S.F.A Article in THE GLOBE & MAIL

[Logikal Ethix]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071208.BLACK08/TPStory/Education



EDUCATION: METHODS FOR SUCCESS
Fight the man or shake his hand?
Faced with declining high-school graduation rates, two groups find two very different ways to inspire future black leaders

WENDY GLAUSER

Special to The Globe and Mail

December 8, 2007

The small, windowless classroom at the University of Toronto is crammed with teens wearing fur-trimmed hoods and Islamic head scarves. The students who didn't get a seat lean against the back wall. Sourav Deb and Neil Donaldson stand at the front of the room, wearing oversized sweatshirts, slinked-down baggy jeans and stocking caps. With statistics showing nearly half of all black students in Toronto won't graduate from high school, Mr. Deb and Mr. Donaldson are here to inspire an intellectual-radical spirit in these kids - a reason to want to succeed in a system many feel wants them to fail.

"We're still on the plantation, and you guys, all of us here, we're not in the house, we're on the field!" Mr. Deb preaches, implying that little has changed since the days of slavery.

It is late in November and the two men, a hip-hop artist/activist duo called Stolen From Africa, have been invited to lead a session at a two-day anti-racism conference held at the university for high-school students. For the past two years, Mr. Deb, 27, and Mr. Donaldson, 25, have been touring schools and community centres across the Greater Toronto Area, performing, running rhyme-writing workshops and instigating discussions on black history, gangs and racism. They teach young people that when they drop out of schools and join gangs, they're giving "the oppressor" the upper hand. Instead, they encourage them to model themselves after civil-rights-era heroes, to "play the game" with their teachers, to read about their history and to get into colleges and universities.

As the debate continues over whether Toronto should adopt black-focused schools, Mr. Deb and Mr. Donaldson (known also by their hip-hop monikers, Logikal Ethix and Unknown Mizery) aren't the only ones taking the education of black youth into their own hands. A few days after the anti-racism forum, 250 black students across the GTA gathered at a strikingly different conference - an annual two-day event put on by the Black Business and Professional Association (BBPA) called "Leaders of Tomorrow."

Seated around white-linen tables, wearing pinstripe blazers and shined shoes and tweed skirts, the students at this event snicker and whisper to each other as image consultant Charmaine Mills gives an etiquette lesson from a podium on the stage at the Bank of Montreal Institute for Learning in Scarborough. When the executives come to join students for the catered lunch of stuffed chicken breast, Ms. Mills wants to ensure the students know how to properly shake hands. "Web to web," she shows, with the help of an assistant. "Three to five pumps. Be sure to maintain eye contact and smile."

The purpose of the conference is to give students, selected by their teachers for their potential to succeed in a business or technology field, the chance to network with professional mentors, and seek out advice on applying for schools, choosing careers and navigating corporate culture.

Two very different approaches for the same problem: Not only is the dropout rate for black students disproportionately high, but if you spread the crime statistics evenly throughout the year, a young black male is shot dead every other weekend.

Sixteen-year-old Keyon Campbell grew up on a Scarborough street so crime-ridden, it lent its name to a documentary, EMPz 4 Life, that starred Mr. Campbell. His trajectory, from a youth at risk to a successful student who dreamed of running his own car dealership, was tragically cut short last weekend, when he was gunned down outside his house after a night of playing video games with his friends, perhaps in a case of mistaken identity.

For Mr. Deb and Mr. Donaldson, their motivation comes from their first-hand experiences of "systematic oppression." Mr. Donaldson, the son of Jamaican-born parents, dropped out in Grade 11 after being told by his guidance counsellor that he should get a trade and not worry about university. "I was always hungry for education, but schooling didn't really educate me or empower me," Mr. Donaldson says.

Mr. Deb, who spoke only Bengali until kindergarten, was kicked out of four high schools in the GTA. The last time, he was met at the principal's office by police officers and trumped-up robbery charges, and, at the age of 17, paraded down the hall in handcuffs. "I said, 'Can't you wait until we get outside to put on the handcuffs?' " he recalls. "I was so embarrassed."

Mr. Deb and Mr. Donaldson, who met in their late teens, eventually obtained their high-school equivalencies and went on to study sociology and equity studies at the University of Toronto. After two years, they quit to focus on their politically evolving music. "Our lyrics used to say, 'Eff the police, eff the police,' " Mr. Donaldson says, "but after university we started using terms like 'imperialism' and 'systemic racism.' "

Those terms come up often in Stolen From Africa's presentations, during which they often screen Stolen from Africville, their Department of Canadian Heritage-funded documentary on the autonomous and peaceful all-black Nova Scotian community that was forcefully evicted in the 1960s.

They also tell stories about Canada's little-known black revolutionaries, including the Jamaican Maroons (runaway slaves who united and fought against the British colonizer in Jamaica), who were brought to Nova Scotia in 1796 so that they couldn't cause trouble back home. And they launch into discussions comparing slavery days to the "invisible shackles" of today.

