The Drum
February
2006
The Drum
February
2006
Office
of Multicultural Affairs/International Student Services Newsletter
¿
Amberly R. Carter, Editor
Guest Speaker to Address Race Relations After Hurricane Katrina
You
Know What I’m Sayin’: Blurred Reality
Erica Melton (2005 Alumna)
I was sixteen years of age when I was first able to
see myself. Despite having a very
blurry vision for as far back as I could recall, I ignored the handicap until my
trigonometry instructor ordered me to see an optometrist.
She could no longer endure the interruptions to her class with my
questions because of my lacking vision. To
avoid the consequences of failure, I took heed of her advice and sought help.
After being forced through the doctor’s clicking of
the lenses and inquiries of, “A or B,” I at last was appointed a remedy.
I was handed the huge, Medicaid glasses and tried them on for the formal
fitting. “Ummhmm,” the doctor
grumbled, “that will be all” and that was it.
He took no joy in my newfound sight and I was left alone with my mother
to discuss the feeling. “How is it?” she asked.
“Interesting,” I replied. As
soon as we arrived home, I rushed into the restroom on the first level of my
home, closed the door, locked it, and turned on the lights.
I then erupted into tears…
This story may seem odd to some.
After all, your vision may have been intact for years or you may have had
the forethought or encouragement to correct your vision early in life.
However, I ignored the straining and the headaches for many years
attempting to see past this deficiency. It
was not until that day that I took accountability for my own problem. It was on that date that I allowed myself to be whole.
The same rationale for my tears at that moment is the
same reason that I can swell with pride during Black History Month every year.
After sixteen years of seeing myself through broken, unclear, uncorrected
sight, I realized that I had never known me.
Years had gone by without having an accurate depiction of who I was.
Many African-Americans endure this same distortion of their reality due
to lacking information of their African ancestry. The sporadic commentary in U.S. History texts of the Black
Experience and its impact on American society is our cultural astigmatism, a
visual defect that must be remedied.
We must embrace the spirit of Sankofa, looking back
in order to move forward. If you
fail to look back, you are not progressing but rather blindly relocating.
It is of no resolve to continue the strain of viewing only pieces of your
reality, but additionally, supplement the historical accounts offered by your
educational institution with oral histories of your ancestors.
Read beyond the blurb about the Harlem Renaissance from class textbooks
and actually read the poetry of Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Zora Neale
Hurston. Take pride in not only “I Have a Dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr., but also examine the famous “Letters from a Birmingham Jail” as well as
his other speeches and books.
The collegiate education experience equips you with
tools to delve deeper and direct your own learning. I encourage you to utilize these tools to correct your
personal cultural lenses.
Hello, Salaam, Osiyo, Maakye, Shalom, Hola.
It is only fitting that my first contribution to The Drum, since becoming the Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs/International Student Services (OMA/ISS), be used as an opportunity to greet the Millikin University community. As is the tradition of my culture, when introducing one’s self, it is required to give your birth name. I will begin by introducing myself as Kwabena Bempah Tandoh. You are welcome to call me KB should you choose, but I am obligated to introduce myself with my given name. A little history about my name, which is Asante (Akan) in origin: Kwabena is “Tuesday’s Child,” Bempah is a “Great Man” and Tandoh is my family name. Yes, every Akan boy born on Tuesday is named Kwabena and that is why we introduce ourselves with our middle names, which makes individuals unique. Each one of us is unique, each one of us has a story and it is my hope that we will have an opportunity as a community to exchange and experience the unique fabric that we all bring to Millikin.
There is the saying, “New king, new rules,” and in this spirit I will discuss my vision for the OMA/ISS and entire University community. It is my vision that the OMA/ISS will become a center where all students, faculty, staff and University administrators come to explore, contribute to, and experience the diversity that we have on our campus. I encourage you to engage in dialogue that promotes diversity in your offices, classrooms and residence halls. We are all students and educators and we have a wealth of information and experiences that others can benefit from, if we take a moment to share.
In the coming months, there will be communication coming out of the OMA/ISS. I request that you take a moment to review and respond to this correspondence when appropriate. I will also take this opportunity to persuade you to participate in events around campus and become an ambassador of diversity. Remember, each day that goes by is an opportunity for us to learn and grow, but each lost day can never be regained.
Thank You, Medasi, Kankie, Marci, Danke, Shukran, Gracias.
K.B. Tandoh
Director, OMA/ISS
Where
is K.B.?
In the OMA/ISS in lower RTUC:
In the Office of Residence Life (where he continues to serve as Area Coordinator for New Halls/Weck):
You
can also reach K.B. via email at ktandoh@millikin.edu.
He will be honored to hear from you.
Television
Advertising Leads to Obesity
By: Samantha Ready
Scientists believe that television
should influence children under 12 on what they eat. Doctors recommend that we should only eat nutritious food and
advertise it on the cartoons that little kids watch. They want to advertise this
to change the young viewers’ eating habits.
