FAMILY AND COMMUNITY THE AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE African American Leadership Course The Kwanzaa Gallery Instructor: Frank M. Johnson INTRODUCTION Candidates in the Rite of Passage will learn.
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Transcript FAMILY AND COMMUNITY THE AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE African American Leadership Course The Kwanzaa Gallery Instructor: Frank M. Johnson INTRODUCTION Candidates in the Rite of Passage will learn.
FAMILY AND COMMUNITY
THE AFRICAN AMERICAN
EXPERIENCE
African American
Leadership Course
The Kwanzaa Gallery
Instructor: Frank M.
Johnson
INTRODUCTION
Candidates in the Rite of Passage
will learn to adopt and integrate
personal skills developing family
and community to enhance our
capacity for good work and
service to in this life.
SUMMARY OF COURSE
Importance of the Family Unit
The Value of Parenting: The Price of Children
How to Enhance The (Village) Community
Developmental Issues of Families and Community
Strategic Planning for African American Family
and Community Development
Becoming and Engaging Developmental
Contributors
WHO IS IN
ATTENDANCE?
Candidates in the Rite of
Passage Program learning to
adopt and integrate personal
skills to enhance their capacity
for good work and service to
family and community in this
life.
AGENDA
The Family Unit
Parenting: The Price of Children
The Community
Family and Community Developmental
Issues
Strategic Planning for African American
Development
Developmental Contributors
OVERVIEW
Candidates in the Rite of
Passage will learn to adopt and
integrate personal skills
developing family and
community to enhance our
capacity for good work and
service to in this life.
CONNECTIONS
Just as the individual is a product of the family
and community, so the current status of the
community is the result of family and individual
development, to date.
It takes a village to raise a child, and a well raised
child to advance the village (community).
Everyone must find and play a role in the
development of the community, as well raised
children aspiring to or becoming adults.
VOCABULARY
Contributors
Societal Roles
Strategic Plan
Consumerism
Sectors
Unqualified Member
Organizations
Process Improvement
Synergy
Cohesion
Networking
Accountability
Miscommunications
Role Models
Underemployment
Inappropriate Leader
VOCABULARY
Empowerment
Impotent
Research &
Development
Insufficient
THE FAMILY UNIT
Defining Family
– Author G.K.
Chesterton
– Politician Giuseppe
Mazzini
– Pope John Paul II
– Bill Cosby
– Author/Poet Maya
Angelou
FAMILY
The family is the test of freedom;
because the family is the only thing that
the free man makes for himself and by
himself.
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936), British
author. Fancies Versus Fads, “Dramatic
Unities” (1923).
FAMILY
The Family is the Country of the heart. There is an
angel in the Family who, by the mysterious influence
of grace, of sweetness, and of love, renders the
fulfillment of duties less wearisome, sorrows less
bitter. The only pure joys unmixed with sadness
which it is given to man to taste upon earth are,
thanks to this angel, the joys of the Family.
Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–72), Italian nationalist
leader. The Duties of Man, ch. 6 (1844–58; tr. 1907).
FAMILY
As the family goes, so goes the nation
and so goes the whole world in which
we live.
Pope John Paul II [Karol Wojtyla] (b.
1920), Polish ecclesiastic, pope. Quoted
in: Observer (London, 7 Dec. 1986).
Traditional African Family
Structure
Family is extended to the community, as an
integral part of the whole
Family includes totality of political, social and
religious activity of the community
Males: Economic providers, disciplinarians and
teachers
Females: Socialization process of children,
marketing and community childcare
All member dependent on each other, living and
deceased as a Sociological brotherhood
Black Families in the Slave
Community
Established brotherhood continued and
maintained
Elders respected and honored
Slavery introduced psychological trauma of
separation and conflict of values imposed
Family roles shifted, males became
subservient; females dominant
Effect of Emancipation on the
Black Family
Family bond slightly strengthened and
improved
Marriages became legalized
A documented (married) family cold not be
sold away
Some families managed to achieve a stable
form of family life
Effect of the Northern
Migration on Family
The family as a unit was severely impacted
Families broke apart due to the search for
job opportunities
Member were willing to depart to get away
from persecution
Whatever stability was recovered, was now
disrupted again
Geographic / Social Mobility
Enabled some families to move toward
stability and achievement
Educational potential was a means of upward
mobility
Occupational opportunities were opening
Income became paramount to education and
opportunity
Overcrowded ghettos were created for housing.
