Temple University: Black Studies in White Supremacy Academia: The Case of Dr. Tony Montiero

 

Temple U. and  the Professor Anthony Monteiro Affair : ROMANTISING TREACHERY.

 

1... Tony Monteiro is one of the principal organizers of Educators for Mumia Abu Jamal, a coalition of scholars and academics who continue to wage a tireless campaign to free the revolutionary activist..

2... Prof. Molefi Asante in his statement, implies that Monteiro could easily be replaced by “scores” of other African-American scholars.

Such a statement should be correctly understood as a personal insult not only to Monteiro, but to .. the countless Philadelphia residents who have benefitted from his activism and engagement with the community

3..Mumia himself, in speaking from prison about Dr. Monteiro, noted that,

“Dr. Anthony Monteiro is a name known among scholars, among activists, among sociologists, and among the people of Philadelphia. A brilliant and incisive teacher and thinker, Dr. Monteiro is a scholar’s scholar.”

4. . Sacaree Rhodes Homelessness Activist says:

 “People like Molefi Asante sit around and plot on Black people. And then use the word African-centricity. What the fuck is that?

You’ve got to stop romanticizing about treachery,”-.

5..Prof.Anthony Monteiro, internationally recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on W.E.B. DuBois and the Black left radical tradition, has been a fixture on the campus of Temple University in Philadelphia for more than a decade. 

 

His lectures, publications, annual W.E.B. DuBois symposia, community engagement, leadership in the movement to free Mumia Abu Jamal, and other activism have made him an indispensable figure at Temple University, in Philadelphia, and in the Black scholarly community more generally. So, the question then becomes…why was his contract terminated? FOR THE REAL STORY-see below

 

Administration and community at odds over ousting of Anthony Monteiro.

Sacaree Rhodes, of The African Daughters of Fine Lineage, arrives to the applause of a small gathering at a meeting in support of Arlene Ackerman on Tuesday at the Kingsessing Recreation Center. (David M Warren / Staff Photographer by Joe Brandt 11 March 2014

Sacaree Rhodes (middle) shouts at the Board of Trustees during a public session in Sullivan Hall on Monday. Students and community members gathered to protest the ousting of professor Anthony Monteiro. | JOHN MORITZ TTN 

 

Protesters against the dismissal of African-American studies professor Anthony Monteiro demonstrated at the Board of Trustees’ general body meeting held in Sullivan Hall on Monday.  The protesters said Teresa Soufas, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, was racially motivated in her decision not to renew Monteiro’s contract 

 

The protest began outside Sullivan Hall two hours before the meeting, which was scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. Temple and Philadelphia police officers were on the scene and guarding the entrances.

 

“If you think you can go forward without a black community, you might think you can have black art and black music without black people,” Monteiro said at a speech he made outside the building.

 

The board meeting began with a memorial dedication to George Moore, secretary to the Board of Trustees and university counsel, who died on March 2.

 

The board also approved the executive committee’s recommendation to borrow $30 million to cover expenses from April through June of this year, as well as the agendas of the other committees.

 

The protesters, who filed into the meeting several minutes after it started, began shouting at the trustees when the establishment of a new CLA department was resolved. Sacaree Rhodes, a community resident and member of the African Daughters of Fine Lineage, shouted “Where are the black people on this board?” toward Board Chairman Patrick O’Connor, who told Rhodes she was “out of order” and that protesters could bring up their concerns at the end of the meeting when “new business” could be addressed.

 

After the trustees completed the remainder of scheduled discussion, O’Connor allowed comments from the audience members, who asked why Monteiro was fired. O’Connor promised to discuss the issue at a later time and adjourned the meeting. The crowd responded with a chant of “justice for Monteiro.”

 

The crowd of students, alumni and community members then gathered and staged a sit-in in the second floor lobby of President Theobald’s office for about a half hour until the administrators made a deal to have a discussion with the protest’s leaders, on the condition that most of the crowd leave the premises.

 

“This is kind of unprecedented,” O’Connor said of the subsequent meeting, also attended by Theobald, Senior Vice President of Government, Community and Public Affairs Ken Lawrence, Athletic Director Kevin Clark and Special Assistant to the President Bill Bergman.

“We have made a moral case because we feel an injustice,” Monteiro told the representatives at the meeting. “As long as [Soufas] is here, the relationship between this university and the black community is getting worse.”

 

When asked about the possibility of a regularly scheduled meeting with members of the community, O’Connor said, “I think it’s a great idea. I’m in favor of it.”

 

However, when Rhodes, the community resident, told Theobald she believed it was his duty to meet with community members from the North Central District to discuss any topic of concern they had, Theobald said he disagreed.

 

After O’Connor left to attend a separate meeting, Theobald continued the discussion, which continued to focus on the relationship between the university and the surrounding community, including the growing presence of gentrification.

 

When asked about whether or not he had visited the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection of African-American historical documents, which is open to university students and faculty at its location directly below the president’s office in Sullivan Hall, Theobald said he had not been invited.

 

Theobald’s comment drew uproar from the crowd, who asked why the president felt the need to be invited to the renowned collection. Theobald appeared to grow flustered at the sudden negative reaction and left to teach a scheduled class in his office.

 

“I’ve never been invited,” Theobald said. “And I don’t just go wandering around campus.”

 

Lawrence later met and exchanged contact information with the protesters and said the two parties will arrange another meeting at a later date.

“We’ll see what happens,” Monteiro said of the next meeting. “This is a matter of courage. It’s up to [Theobald]. It’s cut and dry that an unjust firing took place.”

