The United States Educational System:
A Perfect Structure for Psychologically Destroying Black Youth
By Solomon Comissiong
Some people say that the United States educational system is a broken one, especially in regard to its overall negative impact on African/black children, however if we honestly and contextually assess this, it is easy to see that this system is not technically ‘broken’.
The United States so-called educational system was never intended to comprehensively educate African/black children (or children of color, in general). It was never intended to culturally edify African/black children, especially in regard to their rich African cultural history. This system is working just as it has always been intended to work, and that is to indoctrinate children to extol white supremacy, love capitalism/rugged individualism—and to retard their critical thinking. Their school days begin with the mindless pledging of allegiance to a flag that has never had their best interests in mind. It has never valued the lives of children of color in the same manner it does white children. They are then taught to sing white supremacist songs like the “Star Spangled Banner”, written by a man (Francis Scott Key) who was a devoted owner of enslaved Africans. When we really ponder these things it sounds more like a sci-fi flick in which the most oppressed have been trained to ritualistically worship the legacy and culture of those who oppressed them. It is a case study in mind control and indoctrination.
This system does not look favorably upon those who are critical thinkers. Critical thinkers represent a viable threat to the overall exploitative nature of the system itself. Unfortunately most “Americans” have aimlessly traversed through this so-called educational system, which is why they seldom question the US government’s imperialist wars, military spending, or even its nefarious system of capitalism—-one that robs them of universal healthcare, free higher education or even a uniform livable wage. This impacts all “American” children, however it is children of color that are the most negatively impacted, because they are taught to praise historical figures who would have enslaved them, as well as to accept an institutionally racist system that preys upon their communities—every second of every day. They are, in essence, trained to accept the system that continues to systematically oppress their neighborhoods. The last thing the United States ruling class needs is for masses of children color to become angered at this country’s institutionally racist society—or even realize that it exists. Comprehension of this nefarious social system would lend itself to these children rejecting an array of false narratives that have been force fed to them.
Children of color are routinely taught that a slave masters such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, were their ‘Founding Fathers’. There is no mention whatsoever, within US classrooms, that these men were devoted slave masters to African people, as well as proud white supremacist. It is not just that the images of these men (and many more) are riddled throughout US society, it is also that these kinds of men are routinely introduced as righteous men who were champions of life, liberty and the overall pursuit of happiness. Essentially African/black children are taught to extol men who brutally enslaved their ancestors, and would have enslaved them too, had they lived during the epoch in which these evil men existed. In and of itself, this practice is sadistic and backwards, however within the United States it is commonplace. A fair comparison could be made that this would be akin to teaching young women or girls to celebrate serial rapists. Given the fact that some of these men either condoned the raping of women of color, or participated, it is not far fetched at all. Even though Christopher Columbus is not considered a “Founding Father”, he does have a Federal US holiday in is name. He was not only a rapist; he was a mass murderer and mutilator of indigenous women, men and children.
Teaching children to celebrate these devilish men, and their actions, is a stable component of an educational system that is part of a much larger system of white supremacy and oppression. White supremacy is evil and cares nothing about the perspectives, feelings or lives of those who it has trampled upon. It does not care or wish to place in factual context the history of how the United States was built or how the land was acquired. This would involve explanations of plunder, mass murdering campaigns, systematic chattel slavery, medical experimentations, torture, brutality—the list could go on for days. Furthermore, a contextual explanation would naturally lead to the understanding as to why the United States continues to enslave African/black people via the prison industry complex, as well as why it brutalizes that same community via rampant police terror. A country founded upon a legacy of murder, plunder, massacre and slavery, is destined to be violent and pervasively unjust…unless it is radically deconstructed and then reconstructed into a much more humane foundation. The United States has such a history and very much is a contemporary society riddled with state sponsored violence and widespread injustice.
