MAULANA KARENGA

KWANZAA

THE BLACK CANDLE

HOLIDAY SEASON

In the next few days many of us will be celebrating Christmas and Kwanzaa. While the celebration of Christmas has evolved over many centuries, the celebration of Kwanzaa is relatively new, 44 years old. The celebration of Christmas has been adapted and shaped by different communities and cultures. The Christmas tree (originally German) which is now an established part of Christmas celebrations was introduced and became popular in the former British Empire (which included Canada and the Caribbean islands) during the reign of Victoria. In 1846 an illustration of the British royal family Victoria, her German husband Albert and their children appeared in the Illustrated London News, standing around a decorated Christmas tree. The fashion caught on not only in Britain and the British Empire but also in the United States of America. In many homes today, a decorated tree is an essential part of the Christmas celebration.

Santa Claus in America, Canada and elsewhere, Father Christmas in Britain and many former British colonies is also an established figure in the celebration of Christmas. However, the jolly, white haired, bearded figure with the hearty laugh is mostly an American invention. Although legends abound from Turkey and various European countries of Saint Nicholas/St Nick, Kris Kringle and Sinterklaas, the modern version was popularised by Coca-Cola in the 1930s to boost sales of their product. Coca-Cola claim in their advertising: “2006 marked the 75th anniversary of the famous Coca-Cola Santa Claus. Starting in 1931, magazine ads for Coca-Cola featured St. Nick as a kind, jolly man in a red suit. Because magazines were so widely viewed, and because this image of Santa appeared for more than three decades, the image of Santa most people have today is largely based on our advertising.”

Since the days of the popularised Coca-Cola image of Santa Claus the celebration of Christmas has become less a religious observance/holiday and more a secular and highly commercial celebration/holiday. Christmas as a secular and commercial celebration is celebrated worldwide even in countries where the main religion is not Christianity.

In the Caribbean islands that were colonized by the British and in Guyana, the Christmas celebrations were at one time patterned after the colonizer but over time we made the celebration uniquely Caribbean with decorations, food and music. Steel pan music as accompaniment to the traditional carols, calypso, reggae and soca versions of those carols and even Caribbean composed songs to celebrate Christmas including the spirited and popular “Drink a rum” by Lord Kitchener and “listen mama I want you to tell Santa Claus” by Nat Hepburn. A Guyanese Christmas is not complete without a pepperpot (made with casareep) breakfast.

Christmas, many centuries old has moved from its supposed roots (many pagan rituals were included) of the celebration of the birth of Christ while Kwanzaa at 44 years old is still true to its roots as a Pan-African seven day celebration which begins on December 26th and goes until January 1st. The creation of Kwanzaa served as a way to reconnect African Americans to African culture and to celebrate family, community and culture. Kwanzaa is a celebration for all Africans regardless of their religion or country of birth. It is a time to celebrate our culture, learn about our history, honour African ancestors and traditions, spend time with family and friends and look to our future as a people.

The Kwanzaa celebration inspired racial pride in African Americans who, like other Africans in the Diaspora had been brainwashed into thinking that European culture was superior. The values articulated in the seven Kwanzaa principles “Nguzo saba” resonate with Africans and the celebration which began with a few people in the USA in 1966 is now an international celebration. In 1998 it was estimated that Kwanzaa was celebrated by 18 million Africans worldwide.

Kiswahili, the most widely spoken African language is used during the celebration of Kwanzaa which comes from "matunda ya kwanza" meaning "first fruits of the harvest.” Decorating the Kwanzaa table is an opportunity to learn some Kiswahili words. There are seven symbols that make up the table setting for a Kwanzaa celebration. The mkeka (mat) is the foundation upon which the other symbols are placed. The kinara (candle holder) holds the mishumaa saba (seven candles). The kikombe cha umoja (unity cup), mazao (fruits and vegetables), muhindi/vibunzi (corn) and zawadi (gifts) are placed on the mkeka. To the greeting/question, “Habari gani?” the answer is the principle of the day.

The Nguzo Saba (seven principles) are Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self- Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity) and Imani (Faith). Each principle is represented by a candle (mshumaa). The colours used during Kwanzaa (red, black and green) are the Pan-African colours chosen by the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey. The red, black and green bendera (flag) is sometimes a part of the Kwanzaa decoration. Black represents the African people; red represents the blood shed in our struggle for freedom and green is the symbol of our future and the richness of the African continent.

The Mishumaa saba (seven candles) used during Kwanzaa are red black and green. The black candle is placed in the centre of the kinara, the three red candles to the left of the black candle and the three green candles to the right. On the first day of Kwanzaa, December 26th, the black candle, representing umoja (unity) is lit. On the second day of Kwanzaa, the first red candle next to the black candle, representing kujichagulia (self-determination) is lit. On the third day of Kwanzaa, the first green candle, next to the black candle, representing ujima (collective work and responsibility) is lit. The candles are lit in this alternating pattern until the last green candle, representing Imani (faith) is lit on the last day of the Kwanzaa celebration January 1st.

Celebrating Kwanzaa encourages making or buying educational African centred zawadi (gifts) for children to practice Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) so that money circulates in the community at least seven times. There are excellent books written for African children about the heroes and sheroes who can serve as inspiration and role models. Mathieu DaCosta by Itah Sadu, The Kids Book of Black Canadian History by Rosemary Sadlier, To Be a Drum by Evelyn Coleman, The Sound that Jazz Makes by Carole Boston Weatherford, In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall by Javaka Steptoe, Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book by Muriel Feelings, The Friendship, Song of the Trees, Mississippi Bridge and The Well by Mildred D. Taylor are all excellent Kwanzaa zawadi for children. The decorations for the Kwanzaa table, including a beautifully carved wooden kinara, mkeka, kikombe cha Umoja and kente cloth can all be found at African Canadian owned stores. The seven principles can be a guide throughout the year and do not have to be relegated to the Kwanzaa celebration from December 26th to January 1st.

