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Not necessarily "fun" but more engaging and hands on.
I always ensure that both of my children attend schools where there is a lot of what I call "active learning." My son's charter school in Atlanta taught all lessons via "project based learning" blocks. His current STEM high school does the same thing for their engineering and technology classes along with some core subjects. He does not learn well sitting in a class listening to lectures and doing worksheets.
IMO school is not always going to be "fun." I think that it should have some fun times though every day in certain subjects, especially science and math. I also feel reading/writing can be taught in a fun manner but not all the time. There are times when learning is serious business.
I also believe that all public schools should have a 30 minute recess built into every school day for all students in grades K-8. IMO kids need to have a breather, other than lunch, during the day. Learning and concentrating can be exhausting and kids need to get more sun, air, and movement in their days.
I never sent my kids to schools that didn't offer recess and I make it a point to advocate for it for them in grades K-8.
I definitely agree with hands on. My graduate program was rather hands on and many classes were hybrid with several classes being web based with in/class meeting incorporated.
Black-America has a lot of problems. But one of its biggest is that it is so internally divided. Ethnic Black-Americans are militantly united to the Democratic Party but militantly divided against one another. It won't change though because it is so entrenched. Black-Americans are concerned with rescuing every color of LGBTQ and Muslim from overseas coming to the US, and accuse whites online of being racist but remind them they all need to stick together because "we all are Americans." But step back and watch how Black-Americans treat and hate other Black-Americans they regard as running off the plantation unauthorized. Due to American history the hate and disdain is particularly acute for mulattos. That includes mulatto Black-Americans against other mulattos. Just like you have the dark blacks against dark blacks at times.
Frankly, I have more loyalty to Russia than ethnic Black-Americans have to one another. And I have zero Russian ancestry, never been to the country, not part of the Russian Orthodox Church, and don't speak the language. The only ones that possibly equal me in that way is probably members of the Nation of Islam. The NOI is pretty clear and focused on who they seek to rescue, and it's not the LGBTQ or the Democratic Party. LOL.
I'm pleased I won with Trump being elected. And ultimately how I look does not matter as what matters--in the end--is the security and prosperity of Mother Russia and the Russian people. The white conservatives and I will have no real problems so long as they don't cause the Russians problems. That includes racist whites. Not because "we are all Americans." I give a rats behind about that. I just live here. But I want Russia to do well. And to that degree I will actually encourage Black-Americans to make kissy with the white racists. They better before they start throwing more of them in prison anyways.
Just had to LOL at the bold. The OP said he wanted input from other black people. Based on the bolded comments above, I can tell that you are not black lol.
Black Americans are VERY united, much moreso than other ethnicities. We stick up for each other when it comes down to it overwhelmingly. We do have those amongst us who say we need "more unity" but even those people, when questioned/conversing with, if you bring up the fact that overwhelmingly on every social/political issue facing black Americans, and especially in regards to race prejudice/racism, we will have the back of the black person over any others. This transcends class as well for the most part, so we are not fighting amongst each other like you may think we are. You are an outsider and I do believe that old cliche that it is "a black thing, you wouldn't understand." We have a lot of comraderie and even those of us who look down on the lower classes of black people, if something negative happens to that lower class black person, and it was not justified, even if that person may have a sketchy past, we will look at the situation and give them the benefit of doubt because we know that racism is real and that it affects all black people in this country in some form or fashion.
On LGBTQ populations, black Americans are very vocal in regards to not supporting the LGBTQ lifestyle. I personally have no issues with them as I feel that placing so much emphasis on someone's personal sex life is ridiculous and I do believe that "unity" really is "unity" no matter someone's sexual orientation. We should protect each other and help each other. But the reality is that the majority of black people are rather homophobic. So you thinking that a large amount of black Americans are working toward the rights of LGBTQ over our own, is really ridiculous and IMO proves that you are too invested in white conservative media and their take on LGBTQ, black Americans and other minority groups.
