The African Academy Incentive

Dear All,

While we marvel with optimism at the dawning of a phenomenon known as President Obama, right here and right now in the UK we can afford little time to relax. There is a firestorm raging through our community and whilst it mercilessly consumes our youth we are in danger of failing to take responsibility for the crisis that stands firmly before them. As we, as progressive individuals, gather in awe at the achievement of having a Black president at our helm, we genuflect at the crux of our central responsibility. A central responsibility, which remains to create, not await, conditions in which positive role models can freely emerge.

Our current reality is that we are in the midst of the worst recession of recent memory. The consequence of which is increased unemployment among all communities, and in particular the black community. Now more than ever, the most precious resource we have is our young people. Yet we continue to lose so many of our young people because of a lack of hope. Too many are snared by the criminal justice system, mental health institutions, and violent climate. Our nation is overflowing not just with those who have tragically died, but with those who are permanently disfigured (emotionally and physically) by their own society. When Professor David Gilmore recently detailed on the subject of ‘whiteness’ that, ‘The most disadvantaged white people benefit from their whiteness. They are less likely to be stopped on the street. They are less likely to have their DNA on a database. They are less likely to die in custody with a group of police laughing and joking around them…’ what was he saying about the realities faced by the modern black youth? We have witnessed, whatever the current figures may say, a continual decline in educational standards among our young people and the appallingly high unemployment levels that accompany this. Large sections of poor communities both black and white have never had the opportunity to recover from the recession of the 1980’s. How are we to respond to our current financial malaise?

I cannot simply observe yet another generation of the black, poor and young, slide into a pattern of recurring failure. We have, over time witnessed a long history of academic reports identifying the problems faced by our children. Such is the current crisis within our community that I am persuaded of the strong need for schools which meet the pedagogic needs of young black people. It is from the perilous underbelly of this crisis that I stand and earnestly say that education is the key. President Obama’s family, who overcame their own adversities, (a read of his biography enlightens us about a about a father whom he barely knew, an early childhood in Jakarta with his mother and his Indonesian step father, being raised by his maternal grandparents at age 10) sacrificed everything they had to invest in his education. Infact, this man, now hailed as the modern epitome of triumph claims to attribute his present zenith of success and power to receiving what he considers his "birthright”: that he was loved and received a good education.

There is no longer any point in engaging in long, protracted hand wringing, tortuous explanations about the reasons why black children and in particular black boys our failing in school. Once every couple of years for the last 50, usually prompted by the publication of yet more research we have engaged in an endless, and as yet unresolved, debate about who’s to blame for such failure. I am exhausted by this futile debate, not least because one of the characteristics of racism is the routine denial of its existence. The more liberal the institution accused the more fervent the denial. In 30 years of campaigning against racism I have never heard a claim of racism accepted by an institution when charged as such by our community. There are a variety of differing and sometimes similar perspectives identifying the reasons for such failure; family structure, peer pressure, low teacher expectation and the pernicious existence of institutional racism in education. Significant groups of our young people are being failed by, and within, the British public sector education system. Undoubtedly, there are exceptions and there are children who are succeeding in spite of (not due to) their environment. We should celebrate these young people. I for one congratulate them, their families and their schools. However, this initiative is not designed for those who are succeeding against virtually insurmountable odds in UK schools. This initiative is designed for the underprivileged, disenfranchised, and excluded. It is addressed to the significant minority who gaze ahead at the murky panorama of their own prospects and are reminded they will rarely be granted the opportunity to reach their full potential in this society. A society in which they are denied President Obama’s definition of a ‘birthright’ from the moment they step foot into primary school.

I am determined to action the change our youth is craving through the establishment of an ‘African Academy’. This Academy must focus on providing education to those currently lounging in Pupil Referral Units, Young Offenders Units on probation or have otherwise dropped out of the public education system. In biblical terms these are ' the stones that the builder refused' I believe, like the parable, that ‘ they shall be the head cornerstone’. We must prioritise this in response to the continuing pain I see as a consequent failure in education.

I am seeking, with your support, the establishment of the UK’s first self funded African Academy. The time for action is upon us. One only needs look at the eminent and still incredibly relevant work of academic researcher Bernard Coard who, in 1971, wrote an academic pamphlet entitled ‘ How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Subnormal in the British School System’. On the issue of young black males he states: "Low expectations on his part about his likely performance in a white-controlled system of education; low motivation to succeed academically because he feels the cards are stacked against him; and low teacher expectations, which affect the amount of effort expended on his behalf by the teacher and also affect his own image of himself and his abilities." I challenge you to read Coard’s visionary words and maintain that this situation has changed. The dire gut-churning reality is that we are in the grip of a profound political, economic, moral and cultural crisis the effects of which will affect thousands of our young people, decimating as yet unfulfilled talent and laying waste to the human potential of generations.

Attestation to our crisis exists in school exclusions, the ever increasing number of black youth in youth offender institutions and adult jails, tour the mental health hospitals - as I have - and see the locked wards overflowing with young black people. Observe the incessantly high unemployment rates of black youth in the areas where we live and the terrible carnage unleashed by teenage violence among our young, and begin to fully apprehend the context of our present condition. Reflect on the profundity of the destruction of African culture spanning a 400-year period, and consider that this is not irrelevant in its impact on modern generations. Overlay this with an economy that is stalled in the doldrums of a recession and the prognosis is bleak.

