The Great Radio Icon Hal Jackson Starts New Radio Station in Heaven

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

There is an old African proverb that says, "when you are passing royalty, bow your head, and you will harvest bananas (great wealth)."

That was how I felt whenever I was in the presence of Hal Jackson. Not because he was haughty or aloof - but because he was Broadcast Royalty. Hal was open, warm, friendly, a true master of his craft; and one of the most wonderful, friendly brothers I have ever met (with the exception of his cohort, the late Percy Ellis Sutton).

On the air, or off, he was always smiling, affable, personable. I would make it my business to go up and get my hugs from Hal and his lovely wife, Ms. Debi whenever we were at the same even. He was a perennial figure at the Annual African American Day Parade, always curbside, watching the dignitaries of Harlem and the representative community organizations, march proudly up Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard (7th Ave. to the uninformed).

If you wanted to relive your youth, you just had to tune in to Hal on WBLS-FM on Sundays, and no matter what your mood was before, you'd be dancing and singing within 10 minutes of tuning in.

There are many of us who never knew radio without Hal Jackson. We was, as confirmed by the media, the first Black man on the air. He "broke the color line", which is another way of saying that during the dark days of segregation, jim crow, and racist prejudicial actions against Black people, Hal Jackson opened up the door, and made a way for so many others to follow.

So now is the time to bow our heads. Royalty is passing in the form of Hal Jackson's spirit as he moves forward to establish and even greater, bigger, badder, and more bodacious station in Heaven.

He's already proven he could do it. He was the one who convinced Percy Sutton to purchase WLIB (then FM) Black in the day. It was 1971. Our favorite DJs were Frankie Crocker and Hal Jackson. One of our favorite theme songs was "Moody's Mood for Love." But we boogied to all, and I do mean all, the latest artists of the day. From Eddie O'Jay - Orange juice in the morning!" all the way through the day - it as thanks to Hal Jackson that New York had it's Black voice.

Co-founder, with Mr. Sutton, of the Inner City Broadcasting Co., not too many of his listeners were aware of Hal's business prowess, or his reputation as a visionary, or that he was an activist, that did not hesitate to take a principled, hard core stand when it came to the rights of Black people.

It was Mr. Jackson who first conceived of the idea of a National Black Holiday in honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., after he was cut down by an assassin's bullet in 1968. It was Stevie Wonder and other artists and activists who came together to make it happen. And the rest, as they say, is history. Using his access to the airwaves, he stimulated the initial movement for the 6.5 million signatures solicited on petitions and letters submitted to Representatives John Conyers and Shirley Chisholm on behalf of creating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday as a national holiday.

And what a history! Harold "Hal" Jackson, who was born on November 3, 1915, and recently had a 96th Birthday Anniversary Celebration in Battery Park City, was a lot younger than most of his listeners. He was always full of energy, alert, action oriented, ready for the next next - whatever that turned out to be. He was open, where so many of us are closed. He reveled in new ideas and opportunities. Like Percy Sutton, once he got the germ of a new idea, he began the work of putting it together and bringing it to fruition.

And thank God for that pioneering spirit of his. Having lost his parents at a very young age, the South Carolina native was sent to Washington, DC to live with an aunt, Alice Cornish, (who I understand is still living at the age of 105). She raised him, sent him through Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, and then to Howard University.

Jackson had always wanted to be on the radio, and in 1930, after having tried on several occasion to get a job with the then segregated, white-only radio station, WINX, he took a job cleaning up the stadiums, as an in. When he asked for a job, the general manager told him that no "ni---r would ever work there."

Hal Jackson may well have been the original spirit behind the phrase "by any means necessary," before Malcolm X used it decades later, because he certainly didn't let anything get in the way of his accomplishing what he set out to do. Even racism. He hit up on a scheme to get around that issue, and with the help of some Black businessmen, under the name of the "Bronze Review;" got on the air. Jackson found a sponsor, C.C. Coley, who owned half a dozen barbecue joints in town, and, working incognito through a white-owned advertising agency, Jackson purchased 15 minutes of time on WINX at 11 p.m. each night for $35 a show. He wrote a proposal to present "The Bronze Review," as a program of entertainment, interviews and news, but said nothing about having a Black host. The station's white executives had no idea that "bronze" was our upscale word for "negro" in Washington Black in the day.

On his debut night, Jackson and his first guest, Mary McLeod Bethune, President Franklin Roosevelt's adviser and founder of Florida's Bethune-Cookman College, waited outside until 15 minutes before airtime, so the managers couldn't bar them from the air. "The Bronze Review, was devoted to discussions about Washington's blighted black neighborhoods. Guests included Eleanor Roosevelt, Lena Horne, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Duke Ellington, among others. It was DC's nightly must-listen talk show for decades. Hal was extremely popular in the DC area. His other on-air shows, included WOOK, hosting the jazz and blues program, The House That Jack Built, mornings, in Silver Spring, MD; afternoons at WANN in Annapolis, and an evening gig on Baltimore's WSID. His nightly sign-off reflected his peripatetic life: "I've got to pack the the shellac and hit the track, but I'll be back." By the 1940s, Jackson was hosting four different daily programs for four different Washington-area radio stations. He performed commercials in rhyme and urged listeners to join his "Good Deed Club," collecting toys and books for charities.

The white managers were making so much money they did not interfere with the programming until Jackson led a strike against them for higher wages. They then asked him to leave. However, in 1954 he moved to New York City after having been contacted by WMCA, to create the city's first integrated on-air staff. Jackson's "All-American Revue" was designed to appeal to both black and white listeners, with music by Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan and Xavier Cugat. As in DC, he eventually was on the air around the clock.

In late 1950s, Jackson had added a children's TV show that featured New York's first integrated studio audience. Later, he was asked to host week end concerts at Palisades Park, and was challenged by Black listeners for working at a park that did not permit Black people access to their saltwater swimming pool. Jackson questioned Irving Rosenthal, the park's owner, about the racist policy; and he protested that it was not true, and that "The pool is open to everybody." The following day, Jackson brought 50 Black visitors to swim in the pool. He was an activist par excellence, long before the term was really understood.

However, things were not always great. There were challenges to his integrity and intelligence, in the form of the big scandal around payola. when he admitted taking promoters' checks for $25 or $50, It cost Jackson his job at WLIB. He maintained he was be out for prosecution because of his civil rights work with Martin Luther King Jr.; the two had led pickets against construction projects that wouldn't hire black workers.

In the 1960s, after the Payola charges were dropped, and his name cleared, Hal was program director of the Queens station WWRL. He eventually returned to WLIB, where he morphed into the role of executive, joining with investors to form Inner City Broadcasting, which bought WLIB in 1971 and later added an FM station that became one of New York's most popular stations, WBLS. As mentioned earlier, it was Hal who brought the idea of purchasing the station to friend and ally, Percy Sutton, when he learned it was up for sale. They formed the investment group to purchase the station and eventually owned stations in five cities. Hal served on the Board of Directors at Inner City Broadcasting.

As vice president of WBLS, Hal made Frankie Crocker program director, and oversaw the station’s shift from jazz to Crocker's newly branded "urban contemporary radio" -- a sophisticated combination of rhythm-and-blues, dance music and other genres designed to appeal to young listeners across racial lines. When Crocker left to become Frankie "Hollywood" Crocker (in his debut movie "Five On The Black Hand Side"), Hal became the program director. By the mid-1970s, WBLS was the No. 1 station in New York. Also on the air were Eddie O'Jay ("Your Orange Juice in the Morning"), Gerry Bledsoe; and later Ken "Spyder Webb", Vaughn "Velvet Voice Harper, and Gary "Global Black Experience - GBE" Byrd. The first three of these NYC DJ legends have already made their transition, and are no doubt happy to have Hal with them again.

Broadcasting was his passion, and Hal continued an on-air presence, hosting the Sunday Classics every Sunday on WBLS-FM. Hal's wife, Debi Bolling-Jackson; Debi-B, as she's affectionately called, served as co-host on the Sunday Classics. It was rated number one for ten plus years; with the largest listening audience in the history of Sunday radio in the tri-state area; and the longest live broadcast in the United States. You can hear everything on this show from Mahalia Jackson singing gospel to Ne-Yo; James Brown, Michael Jackson, Jackie Wilson, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Whitney Houston, Bob Marley, Nancy Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Boys II Men and Alicia Keys.

His accomplishments as the first Black sports announcer, and radio personality was honored in 1995 when he was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, the first African-American to hold the honor. Mr. Jackson is a popular radio and television personality and one of the most respected men in the communications industry.

As a radio pioneer, Hal has many "firsts" that have assisted in opening doors for aspiring Black broadcasters, musicians and performers. In his 70+ years in the communications industry he was the first Black radio announcer in network radio; the first Black host of a jazz show on the ABC network; the first Black play by play sports announcer on radio in the country; the first Black to host an interracial network television show on NBC-TV; the first person to broadcast from a theater live; organized and owned the first Black team to win the World's Basketball championship; the first Black host of an international network television presentation; was instrumental in acquiring the first radio station owned and operated by Blacks in New York City; the first New York City radio personality to broadcast three daily shows on three different stations in the same day; the first to broadcast live via satellite from Jamaica into New York. On December 24, 1989, Debi B and Hal Jackson hosted the first ever, broadcast from anywhere in the U.S. to Osaka, Japan. This was the first time in the history of Japanese and American radio that a broadcast was sent from the United States with a simulcast in Japan. Hal's radio program has been rated #1 by Arbitron continuously in its time slot for over 11 years on 107.5 WBLS in New York (per WBLS)

Among his other honors are: Being honored by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt President Harry S. Truman, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and President John F. Kennedy, Jr. for his fund raising efforts. In 1989 Hal Jackson's 50 Years of Broadcasting was acknowledged by California Congressman Mervyn M. Dymally of California on the floor of the House of Representatives, which has become a part of the Congressional Record. The spring of 1990, he was honored with being the first Black man or minority) inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. November of 1999 Hal celebrated 60 years of Broadcasting Leadership with a star-studded event at the Rainbow Room in New York. In 2001 Mr. Jackson was inducted in the Broadcast and Cable Hall of Fame.

