6th Annual Black History Month Extravaganza @ MLK

I attended the Black History Month Extravaganza on Saturday afternoon and the event was very much as described on this blog. There were many special guests, including: Creigh Deeds, Betty Squire, Sa’ad El-Amin, Cynthia Newbille, and Delores McQuinn.

The best part of the event was the Patina African Dance group and the musical selections by Soulful Sounds such as “Lean on Me” and “America the Beautiful.”

Dr. Asante spoke at some length and his speech was praised by El-Amin and Newbille who served as co-emcees. Newbille, in particular, stated how much she was moved by his words. Dr. Asante spoke on the importance of the education of African American students. He asserted that no school system in America knows how to educate African American students, particularly boys. He stated that many of the ills of African American men are really due to the miseducation of African Americans by whites and even by blacks who have fallen captive to the lies and propaganda of an educational system designed to educate only white boys in the 18th century. He has been criticized for these views and also for his disparaging attitude “about the right of white professors to teach Black American history.” Perhaps his most aggressive assertion was that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson should not be considered great men and that such should not be taught to African American students. He said, “teaching African Americans that they were great men is like teaching Jews that the Nazis were great men.” Dr. Asante’s more salient points were those that focused on the premise that children who are not aware of their heritage are less likely to succeed in school and in life. African Americans should derive pride and self-worth from their heritage and history.

RE Post #2 – Good points about taking some perspective on what is respectable history, depending on one’s position to be affected.

Few folks are worthy of glorifying in the way we tend to with the American forefathers – Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, Bob Marley, Deepak Chopra, Anne Frank, Viktor Frankl, The Dalai Lama. That’s who comes to mind over here.

I wish public school curriculum would spend more time focusing on these guys, and others like them. It’s cool how Government people can make an impact and all, but I would love to see kids taught hard about people with serious spiritual strength who have used their conviction to overcome big obstacles. Might make a major difference in our collective future.

I also attended the extravaganza and can vouch for much of what Martha says. I hope what you are saying is not true and that public dollars didn’t pay for the event. It ranged from racist to ridiculous. After Dr. Asante’s diatribe we were treated to a poetry reading from a rap artist. Most memorable line? “Stop focusing on the dollar and turn your mind to Allah.”

Cynthia Newbille’s high praise for that speech was very telling. She shared the stage with El Amin, but the event was put together by Reverend McQuinn. I assume she chose Newbille and El Amin as co-MCs, to signal her support for Newbille in the coming election. I hope we can move away from the kind of ignorance that was represented at MLK Middle School that evening. I think Dr. King would have been appalled that such atrocious race baiting took place in a building named in his honor.

The good news is that almost no one attended. My only hope is that there’s no longer a large audience for that message. Scrap that…I have two hopes: that the audience for that message is waning and so are the careers of politicians who rely on it to retain power.

This all reminds me of a black history program we had at John B. Cary Elementary where Mr. Khalfani gave a speech making fun of white peoples’ features and gave the history of birth control in the presence of elementary students including my daughter’s kindergarten class. I’m all for sex education but to 5 and 6 year olds? The most difficult thing to watch -seeing the guidance counselor and principal smile and clap at Khalfani’s remarks. Given this was a school assembly and PTA night, I’m guessing tax dollars funded the event. The electricity and heat bills certainly aren’t paid for with private money. And who paid the custodians for clean up?

Government dollars certainly should not have been used to fund the foolishness I heard last Saturday. Any taxpayer monie used needs to be repayed! They are stealing from taxpayers to spread hate. I’ve lived here too long to put up with this!

John, was this event affiliated with the school or was it a separate community event? I do know that it is legal and common for churches to use public school space like when their churches are under going renovation, etc.

that must have been part of that open discussion on race matters that our united states attorney general says we need to talk about, cowards if you dont. obviously the dr whats his name is not a coward. interesting educational concept. i would like to see a black math book.

There was a video camera there and small production crew with lighting, etc. The whole thing is on video.