Charter school in tough neighborhood gets all its seniors into college

Urban Prep Charter School

It's the first graduating class at Urban Prep since it opened its doors in 2006.

Urban Prep Charter School is the country's first all-boys public charter high school. Located in Englewood, Illinois, the school is graduating its first class of seniors. Every one of them has been accepted into a four-year college or university---four years ago, many of them were not reading at grade level. Mayor Daley and other dignitaries joined them Friday to celebrate the milestone.







When we add this to the example of Children's Defense Fund and The Harlem Children's Zone we see that the will to educate, applied by people who care, can make all the difference.

Now, if we start to insist more emphatically that money be diverted from incarcerating our young people to educating them, maybe we can see this happen on a much larger scale.

The Harlem Children's Zone

The Harlem Children's Zone Project is an example of what we must do to rebuild our community's infrastructure. We will all have to involve ourselves and do whatever it takes to insure that this and programs like it thrive every where there are children in need of upliftment. We all have to do our best to raise the funds to make it happen. Our children deserve a stake in the future of this country and we can make it happen, as the work of Geoffry

Canada has shown us.

Called "one of the most ambitious social-service experiments of our time," by The New York Times, The Harlem Children's Zone Project is a unique, holistic approach to rebuilding a community so that its children can stay on track through college and go on to the job market.

The goal is to create a "tipping point" in the neighborhood so that children are surrounded by an enriching environment of college-oriented peers and supportive adults, a counterweight to "the street" and a toxic popular culture that glorifies misogyny and anti-social behavior.

continue

Geoffrey Canada on Helping Harlem's Children

CNN Harlem Children's Zone

Harlem Children's Zone kids talk about their lives in Harlem

Harlem Children's Zone Moms

Trends does a rap video with kids from Harlem Children Zone

Barack Obama on the Harlem Children's Zone

September 22nd, 2009

pdf_button U.S. Secretary of Education and White House Domestic Policy Advisor Melody Barnes to keynote at national conference to replicate Harlem Children's Zone Project in New York City November 9-10.

Visit The Harlem Children's Zone Web Site

The Warrior's Prayer

Lineup of African-American Soldiers, (Buffalo Soliers), Cuba.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division.

The Warrior's Prayer

Long since, in sore distress, I heard one
pray,
“Lord, who prevailest with resistless might,
Ever from war and strife keep me away,
My battles fight!”

I know not if I play the Pharisee,
And if my brother after all be right;
But mine shall be the warrior’s plea to thee—
Strength for the fight.

I do not ask that thou shalt front the fray,
And drive the warring foeman from my sight;
I only ask, O Lord, by night, by day,
Strength for the fight!

When foes upon me press, let me not quail
Nor think to turn me into coward flight.
I only ask, to make my arms prevail,
Strength for the fight!

Still let mine eyes look ever on the foe,
Still let mine armor case me strong and
bright;
And grant me, as I deal each righteous blow,
Strength for the fight!

And when, at eventide, the fray is done,
My soul to Death’s bedchamber do thou
light,
And give me, be the field lost or won,
Rest from the fight!

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Marion Wright Edelman Started the Childrens Defense Fund in the early 1970's

and she's been going strong ever since.

I didn't know anything at all about this dynamic woman until I saw a mention
about Malaak Compton-Rock and her trip to South Africa with the Bushwick Kids.

The Bushwick Kids Malaak Compton-Rock



Well this video really made me want to know more about
Malaak Compton-Rock was doing. So I dug around and found ;

Angel Rock Project and African Ancestry Help Teens Find Roots



One thing led to another and I found this:

Malaak Compton-Rock Children's Defense Fund



So this is where she got her inspiration?
I really wanted to know more about Marion Wright Edelman.
So I googled and searched youtube and guess what?
There is no end to the data on Edelman or the CDF
I see right away that President Obama made the wrong call
for the Health and welfare cabinet position.

Then again ms Edelman appears
to be working too well to be in government.

Introduction to the Children's Defense Fund




CDF Freedom Schools® Program Introductory Video




CDF President Marian Wright Edelman Health Care Reform Testimony



At this point, I'd say if you want to be on a winning team,
look up ms Marion Wright Edelman ASAP.

Peace out.

BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA.ORG

BLACK PUBLIC MEDIA.ORG is an online destination for free video streaming and distribution of fresh factual and fictional media related to the global black experience. Here you can watch free full-length streams of select documentary and narrative shorts, purchase to own engaging downloads, DVDs, and engage with multi-platform public media projects.

I was so delighted to discover this site that I only watched a couple of videos and didn't really explore it very much before I decided to put it on the blog right away. Hopefully you'll explore it more carefully and return with some helpful feedback pro or con. I also hope to see you spread the news so that more of us can benefit from the effort that's being made here.
It is productions such as this that will help to bring us to a place where we are able to see the potential we have to advance ourselves through cooperation
and mutual understanding. We should do whatever we can to help ensure the success of this and other projects like it.

