In Search of A Phantom, Pseudo Journalist

Unprincipled, unethical, unprovoked, libelous, slanderous attacks against me <!--break--> Some guy named Aaron E. Wicks is apparently obsessed with my educational philosophy and community activities. He has used his supposedly progressive newsletter, ‘Smugtown Beacon’ to launch unprincipled, unethical, unprovoked, libelous, slanderous attacks against me at least twice. I don’t even know who this Wicks guy is. Since the so-called ‘Smugtown Beacon’ was co-founded by Wicks and his partner, Christopher Wilmot --- I assume (though I could be wrong) that like Wilmot --- Wicks is a member of the local, ruling-class elite (whom, ironically, according to the “About Us” section of their webpage) is the same group that “inspired” creation of their attack-dog publication. It is completely beyond me, absolutely baffling that Wilmot and his mud-slinging partner --- could possibly see themselves as being any different than other ruling-class &quot;elitist of the Greater Rochester, N.Y. area.&quot; Are we to understand that because they decided (last year) to create a so-called &quot;independent source of critical news analysis and insightful editorials&quot; --- they are fundamentally or substantively different from the families and communities that birthed, raised/socialized, mentored, and pampered them? It is important to ask, who is reading the ‘Smugtown Beacon,’ especially since it is being touted as anti-establishment? Who is the intended audience? Like many, if not most in the local African American community (I'm sure) --- had Wicks' apparent, uncontrollable urge to utilize the pseudo-journalistic publication to launch unprincipled, libelous attacks against me, not been brought to my attention --- I wouldn't have even thought about wasting time looking at their run-of-the-mill, mud-slinging, propaganda. The would-be editorialist's most recent attack against me appears in the last two paragraphs of a lengthy diatribe, which was published on 9/23/08 --- concerning Dr. William Cala's idea of developing an &quot;integrated metro school&quot;:http://www.smugtownbeacon.com/news.php?viewStory=150. According to the content of Wicks' above-referenced article, he believes that Dr. Cala's idea &quot;could shake up the very fabric of our community.&quot; Time will tell. Parts of the author's slanderous work represent wild generalizations, abstract notions, and grossly erroneous assumptions --- some of which clearly highlights his cultural incompetence regarding African Americans in particular. For example, he puts forth a very simplistic, shallow, erroneous assumption that the &quot;black, urban student [routinely] faces being not only a traitor to his neighborhood if he succeeds in school, but also a traitor to his race.&quot; This wild, absurd, ludicrous generalization simply is not true. What the confused author is probably attempting to discuss is the phenomenon of black people who often become educated and &quot;successful&quot; to the extent that they no longer identify with the former neighbors and neighborhoods that produced them, and in fact, often assimilate into other people's culture to the extent that they are no longer recognizable and/or appreciated by common people in the 'hoods' from which they hail. So, those who become what Wicks' characterizes as &quot;traitors&quot; --- do so willingly. Their willingness goes far beyond &quot;succeeding in school.&quot; Incidentally, there are plenty examples of black people (whom, by all accounts,&quot;succeeded in school&quot;) still living, working, shopping, and socializing in the heart of Rochester's and thousands of other black communities across the nation. Sizeable numbers of those who fit into the latter-described category, continue to be well-liked, respected, and in many cases admired and loved by substantial numbers among the masses in the 'hood.’ Wicks' position that black children don't identify with success --- because &quot;success [is] white&quot; also represents a gross over-simplification, and abstract, if not racist notion. In addition to the types of examples cited above --- the last two paragraphs of the pseudo journalist's article are simply bizarre. As it relates to those particular paragraphs, a critical, analytical reading lens easily reveals a great literary leap away from his topic. The departure is the point at which the mud-slinging writer suddenly launches into an amazing, totally disconnected attack against Rochester Board of Education Commissioner Cynthia Elliott and me. He makes (literally) a completely nonsensical claim that Commissioner Elliott and I &quot;have become enthralled with artificial classrooms and programs that either sterilize the student body into gender-based groups or indoctrinates them into a curriculum that is designed to be culturally appropriate.&quot; I cannot respond intelligently to his charge --- because I sincerely do not have even a clue as to what I am being accused of. Frankly, the latter-referenced quote represents the most abstract bunch of baseless foolishness and gibberish that I have ever read. I openly challenge Wicks to elaborate regarding specifics, and to cite one (just one) specific, concrete example that connects me (in any way) to the nonsensical madness, which he attempts to articulate. I am further charged with &quot;implicitly --- sometimes explicitly arguing that African American students can best learn if they are led to believe that the world was created by and run by people who look just like them, [which the author asserts] it was not.