The Contemporary Black
Family
The Extended Family provided:
– Home for the Elderly
– Family Counseling Services
– Social security
– Adoption agency
– Childcare center
– Loans and economic assistance
The Contemporary Black
Family
Strengths of Black Families
– Strong kinship bonds
– Strong children / sibling bonds
– Strong leadership bonds w/Elderly
– Strengthened Work / Religious Orientation
– Family roles were adaptable to whomsoever is
available
– Strengthened Achievement Orientation
The Contemporary Black
Family
Competition between males and females
Family lines more matriarchal vs.
patriarchal
Matriarchal families viewed by white
society as inferior system
Blacks are not offended, nor reject a
matriarchal family leadership - some
stability vs. none
PARENTING
The Price of Children
Exchange Value of
Children
PARENTS in the
Front Row Seat
PARENTS: In Image
of God in the eyes of a
child
Children Live What They
Learn
If a child lives with criticism,
If a child lives with praise,
he learns to condemn.
he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with hostility,
he learns to fight.
If a child lives with fairness,
he learns justice.
If a child lives with ridicule,
he learns to feel shy.
If a child lives with security,
he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with shame,
he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with approval,
he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with tolerance,
he learns patience.
If a child lives with acceptance and
friendship,
he learns to find love in the world.
If a child lives with encouragement,
he learns confidence.
-Author Unknown-
THE PRICE OF
CHILDREN
This is just too good not to pass on to all.
Something absolutely positive for a change.
I have seen the breakdown of the cost of raising
a child, but this is the first time I have seen the
rewards listed this way. It's nice.
The government recently calculated the cost of
raising a child from birth to 18 and came up
with $160,140 for a middle income family.
Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even
touch college tuition. But $160,140 isn't so bad
if you break it down.
$160K TRANSLATES INTO:
$8,896.66 a year,
$741.38 a month
$171.08 a week
$24.24 a day!
Just over a dollar an hour.
Still, you might think the best financial advice
is, "Don't have children if you want to be
rich." Actually, it is just the opposite.
WHAT DO YOU GET FOR
$160K
Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
Glimpses of God every day.
Giggles under the covers every night.
More love than your heart can hold.
Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and
warm cookies.
A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or
chocolate.
A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites.
FOR $160K YOU NEVER
HAVE TO GROW UP
Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no
matter what the boss said or how your
stocks performed that day.
You get to
finger-paint,
carve pumpkins,
play hide-and-seek,
catch lightning bugs, and
never stop believing in Santa Claus.
FOR $160K YOU NEVER
HAVE TO GROW UP
You have an excuse to keep reading the
Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
watching Saturday morning cartoons,
going to Disney movies, and wishing on
stars.
You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and
flowers under refrigerator magnets
Collect spray painted noodle wreaths for
Christmas
Hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day
and cards with backward letters for
Father's Day.
FOR $160K THERE IS NO
GREATER BANG FOR YOUR
BUCK
You get to be a hero just for retrieving a
Frisbee off the garage roof
taking the training wheels off a bike
removing a splinter
filling a wading pool
coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs,
and coaching a baseball team that never
wins but always gets treated to ice cream
regardless.
YOU GET A FRONT ROW
SEAT TO WITNESS THE:
first step
first word,
first bra
first date, and
first time behind the wheel.
You get to be immortal.
You get another branch added to your
family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list
of limbs in your obituary called
grandchildren and great grandchildren.
IN THE EYES OF A CHILD YOU
RANK RIGHT UP THERE WITH
GOD
You get an education in psychology,
nursing, criminal justice, communications,
and human sexuality that no college can
match.
You have all the power to heal a boo-boo,
scare away the monsters under the bed,
patch a broken heart, police a slumber
party, ground them forever, and love them
without limits.
So one day they will, like you, love
without counting the cost. That is quite
a deal for the price! Love and enjoy your
children and grandchildren
FATHER
If the new American father feels
bewildered and even defeated, let him
take comfort from the fact that whatever
he does in any fathering situation has a
fifty percent chance of being right.
Bill Cosby (b. 1937), U.S. comedian,
actor. Fatherhood, ch. 5 (1986).
A FATHER’S LOVE
Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong
enough to know when he is weak, and brave
enough to face himself when he is afraid;
One who will be proud and unbending in
honest defeat, and humble and gentle in
victory.
Build me a son whose wishbone will not be
where his backbone should be
A FATHER’S LOVE
A son who will know Thee - and that to know
himself is the foundation stone of knowledge.
Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and
comfort, but under the stress and spur of
difficulties and challenge.
Here, let him learn to stand up in the storm; here,
let him learn compassion for those who fall.
Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose
goal will be high; a son who will master himself
before he seeks to master other men;
A FATHER’S LOVE
One who will learn to laugh, yet never forget how to
weep;
One who will reach into the future, yet never forget
the past.
And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough
of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious,
yet never take himself to seriously.
