Stay ready, SUNO

23rd May 2011   ·   0 Comments

By Edmund W. Lewis, how can i get fast cash now Editor

During the same week that New Orleans and the nation marked the 50th anniversary of the historic Freedom Rides and honored those who put everything on the line to make things better for all segments of the U.S. population, news came down from Baton Rouge that the two bills seeking to merge Southern University at New Orleans with the University of New Orleans ran out of steam.

While that’s definitely good news, it’s not the end of the story. Despite last week’s victory, there are still legislators that see nothing wrong with penalizing students at SUNO for the ongoing failure of elected officials to give this institution and other HBCUs what they need to survive and thrive. It’s almost as if SUNO’s adversaries resent the institution for refusing to give up, just as some folks have made it clear that they resent people of African descent for refusing to die after everything that has been thrown at us.

Those who know the history of SUNO know that SUNO was never meant to succeed in its www.cash advance usa.com mission of educating Black people. It was hoped that SUNO would delay the integration of the University of New Orleans while quieting Blacks who complained about a dearth of educational opportunities for Blacks in New Orleans.

What SUNO did instead was succeed against the odds and create scores of entrepreneurs, elected officials and community activists who were dedicated to uplifting and empowering communities of color in New Orleans. It also carved out a name for itself as a major producer of Black social workers who understood the dynamics and stresses Blacks face daily throughout America and are committed to addressing the social ills created by racism, poverty and a lack of opportunities.

When Gov. Bobby Jindal decided to merge SUNO and UNO, he did so with little appreciation or respect for the history of SUNO and what it means to Black New Orleans. He didn’t care about the role SUNO students played in the civil rights movement or the fact that SUNO continues to be a major incubator of Black leaders and problem-solvers.

Or cash loans empangeni perhaps he did know that SUNO was a source of strength and inspiration for Black New Orleans. Maybe he knew that by killing SUNO he could undermine the Black power base in New Orleans and make it easier for the powers that be to have their way in the Crescent City and across Louisiana.

Regardless of his motives for seeking to merge SUNO and UNO, his plan to alter SUNO’s mission and future went up in smoke last week.

The struggle to save SUNO has had SUNO officials, faculty, students, alumni and supporters on their back heels mostly playing defense to fend off aggressive moves by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and his band of dream-burglars.

Now it’s time for the SUNO faithful to kick things into high gear and play a little offense.

While it may be true that the best offense is a good defense, it’s also true that if you stay ready you won’t have to get ready. Staying ready means launching voter registration drives and hosting political forums online loans for single moms to engage unregistered voters in the political process and making everyone understand the connection between land ownership and power.

It also means working hard to spur Black economic development in order to move toward increasing the Black middle class in an effort to raise funds for independent-thinking, progressive Black political candidates and creating more opportunities for Black entrepreneurs.

Finally, it means making sure that something is done to address the inequitable and inaccurate methods used by the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System to measure academic success and the viability of institutions of higher learning. Failing to change this flawed measuring tool would only leave the door open for another future effort to close the doors of SUNO and other HBCUs.

In a climate where there are a myriad of efforts to turn back the clock and reduce people of color to de facto slaves, we can’t allow anyone or anything to undermine historically Black colleges and universities.

If the years before and after Hurricane Katrina taught us anything, it should have been ideal cash advance that there is a dire need in New Orleans and across the state for fearless, uncompromising Black elected officials who are unbought and unbossed, candidates who place the needs and concerns of their constituents above concerns about self-aggrandizement or getting re-elected.

A retired SUNO professor told me recently that if you took vertebrae from all of the Black elected officials in the New Orleans area you wouldn’t have enough for one good backbone. That’s a serious indictment of the city’s Black leadership and its inability and/or unwillingness to address the needs of Black New Orleans residents.

One of the more disappointing facets to this latest chapter in the SUNO saga has been the failure of leaders of the city’s other two HBCUs and others to stand up and fight for SUNO. Those who could have done or said something but chose not to will someday have to face our African ancestors and give an account of the decisions they made.

With SUNO safe for now, we need to move toward challenging all Black institutions free easy payday loans of higher learning to achieve financial autonomy and make sure that these institutions remain committed to uplifting and educating communities of color.

We also need to demand excellence from HBCUs and the young people who will someday assume leadership in communities of color. That entails ensuring that the curricula at HBCUs reflects the values and needs of African America and that HBCUs receive all of the resources they need to thrive and to continue to produce future leaders.

But SUNO and other institutions can’t do that if they don’t learn to stay ready for future challenges that threaten their very existence and the future of African America. Part of every Black college student’s education should include learning the history of struggle and sacrifice that made that education possible and growing to understand — as Frederick Douglass reminded us — that “power concedes nothing without a demand.”

All power to the people.

This article was originally published in the May 23, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper