Dr Althea Hankins leads group which today filed an injunction in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court to stop school closings in Philadelphia. MJoTA v7n1 p20130228
I am not afraid of anything, and have spent my life pursuing my goals with a fierce focus that has made a lot around me angry. I see myself as a descendant of the Vikings who certainly raped a large number of my ancestors, and of the Picts and Scots, that the Romans gave up on, walling off Scotland to keep them out of England.
We are all descendants of rapists and the raped, one way or another, and when I am told that my ancestors did not come from Africa recently enough, I answer that I have no idea who all my 16 great-great-grandparents or my 32 great-great-great-grandparents were, and no-one can convince me that none were sons or daughters of Africa. I have brown eyes: my eyes have traveled a long way, through a lot of lifetimes, and seen a lot of things, but they certainly came from Africa.
I am now quite sure that I am blood related to a warrior queen who leaves me behind in the dust, Dr Althea Hankins.
Dr H, as I call her, is a daughter of Africa, a board-certified internist who pays the bills for the museum she founded to honor her father, a World War II veteran of apartheid America, a practicing Muslim who was jailed for praying when he was willing to give his life for his country. The museum also honors her son, her only child, whose brilliant life was cut short in his early 20s.
I have published several pages about Dr H and her Aces Museum on MJoTAtalks.org. And you can listen to her talk at length about her life and what she does and what she cares about. She bought the building at 5801 Germantown Avenue, and unbricked a wall to the third floor after a chance encounter on an airplane flight from California alerted her to the knowledge that she had a full ballroom on the third floor.
I have seen the ballroom on the third floor. I photographed it, so you can see it too. When I was there, I turned to her, and said "My God, they are still here." The last stop before going overseas, the first stop coming back. The segregated forces loved, and were greatly loved in Parker Hall. And the love which endures after our bodies have turned to dust: it is still there. I felt it.
Today, the final day of February in 2013, the final day of Black History month, Dr H traveled with supporters to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and filed a complaint asking for an injunction for an immediate halt to closing 28 Philadelphia schools. The number of schools slated to be closed keeps changing. In the fall, it was 38.
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania Lawsuit is number 96MD2013. You can read it click here.
I spoke with Michael Church JD yesterday, of the Public Interest Law Center. He told me that because of a Supreme Court ruling, even if closings target a racial group, that cannot be the basis of a lawsuit.
The proposed staying open and closing down of schools in Philadelphia certainly targets racial groups. All schools slated for closing are in areas predominantly inhabited by sons and daughters of Africa.
However, the basis of the lawsuit is the laws protected children with disabilities. Every time a child is moved, a new Individualized Education Plan is required by law.
This story is developing. Please contact me for any more information, how to work with Dr H's group. Call MJoTA office number 856-795-2359 or send email to publisher@mjota.org.
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Dropping Out —A Public Health Crisis
Authors: Dr AV Hankins, Hankins & Associates LLC, MN Anderson, A Feltzin, & K Valentine, Drexel University School of Public
Health
Lead Author: AV Hankins, MD, FACP, 5801 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19144.
Background: The high school dropout rate has been identified as
a serious economic and social problem in the United States, but it is also a
severe public health issue.
Objective: The
goal of this study is 1) to identify the specific diseases and ill-health
outcomes that may be associated with dropping out of high school; 2) to assess
if Educational Enhancement Projects (EEP), including Reading Rangers and Youth
Study Center, are viable opportunities to increase literacy levels and
encourage high school completion; and 3) to survey the general public’s
awareness about the impact of high school graduation on health status.
Design/Methods: We will use statistical analysis of epidemiologic
records to compare the rates of ten different health outcomes between high
school dropouts, high school graduates and college graduates. The effectiveness of EEP will be evaluated
based on pre- and post-tests given to participants to measure improvement in
life skills, literacy/reading, and scientific knowledge. We will also measure the community’s
awareness of dropping out of high school as a public health issue by
administering survey questionnaires throughout Philadelphia and surrounding
areas.
