(ThyBlackMan.com) “I was sold to a sick European by a rich African battlin’
Middle Passages, I can’t go back again
Battlin’ years of denied history, lies and mysteries
Wives with misty eyes watchin’ their husbands be beaten viciously
Battle in the wilderness of North America
Run by the river, only stoppin’ to pray – chased by predators
Terrorists with etiquette who vote and kill their president
Their capacity for evil so evident and prevalent
Ain’t no hesitation involved, a nation dissolved
While we sit back waitin’ to evolve…” – Going Hard by Talib Kweli
Prior to writing these blogs, I couldn’t stand what the news was feeding me. The stories always seem to be about the latest killing in the inner city, stereotypical reports on statistical errors in the Black community that 
treat our successes as outliers, superstar gossip or political scandal. I normally ignored the news late at night and early in the morning because it rarely offers the best of stories to go to bed or start your day to.
~
– as published in Steel Waters VOLUME I: DUPLicate AuthentICITY:
The Unevening News
Young, gifted and Black
Men aren’t present in the bum
Raps of news reports.*
The Consumer’s Report
a.k.a.
News FeedsThe U.S. news’ and
The world’s reports consume us
All on the daily.~
However, I must admit that I’ve been fed well from the news since starting these posts. The news has triggered concepts in me that I’ve previously expressed in private conversations with my wife and/or colleagues. Most often, the reports provide the right platform to support random ideas I’ve had that existed as previously unsubstantiated thoughts.
One of today’s seemingly innocent stories comes from Winnetka, IL where the parents of fourth graders are in an uproar over a movie that was shown to their children by a substitute teacher. The teacher showed them The Middle Passage – a movie that graphically illustrated the savagery and extreme conditions of Africans’ passage across the Atlantic Ocean as they transitioned from being a people of a rich land and heritage into conditions of socioeconomic poverty.
The movie purportedly shows rape scenes and the brutality of the process which killed many of the men, women and children while depicting the heartlessness of the Europeans and American colonists who supported the subhuman treatment of other human beings.
I can’t help but wonder how many of these parents have taken their children to the R-rated movies they’ve wanted to see which were laced with fictitious obscenities and graphic violence. I suppose it’s all right as long as it’s not based on true events that sully Americanized history.
Naturally, I support the accurate portrayal of all aspects of American history so I see no problem with this showing. Some may say that fourth graders are too young to perceive such precepts. For those I offer the following true account:
I have cousin who is the same age as I am who moved to a suburb of Denver, Colorado around two years ago. One day he called me to get my opinion on something that happened in the class of the younger of his two children. The teacher (not the sub) had selected a book for the kids to read. Naturally, my cousin’s child was one of the few minorities in a room full of Coloradoans which meant that whatever preconceived notions the children, teacher and parents had about African-Americans would be projected onto my cousin and his child.
I don’t recall the name of the book but it depicted a black grandmother and child that were going on a trip to visit the child’s father. It illustrated them preparing for this trip – from the packing of their lunch (consisting of fried chicken) to riding the bus as a form of public transportation.
My cousin stopped there to express how he, as a parent volunteer for the day, had some misgivings about these depictions but opted to suppress them and give the book the benefit of the doubt. My mind however, had already projected unsubstantiated thoughts regarding where they were going to visit to see the as-of-yet unseen father in the story.
Playing out of the recesses of my mind, I almost interrupted my cousin to jokingly ask him: “Let me guess – the father was in jail!” But I thought it was a crude joke that played into stereotypes of both black and white people so I kept it to myself…
Until that it is, my cousin got to the climax of the story where the boy actually DID visit his father in prison. My little cousin couldn’t have been in no more than the second grade at the time that this occurred. So for those that say the fourth graders in Winnetka, IL were too young to view The Middle Passage, how do you rationalize second graders being exposed to preconceived images that will shape their perceptions and reinforce the misconceptions presented in the media of “black folk” by way of the news and BET?
How do you explain away the process that brought that book into the class by the teacher? I can see how a substitute could sneak a movie passed the school administration since s/he didn’t have to submit a curriculum in advance; but this tenured teacher had to get all of his/her material submitted and reviewed for approval before presenting it to this classroom of children.
This means that no one in the staff/administration of this school objected to the image that was presented of this little black boy’s father being in prison. This means no one saw it as abnormal. And while it doesn’t mean that the faculty and staff of this school are racists – it does shed light on the con of perceived precepts vs. preconceived perception.
I anxiously await hearing your thoughts and rationalizations on either of these peculiar stories.
Staff Writer; Reggie Legend
Can find more about this writer over at; http://www.steelwaterspoetry.com/blog
Also available as a Keynote Speaker – Book him Today; Speakerwiki – Reggie Legend
