History Teaches Everything Including The Future.



Noellee Howell

 Today (April 2, 2011) was the Northern Regional Competition of the Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest sponsored by Seton Hall University College of Arts and Sciences, History Department; the New Jersey Historical Commission, The History Channel and William Paterson University. The competition was held at Seton Hall University and was a part of New Jersey History Day. I had the opportunity to share in an incredible experience with the students and teachers who were representing the Paterson School District and I was especially excited because my niece Jada and my daughter Noellee along with many of my colleagues were intimately involved with New Jersey History Day. I witnessed them diligently preparing their projects for weeks.

The competition was broken into three categories which were exhibits, documentaries, and performances. Each category requirement could be satisfied by an individual or group presentation. As we arrived at Seton Hall University, we came across both my niece and my daughter along with their respective groups and teachers. I could feel the competitive spirit in the air. The students had been up since 6:00 a.m. or earlier to meet a bus leaving Paterson by 6:45 a.m. to make their 7:30 a.m. start time and nervousness and fatigue was setting in. I had the opportunity to be an audience member in two excellent documentaries presented by the freshman and sophomore students from Paterson Eastside High School. One was an eye opening documentary uncovering the unsanitary practices of the meat packing industry prior to the creation of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the other was an interesting debate concerning world relations and the views on appeasement dating back to Adolf Hitler to the presidential campaign bid of Barack Obama. The third documentary was one delivered by my daughter Noellee where she took an in-depth look at Brown vs. Board of Education, the landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. All three presentations were outstanding.

After the documentary presentations, we had some time to kill before the announcement of the qualifiers for the state competition at William Paterson University, so we walked the beautiful campus of Seton Hall and had lunch. The Jubilee Hall Auditorium was filled to standing room only capacity. We anxiously awaited the winners/qualifiers names to be called. We nervously sat through each category cheering for other schools and hoping that our schools would be called and lo and behold the Paterson school district had qualifiers in each category. I was almost moved to tears as my daughter and my niece brought home ribbons. Oh the looks of Mr. Balsamo, Ms. Carlock, and Mr. Ollo as words cannot describe the happiness and pride expressed by each of them as their students walked across that stage.

Now let’s get to the significance of this post and why I spent time detailing a part of my day at the New Jersey History Day Northern Regional Competition. This was an academic event and there was not a reporter in site. No little note pads and pencils (or I guess Ipads and Netbooks in 2011), no cameras, no news trucks, no news anchors; no one but proud parents, students and teachers cheering for their children who had performed in such an excellent manner. After all it was only a history contest; nothing newsworthy. Not a basketball or football game. No touchdowns or three point baskets, just children spouting historical facts or their understanding of history and its connection to their future.

Now let’s flip the script and say those same students were now in the streets in gangs or had been a part of a crime or had been carrying weapons, I am sure there would have been a swarm of reporters there ready to let the world know how horrid our children are or can be. I’m sure they would have been there as well if it had been the star quarterback, running back, point guard or center So that’s why I am taking the time to let the world know of the wonderful event that took place at Seton Hall University this day.

We must get our priorities straight. Academics are just as important, in fact more important than athletics in my humble view. For some reason we do not embrace academics in the same manner that we embrace athletics, thereby causing our students to think that academics are not really that important. Too many of our students think that in order for them to be noticed or recognized, they have to be a part of one of the sports teams. Well I am here to tell you that today was far more important than any football or basketball game will ever be. You want to talk priorities…… critically think about this from USAToday:

“The Rutgers University Programming Association paid Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi $32,000 Thursday to offer important advice on her hairstyle, fist pumps, as well as the GTL — gym, tanning, laundry — lifestyle. And that’s $2,000 more than the $30,000 the university is paying [Toni] Morrison to deliver Rutgers’ commencement address in May.”

I believe we can sum that up with “Enough Said,” and with that said, congratulations to Noellee Howell, Jada Osgood and to all of the rest of the students and staff members who qualified for the state competition at William Paterson University. The competition will be the held May 7, 2011. As always, I welcome your commentary in the comment section of the blog.

Another One For The Things That Don't Make Sense File

Can someone out there please tell me what is supposed to be so cool about keeping a sticker on the bill of a "Fitted" cap?  This is one that escapes this critical thinker so I am sure there must be someone out there who can explain it. There has to be someone out there who can help me out.......#thingsthatdon'tmakesense.  Yes, in my view it looks stupid.  As always, I welcome your commentary in the comment section of the blog.