Results & Conclusion: Data currently shows that high
school graduates live an average of nine years longer than high school dropouts
and that the health of a 45 year old dropout is equivalent to that of a 65 year
old college graduate. We hope to
supplement this data with more detailed information about how dropout status
affects health, report community awareness of the issue and propose positive,
effective programs to encourage high school graduation.
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News from the countries of the Caribbean click here
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News from countries with communities of sons and daughters of Africa click here.
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Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court lawsuit #96MD2013: demand to stop school closings filed Feb 28, 2013 click here
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Dr Althea Hankins set up the Aces Museum educational foundation and permanent exhibition for WW2 veterans. Listen to Dr Althea Hankins speak click here
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Edited from Wikipedia:
The School District of Philadelphia includes all public schools in the city of Philadelphia and was established in 1818.
The School Board was created in 1850 to oversee the schools of
Philadelphia. The Act of Assembly of April 5, 1867, designated that the
Controllers of the Public Schools of Philadelphia were to be appointed
by the judges of the Court of Common Pleas
to eliminate politics from school management.
Eventually, the management of the school district was given to a school board appointed by the mayor which continued until 2001 when the district was taken over by the
state of Pennsylvania, and the governor was given the power to appoint a majority of the
five members of the new School Reform Commission.
2013 budget of School Reform Commission, click here
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Edited from the Public Interest Law Center Site
Since 1969, the Public Interest Law Center of
Philadelphia has been the law firm to which individuals and
organizations turn to address local and national policies that
perpetuate discrimination, inequality and poverty.
We were founded as
one of the original Lawyers Committees for Civil Rights Under Law in the midst of the civil rights movement, then incorporated
by 5 Chancellors of the Philadelphia Bar Association to secure the
future of this firm of skilled attorneys, expert in high-impact legal
strategies.
Our attorneys and staff use high-impact legal strategies –
including class action lawsuits, policy advocacy, community organizing
and education – to secure significant, long-lasting change for our
clients.
Our clients are people with disabilities, racial and ethnic
minorities, low-income individuals and communities, formerly
incarcerated people, and the advocacy organizations that represent
them.
Living with discrimination and poverty, they are denied access to
vital resources that every person needs in order to enjoy even the
rudiments of equal citizenship – an education, health care, a home, a
healthy environment, a job, and the unencumbered right to vote.
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Halt school closures in Philadelphia: the school board has been derelict in its duties and needs to resign click here
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Edited from website maintained by Philadelphia City government:
Charter Schools are independently operated PUBLIC schools that are
funded with federal, state and local tax dollars.
Charters are non-profit, non sectarian,
organizations that are approved by the local Board of Education (the
"authorizer") or the State Appeal Board.
Each charter has its own Board
of Trustees and administrative staff and operates as a separate,
independent local educational agency (LEA) within Intermediate Unit 26
(IU 26). The Pennsylvania Charter School Law - Act 22 of 1997 - set up charters to operate free of many of the local and state requirements that apply to traditional public schools.
Charter
schools are accountable to their authorizer, however, for making
academic progress, for fulfilling the terms of both its original charter
and of its Charter Agreement and for complying with a number of
applicable federal statutes - such as No Child Left Behind,
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act and the Internal Revenue Code for
(501)(c)(3) organizations; and state statutes -
such as the Public Officials and Employee Ethics Act, the Right To Know
Act, the Sunshine Act, the Public School Code of 1949 and the
Pennsylvania Non Profit Corporation Act.
Each charter school
should have a Parent/Community Handbook which explains the school's
rules, how it complies with these statutes, a listing of dates and
times for Board of Trustees' meetings, the procedure to be followed for
parental inquiries and complaints and many other details about the
school's operations.
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New York State Black Caucus Weekend in Albany click here.
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CACCI at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York click here
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Fully recovered after being declared dead click here
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