Urban League). -
HILTON: HIGHER EDUCA�
TJON is de igned to dialogue,
with college and world readers.
Education is ongoing and cer
t ainly not limited to school
classrooms. Let's talk. (714)
899-0.650: