Pan African Studies 300OL

“Contemporary Issues in the African American Community”

Pan African Studies Department

California State University, Northridge

2004-2005AY

Ticket No. 13248 Johnie H. Scott, M.A., M.F.A.

Time: Arranged Associate Professor

Online Course FOB Room 210

Fall Semester, 2004/2005 (818) 677-2289

3 Units, General Education Office Hours: By Arrangement

Comparative Cultural Studies; Email

Section B/Multicultural Requirement

For Credential Candidates, F3, 97

Professor Scott's "Safe Haven" Homepage

Description:

Prerequisite – Completion of the Lower-Division writing requirement. An in-depth exploration of the social, political, cultural and economic issues in the African American community accomplished through the Distance Learning methodology. Provides insight on the extent to which these issues affect the Black individual and family in their interaction with the majority American society. This particular Pan African Studies section offering of “Contemporary Issues in the African American Community” makes extensive use of the latest cutting edge information technology (i.e., the Internet, email, WebCT, and various software applications) and is student-centered with a Computer Information systems-driven format..

Textbooks:

Required:

1) Correspondents of the New York Times, Joseph Lelyveld, ed., How Race Is Lived in America: Pulling Together, Pulling Apart, Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, New York, NY:2001;

2) Cose, Ellis, The Envy of the World: On Being A Black Man in America, Washington Square Press, New York, NY:2002;

3) Mosley, Walter, et al, Black Genius: African American Solutions to African American Problems , W.W. Norton, New York, NY/1999;

4) Smitherman, Geneva, talking that talk: Language, Culture and Education in African America, Routledge Publishers, London and New York, First published 1999, reprinted 2001; and

5) Sokolove, Michael, The Ticket Out: Daryl Strawberry and the Boys of Crenshaw, Simon and Schuster Publishers, New York, NY:2004.

Strongly Recommended:

6) Gibaldi, Joseph, The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers/Sixth Edition, published by the Modern Language Assn. Of America, New York/NY:1995; and

7) Hallinan, Joseph, Going Up the River: Travels in a Prison Nation, Random House, New York/NY:2001.

Important Note:

Books for this course can be ordered for express delivery from the CSUN Matador Bookstore – (818) 677-2913 -- located on the Northridge campus. Those supplemental readings listed for either the Los Angeles Times or LA Weekly can be obtained by visiting the WWW websites of the publications, going to the “Archives” for each newspapers and entering the title(s) of the articles, then retrieving the same (Note that for the Los Angeles Times, articles older than 14 days may be obtained for a nominal sum payable to the newspaper – Professor Scott)

Requirements:

First of all is that every student enrolling in this course must have direct access to a PC at all times. This includes making provision for access to backup PCs in the event that the one a student may own is not functioning. In this class (and similar Distance Learning classes where the primary instrument is the information technology), there is a ZERO TOLERANCE policy for “late” submissions;

Each week begins with “Word Up!” – an in-depth observation by the course professor on an issue of importance to Black America drawn from the syndicated column “Not On My Watch” written by the professor and published in The WAVE Newspapers with this being the oldest and largest African-American owned-and-operated newspaper in the western United States. All students are required to read these columns which set the tone and theme each week for the course. Those statements are found as links for each week of the course and are directly accessible to the students as they go to the course syllabus. These are to be treated with the same seriousness and reference as the required textbooks for the course as they are, in effect, the “course lectures” by the professor.

Lastly, students are given ample time to complete the assignments provided they practice good time and study area management. Distance learning courses require the type of student who is highly independent and self-motivated. That observation is certainly true for this course. The student will make note that the course grows out of a special program designed by California State University, Northridge which has enabled this professor to be part of a core faculty group at the campus in being the first to provide online courses to the general student body with this representing the first such course offered by the Pan African Studies Department. In that respect, it also constitutes the first online course offered in the nation by a Pan African Studies Department.

Pulitzer Prize was awarded to New York Times' correspondents for series How Race Is Lived In America: Pulling Together, Pulling Apart, that now serves as one of lead texts for PAS 300 Contemporary Issues in the African American Community.

a) Examinations: there are the Midterm and Final Course Examinations. Both are essay-format. For the Midterm, students respond to a series of questions posted on-line by the instructor that are based upon the essays in the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times collection How Race Is Lived In America: Pulling Together, Pulling Apart, Walter Mosley’s Black Genius and Geneva Smitherman’s seminal work talking that talk:Laguage, Culture and Education In African America along with the feature films and documentaries viewed as part of class instruction, supplemental readings and the Word Up! Weekly lectures by the course instructor. Students will have two weeks in which to complete the Midterm Examination while answering the questions. The Midterm Examination is to be written using large Blue Books and then either (a) brought to the PAS Department Main Office at CSUN in the Faculty Office Building, Room 221, by the prescribed deadline or (b) sent via the US Post Office Overnight Express Mail or through a carrier (e.g., Federal Express, UPS) with the student making certain that, in any case, the examination has the deadline postmarked as no “late” examinations will be accepted – No exceptions! The Final Examination is an Exit Essay comprised of one question posted to the class on email. Students, in responding, must use Microsoft Word and send the Exit Essay back as an attachment. The Exit is posted for 12 hours in which time the student is to respond, submitting by the stated deadline. No “late” exit essay exams will be accepted for grading. The two examinations are averaged together in establishing the first primary grade component;

b) Film Evaluations: Each student must have an email address and computer access. This access is crucial in that a key component of this Pan African Studies “Contemporary Issues” class are a combination of feature films and documentaries that students view and then post formal evaluations on. The film evaluations are sent via email to the instructor at the time noted in the syllabus or directed by the instructor. These evaluations are based upon videotapes of feature films and documentaries available at major video rental outlets (i.e., Blockbuster, Tower, etcetera) viewed by the student at the instructor’s direction. Those videos available in the Oviatt Library’s Instructional Media Center at Northridge have been identified for students in the San Fernando Valley who might want to view said videos on-campus at their discretion. The evaluations of these films and documentaries are to be no less than 500 words in length while adhering to the format specified by the course instructor. No “late” evaluations are accepted for grading. To qualify for an “Honor” grade of “A-“ or higher, the student must maintain a Film Evaluation average of at least 2.3 or better (No exceptions!). All film evaluations are due as of 6:00pm the following Friday of assignment unless otherwise noted by the course instructor (e.g., the film Black Is, Black Ain’t scheduled for Week 2 is due in evaluation form as of the Tuesday night of Week 3). The film evaluations constitute the second primary grading component for the course;

c) Chat ‘N Chew: Each student is assigned to one of the four “Discussion Rooms” in the Chat ‘N Chew Forum. For the semester, the student participates in this virtual classroom meeting with the course instructor (for the record, each student will be assigned to a specific Chat Room and Topic by the instructor in assuring opportunity for dialogic interchange with other class members ). Each Chat ‘n Chew Forum runs for 90 minutes and participation is mandatory. All students enrolled are expected to participate in these Forums in responding to the issues being put forth. It is expected that students will have completed any necessary reading and/or viewing of films prior to the actual discussions. The student receives up to 4.0 points for participating in these discussion, for a total possible 4.0 points maximum (Read: 4.0 points is equivalent to an “A” for with Chat ‘N Chew representing the third primary grade component. The instructor’s assessment of points will be based on the seriousness, reflection and quality of the student participation;

d) Rap Time (Bulletin Board): For each week of the course up through “Review Week,” students will have the opportunity to “rap” with one another in this setting which is much like a Chat Room. The exception is that the instructor will post one topic each week taken from today’s headlines where Black American is concerned for dialogue that the students in the course can respond directly to. “Rap Time” provides the student with an opportunity to post a first response to a discussion prompt provided by the course instructor with several of these drawn from the class having read Black Genius, How Race Is Lived In America or talking that talk. This first posting in direct response to the course instructor’s question is valued at up to 2.0 points. The student then receives up to 1.0 points per reply to the postings made on the same prompt by two other students for a total of 4.0 points per “Rap Time.” There are four (4) of these “Rap Times” sessions during the term. Student have three full weeks per Rap Time in which to give their own best thinking on a given issue. Rap Time constitutes the fourth primary grade component in the course; and lastly

