Waterstar

"My God, the process of aging brings senility. My mind decays and forgetfulness of the things of yesterday has already begun. Feebleness has come and weakness grows. Childlike one sleeps all day. The eyes are dim and the ears are becoming deaf. The strength is being sapped. The mouth has grown silent and does not speak. The bones ache through and through. Good things now seem evil. The taste is gone. What old age does to people in evil is every thing. Thhe nose is clogged and does not breathe. It is painful even to stand or to sit. May your servant be authorized to use the status that old age affords to teach the hearers so as to tell them the words of those who have listened to the ways of our ancestors and of those who have liatened to the Gods. May I do this for you so that strife may be banned from among our people and so that the Two Shores may serve you?" Then the majesty of the Diety said to Ptahhotep, go ahead and instruct him in the Ancient Wisdom. May he become a model for the children of the great. May obedience enter into him and may he be devoted to the one who speaks to him. No one is born wise. -From the teachings of Ptahhotep In all seriousness, this sounds like a miserable way to live. Can someone who is in such misery really be blamed for acting miserably? For those of us who are younger, if we live long enough, this and probably even more could very well be a normal part of what we have to look forward to. Sure as hell better try to teach the younger ones to respect and to have patience with their elders. After all, as we should remind them, if they live long enough, that and much, much more could very well be a normal part of what they have to look forward to.

Such a possibility would likely be more than just a single cop's call, but okay. "Envy"? There you are again, throwing out unfounded assumptions.Never underestimate your "enemy"? When did I say "enemy"? If you are drawing from what I said then surely you meant "opponent" and though these words might often be used interchangeably, they are not synonymous. As I've said, though, you are again building your arguments off assumptions, however, I have no interest in entertaining this.

I do not disagree with everything you've said, yet I would ask about the point that you made about what this will cost the government. Do you think that a teenager who has a child and a high school diploma will cost more or less than a teenager who has a child and no high school diploma? In either case, these are mostly young women of low SES, this is reality. It is also reality that a high school education these days is not much at all and a college degree is not even that much more in these days. Do you really think that the government is going to come out spending less with such initiatives? The flip side of your point about this initiative being a deterrent re: pregnancy is this. School is looked at totally differently these days. There are so many students who HATE going, students who would LOVE a reason to not have to go. Pregnancy? Why not! Beats having to go to school in many cases anyway. What kind of money is the government saving with this kind of initiative which actually might encourage more pregnancy than less of it when much money will more than likely have to go out for food stamps, WIC, housing, medical, etc.? Plus, these young women might have even more children after being kicked out, especially if they feel that they have no hope for any other type of future. What happens to the young men who impregnate these women? Are they being kicked out of any schools for this? My guess is that many of them are probably not even in school. I think that this initiative is problematic for several reasons, but the most major reason to me is that it offers no real programs to help counter the conditions which make the cycle that the school system is trying to attack exist in the first place. Just because a young woman gets pregnant does not mean that she is not intelligent or that she does not have the potential to be successful in her academic/professional/business endeavors. Homeschooling is not going to properly address these young women's academic needs and furthermore, these young women should not be treated like little Hester Prynes with p's on their chests just because they've become pregnant. Things are really different these days. Children are exposed to a whole lot more a whole lot sooner and though I am not saying that this is 'cool', I'm just acknowledging that it's different. You probably had a father to help put you on to a lot of the things that you needed to know in reference to handing yourself in a certain way with young men. You probably had love in your environment. I know that I did. However, I know that the majority of these young sisters simply do not. Many do not care, so they don't have to try to understand, but for some of us who see these things up close and personally everyday and actually care about what is going on with our people, it's often a different case. It is my belief that this initiative will do more to worsen things than it will do to better things. Issuing such negative sanctions without plans to put these students (pregnant or not) on the path to self empowerment is not the way that a community is empowered. Who is even talking to these students about sex? I wonder if the school even has sex education or if the only sex education is the knowledge that if they get pregnant, they' out. It kind of reminds me of a young man who could vividly remember how his parents would get upset when he brought f's home yet he could not remember these same people helping him with his homework. Speaking of government funds, this charter school is a Title IX school; it receives Title IX funding. This initiative is in violation of Title IX rules and regulations. I don't know much about this particular school, but it would be interesting to see if this school even made AYP. What this initiative does is to single out students of low SES and worsen their chances of overcoming the challenges of their surroundings. Students are being punished for cycles which have existed long before they were even born and initiatives like these are not helping them to break these cycles but to continue them and probably on worse levels. That is not going to help "the big picture"...Unless of course the whole point is to maintain the American caste system/apartheid. Why are shameless students being singled out while the shameless society that they come from is not being singled out? Sure the situation should be looked at on the micro level, but the examination of things on the macro level should not continue to be neglected. I think that there is a difference between enabling and empowering. There need to be programs in place that can actually help these young women out in this world. Many of them will graduate with no real preparation or plans for college and no marketable skills or knowledge of how to start/maintain a business, That does not at all mean that they do not have the potential to have either or all of those things above. Too often, it is not a lack of a student's potential, rather a lack of the cultivation of that potential. The majority of people who actually have the ability to help to cultivate these young minds would rather be apathetic in their approach. These young men and women often feel as though they have no way out and we are not doing much to show them anything different.

