“All the problems started when they took prayer out of the schools!” Perhaps you have heard people voice this statement when trying to explain the problems of public education within the Afrikan in America context. Perhaps it’s a statement that you have expressed or believe yourself. While it’s debatable that the prohibition against prayer...
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Tags: Baltimore City, Baltimore IT Academy, Chinquapin Middle School, Dr. Andres Alonso, Madalyn Murray, Prayer in schools, Woodbourne Jr. High School
Posted in Beloved Community, Culture, Freedom!, Politics, State of Black America, baltimore, baltimore politics | No Comments »
This week I’ve devoted much of my energy to a pretty spirited discussion via Facebook about Governor O’Malley’s plans to build a prison for youth in East Baltimore. The $104 million prison would be dedicated to youth being charged as adults. For many years, I’ve stood in solidarity with many others in publicly denouncing...
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Tags: arteesha holt, baby bookings, Bob Ehrlich, Governor Martin O'Malley, jermaine holley, juvenile, Robert Ehrlich, youth prison
Posted in Culture, Freedom!, Maryland, Politicians, Politics, State of Black America, White folks, baltimore politics, black baltimore, martin o'malley | No Comments »
When you take a nearly 90% African American student population and you willfully ignore their culture while subjecting them to a European-American educational setting you set them up for psychological enslavement. The African student population is not permitted to engage in the process of knowing themselves, the story of their people on the map...
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Tags: African American Self Determination, African Educational Pedagogy, Andres Alonso, Asa Hillard, Baltimore City Public School System, Baltimore City School Board, Black Student Achievement, Carter G. Woodson, Governor Martin O'Malley, Jawanza Kunjufu, Jewish Schools in Baltimore, Kill Them Before They Grow, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Naim Akbar, Paulo Friere, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Ray Winbush
Posted in Africans in America, Beloved Community, Black Nationalists, Culture, Free Your Mind, Maryland, Pan-Afrikan, State of Black America, White folks, baltimore, baltimore politics, black baltimore, liberation theology | 1 Comment »
The history of African Americans does not begin with slavery. However, that’s what African American students are likely to believe while matriculating through many of this nation’s public schools. Their miseducation instills in them the view that they are an inferior people whose historical heritage starts in slavery. Their miseducation proliferates while at the...
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Tags: $100 Million Youth Jail, African American Students, Andres Alonso, Baltimore City, Baltimore City Public School System, Brown vs. Board of Education, Governor Martin O'Malley, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Miseducation of the Negro, White Flight
Posted in Culture, Free Your Mind, Freedom!, Maryland, Politics, State of Black America, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, White folks, baltimore politics, martin o'malley | 3 Comments »
I’d like to publicly express my prayers and condolences to Mr. Marshall “Eddie” Conway and family in light of the passing of his mother. Mr. Conway is Maryland’s longest serving political prisoner incarcerated 40 years ago while serving in Baltimore’s Black Panther Party. Activists and concerned citizens from Baltimore have been contacting the appropriate...
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Tags: baltimore, Black Panther Party, Marshall Eddie Conway, Maryland, Political Prisoner
Posted in Black Nationalists, Culture, Maryland, Police, Politics, State of Black America, activist, baltimore, baltimore politics, black baltimore, civil rights, cointelpro | No Comments »
What the Arizona Public School System’s ban of ethnic studies does is expose crucial questions about authority and autonomy as it relates to the public education system. The crucial question is: Who should control the educational direction, content, and implementation of education? Who should be trusted to mold the minds of today’s students? That...
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Tags: Andres Alonso, Arizona, Arizona Ethnic Studies, Baltimore City Public School System, Bishop Douglas Miles, Ethnic Studies, Tom Horne
Posted in Beloved Community, Clergy, Culture, Faith &/or Religion, Free Your Mind, My Story, Politics, Social Justice, State of Black America, White folks, baltimore, baltimore politics, civil rights | 5 Comments »
I watched this CNN interview and exchange last night between Tom Horne, Arizone Superintendent of Public Instruction and Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, professor and social critic. The issue was Arizona’s new ban on ethnic studies. Apparently, Arizona’s public school system was worried about non-white children being taught their history. According to Mr. Horne, as...
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Tags: Arizona Ethnic Studies, Arizona Immigration, Chicano, Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Posted in Beloved Community, Clergy, Culture, Free Your Mind, My Story, Politics, Social Justice, What I'm reading, White folks, baltimore, baltimore politics, civil rights | 13 Comments »
That’s if Governor Martin O’Malley has his way. Sources close to the legislative process reveal that Governor Martin O’Malley has been pushing House Bill 825 through the Maryland House of Delegates. The bill would increase the rates for Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund (MAIF) customers. MAIF is for drivers who are unable to afford car...
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Tags: Baltimore City, car insurance, Delegates, driving, MAIF, Maryland Insurance Automobile Fund, rates
Posted in Maryland, Politicians, Politics, Poverty, annapolis, baltimore politics, black baltimore, martin o'malley | 1 Comment »
I was on the Marc Steiner show on WEAA 88.9FM (Baltimore) Monday evening talking about the prospect of Maryland expanding its gaming options to include casinos. As predicted by many of us who were decrying slots in Maryland; state lawmakers are now teasing the idea of casinos in an effort to deal with the...
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Tags: Another kind of economics is possible, Casino, Cleveland Cavaliers, coops, Dan Gilbert, Evergreen Cooperatives, Frank Jackson, gambling, green jobs, Spain
Posted in Beloved Community, Culture, Free Your Mind, Kingdom of God, Maryland, Media Analysis, Politics, Poverty, Slots in Maryland, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, annapolis, baltimore, baltimore politics | No Comments »
Check out this video from the youth of Baltimore Algebra Project and their allies. In a way that only youth can, they are pricking the conscience of a state that deems it permissable to invest millions of dollars in their incarceration rather than their education and gainful employment.
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Tags: baltimore, Baltimore Algebra Project, gangs, graduation rates, incarceration, jobs, Maryland, youth
Posted in Culture, Maryland, Politics, Social Justice, annapolis, baltimore, baltimore politics, martin o'malley | No Comments »