Today’s Relevance of Angela Davis

Angela Davis, Cover of Newsweek Magazine

     Codeblack Films, a division of Lionsgate Entertainment, is releasing a new movie about the revolutionary,  Angela Davis, on April 5th!  Black Bloggers Connect touts Free Angela as “a must see documentary! A candid and powerful account of the tumultuous times and a woman who challenges a society that is afraid of all that she represents. Filled with elements of intrigue, suspense and conspiracies, the film delivers by empowering and inspiring diverse international audiences with its message of hope and redemption.”  I believe this documentary by writer/director Shola Lynch is itself revolutionary.  It dares to sail us back into a clamorous time in our history when it was frequently ill-fated to “rock the boat” and whose visible struggle was merely the tip of the iceberg.   This young afro-wearing “Black” woman studied French in Paris, earned her doctorate in Germany and was teaching at UCLA.  Yet, she became viewed as a threat to many who protected the status quo, simply because she exercised her human right to explore her political freedom.  Angela Davis not only was a leader in the feminist and civil rights movement, but she held an unpopular support for Communism.  I am mindful of the great spirit of the French writer, Voltaire, who said, “I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it.“  Her uninhibited expression of her beliefs led many to fear her strength and influence.  Several years after four little girls whom she knew, were bombed in 1963 in one of her hometown churches of Birmingham; she was accused in 1970 of some illegal activity and linked to the murder of four people.  She was cleared of the charges in 1972 but still had undergone major smearing that cost Angela her job and many freedoms as she went underground for fear of not getting a fair trial. Remember, this was shortly after the 1969 Black Panther raid believed to be a pretext to murdering the Illinois Black Panther leader, Fred Hampton where it was reported that the Panther possibly only fired one shot, but the police fired close to 82-99 shots!

     This film is an important impetus for us to practice the African principle of Sankofa, which means to remember our past.  Our history involving Angela Davis is still significant for a number of reasons:

1. Some of her struggle involved the strategy of labeling to produce fear.  This strategy is being used today of  linking people to Marxism and is still playing a role in our society and political arena.  President Obama was wrongly labeled as Marxist by some opponents.  In fact, Pat Boone recently accused our president of being Marxist. It’s sort of ironic in a way since according to Wikipedia, “the term capitalism, in its modern sense, comes from the writings of Karl Marx.”

2.  Dr. Davis is a founder of the grassroots organization, Critical Resistance, which works to dismantle the “prison-industrial complex” (PIC).  This group attributes the growth of PICs to the privatizing of goods provided to prisons.  This is extremely relevant as we see the expansion of prisons and especially see many young adults ending up in prison as part of what many education advocates as myself refer to as the “School-to-Prison Pipeline.

3.  The Critical Resistance’s concern of the prison expansion revolves around the belief that it masks the real problems of homelessness, mental illness, unemployment, drug addiction and illiteracy.  Some of this concern was loudly amplified in the Sandy Hook massacre, when the shooter was identified as one struggling with mental health and yet was able to access many guns – guns that quickly released so many rounds that many of the victims had multiple holes in their bodies.

     I am greatly inspired by dynamic women like Angela Davis, who like Sojourner Truth and others, boldly fought with the double-edged sword of rights for women and freedom for African-Americans!  Because of such extensive bravery, I can advocate for education and children without having to risk our lives to do so!  Davis promoted “Power to All People” while speaking Truth to Power! Learning more about Dr. Angela Davis’s struggle and legacy is still relevant to understanding our own, past, present and potential future! This allows true advocacy to intersect with bold activism. I believe she said it best, “I think the importance of doing activist work is precisely because it allows you to give back and to consider yourself not as a single individual who may have achieved whatever but to be a part of an ongoing historical movement.“ Learn more about the Free Angela Davis Blog Contest. Partnership for Free Angela Documentary

Related articles

• New documentary details how Angela Davis became Angela Davis (tv.msnbc.com)
• NYc, Fri.4/5: Angela Davis, Soffiyah Elijah et at Beyond the Bars Conference (moorbey.wordpress.com)
• WMC Feature: Activist Angela Davis Reaches a New Generation (womensphilanthropy.typepad.com)
• Jada Pinkett Smith Talks Angela Davis Movie (blackamericaweb.com)
• EXCLUSIVE: Angela Davis Remembers The Year That Changed Her Life in New Documentary (essence.com)