According to www.cnn.com "The
foods advertised are predominantly high in calories and low in nutrition -- the
sort of diet that puts children's long-term health at risk," said J.
Michael
McGinnis.
They have studied this and want to test to see if this has an effect on
obesity. Kids look up to their
shows and sometimes they want what their favorite cartoon characters have.
If they have all this junk food, kids want it too. "The
industry must stop pushing junk food on our kids," Harkin said on www.cnn.com.
In a study of kids from 6 to19, obesity has tripled over the last couple
of years.
People are trying to encourage kids to go outside and get active by
running around, not by sitting in front of a T.V. "Lack of physical
activity is a major problem in childhood obesity. And, in fact, the industry is
heavily involved in special programs to educate parents and children about the
need for good nutrition and physical activity," Snyder said
on www.cnn.com.
They
want to change the young viewers’ eating habits so more kids can live a longer
healthy life.
Guest
Speaker to Address Race Relations After Hurricane Katrina
Dr. Karen Bullock of the University of Connecticut will be the guest speaker at a formal dinner program on Sunday, February 26th in lower RTUC. The Ebony Ball, sponsored by the Black Student Union, will begin with dinner at 7pm and Dr. Bullock's presentation at 8pm. Dancing will follow, from 9pm to midnight.
Karen Bullock has a Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Work from Boston College. She is the Chair of the Black Substantive Area at the University of Connecticut. In addressing the issue of race relations after Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Bullock will give a historical perspective, consider how race and/or racism affected the nation's action or inaction after the catastrophe, and raise the question: Where do we go from here?
The Millikin community is invited to this compelling
presentation. Advance reservations
are required by February 22nd. See
ticket information below.
A
Celebration of Tradition: New Orleans
Dinner:
7pm
Speaker:
8pm, Dr. Karen Bullock
“Race Relations After Hurricane Katrina”
Dancing:
9pm to 12am
·
Students:
$5/Individual or $8/Couple
·
All others: $10/
For more
information, contact BSU@mail.millikin.edu or
call
the Office of Multicultural Affairs at 362-6411.
Got
Beef: Speak Up!
By Kwabena “K.B.” Tandoh
“While
I may think these individuals are, for a lack of a better term, stupid, let us
not forget to see their tremendous guile that comes from generations of abusing
federal and state governments. Let us taxpaying, hurricane-evading, individuals
give a collective tip of the cap to the soggy men and women of New Orleans who
have managed to play the system the way they were raised to maximize their
charitable intakes. The poor victims of Katrina now have more shoes and
Playstation games than a man of my modest means will ever dream of, and they
have Uncle Sam and his big heart to thank for them. God bless you, citizen of
the Chocolate City, you’ve managed to steal donations for your well being and
keep one hand in the federal cookie jar for those days when you feel like using
your own laziness and stupidity as a reason to rake in the cash.
“The
deplorable actions of the citizens of New Orleans are just the tip of the
iceberg when it comes to the Katrina fiasco. The chocolate mayor should’ve
stayed in the city, like a real man and leader would have, and the state
government should’ve been more organized and quicker to realize their role as
the second line of emergency respondents (FEMA is the last to respond). FEMA is
not at fault and hopefully this investigation will yield these obvious facts as
truths in the wake of a natural disaster and prevent this specific kind of human
ignorance and stupidity from rearing its ugly head in a future emergency.”
Quoted above
are the last two paragraphs of an opinion piece in Southern News, a
newspaper for the Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven,
Connecticut. In this article, the
author discusses the haphazard use of the $2000 credit cards distributed by FEMA
to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. While
it is true that some of the usage for this credit was questionable, it is hard
not to notice the condescending nature when referring to the victims of Katrina
as “Chocolate,” “Stupid” and “Poor.”
The author claims earlier in the article that this is not about race, but
I beg to differ on his continuous use of “Chocolate” when referring to the
city and the mayor. There is a
clear undertone by the author as to his frustration with the “Chocolate”
people.
I must say
that anger at the idea of tax dollars being wasted on games and beer should not
be too hard for anyone, even the most flaming of liberals among us, to
understand. We must however, not
forget that when we begin to attack and keep away from each other, we only grow
to hate and fear one other and we miss the true uniqueness of that person.
Let us not forget the historical perspective and how a segment of our
population has been constantly abused and misused by the rich and powerful.
Calling each other condescending names and using “new words” to
describe race will only add gasoline to the fire that we are trying to
extinguish as a collective group.
I challenge
you to SPEAK UP when unfair and unjust attacks are being directed at
anyone regardless of creed, race, religion, sexual identity, sexual orientation
or ethnicity. I think the questions
arise: What is our universal responsibility as human beings?
What is appropriate when expressing our opinion and when do we cross the
line between opinion and mockery? Remember,
inaction is taken as a support for injustice.