Sh**t-hole countries

Last week the most powerful man on the planet, the President of the United States of America, referred to African countries, Haiti, and some South American countries as Sh**t-holes. He then went on to discuss how the country needed more people from Norway. 

This is something we had to discuss, since every single one of the students in my class are from one of those areas.  How can someone rationalize something like that? I've had to explain and define so many things since the the election (like dog whistle politics). Canada looks so civil right now.

We have discussed that everyone is prejudice, we all prejudge... that isn't the problem.  The problem is when you allow your prejudice to turn into discrimination. That's what the President did.
 
I'm aware that many US Presidents were bigoted and less that nuanced, but after WW2 their office called them to a greater purpose.
I feel we're setting out watches back 60 years.  My students deserve better.

If you feel that this is just an American thing? Any. TDSB US trips are cancelled due to the American travel ban. My students have family in the US and in these countries. If this doesn't bother you, you may have to check your ethical temperature.

My students deserve better.

Pecha Kucha

New Culminating Activity format.

African Studies Culminating Activity
PECHA KUCHA
You are responsible for creating a Pecha Kucha that summarizes the entire African studies course and ultimately answers the question, ‘What is Being Black in Canada?’. You can use pictures and images gathered throughout the year and anything you find that you feel would best represent the course and what you’ve learned.

What is a Pecha Kucha?
PechaKucha (Japanese: ペチャクチャ, IPA: [petɕa kɯ̥tɕa], chit-chat) is a presentation style in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each (6 minutes and 40 seconds in total). The format, which keeps presentations concise and fast-paced. Each slide will have both words and pictures, and, you will have to speak to each slide.

You will be graded on how well your presentation encapsulates the course and how well you have demonstrated an understanding of the information covered throughout the semester. You will also be graded on how well your images represent the court and how well your captions and discussions convey an understanding of the African Studies course from beginning to end.

This project is worth 15% of your total mark.

13th Amendment Project

Crime and Punishment / 13th Amendment Group Project

Crime and Punishment

Task:
In groups of 2-3 you are to design a display that examines the issues related to Crime and Punishment in the Black Community.
You are to list and detail the issues examined in class that expose both sides of the Crime and Punishment debate, viewing the situation as both victim and perpetrator.

Your display must answer the following questions:
1) Who is ultimately responsible for issues related to Crime and Punishment in the Black Community?
2) How accountable should the Black Community be for dealing with Crime and Punishment?
3) How does the 'No Snitch' rule impact the Black community? Is it positive or negative, or both?
4)Design a plan that your group feels would solve the issues of Crime and Punishment with in the Black Community.

You must come up with the content for your display before attempting to create it.
You must create a lay-out for the display before attempting to create it.
This is the only time of the year that I am allowing you to use bristle board, or display board.
This is not a digital display.

The 13th Amendment

13th

Storyline

13th is a 2016 American documentary by director Ava DuVernay. The film explores the "intersection of race, justice and mass incarceration in the United States;" it is titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which freed the slaves and prohibited slavery (unless as punishment for a crime).

The documentary opens with an audio clip of former President Barack Obama stating that the US has five percent of the world's population but twenty-five percent of the world's prisoners. DuVernay contends that slavery has been perpetuated in practices since the end of the American Civil War through such actions as criminalizing behavior and enabling police to arrest poor freedmen and force them to work for the state under convict leasing; suppression of African Americans by disenfranchisement, lynchings and Jim Crow; politicians declaring a war on drugs that weigh more heavily on minority communities and, by the late 20th century, mass incarceration of people of color in the United States. She examines the prison-industrial complex and the emerging detention-industrial complex, demonstrating how much money is being made by corporations from such incarcerations.

13th has garnered acclaim from film critics. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 89th Academy Awards, and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards

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The New Black Manhood

Check out this article about 'The New Black Manhood' by Zach Burgess. After Watching 'Hip Hop Beyond the Beats and Rhymes' I thought that this was an appropriate reading to follow it.

https://blackamericaweb.com/2014/10/06/the-new-black-manhood/

Check it out and see...The following comments are worth checking out too.

