Star Library

In the 21st Century What is an American? - By Rodney Brown

We live in Flint, Michigan. My son, the future politician, has been campaigning throughout the city of Flint. The results of that canvassing has given the view that the people of Flint are less than concerned about grand, metaphorical questions such as What is an American? They focus more on the mundane, the practical: How long will I be able to keep the lights on?, Why can I not find a job?, Can I feed my family for just one more week? This is their world, this microcosm. It is rare, these days, to find citizens comfortably well off enough to spend time pondering this, to most outside of the city's borders, highly important question What is an American. And so I cherish the answers I have been able to obtain, from those who are willing to take the time to stop, sit, and think, and review their role in the history of this nation, not the state, the overarching government, the borders drawn by political actors, but the nation, that imperceptible imaginary community of ideals, thought patterns, morals, and culture.

From Stereotype To Reality - By Don "Four Arrows" Jacobs

Human beings possess innate traits that make us susceptible to stereotyping and the subsequent prejudice, racism and violence it can cause. Indigenous Peoples whose knowledge is based on ideas that come from careful observations of nature, understood this potential problem long before they themselves became victims of stereotypes. This understanding led to their developing worldviews that tried to minimize false or misleading categorizations that contradicted reality. One important view saw how interpretations of fear, authority, words and nature (FAWN), in conjunction with hypnotic states of consciousness, both induced and spontaneous, could support or disrupt harmonious relationships with reality (Concentration Activated Transformation). The mnemonic, CAT-FAWN, can thus serve as critical reflection tool for preventing or recognizing preconceptions and harmful stereotypes that lead to unhealthful ways of living.

Black Men and Our Health - By Kevin Powell

I received a very distressing email a few days back, from someone who informed me that a long-time friend and colleague of mine had had a ministroke. I was stunned because this friend, a Black man just barely 40 like myself, holds a black belt in the martial arts, works out religiously, and dating back twenty years, when we both were then members of the Nation of Islam, he has always been very conscience of the food he puts into his body. In fact he is a vegetarian. When I called my friend on his cell phone, he was lying in a hospital bed. He sounded terrible, groggy, and, well, very sad. My friend is an amazing educator, one of the best Ive encountered, one who worked his way up from being a teacher to an indemand principal in a very short amount of time. And because there are so few Black male principals in the New York City areaor across America, for that mattermy friend not only carried the burden of overseeing an entire school, but of being a beacon of hope to students, parents, and a community.

Ending Violence Against Women and Girls - By Kevin Powell

In my recent travels and political and community work and speeches around the country, it became so very obvious that many American males are unaware of the monumental problem of domestic violence in our nation. Since October just ended and was Domestic Violence Awareness Month, this seems as good a time as any to address this urgent and overlooked issue. Why is it that so few of us actually think about violence against women and girls, or think that its our problem? Why do we go on believing its all good, even as our sisters, our mothers, and our daughters suffer and a growing number of us participate in the brutality of berating, beating, or killing our female counterparts?

African American Male Teachers - By Marvin Lynn

I have been asked to write a paper about two subjects I know quite a bit about: the education of poor African American students and the beliefs and overall characteristics of African American male teachers. As a researcher, I have always been very interested in studying specific approaches and strategies used by teachers who are effective with African American learners. I became deeply immersed in the scholarly literature that constitutes what Michele Foster has called the scholarship on Black teachers. In part, I will reflect on this literature because it has much to offer us in the way of thinking about what effective teachers do and how they conceive of their own work. Related to this literature, of course, is the effective schools literature which outlines the characteristics of effective schools for poor African American learners. This literature looms large. As a way to manage the paper, I will not attempt to review all of this literature. However, I will highlight some key studies and discuss some exemplars that have been particularly insightful and useful to me over the years in both my research and teaching. Finally, I will talk about the literature on the work and lives of African American male teachers. I will provide an extensive overview of the literature in this area as well.

Bill McKee Speaks at STAR Mini Film Festival

Bill McKee speaks on stereotypes and HipHop at the STAR Mini Film Festival and Conference at Fond du Lac Ojibwe School in Fond du Lac, Minnesota, September 2007

STAR Empowerment Co-Curriculum, Michigan Model

The STAR Empowerment Co-Curriculum was designed to complement teacher certification programs that support minority recruitment and retention, by offering systematic, culturally relevant, flexible and dynamic lessons and activities over the course of the semester/school term. It was created through a generous grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and with the support of the Phelps Stokes Fund. Its design captures the principles of 'Structure Plus Flexibility', 'Local/Regional History and Resources', 'Content Originality', 'Safe Space', 'Reflection', 'Role Modeling', 'Critical Thinking Skills', 'Conceptual Thinking', and 'Commitment'. It can be applied on a monthly 2x2/2x1/1x1/1x2 week schedule. ________________ Those individuals or entities wishing to use the STAR Empowerment Co-curriculum may do so under the terms of the license agreement viewed by copying and pasting the following URL in a web browser: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/ and with the explicit agreement that the STAR Empowerment Co-curriculum will not be altered in any way except that the individual or entity agreeing to the license may add compatible presentations and/or reading materials to supplement the STAR Empowerment Co-curriculum. By agreeing to the terms of the license agreement, the licensee is also agreeing to this term.