Getting Good Grades Is Acting Black

Unpublished Work, Copyright 2006 by Daisy G. Collins

(Permission is granted to reproduce and to distribute this work if not done for direct or indirect financial gain.)

 

  1. Getting good grades is acting Black! When a student gets good grades, he or she acquires useful knowledge that can be applied to worth while purposes. Acquiring and applying useful knowledge is acting Black!
  2. During the time of slavery in the United States, it was a crime for the enslaved Black People to learn to read and write. Enslaved persons who were caught reading and writing were severely beaten and punished. In fact, at least one Black Man had his eyes burned out when he persisted in trying to learn to read and write. Why was it a crime to learn to read and write? (The students should discuss the reasons.)
  3. Think about this. For one thing, the enslavers knew that the ability to read and write is the way to gain knowledge. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! They knew that it was easier to keep ignorant people enslaved than it was to keep educated people enslaved.
  4. Today, there is no law prohibiting Black People from learning to read and write; however, this result is accomplished by various slogans and traps to discourage our Black Youth from excelling in school.
  5. From now on, our slogan is “Getting Good Grades in Acting Black.”   Please publicize this to every Black Youth you know.
  6. During slavery time—and today—a person who could and can read and write could and can write his or her own pass to freedom. Then, a person could literally write a pass to use to travel and escape from physical slavery. Now, knowledge is a way to escape mental slavery. Knowledge is a pass to earning a better living. It is a way to make a better life for yourself, and a way for you to help others to have a better life.
  7. By acquiring and applying knowledge, our Black Ancestors survived the horrors of the Middle Passage and the cruel and barbaric system of slavery in America. They made it possible for us to exist today.
  8. Students, you are the heirs of Frederick Douglass, Harriett Tubman and many other noble Africans and African Americans. You are the descendants of your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. You should learn your true history. You should honor and respect the sacrifices and accomplishments of your ancestors.   A few examples are:

(a) What is believed to have been the first university in the world was the world famous University of Sankore at Timbuktu, a city in Mali, West Africa with 25,000 students in the 1400’s. Timbuktu was the center of a series of ancient empires that inspired intellectual and scientific endeavors before the European Renaissance. Today there are probably more than 100,000 manuscripts at Timbuktu, many kept by families; they are often buried or kept in secret places. Some believe that there may be up to one million of these texts still around Timbuktu; and maybe three million across West Africa. The books were hidden from looters and invaders for centuries. These ancient manuscripts indicate the high level of civilization in Africa at that time. They are evidence of the intellectual legacy of Africans.

(b) The Dogon People of Mali, West Africa, had a remarkable knowledge of astronomy thousands of years ago. Among other things, they had extensive information about the Sirius star and its companion star Sirius B, although Europeans did not see the latter through a telescope until 1862.

(c)  Our Black Ancestors built the pyramids in Egypt. They are the only remaining “Wonder” of the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.” (Remember, Egypt is in Africa.) To this day, even though there are theories, no one has been able to figure out how the Africans built the almost perfectly aligned pyramids. Africans built many other great monuments in Egypt and in other parts of Africa.

(d) Black Men and Women invented many of the things that make our life easier, such as the ironing board, lawn mower, shoe lasting machine, refrigerator, traffic light, filament within the light bulb, the blood bank, and many, many other very important items.(See “What If There Were No Black People”, etc.)

  1. Students, what do you want to accomplish? What job do you want to do when you start working to support yourself? Getting poor grades and not continuing your education will not help you to do anything except to be a failure.
  2. Young people, you must prepare to be the adults who will make your ancestors proud. Also, you want to have a genuine pride in yourselves. To take pride in getting bad grades and failing to achieve is not the way to do so. In fact, wanting to be ignorant is absolute stupidity.
  3. God gave you a brain. Do you think He meant for you to use it?
  4. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6.

(a) Because of our lack of knowledge, many Black People—some of them gang members and some not gang members—deliberately kill other Black People. (They are doing the job for the persons who want to destroy Black People!)

 (b) Students, can you think of other examples showing that Black People are destroyed because of lack of knowledge?

  1. “Therefore my people are gone into captivity because they have. no knowledge….” Isaiah 5:13

(a) Because of our lack of knowledge, there are more Black Men of college age in prison than in college.

(b) Students, can you think of other examples where Black People are in captivity because they have no knowledge?

  1. Continue your education. Continue to study hard and to learn everything you can learn.
  2. REMEMBER—YOU CAN LEARN!
  3. REMEMBER—KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
  4. REMEMBER—IGNORANCE IS MENTAL SLAVERY!
  5. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
  6. GETTING GOOD GRADES IS ACTING BLACK!

                                                      

THE “GETTING GOOD GRADES IS ACTING BLACK” PLEDGE

 

I, (say your name).believe that Getting Good Grades Is Acting

I, (say your name), believe that I Can Learn.

I, (say your name), believe that Knowledge Is Power.

I, (say your name), will study hard and learn and do my best to get good grades.

I, (say your name), will acquire as much useful knowledge as possible and I will do my best to apply this useful knowledge to help myself and to help others.

I, (say your name), will learn as much as possible about the true history of my people.