welcome back to our discussion on african american studies ethnic studies black studies but specifically black studies because the evolution and the history of it is very significant especially in the berkeley unified school district over the years but also merit college which was very instrumental because of you newton and bobby seale and there's been an acknowledgement of their presence in the student loan which was named after the two of them there at merritt college and then also dr cecilia arrington who wrote a book about the confessions of a black studies teacher because she wanted to let her students know have a book that would tell her story about her life could you tell us a little bit about your experiences as relates to african american studies you know first of all i was very impressed with what you and dr mcknight had to say because i was not aware that berkeley high school was involved in the well not berkeley high school but the lower agree yes we're so committed to the subject you know barbara i feel that all of us are black history and i'm really really sorry that we have to designated such and that we have to have a a month because i feel our history is just plain ole american history yes and for me i wish we would start calling ourselves american blacks or american africans because i feel american needs to come first because what we've done in this country america is american history and it should be taught as one history and i know that should occur to you that's an ideal because one day it will be yes but there is no history in this country with out all of the people who have come to this country to make it so yes and let me get back to the offer you goldberg and i are on the same thing with this i think some of the some of the dominant society needs to realize we are americans they need the president just made a speech about leon panetta and about his mother and father coming to this country as immigrants and telling their children that they had to be part of what this country was about leon panetta who ran a high post in this country is at him as an american and they look at him as a man who has done great things for this country and that's what all of us should be looked at as looked at as we have done great things we live we breathe america therefore it should be american black studies or american asian studies or if you want to break it down even further when you're doing european studies that american italian american swiss american irish but america should come first because that's who we are and the designations that we put on all of it are stifling and some people say well i've heard enough about black america and his or ethnic studies or no you haven't because that's what it all is and it's not in the history books as they are written currently now women's studies do you feel the same are about that that's different gender studies are different then what we can what we can say is racial we're all one race and we need to even get rid of that one race we have different designation and i'm very proud to be a black person in this country and africa a person of african heritage but dammit i'm an american and i want to be treated as an american you know don't ask me very much about my american ism when i'm well not mean necessarily but my son or daughter are sent to fight a war for you they you just want to know that they can calibrate that gun and shoot it and stave off the enemy and you're not worried about the color somebody's skin and they said they were during world war two but when those tuskegee airmen got up there in the in the sky and kept them from being shot at they didn't care what color they were in fact they didn't know what color they were until they got back to the ground and their lives were saved yeah and the other thing is that the irony in the movie i don't know if the movie was correct but it showed that there was not when they discovered the white americans who were in the army discovered that they were so by african americans they were indignant about that and didn't want to own up to that possibility they did not understand his stories in our history in this country's history is the story of dory miller dorrie miller was a messman he  relegated to working in the kitchen on a ship when pearl harbor was bombed dorie miller who had not been trained on any guns came up to the top of the ship jumped on a machine gun and knocked down two enemy planes he was a sailor first name he wasn't a black sailor he wasn't a messman sailor he was an american sailor in the united states navy and went to job came about for him to do he was able to do it even though he had been trained because he was there and saw how to do it yes and he wasn't a dummy mom and his the color of his skin didn't stop what he was able to do he was able to handle a machine gun when the story came out and the only reason it came out was because of the pittsburgh courier and other black newspapers in this country because the navy wanted to squelch the story that this or somebody show me how to shoot it to do what he did his job as a united states navy man as a sailor the like any other sailor would have been expected to do and i know as well as you know that many stories like that have taken place in the history of this country and why some people in the dominant society want to stop these stories from being told or interacted about or for instance right  vote but voting is about our country voting isn't black white yellow green agree it's about the united states of america and why are there people in our midst who want to stop us from being americans well i think there's also there are other groups like for example republicans and democrats than there are also independents and i'm not sure what other category we have but it has green party and suppression and power maintaining a certain degree of power and i think it probably has relates to white males for have yes you know and some of my best friends i'm not trying to stop them from doing anything they want to do for the pursuit of happiness in this country and i don't think they should do that to anyone else and we as americans have the right to study anything we want to and it is unfortunate that we have to have extra curricular classes in order to say yes but i was part of this to move or yes leon panetta as parents were part of this too or are senator from hawaii who just died lost an arm to serve in this country the four hundred second military group of japanese men coming out of concentration camps to stand up for and fight for this country american japanese you are really building a good case for american studies absolutely literally really what the whole the reason the black studies came