L
ETTERS TO THE
E
DITOR
of African Americans who hav
contributed to Louisiana’s rich her
itage, let us look to our future and
continue to draw strength b
embracing diversity.
– Sonia Pere
Presiden
AT&T Louisian
AT&T has maintained a com-
mitment to advancing educa-
tion, connecting and strengthen-
ing our communities and
improving the lives of our cus-
tomers and employees across
Louisiana for nearly 140 years.
An important part of strength-
ening the community is support-
ing and celebrating the contri-
butions of the people who make
our state and nation great. It is
why we pause to observe Black
History Month each year.
But, it is not enough to simply
celebrate the past. It is important
to contribute today to the future.
AT&T has a strong legacy of
working with organizations
focused on empowering our
diverse communities in Louisiana
and across our nation, especially
when it comes to education.
AT&T believes that investing in
education is one of the most
important steps we can take to
build for a strong future. We rec-
ognize academic disparities exist
in many African American com-
munities and strive to address this
issue in part through our work
with historically black colleges
and universities.
Last year, AT&T’s support of
Dillard University created new
opportunities and added to the
available resources for young
women interested in the sci-
ence, technology, engineering
and math fields. Our work with
Southern University aimed to
boost academic programing. A
contribution to Xavier was set
aside to fund scholarships for
high achieving students in need
of financial aid, preventing
academic interruption for many
future business and community
leaders. And, 23 STEM schol-
arships
at
Grambling
University were funded by an
AT&T contribution. These are
just a few of AT&T Louisiana’s
efforts to help our youth attain
their academic goals.
Our commitment to our most
valuable resource – our people –
is evident in AT&T’s diverse
workforce and inclusive cul-
ture. African Americans
make up 19.2 percent of our
current U.S. workforce,
which is why over the past
five years, more than $175
million was contributed to
organizations and directed to
projects that strengthen the
African American communi-
ty through various AT&T
giving programs.
AT&T’s very first
Employee Resource Group
(ERG) was created in 1969
and
supports
African
American employees. Today,
that
first
ERG,
the
Community NETwork for
African
American
T e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n
Professionals is comprised
of more than 10,000 employ-
ees dedicated to creating
opportunities, promoting
achievement and addressing
needs specific to the African
American community and
AT&T employees.
Louisiana is full of natural
diversity. However, it is our
cultural diversity and how we
work together that makes our
state great. As we celebrate
Black History month and the
immeasurable achievements
February 8 - February 14, 2016
Page 4
THE LOUISIANA WEEKLY -
YOUR MULTICULTURAL MEDIUM
By Edmund W. Lewis,
Editor
The
Louisiana Weekly
(USPS 320-680)
One of the oldest publications
in the United States
specifically for the
African-American
community.
RENETTE DEJOIE-HALL
President/Publisher
EDMUND W. LEWIS
Editor
SUSAN BUCHANAN
DAVID BAKER
FRITZ ESKER
FR. JEROME LeDOUX
BRITTANY ODOM
KELLY PARKER
APRIL SIESE
SAM TABACHNIK
CHRISTOPHER TIDMORE
MICHAEL PATRICK WELCH
RYAN WHIRTY
NAYITAWILSON
GERALDINE WYCKOFF
Contributing Writers/Columnists
CHARLES SILER
Contributing Cartoonist
PENNY JONES
Administrative Assistant
VALENTINE PIERCE
Graphic Designer
JIM HALL
Circulation
CHRIS HALL
Business
Published every Monday
by
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Est. 1925,
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Since 1925
It’s mind-boggling to me that here we
are nearly two-decades deep into the
21st century and more than 150 years
removed from the signing of the
Emancipation Proclamation and there
are still Black folks in the entertainment
industry looking for white validation.
The whole flare-up about the failure of
the 2016 Oscars award committee to
nominate any people of African descent
has me seeing Black. Jet Black.
Talk about worrying’ ‘bout the wrong thang.
Some of the folks in Hollywood who look
like us actually think that if they somehow
managed to be acknowledged and/or cele-
brated by the all-white membership of the
Academy Awards, everyone would be in
love with them like they had an Oscar
Meyer wiener. Negroes, please…
But that’s where we are in America,
somewhere between “clueless” Stacy
Dash telling an audience on Eurocentric
and ultraconservative FOX television
network that if Blacks want to be a part
of the American people they should do
away
with
white-owned
Black
Entertainment Television and actor Will
Smith advising actress Vivica Fox to be
“colorless” if she wants to achieve
longevity in the entertainment industry.
That’s both a symptom of how lost and
confused we are and part of the reason we
are so lost and confused.
Then there’s actress Jada Pinkett Smith,
who channeled hip-hop activist Sista
Souljah in urging Black America to skip
the Oscars since her husband’s latest film,
Concussion
, was not nominated in any cat-
egories at this year’s Oscars. Really, Jada?