&quot; Again, I challenge the master-of-mud-and-incoherence to cite a single example of me teaching whatever it is that he is attempting to articulate, which as previously stated, is nothing more or less than nonsensical gibberish. In fact, I can't decipher the intended point of the latter quote. With regard to the portion concerning &quot;the world [being] created by people who look just like&quot; African American students --- I have no way of knowing whether or not Wicks is referring to the religious belief known as creationism, or something else. If he is referring to creationism --- then we can be certain that he is no more qualified than I am relative to knowing who the creator &quot;looked like.&quot; On the other hand, if he is referring to actual construction, i.e. of buildings and systems --- such as pyramids, temples, universities, philosophy, medicine, science, mathematics, etc. --- then the original creators did indeed &quot;look just like&quot; African American students, especially as it relates to the melanin in their skin, which produces dark complexions. I must admit that I have little knowledge regarding Wick's' statement concerning &quot;pro-Aryan curriculum in Nazi Germany.&quot; However, I do know that those who created and implemented such curriculum did not look like, think like, and/or act like most African Americans, including Commissioner Elliott and myself. Perhaps it's a subject of which the master-mudslinger is knowledgeable. Perhaps it represents a base of knowledge from which he draws some of his wild-and-crazy, ludicrous ideas. But then again, he doesn't even seem to be very clear about that which he presumably knows. In the final analysis,Wicks can keep slinging mud and dreaming about &quot;breaking down barriers that have been built over generations,&quot; in fact, over centuries; and he can keep dreaming about &quot;shutting [me] up.&quot; However, one of these days he'll have to stop dreaming, wake up, and deal with reality, part of which includes the fact that it will take a lot more than a two-cent, attack-dog newsletter to “shut [me] up” --- not necessarily because I like talking so much, but indeed because I have something to say, and have a historical responsibility to say it as often, as clearly, and if necessary, as loudly as possible.

<p>Unprincipled, unethical, unprovoked, libelous, slanderous attacks against me</p> <!--break--><p>Some guy named Aaron E. Wicks is apparently obsessed with my educational philosophy and community activities. He has used his supposedly progressive newsletter, ‘Smugtown Beacon’ to launch unprincipled, unethical, unprovoked, libelous, slanderous attacks against me at least twice.</p> <p>I don’t even know who this Wicks guy is. Since the so-called ‘Smugtown Beacon’ was co-founded by Wicks and his partner, Christopher Wilmot --- I assume (though I could be wrong) that like Wilmot --- Wicks is a member of the local, ruling-class elite (whom, ironically, according to the “About Us” section of their webpage) is the same group that “inspired” creation of their attack-dog publication.</p> <p>It is completely beyond me, absolutely baffling that Wilmot and his mud-slinging partner --- could possibly see themselves as being any different than other ruling-class "elitist of the Greater Rochester, N.Y. area." Are we to understand that because they decided (last year) to create a so-called "independent source of critical news analysis and insightful editorials" --- they are fundamentally or substantively different from the families and communities that birthed, raised/socialized, mentored, and pampered them? </p> <p>It is important to ask, who is reading the ‘Smugtown Beacon,’ especially since it is being touted as anti-establishment? Who is the intended audience? Like many, if not most in the local African American community (I'm sure) --- had Wicks' apparent, uncontrollable urge to utilize the pseudo-journalistic publication to launch unprincipled, libelous attacks against me, not been brought to my attention --- I wouldn't have even thought about wasting time looking at their run-of-the-mill, mud-slinging, propaganda. </p> <p>The would-be editorialist's most recent attack against me appears in the last two paragraphs of a lengthy diatribe, which was published on 9/23/08 --- concerning Dr. William Cala's idea of developing an "integrated metro school":<a href="http://www.smugtownbeacon.com/news.php?viewStory=150">http://www.smugtownbeacon.com/news.php?viewStory=150</a>. According to the content of Wicks' above-referenced article, he believes that Dr. Cala's idea "could shake up the very fabric of our community." Time will tell. </p> <p>Parts of the author's slanderous work represent wild generalizations, abstract notions, and grossly erroneous assumptions --- some of which clearly highlights his cultural incompetence regarding African Americans in particular. For