On the "mullattos" (lol) black people are very accepting of anyone who is even a smidgeon of "black." We will accept them as long as they do not act like being black is a horrible thing to be. I am a descendant of many "mullattos" and I'm pretty sure I know way more about the history of colorism within the black community than you are. I have great great and 3rd great grandparents who were actually white, European immigrants and I am fully accepted by black America, as were my grandparents, great grandparents, and great great grandparents. Throughout the history of black America, "mullattos" were considered "black" from a legal standpoint and as such a majority of them aligned themselves with improving the condition of all black Americans. Prior to the Civil War a large amount of free black people, who were never enslaved, and many of whom were racially "mixed" were integral in the conducting of the Underground Rail Road and in working towards abolition. They also volunteered to fight in the US Colored Troops in large numbers. As stated I have a lot of "mullatto" ancestors. My 4th great grandfather was a "mullatto" from PA who moved to Canada and after black people were allowed to join the military all 4 of his sons came back to the US and fought in the Civil War. They also previously lived in PA in a black community known to be involved in the Underground Rail Road. I have quite a few families in my genealogy with similar stories who lived in PA, MI, and OH prior to the Civil War, all of them had children join the war effort to free the slaves, all of them were involved in anti-abolition movements, and all of them lived in communities that assisted escaping slaves via the Underground Rail Road.
Again, you don't seem to know much about the history of black Americans.
On your comments about Russia...whatever....that is ridiculous that you would have more "trust" with Russians that you would with your own countrymen. IMO it shows a lack of patriotism and poor character on your part. I consider white Americans my countrymen much moreso than anyone in England or Ireland or Wales and I have ancestors from those areas. I also consider white Americans my countrymen much moreso than any black African from an African nation since we (black and white Americans) share a cultural background.
Activity needs to have a goal, and it's not always a matter of changing the situation--the first activity needs often to be a matter of first getting around a roadblock.
Examples are cases where immediately after the Voting Rights Act was gutted by the Supreme Court, a number of counties in those affected states changed their operations to put voters in black areas at a disadvantage to voting, such as closing polling places near predominantly black areas. The same thing has happened with voter ID laws.
All people have done is complain. In some cases, they took court action.
But back in the early 60s--before the Voting Rights Act was even passed, people took action to overcome those kinds of roadblocks, such as organizing bus rides for people who would have a difficult time getting to a polling place.
So if the county set up only a single place to get a voter ID, 40 miles away and open only on Wednesday afternoon, the response would be for a local church or someone charter a bus and round up people who need to go. They did not let a mere procedure, no matter how Byzantine, stop them. Stopping them was going to take at least men with guns.
Just wanted to note that black Americans in various parts of the country actually do still do "ride share" programs for voting and they go pick up people in passenger vans to take them to the polls or to register.
In regards to voter ID, many states where voter ID laws are in place are required to provide free IDs and free rides for people to get the IDs. I know that is the case in GA as I know a lot of politically involved black people there and after the voter ID law passed in GA, they successfully worked to make the state provide free IDs and free rides to voters who could not afford the ID itself or who could not go to the place to get the ID.
So this is an issue that "real" activist have worked toward. They did it all off-line lol.
That's quite a declarative statement. Along the lines of, "You realize the Americans don't like you, right?"
The Russians and I get along just fine. I've already had the beautiful Russian Inessa from YouTube complimenting me as being very intelligent.
My enemies are in the US not Russia. But I'm aware racist people exist in Russia too. You're not escaping that anywhere in the world. One reason my sympathies and likely future conversion will be with the brown skinned Coptic Christians (Egyptians). The Coptic are not in communion with the Eastern Orthodox Churches to which Russia belongs. But they are closer to them theologically and in liturgy than they are with Catholicism.
I look at white Russia much the way--you could say--many of you pro-black, pro-Americans look upon the white KKK. You all align yourselves with the white KKK and I align myself with white Russia. My heart tends towards brown India with all its Hindus and with Brazil a country increasingly evangelical Protestant.
So, I'm destined to be Coptic, I'm enamored with Hindu India, I'll have no problem being allied with black evangelical Protestant Brazilians or good Muslims, and my loyalty to Mother Russia as the New Rome will be impenetrable.
That is righteous in the eyes of God who rains graces and favor upon me.
It is only wicked to the culture of the USA and Black-Americans with their race based porn where young Black-American women have sex with several white men holding up the confederate flag. All of them ejaculating on her face. And she hating me for one of the trillion reasons borne forth on the Southern plantations, inoculated in her mind and conscience as to why she should hate me.