Teacher and Staff Appreciation

On Friday, we held our Teacher and Staff Appreciation Luncheon at our intermediate school!  We had a delicious catered lunch with wonderful desserts.  Our PTA vice-president found colorful decorations with a western theme. We gathered a few students to help us decorate the gym and later to help serve the teachers!  Homeroom parents and volunteers covered the teachers’ classes while they ate and enjoyed chatting with colleagues. I have been blessed to serve as the PTA president and we host & finance the event twice a year.

I covered the office while the school secretary joined in.  Filling in these jobs really gives you a closer look at what these teachers and staff members go through. Our district nurse was needed at another school, so while filling in the front office, many students came in with scrapes that I would have to stop what I’m doing, sanitize the scrape, and apply band-aids.  I hadn’t thought of our secretary in that role before.  I also first handedly saw some of the emotional support children need from the nurse where the scrape might have been small, but the fright was bigger.

When I have covered classes before for other teacher appreciation lunches, I would realize how busy and timed everything is.  The children are really moved through a fast paced schedule.  Positive feedback from children really makes the experience more joyful!  One child made a picture and thank you note for one of our volunteers.   She smiled endlessly as she told me about it while the volunteers were later lunching together, and she was obviously proud to show it off.  I didn’t get to feel even a wee bit jealous that I didn’t get one this time, because the glow in her smile shared that precious gift with me.

It’s also so sweet when children smile, learn something from you, or seem to appreciate what you do!  But, what about the teachers who have to endure “not so” pleasant feedback on a regular basis? What happens if volunteers don’t show up? My appreciation for our teachers, staff and volunteers has increased so much just from volunteering at the schools and seeing even a small view of what they endure!  I take my hat off to you all!  At the end of our luncheon, we gave them each a small geranium filled pot, decorated in our western themed bandana box.  Seeing their smiles was such a rewarding experience! “Truly, we THANK YOU for What You DO!!!”

After being at school most of the day, I still had to run to the bank to get money that PTA provides to teachers to help them to do treats for those students completing their Accelerated Reading (AR) Goals!  I then had to run to the store to get ice cream and toppings to treat our chorus after school for performing at our last general PTA meeting.  Yes, it was busy – but it was fun!  We are also looking forward to the Inflatable parties we are hosting next week for the outstanding sellers in our fundraiser and another one for the last day of school.  Showing appreciation, is not just a one day event.  It’s what our PTA units strive to do regularly!

Related articles

• Sign Me Up – How I came to love the PTA. (babble.com)
• It’s Teacher Appreciation Week (kswpgoodfriends.wordpress.com)
• Safer Schools with ED and PTA (debateandswitch.wordpress.com)

Safer Schools with ED and PTA

     Safety of our children has always been important, but due to recent catastrophic events involving schools, increasing safety has taken on new meaning and has become a higher priority at most levels.  Noticeably, many elementary schools are installing security cameras, including our intermediate school, where this was often only done at the middle and high school level. I recently sat in on a conference call led by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) on Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS). Included in this call were, John White, ED’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Rural Outreach;  David Esquith, ED’s Director of the Office of Safe & Healthy Students; and National Rural Education Association (NREA) Executive Director John Hill. An important part of emergency management is “communication”.  It is especially important to include “first responders” in the planning process as well as staff and some parents.  Communication plans must include prior drills and information on how to prevent tragedy as well as how to respond during a tragedy.  Knowing what details to share can also be critical during an emergency when you want to inform the public but you do not want to cause panic or provide too much information to the perpetrators (if any) of the tragedy.

Guides should be released by ED in May to help the schools to update their emergency plans. One of my questions revolved around discussions held by some schools about eliminating or reducing parental access to schools. I am relieved that many are stepping up their background checks and fingerprinting but are not denying access.  Parental engagement is important to our schools and we don’t want to inhibit participation and visibility that could help our children to be or to feel safer.

