Our Challenge.
One of the challenges we face as Nationalists, or Pan Africanists, or conscious
Afrikans… you know Black People Who Love Black People (BPWLBP) is that the job
of working to repair our broken condition is sometimes overwhelming. The needs
we have are great. We (BPWLBP) also tend to be more ideological than the
average person. Why else would we dare to imagine that we can be victorious
against the euro slave monster? As a result we tend to think BIG. We don’t
typically settle with tutoring a few students. We work to start a school. We’re
not satisfied with maintaining a garden. We invest in large acreage so that we
can build a farm. Needless to say objectives this big can be difficult to
realize.
I had the opportunity to give a keynote address at the
Regional Convention for Region III of the National Society for Black Engineers
(NSBE) a few years ago. “Three Ready!!” Anyway, after the address, I met a
bright young man who was just months away from graduation. He approached me
indicating his conviction of the need for Black children to have better
education. He asked for my thoughts on whether he should pursue a career in
engineering or start an Afrikan-centered school himself. “Do you like
engineering?” I asked.
“Yes” he replied.
“Are you good at it?”
“Yes, I’m very good.”
It is here that I realized his goal was too big. By this I
do not mean that this young man was not capable. Rather, his vision of
providing Black children with good education was not practical. It was not
well-conceptualized or well-informed. We do not have many Afrikan-centered
schools, and those that we do have are fledgling endeavors. They suffer largely
from lack of support. One BPWLBP that earns the salary of an engineer could
through regular financial contributions adopt one fledgling Afrikan-centered
school and make it the hallmark of what Afrikan-centered education should be. By
contrast this same BPWLBP could forego an engineer’s salary and join the small
number of educators competing for the few dollars that we currently give to
support our own education. In many ways, the first approach is more practical.
School to Support
Akoben Institute
c/o Mwalimu K. Bomani Baruti
PO
Box 10786
Atlanta, GA 30310Jomo W. Mutegi is a husband and father committed to the improvement of the African world community, an author of science-related children’s books, and an Associate Professor of Science Education. To learn more about Jomo’s children’s books, visit www.JomoMutegi.com. To learn more about Dr. Mutegi’s research visit www.ES2RP.org.
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