 

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@temple.edu or on Twitter @JBrandt_TU.                                                   Claire Sasko contributed reporting.

 

A Racist Assault

Dr. Anthony Monteiro and the Assault on the Black Radical Tradition

by ERIC DRAITSER

 

The recent firing of scholar and activist Dr. Anthony Monteiro from Temple University is unquestionably a politically motivated and racist assault on a world-renowned professor and community leader. However, it is equally an attack upon the very foundation of higher education and the place of Black people, Black politics, and Black communities within it.

 

Dr. Monteiro, internationally recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on W.E.B. DuBois and the Black left radical tradition, has been a fixture on the campus of Temple University in Philadelphia for more than a decade. His lectures, publications, annual W.E.B. DuBois symposia, community engagement, leadership in the movement to free Mumia Abu Jamal, and other activism have made him an indispensable figure at Temple University, in Philadelphia, and in the Black scholarly community more generally. So, the question then becomes…why was his contract terminated?

 

The Real Story

 

The events which led to the dismissal or, as Temple University Dean of the College of Liberal Arts Teresa Soufas lovingly refers to it, his “non-renewal,” have their roots in the struggle over the Chair of the African-American Studies department.

 

 In 2012, Soufas attempted to assert her control over the historic African-American Studies program (the first in the country to offer a PhD in Black Studies), by appointing her colleague and ideological ally Dr. Jayne Drake as interim Chair of the program.

 

 Dr. Drake, a white professor of American literature, was installed over the vociferous objections of many in the department and the campus community – objections voiced perhaps most strongly by Dr. Monteiro.

Monteiro supported Dr. Kariamu Welsh, a tenured professor from the Dance department of the Boyer College of Music and Dance to chair the department. 

 

In the struggle that ensued, Dean Soufas attempted to impose her will on the program with the appointment of Dr. Drake. Monteiro then led numerous demonstrations in collaboration with campus and community groups to unseat Soufas’ viceroy and, instead, reappoint the founder and former Chair of the program Dr. Molefi Asante. 

 

Despite initial resistance and continued threats and attacks upon the integrity and character of Dr. Monteiro, Soufas relented and Asante assumed the position of Chair of the department in 2013.

 

Although the struggle led by Monteiro was ultimately successful, this victory left a bulls-eye on his back, and it seems that Dean Soufas used the issue of his contract termination as her vengeance. As Dr. Monteiro stated:

This is a retaliatory act and firing for the [protest] we held to get Dr. Molefi Kete Asante as the chair of the [African-American Studies] department over her [Dean Soufas] objections…

 

It’s nothing except her anger…It is her getting back at me for my standing up to her bullying, pointing fingers at Black men, her authoritarian attempt to take over African American Studies and my taking the struggles for the life and integrity of our department to the Black community — those to whom we are ultimately accountable.

 

When asked about this critical question of the motivation and ultimate responsibility for the decision to not renew the contract of one of the most highly regarded lecturers on campus, the story takes on an added dimension.

 Dean Soufas seems to imply that the ultimate decision was made by the department Chair Molefi Asante himself, while Dr. Asante asserts that he was merely informed of the Dean’s decision.

 

Dean Soufas stated on the record that there was “no truth whatsoever” to Monteiro’s allegations. However, she also immediately pointed the finger at Dr. Asante who she said ultimately collaborated in the decision not to renew Monteiro’s contract.

 

Soufas explained that:

All decisions about the renewal of contracts of non-tenure-track faculty members are made jointly by department chairs and the dean’s office[emphasis added]. Often when departments revise their curricula, it is necessary to change faculty resources in the non-tenure-track ranks to match the new course directions. 

 

Dr. Asante, the chairman of African-American Studies, is making some exciting curriculum changes in the department and wanted different fields of study to be covered by instructors.

 

Of course, in response to the accusation that Asante himself made the decision, Dr. Asante replied that:

The dean writes the letter when she wants to write a letter about anybody in the department…Did she consult with me to tell me what she was going to do? Yes, she did. I didn’t provide any guidance at all. My position is he has a year-to-year contract and it’s up to the dean… [I am] not worried about [Monteiro’s contract not being renewed] because it is year-to-year…there are scores of African-American people who could help us build this program. The thing you can’t worry about … if somebody signs a [year-to-year] contract and then get upset when someone says your year is up.

 

At best, Asante shows a complete disregard and utter betrayal of a colleague who, just a year earlier, led the charge to have him reappointed to a prominent position.

 

 At worst, Asante actively participated in the decision to terminate Dr. Monteiro, demonstrating an insidious willingness to collaborate with a vindictive attack upon a colleague in the interest of pleasing those in positions of power. 

 

In his statement, Asante implies that Monteiro could easily be replaced by “scores” of other African-American scholars. 

 

Such a statement should be correctly understood as a personal insult not only to Monteiro, but to the thousands of undergraduate and graduate students at Temple who have studied under him, as well as the countless Philadelphia residents who have benefitted from his activism and engagement with the community.

 

Why Monteiro Matters

 

Dr. Monteiro, or Tony as his friends refer to him, is an absolutely essential figure for Temple University, Philadelphia, and the Black community as a whole. As a scholar and educator, he is world-renowned. He established the annual W.E.B. DuBois symposium to bring together scholars and activists from all over the world to not only celebrate DuBois’s great contributions to the fields of sociology, anthropology, political philosophy, and race theory, but also to engage communities in an understanding of DuBois’s relevance today. 

 

It is this connection between “the Academy” and the lives of working people, the poor and the otherwise marginalized that truly illustrates what Tony is about.

