Suicide rates increasing among Black youth

New data from the Centers for Disease Control shows that between 2018 and 2021, the suicide rates among Black Americans aged 10-24 increased by 36.6%.

Governor Murphy Announces Expansion of AP African American Studies in New Jersey

Governor Phil Murphy today announced the expansion of Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies classes in New Jersey during a visit to Science Park High School with Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka during Black History Month. The AP African American Studies class, which is currently in its first stage of a two-year pilot program across the country, will be taught in 26 New Jersey high schools during the 2023-2024 academic year. Currently, the class is offered in one New Jersey school out of 60 nationwide. Today’s announcement underscores the Governor’s commitment to leading the nation in public education while promoting access to educational opportunities that offer students a strong foundation for future success. 

Governor Murphy and Mayor Baraka were also joined by the Acting Commissioner of Education Dr. Angelica Allen-McMillan and the Superintendent of Newark Public Schools Roger León while visiting an African American History class taught by Mr. Alnazir Blackman, who will teach AP African American Studies at Science Park High School in the next academic year.

“The expansion of AP African American Studies in New Jersey will grant our students the opportunity to learn about the innumerable ways in which Black Americans have shaped and strengthened our country,” said Governor Phil Murphy. “As governors like Florida’s Ron DeSantis prioritize political culture wars ahead of academic success, New Jersey will proudly teach our kids that Black History is American History. While the DeSantis Administration stated that AP African American Studies ‘significantly lacks educational value’, New Jersey will stand on the side of teaching our full history. We will set an example for the nation by demonstrating to our future leaders that our country is the greatest in the world because it is a work in progress, a promise, and an ideal we strive to achieve.”

“African American history has been enshrined in our statewide social studies standards since the 1990s, and subsequently codified in law with the passage of the 2002 Amistad legislation that requires New Jersey schools to incorporate African American history into social studies curriculum,” said Dr. Angelica Allen-McMillan, Acting Commissioner of Education. “In New Jersey, we strive to fearlessly and honestly provide our students with the richest and most expansive instruction possible – one reason our public schools consistently rank among the best in the nation.  Recognition of New Jersey high schools that have implemented Advanced Placement African American Studies is an additional milestone in our journey in providing robust resources and education excellence in African American studies.”

The school visit today also highlighted Newark School District’s continued leadership with respect to expanding African American History education. Since 2020, the district developed and launched new curriculum including units of study for K-11 that focus on Black History. In the 2023-2024 academic year, 6 schools in Newark will offer the AP African American Studies class. 

“In order to truly understand the complexities of our nation, students must be able to learn about all the facets of American History,” said Mayor Ras Baraka. “The study of African-American History is integral in a child’s educational upbringing as it ensures that they learn a complete picture of what makes America, America. This country cannot afford to teach a revisionist history because doing so will only ensure that we repeat the mistakes of the past. With the passage of the Amistad Bill, New Jersey students are taught a complete and inclusive history. We hope that states across the country will not only enact similar legislation but provide funding to expand history curriculums in a meaningful way.”

"In Newark, our African American History curriculum provides students the opportunity to explore primary and secondary sources that help students understand the history, contributions, talents, triumphs, and continuing challenges of African Americans,” said Newark Public Schools Superintendent Roger León. “The study of African American History, as a discrete field, is important to gaining a deeper, fuller understanding of United States History. We look forward to expanding student opportunities for rigorous learning with the addition of AP African American History and AP Seminar with African Diaspora Content offerings to our students."

"It is an honor to teach AP African American History as it represents an opportunity to provide our students with deep, engaging exploration and discussion of our experiences in the United States of America,” said Mr. Alnazir Blackman. “I am certain the ancestors would be pleased to know that we have come to a place in our journey worthy of an AP course."

“Unlike what Florida’s Governor and other anti-Black history Governors across the country, Governor Murphy is prioritizing the truth,” said Rev. Dr. Charles F. Boyer, Founding Director of Salvation and Social Justice. “Black history is American history and when we don’t tell the whole story not only do we further marginalize and oppress a whole portion of Americans, but we also lie to ourselves and are doomed to make the same deadly mistakes. We applaud the Governor and look forward to this being coupled with a commitment from every school district to prioritize the Amistad law. “

“As the new Executive Director of the Amistad Commission, I am very excited about Governor Murphy’s expansion of Advance Placement (AP) courses on African American Studies in New Jersey high schools,” said Patrick Lamy, Executive Director of the Amistad Commission. “This initiative is well aligned with the Amistad Commission’s mission to infuse Africans and African Americans in the narrative of American and world history. This is a major step for the state of New Jersey and for the students we serve.”

 “Black history is a crucial element of world history. Teaching black history year-round helps to create unity and promote togetherness by eliminating the divisive ideologies that are present between racial groups in America,” said Richard T. Smith, President, NAACP New Jersey State Conference. “Teaching black history supports the narrative that black Americans are valued in American culture and teaches individuals to respect black americans.  Black history must be taught year-round, and not just during Black History Month, in order to encourage all races to accept black citizenship and embrace it with open arms. The expansion of Advance Placement (AP) African American Studies classes in New Jersey’s high schools is imperative and is sure to continue to promote and educate our student scholars on the black stories and black history that has shaped America into what it is today. The NAACP New Jersey State Conference is in full support of this expansion and we encourage all students to take advantage of the educational opportunities and we challenge educational leaders in other states to incorporate black history into their curricula as well”.  