Give him humility, so that he may always remember
the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true
wisdom, the meekness of true strength.
Then I, his father, will dare to whisper: "I have not
lived in vain."
THE COMMUNITY
Developmental Issues
Strategic Planning for
Development
Organizational
Development for
Development
The Importance of
Individual
Involvement
COMMUNITY
All of childhood’s unanswered questions must finally
be passed back to the town and answered there.
Heroes and bogey men, values and dislikes, are first
encountered and labeled in that early environment. In
later years they change faces, places and maybe
races, tactics, intensities and goals, but beneath
those penetrable masks they wear forever the
stocking-capped faces of childhood.
Maya Angelou (b. 1928), U.S. author. I Know Why
the Caged Bird Sings, ch. 4 (1969), said of one’s
hometown.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
The High Performing Person
FAMILIES
NEIGHBORHOODS
SCHOOLS
ORGANIZATIONS
PEOPLE
GROUPS
BUSINESSES
CHURCHES
FAMILY / COMMUNITY
DEVELOPEMENTAL ISSUES
Insufficient Parental
Involvement
Ineffective Education
Inappropriate Leadership
Inadequate Organization
Unqualified Membership
Undeveloped Societal
Roles
Soft Critiquing
Negative Intragroup
Relations
SIGNS OF ABUSIVE
BEHAVIOR
Jealousy
Quick Involvement
Isolation
Hypersensitivity
Verbal Abuse
Use of Force in Sex
Rigid Sex Roles
Past Battering
Threats of Violence
Breaking or Striking
Objects
Use of Force during
Argument
Controlling Behavior
Unrealistic Expectations
Blaming Others for Own
Problems
Blaming Others for Own
Feelings
Cruelty to Children or
Animals
Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde
Behavior
INSUFFICIENT PARENTAL
INVOLVEMENT
Miseducated
Lack of Involvement
Violent
in Youth Development
Lack of Accountability for Child &
Youth Development
Poor Parenting Skills
Violence and Abuse
Single Mothers
Absent Fathers
INEFFECTIVE EDUCATION
Miseducated Youth
System Unresponsive
No Afro Am R&D
to Needs
No Workforce
Training
No Cultural Synthesis
No Community
Orientation
No Parental
Involvement
Impotent Teachers
Violence in Schools
No Empowerment
Program
INAPPROPRIATE
LEADERSHIP
Irresponsible Business
Lack of Accountability
People
Few Positive Images
for Youth
No Sponsorships
Need for Role Models
Lack of
Professionalism
Religious Disunity
Drug Lords as Leaders
Violent Leaders
Selfish Politicians
Ineffective
Representation
INADEQUATE TEAM
ORGANIZATION
No Unity
No Working Together
No Cohesion
No Sponsorship
No Networking
No Mentorship
No Cultural Activity
Church vs. Business
No Economic Focus
Church as Business
Historically Un-
Need “All-for-One”
successful Ventures
Women as Competitors
No Economic Base
Mentality
No Process
Improvement System
UNQUALIFIED
MEMBERSHIP
Failure to Give Back
Rite of Passage
to Community
Fear
Faint-heartedness
Pro-Racism
Building
Accountability
No Professionalism
Building
Responsibility
Leeches
Criminals
Unethical People
UNDEVELOPED SOCIETAL
ROLE
Selfishness
Unemployment
‘ME’ Generation
Underemployment
Erroneous Publicity
Downsizing
Government Handouts
Crime
Lack of Information
No Prayer in Schools
Consumerism
No Rite of Passage
No Cultural Heritage
like Kwanzaa
SOFT CRITIQUING
Recognizing Success
Lack of Pride
No Hospitality
No Lessons Learned
Unresponsive to
Wrong Lessons
Caring
Lack of
Professionalism
Learned
NEGATIVE INTRAGROUP
RELATIONS
Unresponsive to Group
Lack of Involvement
Needs
Elitism
Aggrandizement
Miscommunications
Violence
Not Doing Business w/
Black Business
Power in Numbers
Males vs. Females
Community vs.