An important part of the Kwanzaa celebration is the recognition of those who went before us. We remember those who paved the way for us, those on whose shoulders we stand and we are thankful that they never stopped striving for their freedom. The community is invited to a free Kwanzaa karamu on December 31 to celebrate Kuumba (creativity) at 100 Devonshire Place. If you have not celebrated Kwanzaa, now is a good time to start. Kwanzaa yenu iwe na heri! May your Kwanzaa be happy!! Merry Christmas!!

KWANZAA

No part of our legacy is more valuable than the unique ethical teaching of the Odu Ifa, the sacred text of our Yoruba ancestors, that we and all humans are divinely chosen to bring good into the world and that this is the fundamental meaning and mission of human life. As cultural nationalists, we believe that you must rescue and reconstruct African history and culture to revitalize African culture today in America. In the final analysis shared social wealth and work are key to African economic development

Dr. Maulana Karenga

In 1965 Dr. Maulana Karenga and several advocates founded the organization Us. Out of that period when African Americans struggled to gain their civil rights Us “projected a new vision of possibility through service, struggle and institution-building.” In that framework and spirit, they co-founded the Brotherhood Crusade, the Black Congress, Mafundi Institute, the Community Alert Patrol, and the Operational Unity Committee. The organization was involved in planning the Kedren Community Mental Health Center, the Watts Health Foundation and the Ujima Housing Project. They worked with schools and parent groups to establish and maintain quality education and built a youth movement, the Simba Wachanga (The Young Lions) which is a model and inspiration for numerous rites of passage programs. The organization also established and maintains the African American Cultural Center, the Limbiko Tembo Kawaida School of African American Culture (an independent cultural school for children,) the Kawaida Institute of Pan-African Studies (which sponsors an annual seminar in Social Theory & Practice) and the University of Sankore Press.

The group is most famous for the creation of Kwanzaa and the introduction of the Nguzo Saba (Seven Principles.) Kwanzaa, which comes from the Kiswahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza” (first fruits of the harvest,) was created in December 1966. Karenga, professor of Africana Studies at California State University, Long Beach, author and scholar-activist stresses the need to preserve and promote African culture.

Dr Molefi Kete Asante in his 2009 published book Maulana Karenga: An Intellectual Portrait writes: “Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga is an intellectual and political activist who is always at work, writing, speaking, editing teaching and consulting. Maulana Karenga is the preeminent African American cultural theorist and one of the towering figures in the science of social and cultural reconstruction of our era.” In the foreword of the book Dr Ama Mazama associate professor of African American Studies at Temple University writes: “Only five intellectual movements among African Americans in the last century have been fully transformative: Marcus Garvey’s Pan African movement, Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement, Elijah Mohammad’s religious nationalism, Maulana Karenga’s Kawaida and Molefi Kete Asante’s Afrocentricity. These intellectual and activist traditions have been at the forefront of changing the operational, social, religious, legal, or symbolic nature of the African American community.”

Kwanzaa is a celebration of family, community and culture based on African harvest celebrations that urges and encourages Africans in the Diaspora to connect with their cultural and historical roots. Kwanzaa is cultural, practiced by Africans of all religious faiths who come together based on the Pan-African philosophy of the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey. In an interview with Emerge Magazine Karenga said, "As cultural nationalists, we believe that you must rescue and reconstruct African history and culture to revitalize African culture today in America. Kwanzaa became a way of doing just that. I wanted to stress the need for reorientation of values, to borrow the collective life-affirming ones from our past and use them to enrich our present."

The Nguzo Saba (Seven Principles) of Kwanzaa was designed to be a value system for African Americans to attain a national liberation from the cycle of poverty that has dogged Africans in the Diaspora since the abolition of chattel slavery. The Nguzo Saba are Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity) and Imani (faith). Karenga has stressed the importance of culture as a way to unite and overcome oppression and achieve economic freedom for Africans.

Initially celebrated by a few hundred people in the United States, Kwanzaa has spread internationally and celebrated wherever Africans live. The purpose of Kwanzaa, a celebration of family, community and culture has resonated with Africans and by the 1990s Kwanzaa was celebrated by over 18 million Africans in Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and the United States. Africans in the Diaspora, the descendants of enslaved Africans who for hundreds of years were disconnected from their origins have embraced the opportunity to connect/reconnect with the culture and history of their ancestors.

Kwanzaa was created to be more than a seven day celebration (December 26 – January 1) and lighting of candles. The Nguzo Saba has encompassed every area of the lives of Africans including the education of our future generations. The work of Karenga and other scholars like Dr Molefi Kete Asante led to the establishment of African centred education from elementary schools to post secondary institutions. It is through their work that Africentric elementary schools were developed and African studies were established at universities. They ensured that it was recognized that Africentricity is not Eurocentricity in Black face. Africentricity includes exploring and analyzing the culture and history of African people from the continent and the Diaspora from an Africentric perspective. Asante has described Africentricity as: "literally placing African ideals at the center of any analysis that involves African culture and behavior."

He has also written that: “Afrocentricity stands as both a corrective and a critique. Whenever African people, who collectively suffer the experience of dislocation, are relocated in a centered place, that is, with agency and accountability, we have a corrective. By recentering the African person as an agent, we deny the hegemony of European domination in thought and behavior, and then Afrocentricity becomes a critique. On the one hand, we seek to correct the sense of place of the African, and on the other hand, we make a critique of the process and extent of the dislocation caused by the European cultural, economic, and political domination of Africa and African peoples.”


During the celebration of Kwanzaa it is important that we remember to live the Nguzo Saba everyday. Expressing Ujima (to build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together,) in 1999 Karenga spoke at a seminar about the need for a living wage where he said: “One of the most important struggles for social and economic justice of our times is the expanding and ongoing struggle for a living wage. The struggle is essentially directed towards securing for low-income workers a wage which provides for them with adequate means to support themselves and their families, rise above the poverty level which entraps them and live a life of dignity and decency due every human being.”

REMEMBRANCE DAY 2010

November 11 has been recognized as Remembrance Day since 1919. The day was specifically dedicated by the British monarch George V, on 7 November 1919, to the memory of members of the armed forces who were killed during World War I.

Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November to recall the official end of World War I on that date in 1918, as the major hostilities of World War I were formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month" of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.

Although African Canadians and other racialized people were members of Canada's military during the War, there is hardly any mention of their contribution and they are not usually recognized on November 11.

In 1987 Calvin Woodrow Ruck, CM (September 4, 1925–October 19, 2004,) an anti-racism activist and a Canadian senator published The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret. He was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia; his parents were immigrants to Canada from Barbados.

The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret, written by Calvin W. Ruck is available at the Toronto Public Library and at University libraries. Parents, caregivers, teachers and students are encouraged to read this book.

From the onset of World War I African-Canadians began to volunteer to serve their country in the conflict overseas. Many who volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) were turned away at the recruitment offices. In November 25, 1915 Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Fowler, Commanding officer of the 104th Battalion, requested permission to discharge twenty black recruits on the basis of race. He wrote: "I have been fortunate to have secured a very fine class of recruits and I did not think it fair to these men that they should have to mingle with Negroes." This rejection was met with protest in the African-Canadian community.

The Canadian military decided upon a compromise of sorts in which the decision to allow African-Canadian recruits to join was left up to the individual commanding officer. “…most of them were sent to the Western Front. A few Negroes were among these troops, for individual Blacks were permitted to enlist in such local regiments as would accept them ” (as reported by historian Robin Winks). Approximately sixteen black volunteers were accepted into the 106th Battalion Nova Scotia Rifles CEF between December of 1915 and July of 1916. When the Military Service Act was passed on August 29, 1917 volunteers who had previously been turned away were now forced to go to war.

In addition, it was deemed ‘acceptable’ to form an all black battalion lead by white officers that would perform construction duties and other labour rather than armed combat. The first and only black battalion in Canadian history was authorized July 5, 1916. The No. 2 Construction Battalion, CEF, was based out of Pictou, Nova Scotia with recruits from across the country. Many local young men served in this unit as evidenced by the unit role as printed in The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret by Calvin W. Ruck. The Chaplain of the No. 2 Battalion was the only Black commissioned officer in the British Forces in World War I compared to six hundred in the United States. On March 28, 1917 a force of six hundred and five black troops embarked from Pier 2 in Halifax heading to the Western Front. A recruiting station also operated out of the Parker family home in Windsor. Most served in Lajoux, Peronne and Alencon. Following the Armistice of November 11, 1918, the unit returned to Canada, where it was officially disbanded on September 15, 1920. The No. 2 Construction Battalion thus faded away into the dusty annals of Canadian military history. (p21)

I'VE GOT A HOME IN GLORY LAND

Dr. Karolyn Smardz Frost will be at the Riverdale Library (370 Broadview Avenue) at 2;00 p.m. on Saturday, November 13, 2010 to talk about her book I've Got A Home In Glory Land.

It was the day before Independence Day, July 3, 1831. As his bride, Lucie, was about to be “sold down the river” to the slave markets of New Orleans, young (19 years old) Thornton Blackburn planned a daring—and successful—daylight escape from Louisville, Kentucky. Three years later after living as free people, they were discovered by slave catchers in Michigan and slated to return to Kentucky in chains, until the African Anerican community rallied to their cause.

The Blackburn Riot of 1833 was the first racial uprising in Detroit history. The couple was spirited across the river to Canada, but their safety proved illusory. In June 1833, Michigan’s governor demanded their extradition. The Blackburn case was the first serious legal dispute between Canada and the United States regarding the Underground Railroad. The impassioned defense of the Blackburns by Canada’s lieutenant governor set precedents for all future fugitive-slave cases.

The Blackburns settled in Toronto and founded the city’s first taxi business but they never forgot the millions who still suffered in slavery. Working with prominent abolitionists, Thornton and Lucie made their home a haven for enslaved Africans who escaped slavery. Thornton Blackburn transitioned to join the ancestors in 1890 and his beloved Lucie followed in 1895. The fascinating story of their lives was lost to history until a chance archaeological discovery in a downtown Toronto school yard brought the story of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn again to light Karolyn Smardz Frost.

Karolyn Smardz Frost is a Toronto-born archaeologist and historian whose 1985 excavation of the Thornton and Lucie Blackburn site made history. I’ve Got a Home in Gloryland is the result of more than twenty years of historical detective work into this enslaved African couple’s dramatic escape to Canada via the Underground Railroad. She is internationally recognized for her work in multiculturalism and anti-racist education through public archaeology and history. In 1985, Karolyn Smardz Frost founded the Toronto Board of Education’s Archaeological Resource Centre where, over a 10 year period, more than 100,000 schoolchildren and members of the public helped uncover and preserve their own city’s past.

The 1985 pilot project was the excavation of the home of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, fugitive enslaved Africans who have been designated Persons of National Historic Significance in Canada and of state historic significance in Kentucky based on her research. Karolyn Smardz Frost has been a guest lecturer at the University of Newcastle-on-Tyne, U.K., a UNESCO lecturer at Robben Island, Cape Town, SA, and between 1995 and 1998 was Manager of Public Programming for the Institute for Minnesota Archaeology.

A former Vice-Chair of the Toronto Historical Board, Karolyn Smardz Frost was for several years Canada’s representative to the World Archaeological Congress. She has been Recording Secretary of the Ontario Historical Society, and a founding member of the education committees of both the Society for American Archaeology and the Society for Historical Archaeology. She is a board member of the Commemorative Committee on the Bicentennial of the Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade; the Tubman Institute for the Global Migrations of African Peoples; and the Promised Land History and Education Project (Chatham, Ontario).

