“Go to School, Baby…”

Bad Advice from Grandma

Monday Morning. Monday morning I greeted one of colleagues in the break room. “How was your weekend?”

“I was bad this weekend,” she replied. “I didn’t do any work. I just spent the weekend with Tommy cleaning around the house.”

This is not an unusual conversation. I have it often with friends and colleagues. What is unusual is that many of us feel the need to apologize for spending our weekend on ourselves. Not only is it unusual, this is crazy. For many of us Monday through Friday is spent slavishly working to enrich others. What time is available to us is used to enable us to be of better servitude to others. We eat, sleep, and transport ourselves around to work for whatever corporate or government entity gives us a subsistence stipend (Ugh! Excuse me.) …a paycheck.

The Realization. Then it hits me. Over 50% of US workers don’t like their jobs, at least according to the Conference Board (http://www.conference-board.org/) which conducts a poll of job satisfaction every few years. So, this means that over half of US workers spend five days out of seven toiling their lives away doing something they don’t like in order to enrich someone else. What is more, many of them (especially those that are salaried) will allow work demands to encroach on the two remaining days that are actually allocated to them.

Enter Grandma. Now here is our beloved grandma telling us, “Stay in school, Baby. Work hard. Get good grades, so you can get a good job.” I’m sorry, Grandma, but you are giving Black children some bad advice. Why should we encourage our children to devote 12-18 of their most creative, energetic, optimistic, youthful years to the drudgery of school? Those youth who endure it get the prize of “a good job,” that will most likely commit them to 40-60 more years of drudgery.

The Fix. Don’t do this to the babies, and don’t do it to yourself. Here are two suggestions. First, leave work at work, and stop apologizing for enjoying your life. If you want to spend your weekend on your couch scratching yourself, that’s your business. Have fun with that! Second, advise Black children to aspire to self-determination (kujichagulia). If you give them a stay in school message, make it, “Stay in school, Baby. Work hard. Learn how whites are oppressing Afrikan people. Bring that knowledge back to us, so you can help us to get some Black Dominion!” Now that is some good advice!

Jomo 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.

When an Elder Dies

The Proverb. When an elder dies, a library is burned. This African proverb underscores for us the vast knowledge that our elders possess. As a youth, I didn’t really know how to learn from my elders. Of course I learned like others to do what I was told, to mind my manners, to say please and thank you, to stay in school, blah, blah, blah. But that is not the exciting stuff. That library can be burned, other people have it. The exciting knowledge is the inside scoop. Our elders lived through the miss-story that we are propagandized with …TAUGHT… I said, “Taught” in schools.

Learning from the Library. Each year here in Indianapolis Sankoré Institute brings in a group of speakers who by their work have demonstrated a commitment to the libration of Afrikan people. Though not all of our speakers would be considered elders, many are. And to sit and speak with many of them is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Two years ago we invited Sam Greenlee to lead a discussion of his book and film, The Spook Who Sat by the Door. He was able to share with us so much more than is found in the book. In fact one story he shared was not related to the book at all. Apparently when he was younger, a mob of whites stoned a Black child who was swimming near a beach in Chicago. In retaliation for the killing, Blacks in Chicago waged war on whites throughout the city. The whites along with the Chicago City Police were unable to “contain the situation.” Ultimately the National Guard was brought in and Chicago City officials were forced to sit down and capitulate to the demands of the Black community. I learned from Sam Greenlee that we can fight city hall, and we can win! We’ve done it. Of course they won’t teach this history to our youth, it might give them bad ideas. Fortunately, we can teach it.

A Library of Our Own. As you look towards Black History Month, look for an opportunity to learn at the feet of some of our living legends. This year we will bring Mukasa Dada (aka Willie Ricks) to Indianapolis. Mukasa was a major force in the civil rights movement. He worked side by side with Kwame Ture (aka Stokely Carmichael) to develop SNCC (the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee). When Kwame Ture stepped down and H. Rap Brown took over, Mukasa was asked to work with Brown to “show him the ropes.” At one point Mukasa was regarded as one of the 10 most dangerous men in the State of Georgia and police were forbidden from approaching his home without special permission. We look forward to sitting at the feet Mukasa and learning from this giant on February 9, 2013.

If you are in the Indianapolis area, consider attending the Sankoré Institute sponsored Call to Action Lecture featuring Mukasa Dada. If not, consider sponsoring an event of your own. From which elders will you learn? Mmoja Ajabu? Claude Anderson? Mama Mirimba Ani? Neely Fuller? Sam Greenlee? Ashra Kwesi? Dr. Francis Cress Welsing? How will your watoto learn from these elders? A fireside chat? A conference call? A video conference? Whether you gather 3, 30 or 300 all will benefit from the knowledge of our elders and our elders will benefit from the appreciation we have for their sacrifice.

Jomo 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.

A Morning in the Gym

Notes on the Inimical[1] Nature of White Folks

The Routines. Like many of us who live a modern western deathstyle (excuse me) …uh …lifestyle, my daily routine is very sedentary. That means I sit on my backside all day. That’s right. I sit on my backside in front of a computer. Sometimes I talk on the phone. Sometimes I swivel my chair from side to side. Sometimes I stand up and walk across the room. But for the most part, I sit on my backside… all day. This is my primary routine. What is ironic about this routine is that very often at the end of the day, relatively little is accomplished. Perhaps, I've read and responded to some memorandum. Maybe I filed some documents, opened and discarded some mail, or sent mail to someone else to open and discard. But I won’t complain. We gotta eat.

Now, when I am disciplined and committed enough to do it, I sometimes develop a secondary routine… The Gym. At the gym my goal is to undo the harm that sitting on my backside all day is doing to my body. So I run in place on a conveyor belt for 45 minutes. I lift a weight-bearing bar over my head repeatedly until I can’t lift it any more. What is ironic about this routine is that at the end, again very little is accomplished. I step off of the conveyor belt out of breath, yet standing in the same place I was when I began. I didn't travel to a new place. I didn't meet new people. I didn't see new sights.

Natural Living. There’s something unnerving and unnatural in these routines. Nature has provided us with a system for meaningful work and maximum health. Natural-Man doesn't run on a hamster wheel. Natural-Man walks or runs for miles and when he gets there (wherever there is) he hunts, traps, forages or raises food. He then carries it back to others. Natural-Man doesn't need to run on a hamster wheel, because he didn't spend his day sitting on his backside.

A Lesson. There is a lesson in this for Afrikan people, a lesson that can (and should) be shared with Afrikan children. Although the Western deathstyle is normal (which means that everyone does it) it is not natural. It is not natural for humans to sit on their backsides all day doing less than meaningful work. Work that disconnects us from the natural world is typically not meaningful work. Meaningful work is growing food, building structures, caring for animals, and enhancing relationships. Meaningful work is inherently healthier than Western “work.” Meaningful work requires us to be active, to be outside, and to be fully vested. The outcome of this work has personal meaning to the humans engaging in the work. Meaningful work provides us with adventure.

Don’t Quit Your Desk Job. Keep doing it to the best of your ability. We gotta eat. However, try to find a place in the time that remains for meaningful work. If hunting moose or raising llamas seems too daunting, consider gardening as a more feasible starting point. If you are in the Indianapolis area, consider attending the Sankoré Institute sponsored Strategic Gardening Workshop.



Jomo 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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[1] Inimical: Adverse in tendency or effect; unfavorable; harmful