In Louisiana (Delhi Charter School), any young woman who is a student in the school suspected to be pregnant must take a pregnancy test and if the test is positive, she is kicked out of the school, unable to return. Young women are being forced to take back-to-school pregnancy tests and the same "two lines = three strikes" law applies. What do you think about this? ------------------------------------ Delhi Charter School In Louisiana Forces Girls To Take Pregnancy Tests, Kicks Out Students Who Test Positive Or Refuse One Louisiana public school's no-nonsense approach to preventing teen pregnancy is "in blatant violation of federal law and the U.S. Constitution," the American Civil Liberties Union says. According to Delhi Charter School policy, students "suspected" of being pregnant are required to take a pregnancy test. If the test proves positive, or if a student declines to take the test, she'll no longer be permitted to take classes on campus and must either transfer to another school or begin a home school program. From the student handbook: If an administrator or teacher suspects a student is pregnant, a parent conference will be held. The school reserves the right to require any female student to take a pregnancy test to confirm whether or not the suspected student is in fact pregnant. The school further reserves the right to refer the suspected student to a physician of its choice. If the test indicates that the student is pregnant, the student will not be permitted to attend classes on the campus of Delhi Charter School. If a student is determined to be pregnant and wishes to continue to attend Delhi Charter School, the student will be required to pursue a course of home study that will be provided by the school… Any student who is suspected of being pregnant and who refuses to submit to a pregnancy test shall be treated as a pregnant student and will be offered home study opportunities. If home study opportunities are not acceptable, the student will be counseled to seek other educational opportunities. The ACLU is demanding that Delhi immediately suspend the policy, noting that it violates Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded educational programs. According to Title IX, schools cannot be excluded from "any class or extracurricular activity, on the basis of such student's pregnancy, childbirth, false pregnancy, termination of pregnancy or recovery therefrom." The school also notes in its handbook that it reserves the right to send girls suspected of being pregnant to a physician of the school's choice. Various other policies in the 216-page manual permit "reasonable corporal punishment of unruly students," defined as "paddling of the student's buttocks," and prohibition of public displays of affection because they "show disdain for good taste." According to the handbook, PDA include, but are not limited to "holding hands on school premises, hugging, kissing, leaning against each other and sitting in each others' laps." In a letter to Delhi school officials Aug. 6, ACLU of Louisiana Executive Director Marjorie Esman points out that school policies also violate the Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment "by imposing an irrebuttable presumption that pregnant students are unable to continue to attend classes" and "raises serious concerns of vagueness in violation of the First Amendment." Delhi's school policies are surfacing as the education gap between teen moms and those who didn't have a teen birth grows. According to a 2010 report by nonprofit research center Child Trends, 51 percent of teen mothers have a high school diploma, compared with 89 percent of women who were not teen mothers. For teens who give birth before the age of 18, their likelihood of graduating high school is even lower -- just 38 percent have a diploma. According to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, Louisiana holds the sixth highest teen pregnancy rate in the country, and "lack of education is a big factor," Louisiana State University student Shea Leger told The Daily Reveille. The ACLU notes that about 70 percent of teenagers who give birth drop out of high school, in part due to actions by schools that force pregnant students out. Data from the National Center for Educational Statistics show that pregnancy is already a leading cause of dropping out of high school -- 30 percent of teenage girls cited pregnancy or parenthood as a reason for leaving before completion. Overall, high school dropouts cost taxpayers between $320 billion and $350 billion a year in lost wages, taxable income, health, welfare and incarceration costs, among others. Dropouts are also a cost to themselves: of the 3.8 million students that started high school last fall, a quarter won't earn a diploma. Those who don't finish will earn $200,000 less than those who do over their lifetime. Dropouts are also not eligible for 90 percent of the jobs in our economy, and a student drops out of high school every 26 seconds in the U.S., contributing to a rising unemployment rate.

You know what is so interesting to me? It is the fact that policemen killed this guy. Now the narrative is one of heroic policemen and a dead guy who had been in white supremacist groups. Some play checkers and think in terms of checkers. Chess is totally different. A checkers player is definitely apt to consider the thoughts of the chess player illogical. A rule which is always applicable yet hardly known is "Never understimate your opponent." We've been approaching chess as if it were checkers for centuries. Killing the guy without questioning him left motives to be assumed by the public. Was this calculated or heroic? If a so called foreign terrorist would have done done this, I doubt seriously that he would have been killed without having been questioned as to what motivated him to kill these people who had not done anything to him. Is it possible that killing Wade Michael Page was more convenient than allowing him to stay alive to undergo the legal process? In light of the case of Trayvon Martin and the Colarado killings, surely yet another public court affair gone international would have called for dialogue which would probably go a little further than the dominant culture is willing to go in this free and democratic society. The experts are talking about the killer's "history of hatred". The experts are talking about everything except the fact that this guy was a product of his society. What in this country is a bigger protector of white 'supremacy' than the government itself? Who can name one major American social institution- from education to religion to government (and the first two institutions are all under the umbrella of the last institution)- in which racism has not been problematic historically or presently? Yet what is to be expected from a country which is built on genocide, "free labor-free market system aka' slavery'", colonization, etc.? What is to be expected from a country that has never yet acknowledged any of the aforementioned as holocausts? What is to be expected in a country in which lynching was totally acceptable and even a cause for celebration? ...But Page's actions are "un-American?" Certainly not by the truer definition of this term. This guy is the epitome of the hate that hate produced. He is the hatred of America's latest scapegoat. His death is probably freeing America from conviction much more than Page. Page's trial would have likely meant American society's trial, too. The experts, politicians, mainstream journalists, and officials will be sure to keep focusing on Page's unacceptable ideology and even "hate groups" as well as the "butterkniives" and "heroic police work". as well as the rhetorical "need for dialogue". I doubt if there will be enough moral fortitude to focus on the hateful society from which Page came.Bout "Page's history of hatred". What about 'his country's' history of hatred, from past to present? Why are they "trying to understand" Page's motives in his death when these very skilled policemen surely could have kept him alive to ask Page himself? The public is so easily distracted by stories of "heroic policemen" and ex-associates of Page who speak on his 'talks of a coming race war'. In other news, Scott A. Smith was caught at a theater with a gun and a knife. He was there for the movie "Dark Knight Rises". According to reporters, Smith also had many guns, other weapons, and survival material in his home. The dialogue about the hows and whys of these cases can get deep so long as it does not start calling out the original American Gangsta. Instead of yet another special committee on the radicalization of this or that, how about the first special committee on the radicalization of the govn't? The post racial era is... "complicated".

^ Was that on a church sign? As an aside, tarnished kudos unscrambled is "Ok. duh; she trained" ...okay, well almost.

Yes indeed. I know some in the media were (initially) saying that no motives behind the shooting was identified. Why do experts need to be called in for people watching to immediately think that racial and religious hatred were the most likely motives behind the shooting? If, however, the terrorism were on the other foot, how many of us would hear about what the 'Islamist' (yes, I am well aware that this was a Sikh temple) had done. Who has not heard of the "Islamists"? These special "committees on the radicalization of Islam" and not the first on the radicalization of Christianity. Who refers to all these evangelical fanatics out here "Christianists"? I think I'm going to start.a I tend to think that people in this country, including but not limited to politicians/officials are in no position to talk about what any other system in this world is doing "to its own people" especially when what is going on right here with this system/society doesn't even seem to be looked upon with any urgency whatsoever.

Exactly@ your only complaint. That is precisely why I worded the description as I did. Journalism is more often taken over by sensationalism. Ratings and marketing are norms and journalistic integrity is almost like an oxymoron.

