I walked up on this white guy today, as he was unloading a full to the brim truck of small kitchen supplies and food items outside of one of the tent cities in Petionville. My driver Onel and I were just cruising, when we spotted one of the many lines of people you see all over town now. We almost didn’t stop. But this one had U.S. military support, so we decided to check it out. I asked the dude what he was giving away. “Just basic supplies”, he said. He had a fairly dutiful vibe and looked like most of the other aid workers you see here, with a baseball cap and shades – except this guy hadn’t missed a gym day in years and there was something a little different about him. Turns out it was Sean Penn, in Haiti doing his thing. He and his team finished the unloading, and while he was taking a break, I asked him how important it was for the Hollywood community to get involved in the relief effort. Without missing a beat he said, “I think it’s important for all communities to get involved in any way they can”. Way to go Sean.
I’ve heard of a few notables who’ve actually hit the island - Wyclef, Alonzo Mourning, President Bill Clinton, Rev. Jesse Jackson and Reverend Al are just a few. And there’s probably a big fund-raising effort taking place right now, organized by some major black power brokers. Being here, I’ve just been a little out of the loop. But if there’s ever been a time for boots on the ground, this is it. The people of Haiti don’t need your prayers and they don’t just need your money – they need your time, resources, knowledge and energy. There’s a lot of chatter about a rebuilding effort – and most of these ideas get filtered to me from the States. It’s very lofty, but doable, and it needs to be addressed. But when you’re here, you realize that we still haven’t gotten past the stage for basic needs. Where can I get my haircut? Where can I get a meal? Where can I get another job? What will happen to my tent when it rains? Where can I wash my clothes? When will the children go back to school? Where can I find a place to sleep – besides the streets? These are real, life altering questions and the consistent answers to all of them are just being slowly supplied and won’t be worked out for months. Realize this, there are still bodies buried in the rubble. I pass by them everyday.
dmb
August 11th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Ebony Magazine has been a vanguard for improving Black people’s plight for many years. Its time Ebony re-establish that vanguard or point position and begin to highlight some of the accomplishments of Black educators and social scientists. There has been such a void in valid research and proven methodology designed specifically by Black educators and social scientists to effectively and meaningfully address this insidious failure to educate the Black child. Our inner-city k-12 public schools have been mis-educating our children over the pass three to four decades. What are we, as Black folks doing about the problem, besides talking about it? Concertedly, we as a people can begin eliminating this educational plague which has infested our inner-city k-12 public school system. Yes , when our Black inner-city youth are reading at a ceiling of 4.9 grade level at 12th grade, then we truly have a” plague” existing within our public school system!
Do we continue down the abysmal path of educational failure, or do we institute a radical paradigm shift in educational pedagogical strategies towards eliminating the horrendous and stagnating academic achievement gap between the haves and have-nots, between the mainstream and non-mainstream k-12, inner-city minority student populations?
We must begin to utilize proven scientific-methods which work towards raising academic achievement among minority students. Our current system remains dominated by district bureaucrats who demand endless reports from principals, and respectively higher salaries for themselves: the schools of education, which concentrate on teaching future teachers so-called pedagogical theories, instead of content of subject matter; and finally, but not least, teacher unions, which are more concerned over their members’ seniority rights and tenure, than adequately teaching our inner-city, non-mainstream students to read and comprehend grade appropriate materials, to enable them to successfully compete in a global economy.
Illiteracy remains the dominant factor or obstacle in eliminating the cumulative deficit, the Black/White achievement gap…”Between the Rhetoric and Reality” Lauriat Press; Simpkins&Simpkins,2009, p-174.
September 3rd, 2010 at 2:42 pm
thanks for all your great work over the years Ebony . i would just like to make a statement the music biz is ready for some balance there is great music out there however its a lot of the same sound which is ok as long as people have a chance to here a range uv great music and sound it out there for example a group called H.I.S.D all for mc have collage education not that that mean anything but there creativity is asome take a look at http://www.hisd.peaceuvmine.com or off.web http://www.peaeuvmine.com
warmly pierre ameer 832 736-1176