Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Lasting Campaign for Black Male Achievement; I Never Had A TeacherThat Looked Like Me; Freedoms Eve; Condolences to New York, Florida andPakistan while Prayers for Northern Nigeria (#Bring Back Our Girls)


Making Progress; Moving Forward!
Lasting Campaign for Black Male Achievement
I Never Had A Teacher That Looked Like Me
"Watch Night or Freedom's Eve"
Condolences for American Police Officers
Condolences for Pakistani School Children
#Bring Back Our Girls
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The Lasting Campaign for Black Male Achievement
Campaign for Black Male Achievement Leaders - Shawn Dove (right) and Rashid Shabazz (left)
By Kenneth H. Zimmerman
U.S. Programs
Open Society Foundations
December 17, 2014
For a society to be truly open, it must ensure that all of its members have full and equal access to economic, social, and political opportunities. A core element of our work at the Open Society Foundations is to challenge and confront those barriers that undermine such opportunities-particularly for communities that are historically marginalized and vulnerable.
Over six years ago, the Open Society Foundations expanded its historic support for racial justice in the United States by initiating an effort specifically targeted at the challenges confronting black men and boys: the Campaign for Black Male Achievement (CBMA). The reason was simple: the United States cannot realize its aspirations as a society without tackling head-on its legacy that limits the potential of African American males.
Over the intervening years, CBMA has led us forward, and we are excited to announce that the campaign will now spin off to continue its work as an independent organization in a new and enhanced form.
When CBMA first launched, there was precious little philanthropy dedicated specifically to addressing the special racial and gender barriers preventing boys and men of color from achieving their economic, political, educational, and social potential. In recent years, a number of foundations have become joint leaders through efforts, such as the California Endowment's Sons and Brothers campaign, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Forward Promise initiative, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's Black Male Engagement work, among others.
Today, in part due to CBMA's efforts, there is an unprecedented number of organizations dedicated to carrying this banner-including the recently formed Executives' Alliance to Expand Opportunities for Boys and Men of Color, a coalition of more than 40 foundations (including the Open Society Foundations, which continues to play a leadership role on the steering committee). And earlier this year, President Obama announced the My Brother's Keeper initiative, putting black male achievement on an even more prominent platform for the remainder of this administration and beyond.
The work done by CBMA's leaders, Shawn Dove and Rashid Shabazz, has helped start to change the narrative-and create a black male achievement movement in this country. This has involved identifying and lifting up innovators and building and expanding a network of leaders and organizations dedicated to this cause. By spinning off as a standalone organization this January-a step first suggested by Shawn several years ago-CBMA is poised to move to the next level.
The new entity will keep the same name, and the same focus: to help foster the growth, sustainability, and impact of organizations working to improve the lives of black boys and men. And it will incorporate the work of the Institute for Black Male Achievement, which was created in late 2012 with a grant of $4 million from Open Society and eight funding partners.
Tonya Allen, CEO of the Skillman Foundation, will serve as CBMA's founding board chair, and will be joined on the board by Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children's Zone and board member of Open Society's U.S. Programs; William C. Bell, CEO of the Casey Family Programs; and Wendell Pritchett, interim dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. The Silicon Valley Community Foundation will serve as CBMA's fiscal sponsor.
Click Here to Read Full Article
'I never had a teacher that looked like me': Challenges exist in hiring a diverse staff
Photo provided by The Black Star Project
By Molly Beck
December 14, 2014
Bri Blue illustrates why it's such a challenge for school districts like Madison's to hire a racially diverse staff.
She was one of just four black students in the elementary education program in the UW-Madison School of Education, the most prestigious education program in the state, in the 2013-14 academic year.
And when she graduates in 2016, the Milwaukee native plans to look for a job where she believes there's a greater emphasis on educating black students using a curriculum that incorporates a student's background and culture.
"I never had a teacher that looked like me," Blue said. "I wanted to become a teacher because I wanted to influence future generations, and have kids see that I'm here, so you can be here, too. You can do this, too."
Fewer than 5 percent of Wisconsin's teachers and other staff are not white, according to 2014 state data. In Dane County, a handful of school districts don't have any staff who aren't white. About 88 percent of the staff and teachers in the Madison School District are white, but 56 percent of their students aren't, leaving what has been dubbed nationally as a "diversity gap" that district officials want to close.
"(White teachers often) don't know the struggles (of black children); they don't know what those children have been through ... it's not their reality," Blue said.
At UW-Madison, 10 percent of the students studying to be teachers are minorities compared to about 14 percent of the total student body. During the 2013-14 school year, just 16 of 131 students who received a degree in elementary education were minorities - the highest number in at least 30 years, according to UW-Madison registrar data. Of those, just three were black graduates. The year before, just one black student received an elementary education degree. Only data on the elementary education program was readily available.
Across the country, the story is similar. Four of every five students who graduated with a teaching degree in 2009-10, the latest year for which data was available, was white, according to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
While there is little data to prove having diverse teaching ranks will have a positive, direct impact on academic achievement, the social and emotional effects on academic motivation and engagement can help, said Dorinda Carter Andrews, professor at Michigan State University's Department of Teacher Education.
White students need to see positive adults of other races in positions of authority in order to participate in a "global society," she added.
Blue wanted to become a teacher because her mother was one. She said she saw her mother as a role model.
By contrast, she said none of the teachers she had in the Milwaukee Public Schools was black. She said she would like to stay in Wisconsin to teach, but doesn't feel the education system is equipped to adequately educate black students.
Marlisha Wilbourn, a senior at La Follette High School who is black, suspects one reason few black students pursue teaching careers: "We don't have anyone to look up to."
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Whether It Is "Watch Night" or "Freedom's Eve", the Black Community
in America Celebrated
Freedom from Slavery as of
11:59 pm, December 31, 1862
"On that night, Blacks came together in churches and private homes all across the nation, anxiously awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation had actually become law."
Slaves wait for 12:00 am, January 1, 1863, the first day of freedom for many Black slaves in America.
Written by Charyn D. Sutton
If you live or grew up in a Black community in the United States, you have probably heard of "Watch Night Services," the gathering of the faithful in church on New Year's Eve. The service usually begins anywhere from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and ends at midnight with the entrance of the New Year.
There are two essential reasons for the importance of New Year's Eve services in African American congregations. Many of the Watch Night Services in Black communities that we celebrate today can be traced back to gatherings on December 31, 1862, also known as "Freedom's Eve."
On that night, Americans of African descent came together in churches, gathering places and private homes throughout the nation, anxiously awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation had become law. Then, at the stroke of midnight, it was January 1, 1863, and according to Lincoln's promise, all slaves in the Confederate States were legally free.
People remained in churches and other gathering places, eagerly awaiting word that Emancipation had been declared. When the actual news of freedom was received later that day, there were prayers, shouts and songs of joy as people fell to their knees and thanked God.
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The Black Star Project Sends
Our Condolences for American
Police Officers Killed
In New York City and Florida.
Gunman Kills Two
New York Police Officers
Police Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu
December 20, 2014
A gunman has shot dead two police officers sitting inside a patrol car in New York before killing himself.
The head of the New York police said the men had been "targeted for their uniform". The gunman then ran into a subway station where he shot himself.
Earlier he had shot and injured his ex-girlfriend and had posted anti-police messages on social media.
President Barack Obama - who is on holiday in Hawaii - said he condemned the killings "unconditionally".
"Officers who serve and protect our communities risk their own safety for ours every single day and they deserve our respect and gratitude every single day," he said in a statement.
The killings come amid widespread dissatisfaction in relations between police and African Americans.
The gunman was a black man - named as Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28 - while the two police officers, Liu Wenjin and Raphael Ramos, were Asian and Hispanic respectively.
Earlier this month, a grand jury decided not to indict a New York officer for the chokehold death of Eric Garner, a black man who died when white police officers tried to arrest him for selling cigarettes.
Last month, another grand jury also cleared a white officer in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, in Ferguson, Missouri.
Both decisions triggered nationwide protests.
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Florida Police Officer Killed
Police Officer Charles Kondek

