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Lunch & Learn with Dr. Russell Rickford

Dr. Russell's talk was eye-opening to see how many liberation movements were happening in the 60ds. I also thought it was interesting how many parallels he pointed out each of the nationalism had. Each of them showed the problem with nationalism within their culture. Many of their governments reflected the postcolonial state and did not aid the nation's people.

Another point that widened my perspective was at the beginning of Dr. Russell's talk when he talked about pan-African nationalism and re-socializing the oppressed, and creating schools to counteract white oppression. This made me think of the current climate around including Black history within the curriculum, and I was shocked this is not discussed more.

Merritt College: Home of the Black Panthers

Watching this video, I was shocked at how much information I had not heard before. I felt like the goal of the Black Panthers was colluded through the media. The video reflects on many people sharing their experiences, defining their experience as protecting the law, knowing it, and trying to serve their country. Unfortunately, the media and history taught do not share this perspective. This made me think of This reminded me of Safiya Umoja Noble's talk, The Internet Unleashed. She discusses how important the first page of any search engine is. She stated that many people do not venture past the first page, so it shapes a lot of the conception around the topic. I feel like this is what happened to the Black Panthers and the civil right movement throughout history, and many of their original intentions are lost.

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-It was enlightening to hear about the formation of the black panthers. The hope and empowerment they gave the black community - like they were superheroes - is equally heartwarming as it is frustrating. Frustrating in the sense that the formation of this group was even necessary to help aid in the safety and protection of the black community. Alas, this is America.

-"Harlem children performed two to four years behind national and citywide

academic norms. The longer they remained in school, the further behind they fell." (Rickford, 2016)
Racism is mindboggling to me. It is so hard to wrap my head around how someone can feel so superior just based on ethnicity, that they will allow and encourage children to be neglected and educationally stunted - among other things.

-When I read the dates for a lot of these historical moments in America, I am reminded that this wasn't even that long ago. Racism and discrimination is still prominent. It is infuriating.

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-          “Integration offered a means of thrusting handfuls of black children toward the centers of social privilege in specific locales. These were often the sons and daughters of more assertive, informed, or better-off families who were positioned to seize limited opportunities to attend more prosperous white schools” (Rickford, 17). We discussed something like this in one of the first weeks. In many cases during integration, students of color were taken out of segregated schools, which happened to be working very well for them at the time and forced into the “better” white school.

-          “Schools…are not going to transform society. What schools generally do is reproduce the dominant social relations in society” (Rickford, 56:08). This anecdote is a fascinating one to me. Many times, we try to teach and guide our students to be who we think they should be. Generally, we want them to just be good people. Once students leave the school, however, they go back into a society that they have been intermingling in in for years. Sometimes that society is one of growth and help. Sometimes that society has more troublemakers than helpers.

-          Seeing police take weapons from the Black Panthers in the video is a very striking example of how constitutional rights of people of color during the civil rights movement were constantly under duress. Even the 2nd amendment, one of the most polarizing of the amendments, was not safe for African Americans currently. We are still seeing the disproportionate treatment by police on this community even still today. Link that notion with how “Schools…are not going to transform society. What schools generally do is reproduce the dominant social relations in society” (Rickford, 56:08) and you begin to see the endless loop of oppression.

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- "Freedom could not be orchestrated from above, it had to be engineered from below." This quote that Dr. Russell Rickford included in his presentation felt powerful to me, and I think it feels relevant to many of the issues that we deal with currently. It's the job of the people to make changes and I think it feels like things are finally beginning to shift because that's a mindset everyone is beginning to realize as well.

- Interesting how the history of the Black Panther Party is not taught alongside other American history. Like many of my colleagues, I was surprised to learn so much from the Merritt College video that I had just never heard before. Of course, as they mention in the video, there is whitewashing of history and media, but for many of us to still be in the same position is very interesting.

- Related but unrelated, as I near the end of my Master's program, I wonder where I will be able to find and access information like this that I did not previously learn. I credit my undergraduate and graduate-level education not just for academic knowledge, but for also encouraging open-mindedness and a new perspective on human rights, equality, and other issues that have and continue to occur in our country. Of course, I can continue to search for resources on my own, but to have legitimate and unbiased sources provided from trustworthy professors and colleagues has been very helpful.

