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Provide all the equipment and materials necessary to allow children to explore scientific concepts themselves.
Explore the outdoors, and provide children with tools to explore their own backyard up close and personal. Take a walk together, visit a local park, join a guided hike or plant your own vegetable garden.
Support children’s natural curiosity by helping them conduct their own experiments.
Michelle Obama
Class of 1981
Where: Whitney Young High School
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to many people, but the first lady definitely doesn’t play second fiddle to her husband. Michelle Obama has excelled as a lawyer, in college (Princeton and Harvard Law) and at Whitney Young High School in Chicago, where she was the cream of the crop.
Alicia Keys
Class of 1997
Where: Professional Performing Arts School
Singer Alicia Keys has always seemed destined to be a star. At the tender age of just 16, Keys rose to the top of her class and was named the 1997 valedictorian at the Professional Performing Arts School in New York City.
John Legend
Class of 1994
Where: North High School
John Legend has always been exceptional. People may think he’s just an entertainer, but the All of Me singer was somewhat of a child prodigy. He enrolled at North High School in Springfield, Ohio, early — at the age of 12. Four years later, not only did he graduate as salutatorian of his class, but he also got accepted to Harvard University and was offered scholarships to Morehouse College and Georgetown University. He ultimately ended up going to an Ivy League school: the University of Pennsylvania.
Morgan Gray
Morgan Gray is a veteran in the video game industry and has worked on many popular games, such as Tomb Raider, Star Wars and most recently The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. Although Gray has worked on many mainstream games, he’s very ready to see a change in gaming when it comes to race. According to an interview he did with mtv.com, Gray stated:
“I am sick of playing the average white dude character. And I’m sick of playing a black stereotype. … As a player I want to have more experiences other than the futuristic super soldier white guy to the unlikely hero white guy. There’s that line where you’re playing you, and you’re playing the character. It’s sort of like, are you behind the character pushing? Are you holding hands with the character in your mind? And for me, I’d like to get more of relating to this character.”
Karisma Williams
Senior Experience Developer/Designer for Xbox Kinect
As a senior experience developer/designer, Karisma Williams designs and develops the various onscreen interfaces, which include menus, interaction models and onscreen elements. In addition to her work at Microsoft, Williams also serves as creative director of Matimeo.com, an independent UX development company.
Gordon Bellamy
Gordon Bellamy has spent the past 19 years producing and marketing interactive content and developing strategic business partnerships with video game publishers, social media developers and technology partners.
He has worked with major companies like MTV, EA Sports and Spike TV. He was named EA’s “rookie of the year” for his work on marketing the NFL Madden series and was instrumental in creating Spike TV’s Video Game Awards show.
Lewis Howard Latimer was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on Sept. 4, 1848. He was born six years after his parents ran away from slavery in Virginia. Latimer is considered one of the 10 most important Black inventors of all time. He died in Flushing, New York, on Dec. 11, 1928.
He enlisted in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. After the war, Latimer returned to Boston, where he was employed by the patent solicitors Crosby and Gould. While there, he learned mechanical drawing, how to use the tools of the trade and the art of drawing to scale. After noticing Latimer’s skills and ability, he was promoted to the role of head draftsman.
While at Crosby and Gould, Latimer drafted the patent drawings for inventor Alexander Graham Bell’s patent application for the telephone. He spent countless hours working with Bell. With Latimer’s help, Bell was able to get the patent before competitors.
In 1876, Hiram S. Maxim hired Latimer to be an assistant manager and draftsman. Latimer invented a method for making carbon filaments for the Maxim electric incandescent lamp. In 1881, he supervised the installation of the electric lights in New York, Philadelphia, Montreal and London.
In 1894, he created a safety elevator that improved the elevators of that time. He next obtained a patent for locking racks for hats, coats and umbrellas that organizes people’s belongings and prevents theft. He next created an enhanced version of a book supporter that arranged and organized books.
He was a real “renaissance man.” In addition to being an inventor, he was a painter, poet, playwright and musician. Today, the Lewis H. Latimer House in New York City is a museum filled with Latimer’s work and is open to the public.
Being Called an ‘Oreo’
The term “Oreo” is defined as a Black person who is regarded as having adopted the attitudes, values and behaviors thought to be characteristics of middle-class white society, often at the expense of his or her own heritage.