The author of numerous articles, Karolyn Smardz Frost co-edited the first textbook on educational archaeology, The Archaeology Education Handbook: Sharing the Past With Kids (2000). With historians Adrienne Shadd and Afua Cooper, she wrote The Underground Railroad: Next Stop, Toronto! (2002), and has conducted research for exhibits for Parks Canada and the Ontario Heritage Trust, as well as the documentary, Freedom’s Land for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Karolyn Smardz Frost’s critically acclaimed book, I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land: a Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad (Farrar, Straus and Giroux of New York & Thomas Allen Books of Toronto 2007) is the first entirely original fugitive slave biography since the 19th century. She is currently engaged in two projects: Voices from a Promised Land? African Americans in Antebellum Canada and Dear Mistress: Letters from a Kentucky Runaway. She was also guest editor of the Spring 2007 edition of Ontario History in honour of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade.

ASANTE SANA THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the 5,351 Ward 14 citizens who cast their ballots in my favour on October 25. The number of votes comes from this website: http://www.globaltoronto.com/decision2010/index.html?time=13125 It has been an exciting seven months since March 16, 2010 when I went to City Hall and signed up to be a candidate for public school trustee in Ward 14 Toronto Centre-Rosedale.

Last year November I made a firm decision to run for trustee when I was invited to support a group of Somali parents from Etobicoke whose children were being bused away from their home to a school some distance away. It was a bit distressing to hear that this situation had existed for ten years since 1999 even though there is a school close to the Queens Plate neighbourhood. http://www.sharenews.com/opinion/2009/11/25/somali-parents-continue-wait-tdsb-action
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/education/article/724690--school-too-far-too-scary

After mentioning my intention of running for office as a public school trustee candidate, I was asked if I would consider being the candidate in Ward 1 which includes the Queens Plate area. After months of discussion, on March 15, 2010 I learned that there were other groups in the ward who preferred someone who lived in Ward 1 as their ideal candidate and that they would begin a search for such a candidate. I decided to return to my original plan to run in Ward 14 where I have lived for the past 25 years.

Registering on March 16, 2010, I chatted with people whose opinion I value asking for their advice and support. I received support and advice which I considered and then sent out e-mails to even more people asking for support. I was delighted when I immediately received encouragement and endorsements for my campaign.

There were some alarming moments, including a phone call from the campaign manager of another candidate encouraging me to “drop out” of the race. In hindsight it should not have come as an unpleasant surprise but since this was the first time I had ever been approached to “drop out” of a race (I had run for City Councillor in 2000 and MPP in 2003) I was alarmed. Visions of unsavoury characters confronting me at inconvenient moments danced in my head, especially after I was told that another female candidate had been persuaded to drop out of the Ward 14 race. However, after noting the number of candidates who “dropped out” of this Municipal race for various reasons, I understand that this is nothing unusual.

Another slightly less alarming moment came when I was told by a security guard at a condominium building in the revitalized and gentrified Regent Park that the upmarket Cole street building was out of bounds to my volunteer and I because it was a private building. I explained that as we were distributing campaign literature for the upcoming October 25 Municipal election we did have the right to access the building, he insisted that we leave because those were his orders. Recognizing that the young man was only doing his job we went over to the Daniels Corporation office just across the street from the condominium where we were told by the man at the front desk after he consulted with his boss that we could not go into the building to distribute campaign literature but we were welcome to go to the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) buildings nearby. My volunteer and I left but the next day I was at City Hall to clarify the situation where I was told that legally I had the right to canvass the building and distribute my campaign literature. The Condominium Act states that "no corporation, employee or agent of a corporation shall restrict reasonable access to the property by candidates, or their authorized representatives, for election to the House of Commons, the Legislative Assembly or an office in a municipal government or school board if access is necessary for the purpose of canvassing or distributing election material."

When I eventually returned to the building I was pleasantly surprised to find that the security guard who was there knew about the Condominium Act. My volunteer and I distributed the campaign literature without hindrance.

So here we are on October 26, 2010, one day after the election and I have so many people to thank other than the 5,351 Ward 14 citizens who cast their ballots in my favour on October 25. I must thank Hugh Reilly who hosts Liquid Lunch at Thatchannel.com for interviewing me twice on his program and also Rogers TV for inviting me to the Ward 14 debate on October 7. I must thank Warren Salmon First Fridays group for inviting me to speak at the October event for municipal election candidates. I must thank Wendy Terry, President of Workers Educational Association of Canada who after attending her son’s graduation ceremony came to pick my first lawn sign and posted it on her fence; and Jeff Peters, a member of University of Toronto’s Governing Council who posted my lawn signs on his balcony and his living room window. I must thank the people who wholeheartedly endorsed my campaign, the people who volunteered their time to distribute my campaign literature in the buildings where they live and at events they attended. I must thank the people who encouraged me by calling, e-mailing and chatting with me when we met while I was campaigning. I must thank those people who contributed financially to my campaign including: The Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students at the University of Toronto APUS, CUPE Local 4400 (special thanks to Brother Miguel Lima who advocated there on my behalf), CUPE Local 3907 (special thanks to Brother Ajamu Nangwaya who advocated there on my behalf), CUPE Local (special thanks to Sister Sandra Forsythe who advocated there on my behalf), Paul Braithwaite, Rita Burke, Joy Isaacs, Gloria Middleton and Wendy Terry.

And a huge Asante Sana to my sistren Maria Garrick and Myrtle Rudder who spent countless hours walking with me as I campaigned in ward 14 (which includes the city wards 27 and 28). We were like the three musketeers: Maria, Murphy and Myrtle. These two sistren did not even let campaigning in 50 story buildings prevent them from being by my side as we went from floor to floor distributing campaign literature. Week after week they were there with me even when they had to park their cars and walk from Yonge Street to Front Street campaigning. I cannot thank them enough for being there with me as I worked with a shoestring budget of less than two thousand dollars to cover the expense of campaign literature, lawn signs, phone etc.,

5,351 votes!! Not bad for our efforts. I will be back in 2014. But now I have to go and pick up all the lawn signs I left here and there. That is the only thing I am not looking forward to. I am looking forward to being back on air at CKLN 88.1 FM on Tuesday nights (Word of Mouth) and Sunday mornings (Frequency Feminisms). ON TO 2014!!

INTERVIEW WITH HUGH REILLY

ELECT MURPHY BROWNE ON OCTOBER 25, 2010

Welcome to my campaign blog! I am a public school Trustee candidate for Ward 14 in the Toronto municipal elections. I made the decision to become a candidate for public school Trustee because I believe that I have the background and experience to advocate for parents, students and residents of Ward 14 at the Toronto District School Board.

I have been involved as an advocate for parents and students at the former Toronto Board of Education and at the Toronto District School Board for more than 20 years. During the amalgamation and “common sense revolution” that saw the public education system of Ontario deteriorate to where we were in danger of having a two tier education system. I was one of several activists who resisted the Harris government’s attempt to establish a voucher system that would have diverted resources and students away from the public school system. Resistance by our groups of activists to the Harris Tory government’s many misguided policies including a new funding formula which stripped local education boards of their taxation powers gave rise to organizations like People for Education, Parent Community Network and Campaign for Public Education.

I was co-chair of Parent Community Network and Campaign for Public Education and among other things advocated for reform of the provincial funding formula to recognize the real costs of equitable quality public education.

As trustee I will advocate for the dismantling of the standardized student tests. The standardized student tests that were introduced as part of “the common sense revolution” make no sense because it forces educators to teach children to pass tests when they should be teaching children to think critically, love learning and to become life long learners.

I am asking that you vote for me on October 25 when you go to the polls.

Email: votemurphybrowne@gmail.com

CAMPAIGN PLATFORM

As a Ward 14 Trustee candidate at the Toronto District School Board I am for:

• An education system that develops a systemic approach to inclusive and equity-oriented education.

• An education system that builds compensatory efforts around the promotion and re-enforcement of self-esteem while fostering respect, equity and social justice.

• An education system that does not tolerate any incidents of racist behaviour and is vigilant in addressing and following up on racist incidents on the part of any of its students, staff or officials.

• An education system that is inclusive of specialized schools with principles of equity, in their admission policies, retention and graduation rates.

• An education system that acknowledges that it has a role to play in overcoming the social inequalities that affect the communities it serves.

• A school curriculum that is inclusive of the heritage of the school population, including recognition and respect for the unique history of Canada’s first peoples and the history of immigration from all parts of the world that has enriched its cultural diversity.

• A school curriculum that includes an understanding of human rights and that engages students in debates over how and why struggles for social justice have failed and succeeded in different historical contexts.

• A school curriculum that views all community members as full participants in the education of the community’s children, both within the school and beyond.

• A school system whose teaching staff, administrators and support staff reflect the racial and ethnic composition of the communities that it serves with pre-service and in-service teacher training including compulsory training in cross-cultural communication and anti-racist education within a framework of educational equity.

• A community use of schools policy that is monitored to ensure that the diversity of the community is reflected in the programs that take place on the school’s premises.

• A discipline policy that is sensitive to the social, psychic and spirit injuries of racism and is administered in ways that ensure that no group is or appears to be placed in judgment over another group.

Email: votemurphybrowne@gmail.com

MURPHY BROWNE INTERVIEW

ELECT MURPHY BROWNE FOR WARD 14 SCHOOL TRUSTEE (TDSB)

I have been involved as an activist parent and community member in the education system for more than two decades at the school and board level. I have been an active and vocal member of school and ward councils serving as chair of school councils and representing schools at ward council. I have served as co-chair of the Organization of Parents of Black Children (OPBC) co-chair of the Parent Community Network and Campaign for Public Education.

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On October 25, we will be voting for a new mayor and members of city council who will make decisions that will shape our city for the next four years. We will also be electing school board trustees who are responsible for making decisions that will affect our city for more than four years because our students are the future. They are the citizens of tomorrow and they will have a strong impact on how our future society unfolds.

It is in our schools that our children are guided as they discover their potential. This is where the vision for the future is moulded. This is where our children learn the characteristics required to be contributing members of society. It is extremely important and should concern everyone, even if they do have children in the schools because the students in our education system today become the citizens/population of tomorrow.

School board trustees create a vision for our schools and then work to achieve that vision. To be an effective trustee one needs to have a passion for being involved in educating our next generation and also ensuring that adult learners are included.

It is also important to remember that the education system is not solely about academics. What lessons are taught, how lessons are taught and what is learned in our schools will influence the lives of the students even after they leave school.

We need schools in which everyone feels respected and included, where each person’s talents and skills can grow and flourish. We need schools that reflect our future society, where students learn responsibility for themselves and for others around them.

Whether or not you have a child in school you need to participate in electing trustees because trustees make decisions about creating an education system that will best meet the needs of society and will affect the future.

We need trustees who understand the important link between communities and the school board.

On August 17, 18 and 19, 2010 I was one of more than 100 participants at the Summer Institute offered by the York Centre for Education & Community (YCEC) in the Faculty of Education at York’s Keele campus.

Presenters articulated effective curriculum and pedagogical practices around inclusion and models of student engagement. I attended workshops, theory to practice seminars and panel discussions that addressed student engagement and building inclusive classrooms.

The central theme of this year’s summer institute was to encourage and guide thinking to find ways for educators and other school staff and members of the school communities to work together to create innovative avenues to engage students in their education.