Repeated not one, twice, thrice but countless times over are the Black-American women that have sex or group sex with racist white men, and the Black-American men that damn mulattos (not just me) online preferring to converse with white men they accuse of being racist.
Most American mulattos take sides, militantly take sides, either militantly on the white side or militantly on the black side. I've rejected both and look outside the USA to the Latinos, the Arabs, the Russians, the East Indians.
Liberal Black-Americans would be up in arms over this below in the video. And turn around and support and defend Muslims dressing conservatively. Then the liberal blacks would war against evangelical Christian black Protestants, calling for the eradication of Christianity, etc.
Whereas, I simply accept the Evangelicals and the Muslims. If there are atheists and Hindu and Jews and Buddhists in Brazil I'll accept them too. Just like the Candomble practioners. But Black-Americans can't get along with Black-Americans.
Brazilian fashion covers up for evangelical Christians
All the above is a bunch of crazy IMO lol. You are going all over the place. Read above post I just wrote in regards to "unity." Black people are the most united demographic in America, that is why you and others get upset about us an our "protests" and BLM. Black people do not throw out "mullattos" and it is funny that you all keep using such an old school term that is rarely used in conversation. I have a lot of "mixed" people in my family. Black people on the whole have nothing against "mixed" people. If we did, we would have had more issues with President Obama. The vast majority of black people have always supported Obama.
Your whole drivel on sex of black people with KKK is ridiculous. Most black people are in relationships with other black people. But FWIW, I have family members - females who are married to or in relationships with white men. The white men are not Confederates, nor are they in the KKK and the majority of white people in this country are not overt racist if that is what you are getting at with your sex comments above. On other countries, I too, appreciate various religions and cultures around the world. But I am an American and my loyalty is to my country. Culturally, as a black American, I am very much aware and knowledgeable about the fact that this country would not be as great as it is today in regards to the civil rights and freedoms experienced by all if it were not for the demographic of black America. I am resigned to the fact that we will always be the "advocate" for true American freedoms and values as they are written in the constitution as that has been the core component of black American culture since the 18th century - being "active" socially and politically in regards to ensuring all Americans, and especially black Americans have our right protected as citizens of this nation.
There are a several black nationalists who feel that integration was a trap. They argue that we thrived before intergration and that we were more unified. What's your take on that one?
On this, I feel that many black nationalist are ignorant about American history and especially so in regardsd to integration. They falsely believe that black people were economically better off under racist, segregationist laws that dictated where black people could live, work (what kinds of jobs they could get), or go to school. Economically, black people were not better off under segregationist laws or traditional race based segregation.
However, I do agree that socially black people were better off in the past in regards to there being more of an actual "community" of black Americans who lived in a particular neighborhood. It was easier for blacks to look out for each other when they were forced to live together, and this is especially the case IMO in regards to education, of which you discussed earlier. I feel that integration and especially bussing policies were a detriment to black children whereas black children were placed in hostile environments and educators in those environments were not apt to care as much about black children as they were previously cared about in their former all black schools.
But I also feel that black Americans were not the only demographic affected by integration in a sense. Many of the black nationalist are unaware of the fact that there were European immigrants who were negatively viewed as well prior to and even after WW2, this included the Irish, Jews, Polish, Italians, and Germans (amongst others). All of these European immigrants also lived in "ghettos" at one point in time and had very united communities. Once they were given the ability to leave their former enclaves, they too, lost those communities socially and many of them feel that it also was a detriment to move away from "the old neighborhood." So in a sense, black America's experience with this regard, mirrors the European immigrants. Many of them no longer even hold onto their cultural background as a result, they were forced to become "white" and were absorbed into mainstream American culture. The only differentiation amongst them today is basically the Jews and their religious heritage and the Irish, Italians, and Polish (where I live) have their Catholicism and their connection to their old places of worship. The Germans also had their own religious communities that many of them are still connected to. Black Americans are the same in this regard. When I lived in Atlanta, I lived in a community that was one of the poorest in the city, on Sundays though the neighborhood was full of black people who traveled back to the community from the burbs to attend their family churches.