Betsy Landers

Arne Duncan at Town Hall

Statistics show that youth and young adults are much more likely to become victims than those over 24: 38% are 12-17 years old and 49% are 18-24.  President Obama has called for a “collaborative effort to keep our children safe at home, at school, and in the community.”  In this spirit, two town halls were held in Baltimore, MD with National PTA President Betsy Landers. One was with the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, Deborah Delisle, who has thirty-seven years in education and says, her “heart lies with kids everyday.”  Another town hall included Secretary Arne Duncan where over 350 community members attended to share ideas to improving school safety for students.  In Our Voice, our National PTA‘s blog, Betsy Landers wrote an article, “Our Commitment to Keeping Schools Safe.”  In it she recommends two courses of action:

1)      Contact your Senators to express disappointment in their failure to enact common-sense gun violence prevention measures.

2)      Urge Congress to Enact the Bipartisan Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act.

Resources are available at the REMS Technical Center to help with REMS planning as well as on counseling students after traumatic events. PTA also has information on planning and safety tip sheets.  I believe that one of our greatest resources is “Working Together!”

Related articles

• PTA and ED Team Up to Improve School Safety (ed.gov)
• Our Commitment to Keeping Schools Safe

Walmart Assault Weapons Protest Gains Momentum As Hundreds Of Thousands Demand Action

Some commenters on this article which appeals to Walmart to stop selling Assault Weapons, suggest that children should not be used to speak about their dislike of guns.  Children have Rights too! They have a right to their opinions, a right to express those opinions and a right to be heard. Too bad some grownups don’t have as much courage to stand up for the rights of children and their SAFETY! Many adults and gun owners are standing up for the right to have assault weapons that killed CHILDREN-filling their bodies with HOLES- but now you say the children shouldn’t use their RIGHTS to SPEAK against it! They must learn now how to ADVOCATE for themselves.  Groups like the NRA are using their money and influence to speak for themselves. Children must learn to speak against powers that might care more about making money than about them!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost.

Click here to see youth speak up for themselves on various issues that concern them!

“The Grinch that Stole Christmas” and Stole LIVES

While many were shopping and counting down the days before Christmas, devastating news swept across America.  This news contained few of the answers to the myriad of questions we would quickly ask, but gave more information than we could digest.  A friend told me in the store as I was shopping for gifts from our PTA for some needy children at our schools that, “Someone shot and killed 20 children and 6 adults at a school in Newtown, Connecticut.”  My heart plummeted. I could only call on God.  Words cannot describe this horror.  Imagining what their parents were feeling was and still is just surreal.

Meanwhile, prior to this tragedy, our 5th grader Jocelyn Martin, had an assignment to do for counseling.  She had to write an essay on “Why I think the Grinch Stole Christmas,” based on the book or the movie, “The Grinch that Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss.  Jocelyn wrote this: “I think the Grinch was experiencing a lot of emotional health problems during this time.  The emotional things I think he was experiencing was the feeling of nobody liking him.  The sadness of being unloved might have turned into anger.  He might have wanted to get revenge on the Who’s by taking their Christmas.  Since he didn’t like Christmas and the Who’s did, he used that to get them back.  I think the Grinch should’ve managed his anger better.  He could’ve managed his anger better by doing something to blow off steam. For instance, he could’ve played sports…”

This poignant perspective from a child’s eye spoke to me as I wrestled with why would someone do such an awful thing to these innocent children, teachers and people at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  This was awful enough as a tragedy told of unsuspecting victims, but I realized that yet another American tragedy was unfolding regarding the perpetrator.  Many accounts had referred to the shooter as “evil”.  But even though all of the facts were not in, I wondered if the shooter could have been a “victim” himself, through life itself.  Some had speculated that the shooter had a mental illness but his reported diagnosis is believed to be, Asperger syndrome, a higher form of the Autism spectrum.  (CNN was still confirming the specific diagnosis independently.)  Autism is not a mental illness at all, but rather, a “neurodevelopmental disorder.“  “There is absolutely no evidence or any reliable research that suggests a linkage between autism and planned violence,“ stated the Autism Society.  Just as we wouldn’t conclude that his race was the cause of the shooting, because he happened to be white; we must not conclude that this developmental condition was the cause, just because he happened to have autism.