 

Tony goes further, leading the “Saturday Free School” which brought members of the community of North Philadelphia and surrounding areas onto the campus of the university – a grave sin in the eyes of the white establishment, investors, and real estate developer “philanthropists” – to truly incorporate the black community into the campus culture. 

 

He has worked tirelessly to bring together organized labor, community groups, political associations and others in order to build coalitions that could represent the interests of working people in and around Philadelphia and resist the continued privatization, gentrification, and liquidation of the poor and disadvantaged communities.

 

Tony is one of the principal organizers of Educators for Mumia Abu Jamal, a coalition of scholars and academics who continue to wage a tireless campaign to free the revolutionary activist, journalist, and leader Mumia Abu Jamal, as well as all other political prisoners languishing in the Great American Gulag. 

 

The movement that Tony helped build has grown throughout the US and internationally, with Monteiro as one of its key figures. Mumia himself, in speaking from prison about Dr. Monteiro, noted that, “Dr. Anthony Monteiro is a name known among scholars, among activists, among sociologists, and among the people of Philadelphia. A brilliant and incisive teacher and thinker, Dr. Monteiro is a scholar’s scholar.”

 

Monteiro has published over one hundred articles and essays in a wide variety of journals and publications, engaging wide-ranging fields of study including sociology, critical theory, African and African-American studies, and a host of other disciplines. He is the most cited scholar in his department, and one of the most cited DuBois scholars in the world.

 

 His work has received acclaim from academics the world over. For these reasons, he is respected by some of the most prominent scholars and public intellectuals in the United States, including Dr. Cornel West who, in support of Tony stated that Monteiro is, “one of our grand intellectual freedom fighters who works in the tradition of W.E.B. DuBois and C.L.R. James. I’m in his corner 120 percent…I’m so glad to see both his students, as well as the community, rise up and support Dr. Monteiro.”

 

One would think that with world famous intellectuals such as Cornel West and Mumia Abu Jamal, among many others, speaking on his behalf, there would be no question that Monteiro would be secure in his position, with tenure, and the respect afforded to a public intellectual of his stature. However, that is not the case. The question is why?

 

The Neoliberal Purge of Black Radicalism in Academia

 

The treatment of Dr. Monteiro by Asante and Soufas is worrying in and of itself. However, even more troubling is the fact that it represents a continuing trend within academia and, specifically, within the Black academic community. It would seem that the “Age of Obama” has done wonders to make some corners of the Black academic community feel as if, contrary to their previous status as outsiders who felt it their responsibility to challenge the power structure and agitate for radical progressive change, today there is a growing sense of participation in power.

No doubt, this is one of the deleterious effects of the Obama presidency where many white and black liberal scholars have felt it their responsibility to close ranks behind the President and, in so doing, transform the radical tradition itself. In discussing precisely this development Glen Ford, the renowned political commentator and Executive Editor of Black Agenda Report, explained in the context of Angela Davis’s support of Obama that:

The “delusional effect” that swept Black America with the advent of the First Black President has warped and weakened the mental powers of some of our most revered icons – and it has been painful to behold…Angela Davis diminished herself as a scholar and thinker in a gush of nonsense about the corporate executive in the White House…She called [his] campaign a ‘victory, not of an individual, but of…people who refused to believe that it was impossible to elect a person, a Black person, who identified with the Black radical tradition’… Angela Davis was saying that Barack Obama is a man who identifies with the Black radical tradition. She said it casually, as if Black radicalism and Obama were not antithetical terms; as if everything he has written, said and done in national politics has not been a repudiation of the Black radical tradition.

 

Ford correctly notes the feeling of betrayal by icons of the Black radical movement willingly deluding themselves into believing that the ruling class has suddenly transformed itself, that the black radical tradition, rather than being in opposition to Obama and the neoliberal order, is now a part of it. For Angela Davis, an icon of the liberation struggle and black academia, to spout this narrative, is indicative of the transformation currently underway – a transformation to sanitize the radical tradition and to annex it to the power structure, with Obama as the catalyst.

 

This same delusional thinking can be seen in the historical revisionism of Manning Marable in his book Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention in which Marable, a respected black scholar and author, essentially argued that Obama is the natural inheritor of the tradition of Malcolm X and of black radicalism. However, thankfully not all agree with such absurd revisionism. Noted author and lecturer Jared Ball wrote in his book A Lie of Reinvention: Correcting Manning Marable’s Malcolm X that Marable’s book, “is a corporate product, a simple commodity to be traded, but for more than money; it is a carefully constructed ideological assault on history, on radical politics, on historical and cultural memory, on the very idea of revolution.” Ball essentially argues that Marable, like Angela Davis, purges the radicalism from black radicalism in order to fit it within the narrative of contemporary political discourse, namely the discourse of power, the discourse of inclusion within the ruling class.

Davis and Marable (before his death), along with Molefi Asante, represent not only a betrayal of the radical tradition and a selling out to, and collusion with, neoliberal capitalism in the “Age of Obama”, they have made themselves into the arbiters of “acceptable discourse” within black academia. And it is precisely this acceptable discourse that Dr. Anthony Monteiro rejects. And it is for precisely this reason that Asante has spoken of “scores of African-Americans” who can take his place. Indeed, there are scores of African-American scholars willing and able to supplicate to corporate power and the de-radicalization of the radical tradition.

But not Monteiro. Rather than submit and cooperate, he continues to challenge power, whether it is the derisive wag of Dean Soufas’ white finger, or the limitless greed and racism of the white establishment and its black collaborators. He opposes them both with vigor, with fervor, and with uncompromising ethical and moral courage. He upholds the tradition of W.E.B. Dubois, and lives his principles. This is why he has been attacked. And this is why he must be supported.

Visit “Justice for Dr. Anthony Monteiro” on Facebook to see how you can get involved. If you are an educator, please contact Johanna.fernandez@baruch.cuny.edu or mark.taylor@ptsem.edu to sign the petition to reinstate Dr. Monteiro.

Join Dr. Monteiro and members of the community to show your support at a meeting of Temple University’s Board of Trustees meeting:

Monday March 10^th, 2014 at 2pm.

Sullivan Hall

1330 Polett Walk

Philadelphia, PA 19122

Eric Draitser is the founder of StopImperialism.com. He is an independent geopolitical analyst based in New York City. You can reach him at ericdraitser@gmail.com.

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Report: Pig Murder in the Bay Area

REPORT: Police Killings In San Francisco Bay Area

 

Law Enforcement Related Deaths in the US: “Justifiable Homicides” and the Impacts on Families

September 10, 2014
By Peter Phillips, Diana Grant and Greg Sewell

Editors note: The full version of this study with all of the citations will be published in Censored 2015: Inspiring We the People, edited by Andy Lee Roth, Mickey Huff, and Project Censored, Seven Stories Press, official release date October 7, 2014. 

According to newspaper accounts over 1,500 people die annually in the US in law enforcement related deaths. These are all deaths in the presence of law enforcement personnel both on the street and in local jails.  Infamous cases such as Andy Lopez, Oscar Grant, and Michael Brown are only the tip of the iceberg. Many hundreds more are killed annually and these deaths by police are almost always ruled justifiable, even when victims are unarmed or shot in the back running away.

We interviewed 14 families who lost loved ones in law enforcement related deaths in the SF Bay Area from 2000-2010. All the families believe their loved one should not have been killed and most felt that the police over-reacted and murdered their family member. All families reported abuse by police after the deaths.  Most also reported that the corporate media was biased in favor of the police and failed to accurately report the real circumstances of the death.

Beginning in 1996 activists in New York organized a national protest day on October 22 each year. The October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation says that they “bring forward a united, powerful, visual coalition of families victimized by police terrorism.”

In 1998 Project Censored co-sponsored a research study with the Stolen Lives Project a group born out of the October 22^nd Coalition. Through funding from the San Francisco Foundation, Karen Saari, a legal researcher in Sonoma County California, spent a good part of a year searching the newspaper databases Lexis-Nexis and Proquest online at Sonoma State University for articles on Law Enforcement Related Deaths. She was searching for police shootings and any situation reported in the newspapers where someone died in the presence of law enforcement officers. Besides gun shots, deaths included suicides, car accidents, shootings, drowning, and Taser use.

To our knowledge, this was the first time such a study had been attempted in the U.S. During the twelve-month period October 1, 1997 to October 1, 1998, Saari found news stories on 694 deaths in the presence of law enforcement that occurred in the United States. Department of Justice figures at the time listed about 350 people killed by police in the previous year, so Saari’s research showed a significantly higher rate of death among civilians in law enforcement incidents than was previously known at the time.

In 2011, Jim Fisher used Internet searches to identify 1,146 police shootings that year.  Of this number news reports indicated that 607 people died. This was a slightly higher rate of shooting deaths than had been reported in 1997-98, but did not include taser, restraint deaths and suicides. Fisher found that vast majorities of the people shot were between the ages of 25-49, a result similar to Saari’s report a decade earlier. In 2011 two victims of the police were 15 years of age and one girl was only 16. Fifty of the dead were armed with BB-guns, pellet guns or toy replica firearms.

In addition to the people dying on the street or in their homes through law enforcement related activities, research shows that several hundred people a year die in local jails. In 2011, according to the Office of Justice Programs, 885 inmates died in the custody of local jails. Thirty-nine percent died within the first week of being jailed. This number combined with deaths on the outside shows that in excess of 1,500 people die annually in law enforcement related circumstances both in custody or in the process of enforcement in the community. It is reasonable to assume that some portion of these deaths is attributable to officer mistakes, over- reactions, or deliberate acts resulting in death.

But almost always, despite obvious questionable behavior by law enforcement personnel, no charges are filed.  Police investigations of law enforcement related death, either internally within departments or by outside police agencies, nearly always rule homicides are justifiable and followed departmental procedures.  It is extremely rare for police departments to rule a death as unjustified or to charge an officer with neglect, manslaughter, or murder.

Research has shown that it was a much graver error for a street cop to use too little force and begin developing a reputation among fellow officers as a shaky officer than to engage in excessive force and be told by colleagues to calm down. When officers do not use enough force they are subject to reprimand, gossip, and avoidance in the police subculture. The dangers associated with the occupation often prompt officers to distance themselves from the chief source of danger — citizens. The coercive authority that officers possess also separates them from the public. The cultural prescriptions of suspiciousness and maintaining the edge over citizens in creating, displaying, and maintaining their authority further divides police and people in the community. Officers who are socially isolated from citizens, and who rely on one another for mutual support from a dangerous and hostile work environment, are said to develop a “we versus they” attitude toward citizens and strong norms of loyalty to fellow officers.

We believe that certain behavior changes by police could well result in the lowering of law enforcement related deaths in the U.S. We decided to interview families of people who died in a law enforcement related incident. Our research team interviewed fourteen individuals who were immediate family members of people who died in Law Enforcement related incidents in northern California between 2000 and 2010. At least one year had passed from when their loved one died and the date of the interview.  Interviews were recorded and transcribed for analysis and comparison. All the names of the interviewees and the victims are to remain anonymous to protect the privacy of the families.