Although Black culture is part of what defines Black people, the idea that the culture is static is completely ludicrous. The term “Oreo” completely discounts the fact that no matter how different a Black person acts in comparison to racial stereotypical images, that can never change his or her skin. So that person still has to deal with the day-to-day racism or injustices that are geared toward Black people.
‘Why Do You Sound/Look White?’
This insult is closely related to the “Oreo” insult. Not only is it offensive for not realizing the dynamics of Black people, it goes a step further in perpetuating the myth that white people somehow have a monopoly on looking, sounding and being intelligent.
‘The Only Reason You Got Into a Good College is Because You’re Black’
This stems from a lack of understanding of how affirmative action works, and believing that it has something to do with filling quotas. The truth is that Black youths have to be quite exceptional to get into a good school, especially when compared to their white counterparts.
Ironically, as many as 15 percent of freshmen at America’s top schools are white students who failed to meet their university’s minimum standards for admission, according to Peter Schmidt, deputy editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education. These kids are “people with a long-standing relationship with the university,” or, in other words, the children of faculty, wealthy alumni and politicians.
According to Schmidt, these unqualified but privileged kids are nearly twice as common on top campuses as Black and Latino students who have benefited from affirmative action.
‘You’re So Articulate …’
This is the ultimate backhanded compliment. Often, the people uttering the phrase truly believe they’re being nice when saying this. However, it is quite an ignorant statement. First, it assumes that the average Black person is dumb and inarticulate, and that the person they’re “complimenting” is so rare it’s like they’ve come into contact with a unicorn. It also assumes that there’s only one acceptable way for smart people to talk.
‘You Look/Remind Me of Urkel/Carlton Banks’
Because of the gross misrepresentation of Black people in mainstream media, characters like Urkel from Family Matters and Carlton from The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air are the only archetypes many people have of a Black nerd. However, equating someone as being a Blerd for simply wearing large glasses and “preppy” clothes undervalues the intelligence of true Blerds
‘Being a Sellout’
This insult is particularly offensive because it usually comes from another Black person. While there are many people who have betrayed the Black community, being smart and successful does not automatically make you a “sellout”.
Donald Glover will be the voice behind Miles Morales, the half-Black, half-Hispanic youth who takes over as the new Spider-Man after Peter Parker died.
Four years ago, fans took to social media to push for Glover to play Spider-Man on the big screen in the Amazing Spider-Man reboot.
The social media campaign fell short as the role went to actor Andrew Garfield instead.
While Glover still won’t be making an appearance on the big screens as Spider-Man, he will be voicing Morales on Disney XD’s Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors.
Glover’s character took on the role as the new arachnid-inspired superhero after the Green Goblin killed Peter Parker in 2011.
In a clip release by USA Today, Glover’s character is shocked to come face-to-face with Peter Parker, who seems to be unaware that he was killed in Morales’ universe, which led to the 13-year-old filling in for him.
Glover, who is known in the hip-hop industry as Childish Gambino, said he has always been a Spider-Man fan and just tried to be himself when voicing Morales.
“I just tried to be as me as possible, because you’re always just going to bring it back to yourself when you watch the show,” he said according to The Verge.
Meanwhile, the show’s creator is just glad to see the minority character so well received by fans.
“It’s certainly long overdue,” creator Brian Michael Bandis said in 2011, when Morales was first introduced to Spider-Man fans. “Even though there’s some amazing African-American and minority characters bouncing around in all
the superhero universes, it’s still crazy lopsided.”
The new Spider-Man series will premier on Sunday, but the Huffington Post reports that the episode featuring Glover will not air until 2015.
Glover also added that he is excited to take on the role even though he would still like the chance to show off his spidey senses on the big screen.
“I still have hopes to do something like that one day,” he told USA Today. “I don’t look at this as second place. Spider-Man, he’s such an icon – you have to do something with him.”
Embrace Intelligence and Blackness
A debate has recently ensued over “The Acting White Theory,” suggesting Black students are less inclined to be studious and smart because it is associated with being white. This theory originated in the 1980s with anthropologist and former professor at University of California Berkeley, Dr. John Ogbu’s research. It is commonly used to explain the present-day achievement gap between Black and white students, according to theroot.com.
