| Description | Rita Holt, a teacher from Washington DC, talks to Dilip Hiro.
Track 1: She talks about Black Power and says that Stokeley Carmichael and Malcolm X did a lot to focus on black people outside America and to create an international brotherhood of black people including Africa and the Middle East. She talks about 'wearing hair natural' and wearing African clothes, 1.50 mins
Track 2: Dilip Hiro asks whether this has become commercialised. She says that magazines now show images of black women with darker skin and natural hair and class in the black community. She says that teachers in school punish girls who wear their hair natural because they are middle-class and conservative. She says that the kids now know how to fight back against this, 4.05 mins
Track 3: She talks about the relationships between kids and teachers, 1.28 mins
Track 4: She talks about her views on religion. She says that most of the children she teaches come from churchgoing families, even the ones who are militant. She says that the more militant ones have less use for the church. Dilip Hiro asks about differences in religion between the generations and she says that the older generation is more religious. Dilip Hiro asks her whether most people think Christ is white and she says that she thinks they do. She talks about a movement in Detroit which has the black Madonna and the black Christ, but says this has not spread to Washington. Dilip Hiro asks about Muslims in Washington - she says that she does not know much about it, but the community supports a church and a school. She lists the papers and magazines she reads and talks about them and says 'Mr Mohammed Speaks' is one of the best, 6.51 mins
Track 5: She says that after Martin Luther King was killed, Harvard University sent out statements to black groups asking people to apply to their School of Education in order to make the department more relevant to the black community. She has applied and will go there next year, 2.09 mins
Track 6: She talks about education as a way of making people conform to society and says that education should be a tool for change and people should go back into the ghetto and work for change. She says she feels that the ghetto will always be there and that professional people should go back into the ghetto and become a resource for the community. She says that white people move out of areas when 'negroes' move in, 5.14 mins
Track 7: She talks about changes in the area she lives in - the white families have moved out as black people have moved in. She says that services are usually better in white areas - the rubbish is collected more often, for example. She says that black people should stop 'chasing' white people by moving into white suburban areas. She talks about the Washington Community School, which is run by the black community, and says that the Board of Education wants to withdraw the authority for the community to run the school, 3.21 mins
Track 8: Silence, 7.55 mins
Total: 32.57 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF571E0103480 |