His largesse extended beyond radio. Forty plus years ago, Hal founded Miss Black Talented Teen, which later became known as Hal Jackson's Talented Teens International. The original concept was to give African American teens the opportunity to show off their beauty and talent before an audience of judges and their peers. In the process they would develop charm, grace, self confidence. He was the Executive Producer and Host of the competition which also highlights the intelligence, creativity and talents of young African American and minority women 13 - 17 year of age. The ladies are given the opportunity of displaying their talents and competing for educational scholarships, trips abroad and the opportunity of networking with young women from around the world who are their peers. Past winners and participants are Angela Pitman-Hughes, Tammi Townsend, Vanessa Williams and Jada Pinkett Smith, among a great many others.

According to author and filmmaker, Nelson George, “Hal Jackson was one of the last living links to when black voices were as rare on radio as they were on the silver screen. He connected several generations of listeners to the bounty of great African-American music by not always observing the artificial boundaries between jazz, blues, Broadway, and rhythm and blues. He further stated, Hal Jackson had “helped black people see the best in themselves, both before and after the civil rights movement.”

As reported in my blog in January, 2012, it was announced at the Rainbow Push Wall Street Conference, that hard times have fallen on Inner City Broadcasting Corporation. According to the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB), in 2011, under legal pressure from its creditors, they agreed to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Chapter 11 is, theoretically, a restructuring of existing debts, whereby the corporation, business or partnership remains in complete control of its assets. (Chapter 7 Vs. Chapter 11 Vs. Chapter 13 | eHow.com)However, rather than restructuring, it appears that InnerCity Broadcasting has been bought by the investment group YMF Media, according to a New York Times article. As part of the process, the company proposed hiring a chief restructuring officer. The one stipulation Inner City requested was that the officer be forbidden to fire four specific people. One of the four was Hal Jackson.


Hal is survived by his lovely wife, Ms. Debi, as well as two daughters, Jane and Jewell Jackson McCabe (founder of 100 Black Women); a son, Hal Jackson Jr., a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren, his aunt, Alice Cornish of Washington, DC; anMad an even greater family of African American brothers and sisters who owe him a debt of gratitude that it will take another 96 years to repay. That debt will never be amortized, because Hal Jackson gave us the gift that keeps on giving: He gave us our voice.

Thank you Hal. And you can be sure I, among many, will be tuning in to your new radio station in Heaven. And please give our greetings to Percy Sutton. That's a partnership that will never die. You will be missed, but never, ever forgotten.

NOTE: Hal Jackson's wake will be held at Frank Campbell Funeral Home, 1076 Madison Avenue @ 81st,on Wednesday, May 30 from 2-5 and from 7-9 pm.
His Homegoing services will be held at The Riverside Church, Claremont Ave & 120th Street, using the Riverside Drive entrance, on Thursday, May 31, at 11 AM.

Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson

ADDENDUM: I would be totally remiss if I didn't include this message from Hal's biggest fans: MANDRILL

Mandrill Tribute To Hal Jackson

Hal Jackson was intimately associated with the career of Mandrill. He was at the helm at WBLS/WLIB in New York City when our third album, Composite Truth, hit the streets in the early 70’s. Hal believed in the Wilson Brothers /Mandrill and supported us in every way. He relayed that spirit to his entire staff, including such world-class announcers like Frankie Crocker, Vaughn Harper, Vy Higgensen, Ken “Spider” Webb, G. Keith Alexander and so many others. This support contributed to a break out album in the US and abroad and garnered gold album status for Mandrill’s Composite Truth including such hits as “Fencewalk” and “Hang Loose”.
Mr. Jackson will be remembered as a close friend and mentor. He will also be looked to as an individual who took the bull by the horns and did it his way. He was the first Black radio announcer on network radio and was on the air for more than 70 years, The entrepreneurial example that he has set is indeed a blueprint for freedom and independence in this dog eat dog entertainment industry.

He will be truly missed but his spirit and legacy will live in our hearts and minds forever. We love you Hal and may you rest in peace.

Ric Wilson, MD
For the Wilson Brothers (Lou, Ric, Carlos & Wolf) of Mandrill


Again,
Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hands off Boys and Girls High: Another Threat Looms to Close Down Boys & Girls High in Brooklyn, NY - USA

by Gloria Dulan-Wilson

HELLO ALL:

THE FOLLOWING IS MY COMMENTARY IN RESPONSE TO AN ARTICLE THAT RECENTLY APPEARED IN CITILIMITS MAGAZINE. PLEASE READ IT AND THE ARTICLE THAT FOLLOWS BELOW. IT APPEARS THAT BOYS AND GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL IS BEING TARGETED FOR CLOSING AGAIN. IT'S TIME TO SOUND THE ALL ALERT SIGNAL - SO THE PREDATORS DON'T DESTROY THE SCHOOL UNDER THE GUISE OF TRANSFORMATION.

I've met Dr. Gassaway, principle of Boys and Girls High School, and am impressed with his dedication to the Boys and Girls High school students. Given the detached demeanor of so many of our current administrators, his hands on, can do and will be done attitude is a pleasant and necessary change. As a parent, a guidance counselor, and former director of student activities at City College's SEEK program, I also have seen a decided difference in where our youth are today as compared to where they were a few decades ago, when we were students.

Those of us from another generation had parents who taught us that "education was the key;" there were no excuses for bad grades or poor deportment. There was no such thing as being culturally deprived, coming from a single parent home, living in a "bad" neighborhood, poverty, wellfare, or anything else. Your job, your responsibility was to go to school, get the best education possible, and make something of yourself. With the further expectation that you would then help your family and your community

The parents of today are products of poorly functioning families and equally poorly functioning schools, and a society that has largely written them off; they are marginalized. They were not taught the value of a good education; instead, they were more or less taught that education was not relevant, or, worse yet: that it was "white." Now these same parents, who are either stuck in mediocre jobs, or on public assistance, have communicated those same negative values to their children. Some of whom are at Boys & Girls; others are in schools throughout the 5 boroughs.

The legendary reputation and tradition of Boys High (a/k/a Boys and Girls High) is both national and international in scope. My former husband and his 4 brothers all graduated from there. There are other entertainers, artists, legislators, doctors, lawyers, sports figures, trailblazers, who have gotten their start at Boys High. They speak fondly of their days there, and what it has done for them as adults. Where are they, now that their alma mater is facing the ax? Will they stand for their school in its hour of need, and bring the resources necessary to return to greatness?

The set up of the current public school system in New York City (in most of the US, as well) does not adequately or appropriately serve the needs of our youth, and hasn't for some time. The dumbing down of the curricula began in the mid-70's, right under the noses of most Black parents, in the guise of "progressive", "modern" techniques. The result of the new methodology is methodically dis-educating and mis-educating our youth. Most can't read above a 6th grade level. Can't correctly pronounce simple words, or make a coherent, and grammatically correct sentence. Now, instead of the tri-level program - academic, vocational and commercial, students are forced into one major modality. And it's not working.

Boys & Girls would do well to consider the return -either fully or partially - to such a modality. Not every kid who graduates is going to college; not every child is going to be computer literate. There are people coming to New York to fill trade jobs we used to be able to fill from the population right here - they are from other countries - where they still understand the value of having a skill. Many of the entrepreneurs we have among us learned via a commercial - or business - curriculum.

Instead of closing Boys & Girls High, it needs to be retooled and refocused not closed and decimated.

Like President Obama stated, crucial jobs have to be brought back to America. Well, so do the skills. The concept of New York's major "industries" being FIRE - FINANCE, INSURANCE, REAL ESTATE, is due in large part to the closing of our manufacturing plants and shipping lines. It was a deliberate move as these jobs were exported over seas for cheaper labor. When they come back, there should be high school grads with the skills and abilities to fill those jobs, just as there should be college bound students pursuing other career goals.

I urge/insist that our Black elected officials get involved on an integral level in the development of ongoing resources to expand Dr. Gassaway's and the faculty and staff's capacities to transform the students so they break that chain of poverty mentality and hostility.

I also recommend that those who have graduated from "The High" come back and spend some time mentoring a guiding the present day student to success. If anyone should adopt a school - it's them, the doctors, lawyers, sports figures, entertainers, and parents - who got their values from a school that would not quit or give up on them.

Just so you know, however - the Bed-Stuy Brooklyn Community will do every thing in our power to make sure that BOYS & GIRLS HIGH is not closed- by any means necessary. The mis-education division of the City of New York needs to find some other target to do their hatchet job on. HANDS OFF THE HIGH!!! - GDW

The following is from the May 2012 edition of CITILIMITS MAGAZINE:

Fear of School Closure Is Personal for This Principal (from CitiLimits MagazineBrooklyn Bureau)

Story By Darren Sands.
Photo By Adi Talwar.

