The 44 Percent: Miami preschool trouble, DeSantis protest & Rihanna
After reading the way Barbara Mapps, whose sister Katherine Massey was among those killed in the Buffalo mass shooting, addressed the man behind the racist rampage, I wanted to share.
“You come to our city and decide you do not like Black people? Man, you don’t know a damn thing about Black people,” Mapps said to Payton Gendron, who was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday, according to the Washington Post. “We’re human. We like our kids to go to a good school. We love our kids. We never go to no neighborhood and take people out.”
Mapps’ words reveal a really fundamental part of the Black experience. It might get lost in all the political posturing but the very things that all humans want – safety, better for the next generation, etc. – is the very same things that Black Americans want. We are, as Mapps said, “human.” That we’ve been here for more than 400 years and are still fighting for that chance is a shame.
INSIDE THE 305
Miami preschool teacher paints kids in blackface for lesson. ‘You should know better’:
In case you missed it, I broke this story last week about a Studio Kids Miami teacher who dressed at least three toddlers in blackface for a Black History Month Lesson.
The incident has since gone national, with CNN airing the story earlier this week. Although we elected not to post the pictures, other outlets did.
Black 30 and under: Florida’s attack on Black history an attempt to ‘erase our existence’:
After reports surface about the College Board’s communication with the Florida Department of Education prior to the release of the Advanced Placement African American Studies course (more on that later), I thought about something that Ebony Felton, 18, said to me about wanting to learn about Fred Hampton in school.
Why exactly did this stand out?
Well, because the FDOE was reportedly concerned about the AP course “trying to advance Black Panther thinking” as if the Black Panthers were a terrorist group. With that in mind, I pieced together the second installment of my “Black 30 and Under” series around DeSantis and his attacks on Black history.
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On Thursday, Feb. 16, Hines will deliver a “fireside chat” about 14 miles north from where she made history. Down Memory Lane with Bea Hines, an event coinciding with Black History Month, is open free to the community at the North Dade Regional Library in Miami Gardens. Hines will tell of how she became the first female Black reporter at the Miami Herald. She was studying nights at Miami Dade College while raising two sons in elementary school as a single parent when she earned her desired title, journalist, in 1970. Hines may reveal why, at age 85, she has more stories to share with her readers.
OUTSIDE THE 305
How the AP Black Studies course came to be:
This recent New York Times story revealed the College Board’s road to releasing the AP African American Studies curriculum. Although the College Board maintains that governmental pressures did not play a role in the course’s creation, it’s difficult to believe them considering their conversations with the FDOE, talks that quickly revealed to Jason Manoharan, vice president for A.P. program development, that the FDOE is not sincere in its “effort to improve education.”
In September, a letter notified the College Board that the course would be rejected. That led to a Zoom meeting in November, Dr. Manoharan said, which he attended with a College Board official based in Florida, and four or five state officials.
“What became clear very quickly is that these were not content experts,” said Dr. Manoharan, who has a Ph.D. in English from Harvard.
The state officials first asked whether the Black Panther Party was taught as a historical topic, or whether the course was “trying to advance Black Panther thinking,” Dr. Manoharan recalled. He said he explained that the Black Panthers were a common part of introductory courses, and “that is not something that we can change or compromise.”
Rev. Al Sharpton leads Tallahassee protest against DeSantis’ policies on race:
Hundreds of primarily Black protesters marched through Tallahassee Wednesday to raise their concern over Gov. Ron DeSantis’ policies. Led by Rev. Al Sharpton, the protest mainly criticized DeSantis’ role in controlling how schools can teach racism and Black history.
“They are saying, ‘No, no, no, we have Black history,’ ” Sharpton said. “But for them to write Black history and decide Black history is a national standard that we cannot allow to happen. They cannot decide which Black scholars and which Black writers. It is like it is said often, if the lion wrote the book rather than the hunter, the story would have come out differently.”
Sharpton warned DeSantis — whom he nicknamed “baby Trump” — that if he decides to run for president, there will be nationwide resistance to his proposals.
“He will not have the domain he has here in Florida,” Sharpton said. “He will be getting ready for some rough stuff. I just gave him a sparring session today, but we will be giving him a real fight.”
HIGH CULTURE
Rihanna’s British Vogue cover:
Talk about a crazy week.
A spectacular Super Bowl performance. A pregnancy reveal. And now a Vogue cover?
Rihanna just keeps winning. What makes this cover story particularly special, however, is she finally answers the question that fans have long been waiting for: when are we getting another album?
“I want it to be this year,” she says, at this stage very much unaware she is pregnant again. “Like, honestly, it’d be ridiculous if it’s not this year. But I just want to have fun. I just want to make music and make videos.” She misses the visuals almost more than music. “And I need the right background music with the visuals. I can’t just go shoot a video to me talking,” she says, laughing once again.
Where does “The 44 Percent” name come from? Click here to find out how Miami history influenced the newsletter’s title.
