KNOW YOUR TROPES

First of all, what is a trope? A trope is a figure of speech which can boil a complex idea down to a few words. All cultures have tropes. The beauty of all cultures is in discovering the tropes unique to each culture.

In the case of President Obama and the recent comments comparing him to a Tar Baby. Let's examine the evidence carefully before we "jump off the deep end" into instant pundit land. In the story, all Americans know and love, Br'er Rabbit is tricked by Fox into having a fight with a "straw man," or in this case, a "Tar Baby." Fox planned for Br'er Rabbit to get stuck to "Tar Baby" allowing him and Bear to make a meal of him. Instead Br'er Rabbit tricks both of them into tossing him into the briar patch, where he makes good his escape. Watch the video excerpted from Walt Disney's "Song of the South" to refresh your memory on exactly how the story goes.

The point here is that if we follow the story to its logical conclusion, the Democrats/liberals who get stuck to "Tar Baby" Obama come out the winners in this story, only because the Republicans/far right are so stupid Br'er Rabbit/liberals trick them into giving them exactly what they want.

So, what's the downside here? Oh yeah, Obama appears to be foolish for the moment. But, if the story ends anything like it does in "Song of the South" the good guys win. "He who laughs last, laughs best."

Before we "jump off the deep end" we need to know our tropes and how to use them. It certainly wouldn't do for Fox to use our tropes against us. Next time, maybe we oughta beg Fox not to throw us into "the briar patch," instead of "jumping off the deep end" before we look at a situation thoughtfully carefully weighing all of our options and the resulting consequences.

THIRTIETH ANNUAL AKRON AFRICAN FESTIVAL: FEATURING LEGENDARY BAND CON FUNK SHUN

The THIRTIETH ANNUAL AKRON AFRICAN FESTIVAL returns to Akron at a new location, after an absence of one year. This year's
event will take place at Lock 3, in cooperation with the City of Akron and a number of other local sponsors.

This year's festival features a special event, "It's An African Affair" on the evening of July 24th and the music of the legendary band CON FUNK SHUN and numerous other class acts. Starting at 11am on Sunday, July 25th the day's activities will begin with a drum call and recognition of our ancestors, before offering up speakers on a variety of topics and performers from a variety of groups, locally and internationally.

CON FUNK SHUN will take to the stage as the featured artists for the evening's activities. You can find more information about them and all the other groups that will perform that evening at the following link for the 30th Annual Akron African Festival: Part II.

Over the past 40 years, the Akron African Festival has attracted thousands to the Akron area. It is the second oldest cultural festival in Ohio, surpassed only by Youngstown, OH. Individuals have planned family reunions and homecomings around the dates of the festival. This year will be no different, with the exception that for the first time you will be able to solidify your plans using the Facebook group for the festival to connect you to all of your friends and family members, before, during and after the festival. We'll be steadily posting pictures and videos of friends, performers and family members over the next month and beyond. Use it or lose it.

There will also be a special tent for youth activities of all kinds. Vending opportunities are still available, as well.

So, bring on da noise, bring on the Funk! Bring all your family and stay the whole day. Bring your lawn chairs, picnic baskets and blankets. Reserve a prime spot near the stage for the whole family. Before 5pm it's all FREE. After 5pm it's $5 with no jive! Either way, you'll have a good day and a great night.

African American Elementary Curriculum for the Future

In the course of putting together an African American Elementary Curriculum for the Future I encountered some disturbing reviews of a book by noted historian J.A. Rogers. The book is entitled Your History and is made up of articles akin to Ripley's Believe It Or Not."

Each and every page is chock full of information that runs the gamut from disturbing to informative. The pictures are revealing studies in the various personalities and events, which have occurred involving the lives of Africans from the beginning of time to the present, which in this case would have been the original publication date of 1940.



In cases where pictures were available they were used by the artist to develop his sketches. But, in many cases there were no pictures and at that point George Lee, the artist, took the liberty to create what he thought were realistic depictions. This was meant to be a popular work that was accessible to the public via a network of Black newspapers and was put into national syndication. It was not meant to stand up to scholarly debate or scrutiny.

However, because of the sensitive nature of the topic the reviewers took offense to much of what was contained within these pages and skewered the author, when it was they, themselves that needed to be skewered for not placing the document into its proper framework. They in fact, commit some of the same types of error of fact in the process, delivering false charges that the author was also the illustrator, and noting the lack of references, without noting the source of the document, which I believe to be the Pittsburgh Courier.

I really appreciate the fact that the reviewers took some time to give a critical analysis of this important book. However, I would hope that in the future they would check their own facts before making brash statements, which themselves were off base.

Admittedly, as Black Classic Press clearly states, J.A. Rogers was a "race" man and was attempting to prove a point, so at times some of his facts may come into question.

J.A. Rogers is "the historian" that was most vociferous in bringing to light many of the stories we now accept as being the bedrock of Pan-African Studies, or Black Studies. He was also known for using photography in conjunction with his historiography. This is a real sore point when acquiring his works now being published by large companies like Macmillian & Co., where the literally hundreds of photos of people or statues of persons have been excised from his major work "The World's Great Men of Color." This really diminished the impact of his work, because, as we all know, a picture is worth a thousand words.

In conclusion, I'll be the first one to admit that I just recently noted a discrepancy in a depiction of the 11 churches of Lalibela Ethiopia, which are monolithic structures carved out of the bedrock of the Ethiopian highlands. Mr. Lee made them look like large mudhuts, as opposed to the architectural masterpieces that they are in actuality.

Overall, I've noted the book is fairly accurate in it's portrayal of the personalities and events it depicts, but I wouldn't give it any more, or less credibility than "Ripley's Believe It Or Not," whose museum in Hollywood is a real eye-opener. So, while you're fact checking, why don't you check into the validity of "Ripley's Believe It Or Not."

Meanwhile, I think I'll keep supporting African American Museums and historical sites, who undoubtedly owe a great deal to J.A. Rogers, as one of the pioneers in the study of Pan-African history. By the way the newest museum of African American history will be opening soon on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as a part of the Smithsonian, I wonder who they'll feature in their exhibits?