Time Magazine's Ellis Cose has just written and published The Envy of the World: On Being A Black Man In America (2002), with the book becoming the #1 bestseller on Essence Magazine's booklist. Cose's book is the focal point for the PAS 300 Case Study.

e) Contemporary Issues Case Study: This is the one formal writing assignment. The student develops a topic based on reading and research related to Ellis Cose’s The Envy of the World: On Being A Black Man in America and Michael Sokolove’s The Ticket Out: Daryl Strawberry and the Boys of Crenshaw in comparison/contrast to the issues raised in Joseph Hallinan’s Going Up The River: Travels in a Prison Nation. The Case Study is to be at least 2,000 typewritten words, double-spaced and written according to Modern Language Association guidelines. It is to contain no less than 15 citations done according to MLA guidelines and have a “Works Cited” section with no less than five references including the aforementioned three texts. It is required that one of those references be that of the work done by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit The Sentencing Project. Make special note that any references (i.e., critical reviews, feature articles, etcetera) taken from the Internet must be of “Peer Review” caliber. The Case Study represents the fifth and final grade factor for the course.

Grading Scale:

Grading for the course is on a “Plus-Minus” basis as described in the 2002-2004 CSUN Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogue. The final grade is based upon the cumulative grade point averaged derived from the four (4) aforementioned primary grade factors. Final grading shall be as follows:

“A” = 3.7-4.0;

“A-“ = 3.5-3.69;

“B+” = 3.3-3.49;

“B” = 3.0-3.29;

“B-“ = 2.7-2.99;

“C+” = 2.3-2.69;

“C” = 2.0-2.29;

“C-“ = 1.7-1.99;

“D+” = 1.3-1.69;

“D” = 1.0-1.29;

“D-“ = .7-.99;

and

“Fail” = 0.0-.69.

The grade of “Incomplete” shall only be issued to those students doing passing work (i.e., “C” or better) who are forced due to circumstances beyond their control – and subject to full documentation – miss submitting the Final Examination and/or Case Study.

Course Schedule

“The problem of the 20^th century will be the problem of the color line.”

-- W.E.B. DuBois

From The Souls of Black Folks

Heroic leaders like Gloria Richardson in Cambridge, Maryland facing off National Guardsmen while asserting the civil rights of not only herself but the entire blackcommunity are what signalled the dawning of a new era of consciousness not only for Black America, but the nation and this is what has set the table for the myriad of issues confronting the Untied States today.

Week One Praxis: “Don’t Talk About It, Be About It!”

This PAS 300 Contemporary Issues in the Black Community section goes directly into the urban core of Los Angeles to look at the lives of the young men making up the 1979 Crenshaw High School baseball team headed by future major leaguers Daryl Strawberry and Chris Brown as researched by writer Michael Sokolove. Sokolove's book, The Ticket Out: Daryl Strawberry and the Boys of Crenshaw (2004), provides opportunity to explore what is really taking place with the current generation of young black Americans and their families.

· Theme: “Praxis: From Talkin’ the Talk to Walkin’ the Walk”

· Word Up! – “A Message to Generations Yet Unborn: Black America at the Turn of the 21^st Century” (WAVE Newspapers, December 29, 1999)

· Reading: Prologue and Chapter 1, “Paradise,” from The Ticket Out; and the “Introduction: ‘The Intent of Black Genius’” by Walter Mosley , pgs. 7-12 from Black Genius.

Week Two Black AIDS

· Theme: “AIDS – the Undeclared War on People of Color”

This is a picture of a young HIV-positive mother of three in Tanzania. She learned that she was HIV-positive whenshe delivered her youngest child, now three years old, who was born with the HIV virus. Her husband abandoned her and their children, the older two of whom are no tinfected with HIV. More about HIV and AIDS in African can be found at http://www.avert.org/aidsinafrica.htm.

· Word Up! – “AIDS – The Undeclared War on the Poor” (WAVE Newspapers, May 24, 2000)

· Documentary: Black Is, Black Ain’t (1994, A Marlon Riggs Film – Title available for viewing at Oviatt Library’s IML)

· Reading: : “Black AIDS: ‘Our People, Our Problem, Our Solution’ by Sara Catania, from LA Weekly, June 1-7, 2001; “Losing Dorothy: If You’re Black and Poor in L.A., Silence Still Equals Death” by Sara Catania, LA Weekly, June 1-7, 2001; “The New Face of AIDS: Residents of Carl Bean House, Los Angeles, Winter 2001,” photographs by Anne Fishbein, LA Weekly, June 1-7, 2001 and “Sunday Report: Life Is Forever Altered as an Epidemic Turns 20” by Mary McNamara, LA Times, June 3, 2001; “AIDS After 20 Years: Hope for Vaccine Rises, but So Do Fears of More Infections” by Rosie Mestel, LA Times, June 4, 2001; “An Appreciation: The Heavy Hand of AIDS” by Mary McNamara, LA Times, June 5, 2001 (Supplements: Students to obtain articles by visiting the websites for these respective newspapers – Professor Scott); “Introduction,” pgs. ix-xix, from How Race Is Lived In America; Chapter 2, “Go West, Then Keep On Going,” from The Ticket Out.

· Rap Time #1: “My FirstAwarenessof Race and Racism” (Opens Thursday, September 2nd and runs through Thursday, September 23rd for postings)

Week Three Sankofa: “Return to the Source”

· Theme: “’I Ain’t African!’: Searching for Identity”

The branding of slaves is just one small facet of the Transatlantic Slave Trade which lasted four centuries with the campaign for Reparations bringing peoples from throughout the African Diaspora together in a major human rights movement. Haile Gerima's feature film Sankofa stands as the best treatment of the Middle Passage extant, far moreso than Stephen Spielberg's more widely-touted and funded Amistad.

· Word Up! – “I Am a War Baby” (WAVE Newspapers, January 12, 2000)

· File Evaluation #1 Due – Black Is, Black Ain’t (By or before Friday, 6:00pm)

· Reading: Chapter 1, “Shared Prayers, Mixed Blessing,” from How Race Is Lived In America; Chapter 3, “Crenshaw,” from The Ticket Out; and “Educating on Behalf of Black Public Health” by Jocelyn Elders, M.D., pgs. 173-192 from Black Genius.

· Film: Sankofa (Mypheduh Films, Produced and directed by Haile Gerima – Title available for viewing at Oviatt Library’s IML; Sankofa email)

Week Four Some Call It “The Criminal (In)Justice System”

· Theme: “Racial Profiling!: Driving While Black aka DWB’”

· Word Up! – “Why Racial Profiling Must Be Brought to an End” (WAVE Newspapers, February 9, 2000)

· Film Evaluation #2 Due - Sankofa (By or before Friday, 6:00pm)

· Reading: Chapter 2, “Best of Friends, Worlds Apart” and Chapter 3, “Which Man’s Army?” from How Race Is Lived In America; Chapter 4, “No Way We Lose” from The Ticket Out; and “Prison Abolition” by Angela Davis , from Black Genius.

· Film: Murder On A Sunday Morning (2002)

· Chat 'N Chew #1: "New Millennium Holocaust: Black AIDS"(Every student to have completed reading from Week 2 in joining this first "live" online class forum on Saturday, September 18th)

Racial profiling is shown for what it truly is in the Academy Award-winning "Best Feature Documentary" Murder On A Sunday Morning (2002).

Week Five The Traditional Black Family: Pre-1970s

· Theme: “Movin’ Up in the World, or Not?”

