Okay, so let me get this straight. You, a candidate for school board and champion of education, bring one book and one article that you wrote to the table as reference? I don't think I've every written any report, or position paper from only one source, but let's just go with yours because it was all you came up with.
"Our Kind of People" does reference the Links, the Boule, Jack and Jill, etc. but it also cites the Black sororities and fraternities as I mentioned before such as the Kappas of which Booker (who started this thread) was president and charter member of his school's chapter. Further the NAACP, of whom you've proudly stated you're a member of, has as it's founders, WEB Dubois, who was the first Black person to get a Ph.D. from Harvard (got a Masters there as well), was awarded a grant to study abroad by Rutherford B. Hayes and created and advanced the idea of the Talented Tenth, the upper crust of educated Black people who would guide the race in it's proper direction; and Ida B. Wells Barnett who was well known for her anti-lynching campaign was also a soror of Delta Sigma Theta, mentioned in "Our Kind of People" and also founded and developed a local and national networks of black women's club including the Alpha Suffrage Club of Chicago, the Negro Fellowship League and the Women's Era Club which later changed it's name to the Ida B. Wells club, and is described as the first civic organization for African American women. I'd go go through the others, but I think you've got the idea. Secondly, the author's research was done in Martha's Vineyard. The drug store and the McDonald become elite social clubs on the Vineyard. The point is that the book is about the "upper class" and mentions the organizations they're a part of not the other way around. And just as your Target on West Broadway is not the same as your Target in Edina, so it goes for civic organizations in the Vineyard vs the Midwest. More importantly, if you're going to consider this a legitimate issue, then what does that say about the founders of the NAACP or Booker and the good work he does. You can't have it both ways, either these are all elitist organizations and anyone who's a member can't be counted on to do good work, or they are merely organizations people are a part of and do not define who they are or what they will do. As for your article (and the price tag you mentioned) I can find no reference other than your writing, which I think you must agree, can't be considered fact without some form of support, but we'll run with the supposition, mentions the group being encouraged to join to support a candidate, which is not the same thing as "joining forces", but you're hardly an unbias party with an objective view. By the way this "elite social club" did a black tie fundraiser in 2002 and raised $20,000 for African American Family Services, in 2000-1 they funded the exhibition of Clementine Hunter, Louisiana's best known, self taught artist, and I believe it was just a few months back that the they selected the Jeremiah Program, which helps low income single mothers "build their future through education and personal development" as their partner and beneficiary of their 2004 annual benefit. You know, for an "elite social club" they sure seem to be doing a lot in the community. The event chair, btw, was Dr. Reatha Clark King, and if you don't know how much impact she's had on the community and how connect to the community she's been, "you'd better ask somebody". So maybe you or Booker or someone else can tell me again what the problem is with her being a part of this organization which is doing lots of things in the community? Jonathan Palmer Victory In a message dated 5/1/2004 1:51:25 AM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: In a message dated 4/30/2004 5:28:47 PM Central Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << I will ask you as I have Booker, what evidence you have for any of this? What makes it [the Links] an "elite social club"? How do you know this? What do they do that you're defining as elite? What proof do you have for your assertions that it "joined forces" to do anything? >> The Links, Boule, and Jack & Jill are among the better know organizations for upper class African Americans. Books written about those clubs for the African-American upper class include: Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class, by Lawrence Otis Graham. In 1998 one of the qualifications for membership in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Links chapter was a 4 year college degree, the initiation fee was $1,000. In a news report about the election of Minneapolis NAACP branch officers that first appeared in the March 10-16, 1999 issue of the Pulse of the Twin Cities, I observed that, The slate headed by Jefferson, and later by Campbell received the support of an influential organization of upper-class African American women (and men) called the Links. The Minneapolis-St. Paul Links chapter urged their members to purchase $10 memberships in the NAACP, and to support the Jefferson slate, an "NAACP leadership that is supportive of our own link Carol Johnson, superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools and Sharon Sayles Belton, Mayor of Minneapolis" [from a Links newsletter dated October 3, 1998]. -- Minneapolis branch faces hostile takeover bid, by Doug Mann (first published in the Pulse of the Twin Cities under the heading Minneapolis NAACP branch in turmoil) http://educationright.tripod.com/id44.htm -Doug Mann Minneapolis School Board candidate REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