Africa Must Produce or Perish Philip Emeagwali Imagine that it is May 25, 2063, the 100th anniversary of Africa Day, a day for reflecting on Africa's successes and failures. The newspaper headline announces, “Last Remaining Oilfield in West Africa's American Territory Dries Up.” The article continues: “The last patch of rainforest will soon be empty land scarred by oil pipelines, pumping stations, and natural gas refineries. Wholesale pollution will be the environmental legacy for future generations. “Africa's offshore oil reserves will ebb away. Abandoned oil wells could well become tourist attractions, and oil-boom settlements will be transformed into derelict ghost towns. “In a world without oil, air travel will disappear, and people will voyage overseas on coal-powered ships. Farmers will use horses instead of tractors, and scythes instead of combine harvesters. As crops diminish and populations soar, famine will grip the globe. With no means to power their vehicles, parents will be housebound, without jobs, and children will walk to school.” This scenario could become a reality, because we no longer have an abundant oil supply. We know oil exists in limited quantities and that most oil wells dry up after 40 years. It is as certain as death and taxes. Rather than debate the exact year when we will run out of oil, I prefer to imagine that we have already run out. It may come sooner than any of us expect. Our heirs will thank or curse us for how much oil we left for them. Instead of asking, “When will Africa run out of natural resources?” we should ask, “When will Africa be unable to export raw materials, either for lack of our own oil or because foreign markets have themselves dried up?” A $100 bar of raw iron is worth $200 when forged into drinking cups in Africa, $65,000 when forged into needles in Asia, $5 million when forged into watch springs in Europe. How can this be? European intellectual capital – the collective knowledge of its people – allows a $100 raw iron bar to command a 50,000-fold increase! It could be said, therefore, that a lack of intellectual capital is the root cause of poverty. Without African intellectual capital, iron excavated in Africa will continue to be manufactured in Europe and exported back to Africa at enormous cost. To alleviate poverty, Africa needs to cultivate creative and intellectual abilities that will allow it to increase the value of its raw materials and to break the continent's vicious cycle of poverty. Poverty is not an absence of money, Rather, it results from an absence of knowledge. In oil-exporting African nations, multinationals such as Shell (selling rigs for a 40% royalty on exported oil) are getting rich, while the oil rig workers remain poor. Instead of addressing the underlying causes of poverty – minimal productivity resulting from a lack of intellectual capital – Third World leaders have focused on giving false hope to their people. We need less talk about poverty and more action to eliminate it. So how do we do this? Education has done more to reduce poverty than all the oil companies in the world. So it is disheartening to realize that few leaders believe that their people's potential is far more valuable than what lies beneath the soil. Intellectual capital, not higher wages, will eliminate poverty in Africa. If we all demand higher wages, we will end up paying the higher wages to ourselves. Intellectual capital will result in the creation of new products derived from new technologies. The end result will be not just a redistribution of wealth, but the creation and control of new wealth. And Africa's power to reduce poverty will open the floodgates of prosperity for millions of people. One catalyst for such prosperity could be telecommuting. If 300 million Africans could work for companies located in the West (just as millions of Indians do), then both regions would benefit. The strategy would be to recognize the labor needs of the global marketplace, and enable Africa to fulfill those needs. For example, tax preparation experts living in Africa, where labor is cheaper, could fulfill the needs of US-based accountants. Furthermore, the time difference could allow for a fast turnaround in service. It is clear that knowledge and technology is crucial to alleviate Africa's poverty. Africa will perish if it continues to consume what it does not produce, and produce what it does not consume. The result will be a depressing cycle of increasing consumption, decreasing production, and increasing poverty. We are missing a golden opportunity by not using the trillion dollars earned by exporting natural resources to break Africa's cycle of poverty. We are at a crossroads where one signpost reads “Produce” and another reads “Perish.” We risk becoming like the driver who stops at an intersection and asks a pedestrian, “Where does this road lead?” And the pedestrian replies, “Where do you want to go?” “I don't know,” the driver replies. “Then it obviously doesn't matter which road you take!” replies the pedestrian. If we adopt the same attitude as the driver, Africa will have lost its chance to “choose” its future. For decades, power in post-colonial Africa rested in the hands of those with guns, not those with brains. We were not always at war with our neighbors, but we were always at war with poverty. And we spent more on guns than on books and bread. Africa's choice is clear: produce or perish. However, it is important that we do not blindly choose the lesser of two evils – producing what we cannot consume or consuming what we cannot produce. We can avoid this. My wish is that by the end of the 21st century high-end products in New York City will sport the label: “Made in Africa.” We cannot look forward to our future until we learn from our past. Five thousand years of recorded history reveal that technology was ancient Africa's gift to the modern world. Forty and a half centuries ago, geometers in Africa's Nile Valley region designed the Great Pyramid of Giza, the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. That man-made mountain remains the largest stone building on Earth. It is an icon of engineering, and testifies that Africa was once the world's most technologically advanced region. It is absolutely imperative that Africa regain its technological prominence, which will enable it to produce what the world can consume. When we do that, Africa will finally be eating the fruits of its own labor. When Africa has regained its technological prominence, the world's leaders will seek it out. And, like a rainforest renewed, Africa will flourish again. ---------- Any thoughts on Emeagwali's thoughts?

I'm familiar with some of Anyike's work. He has published some interesting information. -------------------- According to Rev. James C. Anyike, “One of the main reasons many of our churches and businesses are dying is because they have no relationship with younger people, and they don’t have any plans to.” Anyike is the Senior Pastor of Scott UMC and The Way, and a nationally known author of three books. “Our success as families, churches, businesses, and other institutions will be best realized when the generations can understand each other and work with each other,” said Anyike. ------- Do any of you agree with this?

ahahaha@ WWWJD The one on the right is quite interesting.

Has anyone seen this move? It sure helped to inspire our brother Michael Baisden.