· Word Up! – “Do the Math!: The Playing Field Is Not Level” (WAVE Newspapers, February 16, 2000)

· Film Evaluation #3 Due – Murder On A Sunday Morning (By or before Friday, 6:00pm)

· Reading: Chapter 4, Who Gets to Tell a Black Story?” by Janny Scott from How Race Is Lived in America ; Chapter 5, “Chasing Daryl” from The Ticket Out; and “As Serious as First Love: Building Black Independent Institutions” by Haki Madhubuti aka Don Lee , pgs. 51-88 from Black Genius.

Black playwright Lorraine Hansberry's Raisin in the Sun is widely considered a classic commentary on the struggles of the Post-WW II Black family in America.

· Feature: A Raisin in the Sun (1961, starring Sidney Poitier – Title available for viewing at Oviatt Library’s IML)

· Rap Time No. 2: “The Vanishing Black Family”

“That is our dilemma. After the dreaming is done, there has to

be an awakening, and the reality of our imperfections must be

addressed. Sooner or later the dreams that enrapture us and

the tales that regale us must make way for the truth which alone

can set us free. All of us.”

-- C. Eric Lincoln

From “The American Dilemma in Perspective,”

Race, Religion and the Continuing American Dilemma

Week Six Broken Promises, Broken Vessels: Of the Public Schools and Black Children

One of the most incredible, upfront and upclose looks at education taking place in inner cities is the 1992 Academy Award-winning "Best Documentary Feature" made in the North Philadelphia ghetto, I Am A Promise: The Children of Stanton Street which would also earn the 1993 Emmy Award for Outstanding Information Feature.

· Theme: “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste!”

· Word Up! – “We Won’t Abandon Our Neighborhoods or Schools!” (WAVE Newspapers, April 19, 2000)

· Film Evaluation #4 Due – A Raisin in the Sun (By or before Friday, 6:00pm)

· Reading: Chapter 5, “A Limited Partnership” by Amy Harmon, pgs. 78-95 from How Race Is Lived in America; Chapter 6, “Leaving L.A.” from The Ticket Out; and “Dealing to Do Doable Films: Life as a Very Independent Filmmaker” by Spike Lee , pgs. 15-31 from Black Genius.

· Documentary: I Am A Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary (1998, Produced and Directed by Susan and Alan Raymond – Title available for viewing at Oviatt Library’s IML)

Week Seven A Fight to the Bitter End: The King/Drew Medical Center Controversy

Nominated for an Academy Award, 4 Little Girls is Spike Lee's poignant, heartfelt look at the infamous terrorist 1963 bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church resulting in deaths of four little black girls.

· Theme: “The Black Church: From Safe Haven to State of Siege”

· Word Up! – “When Is It Ever the Right Place, Right Time?” (WAVE Newspapers, July 5, 2000)

· Film Evaluation #5 Due – I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary (By or before Friday, 6:00pm)

· Reading: Chapter 7, “Called Out On Strikes,” from The Ticket Out; Chapter 4, “Who Gets To Tell A Black Story?” by Janny Scott from How Race Is Lived In America; and “Giving Back” by Walter Mosley , pgs. 33-49 from Black Genius.

· Feature Film: Four Little Girls (1998 Academy Award-Nominee for Best Feature Documentary, A Spike Lee Joint)

· Chat 'N Chew #2: "In the Line of Fire!: The Martin Luther King Jr./Charles R. Drew Medical Center in South Los Angeles is Under Heavy Siege" (Note: As the prerequisite for this "Real Time" Discussion scheduled for Saturday from 3:00pm-4:30pm, students beforehand are to visit, read the Los Angeles Times' article on thratened closure of the Trauma Center at King/Drew that was first published on September 14, 2004 in also noting the April 27, 2000, article by LA Times staff writers Nicolas Raccardi and Terence Monmaney on suspension of King/Drew Medical Center research activities and LA Weekly writer Erin Aubry Kaplan's article titled "What Is Lillian Mobley Fighting For?" )

With more than 2,000 employees, the Martin Luther King, Jr./Charles R. Drew Medical Center stands as the largest single employee in South Los Angeles. The struggle for control over the Medical Center is shaking the very foundations of the political power structure for the entire city with implications that range from the health care needs of the medically underserved to who willbe controlling the education of future generations of minoryt health providers for Southern California.

