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.
Download ReportTranscript 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. FEEDBACK Write – The Kwanzaa Gallery P.O. Box 8077 Fort Gordon, GA 30905 Email – alpha371@bellsouth. Net Telephone – (706) 737-4747