Williams, Eric Eustace (1911-1981) Historian, educator, and politician Eric Eustace Williams was born in 1911 in Port of Spain, Trinidad, to working class parents. His family's struggles to survive economically introduced Williams to the brutal social and racial hierarchy of the British colony. As an adult, he gave up a faculty position at Howard University to return to his homeland, eventually becoming its prime minister. Williams' childhood coincided with the development of a nascent black working-class consciousness as figures such as Marcus Garvey spoke out against institutionalized racism and imperialism and offered radical solutions. He studied at Queen's Royal College in Port of Spain before winning a scholarship to study in England at Oxford University where he earned a BA with honors in history in 1935. Three years later, he earned his PhD there, also with honors. During this period of international tension just before the outbreak of World War II, Williams experienced racism in Britain and Europe. His doctoral thesis, The Economic Aspects of the Abolition of the Slave Trade and West Indian Slavery, argued against the notion that humanitarian and moral concerns gave rise to the abolitionist movement in Europe. Rather, Williams claimed economic and strategic concerns were at the heart of abolitionism in Britain and elsewhere. A similar argument was espoused by C.L.R. James whose seminal work, The Black Jacobins, was published that same year and influenced Williams' thinking. Despite his academic successes, Williams was unable to find a teaching position in Great Britain and in 1939 joined the faculty of Howard University in Washington, D.C. He published Capitalism and Slavery in 1944, arguing that the British abolition of slavery grew from the realization that wage labor had supplanted slave labor in the global capitalist marketplace. His other major works include History of the People of Trinidad and Tobago (1962) and British Historians and the West Indies (1964). Williams returned to the Caribbean in 1952 where he became involved in decolonization politics. He held open-air lectures for working-class people and spoke as a West Indian nationalist dedicated to ending imperialism in his region. In 1956 Williams helped found People's National Movement, Trinidad and Tobago's first modern political party, and became deeply-involved in the nation's political life after independence in 1962. Williams held numerous offices in the Trinidad and Tobago government, serving as Prime Minister from 1962 to 1981. Eric Williams died while in office on March 29, 1981, in Port of Spain. ------------ I was born here, and here I stay, with the people of Trinidad and Tobago, who educated me free of charge for nine years at Queen's Royal College and for five years at Oxford, who have made me whatever I am, and who have been or might be at any time the victims of the very pressure which I have been fighting against... I am going to let down my bucket where I am, right here with you in the British West Indies." - Dr. Williams at a public lecture at Woodford Square, June 21, 1955. Born on September 25, 1911, Eric Williams was the son of Elisa and Henry Williams, a minor Post Office official in Trinidad. He was educated at Queen's Royal College and won the Island Scholarship to Oxford University. At Oxford, he placed first in the First Class of the History Honours School and received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1938. His doctoral thesis, The Economic Aspect of the West Indian Slave Trade and Slavery, was considered an important contribution to research on the subject and was published in 1944 in Williams' Capitalism and Slavery. Much of Williams' educational pursuits at Queen's Royal College and Oxford University is documented in his book, Inward Hunger: The Education of a Prime Minister. In 1939, Williams migrated to the United States to teach at Howard University. He became an assistant professor of social and political sciences and organised several courses, especially a humanities course for which he developed a three-volume work called Documents Illustrating the Development of Civilisation (1947). While at Howard, Williams began to work as a consultant to the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission, a body set up after the war to study the future of the region. In 1948, he left Howard to head the Research Branch of the Caribbean Commission. Later, in 1955, he resigned from the Commission in protest against its crypto-colonialist policies. Williams returned to Trinidad and Tobago and became more involved in politics. His first major political speech was titled "My Relations with the Caribbean Commission" (1955). A year later, Williams formed the People's National Movement (PNM), a political party of which he became the leader. In September of 1956, the PNM won the national elections and he became the chief minister of the country from 1956 to 1959, premier from 1959 to 1962, and prime minister from 1962 to 1981. During his term as prime minister, Williams led Trinidad and Tobago into the Federation of the West Indies and to independence within the Commonwealth in 1962. Williams died in office on March 29, 1981. Often called the "Father of the Nation," Williams remains one of the most significant leaders in the history of modern Trinidad and Tobago. Reference:Eric E Williams Speaks: Essays on Colonialism and Independence- Edited by Selwyn R Cudjoe. Distributed by the University of Massachusetts Press.