Watching ROOTS 2016

It is difficult to watch history at times, even historical fiction. Our 2016 class watched the latest version of ROOTS, and, judging from the responses I heard from the class, it was impactful, if nothing else. It 'dove-tailed' well with our in class study. We had the opportunity to see a more truthful characterization of precolonial Africa. We could clearly see that Africa was not just jungle and Timbuktu isn't a fictional mystical place but an actual city of academia, advanced culture and technology.

Be warned, ROOTS 2106 is graphic, violent, and real. This isn't a negative rather, it is important to show. In this day and age these historical situations must be brought into a real and serious light as 'revisionist history' is popular in an attempt to reduce the culpability of certain segments of our society. The benefits, assets and liabilities of the European Slave Trade are still evident in today's society.
Although many students came and discussed how hard it was to watch the mini-series, I expressed to them that I'm sure it was more difficult to endure the hardships than to watch them.

The ROOTS story is particularly close and relevant to me as I am a descendant of the 'Under Ground Railroad'. This is not only the story of 'African's in the Americas' but my family history, which I share openly with my students.

As a history enthusiast I would really recommend this new ROOTS as a way to engage the concept of slavery, that being said, it is a heavy engagement. You have to plan for a certain amount of equity in the process. Be ready to debrief and decompress.

Understanding the Results of History in the African Canadian Community

Kaishawne,
A very bright student in my 2016 African Studies class, wanted more clarification on some of the aspects of today's assignment.  There were some topics that were a little ambiguous and I will clarify them in a post right now...
1) The Concept of Cool,
This, in many ways, is exclusive to the Western Black Male. It is the Socio-psychic armour that a Black male learns to wear to protect himself from the 'slings and arrows' of a mainstream white society. It is 'staying cool' that protects him from reacting and over-reacting to negative situations that only Black males seem to end up in. A black male may need to stay cool when stopped by the police, confronted in an educational setting or in stores etc.
If the Black male reacts when these situations present themselves, whether they are in the right or not, they may find the situations turns negative fast. Many of these occurrences are triggered by the young man being nothing more than Black.

2) The Commodification of Black Male Death
Today's society seems to use the negative circumstance of the Black community as a money making venture. The amount of money many major record labels make and have made from the sales of 'Gangsta Rap' and it's secondary and tertiary properties is highly significant. They exploit 'Black Male Death' as the engine for their revenue. Most of these companies aren't Black owned and sell to up to 80% of their product to White college aged males. The music isn't really made by or for the Black community but has the greatest impact within it.

I hope this helps.

The Book of Negroes

This is the first time that I've watched the Book of Negroes in class. This book , written by Lawrence Hill, is a historically based, fictional account of a women, Aminata Diallo, an African who is captured from her village off of the coasts of Africa and lives the horrific adventures of the slave experience in the new world. Lawrence's story demonstrates the evils of slave trade as well as the evils of the players involved. Although I have usually watched the 70's mini-series ROOTS, this was a different take on the same theme, a little more current and modern in its production. 

I'm not sure I liked in any better. 

Rise of Imperialism

With the rise of Imperialism came the need to fuel these Empires with resources. This need prompted the push to explore. Explorers soon colonized many 'new' worlds and started sending resources back to their homelands. This started the need for more workers and cheap labour, and there's no cheaper labour  than slaves. 

Since the White labour and indigenous workers didn't work out (White slaves were, well, White and the indigenous workers often fell sick and had a knowledge the land, good for escape) Europe turned to their partners in trade Africa. 

Europe wanted Africans because:

1) They were visibly different. 

2) They had a predisposition towards farming. 

3) Were unfamiliar with the land. 

It seemed they were 'tailor made' to be exploited. 

Remembering the three stages of Storytelling.

Jim Shuter (a famous comic book writer) once told me that every good story ever had three components:

1) What was? status quo

2) What happened to change it? Catalyst 

3) What was the result ? Well...the outcome. 

Since History is nothing more than the story of humanity I can assume that it (history) would share these 3 components. 

We've studied 2 of the three four regarding African history in the West. 

The result would be our present day situation, the status quo would be our study of ancient Africa. 