Although this theory has been cited by President Obama as a call to action to bring education and intellect into our communities, author and Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson pushes back, believing that these anti-intellectual stereotypes of Black youth are not founded in reality.
Researchers over the last three decades have consistently found that Black students have more positive attitudes about education than their white peers, although academic achievement is lower overall, theroot.com reports.
Blerds have created their own space to support Black intellectual creative abilities, and the desire for achievement in our communities.
Separate From Stereotypes of Black Culture
In today’s culture, Blackness is confined to a small scope. Modern-day images of Blackness often revolve around star athletes, hip-hop moguls, gangsters or TV housewives and baller’s baby’s moms. Oftentimes, these stereotypes reinforce accepted violence, hatred and ignorance against African-Americans.
On Aug. 9, 2014, Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American teenager who a witness says raised his hands in surrender, was shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri. Racial profiling may have led to his death and his race may have also influenced stories shared in the media about his possible criminal involvement, in attempt to justify and excuse the blatant disregard for his life.
Blerds have created their own space to separate from the stereotyped images of the Black culture and find sanctuary in the freedom to be who they were born to be.
Pay Homage to Intellectual Predecessors
African-American intellectual Blerds, such as sociologist and activist W.E.B. Du Bois, educator and orator Booker T. Washington, academic and activist Cornel West and President Obama, all pushed the envelope, advocating the advancement of African-American rights, specifically, opportunities to higher education, reform of the criminal justice system, the end of the school-to-prison pipeline, and access to higher political office.
Blerds’ expression of themselves as intellectuals in their own space pays homage to the Black intellectuals, innovators and achievers that came before them.
With almost everything we do, we are leaving trail bits of tech data. Think about where you are right now, the computer (PC, Mac, tablet, phone, etc.) that you are using, the websites you’ve visited today, the items you’ve purchased and posts you’ve made on social media platforms.
Now consider that process over time – most of us won’t remember all of what we did this week alone. But if you collected the tech trail of information about yourself and performed an analysis on it, you’d be surprised by what the data tells you. You’d be able to identify trends and patterns in your behavior, your moods, spending habits, and so on.
Now imagine what businesses, governments, credit authorities, and data resellers have on you. This is not meant to make you wary of the digital age, it is simply to make you aware. It’s a cliche, but “knowledge is power.”
Big data is a term used to describe large (possibly petabytes) and complex data sets that are oftentimes difficult to process with commonly used software for data management. However, with new technologies that can efficiently process large amounts of data, analytics can provide insights into patterns which can lead to a myriad of opportunities.
For those who have taken advantage of big data or at least kept abreast of the topic, it is known that there are some amazing benefits to big data analytics – tailored recommendations, fraud prevention, real-time traffic information, just to name a few. But there are always two sides of a coin.
So, how might this pile of data be used against individuals or groups of people? Let’s say you live in an underprivileged neighborhood; you might receive credit card offers with higher than normal interest rates. This could be because big-data analysis identified that many people living in your area are short of cash, maybe in need of a credit card and don’t qualify for good terms.
This doesn’t mean you aren’t financially responsible, don’t qualify for a better rate, and wouldn’t be given one if you had applied on your own. But people are put into categories, and categories are used for marketing and decision-making.
Perhaps you frequent retailers where a large majority of other shoppers, possibly of your same race, also frequent, but many of them make late payments on their credit cards. Your credit card limit may be automatically decreased because your credit card company has created an algorithm that analyzes big data and determines high-risk profiles. You may be categorized with those who have high-risk profiles because of your weak association with those shoppers.
Think about how your social network, your posts, tweets, etc., all could play a role in your creditworthiness. Some companies are thinking of using social networks to help rate their customers.
These are just a few theories and possible examples of how big data can be used in somewhat nefarious ways. If you are divulging information that can be used by others, be mindful of what you share, how you use these technologies, and what can be done with it.
Be the master of your digital mind!
Quiessence is an Information Security Professional with over seven years of experience. She is also the Curriculum Development Lead for Black Girls CODE NY, creator of the Girltechie Campaign, and a workshop called “Securing Your Web”. Find her on the web @ www.itsquiessence.com
Three teen siblings from Decatur, Georgia, are using technology to make a difference in the fight for justice against police brutality, racial profiling and other issues that have created a divide between police and the communities they serve.