There will unquestionably be those who wish to forensically identify what are the complex causes and point fingers at whom is responsible for this unrelenting production line of misery. The anger is overwhelming; however, when debate is devoid of action and our predicament worsens, debate simply becomes an ineffectual blame game. I say, at this time, such debates are tantamount to ‘ fiddling while Rome burns’. We simply cannot afford the luxury of such debates if they continue to result in maintaining the status quo.


The numbers at the core of such futile debates are spat at us every year, and yet the solutions remain few and far between. How many times must we be reminded that black Caribbean and dual heritage children are excluded from schools at rates three times greater than that for white children? How many headlines screaming that there are twice as many black men in prison in the UK than in universities must be printed and coolly pondered upon on low listenership radio slots? The conversations seemingly persist and yet the gap between black Caribbean achievement and the national average at GCSE has narrowed by eight percentage points in four years

As President Obama has both said and demonstrated, ‘Affirmative action is an important tool’. For our part, we must realise that providing a solution from a sense of firmly placed responsibility is tantamount to change. It is our fundamental responsibility to bequeath a legacy of success and hope and this is only achievable if we are willing adjust our priorities and begin to self-fund the education of our children. Our immediate priority should be establishing schools, which are open to all races, with a curriculum that is African in emphasis, and which follows the National Curriculum. Such a school would act as a beacon of educational excellence, where the teachers and governors are in the majority of African descent and where our children’s specific psychological, cultural, emotional and educational needs are met. This new pragmatic approach will contribute towards the development of a more inclusive and shared sense of British citizenship.

Black educational establishments, funded through fundraising, bursaries and endowments, have proven to be resounding successes in America. Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, Maya Angelou, former Senator. Bob Dole, Will Smith are all examples of celebrities who devotedly support (and in many cases attended) historically black colleges in the US with private investments. Historical Black colleges (HSBC’s), a concept devised between 1870 and 1910 in the USA are presently reported by attendees to promote success through understanding and recognition, "To be around students [at Tuskegee] who look like you and who are ambitious and who set these tremendous goals was encouraging and empowering…" It was in this afro-centric environment that our esteemed Dr Martin Luther king and Rev. Jess Jackson were cultivated. Contemporarily, renowned figures Toni Morrison, Spike Lee, Alice Walker and Samuel L. Jackson all thrived and excelled within these institutions. There was a time when these HBCU’s were the only option for black students in quest of higher education, today, however, the level of education is such that other institutions are competing for students from varying backgrounds. Now flourishing, competitive, and growing in numbers, HBCU’s in the United States today include public and private, two-year and four-year institutions, medical schools and community colleges

We must begin to initiate similar progressive processes in the UK as a matter of urgency. Quite reasonably there will be those who wish to continue to prioritise the critically important project of reforming the public education system seeking to attain the goal of good quality, inclusive education that operates on the basis of merit. I will continue, as a Socialist, to campaign for general improvements in education for all and in particular the abolishment of University fees for those on low incomes. Nonetheless, our predicament is systemic and incapable of being solved by the palliative effects of short-term solutions offered by project funding. This requires an institutional vision that is both sustainable, self funded and within our own control.

The concept here is to devise a school based on creatively utilising the National Curriculum to promote positive self-awareness and a sense of cultural and historical pride in young people. Those who witness the pace of educational reform proceeding with glacial speed, whose children are ‘miseducated’, misunderstood and excluded, are in vital need of new, pragmatic options.
I categorically believe that we should cease the sacrifice of thousands of our children at the altar of incremental liberal educational reform. Our children can no longer be surrendered to ‘inclusive education’, which, in practice, excludes diversity and fails to educate. Current Government legislation allows for us to send our children to independent and faith based schools that meet their specific and diverse needs. Without doubt, it is now the time for our community leaders, business pioneers, celebrities, parents and young people to come together and take the next steps of establishing our own schools in a similar vein.

The first steps of this imperative initiative are well under way. The African Academy Steering Group has already been established in order to secure viability and identify a critical project path, and outline the funding required and a timescale for delivery. Here and now, in 2009, we have over 500 members and the momentum behind this project increases everyday. We are taking steps to formulate an African Academy Leadership summer school, host a founding conference and establish a web site as an educational resource.

This is an opportunity to be on the vanguard of impacting real, tangible, change: An opportunity to dynamically support a community, our community, which is reeling from an ongoing socio-economic crisis: A community which now stands at the fierce frontline of the economic tsunami of recession. We, the descendants of enslaved Africans and the pioneering Windrush generation, must now rise, collaborate, and create our own legacy of hope for our young people. This is the real and timely lesson of President Obama.


Yours faithfully,

Lee Jasper




This project is open to anyone who shares the vision and has the skills to help deliver the vision. It is opportunity for those who possess the steadfastness and commitment to deliver this initiative. Join me on The African Academy Facebook group at www.facebook.com Also, email me directly at: leejasper67@btiternet.com

Article co-written by Daniella Maison BA (Hons) MA