WHO TESTS THE TEACHERS FOR RACISM(COLORISM)?
(by Carol Taylor - Reproduced from 1990)
Okay, the more things change, the more things stay the same, right? Especially if it's perpetuation of public education-system refusals to teach the truth about the hueman race.
"The admission of the New York State Education Commissioner, Thomas Sobol, that the state's public school curriculum needs to give much greater recognition to the contributions of cultures which represent three-quarters of the world's population is certainly commendable.
However, unless reputable scholars and teachers who have been conditioned by an institutionally racist (colorist) society are tested for their individual levels of racism (colorism) and where necessary, referred to anti-bias counseling, the 'deep-seated pathologies of racial hatred,' which Dr. Leonard Jeffries recently highlighted, will continue to pervade the state's education system, with extreme detriment to white students as well as students of color.
Assuredly, racial (colorist) hatred is no new problem, but one can only change that which one can first acknowledge. The most productive way of ridding a society (including an educational system) of a disease is to acknowledge its existence first. Not much can be done about blatant (nooses and baseball bats and cop killings of Black males and other people of color) or subtle racism (colorism) or bigotry, which indeed exist, until each individual is able to confront his or her own feelings and/or beliefs (which is what bigotry is all about).
America, indeed, is not the only country faced with this problem, but this fact is, if anything, one more reason for urgency in diagnosing the extent of the disease of racism (colorism) within the education system. America's unique position in world affairs (and the multiplicity of its ethnic groups) demands that we lead in the fight against racism (colorism) and other prejudices.
That much has already been done in this fight is not to be denied, nor commendation witheld for the courage and huemanity of those who have fought for so long, but it is equally not to be denied that those efforts, laudable as they have been, have fallen far short of the goal.
What has been gained is at best an uneasy cease-fire. What has hampered many efforts has been a lack of support from the wider society, stemming from a deliberate complacency, a form of escapism where people have persuaded themselves that racism (colorism) is not really all that serious, that it will eventually work itself out without any involvement on their part.
The basic reason for this desire of each to protect his own little sphere from an admission of the unpleasant reality of racism (colorism) varies from person to person. Racism (colorism), to be effectively treated, must be addressed on the level of the individual, but current programs have been concentrated on the community or state levels, and this, I suggest, is an integral failure of those programs. Entrenched societal conditioning is a major contributing factor which stymies the efforts of anti-racism (colorism) programs and makes stubborn racists (colorists) of so many otherwise enlightened people. Thos few who have managed genuinely to reject or outgrow such conditioning represent, in each case, a triumph for the individual, but also serve to emphasize the need for an approach on that level to the racism (colorism) of the majority of those who remain prey to the infection.
We cannot, in the final analysis, legislate out of the subconscious, the effects of institutionally racist (colorist) conditioning, and the problem remains fundamentally unchanged unless the usual defense mechanism of denial is removed.
It is past time for children in New York State (and, indeed, America) not to have to continue to rely on the supposed goodwill of those administrators and teachers who are responsible for such a large portion of their basic education - which, traditionally, has excluded the truth about the beginnings of civilization and contributions of people of color.
The solution, to reiterate, is Racism (Colorism) Quotient Testing and, where necessary, follow-up counseling until a functional R.Q. score can be achieved - especialy for those who are to revise the state's public school curriculum."
(With all due respect to the incisive thorough intellectual contributions of Barbadian scholar Winston Worrell who wrote most of the above Tract)
This entire nation should use the www.racismtest.com
www.racismtest.org ...as, obviously, not a panacea but as a tool to foment discussion in a non-threatening arena - to put the issue of untreated colorism 'on the front burner' (as suggested by Law Professor Lani Guinier) to combat, on an individual basis, the counterproductive nooses, killings and other negative color discriminations
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Monday, November 5, 2007
Statement by Carol Taylor
[Can ANYone tell me which schools in the U.S.A. are teaching that ALL huemans are "...of African descent..."??? I wrote this Statement way back in 1995 - it's now the end of 2007...the more things 'change' the more they stay the same. YUCK! CT)
"Statement by Carol Taylor
Tuesday Dec. 5, 1995 at The
Hearing at the Hall of The
Board of Education, 110 Livingston
St. Brooklyn, NY to Commission
on Students of African Descent
1149 Ralph Avenue
(Ground Floor)
Brooklyn, New York 11236-1221
718 451 2323
EDUCATION OF STUDENTS OF AFRICAN DESCENT
The Commission on Students of African Descent, for those of us who understand the truth of history - that all humans are of African descent (which means that we've read Cheik Anta Diop's The African Origin of Civilization), is doing a monumental job by raising the sore point that Black African students in America are continuously, consciously and intentionally disrespected by those whose salaries are being paid by their parents' tax dollars. The manifestation of that disrespect is the refusal of the New York City Board of Education to teach that all humans have Black African ancestors, and to publicize the fact that they are teaching this.
