once again...amongst other shT.
Interesting article in the Boston Globe entitled, Secret societies, a synopsis of a new book by Jerome Karabel that exposes much of the history of discrimination by the three top institutions of higher education in our nation. And to think that the cuurent president, L. Summers, was just an aberration. Yeah right. Some of the people are really nice and are great scholars, researchers, teachers, and people overall. But seriously though...fuq hahvud yahd.
In this other article, some chick had the nerve to say she "had no choice but to stay inside on weeknights until she turned 21 this year" because there wasn't much else to do but drink. And someone actually voted her in as SGA president?! Sounds like more than a few screws are loose. But really though...this has got to be hyperbole in its finest satirical form, or she is....like....so...wack. Word.
Anyways. NSBE did its thing as usual this week with some good showing. For starters, the professional chapter had its monthly meet and since somebody decided to quit their old job, it ended up being held at my job piece. Let's not forget to mention that I was also supposed to be the primary speaker/presenter and that the midget is with me on Wednesdays, which is also the day for early-morning staff meetings and my after-school session. So yes, it was tiring typing all that much less going through it. But the metting went well, the turnout was decent and we laid out a goof plan of action for being more proactively involved in helpping push technical (or STEM) careers to local youth. I got some good feedback on the ideas I presented and now it's time to roll the sleeves up and make it happen. Coincidentally, I came across this other article that speaks to additional efforts to attack the talent drought head-on. Naturally, there's always bound to be some scorn thrown in Gates' direction, but those are the breaks when you are that rich. But even more promising was this other article about local efforts to incorporate more engineering curriculum into the educational curriculum. Holy rusted metal, Batman. I think we've foudn the jackpot.
But on the real, my man Carl Mack repped hard on Thursday night for the student chapter at Northeastern. I pretty much know his speeches (sermons) verbatim by now, but it was amazing to see how engaged the audience was. You can usually catch more than a few bamas not paying attention, but he had them more than buckshot when he was shorty. And that's saying something if you know what I'm saying. And I've tried to consciously make an effort to not use the N-word and I think I do a fairly good job of keeping it from leaving my lips, but he maks the greatest case for not using it. Just think...what do you think was the last word Emmit Till heard in his life? What about anyone who was lynched back in the day? Yup...that shT'll have you seriously thinking about your whole perspective on everything from the n-word and how some justify it with the term of endearment argument to how its use is not fully censored n the media. It's that simple and it's that ill, but it's also that real.
And lastly, we didn't make it down to the Millions More Movement. There's probably a lot I could have done to make more of a concerted effort to get down there, but alas, what's done is done. I'll stick to the confines of this rainy-weekend in Boston and suck it up. Maybe it's for a reason that the logistics just didn't work out. Whatever the case, I'm in full support of the cause so don't get it twisted. I can recall it like it was yesterday....'long live the spirit of the million man march.' Truly unforgettable. So in the meantime, I'll dope up the midget on cold medicine to curb his coughing, try to catch the alma mater's Homecoming festivities, and maybe hit up the Boston Latino International Film Festival. Favela Rising is a dope movie I've been wanting to see for a while, plus there's this regular movie called Domino that looks promising too. But then again, I'd want a date for that last one, so it doesn't look that'll be happening. Oh well. I'll just write a poem Sunay night and pretend I did go on a date. Ok maybe not...I ain't that fuqing creative.
3 comments:
As I prepare for a civil service exam scheduled for October 18, 2005, I struggle with a desire to travel to Washington, D.C. for the Millions More Movement activities, rather than voyaging half way across Pennsylvania to take another test.
Do I really want to take this exam and attempt to get on another civil service list?
Since 2003, I have participated and completed the State Civil Service process more than a dozen times. In fact, I have tested within the “Rule of Three” mandate (State must hire from within the top three), but they have yet to call me for an interview.
The Civil Service Commission has tactically explained their hiring practice, i.e., Pennsylvania agencies often “opt out” and instead use a little known exception to the process (management directive that grants an unfettered discretion) that allows them to ignore the employment list and promote almost any available lower classification (a current employee).
