"The
Knowledge resides in the womb of a rejected people and a (their) way of
life." Thus Africa reminds us:
~"Man Know Thyself"~
"Anthology of An
Essayist" - Volume II: Total Comprehensive Compositions (Volume 2) Paperback – Large
Print, February 25, 2012
by
Gregory Vernon Boulware
(Author)
“Planned
Disenfranchisement: Interdepartmental Conspiracy – Failure or A Simple
Mistake?”
By
Gregory
V. Boulware
11.18.07
Have
you, your relatives, friends, or anyone that you know ever been dropped from
college enrollment registration? Have you ever been discouraged from attending
higher education or knowledge gaining pursuits? If so, I think that you will
find this message very interesting. How much sense does it make to issue a
letter of financial acceptance and delivery confirmation and then retract said
letter almost immediately? The systematic approach of dropping students from
college registration rolls appears to be the latest tool to “culling
the herd.” The targeted allotment becomes a spared expense.
How
many urban high school level “Baby
Boomers” have been discouraged from attending college and/or college
preparatory schools? I’ll probably never get the stats on that question. It
goes without saying, many urbanite
students: Black, White, Latino, Asian, and/or Bi-Racial; that think and/or
thought about reaching for the higher goal, have been systematically
disenfranchised and/or discouraged methodically by the powers that be, starting
within the educational system, the systematic ‘red tape’ and administration
backlogs have choked the forward motion of our country’s higher count of
college level educated populace.
I
have personally suffered that humiliation while attending high school. At the
age of about 15, I entertained the thought of transferring from the school I
attended to a school of higher academics. One day during the end of the spring
semester, I went to the counselor’s office at school. I asked that counselor that was assigned to me about
transferring to the higher academic school. He gave me the once over and
replied without viewing my school records and history.
“Son,
you cannot attend that school or any school of higher academic level. You do
not have the aptitude or the intelligence required to get past the test.”
I
went along with the assumption primarily because I didn’t know what to do or
whom to go to for further advice. Sure, there were individuals that said:
“Man,
you can be anything that you want to be!”
That
is easier said than done, especially when you could do just great working in a
factory or warehouse, in those days. That is what the counselor advised me to
do anyway, he said:
“Son,
go on down to the wood shop, metal shop, electric shop, print shop, and/or
automobile repair shop and learn to work with your hands. Your kind of people
are always good doing things with their hands.”
The
jobs were plentiful in the days of the 50s, 60’s, 70’s, and early 80’s. The
90’s started to show growth of information Technology. It also showed the
beginning of the end for the factory and manufacturing workforce.
“Is the existence of systematic
discrimination a reality?”
Discrimination
is prevalent in the lives of Philadelphia workers. Union and non-union, are
fighting for construction contracts to work on the continuing expansion of the
Philadelphia Convention Center where white union workers predominately man the
jobs. Why is it that large cities and corporations continue to espouse
diversity and practice otherwise? Why is it that toy/doll manufactures make
white person-imaged dolls with clothing that is fashionable and acceptable to
the status quo and the dolls that replicate or imaged to portray people of
color as urbanomically correct. i.e. baggy pants with shirts and blouses that
are oversized? Some people certainly would agree that the main reason is
control, power, and the continuing separation of “them that’s got it and them
that don’t. And if you ain’t got it, you certainly will not get it and we will
make it difficult if not impossible for you to get it!”
I’ve
been attending college for about eleven years (part-time) and achieved three
years of recorded formal college education. The one time that I was able to
attend school, with the intention of securing the colleges’ ‘Certificate of
Management,’ hoping to enhance my ‘Associate Degree,’ the rug was pulled from
underneath. I was attending classes for the full semester of which I spent the
majority of the summer fighting to get into, only to be denied the opportunity.
The college neglected to inform ‘PHEAA’ that I was enrolled and attending
classes. PHEAA in turn, withdrew the tuition and supplies payment due to the
fact that my name was not on the schools’ current enrollment listing. I was
enrolled for classes at the college. I was attending classes on the scheduled
evenings (4 nights a week). I have also purchased the required textbooks and
received syllabi with course lesson instruction(s). My participation was duly
noted and ongoing from the second day of classes in September of 2007 until I
was forced out at the end of October. Several college officials and staff
assisted me with my/the re-enrollment process. One of the officials issued an
apology verifying a mistake in its pre-requisite protocols. How do you think I
felt after going through all of this red tape and bureaucratic non-sense, to
not be allowed to attend school? I have complied with all of the requirements
set forth by the directives with the exception of making contact with the
‘Bursars Office,’ informing them of the transactions and receiving a payment
waiver.
Wasn’t
the ‘Financial Aid Office’ supposed to do that? Do you think or feel that
bigotry and racism is alive and well where you work, play, shop, and live?
They
told me that I couldn’t handle the academics. They told me that I couldn’t go
to college. They told me that I couldn’t do a lot of things; but I did.
Be it
as it may, should anyone think that I have given up on the paper chase, thing
again. I will be successful in my dreams, my quest of acquiring the coveted and
allusive collegiate credentials, some way somehow…
You
too can be successful. You too can be anything and anybody you want to be! And,
don’t ever let anything, anyone, or anybody stand in your way!
Now,
how would you feel if this tragedy…or circumstance happened to you? What would
you do? What would you have done if it were you?
*This
essay first appeared originally and exclusively on the “Obama for President
Campaign Web Site in 2007 for the 2008 victory.
http://theunobscure.blogspot.com/
http://gregoryvboulware.blogspot.com/
Tags:
Education, Discrimination, Bigotry, Collegiate, Student, History, Obama, CCP-Philly, Berean Institute, Associate, News, Black People, Campuses, Plantation, Slavery, Heroes, Un-Obscure, Posterity, Encouragement, Enlightenment, Determination, Spirituality, Self-Improvement
~
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