I think black America has steered away from its cultural roots same as the white immigrant groups mentioned above but we still identify with various parts of our culture and take great strength from our history as a demographic. We are especially aware of the fact that unlike those European immigrant groups, we will never be absorbed into mainstream America in a sense, because we are not "white" and will always be considered an outsider IMO. We were "allowed" to integrate at a much later time than the white groups, blacks in many areas, even where I live in the Great Lakes area did not obtain true freedom in regards to housing in particular until the late 1970s, some places the early 1980s. So we still have much more of a connection to our history and culture than the white immigrants who moved out of their enclaves starting in the 1940s. IMO it is vitally necessary to ensure that our middle class black citizens are aware of our "true" cultural heritage. Losing that is much worse to me than integration and I don't think that any black people should want to go back to the segregationist past of our country. As economically and educationally we are much better off. We just need to retain our cultural heritage and that is a hard thing to do. Of all the groups mentioned above, I believe the Jews do it the best and even they have a lot of people who stray away from their religion and heritage.
There are a several black nationalists who feel that integration was a trap. They argue that we thrived before intergration and that we were more unified. What's your take on that one?
We did not "thrive" before integration. An apple tree can't "thrive' in a greenhouse flower pot under a careless gardener. It might not die, but it will never produce the bounty it could produce if it could grow with free access to all available resources.
Blacks were allowed small businesses and limited self-development. Whether in the north or the south, a black businessman who developed a very lucrative business--and especially if his market began to stretch beyond the black neighborhoods--generally got squeezed out or smashed.
The most tragic thing about the destruction of Tulsa's "Black Wall Street" is that they were not just a bunch of black barbershops and diners. Those men were doing the same things as JP Morgan and the other nascent moguls of their era. They were laying the foundations that would have made them major oil companies. They would be Exxon or Mobile or Amoco by now...but the white power structure was not going to let blacks gain that much economic influence.
Even if black businesses were left unmolested, a business in America can't grow very large without significant capital, and that's only accessible through banks or the stock market, which was largely not available to black businesses prior to the Civil Rights Act.
Moreover, as long as black businesses were forced by law or zoning restrictions to specific black neighborhoods, their expansion was physically limited and they were easily targeted by destructive zoning and tax ordinances. Why do you think Flint, MI, can be so easily targeted for water sourcing, for instance? So you force a black-owned factory to operate within the black neighborhood...and then refuse to increase sewage capacity to that neighborhood.
Or you refuse to provide equal resources to the schools in that neighborhood--which was a nearly universal practice. When I was a kid, our black teachers worked around that by faithfully attending teachers' conferences, stealing like bandits, and bringing it back to us.
Speaking of teachers, that was an example of how the "best and brightest" were also like apple trees in flower pots. There might be dozens of great teachers in a community, but what could they do? What opportunities were open to them when there was only one black high school? When there were so few black colleges?
What was a black engineer going to do when blacks were locked out of engineering and everything else?
Apple trees in flower pots--that's not thriving.
But that's not to say that we could not have integrated more intelligently. We could have made better choices in how to integrate, what segments of black society should have been integrated and what segments should have been held back. For instance, pushing integration to gain more power, such as in financing, local politics, and higher education rather than the basic job market.
To a great extent, we integrated in such a way as to produce better white people than to produce better black people.
We did not "thrive" before integration. An apple tree can't "thrive' in a greenhouse flower pot under a careless gardener. It might not die, but it will never produce the bounty it could produce if it could grow with free access to all available resources.
Blacks were allowed small businesses and limited self-development. Whether in the north or the south, a black businessman who developed a very lucrative business--and especially if his market began to stretch beyond the black neighborhoods--generally got squeezed out or smashed.
The most tragic thing about the destruction of Tulsa's "Black Wall Street" is that they were not just a bunch of black barbershops and diners. Those men were doing the same things as JP Morgan and the other nascent moguls of their era. They were laying the foundations that would have made them major oil companies. They would be Exxon or Mobile or Amoco by now...but the white power structure was not going to let blacks gain that much economic influence.
Even if black businesses were left unmolested, a business in America can't grow very large without significant capital, and that's only accessible through banks or the stock market, which was largely not available to black businesses prior to the Civil Rights Act.
