Afrocentric Schooling

40% - the percentage of black Canadians that don't graduate from high school.
80% - the percentage of incarcerated Canadians that haven't finished high school.
25% - the percentage of the black American population below age 30 behind bars.

As Louis March, Communications Director for the African-Canadian Heritage Association, says, "It's a horror story." No other minority group in either country presents such staggering numbers.

Months ago, sensationalist photos were splattered on the front page of the Toronto newspapers, as the Toronto District School Board approved a pilot program for a separate Afrocentric school in Sept. 2009. Black mothers were seen holding each other crying in triumph - to them, this meant something was really going to change.

What black people (in my opinion, of course) don't need is a half-baked attempt at splicing more black history into the current system. What they don't need is a watered down version of their heritage, censored reports about the genocides in Africa, or dumbed down math classes designed just to get them through the system. What they really don't need is white people - or any other people - telling them what they need.



The black community of Toronto came to the School Board asking them for an Afrocentric school. Crime rates still soar for black teens. Why? It's a very complex issue, involving education, socio-economics, demographics, psychology and culture, among others. A contributing reason, however, is the lack of pride I suspect black people feel when they come home from history class.

"Mommy, was grandpa a slave? Was he lynched from a tree? Was grandma raped? Did our ancestors get shipped here on a stinking boat?" Are those the types of stories black people have to be proud of? Instead, they look at the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, where black people fought back. Where black people started gaining a morsel of power. While there are honourable black people as role models - Luther King, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rosa Parks - the models teens can identify with closer are 2pac, Biggie, NWA. While these rappers' influence in black history and music are severely underrepresented, their aggression personified attitudes from nearly 20 years ago.

Human rights have come a long way, and its a much better place for all minorities. Racism still exists, yes, but its not as suffocating as it was in the 80s or 90s.

What these black children need is some context. They need to know how important 2pac was for the black movement and to black culture. Yes, black people are not a homogeneous group of people - some from Jamaica, some from Trinidad, some from Ghana, some from Ethiopia, etc. - but there is an undeniable "black culture" that connects the majority of black Canadians.

They need to know about the black Pharaohs in Egypt, the black Muslim leaders in the middle East, the black tribal leaders in parts of Africa.

They need to learn about how tribes survived in the Congo, how many communities existed in relative tolerance of one another for centuries before Europeans initiated colonialism and instigated decades of bloody African wars and genocides.

They need to know about Chinua Achebe, and African literature - how enlightening it truly is. They need to learn about African art and how some of Picasso's greatest inspirations came from it. They need to learn how African drums inspired music in the West. These are stories that can instill some pride in a black child when he comes home from school.

But there isn't enough time for a Eurocentric system to incorporate what's necessary for black children into the curriculum. That's why parents want an Afrocentric school. It won't be teaching dumbed down skills, but instead teaching subjects from an African perspective. They will study literature, but literature that delves into African lifestyles and history. They will teach the same math, but using teaching methods more engaging for black children. All the same subjects will exist, but in an African context.

To the people who believe that an Afrocentric school will lead to a Russian school, or a Chinese school, or whatever, read the statistics. Chinese people aren't dropping out of high school at horrific rates. Chinese people aren't the ones ending up in jail. They aren't the ones killing each other.

To the people who believe this is segregation, think deeply about what segregation is. In the context of history, it is the forceful act of separating people by race, which is not what's being done. Choosing to attend an Afrocentric school is no different than choosing to live in black-populated area. The difference is choice.

And to the people who think black people will have a tough time integrating back into society, it's not like they are leaving society. It's not like they are in a boarding school, where they only return to civilization once a year. They still live in Canada, which is white in majority. They'll still run into white people, and interact with the rest of society.

There really is no legitimate reason to hold black people back from Afrocentric schooling. Something has to change, and clearly, trying to assimilate black kids in with regular systems hasn't worked. So why not try something new, to save countless lives and inconceivable amounts of money keeping them out of jail? If anyone has paid their dues long enough to have any kind of schooling they want, its African-Canadians.



-- the golden girl


Check out this awesome Kanye video, too. Love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7G-o9oUnvc