Bernard Gassaway is in his third year as principal at Boys and Girls. He was a teacher there from 1988 to 1991. Whether Bed-Stuy's Boys and Girls High School—with its declining enrollment and F ratings—survives is not just a professional concern for Principal Bernard Gassaway. His classroom roots, his former marriage, his career ambitions are all tied to the building on Fulton Street.

On a recent weekday morning, Bernard Gassaway, principal of Boys and Girls High School, bounced casually down the stairs while giving a tour of the building to a new guidance counselor. As the tour was coming to a close, the atmosphere along the path he took back toward his office was suddenly ripe for a fight: In a busy stairwell, an agitated guard had tried to stop an angry student for some offense. Gassaway watched the boy jerk his backpack away from the guard and retreat up the stairs, his face full of rage.

Gassaway casually made his way toward the student, grabbed him and put him in a playful headlock, an ironic demur of the aggressive manner in which the guard seemed to be handling the situation.

"Did you grab him like this?"

Unable to maneuver, the kid just smiled.

"I didn't do nothing to him," barked the guard, who, for his part, was still irritated. As if to stick up for his friend, another student then stepped to Gassaway.

"What, I grab him and you show up? I got people, too." He winked at his new hire.

He disguised it with playful banter, but Gassaway was in a solemn mood. Earlier that morning, rising before the sun, he stopped by the Jamaica, Queens home he once lived in with his ex-wife, Traci, and daughter, Atiya. There are still pieces of his life there, loose ends that need tying. The home is in contract to be sold. "I'm not going to fool myself," he replied when asked how he was doing personally. "I think I'm OK. I know that you've got to take care of yourself before you take care of others. And I haven't always done that."

It was during the first school days of September of 2009 that Gassaway and his ex-wife began their difficult separation. The freshman class that arrived then will be seniors when the 2012-2013 school year begins in September. And yet, while his tenure reaches what he says is an emotional milestone, there's a growing weight to the long-held fear that the Department of Education could elect to phase-out or close the school. This worry has tempered Gassaway's anticipation of his personal landmark and even cast a pall over efforts to save the school.

In a city where DOE brass have made a practice of closing large high schools and replacing them with smaller ones, the pressure to avoid a fate similar to, say, nearby Paul Robeson, is intense. In a system where principals have been given increased authority and accountability, Gassaway will get much of the the credit or the blame if Bed-Stuy's Boys and Girls survives—or fails.

"The weight of it [possibly] closing is tremendous," Gassaway said, alluding to the rich history of noted physicians, attorneys, politicians and athletes that the school has produced. "You're not closing down a new school. Boys and Girls High is more than just an institution. But the more imminent weight I feel is when it comes to dealing with the children day-to-day: Dealing with their concerns, their issues, their aspirations … and asking ourselves how we help create the future doctors and lawyers, and [figuring out] what role we play in that.

That Gassaway would use a headlock, of all devices, to defuse a potentially volatile situation illustrates his deep ties to two generations of students: Gassaway taught that angry boy's father as a young English teacher at Boys and Girls from 1988 to 1991 under his late mentor, the legendary principal Frank Mickens. In fact, Gassaway's 2009 return modeled his mentor's legacy; Mickens, too, left Boys and Girls in 1982, only to return as principal in 1986. Both sons of Brooklyn, each also received their bachelor's degree upstate.

Boys and Girls' condition is viewed by many as critical. One out of every four Boys and Girls students receives special education services. The school's graduation rate is about 45 percent, and school-wide attendance stands 71.2 percent as of May 7. It also received an ‘F' in every major category on its most recent Dept. of Education Progress Report. Once brimming with as many as 5,000 students, the school now has just over 1,500 students. School spirit is in short supply, but not for lack of trying on the part of its boys Kangaroos boys basketball team. Led by coach Ruth Lovelace (the first female coach to win a boys state title), the team won both the PSAL and New York State Federation titles in March. The headline of an article in the New York Daily News read, ‘ROOS RULE'. It hangs in Gassaway's office.

"The culture of the kids is different," said staff member Katrina Brown, a 2008 graduate of Boys and Girls and aspiring principal who arrived at Boys and Girls the year after Mickens retired. An assistant to assistant principal Bridget Carrington, Brown was a part of an incoming class of 1,500. But the number of students isn't the only thing that's changed, she says. "When I was a student, the kids wanted to do better. They wanted to graduate. A lot of these kids don't care. Their makeup is different. They don't want to be involved in school sports or activities. Now? They hardly want even come in the morning. I used to dread going home – and not because I had a bad home life. I was just so involved in what was going on here."

Many students are not as fortunate as Brown. Gassaway believes he could solve most of the school's problem's if he could strengthen the family. That would seem an impossible duty, or at least one not a fit for a principal. But while Gassaway has not been able to repair each of his students' home lives, the school itself—as it has gotten smaller—has actually become a family.

There's Constancia Simpson-Hayes, whose room on the second floor has a lounge area where students can read or chat quietly. A product of and staunch believer in the public school system who for years worked in college administration, Simpson-Hayes arrived last November as the school's new director of college and career services, and casually refers to her appointment as coming "back home." The lab had five working computers when she got there; it now has 16.

"We have a new family member," was how Gassaway introduced Aja Brown, the new guidance counselor whom he was showing around the building the morning the fight almost broke out. Staff in the Hub, the office that serves as a central processing unit for everything from incoming calls to faxes and guests, fawned over her as if she had walked through a church office.

Since then, in just a couple of weeks on the job, she's already begun the arduous task of placing students with little chance of earning a high school diploma from Boys and Girls in alternative schools. Others she will prepare for job training or other essential services. No matter their path, her bosses' mandate is to monitor their progress as far as she can. "I feel like this is where I'm supposed to be," Brown said.

That sense of belonging permeates the school's culture, now. As a pillar in the community, Boys and Girls—a zoned school which serves numerous area housing projects—prides itself on not giving up on any of its students, especially the most needy. "We believe students achieve success and embrace learning when they feel safe and are supported by competent and caring adults," reads the school's vision statement.

Coming up with resources hasn't been easy, but expanded offerings give the most vulnerable students access to services for which there is dire need. As many as 250 boys participate in an empowerment program titled Boys II Men. At night once a quarter, Gassaway opens the school for the boys to play sports and participate in workshops and character building. Many of his staff members volunteer. Students now have access to health services, intervention specialists and counselors on-site.

Perhaps Gassaway's most public battles over the course of the past three years played out when he began to suspend athletes from contests if they didn't pass their first period class because of poor attendance. The policy kept star players out of key games, especially in basketball, and there was little if any budging on the principal's behalf. This year, athletes are to maintain a 70 average and are also required to do 30 hours of community service. The PSAL recently adopted a similar policy for student athletes.

Outlined in a memo made available to Brooklyn Bureau, Boys and Girls' Comprehensive Education Plan for the 2011-12 school year underline high expectations for students:

--70 percent of students will have at least 11 credits by June 2012 (Just 40 percent had at least 5.5 credits as of last February

--70 percent of students who sit for any Regents exam will pass with at least a 65 by the end of the school year (28.6 percent of students who sat last year passed with at least a 65)

-Boys and Girls will achieve a graduation rate of 65 percent by August 2012 (Just 30 percent of the junior class are on track to graduate).

Measured against the performance of the school to date, the goals are ambitious. But Gassaway thinks changes in the school's atmosphere make them attainable.

"Two years ago, I was putting out the fires," Gassaway starts. "So they'd say, ‘Mr. Gassaway, the building's rocking.' And you can feel it, anyway. ‘Mr. Gassaway, there's was a fight on the third, fight on the second, fight on the first.' And I'm, like, ‘Shit.' So I'd say, ‘O.K., time to put on the Superman cape.' So I'd have to go out and make the hard decisions, getting students out of the building."

It's tough to determine how, in the next 18 months, the school will perform, how Gassaway and his staff will frame that record and how the DOE will interpret it. What is clear is that the results, and Tweed's reaction to them, will affect students, teachers, the institution and its principal.

At just 51, Gassaway is a man conscientious, if not obsessed, with legacy. He wrote a memoir, Reflections of an Urban High School Principal, in his mid-forties. This concern is part of the reason why the uncertain future of Boys and Girls unsettles him so.

Ironically, this is not because he knows he wants to spend the rest of his career in urban high schools. Gassaway has other aspirations. He has talked openly about one day soon finishing his coursework for his Ph.D. at Columbia Teacher's College and becoming a professor. But if he makes that move, the manner of making it matters. Will he walk out the door, run—or get chased?

"My field is education," he said. "If I'm going to be a tenured professor at some college, what am I going to profess? That I was in an urban high school [that] failed, so I can talk to you about failing, but I can't talk to you about success?"###

As I mentioned earlier, Boys High, and Boys and Girls High have a list of illustrious graduates a mile long. If they are as fond of the school as they say they are, they'll pull together their considerable influence and be the support it needs now and in the future. And send a clear signal to the youth who currently attend that they can be as great, if not greater than their predecessors. That they are not alone or abandoned. They will likewise join with so many Brooklynites who have stood together in the face of previous attempts to close the legendary school and say: "HANDS OFF THE HIGH!!"

