BLACK STUDENTS UNIONS (11/15/07)
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It was at San Francisco State the most unlikely of all places that one revolt led to another and the Black Student Union was formed in the 1960s. Over the years San Francisco State and its Black Student Union had tried to live up to the years of glory with little enthusiasm. They must be proud to be the home of Black Ethnic Studies Department.
Recently as part of a growing movement to address some critical yet pertinent changes in San Francisco linked to de-population, gentrification, discrimination, and a planned total wipe- out of the Black community in San Francisco - I visited the Black Students Union at San Francisco State University with some of my colleagues with the Movement I am involved with - to meet the present generation of Black students in the presence of their esteemed Black Professors. Much water has flown through the river from the early 1960's to today - and soon we will be heading towards a new year - 2008 - with not much change but further hurdles for the survival of the Black community in San Francisco and Black students in our colleges and universities losing hope and feeling like zombies. We do really know what happened in the Fillmore now called Western Addition with San Francisco Redevelopment Agency wiping out an entire Black community - sending thousands of Blacks to live in Single Residential Occupancy (SROs) hotels - and taking over their homes using Eminent Domain. Most died falling prey to poverty and drugs. Today - on the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency (SFRA) Commission - we have Covington a Black and Chair of the SFRA Commission, London Breed, and Leroy King - all Blacks and each and everyone of them a total - sell out. They have NOT stood for our Black community and the dying Black and other children, Elders, and those with compromised health with any Project Area - in this case Bayview Hunters Point and particularly Parcel A on Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Lennar BVHP LLC leader on Parcel A hails from Ghana - Kofi Bonner. I call him a weasel and he is a shame to all Africans - I hail from Kenya. These fake Blacks on the SFRA have favored a rogue company Lennar BVHP LLC and have with intent worked with Mayor Gavin Newsom, the Mayor's Office of Economic Development and Work Force and its Director, Jesse Blout to adversely impact the mostly Black community in the Bayview Hunters Point. Our Movement will deal with the issues one at a time. These fake Blacks on the SFRA and the other paid sell outs all Blacks - have failed their community and failed to stand up for what is right. The White Community and corrupt forces like the Blums, the Feinsteins, the Shoresteins, the Fishers, and the Pelosis have used these House Negroes - on the SFRA Commission - to do their bidding. No one has the guts to tell these folks to their faces that they are a disgrace to the human race and more because they are sell-out Blacks. Of course the visit to the SF State Black Students Union was an eye opener to me - most of the students had no concrete idea about the past and a convoluted idea of what really is happening at ground zero where most Blacks live in San Francisco. Our I-Pod generation seems to be floating some where, there - in zoobie, zoobie land. I tried to pry into the minds of the students to see if I could fathom and come to some understanding about the situation at Bayview Hunters Point and the on going issues that adversely impact the community at large - the Black community in particular all over San Francisco and the extended Bay Area. The answers to my questions were vague and in the vague answers I realized the damage done to our budding Black students by the forces to be. Our Black students are "in" with the norm and the norm does not have the Black students in mind. The "norm" does everything to make the Black students feel inferior - as a result they are far removed from happenings linked to Black contemporary, evolving Culture and anything of importance that they should really be interested in and involved in that happens in most Black communities. It is our colleges and universities - these centers of learning and molding of values and character - should really take the role with the students and help the community be it Black or other wise. But as the years go by - the forces that be - make it more difficult for students of color to attended colleges and universities less cater to the shaping of individuals that should be proud of their culture. How many Blacks can really stand up and be proud they are Black and then explain in concrete terms their history and contribution to the world? More Black men are incarcerated in today's world and Black women as with past history are taking a leading role to keep things normal - and wondering where have all the fine, intellectual - Brothers gone? Most Black families are infected with the "norm" virus and hardly anyone is paying attention. Time will tell. Some of us are attempting to change the dynamics and with a few talented and visionary Black Professors, Black Advocates can Mau Mau the process for the good of humanity and the Universe. This after all is San Francisco. |