The Commonwealth’s excuse for not hiring me is no different than the excuse a local temporary employment agency (Robert Half International) recently provided. That is, despite the fact that I scored a perfect 100 percent on their required testing (the average score for everyone else is only 85 percent), and was given an almost perfect score for my interview, the employment agency has insisted since August 2004 that it can’t place me. And, the Pittsburgh EEOC district office, a federal regulatory agency with authority to enforce Title VII has suggested that there appears to be nothing wrong with the company’s reason for not placing me: Robert Half claims its clients continue to select (whites) other candidates who have tested well below my scores and have inferior work experience and there is nothing they can do about it.
Nonetheless, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan (Nation of Islam) has challenged all of us to rise above the things that have kept us divided in the past. The agenda of his Millions More Movement is to see how all of us, with all our varied differences, can come together and direct our energy, not at each other, but at the condition of the reality of the suffering of our people. He has directed us to use all of our skills, gifts and talents to create a better world for ourselves, our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, and the like. True That (word is bond)!
I really want to participate and get my swerve on (enter the conflict of eliminating poverty and injustice in American society). But, this year, I have to tend to my family’s needs. That is, they have cut off all of my utilities, placed tax liens on my property, and have us struggling on food stamps. But, I am a proud “functionally unemployed” black man, flexed, and bout it (real, not fake and true to the game).
No! I’m not going to make it to Washington, D.C. for the Millions More Movement Activities. I have to take the civil service exam. . . . I have to score within the top three to force the white man to get creative again.
The Honorable Minister hopes to help poor people learn how to help themselves, beginning with the knowledge that there is strength in numbers. I may not be there on October 16, 2005, in person, but as a black man tight (straight, legitimate and feeling really good at the moment) and on his hustle (taking care of my family), I’m already there in sprit.
If I could go to the Millions More Movement activities, I would hope to hear about the marked change of October 2005, from the last two political cycles when President George Bush (Karl Rove) used the power of the White house to coax first-tier candidates into important congressional races. In these crucial few months when candidates are entering races, raising money and recruiting staffs, republican hopefuls are quietly stepping off. There’s one obvious reason why republican hopefuls aren’t listening to the White House: Bush is an unpopular president.
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, Bush won the admiration of most Americans (even some blacks) for resolute leadership in the face of a foreign threat. But, after the recent simpleton response to hurricane Katrina and his tone-deaf reaction to the needs of America’s poor, the GOP and the world now well understand that Bush has slipped into a hole and unfortunately it appears the HNIC won’t be climbing back out. That is, his message remains essentially hopeless worries and hopeful faith. He’s back again portraying the world as too treacherous, too dangerous, and too risky for anyone but the GOP. Karl Rove wants to keep America focused on terror and national security. And, then they went public with wacked (crazy stupid) information suggesting possible subway attacks in New York (a city on orange alert the second-highest-level-indicating a high risk of terror attack since the color-coded warning system was established after the September 11, 2002 attacks). Bush backed the decision to announce the threat publicly despite questions by most federal officials about its credibility. They even claimed the source of the threat had passed a polygraph test. In short, like always, the GOP knew America can’t second-guess the motive behind a terror alert.
If I could go to the Millions More Movement activities, I would hope to hear about black GOP conservatives who have gone out their way in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina to play the race and irresponsibility card hoping to cultivate the most reactionary forms of Christian fundamentalism alongside the extreme right for whom racism is an essential ideological component. Just yesterday black GOP conservatives gathered to discuss race and irresponsibility. BOND (The Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny) and the Heritage Foundation cosponsored the event: The New Black Vanguard Conference II. It was moderated by Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, Founder and President of BOND. Dr. Shelby Steele (Hoover Institution Senior Fellow), Joseph Phillips (Actor & Columnist), Linda Porter (Founder Jochbed Education Project), and La Shawn Barber (lashawnbarber.com) attempted to reflect upon policy questions they claimed of major significance to black communities.
