Kudos to this whole thread...

Every AfAm should read up on the Holocaust and visit one of the camps in Germany. I think we forget about this event and how recent it was and how easily it can happen again...

i agree, and i also think they should watch the documentaries on Emmitt Till and the 4 little girls who perished in the church bombing and teach their children these stories.

i first saw Emmitt Till picture when i was about 10. i NEVER forgot what he looked like and why it happened, which is why his mother had an open coffin at his funeral. Spike lee also has an absolutely heartbreaking documentary called Four Little Girls. i dont think i had a dry eye the entire time. it is true we live in different times, but the hatred is still there. we need to teach our children and be aware ourselves of how dispensible African Americans are to some people, including ourselves sometimes...

Well I am not Black (I am Mexican), but work with Black youth, and work to have Latinos and Blacks come to a common understanding, some tips:

-STOP the divide and conquer mentality! I work with kids from Chicago who have ancestry in Chicago and the South, but alot also have ancestry in Jamaica, Haiti, Nigeria, Somalia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cuba, Ethiopia, etc. Parents should STOP teaching their kids that just because people are different they are 'stupid', 'backwards', or 'crazy' (Yes, I've heard their parents say this); this also goes to the embracing of others outside the Black Diaspora.

-Learn multiple languages! People (especially Americans) don't seem to know or appreciate how much learning another language helps you in understanding others! Some of my kids have made an effort to learn Spanish and can communicate with the Latinos in the classes, some of the kids who speak French Creole or French have been teaching me, I must say I've gotten better :cool:

-Parents, BE IN THEIR LIVES!!!!! Some of my kids say they don't want to go home because all they end up doing is sitting in their room without mom and dad around them to entertain or read with them!

-Learn your history! Learn it well! Black History month is at most 29 days long, but extend the Black history learning beyond that, know there are FAAAR more historic Black figures than Rosa Parks, MLK Jr., and Jackie Robinson; though I was impressed with one of my kids (whose Grandma obviously taught him at home), when he started spitting out info about Gwendolyn Brooks, Ida B. Wells, Zora Neale Hurston, and Langston Hughes :). Parents PLEASE teach history, an UNBIAS version too...some of the kids starting telling me about Muhammad Ali's conversion to Islam, he went on to say "my mom said Black Muslims are bad people they just wanna kill everybody" :eek: Needless to say his teacher had to talk to his parents.

-KNOW WHAT YOUR KIDS ARE WATCHING AND WHAT THEY IDOLIZE! Sorry, had to capitalize cause this is a big issue with my kids...Flavor of Love/Charm School girls, I love NY guys, are nowhere NEAR being Model Citizens for anybody! :eek: So many of my girls have been imitating the fights on the show talking about "I like Bootz cuz she tell it like it is" :rolleyes: Parents, you know dang well that these shows aren't for 8 year olds so PLEASE keep them away from the tv.

-Read outside of school!
-Have kids in some kind of college prep ethnic program! I think this is vital! Many of my fellow 1st generation minority classmates, have gotten spooked from going to a PWI, especiallt if they come from an All-Black or All-Latino upbringing, they feel scared that they cannot make it because they don't see anyone like them and don't know anyone back home who has completed college. My parents put me in a college prep program (a program for dominantly low-income families, most of the students were Black/Latino); it was SO helpful! I got to see students, graduates, professors of Color who helped me on inside tips of surviving college, plus seeing that people of Color on both sides of the desk (administration and students) that actually looked like me and came from the same side of the tracks as me :cool:

-Embrace Class diversity! Again with the divide and conquer, I had the same issue freshman year of college, when most of the other latinos were from middle and upper middle class backgrounds and I came from the hood, know I was green with envy! However, as I got to know em better they were real cool kids, I probably wouldn't want to know them had we not been members of the same student orgs on campus. Being hood or being from the burbs does not equal how Black or White you are!

this is a good one!
 

...stop watching television shows that make us look like stumbling, bumbling people who constantly engage in bafoonery. It only reinforces that Sambo stereotype.

...stop buying music and watching videos that reduce women to objects and that further the ideology that the "good life" revolves around bling, money, and expensive alcoholic beverages. I don't care how catchy the song is, darn it. (and yes, I love the Cristal, but come on. there is more to life).

...get past the "nationality clash". Diversity is beautiful. We need to realize that no matter if I am from the U.S., you are from Haiti, she is from Jamaica, and the next brother is from Tanzania, we are all BLACK together. We don't need one more thing to divide us. I live in S. Florida, and you wouldn't BELIEVE the black people from various parts of the diaspora down here who will tell you that they are a different "race" because they are not black Americans. (yes, the hieffer at my job who said that went to college.)

...read the "Willie Lynch Letter".

...get a high school diploma or GED, at the very least. The first twelve years are free. Not to mention that those who came before us FAUGHT and STRUGGLED for us to be able to walk into anybody's school and get our learn on. (yes, I did say "get our learn on.)

...build/maintain family ties. A strong black family is a beautiful thing, crazy as family can be at times.

Give me $20.00:)

I just thought I'll throw that out there...lol

...strive to be culturally,socially and educationally DIVERSE. It boggles my mind that by the age of 13, I was aware of Judaism, N.of I., Muslims, GLBTs, Whites, Blacks, Arabs, and Appalachians to name a few... and some people I met in college had not met any person, and didn't WANT to, of the above categories.
... understand that we as brothers & sisters are to be held accountable for each other.
... ditto to the 'realize Black History is not to be limited to one month, but embraced throughout the entire year by ALL' (Swap Black History with Hispanic, Asian, and Native Americans as well.)
... ditto to all references to health and wellness...Soul food is sooooooooooo good for the soul:p, but can be deadly for the body if we're not careful!

- Stop engaging in INTRA-racial skin color discrimination. We really need to move beyond colorism that keeps us from embracing the rich diversity of our people.

- Take their children on a heritage tour to different historic sites around the U.S. (and abroad) that highlight Black history.

- Turn off BET permanently until they get some programming that doesn't make us look like smilin', grinnin' fools.

This is why I love my sorors:)