The United States’ system of education has been widely successful in culturally decapitating the minds of countless children of color. This is a country that established “Indian Schools”, to ‘civilize’ the indigenous people. However, it was not the Native Americans, who needed civilizing, it was the barbaric Europeans who violently stole the land. The whites set up the “Indian Schools” as a method to further control the indigenous people whose land they stole. These shiftless nefarious whites also aimed to force the natives to assimilate into the same Eurocentric culture that was barbarically raining hell upon their people. African/black children were forced to assimilate in similar ways. Whites never wanted the youth of oppressed peoples to think critically about their conditions, nor did the want to them be culturally edified. If the youth are taught to critically think, and have cultural pride—-they will at the very least reject all aspects of their oppressors’ mores. And even more, they will invoke social revolutions aimed at overturning systems of oppression that have kept their communities repressed for centuries.
White people have always been afraid of people of color who not only are intrepid in the face of their bigotry, but who also reject flawed Eurocentric standards and “values”. Eurocentric ideals have long embraced individualism over communalism, war over peace and usurpation over sharing and broad distribution. History, quite frankly, does not lie. An honest historical view of the impact of European conquest puts things in an accurate, yet horrifying, light. The classic Euro-American capitalistic and imperialistic model is unsustainable in a modern and humane world. These are largely predicated on values that are detrimental to children from all walks of life, especially children of color.
Independent African/black schools that promote critical thought and cultural edification are remedies to the plague of white supremacy. Schools that stifle cultural pride and analytical thought are detrimental to the holistic growth of the African/black child. Schools that do this are detrimental to African/black communities. There not only needs to be African/black community control of the policing, there needs to be that same community control of the public schools within our neighborhoods. African/black communities must continue to organize and vehemently reject the charter school scheme. It is a racist and capitalist (sorry for being redundant) attack on schools within communities of color. The amoral conductors of this nefarious ploy aim to corporatize education, thus making schools in communities of color, commodities—just like widgets. This is wholly anti-African/black, and against the collective interests of our communities. Schools in 2015 are just as segregated as they were in the 1960s, however white children are not subjected or under widespread threat of the charter school scheme. Separate and unequal is the name of their game. The white elites who fuel this institutionally racist scheme know very well how successful African/black children would be if there was community control of these schools, which is why they have created numerous machinations aimed at preventing it.
Until a true critical mass organize and repudiate this system (in a concerted way), the structure and its deleterious impact will live on—-in perpetuity. It must be rejected, then it must be deconstructed to be reconstructed, into something much more humane, egalitarian and effective in holistically educating youth! This is especially true for youth of color, whose communities have been subjected to centuries of brutal oppression and systematic racism. When elders within their communities were controlling African/black children’s education, these children were holistically educated. This community controlled education included strong training in mathematics, sciences, reading, writing, and geography. It also included cultural edification, community engagement, entrepreneurship and vocational skill sets. Their education was holistic because the community had a vested interest in the children’s overall success. That is not the case in so-called mainstream US society where influential segments of Euro-America mainly see African/black children as commodities to be used to further tighten their concentration of wealth.
We must regain control of school boards, implement analytical thinking, media literacy, cooperative wealth building, and cultural competency within the curricula. There should even be a community health component that incorporates practices for maintaining healthy lifestyles. We must take revolutionary approaches that contribute to the construction of school systems that are conducive in developing the whole child—-mind, and body. Without trying to sound cliché, children are our future. This current p system is destructive to their overall wellbeing. Collectively investing in our children today is a major step toward ensuring that we have a brighter tomorrow.
Solomon Comissiong (www.solomoncomissiong.com) is an educator, community activist, author, and Founder of the Your World News Media Collective (www.yourworldnews.org). Solomon is the author of A Hip Hop Activist Speaks Out on Social Issues. Solomon is also the writer and producer of the documentary, Hip Hop, White Supremacy & Capitalism: Why Corporations Infiltrated RAP Music. He can be reached at: solo@yourworldnews.org
