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05/14/2008: "Negative images harm black youth, forum told"

Black youth must gain a greater knowledge of the history of African civilization and the effects of colonialism and the slave trade before they can learn to reject some of the negative influences that enslave them today, says an award-winning history teacher.

David Watkins told the African Canadian Diaspora 2008 youth conference at the University of Windsor that when a community is only vaguely aware of its past, it becomes easy for negative assumptions to be foisted upon them.

He said many blacks are unaware of the history of Africa, running back hundreds to thousands of years to when Ethiopia and Zimbabwe were great empires and Africa was "the envied cradle of civilization," boasting the first universities, great religions and a proud people.

"The record companies say throw in some 'nigger, bitch and ho' and we'll take you on," he said. "Gangsta rap is bought 80 per cent by white male college students... It's a construct from outside our community... As educators, we need to deconstruct this mentality and show how we're being manipulated. We've got to replace it with the truth."

[ Whites stole the Black identity and achievements when really Whites were the backward people and Blacks invented civilization. He must hope that message will turn Blacks right around. ]

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=5b9bff46-c00c-4aaf-b45c-d58118bea552