Academic Rants

It is very important for those writing history to create the narrative on which that history stands. This is also true for those making history. The narratives of African Americans is far too often written by those who are not of African heritage. Black people and their ideas, political and social movements, and creations should be judged and evaluated from an African centered perspective. Unfortunately, in our Eurocentric world, the virtues of white Americans dictate how things are seen.  And this is the key problem for White America, who is creating their narratives?  Is it FOX, CNN, MSNBC, the Washington Post, the New York Times, or the Wall Street Journal? What other sources does one need to consult to learn about the events in your nation ? Anti-racism movements are as old as the nation itself. Yet, many in our news medias portray these movements as quite recent and frequently violent.  The treatment of anti-racist movements when white Americans are excluded...

I've had a Twitter account for years. My students pushed me to get an account, and one of my colleagues suggested that I could use Twitter as a teaching tool. My colleague was correct. Currently, Twitter is an amazing tool, but I'm not sure in the way that its creators intended. Instead of tweeting, I read. I've witnessed the viewpoints of millions of people and some that are vastly different than my own. I have been informed, educated and disgusted, but I have never stopped reading. Twitter has become the tool of influence. In fact, it can create influencers. Opinions and facts fly out to whoever is interested in reading and participating in social media debates. Often these conversations get a bit rowdy, but there's no violence. Tweets that affect the security of nations have been blocked and in some nations, there is censorship of tweets. But the power of the mind in reading, believing, disproving, arguing and fighting ensures that it will remain in the forefront o...

"He's a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot" "He doesn't represent my party..." Lindsey Graham, 2015 “Black Lives Matter states, “If U.S. doesn’t give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it”. This is Treason, Sedition, Insurrection” Donald J. Trump  @realDonaldTrump June 25, 2020 I think that in order to construct an anti-racist dialogue, you have to decide what constitutes racism and what forms of racism are you trying to combat. In elementary education, we often present a universal racism that is really a more advanced form of discrimination and prejudice. Students learn that this "racism" is slowly disappearing or has been defeated through legislation and behavioral changes. In higher education, we broaden our understanding of racism to include systemic, structural, institutional, environmental and personal forms of racism. It is critical to acknowledge that since more than half of all Am...