The reality of crime

I am not going to quote statistics, references, etc, even though I could. I want you to access the information yourself and believe me it is very easy to find. I am not taking sides, just pointing out some facts because as an educator that is what I do.

Let us start with race: it is a social construct, and the racial divide was created early in American history to keep black folks and poor white folks from uniting against the rich overlords. Guess what? It worked, and it is still working. There really is no such thing as the black race or the white race, there is only the human race.

Poverty creates and perpetuates crime, not skin color. Yes there is a lot of crime in “black” neighborhoods but that is because most of these neighborhoods nationwide are poor (some extremely poor). However, if you look at “white” neighborhoods of similar poverty, you will find the crime statistics are just as high. How many of you are often one paycheck away from becoming homeless? When poverty sets in, you do desperate things. Did anyone notice that the jails got very full after the economic downturn of 2008? Jails are now publically traded companies, and prisoners mean big bucks. We punish poor people unfairly because they are paychecks to some.

While “black” people seem to have a disproportionate amount of crime, as a whole, most crime is actually cause by “white” folks and that makes sense because they are in the majority (blacks are just 13% of total population). FYI most welfare fraud (and welfare in general) is done and used by white people.

I always find it interesting when people lecture “black” folks about black-on-black crime as if we all know each other. White-on-white crime exists at just as high a rate, yet ‘white” folks are not being held responsible for every crime committed, so why you should hold “blacks” responsible? We are not all brothers, people with black skin are as diverse as grains of sand on beach; do not hold the ‘black race” responsible for this.

Poverty is a manmade creation that can be solved and needs to solved, and not to give people and hand up, but because economically it makes sense and crime statistics will go down.

Lastly, stop with the terms  like race-baiter, it’s a BS term and means nothing. Stop talking about Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson as if they represent everyone with black skin in America. We are not “post racial” not even close; there are children of civil war, and grandchildren of slaves still walking around. We have not begun to really look at  this issue because we have blinders on still. This is still a great country, with a lot of opportunity, but we can be greater, we can do better, we should be better.

Poverty is a disease, and we desperately need a cure.

Professor Blade CFMC AKA Dr Flavius A B Akerele III (The ETeam)



Have a great Thanksgiving 2014



I hope you all take sometime to enjoy moments with your family and loved ones, and to be thankful for what you do have and not to worry about what you do not have.


Be blessed.


Dr Flavius A B Akerele III
The ETeam

Politics and education

I know this is a repetitive topic, I know I have talked about this before, but I feel it is worth mentioning again: politics have no place in the classroom.

When political agendas are injected into education kids suffer because they are getting mixed messages and sometimes misleading information in an already mediocre school system (for the most part that is true we have to be honest).

“Majority of Texas Social Studies Textbooks Approved Despite Controversy”

“Nearly all of the social studies textbooks that were being considered by the Texas board of education—and causing an uproar from both conservative- and liberal-leaning advocacy groups—have been sanctioned for use next school year.”

“Of the 96 books being reviewed, 89 were approved by the Republican-controlled board this afternoon, reports the Associated Press. Six books were defeated, and one publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, withdrew a government text.” 

“As I wrote yesterday, groups from both sides of the political spectrum argued against the textbooks' approval, alleging they contained distortions. The Texas Freedom Network Education Fund said some books exaggerated Moses' influence on the founding of the United States. Truth in Texas Textbooks claimed the books were too pro-Islam.”

Read the rest here: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2014/11/majority_of_texas_social_studi.html?r=1930164699&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS3

Nowhere in this issue do I hear a mention of children or how this will benefit them, as if often the case.

It is all about the children people, not about political agendas.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam



Still a young country

I have often written about how this country has a long way to go with race relations partly because the sins of the past are still within “living memory” of people.

I heard this story this morning, which further proves my point. Can you believe there are people alive whose parents fought in the Civil War and who had met Abraham Lincoln?

“Numbers Dwindle Of Living Children Of Civil War Veterans”

Listen here: http://www.npr.org/2014/11/18/364889051/numbers-dwindle-of-living-children-of-civil-war-veterans

“Children of Civil War Veterans Still Walk Among Us, 150 Years After the War”

Read here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/special-features/2014/11/141111-veterans-day-150-anniversary-civil-war-memories/

The last “known” children of slaves was reported to have died in 2011, which mean there are many grandchildren of slaves alive and well.

You cannot understand the present unless you understand the past, and the past always influences the future.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam



Africa is a huge diverse continent not a country!

Every so often, I read something or encounter a situation of supreme ignorance about the continent of Africa that boggles my mind. When I was younger, I used let the folks wallow in their ignorance or sometimes add to it with extremely bad and funny information (I did not think they would take it seriously but they did). Nowadays, as an educator, I feel I must try and truly educate the individual(s) because I realize it is not their fault.

We do not teach a true and rich curriculum about the continent, in fact, you will be surprised how many people know nothing about the continent beyond the latest Ebola fear story in the news. Case in point: “Teacher Told to Stay Away on Return From Africa”

“A teacher in a Roman Catholic school was told to take a leave of absence for 21 days when she returned from a mission trip to Kenya, even though the country is thousands of miles from the center of the Ebola outbreak.”

“The school, St. Margaret Mary in Louisville, Ky., told religion teacher Susan Sherman to take mandatory leave when she returned Oct. 26 because several parents were worried about the Ebola outbreak, according to her husband, Paul Sherman. She resigned. Louisville Archbishop Joseph Kurtz last week acknowledged that was "not the right judgment."”

“The Shermans spent nine days in Kenya, working with a relief organization that provides health care, food, and water and builds churches and distributes Bibles.”

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/11/12/12brief-7.h34.html

The distance between the Ebola area in West Africa and Kenya is more than 3000 miles!

There is no such language as African, all Africans are not brothers, and if you know someone from a country do not expect someone else you meet from that country to know them (especially if it is Nigeria which has a lot of people).

Learn, teach, and do not be ignorant about the second largest continent in the world.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam