Kwadjo Boaitey

Posts Tagged ‘race’

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Race and what truly matters

In Published Articles, Spirituality on September 21, 2010 at 6:17 pm

I had the great opportunity to write this piece for the Christian Science Monitor. It was published today. Here’s an excerpt. Enjoy

A recent Monitor feature considers racial progress in the United States. Mary Baker Eddy, who founded the Monitor, wrote this about measuring progress: “To ascertain our progress, we must learn where our affections are placed and whom we acknowledge and obey as God” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p.239).

Ten years ago I found myself parked on the side of the road, pacing up and down a stretch of sidewalk, wrestling with that fundamental fact of progress, asking, “Where are my affections placed and whom do I acknowledge and obey as God?”

I had relocated to Atlanta from New York City, and on this particular morning was to be received as a new member of a dedicated and loving church of Christian Scientists.

As I headed to church that morning, I was blindsided by an overwhelming sense of dread and fear. I was suddenly asking myself if I could honestly be an active member in a congregation that looked nothing like me. I am black and the congregation was predominantly white.

Click here to read the entire piece.

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Be a history detective

In Published Articles, Special projects on May 1, 2009 at 9:27 pm

Recently I had the opportunity to assist playwright, Mark Saltzman in researching African-American life in 1904 Little Rock. Fine tuning a play he had written I was to focus on social life, funeral traditions, foods, natural aesthetics like trees and vegetables that would be planted in a garden, and fun facts.

1904 was a very special time in the United States of America. Although the 13th amendment was enacted in 1865, purportedly ending slavery, in Little Rock and many other communities throughout the country laws were being created to segregate blacks from whites. Lynchings were rampant and widespread and sundown towns, places where blacks were not welcome after dark, were on the rise.

Nevertheless, the rhythmic quake of ragtime ushered in by Scott Joplin was being felt throughout the south. In Little Rock, there were three black colleges, Shorter, Arkansas Baptist and Philander Smith. West Ninth Street in downtown Little Rock had African American businesses like The Children’s Drug Store, a pharmacy owned by African American Frank Barbour Coffin, who was also a poet and The Mosaic Templars of America which provided financial, medical and social aid to African Americans in Arkansas and throughout the nation. In addition to its mutual aid, insurance and self help programs the Mosaic Templars also established a nursing school. Like Atlanta’s Auburn Avenue and Harlem’s 125th Street, African American beauty salons, pool halls, butchers, and restaurants were all found on Little Rock’s West Ninth Street.

Working on this project, the greatest boon for me was discovering the very special places and people who both documented and shared this information, this history with me. Here are some of them: Arkansas History Commission, Griff Stockley’s book: Ruled by Race: Black/White Relations in Arkansas from Slavery to the Present, Arkansas Studies Institute, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, Philander Smith College – Gracie Carter, Librarian-Archives Department,The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture.

“Be a history detective: it matters to me,” published in the Sync Weekly (April 1, 2009) highlighted this fun research opportunity and I hope inspired others to be history detectives…to ask questions and find answers.

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Black History Month

In Published Articles, Spirituality on February 16, 2009 at 9:38 pm

Rather than argue the merits of Black History Month it is important to note the accomplishments of blacks especially in this country where the observance began because it fixes us on the law of progress, resilience of love, and the radiance of soul. This law, quality, idea that is the basis for black achievement is universal and applicable to all, making this annual observance especially meaningful.

In light of our first African American president, I was inspired to think about black history more deeply this year. Black History Month an enduring lesson written for spirituality.com was the result of that thinking. Working on that piece I discovered The Association for the Study of African American Life and History. It was started by Carter G. Woodson in 1915. According to its website, the mission of ASALH is to “promote, research, preserve, interpret and disseminate information about Black life, history and culture to the global community.” Mr. Woodson was the second African American to receive a PhD from Harvard University. He is known as the father of black history because he initiated the observance with Negro History Week in 1926. In 1976 Negro History Week was expanded to the month long observance we celebrate today.

In keeping with this theme I also published Stand up to racism for Associated Content.

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Racial concepts and the Jena six

In Published Articles, Spirituality on November 10, 2007 at 4:10 am

I wrote “Racial concepts and the Jena six,” for The Christian Science Sentinel, in response to the racial unrest in Jena, Louisiana that made international news. Working on this piece I learned that individuals are beginning to explore the issue of race and racism from a more heightened and sober perspective.

The PBS special, RACE-The Power of Illusion explores the concept of race. In the special, Biological Anthropologist, Alan Goodman said, “To understand why the idea of race is a biological myth requires a major paradigm shift, a shift in perspective…race is not based on biology but race is rather an idea that we ascribe to biology.”

Speaking to this fact of race as an idea or concept, Sociologist, Melvin Oliver said, “The markers of race, skin color, hair texture, the things we identify as the racial markers, mean nothing unless they are given social meaning and unless there’s public policy and private actions that act upon those characteristics.”

RACE-The Power of Illusion is an interactive site. You’ll find a list of background readings, resources for teachers and discussion guides. Check it out.

I have the habit of addressing troubling local and global challenges from a spiritual perspective. Doing so has brought me much peace and healing.

Spirituality.com is a wonderful resource. The website is designed to heal, inspire, and guide you on your spiritual journey through the many resources of The Christian Science Publishing Society. You’ll find links to read the Bible as well as Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.

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