Former New Yorker, and activist/entrepreneur Dorothy Pitman-Hughes just penned a book entitled: "I'm Just Saying, It Looks Like Ethnic Cleansing - the Gentrification of Harlem," which will be featured at the African American Pavillion at the BookExpo America exhibit at Jacob Javits Center, June 5 - 7th (private signing at the Cotton Club in Harlem, on June 4).

Make no mistake about it, the dumbing down of our educational centers, the staffing with mediocre teachers, and the supplanting of ernest, competent administrators, as in the case of Medgar Evers College; or the demolishing of schools, hospitals, community based centers as in the case of Paul Robeson High school, and other facilities; along with massive foreclosures - all look like ETHNIC CLEANSING to me! And it has to be halted in its tracks, by any means necessary. Those of you who think that the sale of Inner City Broadcasting, the discontinuation of Like It Is on ABC-TV; the sudden sale of WRKS (KISS) FM, the cancellation of Michael Baisden (who is no longer heard in New York) is merely a business transaction, have been drinking way too much of the wrong flavored Kool-Aid. Wake up and smell the new sulphurated stench of psycho-sociological, educational, economic and environmental genocide, big city style.

Draw a line in the concrete now, of the next to go will be you. HANDS OFF THE HIGH!! And all of our other Black institutions.###GDW
Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson

An open letter from Rev. Otis Moss III to the Black Clergy Re: Obama's Support of Same Sex "Marriage"

by Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All:

On May 15, I posted "President Obama's Stand on Same Sex "Marriage" in my Blog www.gloriadulanwilson.blogspot.com. This evening I received this email from one of my Oklahoma Homies in response to that posting. President Barack Obama's support of same sex "marriage." has caused consternation, controversy and jubilation - depending on the person and their persuasion. There have been many - particularly the ecclesiastical community - who have threatened to withdraw their support from the President; while others have now seen it as a reason to back him.

I thought it might be of interest to you, as well. Per my classmate, Reverend Otis Moss III is the "young brother took over from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright(see below for more info)*. Nuff said".

That being said, this is what the Rev. Otis Moss III says in reference to President Obama's stand:
An open letter from Rev. Otis Moss III to the Black Clergy (In Culture, Politics on 15/05/2012 at 10:02):

The follow words are from the Reverend Otis Moss, Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois concerning President Obama’s recent public endorsement of Gay Marriage. The content of the letter is posted in its entirety.
—-
"My Brother:
"Tell your brethren who are part of your ministerial coalition to “live their faith and not legislate their faith” for the Constitution is designed to protect the rights of all. We must learn to be more than a one-issue community and seek the beloved community where we may not all agree, but we all recognize the fingerprint of the Divine upon all of humanity.

"There is no doubt people who are same-gender-loving who occupy prominent places in the body of Christ. For the clergy to hide from true dialogue with quick dismissive claims devised from poor biblical scholarship is as sinful as unthoughtful acceptance of a theological position. When we make biblical claims without sound interpretation we run the risk of adopting a doctrinal position of deep conviction but devoid of love. Deep faith may resonate in our position, but it is the ethic of love that forces us to prayerfully reexamine our position.

"The question I believe we should pose to our congregations is, “Should all Americans have the same civil rights?” This is a radically different question than the one you raised with the ministers, “Does the church have the right to perform or not perform certain religious rites.” There is difference between rights and rites. We should never misconstrue rights designed to protect diverse individuals in a pluralistic society versus religious rites designed by faith communities to communicate a theological or doctrinal perspective. These two questions are answered in two fundamentally different arenas. One is answered in the arena of civic debate where the Constitution is the document of authority. The other is answered in the realm of ecclesiastical councils where theology, conscience and biblical mandates are the guiding ethos. I do not believe ecclesiastical councils are equipped to shape civic legislation nor are civic representatives equipped to shape religious rituals and doctrine.

"The institution of marriage is not under attack as a result of the President’s words. Marriage was under attack years ago by men who viewed women as property and children as trophies of sexual prowess. Marriage is under attack by low wages, high incarceration, unfair tax policy, unemployment, and lack of education. Marriage is under attack by clergy who proclaim monogamy yet think nothing of stepping outside the bonds of marriage to have multiple affairs with “preaching groupies.” Same-gender couples did not cause the high divorce rate, but our adolescent views of relationships and our inability as a community to come to grips with the ethic of love and commitment did. We still confuse sex with love and romance with commitment.

"My father, who is a veteran of the civil rights movement and retired pastor, eloquently stated the critical nature of this election when speaking to ministers this past week who claim they will pull support from the President as a result of his position. He stated, “Our Ancestors prayed for 389 years to place a person of color in the White House. They led over 200 slave revolts, fought in 11 wars, one being a civil war where over 600,000 people died. Our mothers fought and were killed for women’s suffrage, our grandparents were lynched for the civil rights bill of 1964 and the voting rights act of 1965…my father never had the opportunity to vote and I believe it is my sacred duty to pull the lever for every member of my family who was denied the right to vote. I will not allow narrow-minded ministers or regressive politicians the satisfaction of keeping me from my sacred right to vote to shape the future for my grandchildren.”

“The institution of marriage is not under attack as a result of the President’s words.”

"Gay and lesbian citizens did not cause the economic crash, foreclosures, and attack upon health care. Poor underfunded schools were not created because people desire equal protection under the law. We have much work to do as a community, and to claim the President of the United States must hold your theological position is absurd. He is President of the United States of America not the President of the Baptist convention or Bishop of the Sanctified or Holiness Church. He is called to protect the rights of Jew and Gentile, male and female, young and old, gay and straight, black and white, Atheist and Agnostic. It should be noted the President offered no legislation, or executive order, or presented an argument before the Supreme Court. He simply stated his personal conviction.

"If we dare steal away from the noise of this debate, we will realize as a church we are called to “Do justice, live mercy and walk humbly with God.” Gay people have never been the enemy; and when we use rhetoric to suggest they are the source of our problems we lie on God and cause tears to flow from the eyes of Christ.

"I am not asking you to change your position, but I am stating we must stay in dialogue and not allow our own personal emotional prejudices or doctrines to prevent us from seeing the possibilities of a beloved community.

"November is fast approaching, and the spirits of Ella Baker, Septima Clarke, Fannie Lou Hammer, Rosa Parks, A. Phillip Randolph, James Orange, Medgar Evers and Martin Luther, King Jr. stand in the balcony of heaven raising the question, “Will you do justice, live mercy and walk humbly with our God?” Emmitt Till and the four little girls who were assassinated in Alabama during worship did not die for a Sunday sermonic sound bite to show disdain for one group of God’s people. They were killed by an evil act enacted by men who believed in doctrine over love. We serve in ministry this day because of a man who believed in love over doctrine and died on a hill called Calvary in a dusty Palestinian community 2,000 years ago. Do not let the rhetoric of this debate keep you from the polls, my friend.

Asking you to imagine a beloved community, your brother and friend,
Otis Moss, III, Senior Pastor, Trinity UCC {Chicago, IL}"

*Rev. Moss received his Bachelor of Arts in religion and philosophy from Morehouse College and a Master of Divinity from Yale University. He has done extensive research in the areas of African American culture, theology, and youth development. His essays, articles, and poetry have appeared in The African American Pulpit, Sojourners, and Urban Spectrum, and he is the author of Redemption in a Red-Light District (Four-G Press). In 2006, Pastor Moss co-wrote the book, The Gospel Remix: Reaching the Hip Hop Generation (Judson Press).The African American Pulpit named him one of the “Twenty to Watch” ministers under forty, who are positively affecting the future of the African American church. Rev. Moss is a sought-after speaker across the globe for his expertise in the study of the Post-Soul generation and hip hop.

As my friend stated in forwarding this letter to me, "nuff said." Forward this to your ministers, congregation, friends, and any who would debate that the President has stepped away from his path. It's not true, never has been true, and as I stated in my recent posting: President Barack Obama has done more for us in four years - even with the challenges of the devastation of an economic downturn, massive unemployment, foreclosures rendering millions homeless - than the last three presidents combined.

And to continue his good work and complete his mission, he, and we, need Four More Years!

Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Sign the Petition to stop the Supreme Court's Citizens United Legislation usurping the rights of Americans

by Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All:

I am forwarding a copy of a petition sent to me and other signatories, urging (insisting) that the Supreme Court reverse their so called "Citizens United" law, which makes it possible for corporations to contribute to political campaigns as though they were individual human beings, instead of entities in perpetuity.

Below is my cover letter, the link to the petition, and an article from the online publication, Reader Supported News. Read it, sign the petition, pass it on to all your contacts. The rights you save will be your own:

2012 is the first presidential election year since Citizen United. So for the first time, Exxon, the Koch brothers, and all of Wall Street

can spend unlimited amounts of money to influence our democracy during a presidential election.

Because the limitless spending has been protected by Supreme Court, the only way we can stop it is by amending the Constitution to both reverse Citizens United and get big money out of politics for good.

The Citizens United law has to be reversed. For anyone to try to equate a corporation which exists in perpetuity, with that of human beings, who are finite, having a short lifespan, is an egregious affront to our intelligence, and shows a total disregard to American citizens. It must be repealed.

The reasoning behind such an edict is a clear political attempt to usurp the rights we have so long fought and died for. It also calls into question the motives and the agenda of anyone, or any body, that would sanction such a concept. As human beings, as Americans, as the people by, for, and whom this country was fashioned, I strongly urge you to sign the petition and pass it on to all of your friends, relatives, acquaintances - this has to go viral across the board - Facebook, Twitter, etc. - NOW.