Ernest Everett Just ---------------------------------------- Ernest Everett Just: Zoologist, Biologist, Physiologist, Research Scientist Born: August 14, 1883 Died: October 27, 1941 Birthplace: Charleston, SC Ernest Everett Just was a true scholar. He sought to find "truth" using scientific methods and inquiry. Although Dr. Just was bold enough to challenge the theories of leading biologists of the 19th and 20th centuries, he was humble and unassuming. Dr. Just was passionately driven to understand the world of the cell. His tenacity and motivation led him to add to our understanding of the process of artificial parthenogenesis and the physiology of cell development. Dr. Just was born August 14, 1883 in Charleston, South Carolina. At an early age, he demonstrated a gift for academic research. For example, in 1907, he was the only person to graduate magna cum laude from Dartmouth College with a degree in zoology, special honors in botany and history, and honors in sociology. Immediately after graduation, Dr. Just taught at Howard University where he was appointed head of the Department of Zoology in 1912. At Howard, he also served as a professor in the medical school and head of the Department of Physiology until his death. The first Spingarn Medal was awarded to the reluctant and modest Just by the NAACP in 1915 for his accomplishments as a pure scientist. In 1916, Dr. Just graduated magna cum laude from University of Chicago receiving his doctorate in experimental embryology. Dr. Just received international acclaim for work he completed during the summers from 1909 to 1930 at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. At MBL, he conducted thousands of experiments studying the fertilization of the marine mammal cell. In 1922, he successfully challenged Jaacque Loeb's theory of artificial parthenogenesis, pushing the envelope. Using his research conducted at Wood's Hole, he published his first book entitled, Basic Methods for Experiments on Eggs of Marine Animals. Although Dr. Just was considered a leader and authority for his work with cell development, as an African American, he experienced racism and prejudice. For this reason, Dr. Just decided to study in Europe in 1930. It was in Europe that he published his second book, The Biology of the Cell Surface. While in Europe in 1938 he published a number of papers and lectured on the topic of cell cytoplasm. Dr. Just died October 27, 1941 in Washington D.C. Ernest Just's research made advancements in the following areas: egg fertilization experimental parthenogenesis hydration cell division dehydration in living cells the effects of ultraviolet rays in increasing chromosome numbers in animals the effects of ultraviolet rays in altering the organization of the egg with reference to polarity Memberships: Vice-President, American Zoological Society Recipient of the first Spingarn Medal (1915) for his research in Biology National Research Rosenwald fellow in Biology (1920-1931) Ecological Society Phi Beta Kappa Omega Psi Phi, Founder and faculty advisor, Howard University (November 17, 1911) Editor, Protoplasm -- an international journal published in Berlin -- devoted to the work done on the physical chemistry of the cell -- [*]Collaborator of Cytologia -- published in Japan. [*]Editor, Physiological Zoology [*]Editor, Biological Zoology -- official organ of the Marine Biological Advancement of Science Selected Publications Basic Methods for Experiments in Eggs of Marine Animals. Ernest E. Just. (Philadelphia, PA: P. Blaikston's Son & Co.), 1939. 89 pages. QL 58 J88 Middleton Library Biology of the Cell Surface. Ernest E. Just. (Philadelphia, PA: P. Blaikston's Son & Co.), 1939. 329 pages. QH 581 J8 Middleton Library Dr. Ernest E. Just published more than 50 papers between 1912 and 1937. Bibliography:

In a bold comparative analysis of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Jada Williams, a 13-year old eighth grader at School #3 in Rochester, New York, asserted that in her experience, today's education system is a modern-day version of slavery. According to the Fredrick Douglass Foundation of New York, the schools' teachers and administrators were so offended by Williams' essay that they began a campaign of harassment—kicking her out of class and trying to suspend her—that ultimately forced her parents to withdraw her from the school. In http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T-lG1Wb2AfM, which was written for a contest, Williams reflected on what Douglass heard his slave master, Mr. Auld, telling his wife after catching her teaching Douglass how to read. "If you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there will be no keeping him," Auld says. "It will forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master." Williams wrote that overcrowded, poorly managed classrooms prevent real learning from happening and thus produces the same results as Mr. Auld's outright ban. She wrote that her white teachers—the vast majority of Rochester students are black and Hispanic, but very few teachers are people of color—are in a "position of power to dictate what I can, cannot, and will learn, only desiring that I may get bored because of the inconsistency and the mismanagement of the classroom." Instead of truly teaching, most teachers simply "pass out pamphlets and packets" and then expect students to complete them independently, Williams wrote. But this approach fails, she concluded, because "most of my peers cannot read and or comprehend the material that has been provided." As a result, she continued, not much has changed since the time of Douglass, "just different people, different era" and "the same old discrimination still resides in the hearts of the white man." Williams called for her fellow students to "start making these white teachers accountable for instructing you" and challenged teachers to do their jobs. "What merit is there," she asked, if teachers have knowledge and are "not willing to share because of the color of my skin?" According to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Williams' parents transferred her to another school, then withdrew her altogether. The conservative Frederick Douglass Foundation gave Williams a special award, saying that her essay "actually demonstrates that she understood the autobiography." They have also reached out to the school for an explanation of the 13-year-old's treatment. While the issues Williams raises are controversial, even Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has acknowledged that closing the achievement gap requires more black educators in the classroom. But because the large majority of current teachers are white, they have a responsibility to figure out how to be effective with children of color. Given that only 19 percent of School #3's eighth graders were proficient in language arts last year (and just 13 percent in math)—well below the state average of 60 percent—it's clear that the school and its teachers need to change their approach. Attempting to silence Williams by branding her a troublemaker and driving her off campus isn't the answer. Now she is walking away from this controversy convinced that white teachers don't want to educate black students at all. As the parent of two black boys I know firsthand that white teachers can excel at teaching black children. What set those outstanding teachers apart was their genuine desire to see my boys succeed and hard work to build relationships with them and with our family. What if Williams' English teacher had used her essay to turn a critical eye on her teaching practice and her expectations for black students? What if the school had used it as a jumping-off point to start a student-centered dialogue about what everyone—teachers, students, and parents—must do to improve the struggling school? Until that happens in our schools, America's achievement gap will endure.

