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Join
Fearless Leading By The Youth
Friday, January 15, 2016
6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
for
CointelPro 101
at
Mosque Maryam
7351 South Stony Island
Chicago, Illinois
Justice or Else
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Hey Black Child
Poem by Useni Eugene Perkins
Hey Black Child,
Do you know who you are?
Who you really are?
Do you know you can be
What you want to be?
If you try to be
what you can be.
Hey Black Child,
Do you know where you're going?
Where you're really going?
Do you know you can learn
What you want to learn?
If you try to learn
What you can learn?
Hey Black Child,
Do you know you are strong?
I mean really strong?
Do you know you can do
What you want to do?
If you try to do
What you can do?
Hey Black Child,
Be what you can be
Learn what you must learn
Do what you can do
And tomorrow your nation will be what you want it to be.
Click Here to See Video of 3 Year Old Reciting "Hey Black Child" not by Countee Cullen, but by Useni Eugene Perkins.
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NYC high school teacher claims she was fired for Central Park Five lessons that administrators feared would create 'riots'
(teacher told that "Black students
can't handle the facts")
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Jeena Lee-Walker, formerly of Upper West Side High School in New York City, was apparently fired for teaching lessons about the Central Park Five that administrators said would "rile up" Black students. Ms. Lee - Walker said that Black students "needed to be riled up!"
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BY Victoria Bekiempis and Leonard Greene
January 8, 2016
A teacher at an Upper West Side high school was fired for creating a curriculum with lessons about the Central Park Five that administrators feared would "rile up" black students, according to a new federal lawsuit.
English teacher Jeena Lee-Walker said her bosses at the High School for Arts, Imagination and Inquiry urged her in November 2013 to be more "balanced" in her approach to the racially charged Central Park jogger case that ended with five black and Latino teens being exonerated after spending several years in prison for the attack.
They told her the lessons could create little "riots," according to court papers. "I was stunned," she told the Daily News. "I was kind of like, the facts are the facts. This is what happened. These boys went to jail and lost 14, 18 years of their lives. How can you say that in a more balanced way?"
Although Lee-Walker, 37, agreed to soften her approach, she argued "that students in general, and black students in particular, should be riled up." "I kind of wanted to hook them in, engage them, win them over," she said. "I thought that this material was not only engaging but important."
Lee-Walker said her Central Park Five program captivated her students, many of whom came from the same neighborhood as the young men. "It was awesome - they were so engaged," she said. "They were really moved by the documentary and rightly so. They really identified with the teenagers."
But after several tense exchanges with supervisors, Lee-Walker received a series of bad performance reviews over the next 18 months that ultimately led to her dismissal, the suit said. She was fired in May, roughly two years after joining the High School for the Arts and six years after she began teaching in city public schools.
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Attend the
The Black Star Project's
7th Annual
Daddy Daughter Dance
in Chicago, Illinois
 Saturday, February 6, 2016
1:00 pm- 4:00 pm
Chicago Lake Shore Hotel
4900 S. Lake Shore Dr.
Chicago, Illinois
Join us for one of The Black Star Project's most highly anticipated events of the year! Don't miss the opportunity to engage in the ultimate bonding experience with your daughter. This will be an afternoon she will never forget!
All fathers, grandfathers, godfathers, uncles, cousins, and other male role caregivers are encouraged to chaperone their favorite young ladies ages 4-14 to our Daddy Daughter Dance.
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This event will include:
- Lunch buffet
- Music and a DJ
- Complimentary pictures
- Entertainment
- Rose ceremony
- Lots of dancing!
Admission:
$35.00 per couple
$10.00 per additional girl
$15.00 per additional adult.
Click Here to Register or call 773.285.9600 for more information.
Click Here to Listen to Dance With My Father by Luther Vandross
Click Here to Listen to Unforgettable by Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole
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Male Students Of Color Are More Likely To Miss Class When They Have White Teachers
More proof that we need to
diversify our teaching force.
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This is a photo of students from Barbara A. Sizemore Academy, an excellent African-centered school, that was recently voted to be closed by the Chicago Board of Education (photo and caption provided by The Black Star Project).