But let’s learn more about this sickness that strikes millions.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network,“the most recent research from the ADDM finds that 1 in every 110 eight-year old children were diagnosable for an ASD.”  We must make sure that all students including those with disabilities are receiving the support they need.  We must ensure that our schools have adequate resources to execute 504 Plans and other requirements as detailed in the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA).  Protecting our children also includes making certain they do not get shoved off the Fiscal Cliff where $900m might be cut from Special Education under IDEA for 2013-14, and that’s not all of the cuts!

As my son, Cameron’s wife, Raydia Martin, law school student at Loyola University in Chicago and a social worker intern at Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois reminds me, “Even though the shooter had a sickness not known for violence, other emotional stresses could have contributed to his choices on that day.  We must be concerned with how such stresses could impact any child who has them.”  Other testimonies have come forth from people who knew the shooter’s family that vaguely sketched some various “possibilities” that could or could not have led to this massacre.  This in no way attempts to blame the mother-who was also killed by her son, but possibly might reflect his frame of mind. According to CNN, the mother’s friend stated that the shooter, Adam Lanza, did seem to be “very withdrawn emotionally“.  A narrower definition of neurodevelopmental disorder does impact emotion, etc. which unfolds as the child grows.  It was suggested by one that he was possibly feeling that his mom spent more time with the children she volunteered to help and he could have felt that she loved them more than him.  Even children without diagnosed disorders might feel that a sibling or another is receiving more affections from their parents and resent it. Such resentment can be demonstrated in different ways.

We might never really know what all was going on in the shooter’s mind on that fateful day, since all of the clues were not laid out neatly for us as in the well-written story, The Grinch who Stole Christmas!  One thing we do know,  real lives were stolen from very real families in a real time in our real country! Murder and suicide are finite acts and don’t give room for the perpetrator’s heart to “grow three sizes” and allow for recompense to those lost lives.  Even though what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School surpassed any make believe trauma in a children’s tale, I believe our American families are very resilient and will not let this tragedy steal our spirits!

I believe this series of unfortunate events will motivate experts, legislators, administrators and many more of us to ask more probing questions including:1. How do we better identify and supply the needs for those with developmental disorders, mental illnesses, excessive emotional stresses, etc.?  2. How do we manage gun control and should concealed guns be allowed in schools?  3. How can we better prevent shootings of children across America including the hundreds killed regularly in cities like Chicago?  In fact, according to the Huffington Post, in Chicago,”there has been a minimum of 42 young people killed by guns each year since 2008″!  I had initiated a petition to the White House to help with violence against our children on many social media pages prior to the Connecticut shooting, but unfortunately received little support.  We can see more clearly as a country, that gun violence – especially against children – is a national concern.  As one family said who had recently moved to Newtown, they thought they were living in a very small and safe place. Newtown is much bigger than the imaginary Whoville in a snowflake.  But now, these newcomers see the crude reality that, “If it could happen here, it can happen anywhere.“

Some children stories have a different meaning to different people but somehow stay meaningful through many generations. But we must write a new chapter to an old refrain!  Christmas is about God’s gift to the world.  Children are God’s gift to us!  We must give the gift of protecting the lives of All of our children at all cost!

I’m thankful for the outpouring of love sent and shared with these families and hope we will share that kind of love for other families who lose children to violence in America.  Thanks to the Connecticut Parents’ Union (CPU) president and Mom Congress delegate, Gwen Samuel, who launched a “Coping and Caring” Express Bus providing counseling information and activities for grieving children and families who needed and wanted to share.  Gwen invited me to attend and I was very disappointed I couldn’t, but our non-profit organization, United Communities to Advance our Neighborhoods, (UCAN, Inc) is sending a donation.  (Click above on CPU, if would like to contribute as well.)

