To Sisters and Brothers Outside
G. Baba Eng
| Revision History | ||
|---|---|---|
| • December 1991-January 1992 | Newspaper: Funded by Syracuse University students. | |
| The Alternative Orange: Vol. 1 No. 3 (pp. 7,11) | ||
| • August 29, 2000 | Webpage:  . | |
| DocBook XML (DocBk XML V3.1.3) from original. | ||
The new Executive Board of the Inner City branch of the NAACP (at the Auburn Correctional Facility) has as its priority focus the idea and development of programs geared towards Education for Social Transformation. This analytic proposition was originally phrased by the Honorable Roger Green, Brooklyn assemblyman and the Ujamaa Institute of Brooklyn. This proposition is based on the idea that human behavior is for the most part the result of learning and influences from the inner and outer environment.
We believe that people of color have been subject to miseducation and societal influences that have negatively impacted on our development. The result has been the negative behavior of crime, drugs and other forms of self and community destructiveness. Programming for failure disables people of color and prevents them from achieving the rightful goals of all human beings to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that translate into economic, political and social equality.
In activating our projects our concentration is on re-educating our brothers (and sisters should we be able to expand our projects and focus) behind the wall and on instilling a value system that has self-knowledge, self-acceptance, and self-love at its foundation in a way that transmits into knowledge and acceptance of and love and responsibility for our communities.
We believe that the educational and social system needs to be totally redesigned to fit the truth of the past and the needs of the present and future for people of color. This commitment to moral development, re-education and social transformation is a commitment that must have us working with our people both in prison and outside in our communities. We must teach each other by word and works and we must teach and be responsible for our own.
We believe that the principles expressed in the Nguzo Saba are values that extend beyond the idea of a once a year Kwanza celebration and that they are values that can and should be incorporated into the lives of all people of color no matter what their present religious or political persuasion. Unity and Self-Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics and Creativity, Purpose and Faith are the values that must be at the foundation of rebuilding the present and future of black and brown people.
Presently, we have an African American Cultural Awareness and Educational Program which meets every Wednesday night. The Youth and Education Committee has on its immediate agenda to establish a program called the Youth Education for Social Transformation (Y.E.S.T.), to be headed by Brother Powerful Heru Khuti (a.k.a. R. Robertson) — this program is a corollary to our African American Cultural Awareness and Educational Program. Our aim in both programs, as stated above, is education for social transformation.
The Religious Committee is sponsoring a Universal Interfaith Workshop dealing with the idea of moral responsibility of the individual and committee. This workshop will be headed by Dr./Minister Leon Woods, C. Allah, and John Crews.
As we organize and rebuild the structure of our organization our concentration is on the three programs outlined above and to initiate all of the standing committees and activities in the near future. However, to do this we need your involvement and support. You can help by writing letters in support of our organization, programs, and activities to the Auburn Prison Administration. The address is: 135 State Street, P.O. Box 618, Auburn, New York, 13024.
You can also help by sending us comments or suggestions regarding our projects, activities, organization, philosophy, etc. Like any family, community or nation we can advance our cause only if we work together. We only work if you the people work.
Thank you for your time, my brothers and sisters.
Peace,
BaBa, O.S.A.S. Jayiasuria
(a.k.a. G. Baba Eng)
President Inner City NAACP