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I accidentally read the next weeks reading first and then came back to this weeks.

- I am left thinking about especially in relation to this upcoming weeks reading and the clip about Merritt College about my position when it comes to being "in but not of the university," (Kelley, 2018, p. 21). I think that the formation of the Black Panther Party at Merritt College is really one of the best examples you can have of the work that comes with having the resources to engage with critical materials that an academic institution can create the space for but not working on behalf off the institutions goals.

- "African-American parents rejected the myth that education was apolitical. They recognized schooling as a matter of power, and they resolved to control the socialization of their children and the definition of their own social reality. They understood that for the oppressed, the
transmission between generations of knowledge and cultural wisdom constitutes
“a struggle in the arena of ideas,” and they realized that other crusades for
freedom and justice might come to nothing if victory in this area were denied.," (Rickford, 2016, p. 13). This reminds me of Fred Hampton talk on the importance of revolutionary education: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DviCUygm3eM

- I am just always reminded of the importance of grassroots organizations and what it can mean to repurpose resources that we have at hand because of the institutions we have become apart of

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Fred Hampton on the importance of revolutionary education

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-One phrase that really resonated with me in "We are an African People" by Russell Rickford is the "chronic miseducation" when talking about the students in Central Harlem. These two words are so powerful to me and represent the system working against students of color. The reading goes on to discuss the lack of voices in power to help work in this system. It is a vicious cycle that continues today.

-Another thing that stood out to me in this reading was the progression through integration in schools. I worked in Little Rock School District for two years. Although it has come a very long way, there is so much to be done and a lack of the right voices present. Those students deserve more.

-I also really liked the video on the Black Panthers because this is something I didn't know as much about. Even though I only finished school within the last decade, this group was described as a violent and radical group and we learned almost nothing else. I have done my own work learning about many of the movements especially the legalities, but this is a group I would like to spend more time learning about with my own naivety.

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We are an African People by Russell Rickford

--  Russell's telling of the evolution of the racial movement throughout the 60s, allows for a deeper appreciation for the recent Black Lives Matter movement.  The movements, policy changes, desegregation but still equal attempts all took years to achieve. Other events happen throughout time that takes focus away. In his video, Russell explains how the BLM movement is a sort of snap back to refocus on the racial change and equality. The book and the video cohesively put into perspective for me, how historic and necessary the BLM movement has been for society, that I am living through.

--Russell goes further into detail about the false hope of the creations of the Nation State. The new African Independence still was being oppressed by European control.  He quotes a black panther:
"How can we be black nationalists, when the US is not a nation but an empire?"
This quote really grabbed my attention, because I had never taken that view point. Which I also think it describes what is happening throughout the sixties with African Nations gaining independence, but at the same time being controlled as if the European countries are permitting this false sense of "independence"

Merritt College-Home of the Black Panthers

--This video was incredibly informing for me. Shaming to say, I had no idea what the Black Panthers were until I watched this. The term Black Panther was familiar to me, most likely from somewhere throughout college, because I know we were never taught anything about them in my high school. So for me, this video was so educational for me. Both historically and eye opening to how lacking and broken out school education systems are.

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The core material this week brought me back to my thinking around Brown v Board. The inequalities in desegregated schools are still very present. The negative impacts run deep for Black students in education because they lack access to people and materials that infuse education systems with history that is relevant and informative to the inequalities at play. Why is there such push-back in the system for this? The missing voices in power has been a commonality among much of our course topics so far.

I really enjoyed the Black Panther video as I felt that I had little exposure to this movement in the past. It made me question why I had not learned more about this in my history classes growing up? It makes me really consider the long-term affects students of color face when the very topics they engage with in their K-12 schooling often look down on those in history who went “against the grain” in relation to laws, etc.

A quote that stood out to me from the Black Panther video in relation to the Community Survival Programs was, “when people are able to really consider their circumstances, they will, but when such debilitating forces are at play, they cannot.” When basic survival needs are unmet, we know how big of an affect this has on kids during a school day let alone outside of that setting. What a powerful, meaningful, and selfless focus within the community.

