AFRICAN PEOPLE AND EDUCATION
By Dr. Conrad
W. Worrill (September 19, 2008)
We must stop the Miseducation of our
youth. In this spirit, the National Black United Front (NBUF) encourages our
youth, and all African people to participate in the NDABA IV Reparations
Meeting, October 29 and 30 in
We must help our youth to redefine
the reality of the institutions that affect us. The political behavior of a
certain sector of Africans in
In my judgment, the present
established African in American educational leadership will never help us
achieve the kind of self determining power we need to help liberate us from the
oppression of white supremacy.
Education is the process of
instilling the values of a society, group, nation, race, or ethnic group. It is
the method by which people are taught the relationship to their families,
communities, nation, race, and the world. Further, education defines the
function of society and strives to help one become an active participant in the
growth and development of a given society, nation, race, and ethnic group. It
is in this context that we understand that education is an important process in
helping a people acquire power for the perpetuation of their interests.
It should be obvious by now that most
African children in
It is important that we consult one
of our great educators, Carter G. Woodson, in helping sum up this awesome
problem of education that keeps Africans in
Therefore, our task becomes one of
the continued struggles to re-conceptualize the mission of education for our
people. This re-conceptualization must be based on the premise that Woodson set
forth when he said, “The race will free itself from exploiters just as soon as
it decides to do so. No one else can accomplish this task for the race. It must
plan and do for itself.” We will never acquire real power if this does not
happen.
Essentially, our mission should be
that of establishing our own educational agenda that is based on creating a new
educational ethos. The present ethos instills in African children in
The task of re-conceptualizing a new
educational ethos is to understand that the mission of our education should be
to make a whole people again as the Reparations Movement is demanding. Making
us whole again is a process that defines education in the context of our own
political, economic, cultural, and spiritual needs.
This new educational ethos must rest
on the idea that the group interests of our race are more important than those
of any individual. Dr. Anderson Thompson calls this the “African Principle.” In
other words, the only way we will become liberated and independent is through
group thinking and group actionC not as individuals. We must work to achieve the greatest
good for the greatest number.
Succinctly stated, our purpose for
becoming educated should be one of helping to build a movement to liberate us
from the oppression of white supremacy and racism so that we can build a new
social, political, cultural, economic, and spiritual order for ourselves as we
struggle to link up with African people around the world.
This kind of education must
facilitate the re-stimulation of the extended African in American family
foundation as we struggle to become an economically self-sufficient people who
produce, process, distribute, wholesale and retail like everyone else in the
world.
Finally, this new educational ethos
must instill in us the spirit of producing, the spirit of building, and the
spirit of controlling what we create. Anything short of this will merely mimic
the education of our oppressors and we will continue to be their subjects, to
do and be whatever they choose.
Conrad Worrill
National Chairman
National Black United Front (NBUF)
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