YES!!!

They just mad 'cause she gifted!
_________
Seven-year-old poet defended, praised

by NAYABA ARINDE
Amsterdam News Staff
Originally posted 3/16/2006

"It's just a poem," Autumn Ashante, 7, explained of her "proud andpowerful" lyrical offering that has set off a firestorm of controversyand a media feeding frenzy.Out of the mouth of babes, the seven-year-old prolific reader andperformance poet has been "unofficially" banned from Westchesterschools because of a dynamic poem she recited, according to herfather, Batin Ashante."My daughter was invited to perform at Peekskill High and MiddleSchools on the last day of Black History Month and responding to anear riot that was avoided on the previous day, and to what sheconsidered to be a racist mural in the middle school, she recited the Black Panther Party's `Black Child's Pledge' and her poem `WhiteNationalism Put U In Bondage.'"

Autumn recited the entire pledge before a bank of journalists at CityHall on Tuesday."I pledge allegiance to my Black People," she said. "I will keepmyself physically fit, building a strong body free from drugs andother substances which weaken me and make me less capable ofprotecting myself, my family and my Black brothers and sisters."Some in the media were less than thrilled by her "White nationalism iswhat put you in bondage: pirates and vampires like Columbus, Morgan, and Darwin drank the blood of the sheep, trampled all over them withsteel, tricks and deceit."

Ashante said that his daughter was offended by a four-wall schoolmural with depictions of Black folks kneeling at the feet of AbeLincoln with his hands outstretched "like Jesus;" and then Black folkbuilding the pyramids for a white pharaoh and his wife."She said, `Have you guys seen that racist mural?' and then she toldthem about white nationalism," her father told the Amsterdam News."Autumn announced that she was speaking to the Black and Spanishstudents, and did her poem, and those students started screaming.

The officials didn't like that."The upstate school district "has a problem with her view of whiteNationalism," he added, "I guess they think that a seven-year-oldcan't understand because she has not seen what happened duringHurricane Katrina, right?"The Amsterdam News asked her what she thought about the subsequentofficial school response after her presentation.While saying that the "Black and Spanish" students cheered, a handfulof white students did walk out, Ashante replied, "I think it was sad and I am confused because they are making a big fuss about a poem."She understands however that the official response means that, "It was effective to them."Ashante, a group home counselor, said that his girl "loves to read. She drinks in books and remembers everything. Right now she's reading another encyclopedia, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, and FrederickDouglass.

He explained that they worked on the poem together after reading "TheDisasters Darwinism Brought to Humanity."Ashante said that his daughter was invited to the school by PeekskillMiddle School music teacher Councilmember Melvin Bolden."He was suspended, they took him out of the classroom," said Ashante. Bolden did not return an Amsterdam News phone call by press time.Judith Johnson, the superintendent of Peekskill City School District,did not return an Amsterdam News inquiry, but her assistant Alma Jimenez said that all she could do was read a statement. She denied that Ashante has been banned from performing in the schooldistrict, but said, "The controversy surrounding this situation is unfortunate. Autumn … appeared before a culturally diverse [audience]and in her poem and actions she attempted to bring a wedge betweenAfrican-American and white students. The students rejected herefforts. We do not have a racially isolated community, people live andwork and go to school together."The teacher who brought her to the school [Mel Bolden] … said thather performance was inappropriate for a young audience and hasapologized for the incident viewed by many as racist."Parents and "the entire community" were told that Ashante's "views andactions" did not reflect the views of the Peekskill school district."The Amsterdam News responded that the person in question is asever-year-old, but Jimenez said abruptly that "I can only read thestatement."

At Tuesday press conferences Councilman Charles Barron said, "Eliot Spitzer needs to investigate this case. She's a seven-year-old who hasthe right to free speech."Later that same afternoon Rev. Al Sharpton harangued Westchesterschool officials who called in a recorded apology to parents ofstudents at Peekskill High School and Peekskill Middle School.Ashante said that his daughter has been traumatized by what Sharptoncalled "an entire overreaction.""The proper thing to do would have been to call the schools togetherand have an analytical discussion, not apologize as if she didsomething wrong," Sharpton blasted.

Barron presented Ashante with a special proclamation from the CityCouncil. "We don't care what anybody else says, we are proud of youbecause you spoke out for us. She said nothing that was not true orinspiring," he said of the child who, according to her father, speaks three languages."The pubic school system needs to hire her father as "a paidconsultant. Maybe we need to write a letter to [Schools Chancellor]Joel Klein.""I'd love to share my formula," said Ashante. "It is one classroom perchild."Late on Tuesday evening, Ashante called the Amsterdam News to say thatsomeone was littering the Peekskill neighborhood with Nazi fliers.Upstate resident Don DeBar, the Hudson Valley reporter for WBAI's WakeUp Call, told the Amsterdam News that the fliers look "identical tothe expensively laminated inappropriate garbage sent out last year.

It has swastikas and a racist and anti-Semitic blurb."DeBar said that he thinks that it is the work of a "guy in his garagewith a laminating machine, who goes out at the weekend and throws thefliers in his station wagon. I don't think they were made in responseto the poem issue, the flier looks like the generic garbage. Maybe heread about the issue this week and decided to put Peekskill on his route.""I'm not shocked, I understand the times in which we live, and I'm trying to make Autumn aware," said Ashante. "This is near BearMountain, the Klan run this area."He told the paper that he has raised Autumn by himself since she was11 months old. A media veteran already, Ashante has performed at showsand cultural events from the African Burial Ground to Katrina. She isa voracious reader who began reading books at two years old."I've seen how much power we have when our children are exposed toknowledge of our history. The best thing they ever did was to give hera library card," he smiled.Asked what she would tell fellow second-graders (if she wasn'thome-schooled by father), Ashante told the Amsterdam News, "I'd encourage them to read more because knowledge is power."