A Slave that Did Not Know How to Read…

When I was in high school I had a teacher that told me that slaves owners didn’t want their slaves to read because they did not want them to learn that they were equals, they did not want them to experience beauty, they did not want them to learn the law, or to read and understand God’s love, since all these things could be found in books.  Most importantly though…slaves that did not know how to read, where easily caught because they could not read the signs on the road and would become disoriented and lost.  She also made me read the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.

16 years later, I think about our conversations all the time when I look outside my window and I read through the statistics of urban education.

In some of our urban inner city schools, the high school drop-out rates are at 60% for black boys.  Yes, up to 60% of black boys do not graduate from High School.

Now, let’s take that a step further.

Statistics as old at 2004 show that 72% of black male high school dropouts in their 20′s were jobless — that is, unable to find work, not seeking it or incarcerated. And that by their mid-30′s, 6 in 10 black men who had dropped out of school had spent time in prison.

We can only assume that in 2010 these numbers, in the middle of our biggest recession in history, are that much severe.

Prisons are big business.  This is not a “black” conspiracy theory.  Major business magazines and networks like CNN have openly reported the profitability of the 37+ BILLION dollar business of prisons.

I’m no rocket scientist.  The numbers speak for themselves. There is a financial, economic benefit to having ANY 37+BILLION dollar industry in ANY economy—what about a recessionary economy? What do you think?  A 37+BILLION dollar industry means jobs, it means taxes, it means economic activity.  The United States of America would not be in the position that it is today, had it not been for economic benefit of the cotton & tobacco industry and SOMEONE had to fuel it, aka black slaves.  People fought to the death to protect that economy.  Remember?

Fast forward to today, and we are pushing black boys out of schools, into juvenile detention and into the streets.  And yes, the last thing that this country is dedicated to is teaching black boys how to read. Believe that.

Is it safe to say then, history has repeated itself and we are breeding modern days slaves to fuel a 37+Billion Industry and that whether we want to admit it or not (remember they south has always claimed it was about “state rights” not about defending slavery), people will fight…I mean legislate, to the death to keep it from collapsing?

I’m asking you…specially if you are a black man or a black man’s parent (even if that black man is just a boy), are you ready to be a slave and let them make a slave out of your sons?

Remember, the slaves that did not know how to read, where easily caught because they could not read the signs on the road and would become disoriented and lost.  Teach your sons to read.  Encourage them and yourself to read the right things and read them all the time.

Freedom depends on it.

Don’t Forget To Check Out This ACLU School-To-Prison-Pipeline-Game Below!

http://www.aclu.org/school-prison-pipeline-game

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