Dr Carl James who is the Director of the York Centre for Education & Community (YCEC) in the Faculty of Education believes that student achievement is directly affected by engagement. It is also important for schools and communities to understand and engage with the collective experiences that students and families bring to their communities and classrooms.

I will be a trustee who will bring the issues and concerns of the school community to board discussions and decision making. I will work in partnership with school councils and community residents because I firmly believe that public education has to involve the public.

Email: votemurphybrowne@gmail.com

CHIMAMANDA ADICHE: THE DANGER OF A SINGLE STORY

ENDORSEMENTS

As a resident of Ontario for more than two decades I have worked with many community people on various projects addressing equity in the education system, the workplace and the wider community. I have lived in Ward 14 for more than two decades working as support staff (lunchroom supervisor and international languages instructor) at the Toronto District School Board until June 2008. I have volunteered my time to serve as a Board member of Central Neighborhood House (CNH) and I also served as President of CNH. I have also volunteered as a Guider with Girl Guides of Canada during which time I was a Diversity Awareness Trainer with the Guiding Movement. I volunteer at an after four program in St Jamestown where a very dedicated member of our community, Brenda Pierre has volunteered her time to tutor children every week day afternoon for the past ten years.

Brenda Pierre is one of the stalwarts in our community and I am very proud to have her endorsement of my campaign for Ward 14 trustee.

I have included here some of the people who have endorsed my candidacy:

Brenda Pierre, Coordinator of Children's First Youth Educational Program in St Jamestown.

Selwyn Pieters, Human Rights lawyer.

Dr Hazel Campayne, Chair, Justice and Peace Committee of the Women’s Interchurch Council of Canada.

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Ontario Chapter

Janice Gairey
Human Rights Director, Ontario Federation of Labour
President, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Ontario Chapter

Ajamu Nangwaya, Human Rights, Union activist, CUPE 3907

Anna Willats, Community activist

Don Weitz
antipsychiatry and social justice activist
Toronto

Nathan Okonta -
Program Director
National African Integration and Families Association (NAIFA)
www.naifatoronto.ca

Jeff Peters
Member of Governing Council at the University of Toronto

Chris Ramsaroop
Community and Union activist

Vickie McPhee, Human Rights Advocate, Community Activist,
Lead Advocate, Rights Watch Network
guudfyahiyah@yahoo.ca

Richard McKergow, Journalist

I've known Murphy Browne for over a decade. First, as a journalist, I witnessed her courage and expertise in standing up against systemic wrongs within the Toronto District School Board. Most recently I've had the pleasure of working with her at the University of Toronto, and taking her leadership and guidance during campaigns to fight various items within the university's increasingly corporate agenda.
Murphy has the experience, the stamina, and the focus to improve Toronto's school system for our city's youth. She is especially talented at routing out racism and racist policies, however subtle or systemic, within an institution. A fighter like her is especially important in a time when so many "liberal" minded policy makers turn the other cheek and allow decades of gains toward equity to be so quickly eroded in the name of dealing with the economic crisis. She is the right choice to make sure that children from all communities are respected and valued in our school system.
Elect Murphy Browne as Ward 14 School Trustee!

Richard McKergow
Journalist

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Murphy Browne is a dynamic and energetic advocate, a shining light who has been in the forefront of numerous struggles across the Greater Toronto area. Ms. Browne has seen first hand the devastation that budget cuts, program and school closures has had in both our elementary and secondary schools. Murphy is a tireless champion of disadvantaged and marginalized communities, whose perspective is absent from the current board. Whether in the classroom, in the community or at the board, rest assured Murphy is committed to the struggle for racial and economic justice in our communities and in our schools.

Chris Ramsaroop
Community and Union activist

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Endorsement for Murphy Browne Trustee Candidate Ward 14

I am excited that Sistah Murphy Browne is a public school Trustee candidate for Ward 14. I am a Ward 14 community member. Sistah Murphy Browne has my vote.

I have known Murphy Browne for many years. I have fashioned my approach to advocacy on equity issues in public education after her direct style. Over the years I have witnessed Murphy Browne advocate for parents in public education areas at the grassroots to provincial levels. Her commitment to equity for all students and an education system that develops a systemic approach to inclusive and equity-oriented education makes her the right choice for a change in our changing ward.

Murphy Browne brings the experience and expertise to effect change to the education system where change is needed. Vote Murphy Browne October 25th for the change we seek.

Vickie McPhee, Human Rights Advocate, Community Activist,
Lead Advocate, Rights Watch Network
guudfyahiyah@yahoo.ca
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Murphy Browne has been a long standing community social and trade union activist upstanding and committed advocate for children's rights and fair and equal access to quality public education have been two of her main priorities. I endorse her fully and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Ontario Chapter endorses her as well.

Janice Gairey
Human Rights Director, Ontario Federation of Labour
President, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Ontario Chapter
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"I enthusiastically support Murphy Browne for Ward 14 School Trustee. She is a dedicated and determined advocate who has been on the front lines of education reform in Toronto for years. Murphy understands the needs of students and parents and will take their concerns forward as trustee. She will be a positive voice for change and equity in the education
system."

Anna Willats, Community activist

http://www.georgebrown.ca/communityservices/about_Anna_Willats.aspx

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I strongly support the election of Murphy Browne as school trustee for Ward 14.
In the several years I have known Murphy, she has been
an outstanding and courageous anti-racist and social justice activist.
Murphy stands up and speaks out for those of us who have been marginalized, discriminated against and stigmatized.
I am proud to endorse her election campaign.
- Don Weitz
antipsychiatry and social justice activist
Toronto

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Murphy,

Congratulations for taking up the challenge to run to become a trustee in Ward 14. Our community and the entire Toronto and Ontario society need your Electoral Win in Ward 14 as we need water and air because your experiences are what is needed now as many of children and youth continue to struggle in the Ontario Educational Systems.... I believe that you are the agent of change we need and the revolution starts now; the revolution to ensure that all students have reasonable chance and opportunity of succeeding.