If you would like to send Condolences, please address it to:
Messages of Condolence for Newtown
P. O. Box 3700
Newtown, CT 06470

Also see Confusing Asperger’s with Mental Illness and Mental Illness with Evil;

PTA Supports Sandy Hook’

SIGN and Share Petition for Action to Stop Gun & Sexual Violence Against Children

270 Children shot and Killed in Chicago since 2007

How to Talk to Kids about School Shooting…

Kwanzaa’s Principle of Unity: R-E-S-P-E-C-T not Jealousy

Let’s get something cleared up right now. Kwanzaa is not a religious or political holiday and can be celebrated by any culture that believes in its principles.  “Kwanza” is Swahili for “First Fruits” and is comprised of “seven principles” called the “Nguzo Saba” in this African language. Swahili is used by over 60 million especially in Eastern Africa, but it serves as the official language of five nations: Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, the Comoros and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  When Dr. Maulana Karenga established this celebration here in 1966, he added an “a” to the end of “Kwanza” to stand for the African-American culture being highlighted.  The seven principles of “Kwanzaa” are Unity, Self-Determination, Collective Work & Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity and Faith. These principles are seen as key in reinforcing family, community and culture. Giving of your “first fruits”, is giving your best!

As we focus on the first day of Kwanzaa, traditionally the day after Christmas but can be celebrated anytime, we practice its principle of Umoja which is Swahili for UNITY!  “Unity is both a principle and practice of togetherness in all things good and of mutual benefit. It is a principled and harmonious togetherness not simply a being together,” as stated on Prema’s Kwanzaa site.

An important component of unity, is as Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin sang, R-E-S-P-E-C-T! I believe that we must: 1. Respect ourselves: We must carry ourselves in a way that show we honor that which we claim to value especially our family, our culture and our God or higher power, regardless of religion.  We must also treat our minds and bodies with the discipline that promotes health, education, sobriety and chastity. Better educating our children on saying no to drugs at all costs, is the priority of the day!  At the end of the day, we must seek or provide healing as needed to set examples of sobriety in our families and communities.  2.  Respect others: We shouldn’t seek honor by ruling negatively with gold, but by honoring the Golden Rule of treating others as we positively want to be treated.  3.  Respect peace: We must seek peaceful ways to resolve our conflicts.  Violence is destroying our communities! “Tragically, more than 38,000 people died by suicide in the United States in 2010. Homicide claimed another 16,000 people,” according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.  In addition to respecting current life we must respect the power of producing life. Avoiding sex outside of marriage is important to reduce teen pregnancies and the many challenges that face many, single parent families.  4. Respect property:  We must not vandalize others property or do graffiti on them without consent of owners. Graffiti done constructively can be a positive art form of Kuumba or creativity. We also must care for our communities and not use their streets as wastelands. Littering is something we can easily change while also helping the environment.  5.Respect elders:  We must learn to listen to what many senior citizens have to say especially regarding their experiences and lessons learned in life.  This doesn’t only make them feel good but it can do you some good to learn from them without repeating some of their mistakes. Listening to them can help you to find solutions to problems they discovered and you haven’t. 6. Respect laws: We must not only honor the laws of the land but also God’s laws and relationships or those of your higher power.  It is important to pray for strength to “resist temptation” to break His laws, and yes, everyone will be tempted in some way.  7. Respect “teamship”: It’s important to realize that it is not just “about us”.  We must appreciate the contributions of others as well as taking action to fulfill our Nia or purpose.  We must also be able to cordially work outside of our “cliques” and comfort zones. This relates to other principles of Kwanzaa such as Ujima (Collective work and Responsibility) and Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics).  8. Respect history: We are steeped in a rich history of heroes and “sheroes” who overcame overwhelming obstacles with faith and dignity. Once, while worshipping at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, I heard Pastor Jeremiah Wright, Ph.D. speak of Sankofa.  Sankofa is derived from West Africa’s Akan people and means to remember your past.  Going forward sometimes means going backward to learn and draw strength.