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The Black Star Project Sends Our Condolences to the Families and Villages of 132 Children Killed in Pakistan
Pakistan Taliban: Peshawar school attack leaves 141 dead

December 16, 2014
Militants from the Pakistani Taliban have attacked an army-run school in Peshawar, killing 141 people, 132 of them children, the military say.
Officials say the attack in the north-western city is over, with all the attackers killed. Seven militants took part in all, according to the army.
Scores of survivors are being treated in hospitals as frantic parents search for news of their children.
The attack - the Taliban's deadliest in Pakistan - has been widely condemned.
Describing the attack from his hospital bed to the BBC's Shaimaa Khalil, Shahrukh Khan, 17, said a gunman had entered his classroom and opened fire at random.
As he hid under a desk, he saw his friends being shot, one in the head and one in the chest. Two teachers were also killed.
A Taliban spokesman told BBC Urdu that the school, which is run by the army, had been targeted in response to military operations.
Hundreds of Taliban fighters are thought to have died in a recent offensive in North Waziristan and the nearby Khyber area.
US President Barack Obama said terrorists had "once again shown their depravity" while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it was "an act of horror and rank cowardice".
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The Black Star Project Sends Our Prayers and Spiritual Support to the People of Northern Nigeria -
#Bring Back Our Girls
Boko Haram Unrest: Nigerian Militants 'Kidnap 200 Villagers'
December 18, 2014
Militants have stormed a remote village in north-eastern Nigeria, killing at least 33 people and kidnapping about 200, a survivor has told the BBC.
He said that suspected Boko Haram militants had seized young men, women and children from Gumsuri village.
The attack happened on Sunday but news has only just emerged, after survivors reached the city of Maiduguri.
Meanwhile, Cameroon's army says it has killed 116 Nigerian militants who had attacked one of its bases, AFP reports.
The state of Borno has seen at least two militant attacks over the past few days.
Residents told the BBC that armed militants attacked the border town of Amchide on Wednesday, arriving in two vehicles with many others on foot.
They raided the market area, setting fire to shops and more than 50 houses.
No group has said it carried out either attack but officials have blamed Boko Haram militants.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in militant violence this year alone, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria, near the border with Cameroon.
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On The Day Before MLK Mentor Day, Thousands of Young Black Males Across America Will Worship with Black men in
Take A Young Black Man
to Worship Day
Sunday, January 18, 2015
at a place of worship near you

Please call 773.285.9600 for more information or to register your place of worship.

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