Week Eight “Who’s That Knocking at the Door?: The Midnight Caller

· Theme: “The Ultimate 'Hoop Dream': What Happens When A Black Boy Places All His Dreams Into Becoming a Professional Athlete?"

Not just another movie about basketball, and certainly not to be confuse with Love and Basketball, the acclaimed documentary Hoop Dreams comes straight at you with the harsh realities of young black men striving to fulfill their dreams on the basketball courts of inner-city America as The Ticket Out.

· Word Up! – “A Knocking at Midnight: Who Will Answer the Door” (WAVE Newspapers, February 9, 2000)

· Film Evaluation #6 Due – Four Little Girls (By or before Friday, 6:00pm)

· Midterm Examination (To be posted on Monday as of 7:00pm)

· Screening: Hoop Dreams (1994, A film by Steve James, Frederick Marx and Peter Gilbert. To be obtained at your local video store)

· Rap Time #2 Closes (Thursday, October 14th as of 9:00pm)

· Reading: Chapter 8, “The Good Stuff,” from The Ticket Out; Chapter 7, “When to Campaign with Color” by Timothy Egan and Chapter 8, “Reaping What Was Sown on the Old Plantation” by Ginger Thompson, pgs. 114-149 from How Race Is Lived in America and “Get On-Line!” by George Curry , pgs. 87-105 from Black Genius.

Week Nine Of America’s Most Enduring Controversy: Black Men, White Women

Spike Lee's film Jungle Fever starring Wesley Snipes delved into the deep subconscious of America in probing the racial xenophobia surrounding interracial relationships.

· Theme: “Black Men, White Women”

· Word Up! – “There Is a Lesson in ‘Children of Stanton Street’” (WAVE Newspapers, March 15, 2000)

· Film Evaluation #7 Due (Hoop Dreams , by or before Saturday, 6:00pm)

· Reading: Chapter 9, “Family,” from The Ticket Out; Chapter 11, “Minority Quarterback” by Ira Berkow and Chapter 12, “Guarding the Borders of the Hip-Hop Nation” by N.R. Kleinfield, pgs.180-228 from How Race Is Lived in America and “Holding the Media Accountable” by Farai Chideya , pgs. 215-244 from Black Genius.

· Feature Film: Jungle Fever (1991, A Spike Lee Joint)

· Rap Time #3: “No Longer a Safe Haven: The Endangered Schoolyard” (The prerequisite for participating in this “Rap Time” will be all students having downloaded and read report Crime and Violence in the Schools: Final Report by the National Center for Education Statistics)

Week Ten Homophobia and Black America

· Theme: “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve! The Untold Strictures Concerning Black Homosexuality”

Among the most taboo of issues in Black America, one that has been kept in the closet no matter what might be happening in mainstream America revolving around gays and lesbians, is homophobia and Blind Faith affords a powerful look at the effects of this on one black aspiring middle-class family whose stability is shaken when the son is arrested and placed on trial for murder in self-defense.

· Word Up! – “Flashback: Reflections on Bullworth and Presidential Politics 2000” (WAVE Newspapers, April 5, 2000)

· Midterm Examination Due (As of 5:00pm, Wednesday, October 27th, in the Pan African Studies Main Office or postmarked accordingly to show the same date and delivered via USPO or similar mail carrier)

· Film Evaluation #8 Due – Jungle Fever (By or before Friday, 6:00pm)

· Feature Film: Blind Faith (1998, A Showtime Third Row Center Film produced by Nick Grillo and directed by Ernest Dickerson. Obtain this at your local video outlet)

· Reading: Chapter 13, “Why Harlem Drug Cops Don’t Discuss Race” by Michael Winerip and Chapter 14, “Bricks, Mortar and Coalition Building” by Mireya Navarro, pgs. 230-267 from How Race Is Lived in America and “Public Lives, Private Selves: Toward an Open Conversation” by Anna Deavere Smith , pgs. 269-290 from Black Genius.