example, he puts forth a very simplistic, shallow, erroneous assumption that the "black, urban student [routinely] faces being not only a traitor to his neighborhood if he succeeds in school, but also a traitor to his race." This wild, absurd, ludicrous generalization simply is not true. What the confused author is probably attempting to discuss is the phenomenon of black people who often become educated and "successful" to the extent that they no longer identify with the former neighbors and neighborhoods that produced them, and in fact, often assimilate into other people's culture to the extent that they are no longer recognizable and/or appreciated by common people in the 'hoods' from which they hail. So, those who become what Wicks' characterizes as "traitors" --- do so willingly. Their willingness goes far beyond "succeeding in school." Incidentally, there are plenty examples of black people (whom, by all accounts,"succeeded in school") still living, working, shopping, and socializing in the heart of Rochester's and thousands of other black communities across the nation. Sizeable numbers of those who fit into the latter-described category, continue to be well-liked, respected, and in many cases admired and loved by substantial numbers among the masses in the 'hood.’ Wicks' position that black children don't identify with success --- because "success [is] white" also represents a gross over-simplification, and abstract, if not racist notion. </p> <p>In addition to the types of examples cited above --- the last two paragraphs of the pseudo journalist's article are simply bizarre. As it relates to those particular paragraphs, a critical, analytical reading lens easily reveals a great literary leap away from his topic. The departure is the point at which the mud-slinging writer suddenly launches into an amazing, totally disconnected attack against Rochester Board of Education Commissioner Cynthia Elliott and me. He makes (literally) a completely nonsensical claim that Commissioner Elliott and I "have become enthralled with artificial classrooms and programs that either sterilize the student body into gender-based groups or indoctrinates them into a curriculum that is designed to be culturally appropriate." I cannot respond intelligently to his charge --- because I sincerely do not have even a clue as to what I am being accused of. Frankly, the latter-referenced quote represents the most abstract bunch of baseless foolishness and gibberish that I have ever read. I openly challenge Wicks to elaborate regarding specifics, and to cite one (just one) specific, concrete example that connects me (in any way) to the nonsensical madness, which he attempts to articulate. </p> <p>I am further charged with "implicitly --- sometimes explicitly arguing that African American students can best learn if they are led to believe that the world was created by and run by people who look just like them, [which the author asserts] it was not." Again, I challenge the master-of-mud-and-incoherence to cite a single example of me teaching whatever it is that he is attempting to articulate, which as previously stated, is nothing more or less than nonsensical gibberish. In fact, I can't decipher the intended point of the latter quote. With regard to the portion concerning "the world [being] created by people who look just like" African American students --- I have no way of knowing whether or not Wicks is referring to the religious belief known as creationism, or something else. If he is referring to creationism --- then we can be certain that he is no more qualified than I am relative to knowing who the creator "looked like." On the other hand, if he is referring to actual construction, i.e. of buildings and systems --- such as pyramids, temples, universities, philosophy, medicine, science, mathematics, etc. --- then the original creators did indeed "look just like" African American students, especially as it relates to the melanin in their skin, which produces dark complexions. </p> <p>I must admit that I have little knowledge regarding Wick's' statement concerning "pro-Aryan curriculum in Nazi Germany." However, I do know that those who created and implemented such curriculum did not look like, think like, and/or act like most African Americans, including Commissioner Elliott and myself. Perhaps it's a subject of which the master-mudslinger is knowledgeable. Perhaps it represents a base of knowledge from which he draws some of his wild-and-crazy, ludicrous ideas. But then again, he doesn't even seem to be very clear about that which he presumably knows. </p> <p>In the final analysis,Wicks can keep slinging mud and dreaming about "breaking down barriers that have been built over generations," in fact, over centuries; and he can keep dreaming about "shutting [me] up." However, one of these days he'll have to stop dreaming, wake up, and deal with reality, part of which includes the fact that it will take a lot more than a two-cent, attack-dog newsletter to “shut [me] up” --- not necessarily because I like talking so much, but indeed because I have something to say, and have a historical responsibility to say it as often, as clearly, and if necessary, as loudly as possible.</p>