To Paul Laurence Dunbar -- Thank You!

Paul Laurence Dunbar

As Black History Month draws to a close
let's remember Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Talk about inspired, Dunbar's work is
enough to keep us engaged for a long time.


from Ione-Part I Paul Laurence Dunbar.

I loved! Why not? My heart was youthful,
My mind was filled with healthy thought.
He doubts not whose own self is truthful,
Doubt by dishonesty is taught;
So loved I boldly, fearing naught.
I did not walk this lowly earth,
Mine was a newer, higher sphere
Where youth was long and life was dear,
And all save love was little worth.

The US Government presents Black History Month 2012

Let's take a look at how our government

is presenting BHM this year.

The theme for 2012
Black Women in American Culture and History

Visit this site and search suitable info to pass on

to our young ones.

topics

* African American History Month Home

* About
* Exhibits & Collections
* Images
* Audio/Video
* Profiles
* For Teachers
* Images Used On
This Site

http://africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/about.html

Guerilla Funk Recordings

Guerilla Funk Recordings- positive/conscious hip hop and more.

About Guerrilla Funk

Guerrilla Funk Recordings was born out of necessity. It's a musical organization that was founded by Paris - the politically conscious artist best known for the incendiary song "Bush Killa" - that counters the corporate stranglehold of censorship currently plaguing the entertainment industry. It provides balance in this intolerant climate of suppression of free speech and artistic expression, and serves as a vehicle for those who are unable - not because of lack of talent or relevance - to be heard. There now exists a harmful double-standard at most record labels of endorsing artists who only espouse misogyny, mindless violence, and drug culture references in their music -- while at the same time ignoring artists who strive to enlighten and inspire. It is our pledge at Guerrilla Funk Recordings not to follow suit.

What can I say? It's informative, it's entertaining and

 it's there for you. Go check out all of the material and

visit regularly because it's not static they stay up to date.

More on the BART slaying of Oscar Grant

 I'm always looking for online media that's oriented toward

the Black community and the need to create communication

necessary to keep us informed about the events that are currently,

as well as historically, affecting our lives as a people.

 The recent flurry of activity online has reminded me that 

the people of the "Bay Area" have a long history of speaking out

against institutional injustice. Now I have found a sister who is

poddcasting, blogging, interviewing, researching and don't I

believe I'm even coming close to fully expressing the energy I detect

from her direction. 

 Wanda Sabir is a powerhouse with her site wandaspicks.com

which describes itself as a   "Black arts event source"

this is definitely an understatement.  This site includes so much

information that I am not about to try to list the variety of material

that you will find there. Do check out her blog and those of you who

use itunes will be interested  in clicking here. 

 In a recent program on  blogtalkradio taped Thursday, January 8,

she features the poet Jahi, who responds to the police shooting 

and murder of Oscar Grant III January 1, 2009 at the 

Frutivale BART Station in Oakland. He is joined by Tiyesha Meroe 

who was at the rally 1/7 and at the BART Hearing 1/8 and shares 

her perspective on each.

 Enjoy Wanda's Picks I know I will.

Oscar Grant -Robbie Tolan -Adolph (Chris) Grimes

Oscar Grant -Robbie Tolan -Adolph (Chris) Grimes

 

Young Black American Men Gunned down by Police 

In The first Week of  2009.

Is there anything we can do about it.

Yes We Can.

We can work together.

We can put our money to better use from now on.

We can create jobs in our own communities.

We can educate our  youth of their true history.

We can build and or rebuild our community infrastructure.

We can support those who are already working

in our communities for our benefit.

We can continue to take an active part in local

and state politics.

We can teach our youth to respect and defend the community

rather than kill each other.

We can do anything we decide to do and we don't have

to wait for anyone to do it for us.

Sista Soulja has been addressing the problem for quite some time now.

She makes it very clear in the following piece.

If you listen carefully I believe you will hear her say,

YES WE CAN!

sista soulja speaks

The Timbuctoo Manuscripts - Let's Not Forget Historical Media

The treasures of Timbuktu
Wealth of words | The belief that Africa had no written history has been disproven in the fabled centre that once was a seat of Islamic scholarship
Dec. 18, 2005. 01:00 AM
JOAN BAXTER
SPECIAL TO THE STAR TIMBUKTU, MALI

Time has not been kind to this once-great centre of civilization, which in the early 1500s inspired the Spanish explorer Leo Africanus to paint a picture of a learned, cultured and peaceful place where books were the main industry, where one literally walked on "gold."