Define success? This means that disrespectful education administrators must re-educate themselves as to the truth which anthropologists have uncovered and reported that all civilization started with Black Africans- not white Europeans, deadly Diane Ravitch and anachronistic Arthur Schlesinger - prime examples of the American system of racist/colorist miseducation - notwithstanding, with their pejorative allegations of "feel good" curricular revision.
Achieving success in Educating children in America means, according to Dr. Leonard Jeffries, that "Truth crushed to earth will rise again." We are living on the threshold of the 21st Century [sic], in times of critical change and our education system, in this country and in this city, must assume the responsibility it has thus far studiously avoided, to the detriment of, coincidentally, its white students but also to the intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and all too often, the physical demise of Black African, Indigenous (Native American), Asian and other students of color.
I urge this Commission and this Board of Education to lead African students-human beings-boldly into the 21st Century [sic] by adopting the proposed Profile (which will be impossible to enact unless the following is implemented):
1. Teach the truth that all humans have Black African ancestors;
2. Purge the sickening racism/colorism from New York City's Education System by
administering our Racism/colorism Quotient Test to all Board of Education
Administrators and all teachers and follow up with referrals to psychologists (who
have passed the Racism/Colorism Quotient Test) where results reflect
racism/colorism dysfunction.
High levels of critical thinking and the ability to solve complex problems by our students demand that they are educated with a curriculum based on the truth. When France presented the Statue of Liberty to the United States (of America) for ending slavery, her features were Black African. It is past time for the New York City Board of Education and the United States (of America) to "Bring Back Black Liberty!""
"Statement by Carol Taylor
Tuesday Dec. 5, 1995 at The
Hearing at the Hall of The
Board of Education, 110 Livingston
St. Brooklyn, NY to Commission
on Students of African Descent
1149 Ralph Avenue
(Ground Floor)
Brooklyn, New York 11236-1221
718 451 2323
EDUCATION OF STUDENTS OF AFRICAN DESCENT
The Commission on Students of African Descent, for those of us who understand the truth of history - that all humans are of African descent (which means that we've read Cheik Anta Diop's The African Origin of Civilization), is doing a monumental job by raising the sore point that Black African students in America are continuously, consciously and intentionally disrespected by those whose salaries are being paid by their parents' tax dollars. The manifestation of that disrespect is the refusal of the New York City Board of Education to teach that all humans have Black African ancestors, and to publicize the fact that they are teaching this.
Define success? This means that disrespectful education administrators must re-educate themselves as to the truth which anthropologists have uncovered and reported that all civilization started with Black Africans- not white Europeans, deadly Diane Ravitch and anachronistic Arthur Schlesinger - prime examples of the American system of racist/colorist miseducation - notwithstanding, with their pejorative allegations of "feel good" curricular revision.
Achieving success in Educating children in America means, according to Dr. Leonard Jeffries, that "Truth crushed to earth will rise again." We are living on the threshold of the 21st Century [sic], in times of critical change and our education system, in this country and in this city, must assume the responsibility it has thus far studiously avoided, to the detriment of, coincidentally, its white students but also to the intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and all too often, the physical demise of Black African, Indigenous (Native American), Asian and other students of color.
I urge this Commission and this Board of Education to lead African students-human beings-boldly into the 21st Century [sic] by adopting the proposed Profile (which will be impossible to enact unless the following is implemented):
1. Teach the truth that all humans have Black African ancestors;
2. Purge the sickening racism/colorism from New York City's Education System by
administering our Racism/colorism Quotient Test to all Board of Education
Administrators and all teachers and follow up with referrals to psychologists (who
have passed the Racism/Colorism Quotient Test) where results reflect
racism/colorism dysfunction.