Following is a brief outline of the key facts as reported by family members for the fourteen cases and their opinions on the death. In all fourteen cases, the investigating police departments ruled the deaths justifiable homicide. In case # 9 a narcotics officer was indicted by the Grand Jury, but was found innocent in a court trial. All the family members interviewed strongly believe that police overreacted and their loved one should not have been killed under the circumstances.

Case #1. White male, Age 29, San Anselmo, prior history of mental illness, in-home traumatic episode, victim charges police with small steak knife, shot to death.

Interviewee #1, “I think he (police officer) acted hastily…the cop that did it shouldn’t have a gun…he is the problem.”

Case #2. Black male, Age 19, High School Senior, Hayward, shot in back of head while running away from Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police, no record of mental illness, no weapons present,

Interviewee #2, “The police and the media just said …the officer felt threatened by my son and had to shoot him. Very few newspapers changed their story or apologized when they found out my son was shot in the back of the head.”

Case #3. Black Male, Age 30, Rohnert Park, prior drug use, shot in back running from police after car chase, no record of mental illness, no weapons present,

Interviewee #3, “he was running from the police…they shot him in the back…murdered by the police.”

Case #4. Black Male, Age 27, Oakland,  prior drug use and sales, no history of mental illness, shot in back running from police, threw away handgun before being shot, financial settlement to family from civil trial.

Interviewee #4, “He had to run because he had a pistol on him. The police chased him. He ran around the corner and threw away the gun. The cop saw him throw away the gun and I guess decided it was ok to go ahead and shoot. He was shot two or three times in the back.”

Case #5.  Black male, Age 23, San Francisco, bipolar and depressed, confrontation in movie theater over smoking, shot 48 times by nine officers, no weapons, financial settlement to family from civil trial.

Interviewee #5, “They (police) evacuated all the theater… and they got in and shot him 48 times. They (Cops) posted stuff on my son’s website. I checked the IP address and it came form the police station, (they wrote) “who cares about your dead baboon on welfare?”

Case #6. Black male, Age 73, Ukiah, long history of mental illness, local psych unit asked police to pick him up so he could take his medications, runs to his apartment chased by police dog, dog attacks him and he responds with sharp object, shot several times in back and side by police.

Interviewee #6, “In my opinion he was murdered.”

Case #7. Black male, Age 30, Rohnert Park, self-employed rapper, prior arrests for marijuana and passing counterfeit money, no recorded mental illness, ran from police after traffic stop, shot in back, no weapons present.

Interviewee # 7, “He ran (from the car after a stop) and was shot immediately in the back. And then he was dead. He and the officer that shot him …had gone to school together and played basketball together.”

Case #8. White male, Age 39, Petaluma, prior depression and minor drug use, not taking his medications, traumatic episode called 911 himself, rampaging in his parents home, tasered by police three times and dies, no weapons present.

Interviewee #8. “The police…are supposed to protect you and take care of you, and we were following the rules.”

Case #9. Latino male, Age 40, San Jose, prior felon, no history of mental illness, mistaken identity car chase by under-cover narcotics officers, runs from car and shot in back by officer, bleeds to death after delayed medical care, no weapons present, financial settlement to family after civil suit.

Interviewee #9,  “My uncle happens to drive by a stakeout and he fits the description of a Mexican guy with a mustache…in a blue van. The undercover narcotic officers gave chase,… my uncle didn’t know who they were…he ends up on a one-way street and stops his car, and starts to run away. My uncle jumps a fence and the officer shoots him in the middle of the back. They let him lay there for eleven minutes bleeding…finally they let the ambulance in and he dies on the way to the hospital.”

Case #10. Black male, Age 16, 127 lbs, Sebastopol, no prior criminal record, depressed, traumatic episode in van parked in family driveway with small carving knife, pepper sprayed and shot six times by county sheriff, financial settlement to family from civil trial.

Interviewee #10, “The officer was highly reactive and he didn’t assess the situation, he immediately jumped into plan of action and that escalated the situation rather then contain it. Both officers said they feared for their life, yet these officers were both more than twice the weight of my 127 lb son.”

Case #11. Latino male, Age 34, San Jose, prior drug use, no history of mental illness, single officer confrontation 3:00 AM in front of his children’s and ex-partner’s home, tasered by officer, physical struggle, shot four times, no weapons present.

Interviewee # 11, “his autopsy report showed that he had been hit four times with bullets through his left side. He was unarmed. The police said they are trained to stop a threat. And I said well my god if this officer felt threatened what about a shot to the leg or something…and he responded no we are trained to show center space in the body. You know if you can’t shoot center space you won’t be a police officer.”

Case #12. White male, Age 24, Santa Rosa, mentally ill ward of the state, schizophrenic, in and out of care facilities since age 14, stopped taking medication and had psychotic incident in his home shard by three men, picked up small kitchen knife and is tasered and then shot by police four times, small financial settlement from civil suit.

Interviewee #12,  “There are probably a great many combat veterans in the police…you have been taught to kill, They could have stepped back The first thing they could have done is not make him come out of his room. Anyone who knows anything about mental patients who are off their meds—just get them somewhere quiet and alone.”
Case #13, White-Korean male, Age 30, Santa Rosa, Mental Illness Bipolar and PTSD, fired gun afraid of intruders in his attic, taken by police outside, runs at officers shot, no weapon in possession at time of shooting.

