Alison Clark, Ph.D., is a research scientist, social entrepreneur and founder and president of AMedia1.com, LLC, a not-for-profit organization that creates interactive educational content aimed at students and teachers in underserved public schools. Dr. Clark has studied, written, and presented extensively on digital inequalities in computing, education, and community engagement.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Boyce Watkins and Mark Anthony Neal Talk "Nigger Jim" on CNN's NewsRoom
Boyce Watkins and Mark Anthony Neal Discuss the removal on the "N-Word" from a new edition of Huckleberry Finn on CNN's Newsroom.
The McEducation of the Negro
Franchising is an outstanding model for selling Big Macs. But it can be toxic to classrooms.
The McEducation of the Negro
by Natalie Hopkinson | The Root
Something wasn't right at the high school that Darwin Bridgers' son attends, so he sat in on the class to see for himself. All morning long, the instructor at the Washington, D.C., charter school pointed to a list of ground rules, a detailed list of rewards and punishments posted on a wall near the front of the class filled with black and Latino students.
Then the students filled out worksheets. That's how it went: rewards and punishments, then worksheets. No instruction, just worksheets. At the end of the class, Bridgers, who works as an exterminator, pulled aside the teacher, a young white male and recent graduate.
"I wanted to know when he was going to do some, you know, teaching," Bridgers explained to me recently. "You know, like, how we used to have in school? She would stand in front of the class … "
I nodded my head. I attended K-12 at schools in Canada, Indiana and Florida in the '80s and '90s, but I knew exactly what he meant. There would be assignments to read from textbooks. A teacher would give a lecture and randomly call on students. Students would ask questions and write things down. Then there would be some sort of written exam to see what you'd learned.
Of course, today the "reformers" say that that way of teaching is old school. It was fine before the days of social media and the "information revolution" and the global economy. But now, as the argument goes in films like Waiting for Superman, no self-respecting parent would ever send his or her child to a "failing" public school like the one that generations of Bridgers' family attended in their neighborhood in Northeast Washington.
For Bridgers' son and a disproportionate number of black students around the country, charter schools have become the preferred choice. The idea is that charters can find a model that produces results -- measured in test scores -- then apply it to different campuses. They can raise and spend money independently. They can have management consultants, and they can compete -- just like a business. As the charter school movement picks up steam nationwide, the District of Columbia may provide a glimpse of the future of "choice": Roughly 40 percent of children enrolled in District of Columbia public schools attend charters.
Read the Full Essay @ The Root
The McEducation of the Negro
by Natalie Hopkinson | The Root
Something wasn't right at the high school that Darwin Bridgers' son attends, so he sat in on the class to see for himself. All morning long, the instructor at the Washington, D.C., charter school pointed to a list of ground rules, a detailed list of rewards and punishments posted on a wall near the front of the class filled with black and Latino students.
Then the students filled out worksheets. That's how it went: rewards and punishments, then worksheets. No instruction, just worksheets. At the end of the class, Bridgers, who works as an exterminator, pulled aside the teacher, a young white male and recent graduate.
"I wanted to know when he was going to do some, you know, teaching," Bridgers explained to me recently. "You know, like, how we used to have in school? She would stand in front of the class … "
I nodded my head. I attended K-12 at schools in Canada, Indiana and Florida in the '80s and '90s, but I knew exactly what he meant. There would be assignments to read from textbooks. A teacher would give a lecture and randomly call on students. Students would ask questions and write things down. Then there would be some sort of written exam to see what you'd learned.
Of course, today the "reformers" say that that way of teaching is old school. It was fine before the days of social media and the "information revolution" and the global economy. But now, as the argument goes in films like Waiting for Superman, no self-respecting parent would ever send his or her child to a "failing" public school like the one that generations of Bridgers' family attended in their neighborhood in Northeast Washington.
For Bridgers' son and a disproportionate number of black students around the country, charter schools have become the preferred choice. The idea is that charters can find a model that produces results -- measured in test scores -- then apply it to different campuses. They can raise and spend money independently. They can have management consultants, and they can compete -- just like a business. As the charter school movement picks up steam nationwide, the District of Columbia may provide a glimpse of the future of "choice": Roughly 40 percent of children enrolled in District of Columbia public schools attend charters.