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We are an African People by Russell Rickford

Quote that Stuck Out:  “Many African Americans were convinced that white power structures would furnish black children with decent schooling “only if there were white children as hostages in their classroom”. ”

- Labeling white students as hostages to a desegregated classroom really shows how the parents felt about integrating the races into the classroom. They sound scared and convinced that white children would only choose to be in a classroom with a person of color if they were forced to, and that it wouldn’t have much affect on the way their child is viewed.

Lunch and Learn with Dr. Russell Rickford/ Merritt College: Home of the Black Panthers

Question: I wonder why the information in this video was not shared in history classes at a younger age? It seems to me that a lot of educational information regarding race has been narrowed down to slavery and MLK Jr. in these particular classes. Is there anything that can be done about this?

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We are an African People by Russell Rickford

·      “‘Most black folks feel, too, it’s always been one-way, it’s been black kids being brutalized, psychologically manipulated—its never been white kids.”  This quote by a Brooklyn teacher stood out to me.  Black children were expected to go to white schools, but white children were never expected to be bussed into a school with mostly black students.

Dr. Russell Rickford Video

·      At one point in the video it explained that in the liberated areas of Mozambique, the schools were built by the students and the teachers, and that the teachers and the students lived in the same community.  There was a contrast between this arrangement and the teachers driving home to an “exclusive suburb” while the students went “deeper into the ghetto.”  It was also stated that there were no issues with disrespect because teachers and students were working toward a common goal.  This is an interesting imagining of education.  Can teachers still be effective even if they don’t live in the same community as the students?

Merritt College – Home of the Black Panthers

·      The video “Merritt College - Home of the Black Panthers” stated that the Black Panthers were standing for self-defense against social inequalities like access to food and healthcare.  I wasn’t aware of their involvement in community outreach like breakfast programs and medical clinics this before viewing the video.

·      It was interesting to hear that rates of juvenile crimes decreased in the area during this time.
-Mary D.

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Reflections-Meg Gilchrist
The key take aways from the reading and videos this week are

·        a quote from the reading that notes “many proponents of black control of African-American schools were longtime
desegregation advocates who saw themselves as making a tactical adjustment rather than undergoing a wholesale change of course. “(Rickford, R 2016).

·        It makes a good point about grassroot efforts making changes in more local and immediate situations but still working towards larger societal changes.

·        There is also another statement that grassroots programs cannot be separated from larger struggles for equality-for a more truly egalitarian society.

·        Dr. Russell Rickford made a comment that the school house still remains a site of political power and self-determination.  This is a true statement and a good reminder of the power of schools and teachers working within their community.

The question I grapple with is how the law can be twisted by groups in power to suite their agenda.  How do we fight back against this.

·        I thought the news clip from the Black Panthers video was so relevant to what is happening today especially in places like Arizona at ballot boxes with armed people trying to intimidate people(many of these people are people of color, those who cannot leave work to vote on election day) dropping off their ballots-the news clip says we cannot allow marauding groups with guns to patrol the streets (Black Panthers) but that is exactly what white groups are doing right now.

·        There is a Ronald Reagan quote that people of good will cannot carry guns with even the implied notion that they could be used against another but that is the same thing that is happening right now with just the sides reversed.

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How does the lack of access to cultural history affect the development of a culture? I ponder this question because it is something I believe is  what needs to be answered in order to reparate and move forward.

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How does the lack of access to cultural history affect the development of a culture? I ponder this question because it is something I believe is  what needs to be answered in order to reparate and move forward.

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Dr. Newton: “The struggle for freedom, justice and equality transcends racial and ethnic barriers.”

1. This quote resonates with me because under any circumstance the 10 point platform needed to be implemented immediately. This was a huge issue and prevalent topic in the community.

It was amazing to hear that the crime statistics decreased when the black panther police force was active. This group stood on the law and this made a great impact on the community.