As the world watches Ferguson, Missouri, closely, many people have reprimanded the police forces for the way they have handled the Mike Brown shooting case and events that followed. Unarmed Brown, 18, was shot and killed Aug. 9 by a police officer. In reaction to the teen’s death, protests were held.
President Barack Obama also expressed his disappointment in the force, saying that there is “no excuse” for Ferguson police to use excessive force against peaceful protesters.
While it seems a large number of people are upset with the police’s behavior and military-like tactics, one teen acknowledged that not all police forces are duplicates of the one in Ferguson.
Good cops still exist.
So 14-year-old Caleb Christian of Parkview High School teamed up with his older sisters, Parkview High School senior Ima Christian, 16, and Gwinnett School of Music and Technology sophomore Asha Christian, 15, to create an app that puts more power into the hands of those the police are supposed to serve.
Caleb called the app “Five-O,” which he said was inspired by the television show, according to Forbes.
The Pinetart website Caleb made to market his app explained that the young teen was “concerned about the number of incidents of police abuse in the news” but also knew that “there were many good police officers in various communities.”
The issue, the website explained, was that people “had no way of figuring out which communities were highly rated and which were not.”
That’s where Five-O comes in.
The app uses a Yelp-like rating system and allows citizens to upload reviews and add ratings of the police in their area.
App users can fill out full incident reports and hand out grades to police officers and police departments in their area.
The app is also more than just a space for reviews.
Other features allow users to locate their local police stations, look up their rights, check other citizen reviews and even organize their community in the event they want to come together for the sake of a peaceful demonstration or other community effort.
The Google Play page for the app also reveals that this is a Beta version of the app so users should expect to hit a few kinks and bugs. In the event they do, the app also features a handy feedback button that will help Caleb use consumer reports to fine-tune and improve the app.
As with most apps that use a Yelp-like rating system, however, it is important for app users to take the ratings and feedback with a grain of salt.
There is no system in place to confirm the accuracy of reports, and many people feel more inclined to report bad experiences than good ones when it comes to writing out a review online.
The app was created Monday and has already garnered somewhere between 100 and 500 installs.
The Google Play page says the app is compatible with all devices.
As another graduation season comes to an end, scores of young, smart African-American graduates will become fresh recruits into the Foreign Service known as Corporate America, seeking fame, glory and the spoils that come along with it. Unfortunately, many of these recruits will not find fame nor glory, but only dissolution, disappointment and the slow, painful death of their dreams of executive titles and fancy corner offices.
As these dreams die, vibrancy is often replaced with lethargy, and optimism often becomes pessimism as the recruits take their place in the invisible brigade, becoming nameless, faceless members of the African-American professional class, whose sole purpose seems to be meat for the proverbial “corporate grinder.”
While there are real challenges that stand between African-Americans and the corner office that must be overcome, many challenges encountered today are self-manufactured and can be avoided altogether with a bit of forethought and external awareness.
Below are the five biggest mistakes young African-Americans make that often lead to the “grinder.” Avoid these and while corporate success is never guaranteed, odds of achieving the corner office will exponentially increase.
• Mistake No. 1 – Assuming All Rules are Spoken (Believing Everything You Hear)
Mistake No. 1 made by most young, smart African-Americans is assuming just because they are told something by someone in authority, that means it’s true. Most rules in corporate life are unwritten. Why? The answer is simple and it’s the first unwritten rule of corporate life: Corporate life is a competition.
Which brings us to the second unwritten rule of corporate life: If you’re in a corporation, you’re a competitor.
Finally, the third and most important unwritten rule of corporate life: When in doubt about rule No. 2, see rule No. 1.
So what does this have to do with a career mistake? Young African-Americans have a tendency to take what they are told by superiors, non-African-American peers, and so-called mentors at face value. If you accept the unwritten rules of corporate life, then you also accept the fact that not everyone has your best interest at heart (because it’s a competition and if you’re there you are a competitor).
Thus as smart competitor, you should apply the simple wisdom found in a sign I once saw, “In God we trust, but all others we verify.”
• Mistake No. 2 – Assuming Corporations are Logical, Rational Entities (Believing Work is Fair)
Mistake No. 2 made by young, smart African-Americans is assuming that organizations, with all of their policies, procedures, mission statements, organizational charts and the whatnot, are logical, rational entities that make decisions based upon observed verifiable facts.
