WHIRLWIND OF ACTIVITIES MAKE FOR DIZZY TIMES!
We were invited to make a presentation to the BGSA (Black Graduate Students' Association) at Michigan State University recently. They wanted to learn more about our Denounce the "N" Word Initiative at Flint SW Academy, so Maurice Hood, Erica Ogburn, Andrew Henke, and I were more than willing to give up a Saturday to oblige them!
CLARIFICATION, PLEASE! This entry was made late at night and following its entry I suddenly realized that the previous entry described in detail the events surrounding our presentations at MSU. Oh well, read on for further, albeit brief, detail about the event. Importantly, it continues to describe coming "attractions."
The kids were terrific! High school kids making a presentation to university professors and their students...who ever heard of such a thing? We made two presentations...one in a classroom, the other in the auditorium of the Engineering Building on the campus of MSU. Both times, we shared a 7-minute DVD sent to me by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The DVD was voiced over by the SPLC's own, attorney Morris Dees.
It basically told of a tragic, cruel attack on a young boy at a county fair in Kentucky by a group of IKA (Imperial Klan of America) members. The SPLC is taking the Klan to court; the trial begins in November of this year and the object is to put them out of "business."
The SPLC has done it before and will do it again--that is, attack this viscious hate group with all legal means and bring them to their knees, thus eliminating their ability to function as a hate group. I say "good riddance to them!" And I must add: "more power to you, Southern Poverty Law Center!"
Well, that was one of our most recent activities relative to our effort. We sold a few t-shirts and made important contacts, some of which will continue our project at the college/university level. My students also got involved at The University of Michigan-Flint's recent community event that sponsored the rap/hip-hop performer, Common, in a performance at the school.
We managed to secure a vendor's booth on the university grounds, near the Recreation Building. It was a fun day, which began for me immediately following my teaching schedule that day, Wednesday, April 16. Andrew Henke and his girl-friend took over the booth I had set up and continued selling some of our t-shirts to the public. We only sold about 8 of them, but being there led to some good networking and contacts which will take us still further in our community effort to get the word out about our Denounce the "N" Word Initiative.
In that regard, we have a date with WJRT-TV12's "Newsmaker" show for Friday, May 2. I believe it will be Michael Thorpe's last show with Channel 12, so we will do our best to help Mr. Thorpe go out with some substance, less style. The show will be live...Maurice Hood and some of the cast of my supporters will be present. I'm sure we'll do well and following that event I'll have yet another blog entry to sustain the "projectsbeyondfulbright2006.blogspot.com" effort.
Stay tuned, folks! My next entry will tell of my fortune in obtaining a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant to study about the events of Pearl Harbor on the fateful day, December 7, 1941. Hey, yet another chance to take some of the Denounce the "N" word t-shirts to the island state now fairly well accociated with presidential candidate, Barack Obama.
CLARIFICATION, PLEASE! This entry was made late at night and following its entry I suddenly realized that the previous entry described in detail the events surrounding our presentations at MSU. Oh well, read on for further, albeit brief, detail about the event. Importantly, it continues to describe coming "attractions."
The kids were terrific! High school kids making a presentation to university professors and their students...who ever heard of such a thing? We made two presentations...one in a classroom, the other in the auditorium of the Engineering Building on the campus of MSU. Both times, we shared a 7-minute DVD sent to me by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The DVD was voiced over by the SPLC's own, attorney Morris Dees.
It basically told of a tragic, cruel attack on a young boy at a county fair in Kentucky by a group of IKA (Imperial Klan of America) members. The SPLC is taking the Klan to court; the trial begins in November of this year and the object is to put them out of "business."
The SPLC has done it before and will do it again--that is, attack this viscious hate group with all legal means and bring them to their knees, thus eliminating their ability to function as a hate group. I say "good riddance to them!" And I must add: "more power to you, Southern Poverty Law Center!"
Well, that was one of our most recent activities relative to our effort. We sold a few t-shirts and made important contacts, some of which will continue our project at the college/university level. My students also got involved at The University of Michigan-Flint's recent community event that sponsored the rap/hip-hop performer, Common, in a performance at the school.
We managed to secure a vendor's booth on the university grounds, near the Recreation Building. It was a fun day, which began for me immediately following my teaching schedule that day, Wednesday, April 16. Andrew Henke and his girl-friend took over the booth I had set up and continued selling some of our t-shirts to the public. We only sold about 8 of them, but being there led to some good networking and contacts which will take us still further in our community effort to get the word out about our Denounce the "N" Word Initiative.
In that regard, we have a date with WJRT-TV12's "Newsmaker" show for Friday, May 2. I believe it will be Michael Thorpe's last show with Channel 12, so we will do our best to help Mr. Thorpe go out with some substance, less style. The show will be live...Maurice Hood and some of the cast of my supporters will be present. I'm sure we'll do well and following that event I'll have yet another blog entry to sustain the "projectsbeyondfulbright2006.blogspot.com" effort.
Stay tuned, folks! My next entry will tell of my fortune in obtaining a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant to study about the events of Pearl Harbor on the fateful day, December 7, 1941. Hey, yet another chance to take some of the Denounce the "N" word t-shirts to the island state now fairly well accociated with presidential candidate, Barack Obama.
posted by John Davidek, Fulbright South Africa-2006 @ 9:25 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
Yo.....Bro! I applaud your remarkable and prodigious efforts to promote civility (and civil discourse) with your N word initiative. But frankly, I am disappointed that your efforts are so narrowly (and racially) focused. Discouraging the use of prejoratives is a worthy endeavor, but as we have discussed in our e-mail banter, there are occasions when a defamatory expression might be more than appropriate.
Our society and culture has seemingly embraced incivilty, vulgarity, coarseness, and boorishness, and once again, I applaud your efforts to discourage the use of the N word. But what about the F word? And the B word, and the Q word, and the H word, W word, K word, S word, etc., etc, etc.? I leave you with the academic exercise to figure out the preceding prejorative cryptics.
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