Any elected official, who does not work for the reversal of this affront to our liberties, should either be defeated in the nearest upcoming election, or re-called and replaced; for they clearly do not represent the welfare of the people of the United States.

In the face of this affront Americans must resolve and declare that money doesn't vote, people do! So where ever and whenever you see the backing of large corporate conglomerates, make it your business to not support that candidate. Particularly if they stand for big pharma, and other entities that would circumvent our rights to a decent, affordable standard of living, and full employment. For he will have already been bought and paid for, and not have your best interest in mind - but that of the corporation who clearly already owns him.

Thus far, 22 states, including New York, have stepped up to argue for limits on corporate campaign spending. It takes 38 states to pass a constitutional amendment. Only 34 state legislatures are required to call a convention for proposing amendments.

Remember, dollars don't vote - people do. Sign the petition and pass it on so that it can be sent forward urging every state legislator, governor, and member of congress to declare their support for a constitutional amendment declaring that corporations aren't people and permanently get big money out of politics. Join me by clicking on or cutting and pasting the link below into your browser!

http://pol.moveon.org/amend/?r_by=41692-22502527-iSHKQ4x&rc=pac_amend_letter.email.g0

Thanks!
Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson

States Unite Against Citizens United
By Matt Gouras, Associated Press 20 May 12

The Supreme Court is being asked to reverse a state court's decision to uphold a Montana law, which restricts corporate campaign spending. (photo: Adbusters)

Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia are backing Montana in its fight to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision from being used to strike down state laws restricting corporate campaign spending.

The states led by New York are asking the high court to preserve Montana's state-level regulations on corporate political expenditures, according to a copy of a brief written by New York's attorney general's office and obtained by The Associated Press. The brief will be publicly released Monday.

The Supreme Court is being asked to reverse a state court's decision to uphold the Montana law. Virginia-based American Tradition Partnership is asking the nation's high court to rule without a hearing because the group says the state law conflicts directly with the Citizens United decision that removed the federal ban on corporate campaign spending.

The Supreme Court has blocked the Montana law until it can look at the case.

The Montana case has prompted critics to hope the court will reverse itself on the controversial Citizens United ruling. The 22 states and D.C. say the Montana law is sharply different from the federal issues in the Citizens United case, so the ruling shouldn't apply to Montana's or other state laws regulating corporate campaign spending.

But the states also said they would support a Supreme Court decision to reconsider portions of the Citizens United ruling either in a future case or in the Montana case, if the justices decide to take it on.

Legal observers say don't count on the Supreme Court reconsidering its decision.

"It is highly unlikely that the Court would reverse its decision in Citizens United," said law professor Richard L. Hasen of the University of California-Irvine.

At best, the court would listen to arguments and might agree a clarification is needed to allow the Montana law to stand. But even that is a long shot, Hasen said.

Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock argues that political corruption in the Copper King era led to the state ban on corporate campaign spending. A clarification of Citizens United is needed to make clear that states can block certain political spending in the interest of limiting corruption, he said.

American Tradition Partnership argues that the state bans unfairly restrict the ability of corporations to engage in the political process that also affects them.

Bullock wrote in a brief to be released Monday that the state does not "ban" corporate political speech, rather, it regulates that speech by requiring the formation of political action committees.

The Democrat, who is running for governor, said the upstart political corporations hoping to take advantage of unfettered spending are merely "an anonymous conduit of unaccountable campaign spending."

Montana and the other states are asking the court to either let the Montana Supreme Court decision stand or to hold a full hearing. They argue laws like the one in Montana that bans political spending straight from corporate treasuries are needed to prevent corruption.

The other states, many with their own type of restrictions hanging in the balance, argue local restrictions are far different than the federal ban the court decided unconstitutionally restricted free speech. Further, state elections are at much greater risk than federal elections of being dominated by corporate money, requiring tailored regulation, the states' court filing says.

"The federal law struck down in Citizens United applied only to elections for President and U.S. Congress," New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman wrote on behalf of the states.

"By contrast, Montana's law applies to a wide range of state and local offices, including judgeships and law enforcement positions such as sheriff and county prosecutor."

The joining states, unlike Montana, ask the court to go further and reconsider core findings in Citizens United. They argue, for instance, it was wrong for the court to say unlimited independent expenditures rarely cause corruption or the appearance of corruption.

And other critics of the Citizens United decision who believe the court was wrong to grant corporations constitutional rights, have intervened and asked the court to reverse itself.

"There is a growing bipartisan consensus that Citizens United needs to be overturned, and Montana is leading the way," said Peter Schurman, spokesman for a group called Free Speech For People. "The Supreme Court has an opportunity to revisit Citizens United here. That is important because there is evidence everywhere that unlimited spending in our elections creates both corruption and the appearance for corruption."

If you agree, click on or cut and paste the link below:

http://pol.moveon.org/amend/?r_by=41692-22502527-iSHKQ4x&rc=pac_amend_letter.email.g0

On Friday, Montana's case was given a boost when U.S. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-D-R.I., signed on in support. The senators argue evidence following the Citizens United decision, where millions in unregulated money has poured into presidential elections, shows that large independent expenditures can lead to corruption.

The states who filed the brief in support of Montana are New York, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Many Americans are wondering what age and decade we're living in. It's hard to believe that the Supreme Court has been so consistently wrong in their decisions over the past 20 years:

Some of the comments following this article, show that Americans are not closing their eyes to the threat this ruling imposes: Per one statement: "It is wrong for the court to say unlimited independent expenditures rarely cause corruption or the appearance of corruption. The Supreme Court is completely divorced from reality!"

Another statement: This is a test of whether we have a democracy or a plutocracy. Are you kidding. since bush vs gore democracy in the USA is history. "

Another comment stated: "Under current "Citizens United" superpac rules, ANY foreign country can either hook up with a quasi-legitimate U S corporation OR form a bogus corporation ... in both cases for the purpose of pouring unlimited funds into our presidential elections. Do we REALLY want Iran, Russia, China, Cuba, Israel ... or any other foreign countries monkeying around in our political machinations? For that matter, what sane American wants to give Corporate America such an inordinately unfair electoral advantage over We The People? Citizens United has transformed our previously democratic (sic) election process into a bona fide cluster-f**k in which---this year--- $10 billion dollars will be "invested" by person or persons unknown and for reasons known only to themselves!"

Still another reader stated: "The us supreme court justices are not divorced from reality. they know who is paying. and how much they're making."

Again, the rights you save will be your own: click on or cut and paste the link below:

http://pol.moveon.org/amend/?r_by=41692-22502527-iSHKQ4x&rc=pac_amend_letter.email.g0

"Let us remember the lesson of Bush v. Gore: once the Supreme Court veers, it is all but impossible to get it back on track. We should have thus learned that our Supreme Court can and likely has or will gut and destroy our nation. But in Citizens United the Court (5/9 thereof) upended nearly a century of prior actions -- no "stare` decisis" for those 5. It backtracks when it's "reached" by interests other than the parties of record in a case."

"Citizens United is the best Supreme Court ruling money could buy. The justices will not prosper while sitting, but think they will ever go wanting for something down retirement road? Or their families or however else money can be funneled to them? Now just imagine a President Romney nominating either one or two new justices to the court. This is one of the most frightening possible futures in American history. One or two more Scalias or Thomases and Citizens United will seem tame by comparison to the bizarre rulings capable of coming out of that potential court. For the sake of this country's future as a Republic and a Democracy of and for the people (minus Citizens United), President Obama must be reelected in November."

http://pol.moveon.org/amend/?r_by=41692-22502527-iSHKQ4x&rc=pac_amend_letter.email.g0


More to the point were comments made by this reader in regards to the Citizens United issue: "Just recently I heard a mouthpiece for the WSJ opine that Citizens United gives corporations the opportunity to compete with “big union” money. Forget that even prior to CU, corporations outspent unions 20-1 on political campaigns and lobbying. Now they’ll outspend labor even more.
Unions offer their members the right to “opt out” of having any portion of their dues used for political campaigns. (Only a tiny, tiny fraction do so. It seems all the bellyaching about union dues comes from anti-union, non-union crowd.)
Here is a question the righties need to be asked: Why isn’t Main Street afforded the opportunity to “opt out” of any portion of any payment they pay for their mortgage, auto, gas, health care, clothing, energy, etc., etc.. etc., that the corporations then use to lobby or fund political campaigns?
The righties like to talk about tax breaks. Just think of the huge sum we’d all qualify for if we had the right to notify the banks, health insurers, gas companies, and so on of our desire to opt out of any portion of our payments used for politics, and to have that money refunded to us. Merry Christmas!"

http://pol.moveon.org/amend/?r_by=41692-22502527-iSHKQ4x&rc=pac_amend_letter.email.g0

"This particular supreme Corporate Court should be struck down, struck off and struck out! There is surely evidentiary records enough to use in bringing suit against some of them for any lawyer worth their salt and with the courage to stand against them. Lifetime appointments such as these are ludicrous (signs of senility or smugness already??) and should also be eliminated by statute.
Conditions of overseeing and maintaining judicial status based on their behavior and written decisions should be set up, like the UK Court of Appeals made up of senior Judges with the experience to examine and re-hear dubious decisions AND censor or even remove a judge from office (By a declaration through both houses of Parliament) who'se actions and decisions discredit the judiciary in general.
Isn't that a bit more democratic and responsible to the people who put them there?
I mean, has anybody even seen an opinion in writing on the "Corporate Personhood"/Citizens United decision? I haven't and have looked all over the place but would be glad to be pointed to it by one of y'all.
It's all becoming a bit like Hitler's People's Court presided over by "Blood Judge (not my expression but history's)" Roland Freisler who's every decision was a foregone conclusion for any poor bastard hauled up before him on any trumped-up charge and sent to the chopping-block. Except that these pieces of judicial flatulence are doing it to a whole submerged nation."

http://pol.moveon.org/amend/?r_by=41692-22502527-iSHKQ4x&rc=pac_amend_letter.email.g0

"All it takes to stop the Senate is to threaten a filibuster, without even having to filibuster. What can you do to put the brakes on a deranged and extremist Supreme Court? Pass a Constitutional Amendment? The SC Justices are virtual kings, with minimal checks upon their increasingly fascist behavior. With a stroke of the pen, these people could overturn the Health Care Act, passed by both houses of Congress and supported by the President. How come just five people can so easily stop the work of the other two branches of our government? They can just swoop in, with no Constitutional authority whatsoever, and select the President. "Get over it!" Scalia said. The Supreme Court is the weak link in our so-called democracy. I think two of them ought to be impeached (Roberts and Thomas), and I think the Republican Party needs to be crushed for the next several elections."