Interviewee # 13, “They kept shouting orders at him, I believe there were six officers, they approached in formation all of them with their guns aimed at him and to someone in this mental state it was extremely threatening way to approach him. (They had him on the ground) and kept shouting confusing orders to him, turn your head to the right, turn your head to the left, then he jumped up…and they shot him a rifle in the chest, right in the heart. None of this would have happen, all they had to do was say we are here to help, we understand you are hearing intruders, do you mind if we take a look?”

Case #14. Black male double amputee in wheelchair, Age 61 and his son, age 21, Oakland, Police arrive seeking proof of vaccination for dog that was reported to have bit someone in the home, , father killed with one shot to heart, son killed with 13 shots, officer dies (family says from friendly fire), police claim son had a shotgun, mother says no gun in the house, tape recording hidden by police for six years shows cooperative son, and no shotgun blast.

Interviewee #14, “I think the reason officers do what they do is because they can. It is just like any human reaction that if there are not consequences, then you have a green light….they don’t pay lawsuits, the taxpayers do, they seldom get fired for wrongdoing. So basically what they do is with impunity be they know the odds of any negative impact coming back to them …is negligible.”

Most all of the families complained that the police lied to them after the death of their family member and the media backed up the police. In most cases, immediate family members are isolated from each other, and taken to the police station. Families were kept from knowing that their loved one was dead. Questioning by police was designed to build a negative case against the deceased.

Certainly, the sudden death of a loved one is a very traumatic event for anyone. However, adding in isolation, interrogations, and lies will undoubtedly magnify the trauma. These families carry a deep-seated anger towards the police, not only for killing their loved ones but also for what they see as gross mistreatment by authorities after the event. Not only do they understand that after a law enforcement related death police immediately circle the wagons and go into protective mode, but they also see the media as likely to accept press releases from the police unquestioningly and conduct little in the way of investigative reporting.

In conclusion, we believe that, with some 1,500 people dying annually, a major continuing problem with law enforcement related death exists in the US. The national move to militarized police with homeland security oversight is certainly not reducing this death rate. Long-term racism continues to show abuses affecting people of color to greater degrees that whites. The culture of policing tends to reward aggressive behavior and diminish efforts to mitigate shooting deaths. And families of law enforcement related death victims are mistreated and abused by police departments and the corporate media.

We think that a comprehensive review of police training is needed to give greater emphasis to the use of non-lethal interventions, and non-aggressive behaviors especially in mental health cases. Mental health/social service support for families of victims of law enforcement related deaths, given the testimony above, is an important social justice need for people already suffering serious trauma.

______________________________________________________________________
•  Peter Phillips is a Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University, and President of Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored
•  Diana Grant is a Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice Studies at Sonoma State University
•  Greg Sewell is a recent sociology graduate from Sonoma State University

Posted 10th September by black left unity network

Black Men in College, why no STEM degrees?

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October 27, 2014

Black Man in the Lab

Why do so few black men earn STEM degrees? The reasons, and the remedies, go beyond numbers.

By Stacey Patton

For two decades, academic researchers have asked the same questions about black males in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, known as the STEM fields:

Why do black males underperform in grade-school and high-school math and science classrooms?

Why do so few pursue STEM degrees?

Of those who enter college with the intention to major in STEM fields, why do so many switch to other disciplines?

And among those who persist and graduate with science majors, why do so few proceed to Ph.D. programs?

The scarcity of black men earning STEM degrees has been documented repeatedly. For example, among American citizens and permanent residents, the proportion of black men at the Ph.D. level more than doubled between 1992 and 2012, but from a very low base of only 1 percent to 2 percent of all STEM degrees, according to the National Science Foundation’s annual "Survey of Earned Doctorates." (These figures exclude psychology and the social sciences.) In 1992, black men earned only 139 of 11,485 STEM doctorates awarded, and in 2012, 334 of 16,545 STEM doctorates.

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• STEM Stories: Four black men who have earned STEM Ph.D.’s

In establishing why progress has been so slow, there is no single answer, says Earnestine P. Easter, a program director in the division of graduate education at the foundation. Black males face more than a few obstacles before they reach college: white teachers who misinterpret their behavior, high suspension rates, school closures in urban neighborhoods, inadequate schools, concerns about "acting white," single-parent households, poverty, violence, and a lack of positive images of successful black males.

Another reason is that the matter doesn’t receive sustained, consistent attention. "We know there are some policy drivers in our country, and when there are alerts that something is threatening U.S. competitiveness and economic development, we tend to respond so that agencies and private foundations can intervene," Ms. Easter says. "For black males, we have signals and longitudinal reports starting from preschool all the way through high school indicating problems with black males not achieving, and that means there’s a much smaller pool of STEM students at the undergrad level."

Some scholars say that while the research and data collected are important, the fixation on these racial disparities contributes to a pervasive narrative that reinforces broader stereotypes of black men as an endangered, lazy, and incompetent group in crisis.

"Anyone who takes time to read about them could confidently conclude that black male students are troubled, their future is bleak, they all do poorly, and there is little that can be done to reverse longstanding outcomes and disparities that render them the least likely to succeed," says Shaun R. Harper, executive director of the Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education at the University of Pennsylvania.

• Diversity in Academe: Black Men on Campus
  In this special report, we’ve looked beyond statistics for stories that capture the complexity of black men’s experiences in academe.

"I’m not saying that we abandon the data and explanatory undercurrents of these questions," he says. "But statistics help maintain notions of white supremacy in that they very powerfully reinforce that white folks are, and very much belong, on top because people of color just can’t seem to get their act together."

Ansley Abraham, director of the Southern Regional Education Board’s State Doctoral Scholars Program, echoes those sentiments. "You know what they say about data—it can be twisted and used in many ways," he says. "However, the end result of these data on black men is that the system is not working for this group of people. So we have to ask what’s wrong with the system if it consistently works for certain people and not for everyone."