Truth is organizations are: 1) Nothing more than a collection of people. 2) People are the furthest thing from logical and rational (don’t believe me, pay attention the next time you are in a grocery store). 3) People for the most part are governed by emotions, and emotions are typically the result of thoughts and personal experiences.
This is why two different people in a meeting can say the exact same thing, and 7 times out of 10 it will be received in completely different ways, as the recipients are usually responding from an emotional place versus anything logical, let along its older and wiser sibling known as rational.
So next time you wonder why your boss and/or peers seem to like your ideas when someone else says them, before you take it personally remember the Serenity Prayer, “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
• Mistake No. 3 – Assuming All People are Created Equal (Believing You Can Do What They Do)
Mistake No.3 made by young, smart African-Americans is assuming that just because they went to the same universities, got similar internships, went through the same interview process, and received the same offers as their non-African-American peers, they can do and say the same things on the job as their non-African-American colleagues.
If we recall what we learned in Mistake No. 2, then we will remember that organizations are full of people and people are primarily an emotional bunch. So it makes perfect sense why John is seen as inquisitive when he speaks up in a meeting, while Jerome is seen as aggressive and lacking communication ability. Or Susan is simply having a bad day when she doesn’t say “Good Morning,” while Shonda is seen as an angry person with poor social skills.
So assuming you’ve accepted the unwritten rules of corporate life and you’ve memorized the Serenity Prayer, be mindful of the real and perceived differences between you and those around you, because as Alonzo (aka Denzel Washington) said in the movie Training Day, “This s**t is chess, it ain’t checkers.”
• Mistake No. 4 – Assuming Working Hard = Doing Hard Work (Not Understanding What Matters)
Mistake No. 4 made by young, smart African-Americans is unfortunately often a result of Mistake No. 1, which is then enabled by Mistake No. 2 and ultimately compounded by Mistake No. 3, and that is believing that working hard is the same as doing hard work.
What is “hard work” you ask? Hard work is anything that solves a problem, while “working hard” is anything that executes a solution, otherwise known as the result of hard work.
OK, let’s face facts. Most smart African-Americans are told almost from birth that they “have to work at least twice as hard to be seen as just as good” as their non-African American peers. While there is much truth to this, the even bigger truth of the matter is most corporations invest millions of dollars each year in technology to reduce the amount of “working hard” done by their employees so they can focus more on “hard work.” Unfortunately most African-American families missed the memo about the dawn of the technological age.
So next time you’re faced with a choice between making the presentation more effective (aka doing “hard work”) and making the presentation more attractive (aka “working hard”), follow the lead of Booker T. Washington and you too might have building named after you. Washington said, “Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.”
• Mistake No. 5 – Assuming There is a Yellow Brick Road ( Not Having a Career Plan)
The last and greatest mistake made by young, smart African-Americans is believing that like school, there is a defined curriculum, course outline, degree plan, or as I like to call it a “yellow brick road” that spells out exactly what one has to do to go from “here” to the fabled corner office.
If you are one of those people (see Mistake No. 2 for definition of which people), let me be the first to tell you, no such path exists.
There are thousands of articles and books that claim to hold the formula for success in corporate America, but if you’ve been paying attention then you already know that you can’t believe everything you hear or read, as not everyone has your best interest at heart — especially an author who wants to sell books (Lesson No. 1).
As corporations are full of irrational and illogical people (Lesson No. 2), and since everyone is not the same, what worked for someone else — in this case the author– won’t necessarily work for you (Lesson No.3). You already know anything worth having requires hard work (Lesson No. 4), so I leave you, young recruit, with one final thought from the greatest guide to corporate life ever assembled, The Art of War by Sun Tzu: “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”
Before you start the next battle in your tour of duty, take some time to really plan how you are going to win, that is, reach those career goals. And remember the words of the good Archbishop of Canterbury Geoffrey Fisher, “Good plans shape good decisions. That’s why good planning helps to make elusive dreams come true.”
Tre Green is a 25yr veteran of the IT industry who specializes in solving “mission impossible” for Fortune 500 organizations. When not adding to his frequent flier miles and preferred guest status Tre can be often be found at home relaxing with his motely crew of pets.