“At the root of every civilization is a knowledge, inherent in which is an idea that gives energy and direction to that knowledge. But if the idea at the root of that knowledge and civilization is finite, then the world that comes as a result of that knowledge is also finite. It has an end.”
Minister Louis Farrakhan
The Education Challenge: A New Educational Paradigm
for the 21st Century, delivered August 3, 2008
This morning I awakened thinking about The Honorable Minister for no particular reason, than it came to my mind what an incredibly well read, exposed and an analytical thinker he is whose scope and breathe of information is so varied that I often marvel at how he brings that knowledge to the masses of followers in terms that are comprehensible.
There is so much misinformation out there, so many obsolete thoughts, (finite) that books written by those authors are discarded by libraries every day, all around this country.
True knowledge comes from constant information or intelligence gathering, comparisons, and time out for reflection and analysis. When one reaches a point where they have read voluminous works on a myriad of subjects, one begins to automatically edit for conceptual errors while perusing the subject matter.
As an example;Wonders of the African World by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. written in 1999. As a sociologist, this ethnography normally the bastion of
my peers, anthropologists, is an empirical account of what he observed while traveling through 12 countries in search of Africa's magnificent past.
It describes, sometimes questions, and includes historical truths about its inhabitants and those of us in the diaspora. It is a beautifully and sensitively written chronicle. It is not totally objective, nor devoid of ethnocentrism, but it is an attempt to collate this vast, multi-tiered, history in a vacumn of time and space.
Authors are people. They have challenges in their personal lives, and how they handle them is what you see and feel beneath their words. Today am not so gung -ho about Dr. Gates. Firstly his DNA project is not validated at its source and the information gathered from the testing is skewed and incorrect. Oprah's endorsement has nothing to do with the hard science of genetics. Thus if you wanted to really understand the DNA project he has embraced, you should understand genetics.
In politics, a man of his stature, should have handled himself with dignity and grace, when approached at his home, by racially motivated police officers. When he started to whine, about his wife was "white" he divulged a lot to those of us who understand what and who was the "Spook Who Sat by the Door."
It is paramount by brothers and sisters, and you are the only audience to whom I use those terms that metaphor, simile, sophistry is understood. That you can read the line between the lines.
Here is another example: President Obama, just got his H1N1 vaccine. Those of us, who have taken the initiative to read both the pros and cons of vaccinations, probably have opted not to receive the vaccine. However, he may feel personally? as the Commander-In-Chief he has to abide by the status quo and society's expectation. That's the game. The game that the Honorable Minister understands so explicitly. We know that at least one segment of the American Population has an opportunity to really hear the truth.
Posted By: Marta Fernandez
Tuesday, December 22nd 2009 at 11:26AM
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