“I’m proud that New Jersey is once again taking the lead on ensuring that all students have access to a broad, inclusive and honest curriculum,” said NJEA President Sean M. Spiller. “We are seeing a troubling trend across the nation. In too many places, adults are attempting to limit students’ opportunities to learn and narrow the perspectives they are exposed to. That is antithetical to the purpose of public education. We have long stood for honesty in education through our ongoing support of the Holocaust Curriculum and the Amistad Curriculum as well as the inclusion of instruction about the contributions of women, people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ people throughout all subjects and grade levels. We will continue to advocate for teaching our students the truth in New Jersey, even when the truth is uncomfortable for some people.”

Statement from College Board on their commitment to AP African American Studies, the scholars, and the field

The College Board released a statement in which it admitted that it made mistakes in rolling out its new AP African American Studies course and stating its commitment to AP African American Studies. Read that statement below.

Our commitment to AP African American Studies is unwavering. This will be the most rigorous, cohesive immersion that high school students have ever had in this discipline. Many more students than ever before will go on to deepen their knowledge in African American Studies programs in college. 

Teachers and students piloting this course are everywhere voicing their enthusiasm for the discoveries they are making. They are thriving in the openness and respect of the classroom environments they have built.

There is always debate about the content of a new AP course. That is good and healthy; these courses matter. But the dialogue surrounding AP African American Studies has moved from healthy debate to misinformation. 

We are proud of this course. But we have made mistakes in the rollout that are being exploited.

We need to clear the air and set the record straight.

1. We deeply regret not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Education’s slander, magnified by the DeSantis administration’s subsequent comments, that African American Studies “lacks educational value.” Our failure to raise our voice betrayed Black scholars everywhere and those who have long toiled to build this remarkable field.
   
   
2. We should have made clear that the framework is only the outline of the course, still to be populated by the scholarly articles, video lectures, and practice questions that we assemble and make available to all AP teachers in the summer for free and easy assignment to their students. This error triggered a conversation about erasing or eliminating Black thinkers. The vitriol aimed at these scholars is repulsive and must stop.
   
   Rather, scholars are essential to this course, and each AP teacher must select works by scholars to include in the syllabus they submit for AP course authorization, as they do in a range of other AP courses that require secondary sources in the syllabus. We are requesting copyright permission to include works on our AP Classroom digital platform by every author mentioned in any iteration of the framework, bringing these readings to students worldwide by enabling AP teachers to assign them with one click.
   
   
3. We should have made clear that contemporary events like the Black Lives Matter movement, reparations, and mass incarceration were optional topics in the pilot course. Our lack of clarity allowed the narrative to arise that political forces had “downgraded” the role of these contemporary movements and debates in the AP class. The actual pilot course materials teachers used were completed on April 29, 2022—far prior to any pushback. In these pilot materials, teachers were told to pick only one such topic. This topic could be assigned after the exam since it didn’t count and would have no impact on the student’s AP score.
   
   The official framework is a significant improvement, rather than a watering down: three weeks are now dedicated to a research project of the student’s choice, which counts as 20% of the student’s AP Exam score for college credit. This model better aligns with the flexibility colleges themselves often provide students to do an extended paper on a topic of their choice. We encourage students to focus their projects on contemporary issues and debates to ensure their application of knowledge to the present.
   
   
4. We have not succeeded in focusing the conversation on the remarkable work and flexibility of the pilot teachers in different states. The fact is that pilot teachers everywhere are introducing the core concepts of this discipline with skill and care. Sadly, in some states teachers have more room to maneuver than others. We recognize that in some states teachers and students will be able to draw more widely on Black Studies scholarship than in others. But we must resist the narrative that teachers in states with restrictions are not doing exceptional work with their students, introducing them to so much and preparing them for so much more.
   
   By filling the course with concrete examples of the foundational concepts in this discipline, we have given teachers the flexibility to teach the essential content without putting their livelihoods at risk. The committee will continue to evaluate this approach, making further changes to the framework if they decide to do so.
   
   
5. While it has been claimed that the College Board was in frequent dialogue with Florida about the content of AP African American Studies, this is a false and politically motivated charge. Our exchanges with them are actually transactional emails about the filing of paperwork to request a pilot course code and our response to their request that the College Board explain why we believe the course is not in violation of Florida laws.
   
   We had no negotiations about the content of this course with Florida or any other state, nor did we receive any requests, suggestions, or feedback.
   
   We were naive not to announce Florida’s rejection of the course when FDOE first notified us on September 23, 2022, in a letter entitled “CB Letter AP Africain [sic] Studies.” This letter, like all written communications we received from Florida, contained no explanation of the rejection. Instead, Florida invited us to call them if we had any questions.
   
