·1 1
VIEWS OPINIONS
.u,DDC�l1
ever.
n convinced
round, and pers
ell of p to neaeee
dition to the t. Af r
d dangero journey, the brave
naviga r aod inttep d crew lmted
on the . land of San Salvador on
October 12, 1492.
Beca e he believed that he w
only miles from the ian mainland,
Columb called the gentle people
who met him along the hore "Indi­
ans." Th ,we are told, white w t­
an civilization finally anived to what
"dis­
� on the errone­
nth century Euro­
t the odd
t. But the torical ct that
y illieamed Europeans of the
14001 that the odd in­
deecl round, and uacbarted lands
ere located in the eat.
IG
D 10 h maximum
expect tio for U.S. African
undergradu te enrolling in off­
camp internship and study
bro d programs. Those expec­
tation are based on extracur­
ricular participation,
interpersonal growth and out-
tanding cademic track
records that m ny students
bring to college.
With planning, the rewards
of off-campus tudy will be long
I ting.
A key and growing part of
the undergr duate educational
experience is this opportunity to
tudy off-campu for a
emester, summer or year.
Study beyond the campus is
designed to extend the
academic curriculum of the col- .
lege and allow students to ex­
perience different life styles,
viewpoints and organizational
processes.
The opportunity to study
abroad, especially in Africa or
in Latin American countries,
positions tudents on the cut­
ting edge of local, national and
world affairs, just as student
participants of summer inter­
nships are correctly viewed by
corporations as being hot com­
modities.
As more students of color
participate in study abroad
programs in such countries as
Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, the
Cameroon, Kenya, Zimbabwe
and Egypt, they see first hand
the similarities and dis­
similarities that they/we have
with Africa.
Just as there are differences
and similarities between folks
from the Sudan and the Ivory
Coast (in Africa), Trinidadians
and Jamaicans (in the Carib­
bean), Afro British (in
England) and the Aborigines
(in Australia), Afro Cubans and
Afro Nicaraguans (in the Latin
Americas), there are differen­
ces between U.S. Africans and
Africans throughout Africa.
However, in each of these
cases, all of these people are
African, culturally and increas­
ingly, politically. Learning this
is usually one of the highlights
that many students, report upon
retur�g. '
The cultural bonds that stu­
dents of color have with these
first world nations (third world
is a misnomer), will also likely
strengthen their fields and
lengthen their careers.
"The world is my country,"
spoke Thomas Paine during this
nation's push for inde­
pendence.
Minister Malcolm X would
later tell students and all
Africans in American to think in
terms of being internationalists
(as opposed 'to integrationists).
Keep in mind that he was elud­
ing to the global village - twenty
five years ago.
As the decade of the 1990's
begins,' students are trulr �t­
nessing and exact appreClatl�n
of both of these statements VIa
the present global village. .
Educators need to continue
to recommend tbat students
heed these points and continue
to remain active as
humanitarians - particularly
with regards to campus and
world affair . •
HILTON: HIGHER
EDUCATION is designed to
dialogue with college and world
readers. Education' is ongoing
and not limited to classroom
study. ut's talle. (714) 899-0650.
I'
•
COLUMBUS'S ClDEFpilot and
bus' partner, Martin Olonao
Pinzon, had found documents in the
library of Pope Innocent vm, which
confirmed terrltori est of the At­
lantic Ocean.
What motiv ted Columbus and
the Spanish conquistadors w the
"CIVnJZATIO
truction of indi en cult
deti . When to Indi re-
o ted, tb Europeans howed no
mercy. In th M Y revolt in t
Y tan in to 152 , Indian chie
ere burned alive; the arms le
of ptured warriors were cut off;
Indianwomenby thethousan ere
raped and lynched. In on century,
Mexico's total population of 25 mil­
lion declined to on million.
The exploitation of the Ameri
required a larg labor force, so Eu­
rope turned to Africa. As early the
146Q" bout one thousand Africans
were imported annually into the
Iberian peninsula slaves.
