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As one of the regular contributors to this forum who was on the MSD Board of Trustees, guess what? I still have nothing to say to you. Perhaps I've been unclear. You're a bigoted, lying coward. I have enough decent people in my life with whom I'm pleased to engage.<br><br>Keely<br>http://keely-prevailingwinds.blogspot.com/<br><br><br>> Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 08:48:51 -0800<br>> From: no.weatherman@gmail.com<br>> To: vision2020@moscow.com<br>> Subject: [Vision2020] Wright 101<br>> <br>> At least two contributors to this forum were at one time active<br>> members of the MSD, whether on the board or in the faculty.<br>> <br>> I'm curious to get their opinion, or anyone else's, of CAC investing<br>> $150,000,000 into the education system of Chicago and not improving it<br>> one bit.<br>> <br>> Wright 101<br>> Obama funded extremist Afrocentrists who shared Rev. Wright's anti-Americanism<br>> By Stanley Kurtz<br>> <br>> It looks like Jeremiah Wright was just the tip of the iceberg. Not<br>> only did Barack Obama savor Wright's sermons, Obama gave legitimacy —<br>> and a whole lot of money — to education programs built around the same<br>> extremist anti-American ideology preached by Reverend Wright. And<br>> guess what? Bill Ayers is still palling around with the same bitterly<br>> anti-American Afrocentric ideologues that he and Obama were promoting<br>> a decade ago. All this is revealed by a bit of digging, combined with<br>> a careful study of documents from the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, the<br>> education foundation Obama and Ayers jointly led in the late 1990s.<br>> <br>> John McCain, take note. Obama's tie to Wright is no longer a purely<br>> personal question (if it ever was one) about one man's choice of his<br>> pastor. The fact that Obama funded extremist Afrocentrists who shared<br>> Wright's anti-Americanism means that this is now a matter of public<br>> policy, and therefore an entirely legitimate issue in this campaign.<br>> <br>> African Village<br>> In the winter of 1996, the Coalition for Improved Education in<br>> [Chicago's] South Shore (CIESS) announced that it had received a<br>> $200,000 grant from the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. That made CIESS<br>> an "external partner," i.e. a community organization linked to a<br>> network of schools within the Chicago public system. This network,<br>> named the "South Shore African Village Collaborative" was thoroughly<br>> "Afrocentric" in orientation. CIESS's job was to use a combination of<br>> teacher-training, curriculum advice, and community involvement to<br>> improve academic performance in the schools it worked with. CIESS<br>> would continue to receive large Annenberg grants throughout the 1990s.<br>> <br>> The South Shore African Village Collaborative (SSAVC) was very much a<br>> part of the Afrocentric "rites of passage movement," a fringe<br>> education crusade of the 1990s. SSAVC schools featured<br>> "African-Centered" curricula built around "rites of passage"<br>> ceremonies inspired by the puberty rites found in many African<br>> societies. In and of themselves, these ceremonies were harmless. Yet<br>> the philosophy that accompanied them was not. On the contrary, it was<br>> a carbon-copy of Jeremiah Wright's worldview.<br>> <br>> Rites of Passage<br>> To learn what the rites of passage movement was all about, we can turn<br>> to a sympathetic 1992 study published in the Journal of Negro<br>> Education by Nsenga Warfield-Coppock. In that article,<br>> Warfield-Coppock bemoans the fact that public education in the United<br>> States is shaped by "capitalism, competitiveness, racism, sexism and<br>> oppression." According to Warfield-Coppock, these American values<br>> "have confused African American people and oriented them toward<br>> American definitions of achievement and success and away from<br>> traditional African values." American socialization has "proven to be<br>> dysfuntional and genocidal to the African American community,"<br>> Warfield-Coppock tells us. The answer is the adolescent rites of<br>> passage movement, designed "to provide African American youth with the<br>> cultural information and values they would need to counter the<br>> potentially detrimental effects of a Eurocentrically oriented<br>> society."<br>> <br>> The adolescent rites of passage movement that flowered in the 1990s<br>> grew out of the "cultural nationalist" or "Pan-African" thinking<br>> popular in radical black circles of the 1960s and 1970s. The attempt<br>> to create a virtually separate and intensely anti-American black<br>> social world began to take hold in the mid-1980s in small private<br>> schools, which carefully guarded the contents of their controversial<br>> curricula. Gradually, through external partners like CIESS, the<br>> movement spread to a few public schools. Supporters view these<br>> programs as "a social and cultural 'inoculation' process that<br>> facilitates healthy, African-centered development among African<br>> American youth and protects them against the ravages of a racist,<br>> sexist, capitalist, and oppressive society."