According to Mr. Deb, the messages are getting through. "We'll meet a student the first time and he'll do a freestyle rhyme about dealing drugs and being in gangs, and two weeks later we'll see him again, and he'll have a rhyme, but this time it will be explaining the violence, rather than glorifying it."

The organizers and executives behind the BBPA conference may be less overtly political than Stolen From Africa, but racism is an equally important issue at their event. When one of the students at corporate lawyer Terri-Lynne Devonish's table tells her about a math teacher he thinks is racist - "I keep putting up my hand to ask a question and she picks the person beside me but never me" - Ms. Devonish encourages the student to approach his teacher after class. "Make sure your voice is calm, and tell her that you've noticed that she hasn't been helping you when you've asked for help," she advises. "She may not even be aware she's doing it."

Stanley Julien, a Bank of Montreal Financial Group vice-president and conference committee member, says he made sure to explain to the students he met at a conference workshop that, while they're sure to experience racism, "it's someone else's issue, not theirs." And the best way to fight prejudice, he advises, is to "perform to the best of your ability."

But Kareena Elliston, the fiery 24-year-old social activist who has spearheaded the BBPA youth conferences for the past three years, thinks that dropout rates won't change until Toronto schools start stepping up their performance. The curriculum should be more Afrocentric, she argues; principals need to be held accountable if their expulsion percentages are too high, and the education system should be more accommodating of students' circumstances. Some children don't have a computer at home to type up assignments, Ms. Elliston points out, or they may be working long hours in retail. (To help address the first issue, the BBPA, through corporate donors, gave away eight laptops to students in need.)

While Stolen From Africa may have a very different method than the BBPA, Mr. Deb and Mr. Donaldson share Ms. Elliston's sentiment that Toronto schools can do better. "Our curriculum does not reflect Canada's multiculturalism; it disenfranchises and marginalizes," Mr. Deb says.

The duo have been called racist for some of their sentiments, and Ms. Elliston has been given flak for not opening her conference up to all students, but neither are overly worried about political correctness.

"African-Canadian students are dropping out at a rate of 50 per cent and you don't want to ask any questions? You don't want to raise hell?" Ms. Elliston asks.
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http://www.myspace.com/logikalethix

[Logikal Ethix]

The more interviews and article we do it confirms that we cant rely on the media to tell the full story.



"The small, windowless classroom at the University of Toronto is crammed with teens wearing fur-trimmed hoods and Islamic head scarves."
- Our workshop at the anti-racist conference at U of T which they failed to mention had youth of all backgrounds including several "white youth" that were equally engaged . I find it funny how they worded it like that. All of our extensive positive student feedback was left out of the article





"It is late in November and the two men, a hip-hop artist/activist duo called Stolen From Africa, have been invited to lead a session at a two-day anti-racism conference held at the university for high-school students."
- We stressed over and over again that S.F.A IS NOT a rap crew, it s a movement that breaks down into 4 categories 1.Music 2.Community Outreach 3. Fashion 4.Alternative Media

"They also tell stories about Canada's little-known black revolutionaries, including the Jamaican Maroons (runaway slaves who united and fought against the British colonizer in Jamaica), who were brought to Nova Scotia in 1796 so that they couldn't cause trouble back home."
- They failed to mention that the maroons were brought to Nova Scotia by the British to build Citadel Hill (in Halifax nova) a fort that was designed to protect the British from the French.Which is now a historic site that is still standing. side notes Salt fish in Jamaica came from Nova Scotia, the bank of Nova Scotia was the first bank in Jamaica. the connection is deep.



The duo have been called racist for some of their sentiments, and Ms. Elliston has been given flak for not opening her conference up to all students, but neither are overly worried about political correctness.
-when something is worded like this it makes it look like S.F.A is an exclusive movement that is discriminatory towards others. this article fails to ask why people who as call us racist. allot of that talk stems form ignorance, guilt or mis-understanding. When people interact with us and ask questions, its impossible for them to feel the same way after


Mr. Deb and Mr. Donaldson, who met in their late teens, eventually obtained their high-school equivalencies and went on to study sociology and equity studies at the University of Toronto. After two years, they quit to focus on their politically evolving music.
- I never EVER said quit..EVER what I told the journalist was I was taking a break from school to focus on the new initiatives since university, to me at least you gotta be 100% cant be half ass otherwise your wasting time and money. using the word quit makes our purpose look worthless.

The article also fails to mention that we were the highlight of the 4 day Ontario Public health Conference held at the Marriot Hotel that same week. And how administrators (300+) from all over Ontario, like the youth we're engaged and empowered through our refreshing methods of education. Showering us with praises. The journalist witnessed this first hand.

but either way the article is a good look reached new demographic and shows hip-hop culture as tool for education rather then exploitation.


IF you have any comment please feel free to write the editor

Logik
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http://www.myspace.com/logikalethix