Lured by this promise of riches, European explorers tried for centuries to find Timbuktu. By the time the first ones finally arrived in the 1800s, they found a desolate desert outpost not all that different from the sand-swept town of today, with no evidence of all the fabled wealth. Hence, the Western myth about a never-never place with little to offer the world — a myth that is about to be exploded.

Today, treasures are being unearthed here that are radically changing the way the world views Timbuktu, Africa and her history. They're called the "Timbuktu manuscripts" and they disprove the myth that Africa had no written history.

While many thousands have been recovered, there are still hundreds of thousands of manuscripts hidden away in wells and mud-walled storerooms in northern Mali. Huge collections have been passed down in families over many centuries, kept out of sight for fear that European explorers, and then French colonists, would abscond with them.

"Before, all the manuscripts were kept in our homes," says Abdelkader Haidara, who has inherited his family's collection of 9,000 written works dating back to the 16th century.

"Then, in 1993, I had an idea to open a private and modern library that would be open to everyone."

Thanks to funding from an American foundation, Haidara has been able to open his Mamma Haidara library and catalogue 3,000 of the manuscripts, some of which date back to the 1100s.

None of this would have been possible had not Henry Louis Gates Jr., chair of Harvard University's African and African-American studies department, visited Haidara and realized the importance of preserving these documents.

"When professor Gates came here and saw the storeroom full of these manuscripts written by African scholars centuries ago, he started to cry," says Haidara. "He wept like a child, and when I asked him why, he said he had been taught at school that Africa had only oral culture and that he had been teaching the same thing at Harvard for years and now he knew all that was wrong."

Read more...

Ahmed Baba Institute

Libraries in the sand reveal Africa's academic past.

Researchers in Timbuktu are fighting to preserve tens of thousands of ancient texts which they say prove Africa had a written history at least as old as the European Renaissance.

Private and public libraries in the fabled Saharan town in Mali have already collected 150,000 brittle manuscripts, some of them from the 13th century, and local historians believe many more lie buried under the sand.

The texts were stashed under mud homes and in desert caves by proud Malian families whose successive generations feared they would be stolen by Moroccan invaders, European explorers and then French colonialists.

Written in ornate calligraphy, some were used to teach astrology or mathematics, while others tell tales of social and business life in Timbuktu during its "Golden Age," when it was a seat of learning in the 16th century.

"These manuscripts are about all the fields of human knowledge: law, the sciences, medicine," said Galla Dicko, director of the Ahmed Baba Institute, a library housing 25,000 of the texts.

Read more...

  I hope you all find this info interesting  enough to do a followup. 

This is the kind of thing we should be after the "Black guy" in the "White House"

to support. The world needs to become more aware of Africa's history.

It's not enough to know that these texts exist, we have to be about the work of

spreading their contents. The following is an example of what we might expect 

to find in these manuscripts, among other data.

An 18th century Timbuctoo Account - part 1
Posted on January 31, 2008 by The Griot
The following are excerpts from;

AN ACCOUNT OF A JOURNEY FROM FAS TO TIMBUCTOO, PERFORMED IN OR ABOUT THE YEAR 1787, A.C. BY EL HAGE ABD SALAM SHABEENY.
_WITH NOTES, CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY._By; JAMES GREY JACKSON,Printed by A. and R. Spottiswoode,Printers Street, London. 1820.
SITUATION OF THE CITY OF TIMBUCTOO.

On the east side of the city of Timbuctoo, there is a large forest,in which are a great many elephants. The timber here is very large. The trees on the outside of the forest are remarkable for having two different colours; that side which is exposed to the morning sun is black, and the opposite side is yellow. The body of the tree has neither branches nor leaves, but the leaves, which are remarkably large, grow upon the top only: so that one of these trees appears, at a distance, like the mast and round top of a ship.

 Read more

Jared Ball presents - Amiri Baraka, Tom Porter, Rosa Clemente Debate Electoral Politics

 Jared Ball on his program Midday Jazzn'nJustice presents a firey, stimulating discussion which we should all be listening to. The speakers bring a miriad of ideas to the table, they have different approaches, they are discussing issues and strategies which we all can benefit by hearing. The discussion gets hot and heavy now and again  but as "warm-blooded people" we can handle it. :)

 The more we involve ourselves in discussions such as this, the more we will be able to formulate a strategy to empower ourselves. Yes it takes more than talking but we do need to communicate enough to get on the same page. 

 Props to prof Ball.

Manning Marable an Interview

I came across quite a few mp3 files featuring Prof. Maning Marable and found them all very

informative and interesting.  One that I found to be very good listening was -

WBAI senior producer Dred-Scott Keyes, interviews Dr. Manning Marable of Columbia University's Institute of Black Studies. 