<br>> <br>> We know that SSAVC was part of this movement, not only because their<br>> Annenberg proposals were filled with Afrocentric themes and references<br>> to "rites of passage," but also because SSAVC's faculty set up its<br>> African-centered curriculum in consultation with some of the most<br>> prominent leaders of the "rites of passage movement." For example, a<br>> CIESS teacher conference sponsored a presentation on African-centered<br>> curricula by Jacob Carruthers, a particularly controversial<br>> Afrocentrist.<br>> <br>> Jacob Carruthers<br>> Like other leaders of the rites of passage movement, Carruthers<br>> teaches that the true birthplace of world civilization was ancient<br>> "Kemet" (Egypt), from which Kemetic philosophy supposedly spread to<br>> Africa as a whole. Carruthers and his colleagues believe that the<br>> values of Kemetic civilization are far superior to the isolating and<br>> oppressive, ancient Greek-based values of European and American<br>> civilization. Although academic Egyptologists and anthropologists<br>> strongly reject these historical claims, Carruthers dismisses critics<br>> as part of a white supremacist conspiracy to hide the truth of African<br>> superiority.<br>> <br>> Carruthers's key writings are collected in his book, Intellectual<br>> Warfare. Reading it is a wild, anti-American ride. In his book, we<br>> learn that Carruthers and his like-minded colleagues have formed an<br>> organization called the Association for the Study of Classical African<br>> Civilizations (ASCAC), which takes as its mission the need to<br>> "dismantle the European intellectual campaign to commit historicide<br>> against African peoples." Carruthers includes "African-Americans"<br>> within a group he would define as simply "African." When forced to<br>> describe a black person as "American," Carruthers uses quotation<br>> marks, thus indicating that no black person can be American in any<br>> authentic sense. According to Carruthers, "The submission to Western<br>> civilization and its most outstanding offspring, American<br>> civilization, is, in reality, surrender to white supremacy."<br>> <br>> Carruthers's goal is to use African-centered education to recreate a<br>> separatist universe within America, a kind of state-within-a-state.<br>> The rites of passage movement is central to the plan. Carruthers sees<br>> enemies on every part of the political spectrum, from conservatives,<br>> to liberals, to academic leftists, all of whom reject advocates of<br>> Kemetic civilization, like himself, as dangerous and academically<br>> irresponsible extremists. Carruthers sees all these groups as deluded<br>> captives of white supremacist Eurocentric culture. Therefore the only<br>> safe place for Africans living in the United States (i.e. American<br>> blacks) is outside the mental boundaries of our ineradicably racist<br>> Eurocentric civilization. As Carruthers puts it: ". . . some of us<br>> have chosen to reject the culture of our oppressors and recover our<br>> disrupted ancestral culture." The rites of passage movement is a way<br>> to teach young Africans in the United States how to reject America and<br>> recover their authentic African heritage.<br>> <br>> America as Rape<br>> Carruthers admits that Africans living in America have already been<br>> shaped by Western culture, yet compares this Americanization process<br>> to rape: "We may not be able to get our virginity back after the rape,<br>> but we do not have to marry the rapist. . . ." In other words,<br>> American blacks (i.e. Africans) may have been forcibly exposed to<br>> American culture, but that doesn't mean they need to accept it. The<br>> better option, says Carruthers, is to separate out and relearn the<br>> wisdom of Africa's original Kemetic culture, embodied in the teachings<br>> of the ancient wise man, Ptahhotep (an historical figure traditionally<br>> identified as the author of a Fifth Dynasty wisdom book). Anything<br>> less than re-Africanization threatens the mental, and even physical,<br>> genocide of Africans living in an ineradicably white supremacist<br>> United States.<br>> <br>> Carruthers is a defender of Leonard Jeffries, professor in the<br>> department of black studies at City College in Harlem, infamous for<br>> his black supremacist and anti-Semitic views. Jeffries sees whites as<br>> oppressive and violent "ice people," in contrast to peaceful and<br>> mutually supportive black "sun people." The divergence says Jeffries,<br>> is attributable to differing levels of melanin in the skin. Jeffries<br>> also blames Jews for financing the slave trade. Carruthers defends<br>> Jeffries and excoriates the prestigious black academics Carruthers<br>> views as traitorous for denouncing their African brother, Jeffries.