And a last (but not least) warning to those of you who may be vacillating about the petition: "Thomas Jefferson warned the people in 1816 about the SCOTUS. "To consider the Judges as the ultimate arbitraters of all Constitutional questions (IS) a very DANGEROUS doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the dispotism of an OLIGARCHY". People this country is in deep trouble!!"

http://pol.moveon.org/amend/?r_by=41692-22502527-iSHKQ4x&rc=pac_amend_letter.email.g0


I recently wrote an article, which appeared in Our Times Press (Brooklyn, NY), in reference to the rather odd decisions being handed down by the rep-ugh-blican-dominated Supreme Court, and the fact that they don't have term limits. Not only that, it's truly interesting and ironic that the Supreme Court allows corporations to donate to political campaigns, but non-profit organizations are not only not allowed to contribute, they are not allowed to endorse or advertise in the behalf of the President, or other candidates! Fearful of losing their funding, organizations have been stymied - walking on eggs. They are being bullied into science, under the guise of ethical practices, exacted against them via the most unethical means possible - the threat of punitiv, pseudo legal reprisals leveled against them. Americans are being held hostage by the very people who were supposed to be the protectors of their rights and liberties. What then does one need to do in order to be liberated from this tyranny? Frankly, the petition should have included a demand for term limits on the Supreme Court Justices, starting with the current incumbents - no more that 12 years for any one term.

Interestingly enough, no one has come up with the idea of occupying the Supreme Court; but perhaps this is the time to take them off the sacred cow list, since it is evident that they don't hold Americans' lives and wellbeing sacred or important. In the interim, if you want to prevent big corporations from disenfranchising you and your neighbors, sign the petition, and pass it on.

http://pol.moveon.org/amend/?r_by=41692-22502527-iSHKQ4x&rc=pac_amend_letter.email.g0


Again,

Stay Blessed &

ECLECTICALLY BLESSED

President Barack Obama's Stand on "Marriage Equality"

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

President Barack Obama has taken a quantum leap and said that he supports “Marriage Equality.” And for a moment, the world collectively held its breath. Some say it was a bold move; others think it's a horrific mistake. While, I personally, don't agree with his stand, what I do agree with is that he, as the President of the United States, has the responsibility to be the president of ALL the citizens of the US – the good, the bad, and the indifferent.

He did not say that we had to unequivocally agree with everything that the President does. This is a democracy, not a dictatorship.

And while many churches are taking humbrage over this news, their position, while not new, is unjustified. While the churches have the right and responsibility to maintain the tenets of the Bible, they cannot honestly view his decision as an attack on churches, or religion, since this country was founded on the basis of the “Separation of Church and State.”

Barack Obama is not the religious leader of the United States. And, while he is still the leader, he has a moral, legal, and constitutional obligation to represent all of the citizens.

The country was founded on "religious" freedoms. That means that while there may be things that politically the church may not agree with, they do not dictate policy; and it is the responsibility of the head of this country to take into consideration ALL of the constituents.

I've heard arguments pro and con about "marriage equality"/aka/ same sex "marriage". I've heard threats, radical statements – left wing, right wing, middle of the road analyses. The new enlightened Negro, who wants to appear liberal, and/or "politically correct," eruditely draws the analogy of slave monsters who mis-used the Bible as justification for slavery a scant 150 years ago; and the past presidents did nothing to change that - until Lincoln. Nearly 50 years ago we were still operating under Jim Crow laws, until the "Civil Rights" act was passed, and later the voting rights act. Racists were still "using the Bible" to justify their acts. They have alleged that if we say same sex "marriage" is against the Bible, we would be doing the same thing the slave monsters did. That if we hold the Bible out as a reason against same sex marriages we are as "bad as they were". That because of the misinterpretation of the Bible, past Presidents did nothing to change or challenge segregation, discrimination; and that we would be guilty of the same transgressions if we now say "same sex marriage is against God".

I disagree with that warped line of reasoning. This is not a time to step away from our belief system or our faith. We definitely do need to hold fast to our belief system, which also says “live and let live.” It's not necessarily the President's battle; nor is it ours. There are Higher Powers in effect. But we still have to "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar, and unto God that which is God's." The running of this nation is in Obama's hands. He does not have to fight that battle. But, we can't beat him - or those of the LGBT - over the head with the Bible, either.

Biblically speaking (as well as the Torah and the Qu'ran and other sacred texrs), there are clear doctrines against homosexuality. And the extent to which the churches, synagogues, and masjids maintain their faith in following those edicts,it is their right and responsibility to do so.

We're not talking about holy wars, or some of the tactics the Nazis employed against gays during WWII. I think we've evolved enough to not be those people. We have to understand that it is incumbent on the President to maintain a balanced view and approach to this situation as leader of this nation. That's why he is the leader.

He in no way said that either you or I have to totally agree with him, either; but that we can also agree to disagree without being disagreeable. As he said in 2004, again in 2008, and now in 2012, that we all have to live or co-exist here together: Black-White/male-female/Democrats-Republicans/rich-poor/
straight-gay - why not do in it a harmonious manner?

We have some overarching principles that make this the great country that it is, and if we can agree on those principles, and work toward that end, together, we can make America great again. And he has dedicated his time, talent, creativity, discipline and attention to doing just that.

As mentioned, there are states – including North Carolina - that already have laws on the books that ban same-sex marriage. At this point the President is not saying that those laws should be overturned. He is not asking for a change in the constitution.

And unfortunately, in the great scheme of things that he has to focus on this, while running the country, turning the economy around, bringing businesses and manufacturing back to these shores, as well as fighting to make sure that we have health care for everybody.

He is dealing with a rep-ugh-blican dominated Supreme Court that thinks you don't deserve to have healthy lives; that has said a corporation is the same as a human being (why aren't you upset about that?). He is dealing with tea-baggers who think you don't deserve good education, decent homes, unions, or jobs; he is dealing with rep-ugh-blicans who don't think our children deserve to have decent, affordable college educations (didn't they just double the interest rates on college student loans – how come you're not pissed about that, too?).

I am putting this issue just where it needs to be – in the laps of the people that it pertains to- LGBTs. It does not pertain to me; it does not pertain to most American families; it does not pertain to those ministers who are Biblically based - unless, as Michael Eric Dyson said on "The Ed Show" on CNN, "you're in the closet yourself." Ministers are not required to betray their faith and perform a same sex "marriage" ceremony.

I disagree, however, with Michael Eric Dyson, who later stated that because whites used the Bible to justify slavery, that if we don't agree with same sex marriage, we are doing the same thing against LGBT's. It's clear that the Bible has made some very strong statements against homosexuality - 2000+ years ago, til the present day. The Bible is clear. It hasn't changed. I have not changed my mind, either. Many others won't change theirs either. But the place to deal with those issues is in the church.

Just remember when John Fitzgerald Kennedy became the first Catholic to be elected President of the United States, many thought that the Pope would rule the US through him. It didn't happen. He had to take a balanced stance, regardless of what the Papacy did in Rome.

The same is true of President Barack Obama. He may have attended a Baptist Church and he is a man of deep faith; he cannot impose those beliefs on the country, any more than Kennedy could with Catholocism.

The President didn't say you had to agree with same sex marriages. He did say that we have to learn to be tolerant of each other. We can do that. We don't need to fan the flames of hostility, or allow the opposition to spread propaganda, and fan it into a divide and conquer tactic. We're on the winning side. Let's stay there.

And I want to go on record in saying that this is not a “Black Civil Rights” issue, either. We will not be brow beaten into some bogus guilt trip. The Civil Rights of African Americans belong to Black people – and I am not allowing anyone to high jack it from us. We are discriminated against from birth because of our race, color, country or origin AFRICA. As I stated before, don't get it twisted.

It does point up some other important issues for us as Black people, though, that I want to address: It has to do with unity, loyalty, insight and intelligence. Why are we, as a people, so ready to castigate President Obama, jump ship, and come down on him on this issue, as though he has somehow betrayed us? For even the slightest "error;" as though we are looking for him to fail; as though he's too good to be true, so there must be a flaw, or something wrong.

