Saturday, December 30, 2017

Don Allen, M.A. Ed., back on the Black Republican, Black Democrat Show: Closing out 2017

Join host Jamar Nelson on iHeartRadio’s Black Republican, Black Democrat Show on Twin Cities News Talk AM 1130, FM 103.5 at 6:00PM CST tonight.


By Jamar Nelson (D) - Black Republican, Black Democrat Show

The beginning: Don Allen (Republican), with Jamar Nelson (Democrat) 
Join host Jamar Nelson on iHeartRadio’s Black Republican, Black Democrat Show on Twin Cities News Talk AM 1130, FM 103.5 at 6:00PM CST tonight.

Host Jamar Nelson and Patwin Lawrence (on assignment), welcome back former co-host and friend of the show Don Allen (Independent Conservative), as he talks with the old crew about governor Mark Dayton’s new appointments for the Professional Educators Licensing Board, which do not include any Black Americans born in Minnesota.

Allen wrote in a heated missive titled, "A message from Don Allen, M.A. Ed./MAT" - (4.0 GPA)/ Dual Masters (2), Hamline University (MN’s First University)/Teacher – Communications Arts/Lit 5-12. Candidate: Doctorate in Education-University of St. Thomas.

Don Allen, M.A. Ed./MAT on the set of Murder Calls for ID Discovery Telvision 
“Am I wronging to question a surreptitious board of Teaching in Minnesota process that picked a group of Minnesotans that did not include any American-born Minnesotans from the state? How will this board me culturally relevant and/or responsive?  What about the endless machine of testing for new teachers that is set up and mandated for European Americans; should I not question the validity and process sans the adults (black males/females; native American male/females) of the children that are doing the worst failing in school K-12? You cannot do ANY problem-solving. I’m sorry, but on this date and time (2017), this happens too repeatedly not to be the cleverest of #Minnesota #Nice; #racisminMN.”

Allen says, “it’s not the new board members fault in the least, it’s the process from which they were picked. In Minnesota, people in positions to pick and choose, think they are closer to “blackness” by ignoring black Americans in favor of Africans in America to satisfy some sort of guilt, but in the end, it is our children, descendants of slaves who are once again, left out by a political process that favors the governors political party ideology.”

You can also listen online at www.TwinCitiesNewsTalk.com starting at 6pm tonight.


Saturday, December 9, 2017

Black Americans must DELETE the term “African American”

Black Americans or African Americans
(photo: Google Search-Fair Use)
No, this doesn’t mean that Black Americans are denying heritage, but it brings about an opportunity to talk about Blackness and its meanings without inserting another culture that we’ve (Black Americans) have been 20-generations removed. Yes, Black Power; it’s the hour-to-tower!

By Don Allen, M.A. Ed./MAT

Let’s stick to the facts; when did the term African American become the term to identify Black American-born people? That moment unfolded in December 1988, in a lower-level conference room of the Hyatt Hotel near O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The Rev. Jesse Jackson was holding a closed session with the National Rainbow Coalition and Operation PUSH board and other high-ranking campaign supporters. The meeting was to be an “agenda-setting” session intended to send a signal about Jackson’s future and how he would harness the potential of the coalition he had built during his presidential bid. Anticipation was high from the media, with serious speculation about runs for mayor, governor, senator, or appointment to ambassadorships. The discussions were free-flowing, with most of the attendees wanting to tackle ongoing issues from apartheid and sanctions to labor unions to farmers, and even talk about planning for a third presidential race and what would be needed to make it viable.

After lunch, unexpectedly, the late C. Delores Tucker (best known for taking on rap music and Tupac Shakur) stood up and made a highly passionate argument for the use of “African-American” as opposed to Black. Her reason was clear and simple: “Nobody lives in Blackland!” Everyone has a spiritual and cultural connection attached to a place in the world that their ancestors called home, except black people. “African-American” would give us a connection to our heritage, our past and our future.

Most Black Americans do not identify with Africans and most genuine African-Americans (i.e., people who recently emigrated from Africa to the U.S. or who divide their time between two continents) do not identify with Black Americans. The Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie made this point very movingly in a recent talk she gave at the Free Library in Philadelphia as part of a tour she is on to promote her new book Americanah. “American,” Adichie explained in response to a question about what race she had in mind when someone was referred to simply as “American,” “is a mark that culture leaves, never a physical description.” She said that when she came to the U.S. she did not want to be identified with black Americans and even “recoiled” when a man in Brooklyn referred to her as “sister.” I’m not your sister, she thought to herself. I have three brothers and I know where they are, and you’re not one of them!

Many argued that the term African-American should refer to the descendants of slaves brought to the United States centuries ago, not to newcomers who have not inherited the legacy of bondage, segregation and legal discrimination. Dr. Bobby Austin, an administrator at the University of the District of Columbia understood why some blacks were offended when Mr. Kamus claimed an African-American identity. Dr. Austin said some people feared that Black immigrants and their children would snatch up the hard-won opportunities made possible by the civil rights movement (Source).

Do a google search on the term “African-American” if you want to see how many black Americans feel about it. Check out the Facebook page “Don’t Call Me African-American,” or Charles Mosley’s guest column in in the February 12, 2013 edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “By using the term ‘African-American’ to refer to black people,” Mosley writes, “columnists, readers, TV hosts and commentators perpetuate and embrace Jim Crow racial stereotypes, segregation and historical distortions. … Africa is not a racial or ethnic identity. Africa is a geographical identity.” In fact, you almost never hear blacks refer to themselves as “African-American,” unless it is to please a white audience, and there is a good reason for that: They do not think of themselves as African-American. They do not identify with Africa, at least not until we remind them, by referring to them as “African-American,” that they are supposed to (Source).

Black Americans are at a crossroad; when an African immigrant with no history or experience of racism or slavery associates with the mainstream, they are treated as model citizens. When Black Americans engage the mainstream system, we (in most cases) are considered “less-than” our African immigrant brothers and sisters -  its been that way for a long time. The suggestion would be that Black Americans take back the power of being Black in America and call us what we are: “Black Americans.”


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