The Catholic Church was pre­
pared to anction the expansion of
the lave trade to the Americas. In
1488, Pope Innocent vm accepted
�ne hundred Moors as his own per-
•
. ,
SLAVERY REQUIRED the de­
velopment of an ideology of domi­
nation. It inevitable that Afri­
cans ed to be described by their
languag or cultures, d only by
the m t upaficial distinction hich
eparated them from most Europe­
ans--theirsldncolor. "Bl c "were
defined by the boundari of their
kin. Conve ely, the Europeans
began to call themselv "white",
racist term, rooted in power, privi­
lege and violence.
• '0
Dr. Manning Marable is Profes- ...
sor o/Political Science and H istory,
University 0/ Colorado, Boulder.
"Along the Color Line" appears in -
over 200 publications internation­
ally, and is broadcast over stations
throughout the United States.
READERS WRITE
.Afro-centrl 1m demand
mor mon y for ducatlon
Dear atizm: Readers Write Afro­
centric education demands I wri te in
support of Manning Marable's 9/22/
91 column.
African Americans need both
strengthened public education and
community b�ed and controlled
supplementary education,
From an Afro-centric viewpoint,
it is key to note that the fight to win
a public education ystem in the U.S.
w led by the ex-slaves during
Reconstruction. In other words, this
critical pillar of true democracy,
universal free education, this monu­
mental social benefit for all the people
was largely a result of one phase in
the African American liberation
struggle.
In the end, white always
benefit from Bl ck equality. There
can be no true democracy, the vast
majority empowered, if the v t
majority do not have knowledge and .
true information upon which to b e
their decisions, including through
universal education.
history, politics, liberation theory. '
So for example, the powers that be
backed Booker T. Washington over
W.E.B. Dubois.
AN IMPORTANT test of Afro­
centrism is education, in the tradi­
tion of the Black Reconstruction and
Dubois, is whether one truggles for
more funding of public, universal,
free education, including higher edu­
cation.
. In this period tbat means routing
Bush-Reaganite demogogy which
promo every phony gimmic .1be .
first Afro-Centric demand is for more
money for public chools, need based
grants, et al. Why doesn't the Hope
Slate on the Detroit School Board .
have this strategy?
INTELLIGENT and education
masses, Black and white.area threat
to our ruling elite, which is a tiny
minority. So the d truction of the
public education sy tem i on the
Reaganite agenda A privatized
system (vouchers, corporate spon­
sors) moves toward making educa­
tiona privilege for those with money,
as before the Reconstruction era, slave
led revolts.
Lee Iaccoca notwithstanding, Big
Business does not want a workforce
educated beyond just above robots.
Real education of workers includes
T mlka Warren
Detroit
·Need to read ...
O •• rEdltor:
I hate to sound like I'm coming
down on my people, but it is my
opinion that one of the main reasons
our children don't do well in school
and drop out is because we, as a
people just don't read enough, and
don't encourage them to.
Readirig is self-education. It
makes a people thoughtful, teaches
them to think in the abstract and
gives them ideas for overcoming
problems.
Look at the Jews. The are the
mo t reading people in the country,
yet we point at them and put them
down saying "smart Jew."
We ought to have others pointing
at us saying "Smart Blacks," but in­
stead we look at T.V., talk slang,
dance and run off at the mouth with
a whole lot of half-baked
philosophy.
If every Black family added ten
books a year to their household and
read them, it wouldn't be long before
our plight would change.
Emma Sanders
Benton Harbor
POEM
.
MESSAGE TO AN ADDICT
. ,
As long as you use dope
there is no hope.
Take a look at yourself.
Can't you see?
You have a say in deciding
your destiny.
Whatever you do,
you're the cause of al/
that happens to you.
I say without hesitation,
you are to blame
for your present situation. .
Disagree with me
if you may,
but you're the creator
of your today.
Whether in ,happiness
or in sorrow,
each piece of your living
is creating your tomorrow.
- JESSIE HAWKINS