Read the Full Essay @ The Root
Quiet Lockdown: The Scott Sisters, Black Women and Miscarriage of Justice in the South
Mississippi case is a current example of a historical bias in the judicial process.
Quiet Lockdown:
The Scott Sisters, Black Women and Miscarriage of Justice in the South
by Stephane Dunn | TheLoop21
After serving sixteen years and their young adult lives behind bars, the Scott sisters are finally good headline news; Governor Barbour’s pardon of the Mississippi sisters and the stipulation – the gift of one sister’s kidney to the other is the feel good story of the moment; in truth it remains a tragic commentary about unjust justice.
Jamie and Gladys Scott, now 36 and 38, committed a crime, armed robbery which netted them 11 bucks, but then they were victimized by the system. The three black men involved pointed to the sisters for orchestrating the crime and served little time, while the Scotts were given an absurdly severe penalty: a life sentence. More than just another example of how the legal system has been unjust to black folk and women, the Scott case also speaks specifically to black women's historical experience with the judicial process. While black male persecution under the law has generated more publicity, ( for example the newsmaking 1931 Scottsboro Boys case) black females have shared a similar reality.
In the South, from slavery through the present, black women have had a long history of brutal mistreatment by racist criminal legal systems. Time and time again courts have famously denied black women their humanity and ignored the underlining racial politics that determined their fates.
Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21
Quiet Lockdown:
The Scott Sisters, Black Women and Miscarriage of Justice in the South
by Stephane Dunn | TheLoop21
After serving sixteen years and their young adult lives behind bars, the Scott sisters are finally good headline news; Governor Barbour’s pardon of the Mississippi sisters and the stipulation – the gift of one sister’s kidney to the other is the feel good story of the moment; in truth it remains a tragic commentary about unjust justice.
Jamie and Gladys Scott, now 36 and 38, committed a crime, armed robbery which netted them 11 bucks, but then they were victimized by the system. The three black men involved pointed to the sisters for orchestrating the crime and served little time, while the Scotts were given an absurdly severe penalty: a life sentence. More than just another example of how the legal system has been unjust to black folk and women, the Scott case also speaks specifically to black women's historical experience with the judicial process. While black male persecution under the law has generated more publicity, ( for example the newsmaking 1931 Scottsboro Boys case) black females have shared a similar reality.
In the South, from slavery through the present, black women have had a long history of brutal mistreatment by racist criminal legal systems. Time and time again courts have famously denied black women their humanity and ignored the underlining racial politics that determined their fates.
Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Waldo Johnson Explores Ideas Surrounding Plight Of Black Men
Q & A: Social Scientist Explores Ideas Surrounding Plight Of Black Men
by The Atlanta Post
Dr. Waldo Johnson, a social scientist at The University of Chicago, has put together a book that he hopes will gets us closer to understanding the plight of Black men, whose trials and tribulations are yet to be fully explored in academia. His book, Social Work with African American Males: Health, Mental Health and Social Policy, integrates the perspective of several Black scholars and, hence, integrates both a professional and personal insight into “what’s hurting and helping young Black men.” We spoke to Dr. Johnson to learn more about this important work.
What inspired you to write this book and collaborate with others on this project?
The book is the result of a research conference that I hosted at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago in May, 2005. Earlier drafts of several of the chapters contained in the book were presented as conference papers at the conference. At the encouragement of my dean, I decided to organize the research presentations and invited several other scholars to contribute research papers to form the edited volume.
Because the focus of the conference was social work responses to African American males across the life course, I invited social work and other social science scholars whose research examines the various social statuses and well-being indicators represented in the volume. As a fatherhood research scholar, I realized that my capability to address all of these issues and social statuses was limited. I also sought to identify new and emerging scholars, many of whom were junior research faculty, as contributors to the volume because my early research efforts were supported by mid-career and senior scholars.
I recognized that the younger scholars would either bring fresh perspectives to persistent issues and problems that plague African American males or would be addressing emerging issues and identifying human and social capital among African American males for solving problems.