Mr. Harper and other researchers have documented a movement, going back at least 15 years, by many well-intentioned people who have called attention to the issues faced by black male students in STEM fields. Among the factors are academic and cultural isolation, the difficulty of performing in the face of negative stereotypes and low expectations among faculty members, a lack of mentors of color and friendship networks, concerns about financial debt, inadequate advising and emotional support during times of stress, and lack of exposure to hands-on research.

Some scholars have also argued, in reports and academic journals over the years, that the movement to broaden minority participation has tended to focus more on "fixing" the black male student than on addressing the structural and institutional forces that undermine his academic achievement and sense of belonging on campus.

A growing number of colleges have created black-male-oriented institutes, centers, summits, mentoring programs, and campus initiatives. Since 1998, the National Science Foundation has allocated more than $385-million in research funds to understand barriers to African-Americans in STEM fields, in addition to strategies to help them succeed. Some of the work is being done by faculty members at historically black colleges, which graduate large numbers of black students who go on to earn doctorates in science and engineering.

Howard University is using NSF money for a project "to disentangle the issues of race and gender and their relationship to factors that influence STEM interest and success" among black males. Faculty members at Washington State University are studying the career pathways of black male college students who are pursuing IT-related careers. Vanderbilt University is looking at minority-mentoring initiatives for black doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers in engineering, while the University of Central Florida identifies best practices and lessons that can be applied within STEM graduate programs to broaden participation and increase success rates.

NSF officials report progress in serving underrepresented groups in the agency’s competitive-grants programs. From 2007 to 2014, 270 black males have been awarded the foundation’s graduate research fellowships, with the largest increases over the past five years. A few black males have received support from the agency’s early-career-development program.

Despite significant federal investments in STEM education for black males, the rate of increase in their enrollment remains sluggish compared with those of other groups. Low completion rates in postsecondary-degree programs are most pronounced among black males.

The news is both good and disturbing. "The raw numbers of black men earning Ph.D.’s have doubled," says Mr. Abraham, of the doctoral-scholars program, which gives individual awards of $20,000 to Ph.D. scholars annually, 35 percent of them in STEM fields. "But we’re not making up any ground. We’ve had two decades worth of affirmative action and diversity efforts, and we’re not even holding steady. That is disturbing. It should be disturbing to us all."

A recent report by the American Institutes for Research notes that women (1 in 5) and blacks (1 in 5) are most likely to leave science careers, academic or otherwise. The study found that 21 percent of blacks—compared with 17 percent of whites, 14 percent of Asians, and 14 percent of Hispanics, leave STEM fields, with 42 percent of black men opting to work in government.

"The STEM community is losing contributions to scientific and technological discovery," said Lori Turk-Bicakci, the report’s lead author and senior researcher. "This brain drain restricts potential advantages gained from diverse perspectives and the ability of role models for underrepresented groups."

What’s more, employment rates for new Ph.D.’s in STEM fields have been down or stagnant in all of those major disciplines for the past 20 years, according to an analysis published by Slate.

Student-loan debt is another problem. Another recent report by the research institutes found that HBCUs, led by Howard University, were key producers of black STEM Ph.D.’s from 2005 to 2010. (Howard awarded one-third of all STEM doctorates conferred by HBCUs during that period, the report said.) Yet these graduates received less financial aid than their black peers at predominantly white institutions: 19 percent of black graduates of predominantly white institutions graduated owing more than $30,000, compared with 30 percent who received degrees from historically black institutions, the report said.

"Minorities are risk-averse," says Ms. Easter, of the National Science Foundation. "They don’t like a whole lot of debt, and that’s why they don’t go on to Ph.D. programs in larger numbers."

Given the attention and money devoted to attracting more black males and improving their participation in STEM fields, why have 15 years of efforts not yielded better results? And what should well-intentioned educators and policy makers keep in mind as they undertake new efforts?

Some agree that it’s essential to stop fixating on negative data and start telling the stories of black success.

"The conversation is usually about the 2 percent," says Mr. Harper, the education scholar at Penn. "It’s problematic, for sure. But there are 334 black men who earned STEM Ph.D.’s in 2012, and we never hear about their success and the enablers of their success."

Mr. Harper, who is black, says he earned his Ph.D. 12 years ago and can count on one hand the number of people who stopped and asked him about his journey to success. "It’s easier to download data and lean on statistics," he says. "It takes time to seek out successful blacks and spend time doing a turn-by-turn deeply textured analysis of their trajectory."

Black students are often apprehensive about going into STEM programs after hearing about the low success rates and hostile environments that students face, says Ms. Easter.

"But there are black Ph.D.’s who have made it in spite of these obstacles," she says. "Those who have managed to survive need to tell their stories. We have a lot of quantitative data, but what we don’t have is rich qualitative data that can serve as a guide or case study for those who want to understand and manage their own professional growth and development in a culture and environment that’s not really supportive."

In the edited conversations that follow, four black men who have earned STEM Ph.D.’s tell their stories. They share their different journeys, which reflect the dynamics, challenges, and—most important, they believe—the value of investing in the lives and education of black men.

Parable of Governor Moonbeam by Marvin X

Update, Jerry Brown is poised to win reelection as Gov. of California.

Brown’s records as Mayor of Oakland are “under lock and key” at the University of Southern California

A task force was created in 2007 to investigate the disappearance or destruction of documents related to Brown’s time as mayor of Oakland.

