Post by gramfamforever on Oct 19, 2013 17:07:47 GMT -6
A Recent Message Sent From An Alum:
GRAMBLING'S KINKY MIND
The kinky mind is bound in compromise and the unfed hope that the oppressor will come to his senses; but there is a painful eagerness associated with unfed hope.
This has been the plight and at the very foundation of state-supported historically black colleges and universities for more than half a century. Though they have produced some of America’s most brilliant minds in all fields of study, there has remained in the collective consciousness of state-supported HBCUs an aversion to the notion that slavery in any form, any manifestation, any degree is abhorrent and that the institutions are in essence slaves.
This belief is rooted in the notion that “without ‘marse’s’ support,” the institution would perish. But Ellen Craft (1826?-1891), an escaped slave, said it best: “I had much rather starve in England, a free woman, than to be a slave for the best man that ever breathed upon the American continent.” Freedom from any form of bondage must be the clarion call at all historically black institutions of higher learning, especially those that are state-supported.
The news coming out of Grambling is less than encouraging. Douglas Williams has been fired; the Grambling State University football team has refused to show up for protest; the Grambling Legends have adeptly laid out their case for no confidence in Dr. Frank Pogue and the current administration; and the institution’s academic integrity continues to wane.
Some years ago now, I wrote that the barbarians were at the gates. That is no longer true. The barbarians are no longer at the gates; they are inside walls. Frank Pogue was a Trojan horse and we gladly opened the gates because we believed that he was better than the toxicity of Horace Judson. We were wrong. Hindsight is always better than 20/20; and now that we look back, we see that he was too old to implement a progressive vision and too weak to hold up Grambling’s “Where Everybody is Somebody” banner. But the state is bent on the demise of Grambling State University. That's why we continue to be SENT incompetent or used-up leadership. Freedom is the answer.
To suggest that the institution would be better off free from the state’s influence is tantamount to heresy in Louisiana. However, we continue to suffer under the lash wielded by the state and perhaps the greater tragedy is that they (the ULS) can find Black men, desperate to have a job, willing to do the white man's bidding. And were mad because the football team rightfully walked out because they understand that poor leadership is at the center of Grambling's problems on all levels.
This is the nature of the kinky mind. The kinky mind is a sick mind. The kinky mind will turn brother against brother and will have one to look in the face of one’s own culture and see it as non-reflective. The kinky mind is convinced of its own righteousness and is bent on aping the ways of the oppressor, because the kinky mind is a gullible mind. The kinky mind is testament to the fact that there are psychoses whose origins can be found in the foundations of one’s bondage. So, the state-supported black institution, the slave, is bound to the belief that it is better off with “limited liberty.” But any stifled freedom is not freedom at all.
What, then, is the solution? Freedom; and that freedom must come by any necessary means. This liberation movement must be tempered in faith and based on the original missions of the institutions in question. It must be launched with the understanding that even should the institution not survive after the liberation, it is better to die free than to exist in bondage as the perpetual beggar. The entire college community must be involved and in the forefront must be the institution’s alumni.
The alumni will play the most important role in a movement of this magnitude. Their collective finances and individual professional expertise and experiences will be needed to surmount a successful and sustainable campaign. The process is simple enough and is given to us by our slave forefathers. Ask “massuh” to put a price on your freedom; then purchase it. It’s that simple. If the state argues that you are a financial burden and must be eliminated either through merger, demotion, or outright closure, ask them to put a price on your freedom. And in doing so, you untangle the kinky mind and can rejoice in the fact that we…WE truly have overcome and “…stand at last, where the white beam of our bright star is cast.”
Gramblinites, the hill do not yet ring with victory's song. Our greatest days are not behind us; we are ". . .facing the the rising sun of our new day begun. . ." Gramblinites, let us stand up together and get our house in order.
GRAMBLING'S KINKY MIND
The kinky mind is bound in compromise and the unfed hope that the oppressor will come to his senses; but there is a painful eagerness associated with unfed hope.
This has been the plight and at the very foundation of state-supported historically black colleges and universities for more than half a century. Though they have produced some of America’s most brilliant minds in all fields of study, there has remained in the collective consciousness of state-supported HBCUs an aversion to the notion that slavery in any form, any manifestation, any degree is abhorrent and that the institutions are in essence slaves.
This belief is rooted in the notion that “without ‘marse’s’ support,” the institution would perish. But Ellen Craft (1826?-1891), an escaped slave, said it best: “I had much rather starve in England, a free woman, than to be a slave for the best man that ever breathed upon the American continent.” Freedom from any form of bondage must be the clarion call at all historically black institutions of higher learning, especially those that are state-supported.
The news coming out of Grambling is less than encouraging. Douglas Williams has been fired; the Grambling State University football team has refused to show up for protest; the Grambling Legends have adeptly laid out their case for no confidence in Dr. Frank Pogue and the current administration; and the institution’s academic integrity continues to wane.
Some years ago now, I wrote that the barbarians were at the gates. That is no longer true. The barbarians are no longer at the gates; they are inside walls. Frank Pogue was a Trojan horse and we gladly opened the gates because we believed that he was better than the toxicity of Horace Judson. We were wrong. Hindsight is always better than 20/20; and now that we look back, we see that he was too old to implement a progressive vision and too weak to hold up Grambling’s “Where Everybody is Somebody” banner. But the state is bent on the demise of Grambling State University. That's why we continue to be SENT incompetent or used-up leadership. Freedom is the answer.
To suggest that the institution would be better off free from the state’s influence is tantamount to heresy in Louisiana. However, we continue to suffer under the lash wielded by the state and perhaps the greater tragedy is that they (the ULS) can find Black men, desperate to have a job, willing to do the white man's bidding. And were mad because the football team rightfully walked out because they understand that poor leadership is at the center of Grambling's problems on all levels.
This is the nature of the kinky mind. The kinky mind is a sick mind. The kinky mind will turn brother against brother and will have one to look in the face of one’s own culture and see it as non-reflective. The kinky mind is convinced of its own righteousness and is bent on aping the ways of the oppressor, because the kinky mind is a gullible mind. The kinky mind is testament to the fact that there are psychoses whose origins can be found in the foundations of one’s bondage. So, the state-supported black institution, the slave, is bound to the belief that it is better off with “limited liberty.” But any stifled freedom is not freedom at all.
What, then, is the solution? Freedom; and that freedom must come by any necessary means. This liberation movement must be tempered in faith and based on the original missions of the institutions in question. It must be launched with the understanding that even should the institution not survive after the liberation, it is better to die free than to exist in bondage as the perpetual beggar. The entire college community must be involved and in the forefront must be the institution’s alumni.
The alumni will play the most important role in a movement of this magnitude. Their collective finances and individual professional expertise and experiences will be needed to surmount a successful and sustainable campaign. The process is simple enough and is given to us by our slave forefathers. Ask “massuh” to put a price on your freedom; then purchase it. It’s that simple. If the state argues that you are a financial burden and must be eliminated either through merger, demotion, or outright closure, ask them to put a price on your freedom. And in doing so, you untangle the kinky mind and can rejoice in the fact that we…WE truly have overcome and “…stand at last, where the white beam of our bright star is cast.”
Gramblinites, the hill do not yet ring with victory's song. Our greatest days are not behind us; we are ". . .facing the the rising sun of our new day begun. . ." Gramblinites, let us stand up together and get our house in order.