the Centrist

The Tragedy of a Black Prodigy …

As I watched the media spin the article about a seven year old African prodigy (she refused to be called “African American) … Autum Ashante … it was hard to remember what she had done to warrant the fifteen minutes. First she is cute as a button, and intelligent as can be. She is only seven years old and speaks three languages fluently. Autum is home schooled by her single Dad through a program called “the Black Homeschoolers Association”. Unfortunately this adorable little girl may be the greatest example that children, no matter their IQ, race, or creed, can be led astray and into bigotry, through abusive education.
It was her racist poem and arrogant delivery to a public school audience that catapulted this little sweetheart into national headlines last week. The contents of that poem were both historically incorrect and void of compassion. The pros would have made the likes of bin Laden and the Panthers proud. I would simply ask America … what their reaction to her would have been if this little person were a bigoted Arian? What if this prodigy made the exact same kind of statements blaming blacks for all the problems in America? And, what if her educational foundation were built upon something called “the White Homeschoolers Association”? The media and liberals would be up in arms. Few would blame this child, as few do Autum, but we would place blame on the radical parent … and immediately remove her from that environment. Yet nobody dares ask: ‘what do we owe this child, or any child for that matter, if not a proper education based in truth, love, and compassion; rather than deceit, hate, and intolerance.’
Just because any child is gifted, does not mean they are not ignorant. After all they are still children and need guidance as much as, if not more than knowledge. Although Autum has the capacity to hold and recall more intellectual thoughts and schemes than 99% of the population, that does not exempt her from the primal need of guidance in her formative years. Here is a sample of her genius: “White nationalist is what put you in bondage, pirate and vampires like Columbus, Morgan, and Darwin drank the blood of the sheep, trampled all over them with steel tricks and deceit.” Now I give you the iambic pentameter and all, but the content? Let’s ‘Arianize’ that poem: ‘Black nationalism put themselves in bondage, pirate and vampires like X, Carver, and King drank the blood of the white sheep, trampled all over them …’; you get the picture. Most would contend that that was not true and blacklist whoever from publicly proclaiming such hatred … as well they should. But that is not the case here; she is instead being defended and her work celebrated … while simultaneously being led astray for the sake of a separatist and bigoted cause.
I was teaching a class of 6th graders several years ago and we were discussing prejudice. It was in a church setting with mostly white children. A child asked me why the hair of an African American had a different texture than his … he questioned it because how could this be … “if Adam and Eve were white”.
I answered: “What makes you think Adam and Eve were white?” Then I gave them a short biology lesson, if they (Adam and Eve) were white with blue eyes and blonde hair, then they would have all recessive genes and all humans must have: blond hair, blue eyes, and white skin. Thus, the Judeo Christian doctrine of Adam and Eve presupposes that they were not white and had mixed genes in order for all the races to have developed.” The kids went away with a lesson that God created all of us equally, and that no one race was dominant or favored (I said favored not ‘chosen’ my Hebrew friends). In that same class somebody extolled the problem of slavery to me. I asked where slavery started. They said 17th century Europe and America. They had not been taught the truth. They did not know that slavery was started as a white on white, yellow on yellow, etc. practice. History teaches that the ancients imposed this practice onto any culture or tribe which they conquered. Color mattered not. But the roots of black African slavery, as we know it, reside with Islam in the 7th century. They armed the northern African tribes to enslave the southern tribes. They then purchased these people from the northern tribes, for the most part neutered the males, and used the females as sex slaves … hmm when is the last time you saw that in a text (“Rebirth Pains” Chapter 5)? The white Europeans had to wait almost 1000 years before they got into the game … that does not excuse them. But I asked them an d you: in what other society, other than America, did a bunch of white guys go to war with the express rational of killing a bunch of other white guys, many of them their relatives, to free their black brethren whom they had wronged for less than a century? Folks not only is that historically true, but we should all be aware that slavery is still going on, it is alive and well in the Sudan, it is black on black and against the non-Muslim African and or Christian tribes. We should teach the Autums of the world that we can still do something about that … rather than teach them lies about ‘white America’. But alas, Autum will never be taught that … because that might fill and expand her vast intellect with other than Politically Correct separatist prejudice. It’s time to right the real wrong, time to insure that this child gets a real education, time for Social Services to do their job and remove this child from a hate filled environment … after all … a mind is a terrible thing to waste.