<br>> Carruthers's vision of the superior and peaceful Kemetic philosophy of<br>> Ptahhotep triumphing over Greco-Euro-American-white culture obviously<br>> parallels Jeffries' opposition between ice people and sun people.<br>> <br>> More of Carruthers's education philosophy can be found in his<br>> newsletter, The Kemetic Voice. In 1997, for example, at the same time<br>> Carruthers was advising SSAVC on how to set up an African-centered<br>> curriculum, he praised the decision of New Orleans' School Board to<br>> remove the name of George Washington from an elementary school.<br>> Apparently, some officials in New Orleans had decided that nobody who<br>> held slaves should have a school named after him. Carruthers touted<br>> the name-change as proof that his African-centered perspective was<br>> finally having an effect on public policy. At the demise of George<br>> Washington School, Carruthers crowed: "These events remind us of how<br>> vast the gulf is that separates the Defenders of Western Civilization<br>> from the Champions of African Civilization."<br>> <br>> According to Chicago Annenberg Challenge records, Carruthers's<br>> training session on African-centered curricula for SSAVC teachers was<br>> a huge hit: "As a consciousness raising session, it received rave<br>> reviews, and has prepared the way for the curriculum readiness survey.<br>> . . ." These teacher-training workshops were directly funded by the<br>> Chicago Annenberg Challenge. Another sure sign of the ideological cast<br>> of SSAVC's curriculum can be found in Annenberg documents noting that<br>> SSAVC students are taught the wisdom of Ptahhotep. Carruthers's<br>> concerns about "menticide" and "genocide" at the hand of America's<br>> white supremacist system seem to be echoed in an SSAVC document that<br>> says: "Our children need to understand the historical context of our<br>> struggles for liberation from those forces that seek to destroy us."<br>> <br>> When Jeremiah Wright turned toward African-centered thinking in the<br>> late 1980s and early 1990s (the period when, attracted by Wright's<br>> African themes, Barack Obama first became a church member), many<br>> prominent thinkers from Carruthers's Association for the Study of<br>> Classical African Civilizations were invited to speak at Trinity<br>> United Church of Christ, Carruthers himself included. We hear echoes<br>> of Carruthers's work in Wright's distinction between "right brained"<br>> Africans and "left brained" Europeans, in Wright's fears of U.S.<br>> government-sponsored genocide against American blacks, and in Wright's<br>> embittered attacks on America's indelibly white-supremacist history.<br>> In Wright's Trumpet Newsmagazine, as in Carruthers's own writings,<br>> blacks are often referred to as "Africans living in the diaspora"<br>> rather than as Americans.<br>> <br>> Asa Hilliard<br>> Chicago Annenberg Challenge records also indicate that SSAVC educators<br>> invited Asa Hilliard, a pioneer of African-centered curricula and a<br>> close colleague of Carruthers, to offer a keynote address at yet<br>> another Annenberg-funded teacher training session. Hilliard's ties to<br>> Wright run still deeper than Carruthers's. A close Wright mentor and<br>> friend, Hilliard died in 2007 while on a trip to Kemet (Egypt) with<br>> Wright and members of Wright's congregation. Hillard was scheduled to<br>> deliver several lectures to the congregants, and to speak at a meeting<br>> of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilization,<br>> which he co-founded with Carruthers and other "African-centered"<br>> scholars. On that last trip, Hilliard accepted an appointment to the<br>> board of Wright's new elementary school, Kwame Nkrumah Academy.<br>> Speaking of the need for such a school, Wright had earlier said, "We<br>> need to educate our children to the reality of white supremacy." (For<br>> more on Wright's Afrocentric school, see "Jeremiah Wright's<br>> 'Trumpet.'")<br>> <br>> Wright delivered the eulogy at Hilliard's memorial service, with<br>> prominent members of ASCAC in the audience. To commemorate Hilliard, a<br>> special, two-cover double issue of Wright's Trumpet Newsmagazine was<br>> published, with a picture of Hilliard on one side, and a picture of<br>> Louis Farrakhan on the other (in celebration of a 2007 award Farrakhan<br>> received from Wright). In short, the ties between Wright and Hilliard<br>> could hardly have been closer. Clearly, then, Wright's own educational<br>> philosophy was mirrored at the Annenberg-funded SSAVC, which sought<br>> out Hilliard's and Carruthers's counsel to construct its curriculum.<br>> <br>> Perhaps inadvertently, Wright's eulogy for Hilliard actually<br>> established the fringe nature of his favorite African-centered<br>> scholars. In his tribute, Wright stressed how intensely "white<br>> Egyptologists recoiled at the very notion of everything Asa taught."<br>> As Wright himself made plain, it seems virtually impossible to find<br>> respectable scholars of any political stripe who approve of the<br>> extremist anti-American version of Afrocentrism promoted by Hilliard<br>> and Carruthers.