WHO IS JOSEPHINE BAKER?!!?!??!?!?!?

Who is Josephine Baker?!??!?!?!?!!?!!

Growing up my mom would always say “Boy, wait till you get out in the real world and realize how much you’ve been exposed to” I used to just think there she goes again thinking she’s going above and beyond the call of duty. But I’m finding something out that I would probably never admit to her face, that she was right. Slowly but surely as I talk to my peers I am beginning to realize that I was raised, well differently from most folks. I cannot say better or worse because those terms are subjective and I can only say that in my conversations and experiences with people around my age that those differences have become glaringly apparent. Probably the most glaring is knowledge of self. Not knowledge of self in that 5 per centers daily mathematics you are God type way. But in knowing from once you came, and the people that came before you and how they have not only shaped but both helped and hurt how people view you, and how you view yourself. For instance, as a African-American male my mom made sure that I would know what peoples expectations were of me based on stereotypes and but tempered that with the knowledge that I can and will be expected to live out all my dreams regardless of what lays in my path. The way this was achieved was through exposure, ever since I could speak English I could read it, and my mom had me reading and watching shows and being exposed to everything that dealt with the African-American experience in the U.S. and abroad. She had me enrolled in African-American private schools where history was taught with an Afro-centric view of things. Growing up I thought that everyone knew as much about African-American history and the experience thereof as I did. Slowly but surely I began to realize that this is not the case.

Today I was talking to one of the students that I work with and how this whole multi-dimensional superstar could be traced back to people like Josephine Baker, and I got the blankest stare like I had just asked her to explain the theory of relativity. So I inquired, do you know who Josephine Baker is? I was then shocked to learn that they had no clue who she was, so then I started to call up some of friends and some of them had a vague notion of who she was and others were just unaware of her existence. Now, I would be disheartened but understanding of this, if I had asked who was Ben Carson, Charles Diop, Garret Morgan, Charles Drew, or even Gil Scott-Heron, but Josephine Baker? I mean that’s just plain sad.

How can people expect to grow if they do not know from the rich soil that they are sowed from? What incentive is there to reach for the stars if you don’t realize that being in the Heavens is your birthright? We can see this today; so many young black youths are out there hustlin’ slangin’ rock, shooting hoops, singing, and rhymin’ thinking that those are viable ways of changing their circumstance. I am not one to ruin anyone’s dreams but at the same point the very numbers of people who are willing to risk jail time, physically condition themselves to be the next LeBron, practice for hours a day to sing or sit down and write melodic poetry to syncopated beats shows the desire of young people to emulate what they see and means of changing their life. Now just imagine if these same young people were to put forth the same energy to emulate other great African-Americans throughout history. I truly think that young people would, not because they will want to emulate the people per se but if they know that you are capable of greatness in all that you achieve then achieve it all. It goes back partly to the power of positive thought if you are fed positive images of yourself you are going to feel better about yourself and in turn do better.

I thank my mother for instilling in me knowledge of self.


Just my thoughts….