Week Eleven The Fire This Time

· Theme: “Can't we just all get along?” – Rodney King, quoted during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots

It would be farcical to develop a course focused on contemporary issues in the African American community without referring to Spike Lee's seminal look at an urban community in Do The Right Thing (1989), this being the motion picture that arguably projected Lee among the front ranks of the world's controversial, thoughtful film directors.

· Word Up! – “Of Failing Schools and Spin Doctors” (WAVE Newspapers, November 29, 2000)

· Film Evaluation #9 Due – Blind Faith

(By or before Friday, 6:00pm)

· Reading: “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One-Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation” by James Baldwin first published in The Progressive, December 1962 and published by the Dial Press, 1963 in The Fire Next Time; Chapter 5, “A New Way of Talkin’”: Language, Social Change and Political Theory” from talking that talk; Chapter 16, “Removing the Filter: Unmediated Conversations About Race,” pgs. 285-301 from How Race Is Lived in America; and

· Feature Film: Do The Right Thing (1989, A Spike Lee Joint)

Week Twelve “No Justice, No Peace!”

· Theme: “Black America and the Criminal Justice System: ‘No Justice, No Peace!’”

The very sensitive issue of police corruption exploded allover Los Angeles with the Ramparts Division Scandal and feature film Training Day finds noted Black actor Denzell Washington receiving Academy Award forhis portrayal of a crooked undercover LAPD vice officer.

· Word Up! – “Reflections on the LAPD’s Rampart Scandal” (WAVE Newspapers, March 22, 2000)

· Film Evaluation #10 Due – Do the Right Thing (By or before 6:00pm, Friday)

· Film: Training Day (2001, Produced and Directed by Antoine Fuqua with Denzell Washington, Warner Brothers Pictures. Obtain this at your local video store outlet)

· Reading: Chapter 7, “English Teacher, Why You Be Doing the Thangs You Don’t Do?” and Chapter 8, “Ebonics, King, and Oakland: Some Folk Don’t Believe Fat Meat Is Greasy” from talkin that talk; Chapter 18, “Knowing Your Subject, Knowing Yourself: Journals from Writers and Photographers,” pgs. 317-363 from How Race Is Lived in America and “Wall Street, Main Street, and the Side Street” by Julianne Malveaux, pgs. 145-171 from Black Genius.

· Final Rap Time #4: “Repaying the Debt: The Case for Reparations in Regards to Black America” (For see, download speech “The Debt” )

Week Thirteen When A Million Black Men Marched

The whole world was watching, mesmerized as it were, as Nation of Islam leader the Honorable Louis Farrakhan successfully called for the Million Man March on Washington to set the stage for what he would refer to as a necessary "Atonement" by Black men to the Black nation.

· Theme: “In the Matter of the Million Man March”

· Word Up! – “Body Counts, ‘Walk-Ups’ and the NRA” (WAVE Newspapers , April 12, 2000)

· Film Evaluation #11 Due – Training Day (By or before Friday, 6:00pm)

· Film: Get On The Bus (1996, Columbia Pictures, Produced and directed by Spike Lee)

· Reading: Chapter 13, “Makin’ a Way Outa No Way”: The Proverb Tradition in the Black Experience” from talking that talk; Appendix, “The New York Times Poll on Race: Optimistic Outlook But Enduring Racial Division,” pgs. 365-394 from How Race Is Lived in America and “Straighten Up and Fly Right: An Improvisation on the Podium” by Stanley Crouch , pgs. 245-268 from Black Genius.