Did you guys catch this story a few months back? (By the way, this incident did not take place in the South. ) Jessica reading the essay that she wrote: Jada Williams, 13 years old, Connects Frederick Douglass Narrative to Today's Education System Article about the events surrounding her essay (Disclaimer: I do not at all agree with the use of the terminology "throwaway students" to describe the students. ) Source: The Frederick Douglass Foundation of New York In Case You Missed It 13 Year Old Jada Williams Persecuted by the Rochester City School District Over her essay on Frederick Douglass. On Saturday, February 18, 2012, the Frederick Douglass Foundation of New York presented the first Spirit of Freedom award to Jada Williams, a 13-year old city of Rochester student. Miss Williams wrote an essay on her impressions of Frederick Douglass’ first autobiography the Narrative of the Life. This was part of an essay contest, but her essay was never entered. It offended her teachers so much that, after harassment from teachers and school administrators at School #3, Miss Williams was forced to leave the school. We at the Frederick Douglass Foundation honored her because her essay actually demonstrates that she understood the autobiography, even though it might seem a bit esoteric to most 13-year olds. In her essay, she quotes part of the scene where Douglass’ slave master catches his wife teaching then slave Frederick to read. During a speech about how he would be useless as a slave if he were able to read, Mr. Auld, the slave master, castigated his wife. Miss Williams quoted Douglass quoting Mr. Auld: “If you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there will be no keeping him. It will forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master.” Miss Williams personalized this to her own situation. She reflected on how the “white teachers” do not have enough control of the classroom to successfully teach the minority students in Rochester. While she herself is more literate than most, due to her own perseverance and diligence, she sees the fact that so many of the other “so-called ‘unteachable’” students aren’t learning to read as a form of modern-day slavery. Their illiteracy holds them back in society. Her call to action was then in her summary: “A grand price was paid in order for us to be where we are today; but in my mind we should be a lot further, so again I encourage the white teachers to instruct and I encourage my people to not just be a student, but become a learner.” This offended her English teacher so much that the teacher copied the essay for other teachers and for the Principal. After that, Miss Williams’ mother and father started receiving phone calls from numerous teachers, all claiming that their daughter is “angry.” Miss Williams, mostly a straight-A student, started receiving very low grades, and she was kicked out of class for laughing and threatened with in-school suspension. There were several meetings with teachers and administrators, but all failed to answer Miss Williams’ mother’s questions. The teachers refused to show her the tests and work that she had supposedly performed so poorly on. Instead, the teachers and administrators branded her a problem. Unable to take anymore of the persecution, they pulled her from School #3. Wanting to try another school, they were quickly informed that that school was filled and told to try “this school.” During her first day at this new school, she witnessed four fights, and other students asked her if she was put here because she fights too much. Long story short, they took an exceptional student, with the radical idea that kids should learn to read, and put her in a school of throwaway students who are even more unmanageable than the average student in her previous school. To protect their daughter, her parents have had to remove her from school, and her mother has had to quit her job so she can take care of Miss Williams. To date, the administrators of School #3 have refused to release her records, even though she no longer attends the school, and they have repeatedly given her mother the run around. We at the Frederick Douglass Foundation have contacted school administrators in regards to this situation and have also been told to hit the pavement. That’s what we intend to do. If this school will sacrifice the welfare of an above-average student whose essay, that they asked her to write, they find offensive, we intend to make everyone aware of this monstrous injustice. The school has a job, and it is not doing it. We would like as many folks as possible to call the Principal of School #3 and complain about this injustice. Her name is Miss Connie Wehner, and she can be reached at (585) 454-3525. This treatment of Jada Williams cannot stand. See Video of Jada reading her Essay Here Read Related Blog posts Here, Here and Here

Cynique, I am a malcontented optimist as much as you are a unique lemming. Have you ever examined the teachings or deeds of Marcus Garvey fpr yourself? I don't even want to ask you how my supposing something differs greatly from my perceiving something. Must be some very, very thin fingers. Until you actually examine these people and these movements that you are speaking about, you can debate, negate, grab straws and whatever else you feel to do in this thread and have fun doing it...without my adding anything different to it. To some people winning is most important, even when there is nothing to win. Have fun with that.