In the main, same "sex marriage" has little to nothing to do us as African Americans – not really. But we take it on as if it did. It's about time we begin to realize that his position, as the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (POTUS) has to be handled totally differently, than from where we sit as ordinary citizens. He is the President of the United States! He is the leader of the free world.

Go back and check out the oath of office he has to swear to. He cannot step away from that responsibility. So far, he hasn't. And the extent to which he does his job, holds up his end of the responsibility to this country, as its head, despite of, and because of, some of the idiosyncracies that we have inculcated into our culture, he is doing a fantastic job! He continues to show his superiority over those who have come before him. He has never dropped the ball since the day he stepped into office. Nor will he. And we should be proud that he is showing them – his predecessors as well as those who will come after him four years from now - how it's done when it's done right.

Give him the respect due a man - a Black man - who is standing up to each and every challenge that has been thrown at him. Don't castigate him for having to deal with something that has been swirling around for quite some time - the LGBT issue. The law for same sex marriage was on the books in California, New York and New Jersey, and three other states. We didn't agree with it then, either. But for some weird reason, I don't recall anyone of the church leaders taking the governors or mayors on, and charging them with being against the church. Or looking to pray with them for guidance in those states.

If you want to pray for something, by all means, do pray for President and First Lady Obama; pray for this country, pray for us who need jobs, food, love, money, etc. But don't go running down to DC to pray for the President, as though this brother has “lost his way” - because he hasn't. He has not stumbled once since he walked into the Oval OfficeP. ray that he is re-elected, so that he can continue a mighty work. Pray that the rep-ugh-blicans are not able to re-establish the modern version of Jim Crow laws to prevent people from voting by using bogus identification requirements.

Take the balance and truly weigh what this great man, Barack Hussein Obama, has accomplished and continues to accomplish, and put this situation in its proper context: Four years ago you had no clue whether you'd have a job, a home, a neighborhood – and some instances, even a church. Foreclosures forced millions of hard working families into homelessness; until he made the banks stop the madness and start negotiating and helping the people. Do you think the rep-ugh-blicans would have done the same thing? Hell No! Sorry ministers, just wanted to get that point across.

The people in the automotive industry – Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, etc.-- should all be voting for his re-election, because he saved their jobs; he saved an entire industry that was falling under due to lack of support, and poor quality control. Would the rep-ugh-blicans have done the same? Puh-leeze, buy a clue.

People who are working on the highways throughout the US, as a result of the TARP funds, had better make sure they vote for him. They were definitely headed for the bread lines. Now they're widening and upgrading the interstate highways, and are able to feed their families, and themselves.

All the troops he brought home for unjust wars had definitely better make sure that they and their friends and family vote to re-elect President Obama. They are back home, safe and sound with their families, and with one of the most comprehensive, generous veterans benefit programs ever. He even reached back to those veterans of other wars and upgraded their benefits as well. Those who served in Viet Nam can tell you how it felt to come back from the front and have your own government turn its back on you. Think about it - what party was in office when they reduced your benefits? In fact, what party was in office when they refused to give you adequate protective gear in Iraq?

All college students should be voting for him because he increased the Pell grant, among other things. High school students turning 18 should be forming lines to get their voter registration cards. President Obama is likewise expanding junior colleges to make them accessible to those who are not initially in a position to attend a four year college, but want a higher education. If you attend out of state, make sure you either register at your college campus, or get an absentee ballot from your home state. Don't let the rep-ugh-blicans disenfranchise you with laws designed to deprive you of your right as a viable citizen (age 18+) to vote.

Medical science, doctors, and patients should all be voting for him because he's opened up an entirely new avenue of medical science and health care availability. Make no mistake about it, you cannot work or support your family, if you don't have good health. And if the health care you receive costs more than the amount of your paycheck; or if you are critically ill and an insurance company has had the power of life and death over you, you had better make sure you vote for President Obama, because he may well have saved either your life, or the life of a loved one.

And anybody who lost their jobs, benefits, and seniority, as a result of this heinous economic debacle, just remember who caused the problem, and how. If you received unemployment insurance benefits extension for 99+ weeks, while either looking for a job, or training for a new field, you had better definitely be voting for Obama. Because otherwise you'd be sitting on the sidewalk, or like squeegee men and women, trying to get quarters for washing windshields.

People whose homes have been saved from foreclosure should all be voting for him because he has diligently worked to stem the tide of upside down, over priced mortgages; predatory lenders, and banks that put the dollar ahead of the people. His protocol has always been "people first."

While money is definitely important and a necessity, what we have before us is still bigger than that, we not only have to hold the line on the good he has been able to accomplish, despite hostile opponents, we have to make sure they don't reverse the good.

Our focus can't be misdirected from the serious issues of voter registration, disenfranchisement, dealing with the Red states; informing people of the accomplishments of President Obama, and the more yet to be. WE have to stand for the rights and well being of those of us who are still trying to dig our way out of the devastation of this economic downturn. Where this issue of "marriage equality" stands vis a vis the rest of what we need to be, do, have – at least for me – is somewhere way down on the Totem Pole.

America is a free country, compared to other nations. We have the right to freedom of expression, belief, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness – we live in a society that is made up of all stripes – sometimes we get along beautifully, other times we may clash. But at the end of the day, this being an imperfect world (and no one has all the answers -ever) we just gotta get along.

So don't get it twisted. Move forward, stay on point, we got a RE-ELECTION TO WIN. And YES WE CAN - AGAIN!!

Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Lincoln University Class of 67 Celebrates Our 45th Graduation Anniversary

-->

by Gloria Dulan-Wilson

I am so proud of being a proud graduate of Lincoln University, the first Black College in the US. It is now over 158 years, and was originally founded as Ashmun Institute in 1854. The name was changed to Lincoln University in honor of Abraham Lincoln after he was assassinated. The school was placed just north of the Pennsylvania/Maryland State Border, away from the slave monsters who had made it illegal to educate Blacks, during slavery.

I love bragging about being a Lincoln grad – the Alma Mater of such greats as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Langston Hughes,Roscoe Lee Browne, actor, Rev. Dr. James H. Robinson, founder of Crossroads Africa, among so many others. We are the only Black college to have given Africa two dynamic presidents: Kwame Nkrumah, first President of Ghana and Nnamde Azikewe, first President of Nigeria. We conferred dual doctorates on President Jerry John Rawlings, former President of Ghana, and his wife, first lady Nana Rawlings.

But now I'm really going to kick it up a notch or two, because we, the Class of '67 are celebrating our 45th Anniversary of graduating from the hallowed halls of Lincoln University!! It's such a momentous, ausicious occasion, of such magnitude, that I'm now in the “who woulda thunk that we had come so far and done so much, and are still standing?? mode.

As I talk with my classmates, I can't help but go back in my mind's eye to what we were up to and what we were involved in during those heady times. We were the agents of change that jump started what the current generation now considers common every day occurrences. But believe me, when we started college in 1963, there was no such thing as integration. In fact, there were many who did not believe that we would achieve it in our lifetime. There was definitely no such thing as the right to vote in the south. Poll taxes ruled the day. By the time 1963 had come along, many of us, including yours truly, had been participating in sit-ins by that time since we were 10 years old, that was 8 years of being on the front line of civil rights. In 1965, Lincoln University sent a busload of students down to Selma, AL to march across the Edmund Pettis Bridge.

By the time I was 18, though, I was no longer disposed to be “civil” and neither were many of my peers. In 1966 Stokely Carmichael enunciated the tenets of BLACK POWER at Mary Dodd Brown Chapel, and it was “on!!” It was at Lincoln University that we first heard the phrase BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL. What a thrill. As Stokely stood before us, with that smooth, almost whispery voice of his, I can still see the look on the faces of my fellow classmates. A new day, a new ethos, a new consciousness – a whole paradigm shift - was born on the campus of Lincoln University, and spread throughout the Black college campuses of the US. Freedom, liberation, autonomy, Afrocentricity was in the air. We were reclaiming our African heritage, getting in touch with our African roots, and making no apologies about it.

Of course, for the most of us at Lincoln, being the iconoclasts that we were, the closest we came to in terms of a church was Mary Dodd Brown Chapel, which served as our theatre and auditorium. It's where we went for talent shows, roasting our professors, Black Power meetings, panel discussions, movies, etc. Our other favorite gathering place was The Grill, where we solved all the problems of the world. It also housed the cafeteria, with some of the worst food on the planet. Everything was managed (dictated) by Ma Renwick, who walked around with a cigarette hanging out of the side of her mouth, and an ash at least an inch and a half long before it finally dropped to the floor. She kept the guys in line, but we all loved her. However, when it came to real food, we would just as soon sneak over the fence and make midnight runs to Sissie's home of the best cheesesteak hoagie on the planet. It was also where we could hang out after long hours of fighting material.

We were one of the few Black colleges to have an official center for African students from Non-independent African countries: Angola, Mozambique, the Congo, South Africa, Southwest Africa (Namibia), Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Besutoland (Lesotho) Swaziland, Rwanda, Burundi, etc. African refugees would come and attend on a full scholarship and (hopefully) take what they had learned back home to teach their people. I was peer counselor to those students and made lifelong friends as a result. Many of them have returned home and are working in behalf of their own governments. Sadly, many also returned home to fight for liberation and have since joined the ancestors.