- SU

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- Why is there a villainization of Black Power movements? When we examine desegregation and inclusion, there was such a pushback and negative light on a lot of the leaders in the fight for equality and we see that they are often villainized for it.
-Riots and protests are the languages of anger. Why does it take a drastic move to get people to listen? (Historical examples: civil rights, women's suffrage. Recent examples: BLM, Me too, Equal Pay for Equal Play, Gay Rights, etc.)
-The reading stated that in 1964 "Harlem children performed two to four years behind national and citywide academic norm" (Rickford, page 2) and no one in power thought that it was an issue to fix.
-Going back to our assignment on Brown vs. Board of Education, when desegregation happened in 1954 as a result of Brown v. Board and made segregation unconstitutional on a federal level. This started the movement to break down the racial barrier and integrate schools, public areas, etc. In regard to that time period, there were social limitations and mindsets that pushed back on integrating.
-There are current issues within our school systems and society that are almost parallel to those that were fought in the civil rights movement. If we take a closer look at schools today we can see that there are still schools that are what I call “modern-day segregation.” This happens when school districts are formed and certain areas go to one school while the others go to one further away. This is a lot like gerrymandering.

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- Anti-capitalism and racial justice
- I have found that, in a lot of my lessons in anti-racism training, anti-capitalism seems to be tightly imbricated with anti-racism movements. I think of Bacon's Rebellion and modern movements against capitalism and racism. Why is this connection so strong?

- Villainization of Black Power Movements
- Why were the Black Panthers so demonized throughout history for defending themselves and their rights? US History classes rarely demonize the British colonists for defending themselves against the Redcoats. The colonists engaged in guerilla warfare against the "law and order" of Britain, so why is civil disobedience of Black Power Movements today demonized so harshly?

- The Black Panther Party for Self Defense
- I wonder why I never learned about this political group until more recently. Why are these modern racial justice movements so often skipped over in our history books?

- What can we do?
- As educators, being aware of Black Empowerment is important and necessary, but what exactly can we do to help support these movements as educators? How can I incorporate meaningful lessons on Black Power and Radical Imagination into my classrooms?

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- I wonder how the word “radical” has shifted over the years.

- I know that “power” holds a negative light on things rather than a positive light. Will this term change over time?

- “We do feel that we can develop the kinds of black kids in the ghetto who can withstand the negative influence of white education without undergoing too much psychological damage”(Rickford, 16). I wonder how much psychological damage has been faced due to the influence of white education. Has this affected their view of the world? Has this made them feel different from others?

- Jamie Walker

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This is the first time I had heard the terms de jure segregation and de facto segregation- de jure is mandated by law and enforced by the government and de facto is separation that exists when laws do not- De facto segregation is prevalent today through the inequity we can still see.

When I heard “White Flight” in the past I assumed it was the action of racist and judgmental citizens not a “highly subsidized process” (pg. 11).

Why does it take such extremes to make change? And why doesn’t that change always continue? “The upsurge of militancy yielded concessions from national and local authorities” (pg. 12). The last few years have been full of extremes to be heard on issues that have already been fought for like the men and women from our core material this week.

I used to wonder why racism was still so deeply rooted in America in 2022. But as I continue reading in this course it reminds me that desegregation was seen just a generation ago- my parents were children in the mid/late 60s. The segregationist mindset and values are still being passed down even if it is not always explicit it can still be taught through actions and the treatment of others.

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* The quote that opens up the article really caught my eye. I feel like I am repeating myself, maybe because we keep talking about the very important issue of power structures and neo-colonization. True equity, and decolonization, or desegregation will take place when power is shared and forgotten voices are heard.

* While reading the article I kept thinking about that podcast we listened to in class about another perspective on Brown v. Board of education, and how it did not start as a quest for "better" education, but as a quest for freedom and inclusion. I wonder as I don't know really, when did non-white schools become not as good as the white school? And without trying to be too mystic or spiritual, was the inequality in education delivery spoken into existence by a false narrative stained with white supremacy?

* On a more personal take... and moving from K-12 to Higher Education. I wish I had the time to go and look at the state of Higher Ed at the time. My mom (Dominican like me, with a thick foreign accent, but definitely seems white) came to the US in the 70s to get her undergrad in Minneapolis... I now wonder if her "dislike" of the US has anything to do with the racially charged atmosphere she might have experienced. What was happening in colleges and universities while all this nonsense was happening in schools?