In Oakland, a computer hard drive was found at City Hall and some inconsequential documents were located in a dumpster, but nothing much of substance was ever recovered. 

 

Jerry Brown, you a motherfucker!-- Marvin X

Man, why you call me a motherfucker?--Jerry Brown

Jerry, you know you a mothefucker!--Marvin X

The Return of Gov. Moonbeam

California is already well known as La la land, Wild Wild West, last frontier, end of the white man's world, after all, once on the west coast Asia awaits us, the non-white world. So Cali is indeed the last frontier, and strange things do indeed happen here, e.g., actors become governors, prisons are the universities of the poor, and now the prospect of a straight nut as governor awaits us. Jerry Brown, now Attorney General of California, has shed any semblance of liberal and some time ago, after becoming mayor of Oakland, embraced the right wing agenda of the police state. And now with himself as the chief law enforcer, wants to advance to the governorship, or more properly return to the governorship, or shall we say mothership!

While mayor of Oakland, he perfected his right wing agenda. He tricked liberals and radicals and won the mayor's race, then swiftly discarded the left wing persona for the devil's mask. The police occupation of Oakland increased, along with drug selling and homicides, throw in gentrification or ethnic cleansing. He told whites if they bought property in the old black neighborhood of West Oakland, they would be closer to San Francisco than San Francisco, since the last BART stop is West Oakland and within less than ten minutes one is in San Francisco's financial district.

Brown created the atmosphere so Chauncey Bailey, editor of the Oakland Post Newspaper, could be murdered downtown Oakland in broad daylight. As he departed the mayor's office for Sacramento, his email records were deleted, financial as well. One of his scams was the Fox Theatre and his school of the "white" arts and a military school--that's what ghetto boys and girls need, learn how to be global killers.

To add insult to injury to the citizens of Oakland, Mayor Ron Dellums called upon Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate the investigation of the assassination of Chauncey Bailey, when Jerry Brown himself should be investigated for his role in setting the atmosphere for the murder of Chauncey, just as Farrakhan admitted he fanned the flames for the murder of Malcolm X.

Jerry Brown allegedly said, "I'm going to get that nigger from snooping around City Hall and the police department." Chauncey was then a reporter for the Oakland Tribune, but was fired for a most trivial reason, but no doubt with the blessing of then Mayor Brown. Chauncey was allegedly killed by young Muslims, but they were set up by the OPD, after all, their mentor was an OPD officer. 

 

After leaving the Tribune, Chauncy was hired as Editor of the Oakland Post. The last story Chauncey worked on was corruption at City Hall and the Oakland Police Department's role in shaking down drug dealers, planting false evidence, money laundering and homicide under the color of law.

Actually, the entire political establishment is connected to the assassination of Chauncey, Brown, Don Perata, the now declared candidate for next mayor, and others. The OPD gave the alleged assassins a license to cause total mayhem in the community. Alas, an OPD officer was the chief advisor and mentor of the Black Muslim Bakery brothers, who are now fall guys for the OPD in the murder of Chauncey. 

 

This same officer was put in charge of the crime scene and headed the raid on the Bakery in less the 24 hours after his murder. Actually, the raid was planned for the day before Chauncey was killed but was delayed until after.

Officer Longmire  claimed the case solved when he got a confession (since recanted) and the murder weapon. No other homicide in Oakland was "solved" so quickly. The officer was briefly taken off duty but returned just before the old chief of police retired so he wouldn't incriminate the chief. You know the drill, "I'll give you your job back if you don't rat on me."

Jerry Brown's hands are as bloody as the OPD in this matter. A woman at Burger King last night said Jerry Brown should be put under the jail for what he did as mayor of Oakland. And sadly, for Mayor Ron Dellums to ask JB to investigate the investigation of CB, when JB should himself be investigated, is the height of the ridiculous and approaches the theatre of the Absurd and theatre of the Deranged.

And now Governor Moonbeam wants to return to the governor's mansion, but this time as right wing Democrat. And the supreme tragedy is that he faces little opposition, even after pushing for the indictment of the San Francisco Eight for forty year old crimes, which most of them successfully defended themselves in spite of Moonbeam's indictment. By the way, we've heard nothing of the Attorney General's investigation of the CB assassination.

Since he faces no opposition from his party, we suspect his views are in harmony with the electorate, now brain dead from the economic meltdown.

Well, good-bye Terminator with your Crack-neck wife, and enter the Dragon, Dr. Moonbeam. Surely the Great Quake is soon to come. Watch the animals, when they head for the hills, let us join them and head for the hills before the tsunami consumes us and we drown.
--Marvin X

2/6/10

Black Bird Press News & Review: APPEAL FOR SUPPORT OF THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT 27 CITY TOUR

Black Bird Press News & Review: APPEAL FOR SUPPORT OF THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT 27 CITY TOUR

You can be a part of the planning committee for the Black Arts Movement Bay Area Celebration, 2015

Black Bird Press News & Review: APPEAL FOR SUPPORT OF THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT 27 CITY TOUR

please go to the above link

Dear Friends,
We are making plans for a Bay Area Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Black Arts Movement. We need your help in any way you can, especially if you are connected with an academic institution or community arts institution. Please let me know if you are interested in helping fund and/or plan this project that will take place sometime next year, depending on the funding. At this point, we are partnering with Eastside Arts Center and the Post News Group. We would like to include the Berkeley Black Repertory Group, Fulton Street Cultural Center, San Francisco, the Malonga Arts Center and Geoffery's Inner Circle, Joyce Gordan Gallery and other venues. Let me hear from you soon.
Sincerely,

Marvin X,
Project Director, BAM
510-200-4164