   We made those calls, as we would to any state that says they have unstated concerns about an AP course. These phone calls with FDOE were absent of substance, despite the audacious claims of influence FDOE is now making. In the discussion, they did not offer feedback but instead asked vague, uninformed questions like, “What does the word ‘intersectionality’ mean?” and “Does the course promote Black Panther thinking?” FDOE did not bring any African American Studies scholars or teachers to their call with us, despite the presence in their state of so many renowned experts in this discipline.
   
   Since FDOE did not make any requests or suggestions during the calls, we asked them if they could share specific concerns in writing. They said they had to check with their supervisors and get permission. They never sent us any feedback, but instead sent a second letter to us on January 12, 2023, as a PR stunt which repeated the same rejection but now with inflated rhetoric and posturing, saying the course lacked “educational value.”
   
   On the day after Florida sent us that second letter, the AP executive overseeing the process of developing this course—the only AP leader who participated in the telephone calls with FDOE—followed up with the College Board’s FDOE liaison to ask whether we should ever expect any actual feedback from Florida. This is the response:
   
   

   “I don’t think they [FDOE] intend to provide any notes. My guess is that [the FDOE staff member] shared his notes with leadership (as he told us he would) and they shut it down. He might have even been instructed not to share notes.”

   
   We have made the mistake of treating FDOE with the courtesy we always accord to an education agency, but they have instead exploited this courtesy for their political agenda. After each written or verbal exchange with them, as a matter of professional protocol, we politely thanked them for their feedback and contributions, although they had given none.
   
   In Florida’s effort to engineer a political win, they have claimed credit for the specific changes we made to the official framework. In their February 7, 2023, letter to us, which they leaked to the media within hours of sending, Florida expresses gratitude for the removal of 19 topics, none of which they ever asked us to remove, and most of which remain in the official framework.
   
   They also claimed that we removed terms like “systemic marginalization” and “intersectionality” at their behest. This is not true. The notion that we needed Florida to enlighten us that these terms are politicized in several states is ridiculous. We took a hard look at these terms because they often are misunderstood, misrepresented, and co-opted as political weapons. Instead we focused throughout the framework on providing concrete examples of these important concepts. Florida is attempting to claim a political victory by taking credit retroactively for changes we ourselves made but that they never suggested to us.
   
   FDOE’s most recent letter continues to deride the field of African American Studies by describing key topics as “historically fictional.” We have asked them what they meant by that accusation, and they have failed to answer. The College Board condemns this uninformed caricature of African American Studies and the harm it does to scholars and students.

This new AP course can be historic—what makes history are the lived experiences of millions of African Americans, and the long work of scholars who have built this field. We hope our future efforts will unmistakably and unequivocally honor their work.

Two Black QBs are starting in the Super Bowl. Why it matters

Sunday’s Super Bowl will mark the first time in NFL history that both teams’ starting quarterbacks are Black — Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs and Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles. Former NFL star Doug Williams, who was the first Black quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl 35 years ago, joins John Yang to discuss the significance of this historic moment.

Opal Lee, the ‘grandmother of Juneteenth becomes second Black American to have portrait hung in Texas statehouse

Opal Lee, the 96-year-old Texan who successfully championed legislation to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, was honored on Wednesday with the unveiling of a portrait at the state Capitol.

The portrait of Lee, known as the “grandmother of Juneteenth,” is the first new portrait to be hung in the state Senate chamber in more than 40 years.

“This is a historic day,” Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said during the unveiling ceremony.

Lee, who walked from Fort Worth to Washington, DC, to advocate for the Juneteenth holiday, received a standing ovation during the ceremony. “This does not happen often, it’s a great honor,” Patrick said.

The resolution to honor Lee was presented by State Sen. Royce West who said Lee is “worthy of all the accolades” that have come her way.

State Sen. Borris Miles said the celebration of Lee is an example of Texas giving people roses while they are alive to receive them. Miles called Lee a “living legend” whose work will be studied and admired for generations.

Lee told CNN she was delighted when she heard she would be honored with a portrait in the statehouse.

“I was humbled,” Lee said. “I’m hanging in the same chamber with Barbara Jordan. Oh, wow. I didn’t know how to act.”

Lee’s portrait joins the portrait of late Rep. Barbara Jordan to be the only two Black Americans honored in such a manner in the Texas statehouse. Jordan served in the Texas state Senate prior to representing the state in Congress until her death in 1996.

President Joe Biden signed the bill making Juneteenth a national holiday in June 2021.

Lee told CNN she plans to continue her activism advocating for issues such as joblessness, homelessness, health care, and climate change but also wants to continue to educate others about Juneteenth and the effects of racism.

She said it’s up to the youth to teach people to love and not to hate.

“I don’t see why the color of your skin seems to make a difference,” Lee said, adding that it’s time for society to “get over” racism.

Since getting Juneteenth recognized as a federal holiday, Lee has written a children’s book to help educate the youth about Juneteenth and is working on getting funding for a Juneteenth museum in Fort Worth.

“Everybody has a part to play,” Lee said.

[SOURCE: CNN]