Obviously you’re familiar with your subject matter but what would you say was the most most surprising finding, for you, that came from this book?
I am broadly familiar with the various issues and problems that are addressed in the edited volume. I have addressed a number of these issues in my own research. The most surprising findings are not simply the approach that individual contributors take in conducting this scholarship contained in the volume but also their personal motivation for doing so. For example, my earlier research which focused on unwed fatherhood among low income African American males emerged as a result of my prior social work practitioner career engaged in adolescent pregnancy prevention programming aimed at high school and young adult African American males.
As a social work practitioner and subsequently as a social work researcher, I came to recognize that the lack of strong paternal and son relationships contributed significantly to the escalation of intergenerational adolescent and young adult fatherhood among those in my studies. As an African American male growing up in Americus, Georgia located in the state’s southwestern region, I enjoyed a strong, positive relationship with my own father. My interest in examining the growing phenomenon of unwed and nonresident fatherhood among low-income African American males emerged as I began to consider how profoundly different my life course might have been under such circumstances.
However, like many of the contributors to this edited volume, I recognize the fragility of our respective social statuses and how as African American males, many of us have been touched personally or indirectly by many of the issues and problems examined in this volume. Recently, I participated in a social science research scholars network meeting focused on masculinity and the wellbeing of African American males in which one of the speakers asked those in the audience to stand if they knew someone personally who is or have been incarcerated. In a room of approximately fifty early and mid-career African American research scholars, all holding at least a doctoral degree and many on faculties at some of the nation’s top colleges and universities, less than ten persons remained seated. I dare say that incarceration does not impact the lives of our peer colleagues in this manner. The increasing pervasiveness of such issues and problems among African American males heightens the urgency that we as African American social science researchers share in seeking viable solutions.
Read the Full Interview @ The Atlanta Post
by The Atlanta Post
Dr. Waldo Johnson, a social scientist at The University of Chicago, has put together a book that he hopes will gets us closer to understanding the plight of Black men, whose trials and tribulations are yet to be fully explored in academia. His book, Social Work with African American Males: Health, Mental Health and Social Policy, integrates the perspective of several Black scholars and, hence, integrates both a professional and personal insight into “what’s hurting and helping young Black men.” We spoke to Dr. Johnson to learn more about this important work.
What inspired you to write this book and collaborate with others on this project?
The book is the result of a research conference that I hosted at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago in May, 2005. Earlier drafts of several of the chapters contained in the book were presented as conference papers at the conference. At the encouragement of my dean, I decided to organize the research presentations and invited several other scholars to contribute research papers to form the edited volume.
Because the focus of the conference was social work responses to African American males across the life course, I invited social work and other social science scholars whose research examines the various social statuses and well-being indicators represented in the volume. As a fatherhood research scholar, I realized that my capability to address all of these issues and social statuses was limited. I also sought to identify new and emerging scholars, many of whom were junior research faculty, as contributors to the volume because my early research efforts were supported by mid-career and senior scholars.
I recognized that the younger scholars would either bring fresh perspectives to persistent issues and problems that plague African American males or would be addressing emerging issues and identifying human and social capital among African American males for solving problems.
Obviously you’re familiar with your subject matter but what would you say was the most most surprising finding, for you, that came from this book?
I am broadly familiar with the various issues and problems that are addressed in the edited volume. I have addressed a number of these issues in my own research. The most surprising findings are not simply the approach that individual contributors take in conducting this scholarship contained in the volume but also their personal motivation for doing so. For example, my earlier research which focused on unwed fatherhood among low income African American males emerged as a result of my prior social work practitioner career engaged in adolescent pregnancy prevention programming aimed at high school and young adult African American males.
As a social work practitioner and subsequently as a social work researcher, I came to recognize that the lack of strong paternal and son relationships contributed significantly to the escalation of intergenerational adolescent and young adult fatherhood among those in my studies. As an African American male growing up in Americus, Georgia located in the state’s southwestern region, I enjoyed a strong, positive relationship with my own father. My interest in examining the growing phenomenon of unwed and nonresident fatherhood among low-income African American males emerged as I began to consider how profoundly different my life course might have been under such circumstances.
However, like many of the contributors to this edited volume, I recognize the fragility of our respective social statuses and how as African American males, many of us have been touched personally or indirectly by many of the issues and problems examined in this volume. Recently, I participated in a social science research scholars network meeting focused on masculinity and the wellbeing of African American males in which one of the speakers asked those in the audience to stand if they knew someone personally who is or have been incarcerated. In a room of approximately fifty early and mid-career African American research scholars, all holding at least a doctoral degree and many on faculties at some of the nation’s top colleges and universities, less than ten persons remained seated. I dare say that incarceration does not impact the lives of our peer colleagues in this manner. The increasing pervasiveness of such issues and problems among African American males heightens the urgency that we as African American social science researchers share in seeking viable solutions.
Read the Full Interview @ The Atlanta Post
'Left of Black': Episode #15 featuring Pastor Carl Kenney and Zelda Lockhart
Left of Black #15—January 4, 2011
w/Mark Anthony Neal
Host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Pastor Carl Kenney in a discussion of sex and sexuality in the Black Church, the emergence of the "Prosperity Gospel" and the Bishop Eddie Long controversy. Neal is joined by novelist Zelda Lockhart, who has been using her writing in support of HIV advocacy in Black communities. The episode was filmed on location at the Beyu Caffe in Durham, NC
Pastor Carl Kenney is the founding Pastor of Compassion Ministries in Durham, NC and former pastor at Orange Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Durham, NC, Kenney is also the author of Preacha Man and the just published sequel Backslide.
Zelda Lockhart is the author of the recently published Fifth Born II: The One Hundredth Turtle, a sequel to her first novel Fifth Born and Cold Running Creek. As the 2010 Piedmont Laureate, Lockhart has been instrumental in raising HIV/AIDS awareness in Black communities.
***
Left of Black is a weekly Webcast hosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.
w/Mark Anthony Neal
Host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Pastor Carl Kenney in a discussion of sex and sexuality in the Black Church, the emergence of the "Prosperity Gospel" and the Bishop Eddie Long controversy. Neal is joined by novelist Zelda Lockhart, who has been using her writing in support of HIV advocacy in Black communities. The episode was filmed on location at the Beyu Caffe in Durham, NC
Pastor Carl Kenney is the founding Pastor of Compassion Ministries in Durham, NC and former pastor at Orange Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Durham, NC, Kenney is also the author of Preacha Man and the just published sequel Backslide.
Zelda Lockhart is the author of the recently published Fifth Born II: The One Hundredth Turtle, a sequel to her first novel Fifth Born and Cold Running Creek. As the 2010 Piedmont Laureate, Lockhart has been instrumental in raising HIV/AIDS awareness in Black communities.
***
Left of Black is a weekly Webcast hosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.
"Did He just Say ‘Nigger’?--PBS KIds Sprout Responds
"Did He just Say ‘Nigger’?--PBS KIds Sprout Responds
This is Jenni Glenn, posting on behalf of Sprout. Our quotes have been taken out of context in the above post by Dr. Dunn, and we feel it is important for you and your readers to see our complete response to her:
"Dear Dr. Dunn and Mr. Muhammad,
We have taken your concern very seriously, reviewed the episode in question, and thoroughly researched the issue. Included below is a direct response from Jocelyn Stevenson, the producer of What’s Your News?. Ms. Stevenson is a respected professional who has worked in children’s television for over thirty years as a writer, producer and creator of programming for young children. Her credits include Sesame Street, Barney & Friends, Bob the Builder, The Magic Schoolbus and many more.
As you will see below, the word in question that the child used in this episode is “never.” However, we do acknowledge that it is sometimes difficult to understand children’s speech patterns. Therefore, in an effort to prevent any potential for future misinterpretation of the word “never” in this episode, we will edit this segment accordingly.
Following is the response from Ms. Stevenson:
“In response to the query from the viewer who says that she heard one of the children in the “Broken Ankle” episode of What's Your News? use an offensive, racially-charged word, the word the child used was "never." The exchange, which happened during a behind-the-sofa puppet show that the boy Michael was putting on with his friend Liam in order to cheer up his sister Claire (who has a broken ankle), went like this:
(Michael is playing the part of Mad Snake and Liam is Monster Moose. We don't see the boys because they're behind the sofa, but do see the stuffed toys - a snake and a moose with home-made fangs - they are using as puppets.)
LIAM (OS): Don't you hiss at me, Mad Snake!
MICHAEL (OS): I can if I want to! Hssssssss!
LIAM (OS): This is your last chance to give up!
MICHAEL (OS): Never!
LIAM (OS): Roar!
Michael clearly says the word "never." What's Your News? is designed to connect young children around the world with their stories, their news. Four to six year old children are emerging from the family environment into the big, wide world. And that world can feel scary and overwhelming. What's Your News? was created to help children make the home-to-world transition with a feeling of connection – an understanding that there are other children out there who are doing what they do, feeling what they feel. It celebrates and honors a child’s experience of just being a kid.
Not only is the misinterpretation of the word used in this episode a complete antithesis of our vision, but it is also impossible that such repellant and offensive language would get past all the experienced professionals who watch the footage and listen to the sound for each and every episode of the series we make for children, including and especially Sprout’s Standards and Practices Department. " --Jocelyn Stevenson
We hope that you can now rest assured knowing that such an offensive word would never be uttered on any of Sprout’s respected, gold-standard programming. We thank you for being a loyal and engaged Sprout viewer and hope that we have answered all of your concerns.
Sincerely,
Jenni Glenn
VP, Communications and Marketing
Sprout
This is Jenni Glenn, posting on behalf of Sprout. Our quotes have been taken out of context in the above post by Dr. Dunn, and we feel it is important for you and your readers to see our complete response to her:
"Dear Dr. Dunn and Mr. Muhammad,
We have taken your concern very seriously, reviewed the episode in question, and thoroughly researched the issue. Included below is a direct response from Jocelyn Stevenson, the producer of What’s Your News?. Ms. Stevenson is a respected professional who has worked in children’s television for over thirty years as a writer, producer and creator of programming for young children. Her credits include Sesame Street, Barney & Friends, Bob the Builder, The Magic Schoolbus and many more.
As you will see below, the word in question that the child used in this episode is “never.” However, we do acknowledge that it is sometimes difficult to understand children’s speech patterns. Therefore, in an effort to prevent any potential for future misinterpretation of the word “never” in this episode, we will edit this segment accordingly.
Following is the response from Ms. Stevenson:
“In response to the query from the viewer who says that she heard one of the children in the “Broken Ankle” episode of What's Your News? use an offensive, racially-charged word, the word the child used was "never." The exchange, which happened during a behind-the-sofa puppet show that the boy Michael was putting on with his friend Liam in order to cheer up his sister Claire (who has a broken ankle), went like this:
(Michael is playing the part of Mad Snake and Liam is Monster Moose. We don't see the boys because they're behind the sofa, but do see the stuffed toys - a snake and a moose with home-made fangs - they are using as puppets.)
LIAM (OS): Don't you hiss at me, Mad Snake!
MICHAEL (OS): I can if I want to! Hssssssss!
LIAM (OS): This is your last chance to give up!
MICHAEL (OS): Never!
LIAM (OS): Roar!
Michael clearly says the word "never." What's Your News? is designed to connect young children around the world with their stories, their news. Four to six year old children are emerging from the family environment into the big, wide world. And that world can feel scary and overwhelming. What's Your News? was created to help children make the home-to-world transition with a feeling of connection – an understanding that there are other children out there who are doing what they do, feeling what they feel. It celebrates and honors a child’s experience of just being a kid.
Not only is the misinterpretation of the word used in this episode a complete antithesis of our vision, but it is also impossible that such repellant and offensive language would get past all the experienced professionals who watch the footage and listen to the sound for each and every episode of the series we make for children, including and especially Sprout’s Standards and Practices Department. " --Jocelyn Stevenson
We hope that you can now rest assured knowing that such an offensive word would never be uttered on any of Sprout’s respected, gold-standard programming. We thank you for being a loyal and engaged Sprout viewer and hope that we have answered all of your concerns.
Sincerely,
Jenni Glenn
VP, Communications and Marketing
Sprout
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
