Opps! I just saw your response below. Let me quickly say that I have corresponded with you before and need no introduction to your pan-Africanist credentials. Please, allow me to add my voice to what Adesuahene Bangura said: when I am on the street no one sees me as a "Continental" African and hence treats me as such. In other words, we are all constructed as BLACK, and we as scholar-activists should provide a template of unifying force so that we can stand against systemic inequalities that affect us all. Thanks.
Kwabena.
-----Original Message-----
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of kwame zulu shabazz
Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2012 10:52 PM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: FW: Police Brutality at Delaware State University Dover Cops BeatAssociate Professor at Non-violent rally 3/1/2012
Peace to you brother Kwabena,
First let me preface my comments by noting that I am African American, a pan-Africanist, and I have an intimate relationship with Ghana going back to 1997. When I say the protesters at Delaware State have a legitimate concern my basic point is that DSU is a HBCU and African Americans, by virtually any metric we can dream up (prisons, unemployment, health, education, downward mobility, etc.), are still marginalized in US society. I don't think I have to run down the stats here, but I think we will all agree that the status of African Americans--or at least a large subset of said group--is quite bleak and getting worse.
Take Education.
All over the US, African American students are disappearing from predominantly white institutions (PWIs) and African American faculty still face lots of barriers at PWIs. For this reason HBCUs remain a vital lifeline for African Americans. Given these circumstances, I think HBCUs should be aggressively finding ways recruit more African American students and faculty. By all means immigrants of all color should also be welcome. After all, HBCUs have a long-standing tradition of educating Haitians, Jamaicans, Trinidadians and so forth.
Thousands of Africans have passed through HBCU corridors--Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), Hastings Banda (Malawi) and Nnamdi Azikiwe (Nigeria) being two notable examples. And Native Americans were attending HBCUs over 100 years ago. However, for the reasons I have outlined above, I still maintain that there has to be a primary push to recruit African American students and faculty.
I have an additional concern. A majority white faculty and a black faculty that is majority African suggests to me that the faculty and administration will be far less attentive to racial justice. I witnessed that first hand as a graduate student at Harvard University where they boast relatively high rates of black undergraduate enrollment, but what they avoid discussing is that the majority of the black undergraduates are not African American. Hence African Americans are benefitting the least from centuries of African American struggle.
That is unacceptable, in my view. There must be a remedy for the social, political and economic injustices suffered by African Americans. HBCUs and Affirmative Action are imperfect remedies, but remedies nonetheless. We should be thinking of HBCUs from the perspective of reparations instruments no different from, say, comparable remedies for "blacks" in Brazil or South Africa. kzs
On Mar 4, 10:16 am, "Akurang-Parry, Kwabena" <KAP...@ship.edu> wrote:
> Kwame:
>
> In response to Akwasi's intervention below, you wrote, "Delaware State has a white majority faculty and much of the 'black' faculty is not African American. The students have a legitimate concern."
>
> What exactly does your statement above mean?
>
> Kwabena
>
> ________________________________________
> From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
> [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] on behalf of kwame zulu shabazz
> [kwameshab...@gmail.com]
> Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2012 10:28 PM
> To: USA Africa Dialogue Series
> Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: FW: Police Brutality at
> Delaware State University Dover Cops BeatAssociate Professor at
> Non-violent rally 3/1/2012
>
> Akwasi,
>
> Have you watched the video? The police are clearly abusive. Arresting
> a university professor exercising Free Speech is outrageous. Delaware
> State has a white majority faculty and much of the "black" faculty is
> not African American. The students have a legitimate concern.
>
> kzs
>
> On Mar 3, 11:27 am, Akwasi <aosei121...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Hi Abdul:
>
> > Someone called my attention to this, and I thought I should respond
> > as best as I could.
>
> > First, how are you? It has been a hile since we made contact. Hope
> > all is well.
>
> > As Chair of the History, Political Science and Philosophy department
> > at DSU, and as a long serving faculty member, I want you to know
> > that whatever infiormation you have on this topic is flawed, full of
> > innacuracies, half-truths and outright misrepresentations. Clearly,
> > I am unable to share what I know , but I can say this: there has
> > been no evidence of police brutality on this campus that anybody is
> > aware of. You do not want to be the carrier of rumors and
> > innacurate information.
>
> > I notice Dr. Nyang also was concerned. You can tell him that there
> > is no issue of police brutality on our campus.
>
> > Sinceley
>
> > Akwasi Osei
>
> > On Mar 2, 12:39 am, "Abdul Bangura" <th...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> > > From Dr. Randy Short:
> > > For Immediate Release 3/2/2012
> > > Delaware State University Professor of History Brutally Treated
> > > and Arrested by Dover Police Officers Stop Police Brutality at Delaware State University!
> > > Human Rights Activist and Professor of African American History at Delaware State University (DSU), located in Dover, Delaware, Dr. Jahi Issa had to be hospitalized prior to his arrest. Dr. Issa was part of a student-organized protest concerning the unfair treatment of proactive faculty at Delaware State. Recently, Dr. Issa had filed an EEOC complaint regarding unfair and discriminatory treatment of African American faculty at the university. Delaware State University has since the ultra-conservative presidency of Dr. Allen L. Sessoms who had the Africana Studies library materials destroyed in 2008. Sessoms ordered staff to leave Africana studies books to be left on the lawn to be destroyed by rain. Dr. Harry L. Williams replaced Sessoms as President of Delaware State in September 2008. President Williams earned his Ed.D. from the conservative East Tennessee State University.
> > > Dr. Issa who is very popular with students who have become disenchanted with the plantation styled administration of their school. Recently, Dr. Issa had written about the inner threat that reactionary administrations pose to the future survival of Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Black Agenda Report ezine in late 2011. Friends to Dr. Issa were concerned when DSU President made veiled threats to protect the image his university on a cable program that aired Sunday, February 26, 2012. Media concerns interested in learning more about the plight of minority colleges and universities or the recent violence at DSU can contact Dr. Issa of the HBCU Initiative at 302 465-3787 or his email jahiiss...@gmail.com or his Washington, D.C. representative Dr. Randy Short at wrandysh...@gmail.com. Presently, Dr. Issa is under arrest in the custody of the Dover police (302) 736-7111. As of 10:00 p.m. 3/1/2012, the authorities have refused to release Dr. Issa or explain the charges for his arrest nor given his family time for his arraignment. President Harry L. Williams can be reached at 302 857-6001 or hwilli...@desu.edu. What kind of university leadership uses police state methods on non-violent students and faculty?
>
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