New York City Middle School Students Interview 3

Friday
March 27, 2009
Bronx, New York City

I interviewed my nephew and his classmate, Matthew and Michael, at my sister's house in the Bronx. They are first year middle school students at Albert Einstein I.S. 131. It's the same middle school I went to in the 1980s. I am not a teacher in the NYC school system. So I have no experience inside it as a teacher. I used to teach English in Korea in various institutes and several schools.

Generally, I have a pessimistic view of the schools here. American education is abysmal in it's efforts to prepare it's citizens to fully participate in society. This seems to be especially true of African American males (of which I am one).

I could expound on and on infinitely about what's wrong with the schools here. I will just say that historically it's been an amazing struggle. African Americans had to fight for everything we have in this country. Younger generations take for granted things that were unthinkable in the past.

But still things aren't good now and seem to be devolving in some respects. Even with an African American president in the White House. The United States is supposedly the mightiest country on earth. Yet looking at countries like Norway, France, England, even little Cuba (as Michael Moore did recently in his docudrama SICKO)--we see that we are quite backwards in comparison. Americans are simply put to shame when we look at some of the basic pillars of a society like housing, employment, health care, education and the judicial system.

Those other countries have miraculously discovered that a well-treated, healthy, educated citizenry is the basis of a strong society.

The City University of New York was free to all until the 1970s when African Americans began to enroll en mass. Racism is our disease. And we are still very very sick with this cancer of the mind.

The very essence of the United States of America has been one of racial, cultural and economic domination through war, repression, incarceration, disinformation and exploitation of all kinds. It's education system is a microcosm of this: As the country invests more prisons over investing in it's schools.


Fitzcarl Antony Johnson Reid
인터넷영어튜터 070-7847-5245
http://club.cyworld.com/InternetEnglishTutor

relevant links:


http://www.wbai.org
http://www.freespeech.org
http://ww.pacifica.org
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Tim Wise-institutional racism, labor, prison education
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-VEWJncnsk
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Tim Wise: discussing his new book Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama
http://www.redroom.com/event/discussing-his-new-book-between-barack-and-a-hard-place-racism-and-white-denial-age-obama
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Tim Wise on White Privilege - Racism, White Denial & the Costs of Inequality
http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=137
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Not-So-Little White Lies: Education and the Myth of Black Anti-Intellectualism
http://www.zmag.org/zspace/commentaries/1387
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Why Slavery?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ecXcSG3yC8
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Incarceration vs. Education: Reproducing Racism and Poverty in America
http://www.urbanhabitat.org/node/2808
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Racism and Public Schools, 2 Articles
http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=52866
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Racism in America's Schools. ERIC Digest Series, Number EA 49.
http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9215/racism.htm
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Reduce the Rate: Rev. Jesse Jackson Joins Movement Against Crippling Rates on Student Loans
March 12, 2009 | Story
Amid massive government bailouts of the nation's banks, we speak to the Reverend Jesse Jackson about Reduce the Rate, his new campaign urging the Obama administration to slash the interest rates on …
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/12/reduce_the_rate_rev_jesse_jackson
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Senate Nears Stimulus Vote After Cutting Education Spending
February 09, 2009 | Headline
The Senate is expected to vote to end debate today on a compromise version that will cut more than $100 billion from President Obama's economic stimulus plan. The cuts include $35 billion for …
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/9/headlines#1
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Study: Segregation on Rise in US Schools
January 16, 2009 | Headline
In education news, a new report says black and Latino students are experiencing increasing segregation in US schools. The University of California’s Civil Rights Project says black and Hispanic …
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/16/headlines#19
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January 08, 2004 - America Behind The Color Line–A Conversation With Renowned Scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. - Renowned scholar and chair of Harvard’s African-American studies department Henry Louis Gates joins in our firehouse studios to discuss Colin Powell, Cornel West and how the African American experience has transformed from a civil rights movement into a class struggle.
http://www.democracynow.org/2004/1/8/america_behind_the_color_line_a
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October 10, 2005 - Indigenous Activists Blast Columbus Day as “Propping Up of Racist Propaganda”Columbusday protest - Today is known as Columbus Day–we take a look at why some people are not commemorating the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the so-called “new world.”
http://www.democracynow.org/2005/10/10/indigenous_activists_blast_columbus_day_as
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March 29, 2006 - Thousands of Students Defy School Lockdowns and Continue Walkouts to Protest Anti-Immigrant Bill- Walkout2 - Tens of thousands of high school students have staged walkouts in protest over a House bill that proposes a sweeping crackdown on undocumented immigrants. We go to Los Angeles to speak with Jasmine Chavez, a 17-year old student at Montabello High School and Luis Rodriguez, a community activist, poet and writer.
http://www.democracynow.org/2006/3/29/thousands_of_students_defy_school_lockdowns
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January 19, 2007 - Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present - Washington1-19
- Medical scholar Harriet Washington joins us to talk about her new book, “Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present.” The book reveals the hidden underbelly of scientific research and the roots of the African American health deficit. It also examines less well-known abuses and looks at unethical practices and mistreatment of blacks that are still taking place in the medical establishment today.
http://www.democracynow.org/2007/1/19/medical_apartheid_the_dark_history_of
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"Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome" - The Theory of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome suggest that centuries of slavery followed by systemic racism and oppression have resulted in multigenerational adaptive behaviors, some of which have been positive and reflective of resilience, and others that are detrimental and destructive. In brief, Dr. DeGruy presents facts; statistics and documents that illustrate how varying levels of both clinically induced and socially learned residual stress related issues were passed along through generations as a result of slavery.
http://www.joydegruy.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BKXMaGiH0k
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Opening with profiles of several ordinary Americans whose lives have been disrupted, shattered, and—in some cases—ended by health care catastrophe, the film makes clear that the crisis doesn't only affect the 47 million uninsured citizens—millions of others who dutifully pay their premiums often get strangled by bureaucratic red tape as well. After detailing just how the system got into such a mess (the short answer: profits and Nixon), we are whisked around the world, visiting countries including Canada, Great Britain and France, where all citizens receive free medical benefits. Finally, Moore gathers a group of 9/11 heroes – rescue workers now suffering from debilitating illnesses who have been denied medical attention in the US. He takes them to a most unexpected place, and in addition to finally receiving care, they also engage in some unexpected diplomacy.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/index.html