Nathan Okonta -
Program Director
National African Integration and Families Association (NAIFA)
www.naifatoronto.ca

THE IMPORTANCE OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

Parent involvement in children’s education allows students to perform better in school and more easily navigate some of the challenges of growing up.

Research shows that family involvement promotes student success. Students with involved parents are more likely to:

• Earn higher grades and pass their classes,
• Attend school regularly and have better social skills,
• Go on to postsecondary education.

When families, schools and communities work together:

• Student achievement improves,
• Teacher morale rises,
• Communication increases,
• Family, school and community connections multiply.

School, family and community are important "spheres of influence" on children's development and a child's educational development is enhanced when these three environments work collaboratively toward shared goals.

Schools can create greater "overlap" between the school, home and community through the implementation of activities across six types of involvement: parenting, communication, volunteering, learning at home, decision-making, and collaboration with the community. By implementing activities across all six types of involvement, educators can help improve student achievement and experiences in school.

Students' homes and classrooms are the focal points of their learning experiences—from kindergarten through high school. Parents who work with teachers and students are critical partners in helping their child achieve success.

Parents set the example and the tone for their child's approach to education. When parents are engaged, interested and supportive in their child's learning, the child is more likely to succeed. Bridging the divide between what is learned in the classroom to how it is relevant in day-to-day life is a critical role for parents. It brings meaning to their child's learning experience.

Parents can make learning real and ensure that students understand the importance of achieving. Parental involvement includes a wide range of behaviours but generally refers to parents' and family members' use and investment of resources in their children's schooling. These investments can take place in or outside of school, with the intention of improving children's learning. Parental involvement at home can include activities such as discussions about school, helping with homework, and reading with children. Involvement at school may include parents volunteering in the classroom, attending workshops, or attending school plays and sporting events.

Some researchers have identified three dimensions of parental involvement based on how parent–child interactions affect students' schooling and motivation.
Behavioural involvement refers to parents' public actions representing their interest in their child's education, such as attending an open house or volunteering at the school.
Personal involvement includes parent–child interactions that communicate positive attitudes about school and the importance of education to the child.
Cognitive/intellectual involvement refers to behaviours that promote children's skill development and knowledge, such as reading books and going to museums.
Parental involvement, according to this theory, affects student achievement because these interactions affect students' motivation, their sense of competence, and the belief that they have control over their success in school.

Although all families want their children to succeed in school, not all families have the same resources or opportunities to be involved in their children's education.

Families in which all caregivers work full-time, where there are multiple children, or where English is not spoken or read well face significant barriers to participation in their children's education. It is important for schools to understand the demands that exist on the families of their students and to work to overcome them.

Schools can overcome these challenges by providing opportunities for school-to-home and home-to-school communications with families; providing communications to families in a language and at a reading level all families can understand; ensuring adequate representation of the entire community of parents on school advisory committees; and distributing information provided at workshops to the families who could not attend.

Schools that work to meet these challenges and try to make involvement easier and more convenient for all families will gain support from parents and improve student achievement.

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

QUESTIONS FROM THE TDSB COMMUNITY

RebuildOurSchools.org 2010 Election Questionnaire

RebuildOurSchools.org is an advocacy coalition of parents and other caregivers, students, educators, education workers, education leaders, businesses and other members of the community, working together through our respective organizations and as individuals.
Our mission is to ensure that children in Toronto's public schools are educated in effective learning environments: safe, well-maintained and environmentally sustainable schools.

I. Ontario’s Education Funding Formula

Our position:

RebuildOurSchools.org believes Ontario’s education funding formula is inadequate and urgently needs to be revised by the provincial government. The current formula fails to provide sufficient funding for school boards, including TDSB, to:

Operate and maintain safe, effective learning environments and to pay teachers, administrators and education workers; Provide the range of special supports required to enable all students to succeed; Support local priorities and needs without relying on school-generated revenue; Develop schools as centres of their communities with improved accessibility, utility and benefits; and, Deliver the education our children need to succeed in a knowledge-based economy and in Ontario’s globally-competitive context, including through the provision of facilities appropriate to support needed educational programs.

Our questions:

QUESTION: What strategy and tactics will you use as an individual TDSB trustee to persuade the Ontario government to develop and implement an improved education funding formula?

ANSWER: I would meet with parents and community members to word a petition to be sent to the Premier and the Minister of education. I would encourage the constituents of Ward 14 to write, fax, visit and chat with the MPP to ensure that he understands the damage that has been done to the public education system because of the inadequate funding formula.


QUESTION: What strategy and tactics should the Board use for this purpose?
ANSWER: The Board should meet with the Premier and Minister of Education. Senior staff at the Board should be tasked to prepare a report with the facts and figures to be given to the Ontario government detailing what is needed to ensure that we have a funding formula that is appropriate for the needs of our students.

II. School Renewal Funding

Our position:

RebuildOurSchools.org recognizes TDSB’s school renewal backlog of $2.8 billion as of April 13, 2010, rising to $3.5 billion by 2015. This backlog is the difference between available funding for school renewal and the repair, renovation and reconstruction needs of the Board’s 529 school buildings. We believe this backlog impedes the Board from providing and maintaining safe, effective learning environments. The Ontario government’s Good Places to Learn school renewal program, which provided $413 million to TDSB from 2005-09, was cancelled in the 2010 Ontario Budget.

Our questions:

QUESTION: As an individual TDSB trustee, how will you work to address the school renewal backlog – and specifically, to persuade the Ontario government to restore a school renewal funding program?

ANSWER: The Ontario government must be made to understand that restoring a school renewal funding program is vital to the success of the education system in the province. It may possibly become an election issue.