I wonder if your daughter or any of the church members did not receive any free food due to a lack of customer appreciation coupons. The lines were crazy in my area as well. Traffic blockage not only here but in surrounding areas and all over the country, not just in Chicago. I know people in America are often as religilous as they can be, but I doubt that those lines and all of that traffic had no connection to some type of customer appreciation deals. I say this not only because lines were ridiculous but also because Chick-fil-A generally sends out coupons for free stuff anyway, their free stuff is especially popular for customer appreciation. On a pretty funny side, there is a satirical campaign going on. "CFA Cares". :-D ************************* Chick-fil-A Parody Offers to Swap 'Homosexuality for Chicken Sandwich' As if Chick-fil-A needed another public relations headache, it's become the target of a new paordy site created in protest of company president and COO Dan Cathy's opposition to gay marriage. [More from Mashable: Cybersecurity Bill Inches Closer to Passing] The Chick-fil-A Foundation is a website cleverly designed to mimic the real Chick-fil-A site, except it's full of satirical content that defends Cathy's comments and calls on gay people to renounce their homosexuality. Visitors are even greeted with a coupon for an unorthodox deal -- gay people are asked to "trade their homosexuality" for a free Original Chicken Sandwich. The faux coupon "only applies to persons currently choosing to be gay" who "renounce homosexuality," and is only good for one sandwich "per saved person." [More from Mashable: New Tool Connects Facebook Friends With Political Campaigns] The "Foundation's" staff includes "John," "Robert" and "Harvey the Cow" -- likely a reference to Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California (the joke has numerous layers, as the real Chick-fil-A uses cows in its advertising campaigns). A satirical letter posted by "Dan Cathy" says, "If a man married to a man or a woman married to a woman is your definition of a family and you are looking for a place to grab a quick bite to eat, I would encourage you to look elsewhere because that is not Chick-fil-A's definition." There's also a Twitter account, @CFAcares, tied into the satirical campaign. It's mostly been tweeting at politicians who oppose gay rights including Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann, whose husband has been accused of offering "gay therapy" services.

Though Marcus Garvey's aims and objectives have been both understudied and oversimplified, I lean more toward the supposition that you are not really interested in them anyway. If I leaned toward a different supposition, I'd be happy to go into details, but since that is not the case, I will simply leave it at that. Okay.

Many in Anguilla seem to think so...

Don't know if you are familiar with the books of Max Brooks, but I like how he used "zombie" . Some readers consider it humor and perhaps even more consider it sci-fi. lol I don't know which planet the people from either aforementioned group are living on. The end was near. Zombies were taking over. They were infiltrating every corner the world. No neutral ground existed, no nation was secure, and we were in serious danger of becoming extinct - overrun by hordes of the living dead. . Brooks at Rutgers: The movie for World War Z was supposed to come out this year, but I think that it is now scheduled to come out in 2013.

Change is not automatically negative...and it is not always positive. While it is definitely so that many individuals have contributed to positive change without these stories really being told, it is also definitely so that individuals have contributed to the downfall of some leaders and movements. A. Phillip Randolph, though it should not be denied that his involvement was used to get FDR to act, was also instrumental in helping to bring down Marcus Garvey and the UNIA and "The New Negro" movement in general. I think that it is imperative that we strive to examine events of the past and the present more carefully and that we not continue to leave out important parts for the sake of maintaining distortions. Hopefully those of the generations to follow will examine us, keeping in mind our achievements and our setbacks so that they can have a better chance at knowing some of the things that might and might not be beneficial to them. I think our greatest enemy comes from within, our disloyalty, our selfishness, our greed, our egoism, etc. are our greatest stumbling blocks.

I

Pam Ferrell In 1978, Pam Ferrell lost her job for wearing her hair braided. Little did she know that her simple attempt to make sure this would never happen to any other woman would develop a much needed natural hair care industry. Ferrell and her husband worked dilligently to bring national attention and change to dress codes that discriminated against African inspired hair styles. They were successful in lobbying the District of Columbia to amend an outdated (1939) cosmetology regulation to include license for the science of natural hair styling. "The vehement opposition we experienced during our 10 year battle with government bureaucracy was the driving force to make sure this change happened in my lifetime", recalls Ferrell. In her book "Where Beauty Touches Me", Pam Ferrell says, "My victory is not having to receive daily phone calls from women nationwide who are fearful of losing their jobs because of their African inspired hair style. The phone calls today are questions concerning the healthy way to care for our hair. I have compiled the numerous questions over the years and tried to answer as many as possible in this beauty book. I hope all women will find something inside that is helpful to their healthy and beauty evolution."

Yeah! I bet someone is just WAITING to play the race card on THIS one!!