That’s the same Jada Pinkett Smith who
was reportedly caught up in Hollywood’s
matrix of hedonism and excess while keep-
ing up with the (TomKat) Cruises of that
warped world and allowing her children to
act like they lost their ever-loving minds. Not
exactly what one might expect from a sista-
queen from Baltimore who grew up with
Tupac Shakur and showed so much promise
during her early yeas in the industry.
To his credit, Will Smith had enough
sense to distance himself from his wife’s
rants about White Hollywood’s exclu-
sionary practices. He knew better than to
bite the hand that has been feeding him
since he left West Philly.
I am embarrassed about how much time
and energy was wasted debating whether
comedian/actor Chris Rock should have
backed away from his scheduled perform-
ance as host of the Oscars. Who cares?
Do you really think the same folks that
refused to nominate any performances
by people of African descent would lose
any sleep if Chris Rock would have
backed out of his deal or if Black people
turned off their “idiot boxes”?
Most than likely, Black folks would
have found something equally insulting
to people of African descent and mind-
numbing to watch on television. Like one
of those “Oh-no-you-didn’t” reality TV
shows or one of those sitcoms dripping
with stereotypical images of Black people
and white actors and actresses slinging
Black vernacular for a few laughs.
As the world prepared to watch what will
likely become a major television event last
week, one line from the racially charged
series stands out: “I’m not Black, I’m O.J.”
That one line, as tragic and ironic as it is,
underscores the mindset of far too many
people of African descent not only in
Hollywood and professional sports, but in
high-earning
positions
throughout
Corporate America as well.
Despite the myriad of hints about how
White America as a whole feels about
Black people, particularly in the wake of
the many unarmed killings of Black peo-
ple over the past few years and the
unprecedented disrespect shown for
President Barack Obama, there is still
this pressing desire among far too many
of us to be loved, accepted and validated
by White America, this unrelenting
effort to transcend Blackness.
After everything we have been through in
this strange land, we are still running
away from who we are. We are running
away from anything even vaguely related
to the Black experience even as the rest of
the world pays attention to our every
utterance, artistic expression, sensibility
and dance move. If we don’t value who
we are and what we create by simply
being our authentic, African selves, those
outside of our community make it clear
that they are more than willing to take all
that immaculate Blackness, swag and
ingenuity off our hands.
Oh, how I long for the days of Black
filmmakers like Oscar Micheaux and
Gordon Parks and the pride and dignity of
Black folks who took seriously their
responsibility to represent the rest of us
when they took center stage.
There is nothing more empowering and
gratifying than to revisit Black films
made during the days of segregation
when Black folks knew who they were
and whose they were. When Black folks
grew their own food on farms and under-
stood that land ownership meant political
and economic power. When Black people
supported their own businesses and Black
entrepreneurs could be counted on to pro-
vide communities of color with quality
goods and services. When Black churches
took seriously their role in the struggle
and moved heaven and earth to ensure
that Black children were provided with
every opportunity to be successful, pro-
ductive members of the community.
When Black leaders, statesmen, journal-
ists, artists, filmmakers and everyday
Black people realized that Black Images
Matter and did not allow anyone outside of
the Black community to tell us who we
were or determine our self-worth.
I even long for the early days of hip hop
when Black recording artists displayed
their knowledge of self and sense of Black
pride in their lyrics and lifestyle. When
Public Enemy hype man Flavor Flav said
“Who gives a f%ck about a goddam
Grammy” and ATribe Called Quest’s Phife
Dawg let the world know that he “never let
a statue tell me how nice I am.”
Transcending
Blackness
Celebrating Black History Month and drawing
strength from diversity
That seems like a million years ago.
In a sense it was.
While those days were beset with their own challenges
and roadblocks, they were better days because many of us
knew and understood that all we had was us.
Nowadays, far too many of us are caught up in an ever-
growing ball of confusion, self-absorption and instant grati-
fication. Many of us can’t even see beyond our own wants
and needs and waste precious time and energy in efforts to be
loved and accepted by the larger society.
The solution is actually quite simple: We need to get back
to being us.
We need to get back to being who the Creator made us to
be and rediscover who we are. We need to get back to the
kind of revolutionary love that sustained us as we faced
uncertain futures in slave fortresses along the coast of West
Africa and in the bellies of slave-trading vessels.
We need to get back to appreciating and celebrating the
many gifts the Creator bestowed upon us and respecting the
instructions of our ancient Kemetic (Egyptian) Ancestors to
“know thyself.” To know ourselves is to love and respect
ourselves. Loving ourselves is not only the greatest love of
all — it is a major step along the path to fulfilling our
divine missions as descendants of a proud people crafted in
the image of the Creator.◊
