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BOOK REVIEWS
Author and educational consultant Dr.
Jawanza Kunjufu has released a very thought provoking book on the educational plight of
African American students. Many of us are
aware of the academic achievement gap between White and Black students. At the elementary level there is almost a three
stanine difference and on the SAT there is a 200 point differential.
The book
explores the probable causes for this disparity. They
include low teacher expectations, inadequate time on task, a mismatch between teaching and
learning styles, tracking, an irrelevant eurocentric curriculum, negative peer pressure,
poor parental involvement, parental income and marital status, school funding, and
genetics. Kunjufu analyzes the above and
provides a wealth of references.
I was
amazed to read that the future of the Black race lies in the hands of White female
teachers who constitute 83 percent of the elementary teaching force. There has been a 66 percent decline in African
American teachers since the landmark Brown vs. Topeka school integration decision of 1954. The African American male teacher has become a
dinosaur. Kunjufu argues the problems are
not resolved with those African American educators who lower expectations based on class. He also wonders why some teachers are against
choice while sending their children to private schools.
While Kunjufu has an Africentric ideology, he was not afraid to read and incorporate the research from the Heritage Foundation, Brookings and Manhattan Institute, and Education Trust. While many educators attribute the gap to the students being low-income, what explains the gap which is actually wider between middle-income Whites and Blacks? How do we explain the success of so many schools in low-income African American communities who have produced students well above the national average?
Kunjufu
documents that the most important factor is not the background of the student – but
the teacher. Please do not think the author
believes it’s the race or gender of the teacher.
Kunjufu clearly writes it’s not race or gender, but expectations, time
on task, and qualifications. This includes
the teacher’s college GPA, major, state exam proficiency, and historical teaching
track record. This has a much greater
influence on student performance than race or income.
His last
chapter, models of success is worth the price of the book.
I would encourage Black Students/Middle Class Teachers for all
educators, parents, and community residents concerned about the future education of
African American children.
State
Of Emergency: We Must Save African American Males
By Dr. Jawanza
Kunjufu return to New Releases
If you thought Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu’s national best seller “Countering the Conspiracy To Destroy Black Boys” was thought provoking, I encourage you to read State of Emergency: We Must Save African American Males. The chapters include education, economics, drugs, prisons, fatherlessness, and solutions.
The book is worth buying just for the statistics. In 1980, there were less than 100,00 African American males incarcerated. Just two decades later, the figure swelled to 1.3 million due to the impact of drugs, prison, draconian legislation, and police brutality. Crack has been devastating.
Kunjufu documents the problems for African American males did not begin when they were incarcerated. The challenges began in a hostile school district that would rather place them in special education than gifted and talented. Is there a relationship between vitalin and cocaine? Between zero tolerance and the death penalty?
Why were Black people brought to this country? Does that reason exist today? What purpose do Black men have in this highly technological economy? Are they only needed to play like gladiators in the stadium and then provide employment for poor rural Whites by becoming fodder for the privitized penal system?
Is there a war on drugs or African American men? How do we explain 74 percent of drug users are White, but 65 percent of those convicted are African American? Kunjufu argues prostitution efficacy exists by locking up the buyer versus the seller. How do we explain that only one percent of drug users in Europe are HIV infected while over 60 percent of Americans are infected? Does Europe view drugs as a medical problem? Does America see drugs as a criminal problem? Does God see drugs as a moral problem? Is there a relationship between America, Rome, and Sodom and Gammorah? Have guns and drugs now reached Columbine, Santee, and White America in denial? All this and more are discussed in this excellent book.
The chapter I enjoyed most was fatherlessness. Kunjufu documents that the greatest precursor is not racism or poverty, but fatherlessness. He describes four males in most families. They include sperm donors, no-show fathers, ice cream daddies, and fathers. We are in a state of emergency because only 30 percent of African American children have daddies in the home.
As usual, Kunjufu provides numerous solutions throughout the book. If you are concerned about African American males, the 85 percent recidivism rate, mandatory drug sentencing, illiteracy, zero tolerance, DWB, AIDS, and much more, you will enjoy Kunjufu’s next bestseller?