It Is Only For One Day

Okay folks, please do not tell me that you are one of the folks who think there are now only 23 hours in a day. It always amazes me that when we switch either to or from daylight savings time +there are people who believe we actually went to a 25 or 23 hour day. Folks you only lose or gain the hour for that one day;. Whatever day is designated as the day to switch from or to daylight savings time is the only day that you lose or gain the hour. By the next day you are back to the normal 24 hour cycle. I know it seems unbelievable, but yes I have had people tell me that we gained or lost the hour for more than just the transition time (LOL.. don't mind me I'm.having some fun with the blog ,that's why it's called The Critical Thinker). By the time you are reading this, we are back to a 24 hour day. Enjoy the sun.

Pro Choice - Pro Consequences

There is no one who loves a good wordsmith, double entendre or play on words more than me. There may be some who equal, but none who surpass. Let me also state up front and for the record that I am pro choice in terms of a woman’s right to choose and at the same time pro consequence. I really don’t believe anyone has a right to dictate what someone else must choose, particularly with his/her body. I really do believe however, that one must make wise choices. Whether your choices are wise; unwise; good; or bad, all come with consequences.


I struggled with what angle I would approach this blog post concerning the billboard that was recently taken down in SoHo due to public outcry that read “The most dangerous place for an African American is the womb.” A report cited in recent years by the CDC states that white women accounted for the largest percentage of abortions (37.1%), followed by black women (34.4%), Hispanic women (22.1%), and women of other races (6.4%). White women had the lowest abortion rates (8.5 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) and ratios (144 abortions per 1,000 live births); in contrast, black women had the highest abortion rates (32.1 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) and ratios (480 abortions per 1,000 live births).

With those figures I can understand why someone or an organization would make an attempt to raise awareness about the high abortion rate particularly amongst African American women, but what I don’t understand is the wording along with the picture. Has anyone on that organization’s board ever heard of connotation and denotation? Have anyone of them ever heard of inference or implication? How about the plain old read between the lines or the possibility of some serious misinterpretation? We live in a country and perhaps world who at one point (and maybe still) wished that African Americans did not exist at all; that we never even reached the womb let alone it being the most dangerous place. Was it even considered that it could be racially charged? So we can conclude that the wording on that bulletin board was a bad choice that ended in a bad consequence. The sign was ultimately taken down.

Now let’s get to the bigger issue of good and bad choices along with their consequences. As the statistics above reveal, there are a whole lot of bad choices going on. We have to get to the root of these choices. I find it hard to believe that all of these folks made the good choice of using contraceptives and they did not work causing the choice of an abortion to be made. I just find it hard to believe that all of the condoms broke or all of the pills failed. Let’s get real; many of these choices for abortion had to be made because some bad choices were made up front. Choosing an irresponsible partner; poor if any planning at all; the “Oh it can’t happen to me” syndrome; the old just this one time syndrome; the old “If you really love me” syndrome, and on and on and on.

We must give some serious thought to the choices we make as each one comes with a consequence. The abortion rate really is not the issue; the choice to have irresponsible sex is. Yes Virginia, if the sperm meets the egg you can indeed get pregnant (For those old enough to remember, Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus). It’s sad that someone felt the need to place a beautiful African American child on a billboard with the tagline “The most dangerous place for an African American is the womb.” It’s even sadder that we refuse to take responsibility for our actions; that we refuse to be accountable. I am pro choice but I am also pro consequence. Something to critically think about and as always I welcome your comments in the comment section.

It's About Time

This will probably be the second shortest blog post I have ever written. All I will say in terms of Charlie Sheen and CBS is IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!!!  My God, I am surprised it took this long. I never understood why CBS continued to put up with Charlie Sheen's nonsense. In my humble opinion, Mr. Sheen should have been gone based on his behavior. Finally CBS and Warner Bros. Television woke up and stopped production on Two and a Half Men for the remainder of the season due to Sheen's recent "statements, conduct and condition."  Good for you CBS!! There just is not that much television in the world.

Walking History

If you were to look in my personal library, you probably would find anywhere from 25 to 30 books on the subject of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and/or the Civil Rights Movement. I have studied Dr. King in nearly the same manner that he studied Gandhi. The latest book I read about the account of Dr. King’s assassination was a fascinating look at the simultaneous whereabouts and movements of James Earl Ray (his accused assassin) and Martin Luther King, Jr. up until the bullet piercing his neck on April 4, 1968. The book is entitled Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Hampton Sides. It is a chilling account of how Dr. Kings and James Earl Ray’ paths cross on that fateful day in April of 1968. I was born in August of 1962 making me to be five going on six, and I remember the impact that the assassination of  Dr. King had in my house and the world. I remember going into the bathroom and just crying and not really knowing why because I saw the reactions of both my mother and my father to hearing the news.


