Need I say more?
This article is on the New York Post web site, i found it thanks to the very involved people at Gawker.com i will follow it with some disscussion, but here it is as a first hand source.
BETTER OR VERSE
By DAVID ANDREATTA Education Reporter
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Seven-year-old prodigy.
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Seven-year-old prodigy.’;
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Hundreds of parents of Peekskill middle- and high-school students
"Black lands taken from your hands, by vampires with no remorse," the
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//–> AUTUM ASHANTEMarch 13, 2006 –
YOUNGSTER’S BLACK-POWER POEM RILES SCHOOL
A
7-year-old prodigy unleashed a firestorm when she recited a poem she
wrote comparing Christopher Columbus and Charles Darwin to "pirates"
and "vampires" who robbed blacks of their identities and human rights.
received a recorded phone message last week apologizing for little
Autum Ashante’s poem, titled "White Nationalism Put U in Bondage."
aspiring actress and poet wrote. "They took the gold, the wisdom and
all the storytellers. They took the black women, with the black man
weak. Made to watch as they changed the paradigm of our village.
Autum was invited to speak at the Westchester schools on Feb. 28 by
Melvin Bolden, a music teacher at the middle school who advises the
high school’s Black Culture Club and is a member of the Peekskill City
Council.
Autum, whose résumé includes several television
appearances and performances at the Apollo Theater and the African
Burial Ground in Manhattan, told The Post that her poem was meant to
instill pride in black students and to encourage them to steer clear of
violence.
"I don’t think there’s anything wrong with my poem. Autum, who is home-schooled in Mount Vernon and It did not sit well with parents. In a
"It’s unfortunate, because some teachers said they wanted this little "[The poem] might have been a little too aggressive for what the middle-school kids are ready to handle," Bolden added.
Kimberly Greene, a mother of children in the high school and middle
"If there are people who are upset about what she said, the schools Autum’s father, Batin Ashante, said he can’t believe the fuss over his daughter’s poem.
"She’s a little girl who does poetry about real things. She doesn’t do O.K, So this whole situation is pretty fucked. The schools reaction was blatantly out of line, completely irrational and fear based, i think the parent who suggests discourse as ooposed to an outright discrediting Autum. What is most shocking is that the whole schoolboard supports this desicion. Peekskill is a hamlet of Westchester…. WTF is going on there? As far as the 7 year old protegé is concerned, I think that a child this gifted who has been invited to places like "the Apollo Theater and the African Obviously what really disturbing to anyone who has done even the least in post colonial theory is that A) this girl is right on the money (not to mention a better poet than many of my peers from the creative writing program in university were … myself included) There does seem something dodgy about her whole M.O. and her father and the home schooling, but even if she is some militant white hater, if her the most accusatory elements of her poem are the ones that have been reprinted, well shit, the censors don’t have a leg to stand on. please write your feedback in the comments section. I want to believe that i dont just do this for myself. While i’m commenting on other people news stories this ones been blowin up th internet for the last couple of days and i want to highlight it only to say George Cloony I’m onto your game. You act so Cavalier and make speeches about hopw getting an oscar means hollywood solved racism, you’re always making smug self agrandising jokes with the press, so sure of your middle aged charm… and now this? how quickly you’ve become a self rightious celebrity. I just ahve one thing to say to you Ploony, you stay away from my Arianna Huffington, the origional beard, She said flat out the whole thing is a result of miscvommunication and your evidently inept publicist, maybe you should take this up with the person who okayed the publication… Arianna did her bit she sent in on down the wire to ask, is this o.k. by you? it’s a bit late now after publication to start attacking her credibility. I know Arianna is no innocent, but she’s never claimed to be anything but a political instigator so you used to call her your friend, and i bet it made you look pretty smart in certain circles, so you need to grab hold of your hollywood i can control the entire world sense of entitlement. o.k now i feel better… here is the story according to New York Daily News:
I was trying to tell them the straight-up truth," Autum said. "I’m
trying to tell them not to fight because they’re killing the brothers
and sisters."
speaks several languages, prefaced her performance at the high school
with a Black Panthers’ pledge asking black youngsters to not harm one
another.
telephone interview with The Post, Bolden said Autum has been
"unofficially" banned from performing in a district school again and
that school officials would review transcripts of future speakers.
girl to explain the things she said to their students, but some parents
don’t want her on school grounds," Bolden said.
school, said she was shocked when she got the recorded phone message.
should have talked about and analyzed it rather than send a message to
everyone saying this little girl was offensive," Greene said.
poetry about cotton candy," Ashante said. "She’s a serious little
person."
fin
Burial Ground in Manhattan" should not shock anyone when she chooses to recite work that reflects her personal position on race politics. Sure it’s not what you assume will be the subject matter of choice for a 7 year old, but when her resume clearly says she has given recitals at the African Burial Ground in NYC, that she’s a home schooled genius and that she speaks 4 languages it’s not coming out of left field.
B) That a group of Adults in position of full agency over powered a 7 year old and had her censored, not for insighting violence, not for uttering threats or even condemning an entire race. She wasn’t taking anyone down, just calling out "white nationalism" a beast that has damaged just about everyone including Black, Women and Whites… It’s scary to think that these parents and school board people think that their doing the right thing by bullying a child. I said it before and i say it again, i blame the whole bush era for this pervasive and self afirming attitude. Bullying is the name of the game and no body makes any appologies for it, although everybody expects one if they feel the least bit slighted.
C)Thats were it ends. Autum has no recourse. She has been shut up, and appologised for, and thats the end of it as far as the students are concerned (although i’m sure the press coverage may change that)
| Clooney & Huffington’s blog of war
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George Clooney is spitting mad at Arianna Huffington - and the blogosphere is wobbling on its axis.
"She said some things that I won’t share, but she did tell me Clooney, in his only interview on the subject, took off the gloves in "I feel abused," he said. Yesterday, Clooney released an angry statement calling Huffington’s But Huffington insisted (and forwarded me E-mails that seemed to back Clooney told me: "Nobody has ever written an op-ed piece for me. If I Clooney said that when he demanded a disclaimer from Huffington, she Huffington, who’d been haggling with Clooney’s publicist, Stan Rosenfield, over the wording of a disclaimer, told me: "I believe it is time for all of us to move on." |
Oh and there’s more… this just in about Jessica simpson. xo bga
O.k so long term readers know i don’t really like her. I respect her opinion regarding how being a celebrity makes you privileged and that you have no choice but to behave as a role model, and now i respect her for standing her ground.
Jessica is the spokeswoman for a non-partisan chrity group that raises funds to offer children with severe facial diformity plastic surgery it called the "pretty people ar better foundation" or Smile of something like that. anyways she’s come under attck for declining to meet Bush et al. At a republican fund raiser. Right she fucking shouldn’t it’s a non partisdan charity, she’s in washington trying to lobby for her charity if Bush or the republicans want her to hussle up funds at their fund raiser they should have tried to book her or offered her cash like anyone else would.
So all these Bushies are saying don’t buy Simpsons album cause she’s anti bush whichy is crazy talk, but oddly funny. Cause it seems to me the only people who buy a jessica simpson albums are the same misguided people who vote bush and listen to self rightious wierdos who tell them to boycott the dixie chicks (where are they now?) so does this mean her recording carreer is over? oh well she can still be a good role model and have some principles.