The Conspiracy To Destroy Black
Women:
By Michael Porter
return to New Releases
The fact that Black women catch more than their share of hell is not up for debate.
Many writers have dealt with the many and profound hardships faced by Black women.
Agree or not, each of them contributed something of value to be used to improve the
harmful conditions plaguing too many, if not all,
Black women. Now comes an extremely powerful eye opening addition that is solely
dedicated to the obtainment of self-determination for Black women. The Conspiracy To
Destroy Black Women reveals a deliberate and ongoing effort to instill confusion,
self-doubt, fear, and eventually self-hatred into the
minds and hearts of Black women, beginning in childhood. Every facet of American
society has a role in this conspiracy (educational system, entertainment industry,
religious organizations, corporate sector, and
government). The conspiracy mandates that Black women never realize their personal
nor collective strengths because such a realization leads to self-determination, which is
a threat to the patriarchal White power structure. No issued faced by Black women
exists in isolation; AIDS, physical and sexual abuse, relationship issues, self-image,
incarceration, and religious subjugation are all interconnected and forms a devastating
reality for Black women. The Conspiracy To Destroy Black Women also examines
the role that Black men and white women play in the conspiracy. The guilt/innocence
factors as relates to Black men, and how Black women can impact the behavior of Black men
is examined. The uneasy and questionable role of white women is discussed in a
straight-to-the point manner. The book
takes a hard, inside, no-nonsense look at how these issues impact Black women and provides
reality-based strategies, many given by Black women's organizations, that are intended to
bring about the right for Black women to create a life-enhancing reality for themselves,
their families, and their
communities.
From Ghetto to Community: The Ressurection of Afrikan American Community
By Billy Vance
return to New Releases
During a recent public forum on the state of Black America, one panelist, Florida
Congressman Alcee Hastings questioned the existence of the "Black
community." Rep. Hastings concluded parenthetically that the answer was
no! This profound assertion passed without challenge or comment; yet, it was the
most important issue facing any forum intent on assessing the state of Black
America. A new book, From Ghetto to Community, tackles this issue and many others
head on. >From Ghetto to Community, its stunning is scope. It seeks no less
than to define a "system of is being" for African Americans. The author
suggests that African Americans lacks a mechanism to realize its potential and objectives,
at the collective level. He then sets out to define the social "system" in
the African American community as well as the environment in which the "system"
must operate. The result is a unique view of the African
American situation and a surprisingly remedy for what ails Black America.
The author opens with:
From Ghetto to Community examines cultural phenomena. Cultures exist and operates on
two levels, in the level of the individual, and on the level of the collective. In
America, the interests of the individual appear to reign supreme; therefore, the focus of
culture in this country is almost entirely
on the individual. Indeed, Afrikan Americans have been conditioned to believe in the
primacy of the individual; our thoughts and our actions are all too often based on the
individualism impulse. At the same time, Afrikan Americans have been conditioned to
reject, the notion of collectivism. We
are blind to the mechanism(s) of collective human action-institutions. The nexus
between culture, parity, an institution is the recurring theme of this book. These
themes are woven together masterfully to form a unified and comprehensive approach to
problem solving in the Black community. African
Americans are described as caught in the throes of intractable disparity in America.
In fact, the author demonstrates that rampart disparity is the central condition
separating African Americans from other cultures in the U.S. The author asserts that
disparity is "the measure of the failure of America's institutions to be responsive
to the needs of Black Citizens." He makes a convincing case that African
Americans must have its own community of institutions because America's institutions are
unable and/or unwilling to be responsive to the needs of Black people. For perhaps
the first time, a comprehensive approach to problem solving has been presented to African
Americans by an African American. Under this innovative approach, race-based
analysis is dismissed in favor of a recognition that African Americans are a distinct
culture in America. With their status as a distinct culture, comes the
responsibility to mold the (individual and collective) behavior of the members of that
culture. After
reading From Ghetto to Community, the reader can no longer look at the African American
community nor American society in the same way; this book changes everything. And if
African America is listening (and reading), it will be a positive change.