I start this entry with this brief backdrop to help you understand why for the last two years during the month of February at The St. Luke Baptist Church Heritage Sunday Celebration words could not describe my feelings as I listened to both Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy last February and to the Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles on yesterday (2/20/11). The pastor of St. Luke, Rev. Kenneth D.R. Clayton, makes it his business to have us have the opportunity to hear from historic figures that helped pave the way for African Americans and all Americans in order for us to be inspired to pursue our God given excellence and I am grateful for his efforts.

Well, I sat there yesterday on the absolute edge of my pew as Rev. Kyles interwove his experiences with Rev. King on April 3rd and 4th of 1968 within his larger message of “Hold Fast to Your Dreams.” Rev. Kyles shared how dreamers are the ones who make the world go around. He went on to share that there are a lot of dream busters out there. He asked, supposed the Wright Brothers had given up on their dream to fly? He encouraged those of us in the congregation to recapture any dreams that we may have lost as they are our dreams and not anyone else’s. He noted that even the sanitation workers had a dream. Rev. Kyles shared a story of how during one of his trips to Philadelphia, PA, a young woman came up to him and said, “ I would like to thank you and all of the others who took up the cause for the sanitation workers because I am now a judge and my father was a sanitation worker. To our young and not so young, he talked about a time when it was “illegal” to learn to read. He kept emphasizing that it is no longer “illegal” to learn how to read and if you had the ability to read between the lines he was letting us know that we must read more as a people.

As I said in the beginning of this entry, I have read countless books on Dr. King and the Civil Rights movement but it was the strangest feeling to listen to someone who spent the last hour of Dr. King’s life with him. There were three preachers in that room in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee that day and they were King, Abernathy and Kyles. When Martin Luther King, Jr. stepped out of the door at the Lorraine Motel, Billy Kyles was there. You cannot imagine hearing the accounts of the Mountaintop speech and the sound of the gunfire from Rev. Kyles. It’s one thing to read about it; it is another thing to hear from an “honest witness.”  Rev. Samuel "Billy" Kyles is "Walking History." The plan was for Dr. King to have dinner at the Kyles’ home that evening and then attend a rally. These plans were changed by one bullet and the rest as they say is history. I will not forget meeting Rev. Fauntroy last February and I certainly shall never forget meeting and listening to one of my heroes last moments from someone who was not only there, but up close and personal. It is an experience that words will just not do justice. I encourage everyone to take a trip to the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee if you have not done so already. I have been to The King Center in Atlanta, GA on several occasions and have not taken the opportunity to stop through Memphis, but you can rest assured I will. As Rev. Kyles ended his lesson, he emphatically said with almost tears in his eyes that, “You can kill the dreamer, but you can NEVER kill the DREAM. Whatever your dream is as the NIKE slogan says, “Just Do It!”  I also encourage you to make a donation to the Washington D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial. You can do so by logging on to http://www.mlkmemorial.org/. By making this donation you too can be a part of history.

What Is Your Pet Peeve?

Well for a change I decided to write a lighter post so I picked a topic that is near and dear to my heart. I chose to write about one of my pet peeves (Trust me, there are many more, but I decided to choose this one for this entry). Some may say it could be obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), though I think it not, as it is more so the desire to see a piece of furniture used in the manner that it was designed to be used. By now I am sure I have piqued your curiosity, (even though the photo probably gave it away) that yes one of my pet peeves is to see clothing left sticking or hanging out of a dreser drawer or dresser drawers.  In my mind it is one of the most unsightly things to see clothing sticking out of a drawer not allowing the drawer to be grounded and flush with the dresser. It makes the entire room look unkempt and uncared for. I often use the term that it looks "ghetto." I know by now you are either laughing or thinking to yourself, this guy is nuts, but think about the message that it sends to those of us who must see this sloppiness. Bras, socks, pajamas, panties, boxers, blouses, t-shirts and the like blocking the drawer from properly closing allowing the dresser to look neat. Are we that much in a hurry that we can't take a minute to look back to ensure that everything is neatly tucked away in their drawer? Does it take that much effort to take a second look to make sure nothing is left flapping in the breeze? Do we actually think that clothes hanging partially outside of the drawer looks good?  So for all of you out there who routinely leave clothes hanging and peeking out of drawers, please, take a couple of more seconds to take that second look to make sure all of your dresser drawers are grounded and flush. What's one of your pet peeves?  I would love to hear about them. Laughingly.........