In the course of a denunciation of current black leadership they enumerated some of the standard racist conceptions often voiced by the right wing: The view that welfare programs had created among blacks a culture of irresponsibility; there is an enormous cost for risky behavior within the black family (promiscuous women and fatherless households); and, one generation of blacks has followed another into poverty.
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson has suggested in the past that America shouldn’t blame racism or President Bush and the GOP for what happened to thousands of poor blacks during and after hurricane Katrina. He said “The truth is black people died, not because of President Bush or racism, they died because of their unhealthy dependence on the government and the incompetence of Mayor Ray Nagin (a black man) and Governor Kathleen Blanco.” The black GOP conservative singled out Rev. Jesse Jackson, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and Rapper Kanye West, all of whom he says blamed President Bush for not doing enough to help black people.
Yes! Rev. Jesse Jackson is on the record calling the president’s response “incompetent.”
Yes! During NBC’s celebrity telethon for hurricane Katrine victims on September 2, 2005, the scripted program took an unexpected turn, when Rapper Kanye West went off the script during the live broadcast, declaring “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”
But, black GOP conservatives are nothing but house slaves. They blindly follow simple-minded people. In slavery days we had house slaves and field slaves. The house slaves were “well behaved” and “rewarded” by being allowed to work in the “big house” close to the master. The field slaves were “rough” and “functionally unemployed.” Thus the people were divided and pitted against themselves, instead the common enemy (extreme right forces and Christian fundamentalists).
If I could go to the Millions More Movement activities, I would hope to hear about how da fam in the Burgh (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) can get rid of some punk ass black politicians that are indifferent to the plight of "functionally unemployed" individuals and their families. The last time da fam in the Burgh had oportunity to "break bread" with a bout it black leader was August 19, 1997. On that particular day the Honorable Minister accepted my question (from the audience) related to how black males can be a better father to their children. Among other things, he eloquently advised the group of black politicians on how we can come together and direct our energy, not at each other, but at the condition of the reality of the suffering or our people. But it's October 2005, conditions for blacks in the Burgh have become more precarious. The city is now controled by (in the closet) black GOP conservative house slaves.
No Diggety!
kstreetfriend.blogspot.com
@kstreetfriend-that was a fantastic essay!
1995
I watched the beginning of the Millions More March this morning on CSpan. I also watched the original ten years ago. I was still in law school in 1995 and I remember worrying that it would turn into some kind of misogynous frat party, complete with Moynihan-like Blackwoman bashing. But when I woke up in the morning and actually saw all those Blackmen on the Mall on TV on October 16th, 2005, I cried. It was SO beautiful and uplifting. We watched it all day at school inbetween classes. I took and copied notes for all my guy friends who attended the march. My friends came back the next day glowing and proud and telling story after story of peace and empowerment. They said there was no violence and only one death, an older gentleman who had a heart attack after getting off the bus. For years after, every new guy I met, I asked him if he had been to "The March." I attended the Blackwomen's march in Philly a few years later and felt the same pride and empowerment.
2005
Quite frankly, I was surprised that under the current administration, they were even able to have the ten year anniversary. This year, I saw a lot more women and family than I saw ten years ago; I saw Dorothy Height in a wheelchair raising her fist; a Gay Blackmen's group from Harlem on the podium; and a banner in the crowd which read "Millions More March from Bronx, NY" (Yay!)
JOB SEARCH
I too am functionally unemployed living in Boston going on many second interviews without the courtesy of a call, letter or postcard when I am not chosen. Robert Half is GARBAGE! In the Boston Office, that b*tch (another Blackwoman) had the nerve to give me a spelling and grammar test during my intake interview?!?! When she did find me a job, it paid less than the data entry temp job I had found on my own. I mustered every bit of professionalism I had and told her to call me back when she found me something more suitable. Register with other agencies and do more personal networking. My last two long term temp jobs were with friends and family. Good Luck! Stay Strong!
@Pops-I guess I should post all this on my own blog, Huh? LOL
millions more march, i'm not gonna discuss. but the art is tight, and you seem to have a full weekend. you are right about the SGA president stuff too, but she wouldn't be the first president that didn't know her head from her ass...
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