Saving Black America: An Economic Plan For Civil Rights
By John Odom
Have Civil Rights organizations kept up with times? Have they
captured the hearts, minds, and imagination of today's youth? Have the
strategiesremained the same? Have the problems remained the same? There is an
old adage, " If you keep doing what you've been doing you'll keep receiving the
same result." It has also been said, if you keep doing the same thing, but
expect different results, that borders on insanity!
John Odom has written a powerful book, Saving Black America: An Economic Plan for Civil
Rights. This is a must read for those concerned about the NAACP, Urban League, SCLC,
Rainbow Push, the Action Network and other Civil Rights organizations. In addition,
it is essential that every African American
realize there is a need to move beyond protest to an offensive strategy. Can Civil
Rights organizations continue to be dependent on White foundations to finance liberation
strategies? In the book, Odom raises the question "where are the Jews on
welfare?" Jewish organizations understand economic
development and do not rely on the government to take care of their own.
Odom describes the plight of one-third of African Americans who live below the poverty
line. What is the strategy of Civil Rights organizations to address 12 million poor
African Americans? Odom provides a clear blueprint for organizations to implement.
Using a sports analogy, if we want conditions
to change, we must use new plays, and play less defense by reacting and marching.
Odom wants his readers to play more offense by adding economics to the civil rights
equation. Every African American should read this book and write Jesse Jackson Sr.,
Kwesi Mfume, Hugh Price, Martin Luther King III, and
Al Sharpton a letter.
Dr. Odom , consultant, educator and civil rights leader, is the
President of Odom & Associates and is President of the Charles Hamilton Houston
Institute which was founded to advance the planning and implementation of a new model for
civil rights.
Hooked On Hoops
By Kevin McNutt
The endless trail of Black athletes jilted by basketball, devoid of concrete options having sold out body and soul for the game they love and in the process forfeiting their opportunity for an education. They now feel betrayed by their dreams, their community, their coaches, colleges and whomever else they can blame for their failure to make the NBA continues to grow. Yet, it doesn’t have to persist. In fact it can recede. It has too! The sport is stripping our community of its most cherished resource-the young Black male-and instead of producing educated leaders for change and self empowerment returns to us (usually after their college eligibility has expired far short of a college degree) dependent and defeated former basketball prodigies.
Change can occur. It can occur with a complete analysis, critical evaluation and penetrating introspection of the situations that lead our Black athletes, to an addictive, one-sided relationship with the sport of basketball. Followed by innovative, thought provoking, often controversial, yet creative concepts to solicit new attitudes and determinations to produce a different result. Hooked on Hoops does just that. Hard hitting, sharp, compassionate, and encompassing the book details the many factors and aspects that lead Black youth to an addictive relationship with the sport lacking balance and perspective. In doing so, the book is often more a portrait about Black culture and lifestyles than basketball. Yet the book is nor a “crash and burn” theory on why basketball is a bane on the Black community and should be banned as a goal for Black youth. That cry is the easy way out! Nor is it a blame-the-White-power-structure for its exploitation of the Black athlete expose. To the contrary, Hooked on Hoops is an advocate of sport and sports participation but with a concise and knowledgeable understanding of the highlights, pitfalls, consequences, and responsibilities of the game by athletes, parents, and fans.
Author Kevin McNutt has combined 25 years of basketball experience as a big city playground athlete, high school and college player with 18 years as a high school and NCAA referee to compile a penetrating and emotional account of the Black athlete and basketball. His insight, wisdom, research, observations, and experiences come together to provide the reader with a unique stance on what drives the Black athlete to excel on the court yet often restricts his progress off it.
Hooked on Hoops is a plea for focus, vision, critical thinking, and awareness of how to use sports, particularly basketball for growth and productivity before the sport can and will eventually drain the energy, enthusiasm, optimism, and courage of the Black athlete. Ultimately the book is about personal accountability and self-empowerment.
Heartfelt and passionately written, Hooked on Hoops portrays the chaotic, give-and -take, yet always a contentious struggle of the Black athlete to find a proper balance and perspective with basketball in his life. The result is a fascinating and insightful narration of Black life, the Black athlete, and his relationship with basketball.
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