· Chat 'N Chew #3: "Ebonics Revisited: Or the Inside Story on America's Failure in the Education of African American Kids in Inner-City Schools" (Note: Prerequisites for this Discussion Forum will be students having read essay "My Dungeon Shook" and/or Chapter 4, "Discriminatory Discourse On African American Speech" from talkin that talk with this Discussion for Saturday, 3:00pm-4:30pm)

Week Fourteen Reparations and Black America

· Theme: “I want my 40 acres and my mule! ”

More and more African Americans are joing ranks of those insistent upon reparations for the Transatlantic Slave Trade, particularly in the United States, in an movement that now has reached the floors of the U.S. Congress. This handbill from a Mississippi slave auction is just one reminder fromthat horrific chapter in American history that still has yet to be properly treated in America's schoolhouses.

· Word Up! – “The Things We Have in Common” (WAVE Newspapers, May 3, 2000)

· Film Evaluation #12 Due – Get On The Bus (By or before Friday, 6:00pm)

· Screening: Higher Learning (1995 with the note that you may want to give your local video outlet a two week advance notice to order the movie for you)

· Reading: “Blood Money or Money and Bloods” by Melvin Van Peebles, pgs. 107-123 from Black Genius and “Simple Living: An Antidote to Hedonistic Materialism” by bell hooks , pgs. 125-144 from Black Genius.

Week 15 Urban Black Men: Street Soldiers or POWs?

Of the many issues being explored, debated, pondered upon in this class, perhaps none strikes so close to home as the internecine warfare among Black males that have converted so many cities into urban warzones where the lives claimed by gang warfare now numbers in the thousands. That is one of the reasons why individuals such as Stanley "Tookie" Williams are being listened to for the message they have to offer. One has to consider the significance of how a black can move from the mean streets of Southcentral Los Angeles to Death Row and thenbe nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

· Theme: “Black America Today”

· Word Up! – “The Fire This Time” (reprinted from The Stanford Magazine, 1994 CASE Silver Medal Award for “Best Feature Story”)

· Final Film Evaluation #13 Due – Higher Learning (As of 6:00pm, Friday)

· Screening: Redemption (2004, starring Jamie Foxx as Stanley “Tookie” Williams, co-founder of the Crips streetgang/Death Row inmate and Nobel Peace Prize nominee)

· Reading: Chapter 17, “The Mis-Education of the Negro – and You, Too,” and Chapter 21, “Black English: So Good It’s ‘Bad’” from talking that talk; and “Perfecting Our Democracy for the Benefit of the Black World” by Randall Robinson , pgs. 291-311 from Black Genius.

· Final Chat ‘N Chew #4: “The Urban Black Male: Street Soldier, Prisoner of War, or Tomorrow’s Hope?” (Note: Having completed viewing of Redemption starring Jamie Foxx as Stanley “Tookie” Williams is the prerequisite for participation in this Discussion Platform scheduled for Saturday, 3:00pm-4:30pm)

Week Sixteen The Last Word

“We should heed (George) Orwell’s words in the discussions

of Black English. The grim naysayers of black potential are

the ones whose language is most opprobrious. Those folk who

denigrate Black English without trying to understand it speak

in bad faith. Those political critics who obfuscate their role

in the economic suffering of the black ghetto with political

chicanery are the real trouble. And those financially secure

black folk who demean the users of Black English without

working to get them better jobs, or to make sure that the

future of the country’s poorest black children is as bright

as their own children’s, speak a language of moral hypocrisy.

If all of this is standard, then perhaps we should give

Non-standard a try.”

-- Michael Eric Dyson

-- From Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line, 1997

· Theme: “And We Still Rise: The Many Faces of Today’s Black Woman”

· Contemporary Issues Exit Essay Examination (Posted Wednesday morning at 11:00am and due as of that Wednesday night, 11:00pm – to be sent as Microsoft Word attachment only!!)

· Contemporary Issues Case Study Due (Hard copy due in Pan African Studies Main Office, Faculty Office Building Room 221, postmarked by or before Friday, 4:30pm)

The cartoon says it all in describing plight of young Black men in America today and focus on the class in final weeks on what can be done to highlight and address the issues.