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By Rebecca Klein
January 6, 2016
A recent study from researchers at American University looked at the attendance and suspension rates of North Carolina primary school students between 2006-2010 and analyzed how these rates changed based on the race of a student's teacher from year to year.
The study explored some of the potential reasons why students tend to have higher test scores when they are taught by teachers of the same race. Researchers found that students are less likely to be chronically absent or suspended when they have a demographically similar classroom teacher. This was especially true for black boys, who saw the highest suspension rates.
"A black male student who has a white teacher is more than one percentage point more likely to be suspended a year," said American University professor Seth Gershenson. Even though that might sound like a small difference, it translates to "almost a twenty percent increase in the likelihood of being suspended during the year.
Especially in primary school, even being suspended once is a really big disruption to the learning environment."
The study bolsters the idea that schools need to diversify their teaching force. A vast majority of teachers are white women. Still, Gershenson notes, diversity can't be the only solution. "Just because of raw numbers, it would be pretty difficult to get a representative teaching force," he said.
"I don't think teachers are intentionally treating different students differently. A lot of this is unconscious," he said.
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Over $170,000 Raised by Groups Supporting Black Male Achievement
Greetings Friends,
We hope you had a wonderful and fruitful holiday season! In our report released early last year, QUANTIFYING HOPE, the Campaign for Black Male Achievement highlighted the philanthropic organizations that have invested in the Black Male Achievement movement to improve life outcomes and opportunities for our nation's Black men and boys. Last quarter, CBMA, in partnership with Generosity Inc., launched #BMAGive, a $25K matching fund challenge with a bold goal of sparking a generosity movement for Black men and boys.
This challenge recognized fundraising, donor engagement and creativity through December 31, 2015 and collectively, organizations that participated in #BMAGive were able to raise well over $170K!
Today, CBMA is thrilled to announce our #BMAGive challenge winners! Matching funds have been granted to BMA member organizations in the following three categories:
 Most Dollars Raised - Matching funds up to $10,000. The BMA member that inspires the most financial support will receive up to $10,000 in matching funds. This has been awarded to the mentoring and enrichment program, Growing Kings, which raised an outstanding $38,471.
Second-Most Dollars Raised - Matching funds  up to $5,000. The BMA member that inspires the second-most financial support will receive up to $5,000 in matching funds. This has been awarded to the Omega Boys Club of San Francisco, which raised an impressive $30,350.
 Most Donors - Matching funds up to $5,000. The BMA member that inspires the largest number of supporters will receive up to $5,000 in matching funds. This has been awarded to the Black Star Project, which had a total of 146 individual donations.
Most Creative Campaign - $5,000 grant. The Most Creative Campaign grant was designed to inspire BMA members who focus on activism, social media engagement, volunteerism, or other non-monetary goals. This is a subjective award whose winner has been selected by votes of a  panel, including BMA staff and other partners. This award has been granted toThe Yunion, an organization that displayed a unique combination of creativity, high social media engagement, and use of the #BMAGive hashtag, as well as branding and logo presence and awareness.
Congratulations and thank you to all the winners and participant organizations for being a part of the generosity movement for Black men and boys through #BMAGive! We look forward to working with you all during our next #BMAGive installment!
Onward and Upward,
Campaign for Black Male Achievement
The Campaign for Black Male Achievement is a national membership network that seeks to ensure the growth, sustainability, and impact of leaders and organizations committed to improving the life outcomes of Black men and boys.
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383 Organization Across
America Have Signed Up
to Mentor Youth on
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's Birthday Weekend
Click Here to See Those Organizations and
to See If an Organization in Your Community
or in Your City Is Participating.
Phillip Jackson, Executive Director of The Black Star Project says, "With violence in cities escalating and failure in schools increasing, officials have now realized that they cannot be successful developing youth without an intentional and focused mentoring effort. The societal forces competing for our children's time and energies are just too strong and unrelenting for youth to overcome without a structured, consistent, positive mentoring program to support them. It is unfortunate and a fact that street gangs "run better mentor programs" than most churches and schools. Until this changes, we have almost no hope!"
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