Part of unity is also notallowing petty differences prevent you from working together or supporting each other positive outreach.  Too often, things like jealousy and various forms of prejudice, don’t show “respect for others” and hinder our abilities to focus on the important work before us.  I believe some are so afraid that others might outshine them or might gain influence that they themselves seek.  Long-term unity likely will not be achieved with this kind of fear as a guide.  I’d rather be a part of a blessing than to try to prevent someone from being blessed.  Jealousy or envy can be very destructive and can exist in your community, your school, your workplace, and yes, in your family, your church and even in your heart.  According to DifferenceBetween.com, “Jealousy results due to the intolerance in connection with the wealth, position, achievement, status and the like of another person.“ Positive criticism shared directly can be helpful. But people who are jealous often try to turn others against the person of whom they are jealous and not support their causes and constantly cast “excessively critical” eyes toward them. You might have seen some of this play out in today’s politics as well. This might also be referred to in some arenas as “hating”.   From my vantage point, jealousy or envy can also cause some whom you thought were supporters to gravitate to those who appear not to be for you, as that can make them feel superior.  Wikipedia says, ” Envy is best defined as a resentful emotion that “occurs when a person lacks another’s (perceived) superior quality, achievement or possession and wishes that the other lacked it.”    According to authors, Parrot and Smith, “Envy occurs when someone obtains something another lacks, whereas jealousy occurs when someone is fearful of losing something”.   But we must not let others or other things decide for us who we are or who we will support which is the second principle of Kwanzaa, kujichagulia or self-determination!  We must stand up for what is right even if it’s our family, friends or church that is cosigning such behavior by not speaking against it!

On this day of Unity, the first candle is lit – which is black, standing for the  people, and is in the center of the kinara or candle holder. The lit Mishumaa Saba or candles symbolize the sun’s power. Each day, a candle is lit for that day’s principle, then the prior candles, initially starting with the red candles on the left for our struggle, followed by the green for hope for future growth.  Respect and Unity often come after much struggling, but we must remain hopeful and work diligently toward achieving this discipline in Imani or faith. There can be other important components of unity, but mastering the art of “respect” is a powerful step toward creating unity in our lives! It creates a light that shines like the sun. Surely we’ll make mistakes.  But we must grow from those mistakes and do better.  Solidarity – mutual agreement and support, harmonies of interests and responsibilities – can’t be achieved without having some discipline that shows we respect these important areas of our lives.  It is our commitment to this discipline that promotes unity and prosperity.  As stated by Mattie Stepanek, a poet and peace advocate who died a teen, “Unity is strength… when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.”  As we say in PTA, TEAM – Together Each Achieves More!

Also see, Statement from the President and the First Lady on Kwanzaa.

They talk about respect all the time, but they don’t respect anyone.

Black Leaders Share Agenda with President Obama

During President Obama’s administration, many critics have accused Black Leaders of not stepping up to the plate in sharing major concerns of the black community with the president because he was a person of color.

I appreciate Dr. Boyce Watkin’s comment in his YourBlackWorld.net article, “Host Who Received “Cease and Desist” Order from Tavis Smiley speaks with Roland Martin, Tom Joyner”, “Since 2008, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Cornel West, Father Michael Pfleger and even I have clearly stated that the president and Congress must address the following issues: Violence, mass incarceration, black unemployment, poverty and unequal educational systems. Not only have these recommendations been made on a consistent basis, they were accompanied by specific policy avenues through which these matters could be addressed.”

There were meetings (at least) in 2010, 2011 and recently in 2012 which included Marc Morial, president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League; Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network; Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.

As cited in InsightNews.com, “Leaders Craft a Black Agenda for President Obama”, “Morial summarized five priorities that would be fleshed out in the new agenda:

• Achieve economic parity for African-Americans.
• Promote equity in educational opportunity.
• Protect and defend voting rights.
• Promote a healthier nation by eliminating healthcare disparities.
• Achieve comprehensive reform of the criminal justice system.“

Over forty African-American leaders were represented from newspapers, grassroots organizations, historical groups such as the Southern Christian Leadership President, Charles Steele and more. TV One’s Roland Martin even tried interrogating Rev. Sharpton and Marc Morial to find out how far were they willing to go to get results from the president. They wouldn’t “peep their cards”, but said there will be another meeting early next year with the president and all of congress.

We could spend time criticizing the leaders, the meetings or the agenda, however I think such criticism would be misplaced. I choose to focus on how we can 1. support this agenda  2. suggest change to the agenda  3. caucus to produce our own agenda and/or 4. take action to move this agenda forward. I’m for building up, collaborating and focusing on producing results. In all honesty, the question is not, what Tavis or Cornel is or isn’t doing; or what President Barack Obama and our leaders are or are not doing. The prevailing question we must honestly ask ourselves, is “What are WE doing to help ourselves, our schools, our churches and our communities? What say you?

Also see, “Bob Johnson to President Obama, “Black Joblessness Needs to be Tackled Head-On”.