Moreover, as long as black businesses were forced by law or zoning restrictions to specific black neighborhoods, their expansion was physically limited and they were easily targeted by destructive zoning and tax ordinances. Why do you think Flint, MI, can be so easily targeted for water sourcing, for instance? So you force a black-owned factory to operate within the black neighborhood...and then refuse to increase sewage capacity to that neighborhood.
Or you refuse to provide equal resources to the schools in that neighborhood--which was a nearly universal practice. When I was a kid, our black teachers worked around that by faithfully attending teachers' conferences, stealing like bandits, and bringing it back to us.
Speaking of teachers, that was an example of how the "best and brightest" were also like apple trees in flower pots. There might be dozens of great teachers in a community, but what could they do? What opportunities were open to them when there was only one black high school? When there were so few black colleges?
What was a black engineer going to do when blacks were locked out of engineering and everything else?
Apple trees in flower pots--that's not thriving.
ITA with the above and especially on the bold.
Integration was absolutely necessary to grow the greatness of black America.
In regards to the bold, I am always reminded of the fact that Paul Laurence Dunbar went to high school with the Wright Brothers and he was the valedictorian of their high school during a time when few Americans, no matter race, even graduated high school. He could not get a job befitting his education and talents and was forced to work as an elevator boy.
I have a great great grandfather who graduated from college in the 1890s and he also could not get a job in his field due to race prejudice and he lived "up north." This was because employers felt white men "deserved" those jobs and they felt blacks were inferior in intelligence and work ethic in a professional environment. He ended up shining shoes for a living and later on opened up his own barbershop and shoe shine business. He lived with his parents to save up the money to open up the business and they also financially helped him open it up as they could not get a loan from a bank to do so.
ETA: Of my early relatives who were educated in the late 19th and early 20th century the main ones who were able to work in the fields of which they were educated were those who could "pass" for white. My great grandmother's brother did this. He never completely stopped communicating with his family, but he did not come to any of our family gatherings, he married a white woman and worked as an executive in a major company that is still in business today in my area. He never even told his family members (especially children/grandchildren) that he was part black and they did not find out until after he died in the 1970s.
Just wanted to note that black Americans in various parts of the country actually do still do "ride share" programs for voting and they go pick up people in passenger vans to take them to the polls or to register.
In regards to voter ID, many states where voter ID laws are in place are required to provide free IDs and free rides for people to get the IDs. I know that is the case in GA as I know a lot of politically involved black people there and after the voter ID law passed in GA, they successfully worked to make the state provide free IDs and free rides to voters who could not afford the ID itself or who could not go to the place to get the ID.
So this is an issue that "real" activist have worked toward. They did it all off-line lol.
There are a several black nationalists who feel that integration was a trap. They argue that we thrived before intergration and that we were more unified. What's your take on that one?
I feel they are wrong. A higher amount of Black Americans have college degrees, professional jobs, are home owners, are in the middle and upper classes, than ever before. All of these good statistics started going up for Blacks when integration began. Blacks have more freedom and rights now than they ever had during integration. And everyone has the same rights. The dismantling of Jim Crow was/is the best thing that could happen for Black Americans. Progress could begin in earnest.
This thread, I wanted to start mainly to get input from other blacks life myself regarding where they stand regarding the racial climate that we are facing right now. Do you feel discriminated against on a regular basis? Do you feel you do relatively well for the most part in life?
I also want to know, how do you as a black person feel about these black conscious movements, SJWs, and black nationalists/separatists movements? How do you feel about the cultural appropriation issue? BLM?
The reason, I'm asking is because it seems like a lot of people are showing their true colors and in response to that, it seems we have many blacks counteracting to the racism being received. I do feel that the issue needs to be discussed but there are so many online black groups and forms that I just don't relate to. As a black person, I find that many of them are only cool with you when you are agreeing with them full stop. The minute you express a thought that deviates from the mindset of that particular form, blogger, or movement, the name calling (i.e. coon, uncle tom, jigaboo, boot licker) starts.
Now my question to other blacks-Where do you fit in at? Do you discuss racial issues with your friends? Are you met with any disagreements? When you find that one disagrees with you, do you educate them? Refer them to Google? Does the conversation go anywhere at all?
Omg, really? Right now all minorities are getting discriminated against, and you guys still find a way to make it about yourselves..smdh.
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