Since there is such a difference between the two situations.  Differences that would be considered almost reciprocal scenarios one has to ask...What happened to change the Status quo?

My answer to them is...Slavery and Colonialism. 

Writing an Essay

These are notes from the lecture on 'How to Write an Essay'. Use these as a springboard for proper essay protocol and an easier writing process. 

City of God

One of my favourite movies. City of God is masterpiece out of Brazil. It documents gang  life in the slums of Brazil and it's effect on the people living there. Why is it relevant for the class? Well. It demonstrates that life for displaced Africans is similar in most parts of the world. Their situations and lives are similar. Oppressed people behave in similar ways all over the world. It highlights the devastation and  futility of gang life. It is a very powerful film and a must see. 

African Studies Class Culminating Activity

The African Studies Class Culminating Activity brings us full circle from the beginning of the course to the end. One of the first questions asked was 'What is being Black in Canada?'.  Now that you've had the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the cause and effect of history perhaps your answer may be more detailed and nuanced. 

Can you honestly defend Bill Cosby??

I have been a Bill Cosby fan from before I can remember. My dad's Bill Cosby records entertained the family for years. The Cosby show was a favorite in my house and gave rise to a new Black consciousness. That's why I find his situation so sad. I can't defend him. One person may be a ' money grab'. Thirty-five and counting can't be defended; at least not by me. 

Read this for more:

http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/07/bill-cosbys-accusers-speak-out.html

Chris Rock and Good Hair

One of our most contentious classes is about Black women and their hair. For the last few years I've used Chris Rock 's documentary Good Hair. I've learned that messing work a Black woman's hair will cause discussion (to say the least). It's a complicated issue that deserves a nuanced examination. Here are some of the questions I asked today's class :

Use the documentary 'Good Hair' by Chris Rock as reference for the following questions. Answer the questions in sentence and paragraph form where needed:

What is considered Good Hair?

Why do you think the term Good is used to define hair of that nature?

Why is Chris Rock interested in this subject?

Who does he interview about this subject?

Is Black hair a 'money maker' in the U.S. 

What are some of the complications in the Black hair care industry?

What is a relaxer? How does it work? Is it healthy?

What do they mean by allowing the permanent to burn?

What is a weave? How does it work?

Why do Black women get weaves?

Is getting a weave affordable? Explain? 

Where does the hair come from?

Identifying the Slave and Master Mentalities

Our most recent assignment is to identify the Slave and Master mentalities studied in class in everyday societies today. Although clinically each of the mentalities have been examined in class, identifying them in everyday modern life is more difficult. The students are having an easier time identifying the Slave mentality but are having difficulty identifying the Master mentality, possibly because it is considered mainstream and normal. I'm looking forward to the results of this assignment and seeing what the students have done.

AMISTAD

We watched the movie Amistad in class. Although flawed in some ways it does demonstrate many of the concepts discussed in class when dealing with pre-European African culture and the Atlantic Slave trade. This is vital to the class as we try to visualize why and how Africans initially got to the West and what happened when they arrived.

Systemic Racism

What is Systemic Racism?
It is a society where the Institution itself is based and historically built on the tenants of inequality based on Race. It is a system where one group or groups are institutionally marginalized, dehumanized, and discriminated against for the advancement of another.
I believe that the only way to fight systemic racism is to know and understand the system itself. To master the game. As one of my former coaches once told my with mastery comes recklessness.

Ancient Africa and the Slave trade

This class has looked and completed projects about Ancient Africa. The common theme amongst all of the presentations was that Africans pre-Europe were (compared to many other parts of the world) advanced. They exhibited advanced culture, architecture, smelting of metals, science, education, warfare, religion and other aspects of civilization. 

We have also studied the results of  history. That result being us. We've listed some of the modern characteristics of Black people. The ones you generated and are hung at the back of the room. They don't correspond with the characteristics of ancient Africans. How then can one rationalize the difference. How and when did the change occur? When did the switch get flipped? What happen to change the African? What process robbed the African of Africa?

Rise of Racism

Something I'm going to use to discuss the rise of racism in the United States and Canada. Please check it out:

Rise of Racism