WEDNESDAY
the covenant with black america
tavis smiley and third world press
putting out a book scheduled february 22nd
the covenant with black america
this book will address 10 most pressing issues facing black america (sound familiar?): comes from smileys annual state of the black union symposium
smiley say "this book is in a sense a love letter from black america to black america to educate ourselves on the issues we all know exist in our communities and then to challenge and hold each other accountable to fix them. moreover, the covenant is our document of accountability for the entire body politic post-hurricane katrina and in advance of the 2006 and 2008 national elections."
apparently after cspan showing of 2005 symposiusm folk were asked to send suggestions for black agenda, a committee sorted through suggestions and developed covenant
the book is scheduled for publication february 22nd on february 25th there will be a mass reading and discussion in conjunction w/smileys 7th annual state of the black union to be held in houston, after which there will be a 7 city tour, (including memphis on march 7th, maybe i can make that)
"each chapter outlines key issues, provides resources and action plans for what individuals, public policymakers and corporate citizens can do to move the african american community forward socially, politically and economically"
also includes "information on how individuals and households can make changes that will immediately improve their circumstances in specific areas, such as health, education, crime reduction, financial well being and personal security."
well now im very impressed with this effort. sound like folk trying to come up with that agenda for the 21st century that we all know to be necessary
only problem with it of course is that they didnt invite me
or my opinions
so i will have to riff off what theyve done
to address the strategic issue im most concerned with
and that of course would be vision
cant talk agenda without talking vision
am i the only one who understands this
we have no vision of who we are and where we going
what kind of people do we want our generations to be
and i believe that without vision the people will perish
(is that my line or have i seen that somewhere before)
their 10 issues are as follows
- education
- criminal justice system
- police accountability
- healthcare and well being
- economic development and employment
- housing and community development
- participation in the democratic process
- information technology
- rural communities
- environmental justice
oikay what im sure theyre doing is not so much giving final answers
as opening dialogues on answers
so im going to participate to the full extent of rootsblogs ability to
squeeze into this dialogue cause this seem to be the most sophisticated
effort to date to set up a black agenda
and rickydoc flowers is not going to be left out of this conversation
first off we could have put justice system and cops together, thats one issue
and we could have had something in there to deal w/culture
self definition, who we are, what is our role in the evolving multicultural reality
the struggle to define ourselves and maintain that self definition in the face of ongoing hostility
could have been something in there about the struggle itself, the movement
the struggle for empowerment in the 21st century - how does it strand, whats our
strategic posture
this is not the first time that black influentials have come together and set agendas
there were equally hopeful convention movements in the 1870s, 1930s and the gary convention of 1971
weve done this before and they have all come to naught in terms of lasting and significant change
we gon see if rickydoc can make a difference this time
listen o ye firstborn to the geas of rickydoc and i will give you a mission greater than your adversity - i will give you the stars (sorry, i take that back, yall aint ready for all that just yet, need better preparation of the ground before i plant that seed)
the metaquestion is what is our vision of who we are and where we are going
and how do we promote that vision so that a substantial percentage of black folk
sign on to it - a vision great enough to encompass all our strategies and divisions
until we have it its just tactical chaos
and much to easy to play us against the other
since they didnt deal with it i will
and try to use the energy generated by their efforts to promote my 21st century strategies of empowerment - have my little say so
i will appoint myself, the resident expert on vision
soon as i get a copy and see the format and what their little babysteps entail
i will write the 11th chapter - vision
who are we, what future do we see
a vision of who we are
and a strategy of shaping our generations accordingly
thats what i do, nobody does it better
one of the main problems with developing a strategy for black america
is getting the word out and getting a substantial percentage ofthe
black population to sign up on it
whiich is what impresses with about this black covenant effort
this is an ideologically sophisticated rollout, big guns, nice website, etc etc
this just might make a difference, dreamer that i am i hope so
my estimation of tavis smiley has gone up a substantial notch
got a little player in him
ima reach out
but i aint gon be no supplicant, you know i dont play that
i got to make them come to me
see if i can get my hands on an early copy so i can hit the ground running
timing is everything when you working the roots & setting up the board of destiny
they slacking on the longgame, slacking on the destinywork
ima fix that - ima do the 11th chapter of this text - vision
and ima do it so strong that they cant ignore it
ima do it so good that i become part of the moment
i am not going to be left out of this conversation
i whine so much about not getting no respect that
sometime folk think im having a pity party but such is not the case
i aspire to the prophetic and i expect that to be a hardrow to hoe
to be dismissed and disregarded comes with that territory
but that dont stop me from running my game, if anything it feeds me
ill show you too
in pointing out disrespect i hope to rectify it
while getting my strategic vision into the dialogue whenever and however i can
i want this covenant effort to be successful
and whether they know it or not, im the best destinyplayer we got
i will not be left out of this conversation
i am rickydoc trickmaster
wouldbe prophet of the hoodoo way
and i know a crossroads when i see one
as you know my hoodoo mantra is:
awaken the sleeper protect the weak guide the strong
rickydoc bout to do some guiding up in here
GREAT!
Posted by: Blanche E. Harris | February 25, 2006 at 02:28 PM