<br>> <br>> Ayers's Pals<br>> An important exception to the rule is Bill Ayers himself, who not only<br>> worked with Obama to fund groups like this at the Chicago Annenberg<br>> Challenge, but who is still "palling around" with the same folks.<br>> Discretely waiting until after the election, Bill Ayers and his wife,<br>> and fellow former terrorist, Bernardine Dohrn plan to release a book<br>> in 2009 entitled Race Course Against White Supremacy. The book will be<br>> published by Third World Press, a press set up by Carruthers and other<br>> members of the ASCAC. Representatives of that press were prominently<br>> present for Wright's eulogy at Asa Hilliard's memorial service. Less<br>> than a decade ago, therefore, when it came to education issues, Barack<br>> Obama, Bill Ayers, and Jeremiah Wright were pretty much on the same<br>> page.<br>> <br>> Obama's Knowledge<br>> Given the precedent of his earlier responses on Ayers and Wright,<br>> Obama might be inclined to deny personal knowledge of the educational<br>> philosophy he was so generously funding. Such a denial would not be<br>> convincing. For one thing, we have evidence that in 1995, the same<br>> year Obama assumed control of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, he<br>> publicly rejected "the unrealistic politics of integrationist<br>> assimilation," a stance that clearly resonates with both Wright and<br>> Carruthers. (See "No Liberation.")<br>> <br>> And as noted, Wright had invited Carruthers, Hilliard, and like-minded<br>> thinkers to address his Trinity congregants. Wright likes to tick off<br>> his connections to these prominent Afrocentrists in sermons, and Obama<br>> would surely have heard of them. Reading over SSAVC's Annenberg<br>> proposals, Obama could hardly be ignorant of what they were about. And<br>> if by some chance Obama overlooked Hilliard's or Carruthers's names,<br>> SSAVC's proposals are filled with references to "rites of passage" and<br>> "Ptahhotep," dead giveaways for the anti-American and separatist<br>> ideological concoction favored by SSAVC.<br>> <br>> We know that Obama did read the proposals. Annenberg documents show<br>> him commenting on proposal quality. And especially after 1995, when<br>> concerns over self-dealing and conflicts of interest forced the<br>> Ayers-headed "Collaborative" to distance itself from monetary issues,<br>> all funding decisions fell to Obama and the board. Significantly,<br>> there was dissent within the board. One business leader and<br>> experienced grant-smith characterized the quality of most Annenberg<br>> proposals as "awful." (See "The Chicago Annenberg Challenge: The First<br>> Three Years," p. 19.) Yet Obama and his very small and divided board<br>> kept the money flowing to ideologically extremist groups like the<br>> South Shore African Village Collaborative, instead of organizations<br>> focused on traditional educational achievement.<br>> <br>> As if the content of SSAVC documents wasn't warning enough, their<br>> proposals consistently misspelled "rites of passage" as "rights of<br>> passage," hardly an encouraging sign from a group meant to improve<br>> children's reading skills. The Chicago Annenberg Challenge's own<br>> evaluators acknowledged that Annenberg-aided schools showed no<br>> improvement in achievement scores. Evaluators attributed that failure,<br>> in part, to the fact that many of Annenberg's "external partners" had<br>> little educational expertise. A group that puts its efforts into<br>> Kwanzaa celebrations and half-baked history certainly fits that bill,<br>> and goes a long way toward explaining how Ayers and Obama managed to<br>> waste upwards of $150 million without improving student achievement.<br>> <br>> However he may seek to deny it, all evidence points to the fact that,<br>> from his position as board chair of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge,<br>> Barack Obama knowingly and persistently funded an educational project<br>> that shared the extremist and anti-American philosophy of Jeremiah<br>> Wright. The Wright affair was no fluke. It's time for McCain to say<br>> so.<br>> — Stanley Kurtz is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.<br>> http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=YTQ0YjhlOGVhYjQ0OWRhZjI2MmM4NTQ4NGM5Mjg0MzU=<br>> <br>> =======================================================<br>> List services made available by First Step Internet, <br>> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <br>> http://www.fsr.net <br>> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<br>> =======================================================<br><br /><hr />Want to do more with Windows Live? Learn “10 hidden secrets” from Jamie. <a href='http://windowslive.com/connect/post/jamiethomson.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!550F681DAD532637!5295.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_domore_092008' target='_new'>Learn Now</a></body>
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