High levels of critical thinking and the ability to solve complex problems by our students demand that they are educated with a curriculum based on the truth. When France presented the Statue of Liberty to the United States (of America) for ending slavery, her features were Black African. It is past time for the New York City Board of Education and the United States (of America) to "Bring Back Black Liberty!""
STUFF (THAT’S NOT ‘FIT TO PRINT!’)
The Hearts of Darkness
How White Writers Created the Racist Image of Africa
By Milton G. Allimadi
Published by:Black Star Books, Co.
ISBN #:0-9740039-0-5
85 pp
Reviewed by:Carol Taylor
This classic book had to be published – the truth had to be stated.
It has, con mucho gusto, by an African-born topnotch investigator, Ugandan veteran journalist Milton Allimadi, the incisive, clear thinking world affairs commentator, Publisher of New York City’s Black Star newspaper.
If words help to shape human behavior and deeds, and they do – then certainly, Allimadi’s well-chosen, descriptive quotes serve to reiterate the book’s important main focus on the racism (colorism) replete in white writers’ coverage. (Notice he doesn’t call them “journalists,” – many of whom contributed to the New York Times down through the years)
Quoting from his extensive ‘Sources’ list, he includes African Notebook by Albert Schweitzer, African Religions in Western Scholarship, by Ugandan Okot p ‘Bitek, Black Skins, White Masks, by Dr.Frantz Fanon, and Notes On The State of Virginia, by Thomas Jefferson, among others. These provide substantial grounding for Allimadi’s conclusion that, unlike news reports covering social unrest in Europe, (never, of course, “white-on-white crime”) similar unrest in Black Africa was always portrayed by white writers (and, unfortunately, by some low-self esteemed Black writers) as ‘tribal unrest’ and/or “Black-on-Black crime” – (an ultra-racist/colorist phrase).
One of the most harrowing aspects of Allimadi’s herculean and critical analysis of the misrepresentation of affairs in Africa is that those of us ‘Westerners’ who consider ourselves mightily literate and nicely well-read, have been arrogantly ignorant of how the white wool of color-biased reporting has been purposefully and continuously pulled over our eyes by writers who have been held up to us as “journalism’s finest.”
The Hearts of Darkness, thank veracity and goodness, has irretrievably snatched the wool off and illustrated, with vivid prose, that it’s really the truth - that’s ‘fit to print.’
Reviewer’s Warning: Be prepared for some strongly-abhorrent quotations from quoted white writers.
How White Writers Created the Racist Image of Africa
By Milton G. Allimadi
Published by:Black Star Books, Co.
ISBN #:0-9740039-0-5
85 pp
Reviewed by:Carol Taylor
This classic book had to be published – the truth had to be stated.
It has, con mucho gusto, by an African-born topnotch investigator, Ugandan veteran journalist Milton Allimadi, the incisive, clear thinking world affairs commentator, Publisher of New York City’s Black Star newspaper.
If words help to shape human behavior and deeds, and they do – then certainly, Allimadi’s well-chosen, descriptive quotes serve to reiterate the book’s important main focus on the racism (colorism) replete in white writers’ coverage. (Notice he doesn’t call them “journalists,” – many of whom contributed to the New York Times down through the years)
Quoting from his extensive ‘Sources’ list, he includes African Notebook by Albert Schweitzer, African Religions in Western Scholarship, by Ugandan Okot p ‘Bitek, Black Skins, White Masks, by Dr.Frantz Fanon, and Notes On The State of Virginia, by Thomas Jefferson, among others. These provide substantial grounding for Allimadi’s conclusion that, unlike news reports covering social unrest in Europe, (never, of course, “white-on-white crime”) similar unrest in Black Africa was always portrayed by white writers (and, unfortunately, by some low-self esteemed Black writers) as ‘tribal unrest’ and/or “Black-on-Black crime” – (an ultra-racist/colorist phrase).
One of the most harrowing aspects of Allimadi’s herculean and critical analysis of the misrepresentation of affairs in Africa is that those of us ‘Westerners’ who consider ourselves mightily literate and nicely well-read, have been arrogantly ignorant of how the white wool of color-biased reporting has been purposefully and continuously pulled over our eyes by writers who have been held up to us as “journalism’s finest.”
The Hearts of Darkness, thank veracity and goodness, has irretrievably snatched the wool off and illustrated, with vivid prose, that it’s really the truth - that’s ‘fit to print.’
Reviewer’s Warning: Be prepared for some strongly-abhorrent quotations from quoted white writers.
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