kamaub

I wonder a lot what it would be like to have enormous social responsibility, what it would be like to be a leader on a grand scale and to be able to articulate the vision, hopes and dreams of people. I wonder what it would be like to exercise that degree of freedom. I sometimes wonder about the view and the pride that my daughter and wife would have of me, if I were a man of global stature. Recently I wondered what it would be like to be trapped. There is no shortage of evidence, both... Read Full Story

The State of Georgia is going to execute Troy Davis today. That means that a man or a woman, employed by the State, is going to kill him. This case has earned legendary acclaim. There are a slew of inconsistencies, witness recantations and questions that lead to an abundance of doubt regarding Mr. Davis’ guilt. Despite that, and appeals from former United States President and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Jimmy Carter, and the Pope of the Catholic Church and countless others, a man or woman... Read Full Story

I was recently invited to the Atlanta Motor Speedway by some representatives of Nascar and a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education group. They wanted me to see a program for high school students and essentially try to partner with Georgia Tech. That was all upfull and right. Nascar, on the other hand, does not have an image that, shall we say, resonates with me and my world view. To be frank, I hold the stereotype of Nascar fans as drunk, sunburned, sweaty southern... Read Full Story

I was recently in a discussion slash argument with an official from a large charter school company. He was making the case that the schools of the company were schools of choice and had long waiting lists, ergo they are good schools – otherwise parents would not choose to send their children there. This despite the evidence suggesting the companies’ schools are mediocre at best. There is certainly a simple and elegant logic to that argument which I appreciate. There is another side of course... Read Full Story

A white woman recently accused me of being racist. She and I are affiliated with the same school and it was based on our respective approaches to this school that she accused me. It is the first time, at least to my knowledge, I have been accused as such. The dictionary definition of a racist is a person who believes that “race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.” She did not confront me... Read Full Story

It’s been so long my fingers are unsure. I saw a sign in the Times that was a sign of the times. Obama 1, Osama 0. Nice. I certainly did not feel the urge to run out and chant “U.S.A., U.S.A.” in the streets. That seemed crass, to so vocally celebrate the assassination of a man, regardless of his crimes. I did feel that justice had been served. The question now is should the United States release pictures of the slain Bin Laden? No. Displaying pictures of a man shot in his head reduces us a... Read Full Story

Once, the night before I was leaving to St. Kitts for Christmas, our dog, Kofa, ran off. It was a terrible dilemma. Do I leave with him lost or do I miss spending Christmas with my family in St. Kitts? I discovered how much of a connection Kofa and I had as I got sick confronted with the decision. I ruffled false feathers when he came back saying that I might have killed him myself had he made me miss the entire Christmas vacation. Now I am confronted with doing just that. The quiet and... Read Full Story

Yesterday was our daughter’s first day of school! It marks the beginning of a whole new stage of our lives. She is now officially plugged into the public school matrix – in Georgia of all places. We will have to be hyper-vigilant to ensure that the beautiful flames of curiosity, inquiry, budding logic and self-confidence that all children have are not extinguished in her by the school system. It is a shame to have to view public schools in that way, but the reality is what it is. For so many... Read Full Story

My father in-law is a typically Caribbean man in a lot of ways. His “name” is Rugged. He is from the poor and black side of St. Kitts and grew up during the days when the English tricked a lot of Caribbean people into thinking that the closer you were to them in color, occupation and physical proximity, the better you were. He damned that whole way of thinking and came up with the distinctly Caribbean combination of poverty, pride, a burning respect for education and an impeccable sense of... Read Full Story

One of the things I found irritating about the brotherhood of police that lined up in support of Officer Crowley and their attempts to chastise President Obama was how crass they all seemed. They seemed like the very kind of crude police officers that would indeed engage in racial profiling and the kind that I would be afraid of. When one of them referenced the President’s signaling the history of profiling and police brutality, he brushed it off as “whatever the history may be,” we’re not... Read Full Story