Business
Businesses are
Discourteous
No Synergy
Resistance to
Networking
DEVELOPMENTAL
COMPONENT AGENTS /
AGENCIES
Private Sector – Owners / Employers
Business Sector – Shareholders/ Employees
Independent BBO’s – Black Owned Businesses
Black Educators – Local, State & Federal
Black Operated Non-Profit Organizations
Black Churches and Affiliated Denominations
Black Media and Marketing Professionals
Black Families, Friends & Diverse Neighbors
Skilled Black Men, Women, Youth and Children
across the Nation
STRATEGIC PLAN FOR
AFRICAN AMERICAN
DEVELOPMENT
COMMUNICATIONS
ORIENTATION
DELEGATION
PRIVATE SECTOR
OWNERS/EMPLOYEES
BUSINESS SECTOR
SHAREHOLDERS/
EMPLOYEES
INDEPENDENT
BUSINESSES
BLACK OWNED (BBO)
BLACK EDUCATORS/
SYSTEM EMPLOYEES
AFRICAN AMERICAN
DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
PROPOENT AGENTS
NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATIONS
(NPOs)
VOLUNTARY
PROGRESSIVE
ECONOMIC
EDUCATIONAL
CULTURAL
PARENTS, FAMILY,
FRIENDS &
NEIGHBORS
MEDIA & MARKETING
PROFESSIONALS
CHURCHES &
AFFILIATED
ORGANIZATIONS
SOCIAL
POLITICAL
FINANCIAL
Organizations Endorsing
The National Black Family
Empowerment Agenda
NC Association of Black
Lawyers
NC Black Elected Municipal
Officials
NC Black Publishers
Association
The National Association of
Minority Contractors
Association of Black
Sociologists
100 Black Men
The Women of Color Public
Policy Institute
The Harvest Institute
Organizations Endorsing
The National Black Family Empowerment
Agenda
Wilmington
Interdenominational Ministerial
Alliance
NC Black Leadership Caucus
The Federation of Southern
Cooperatives
Eastern NC Civic Association
Pitt County Black Leadership
Caucus
Raleigh-Wake Citizens
Association
The Durham Committee
Organizations Endorsing
The National Black Family Empowerment
Agenda
World Conference of Mayors
National Conference of Black
Mayors
National Black Chamber of
Conference
Georgia Association of Black
Elected Officials
AME Church, Second
Episcopal District
Bertie Ministerial Conference
West Roanoke Missionary
Baptist Association
LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS
Blacks Against Black
New Hope
Crime
100 Black Men
Studio Art Grow
In My Father’s House
Abuse Shelter
Cultural Concepts
Miracle Making
Ministry
Community Center
C & J Enterprises
Augusta Area Cultural
Society
Gents Technology
Services
CONTRIBUTORS
Hon. Ed McIntyre
Barbara & Alvin
Ms. Barbara
Franklin
Mr. Xavier Jones
Dr. Deborah Austin
Creative Impressions
The Augusta Cultural
Society Dance
Ensemble
Thurmond
Ms. Willie Knox
Mr. Johnny Wilson
Judge David Watkins
Mr. Frank Tomas
Ms. Evelyn Ellis
CONTRIBUTORS cont’d
Rev. Robert Williams
Rev. Larry Fryer
Mr. Jamie Eatmon
Ms. Sctonda Kelly
Coach James Quarles
SUMMARY
Just as the individual is a product
of the family and community, so
the current status of the
community is the result of family
and individual development, to
date.
It takes a village to raise a child,
and a well raised child to advance
the village (community).
Everyone must find and play a
role in the development of the
community, as well raised children
aspiring to or becoming adults.
Belief System
The High Performing Individual or System
“Whatever A Man
Can Conceive and
Believe, he can
Achieve.”
Divine Revelation
Imagination
Inner Vision
Conceptualizations
Managing Time
The High Performing Individual or System
Personal Time
Marriage
Family
Physical Health
Mental Health
Social Exchanges
Vocation / Job
Improved Personal Values
The High Performing Person
Family
Friends
Church / Religion
Education
Skills
Beliefs
Activities / Hobbies
Culture
Experiences
The Family of God
Divine Order / Decree
Mirror of Self
Training Ground
Fruit of Life / Living
Expression of Love
Outside Self
Teachers, Coaches,
Trainers and Guides
WHERE TO GET MORE
INFORMATION
Cohen, D. (1991). The circle of life: Rituals from the human family album. San
Francisco: Harper
M.E.C.C.A. (n.d.). African Americans resurrect rites of passage through a
comprehensive family & community development model.
Quinn, W. H., Newfield, N. A. & Protinsky, H. O. (1985). Rites of Passage in Families
with Adolescents. Family Process, 24, pp. 101-111.
McConnel, B. (1989). Education as a cultural process: The interaction between
community and classroom in fostering learning. In J. Allen & J. M. Mason (Eds.), Risk
makers, risk takers, risk
Somè, M. (1993). Rituals: Power, Healing and Community. Portland, OR:Swan/Raven
& Company.
Warfield-Coppock, N. (1994). The rites of passage: Extending education into the African
American community. In M. J. Shujaa (Ed.), Too much schooling too little education: A
paradox of black life in white societies. (pp. 375-393). Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press,
Inc.
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