In the interview  Dr. Marable discusses his book 

"The Great Wells of Democracy"

In the interview he covers diverse topics ie.

• The nature of modern racism
• The affect of Globalization on Black Nationalism
• The Prison Industrial Complex
  
• Disefranchisment as a result of imprisonment
• The econonic consequences of mass incarceration

Click to listen to Part 1.

Click to listen to Part 2.

The Importance of Podcasts to the Black Community

 Well, it's  been a while since I've been in "summer mode" and taking advantage of the mild weather to get away from the computer. I'm still always looking for podcasts +  that are interesting to me and geared toward the upliftment, entertainment or information of our people. 

I usually download and burn these podcasts as mp3 files on a CD and listen to them on a portable CD player when I''m walking the dog or waiting in any "waiting room".

I listen to them on the car CD player if I'm stuck in traffic or on a long trip. Doing this, has cut my non-productive time drastically. I now find that an 8-hour trip is quite short, rush hour traffic is simply more time to listen to interesting and informative material created by Black folks for Black folks.

On the minus side, I have a tendency to be isolated in the world between my earphones and even get a little annoyed sometimes when a situation arises that calls for me to stop listening to my program. Of course, this is not serious because I know that I can always resume where I left off. The isolation however is of more concern to me so I am trying to reach out to others via this blog in the hopes that I can share what I discover and reciprocally learn about some things that I might not otherwise find. Comments, ideas and other input, even criticisms will be welcomed. We have such a great opportunity to develope our own media, on many levels and everything we need to get it started is at our fingertips.

 The different  subjects  and fields of interest are many and steadily growing. Whether it's music, a college course or lecture, politics, subjects of interest to Black women, erotica, interviews with prominent people in the community, local or national radio talkshow hosts,  international concerns, health issues, crime and much much more, it's being covered in many cases excellently and expertly by people in the Black community. 

 Even the amateur presentations offer an insight into places that "mass media" doesn't venture into, while at the same time giving us the opportunity to discover new talent and keep up with the attitudes and impressions of  youth and those on the fringes of our society.

 In closing , this blogger feels that we should use every resource at our disposal to expand the use of  the podcast, to introduce the podcast to the uninitiated and create a wide network of Black produced material with the idea of  keeping all of us in touch with the pulse and nerve endings  of the Black Community.  

Opio's Podcast

Opio's Podcast
History, Current Events, Social Commentary --
King, Mckinney, Kennedy, Prof. Griff, Chavez (Ceasar) ---
Hip Hop, Politics, Labor Unions --
Interviews, Speeches, Reports --
Much, Much More......

Everything for the progressive Black activist to sink his/her teeth into.
He probably won't be discussing artie lange but hey, TV drama isn't everything.

Smarten Up with iTunes U

iTunes U is the place to look if you are motivated to learn but don't have money or time to go to classes. Maybe even if you do.

Just open iTunes, go to the iTunes Store and look down the column to the bottom and you'll see iTunes U. Click on this and you'll discover hundreds if of courses, lectures and seminars offered in audio and or video format by no fewer than 45 top colleges and universities and the list is growing daily. All for free. Just be careful not to exceed your download limit but that's between you and your service provider. That happened to me, so now I go to the library or a coffee shop with my laptop and download all I want, for free.

I go to sleep listening to courses. I burn CDs and listen when I'm in the car and I have a portable CD player that I use when I'm walking the dog or waiting at the clinic. Even long automobile trips are short as far as I'm concerned. (You'll notice I've made some changes. That's because I wrote this piece some years ago. I have an ipod now, but a tablet or iphone or any number of devices may be used at this point in time. The basic idea is still the same while the possibilities are even greater. With imagination, one or more people could get a group of youngsters  together and teach them any number of things.)

Also in iTunes and equally free and no less informative and or entertaining, are thousands and thousands of podcasts, covering more topics than you can even think of, so practise using their power search and before you know it you'll get the hang of it. The same goes for podcasts with regards to teaching young folks.

The only downside for me is the cost of AA batteries and that's been taken care of by buying bulk alkaline AA cells at Costco I'm told they're manufactured by a well known manufacturer of batteries and they last just as long so I believe it. It just keeps getting better, doesn't in? Now my devices all have rechargeable batteries. Who knows? Soon they may be solar, if they are not already.

The last lecture I listened to was called, "How Unequal Can America Get Before We Snap?"

by Robert Reich, UC Berkeley. I can't wait for the next one. (That "last lecture" at this time, was literally hundreds of lectures ago. Not to mention the hundreds of podcasts. On top of this my local library has made available thousands of audio/digital books that can be downloaded at high speed right onto my device. I readily use this service. If you're buying any of these device for your very young ones, be sure to train them early on to take full advantage of these resources.)