Lincoln University was one of the few, if not the only, Black school to have a Pan-African Student Union, where African and African American, African Caribbean students came together to plot, plan and discuss liberation issues - especially as it pertained to South Africa. For the most part, however were very much about the reunification of African nations, now that Africa was slowly being released from their colonial monsters. Sometimes there was total congruency at those meetings; other times our brothers, a/k/a “Homeboys” argued about such insipid issues as the correct pronunciation of a word, or the proper manners (which by the way were remnants of colonial brainwashing). Many of our brothers came to the US knowing more about country and western music than they did about Soul Music. By the time we got through with them, they knew James Brown, the Temptations and Four Tops, chapter and verse.

Black in the day Lincoln University had a varsity soccer team, instead of a football team, because the campus had a large African and Caribbean population – nearly 1/3 the student body. Our team actually participated in the national soccer tournament, and missed being champion by a hair, coming in second in the nation. At one match, on campus, our center forward, Paul Moonyane from Lesotho, broke the leg of a rival white South African player after he had the audacity to call him a “dirty kefir” – a break that was heard throughout the campus as they carried him off the field on a stretcher. The rest of the demoralized team lost to Lincoln by a huge margin. Needless to say, future white soccer teams who went up against Lincoln were very careful to mind their manners.

Lincoln had some of the greatest international parties comprised of a mix of soul music, calypso, African, and other intra-African music. I personally never lacked for a dance partner – at least during the first two years of being among the first co-eds on the campus (personally, my idea of heaven). We actually had our own live steel band, with Gene Harvey, Tony Roberts from Bermuda and other parts of the Caribbean, who would rehearse on a regular basis.

It was in 1965, when I transferred to Lincoln University it had been an all male college known as the Black Princeton. You had to be super smart to attend there. When they began to actively recruit females to live on campus, they had the same stiff criteria they exacted for the male students. At the time there were only 600 hundred students – All Male! I was one of the first 16 female co-eds to reside on the campus. The guys had to give up their dorms, and their caveman ways. Having had things pretty much their way, they were very happy about our invasion.

The additional lights on the campus they felt was a violation of their ability to tough it out under rigorous circumstances and still be able to “fight material”. Being required to wear ties on Sunday, and being urged to watch their language was an invasion of their sanctity (they would always challenge the rule, and we co-eds, would give them our scarves as pretend ties to keep them from having to go back to the barracks to re-dress.

Lincoln was also the place we learned to tell the difference between mere males (players) and real men - and we had a representative number of each, across cultural lines. (Some of the older alumns, such as actor Roscoe Lee Browne never, ever acknowledged us co-eds as Lincoln grads, and was pretty testy when I introduced myself as one years later, when I met him on location in Hollywood).

Lincoln University was the first Black college to have an all Black Natural fashion show with natural hairstyles and afrocentric fashions – 1966 – the Grandassa Models, founded by Elombe Brath and Kwame Brathwaite. Thanks to Sam Anderson and Paul Moore, who were seeking to bring unity between African and African American students. There was a rift borne of colonialism on their part, and post-traumatic slave syndrome on ours. Thank goodness, it worked, and Lincoln students began to understand that, as Malcolm X had said on several occasions, no matter where that boat landed, we were all ONE PEOPLE.

Lincoln was first Black college to have its own African Museum, and receive regular contributions from President Nkrumah, Azikewe, and other African leaders and former students – including Kente Cloth, Ashanti Goldweights, and 14 karat gold jewelry, masques, and as well as artifacts from all over Africa. It was curated by H.D. Gunn, a refuge from Dachau; and co-curated by yours truly, as part of my college work study program.

Lincoln University was also the first Black college to offer a full complement of African studies, as well as Swahili language classes; African cosmology classes, and movies originating from Africa written and produced by Africans. We read Franz Fanon, Cheik Anta Diop, Chinua Achebe, Leopold Sedor Senghor, Kwame Nkrumah's principles; along with WEB DuBois, Carter G. Woodson, Lerone Bennett, E. Franklin Frazier. You name it we had it at the Vail Memorial Library. If it was Black we had read it, were reading it, discussing it, throwing in our own theories to boot. You could actually get a degree in African studies long before it was popular in the rest of the Black schools. Even Albert Einstein loved Lincoln University, and left a legacy to our campus (that was long before we arrived, of course).

Lincoln University's Sociology Department, headed by Lawrence“Shabby” Foster, was the only Black college that relied primarily on texts written by Black sociologists Goode and Hat. It was the mainstay of our department. From it we learned the socio-psychological effects of racism, and how it impacted our child rearing practices.

In 1966, Lincoln University was the first Black college to have a Homecoming Queen with natural hair: Maxine Stewart LU'69.

In 1966, we were the students who fought off the KKK with real guns when they burned a cross across from our campus. We posted guards at every entry, and made it known that they could come at their own risk. They threatened but never crossed onto Lincoln Soil. In the 150+ years of our existence, they have not yet laid set foot on our campus.

We were the students who had none other than the great Charles V. Hamilton, head of our Political Science Department, as our mentor. He was legal counsel for SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). Students would cut classes and sit in on his class to learn of their latest status and exploits. We were the campus where Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap Brown and other Black leaders would come to formulate strategies for liberation. Dr. Hamilton co-authored “Black Power” along with Stokely Carmichael, on our campus.

We were the students who dared to take a bus to the UN on a cold November day, along with the classmates from the Class of 1966, to protest Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) formulated by despot Ian Smith, when they fought for liberation and independence. It was freezing cold, and we were the only students who showed up for the protest – but we stayed and made our symbolic point.

We were privileged to have had Langston Hughes visit as Poet in Residence for 6 weeks, and his protege, playwright Ron Milner as writers in residence. We had the honor of having had the great, powerful, dynamic Adam Clayton Powell Jr. come to our campus after he had been “sanctioned by Congress for being too powerful.” He had just recorded his famous album “Keep the Faith, Baby!” I remember how candid and self assured he was. He kept a cigar on him at all times.

It was at Lincoln University that I started wearing my hair natural, and have done so ever since – thanks to my upper class brothers, Sam Anderson, and my classmates Paul Moore and Tony Montiero. I remember coming up with all the usual negrified excuses of the day: I had Indian in my family so my hair wouldn't get kinky; I had Irish in my family, so my hair wouldn't get kinky; I had German in my family, so my hair wouldn't get kinky – stop me when you've heard enough bogus excuses. I had a million of them!!

Sam would tell me that what I called a “permanent” was really temporary, since I had to complete process over and over. He dared me to wear my natural for my senior class picture. After having seen how beautiful the Grandassa Models looked with their natural hair, I took him up on it, and that photo in the yearbook was the day after I got it done. However, my entire family in Oklahoma were in a state of shock when I came home with “nappy” hair! Now, not so much.

Lincoln used to operate on a tri-mester basis, and allowed students to drop in and drop out at will. We had many students who returned to complete their classes after having served in Viet Nam; or who had “washed out” because of poor grades. It was at Lincoln that our classmate, John Huggins, who had returned after having spent four years fighting in Viet Nam, decided that he needed to deal with America's racism; and so joined the Panthers in San Francisco. He lost his life as a result, and set off a fire storm of consequences.

At Lincoln we were such iconoclasts, even our grading system was different: our grades were A through E – E being a a flunking grade; A being superior; there was no F grade. At Lincoln, “1” meant being tops, and a passing grade; while “5” or a nickel, meant flunking, and all of the worse possible things. By the way, if you were “ugly” by Lincoln male standards, they would throw nickels at you. If you picked them up, you were double ugly.

We were also known for our “Rabble” names, and Rabble phrases. Everyone coming onto the campus was tagged with a nickname that stuck with them for life. In many instances, to this day, you have to know the person's rabble name in order to identify them, and many of us are still not familiar with their given names.

At Lincoln, we were taught to challenge everything, and not take it as true just because they said it was (“they” being whites, and the Uncle Toms who loved them). At Lincoln you went around quoting the likes of Kwame Nkrumah, Frederick Douglass, Frantz Fanon, Chinua Achbe, Jomo Kenyatta, Nelson Mandela (while he was still in prison); Stephen Biko, African proverbs, Stokely Carmichael, and any and all Black heroes, s/heroes past, present and future.

It was to Lincoln that the famous Mitchell family of Baltimore sent Mike to follow in the footsteps of dynamic family members, Clarence and Parren, who had already made lifetime contributions to the Black community.

We, the Class of 67 are the “Change Agents.” We launched new programs to educate and empower our people. We precipitated and participated in the liberation of our people via action and education, challenging the status quo, standing for our rights, regardless of the consequences. We have contributed through our writing, speaking out; our professional development and leadership; through the advancement of the lessons learned vis a vis a devoted and loyal faculty who nurtured our minds, making sure that when we moved forward into the world, that we were always Black and proud of it.

If, by the time you had graduated from Lincoln in 1967, you didn't get that one understanding – that you are Black and Proud and have a contribution to make to the world - you had completely missed the point of the whole reason for being at Lincoln. While academics were, of course, an important component of being a Lincoln Lion and Lioness, it was even more of a paramount importance that we emerge, in all our glory, as Black men and women ready to take our place in a world where our ancestors had sacrificed so much to make it possible for us to go forward; and be the change we wanted to see. We the Class of '67, have done that and then some - with more yet to be. Our contributions are still being made. We are the paradigm shift!

Hail! Hail! Lincoln!!!
Hail The Class of 1967!!!

Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson



.