How I got my blog's name is one of the most popular questions that I get. I’ve even gotten it from relatives. Folks understand the ’Booker’ part, since my blog is obviously named in honor of Booker T. Washington. It’s the ’Rising’ part that has them scratching their heads. No, my intent was not to equate Booker T. with Jesus Christ’s resurrection, as told in the Bible. The ‘Rising’ part is about putting his ideas back into the public realm - self-help, education, enterprise, character education, work ethic, and racial uplift - which I believe has been in the background for the past few decades. I believe these values will take black Americans (our primary target audience) to the the mountaintop. While the vision for my website had already been set, the name clicked when I visited the Donkey Rising site, which focuses on Democratic politics. That’s when I had my “aha!” moment.
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3 comments:
Until yesterday's "News and Notes" program, I'd never heard of your blog. I appreciate the name "Booker Rising", and the point you are trying to make by calling it that. You are an intelligent young woman, but what I didn't understand, Shay, were your comments about the death of the young man killed in the boot camp recently. How could you insist that the most important thing was why was he there in the first place?! I don't know if you have any children, but if you ever leave your child (good, bad or indifferent) with ANYONE, and he/she comes back to you in any condition other than what you left them in, I want to hear you so blythely say, "well, I have to consider why did I leave my child with them in the first place".
I mean, that young man stole a car from his own grandmother - did it occur to you that perhaps the young man had some undiagnosed condition, or that perhaps he was in the boot camp because his parents were trying to find out what was wrong with him - but, really-is that your business at all!?
Or as one of the other guests suggested that all kids, no matter how affluent or poor their parents, do stupid things? Did you GET that the discussion wasn't about WHY he was in boot camp, but about WHY was he killed? You did at least note that the officers should have been charged with manslaughter, and I agree. But I also saw the video of his beating, and you just reminded me of the white jurors who watch the Rodney King beating and said that it didn't look like the officers were doing anything wrong.
I expect that from white people, NOT from people who claim they are proponents of Booker T. Washington. If you check your history, lynching black folks was a common occurrence when Mr. Washington started his movement - I think he would have been a lot more sympathetic about a black child being beaten to death within the confines of an institution which was supposed to be helping the child rehabilitate. I'm not so sure you are worthy to use his name in relationship to your ideas.
You expect that from white people, Anonymous? And you consider yourself an heir of Booker T. Washington, fit to lecture Shay? If you read Thomas Sowell's "Black Rednecks and White Liberals," you'll see that lynching was a widespread problem in the South, and not just an act of racial terrorism. By far, most of the lynching victims were white. It was a complicated cultural cancer of the South, which survives in the drive-by shootings and nightclub stabbings in every ghetto in America, well diagnosed and explained by Sowell. So maybe you should check your history instead of pretending you know what you're talking about.
I love your name, & the meaning/mission makes it even better!
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