QUESTION: As an individual TDSB trustee, will you endorse, support and work with RebuildOurSchools.org in our school renewal funding advocacy efforts focused on the Ontario government? ANSWER: Yes. I will work with any organization that has the best interest of all our students at heart.

Our position:

School boards including TDSB are allowed by the province to respond to the inadequacy of the education funding formula by deferring maintenance on a year-by-year basis – that is, they can allow the state of repair of the schools to deteriorate as a cost-saving measure, and apply funds intended to maintain, repair and renew schools to education programs and other operational needs. In 2010, TDSB trustees voted to defer $30 million in maintenance. They deferred $37 million in 2009 and comparable amounts in previous years.

RebuildOurSchools.org is gravely concerned that deferral of maintenance is causing a rapid deterioration in the state of repair of Toronto’s public schools. Putting off maintenance and repair contributes to the school renewal backlog and worsens existing problems, increasing the cost of renewal when eventually undertaken. We believe deferral of maintenance compromises TDSB’s obligation to provide safe, effective learning environments, and threatens the health and safety of students, teachers, education workers and all others in our schools.

Our questions:
QUESTION: As a TDSB trustee, will you support or oppose the deferral of maintenance in the 2011 TDSB Budget? ANSWER: As a TDSB trustee, I would oppose the deferral of maintenance in the 2011 TDSB Budget.


IV. Understanding and Prioritizing Safe, Effective Learning Environments

Our position: RebuildOurSchools.org is concerned that TDSB trustees are not adequately informed about the physical condition of the schools in their wards, the renewal backlog for each individual school, and the impact on the quality of the learning environment. We urge trustees to improve their familiarity with and understanding of the state of repair of the schools in their wards, and to prioritize safe, effective learning environments. We further urge trustees to report regularly to their ward councils and individual school councils on the state of repair and renewal backlog in the schools in their wards.

QUESTION: As a TDSB trustee, will you visit each school in your ward within the first year of your term, and obtain a detailed briefing on the state of repair and renewal backlog of each school building? ANSWER: Yes. I know that it is important for trustees to keep up to date with the state of repair of the schools in their wards to ensure that those schools are safe for students, staff and community members who use the schools.



QUESTION: As a TDSB trustee, will you conduct regular meetings with your ward councils and/or individual school councils and include in these meetings reports, discussion and consultation on the state of repair and renewal backlog in the schools in your ward? ANSWER: Yes. As a former school council representative on Ward council I know how important it is for parents, staff and community to have an opportunity for regular dialogue with the trustee on various issues.

QUESTION: What other initiatives and commitments will you undertake to prioritize and achieve safe, effective learning environments in TDSB schools?
ANSWER: While academic excellence through achievement in literacy, mathematics and the sciences is very important there are other programs like sports, choir/music, drama, visual arts that not only enrich our lives, but which may also be areas where many of our students excel. I would encourage and support the arts, athletics and music to ensure that students receive a well-rounded education. I would also encourage intergenerational interaction especially with our senior citizens and our very young students. Our schools should be community hubs, encouraging the use of schools by groups like Girl Guides of Canada.



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QUESTIONS FROM INSIDETORONTO.COM
QUESTION: Why are you the best candidate for trustee?

ANSWER:I have been involved as an advocate for parents and students at the Toronto Board of Education and the Toronto District School Board for more than 20 years. I have shown leadership as an education activist who co-chaired the Parent Community Network and Campaign for Public Education during the amalgamation and “common sense revolution” of the former Ontario government’s attempt to establish a voucher system that would have diverted resources and students away from the public school system. We strategised and resisted mightily and successfully. I will advocate for sustainable, adequate funding. I need your support on Oct. 25.

QUESTION: What changes would you like to see at the school board in the next four years?

ANSWER:I would advocate for and actively support a change in the funding formula which in its present state is woefully inadequate. The cost of living and the diversity of the population is not uniform across Ontario so the funding formula should not be a one size fits all. I would encourage intergenerational interaction especially with our senior citizens and our very young students. I would also encourage and support the arts, athletics and music to ensure that students receive a well-rounded education. Our schools should be community hubs, encouraging the use of schools by groups like Girl Guides of Canada.

QUESTION: What is your position on the TDSB consolidating under-enrolled schools and selling off closed school properties?
ANSWER:I do not agree with the TDSB shutting down schools and selling the land to developers. The population of Toronto fluctuates because we are an attractive destination for newcomers from other countries as well as people from other provinces. Selling taxpayer-funded land to private developers is short-sighted. Temporarily under-enrolled schools can be used as community neighbourhood hubs, with extra space rented out for other community purposes such as seniors’ centres, daycare and recreation spaces. When the population demographic of a particular area changes; people with school age children will want local neighbourhood schools that are within walking distance.

QUESTION:Do you support the province’s decision to try to negotiate two-year, no wage increase contracts with the school board’s unionized employees when existing agreements expire, including those with the school board’s unionized employees?

ANSWER:No! Workers have a right to collective bargaining. In June 2007 the Supreme Court of Canada extensively reviewed the rationale for regarding collective bargaining as a human right. The Court made several observations; including: The right to bargain collectively with an employer enhances the human dignity, liberty and autonomy of workers by giving them the opportunity to influence the establishment of workplace rules and thereby gain some control over a major aspect of their lives, namely their work. The province should not seek to balance its budget on the backs of working people while reducing taxes for large corporations.


Please provide personal details on your bio.


I have lived in Toronto for more than 20 years and have been involved in advocacy and activism in various spheres including education. I have served as President of the Board of Directors at Central Neighbourhood House (CNH). I worked for the TDSB as an International Languages Instructor and as a member of CUPE 4400 served as Steward Co-ordinator and Steward. I also served as a member of the Board of governors at the University of Toronto. I write a weekly column for Share newspaper and am a programmer at CKLN 88.1FM on Tuesday Word of Mouth and Frequency Feminisms.