out of that is because the books that were developed by the state of california were not inclusive they had left out or if they had put something in it was stereotype absolutely the images were not where very what you might call uplifting the right in the right now the the are textbooks are being done by some close minded people in the state of texas who want to teach about weird things going on and they're not about what the history of this country is about and what you know people the history is filled hill history to me is one of the most exciting things in the world certainly and to know all of the things that native americans did in that when caucasians or dominant people a lot right on the sure on the shores this country was an empty columbus didn't discover anything he came and took something from someone who was already here and said it was his right and claimed it for the country of spain years tell the stories as they need to be told shame the devil what was one what mother mother and grandmother said tell the truth and shame the devil that's what black history lesson in history nick studies has had to do because other people have been reluctant to tell what's going on about all of what is in this country and certainly some of it is hurtful the history of this country isn't all glowing wonderful beautiful stuff but it still made us what we are today and we black black history the is just to keep him from becoming a two time president well let me tell you what one of the biggest stories in all of history is it has to do with an ethnic person a person of ethnic history in this country now trying to suppress it is what it is this man was elected not once but twice and he is the president of the united states of america of mixed race heritage from a man from the continent of africa and a little lady what do they say the canyon kansas connection is now what kind of history do you want to put that in what you rather just put that in american history or does it have to be a subcategory of ethnic studies no no in fact your because you were the mayor of san mateo for three terms and before that you were a council person i believe you are a council person when you're married or are cities not like big cities like oakland in san francisco in berkeley we have a rotating system whereby you are elected to the council and each council person has the opportunity at one time or another in that then there's a session to be the mayor i only served for three terms because i was term limited out and i'm glad they did because i'd still be there and i'd have tix and i'd probably be taking my medicine and thinking myself together that was a historical move for a city like san  population of people of color of black people in that city is only two percent that's right so that sounds like it was a very miraculous it wasn't miraculous my family had been there since one thousand thirteen m father was the first man ever hired for the city who wasn't the janitor my father was hired to run the dump in san mateo now that may not sound good to some people but it was very exciting for we children in the  people knew my family and everybody who didn't know the color inside of my family knew my husband's family my husband of five feet two inches tall was a star football player for the sanity of high school and went on to star at the college of san mateo and there was a whole bunch there with the village that helped allow me to become the mayor i was a visible person i was also want television by that time for quite some time i ran  first started my television career in the seventy's and then in the ninety's i ran for city council and i always remind myself of red fox yes people say they used to go and see his nightclub shows and they thought he was the red fox he was on television and no he wasn't and although i was elected as this lovely lady they saw on television i was not that lovely lady because i would stick my finger in people's faces and i was a rather to me that is a movie this is a real movie because when you said what you said and how you said that you do what you do and how you did what you did to me that is that's a movie that your life is historical here it will be most interesting to see your story if you thought about the script for that no i want some i make my books in the movie i have a feeling or your daughters are granddaughters because there's a story there that is so what you call it it's  and exciting and helps to give people the energy to do the same kind of thing to say i can do this too and then to be so powerful because power is something that you have to know how to use it absolutely and to be comfortable doing it absolutely and i think that's what i see coming forth from you is a comfort in exerting the power that you have that comes from within if it ever if my life is ever made into a movie i would like three or four men to watch it santorum paul ryan a couple of other a couple of other of our legislators right now to let them know that although i grew up in poverty that i was raised as a welfare child that i went to high school and dropped out i still went back to school in the cheve and a degree and a bachelor's degree and i've raised children who did not have to repeat what i did because they were able to get educations and they were motivated by the community in which they live and they were able to achieve and they're not dragging our country down because they are needy and there are millions of of americans every ethnic stripe known to man who live in this country and who are able to do the same thing if they are allowed and able to live the american dream yes rather than the nightmare of the untitled to the dream absolute that's what dr king was saying i have a dream and he wanted his children to be able to realize their dreams and not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character and that's who our president is that this young man who was born under dire circumstances had the experience to live all over the world was raised by a young white woman who died and was nurtured by a grandmother a grandfather who saw him and made sure that he was in the best schools in the world is full of how is not an easy school to get into and here he is the president of this country and i want anybody who has  involved in the curriculum of this country to tell me what kind of history is that what is rock obama's story is it black history or is it american history is it african history or is it american history it's all of that you know i see him as a global president a person who really is of the world and the fact that when he was in the all over the world that first term just to see them but also the book about his life dreams from my father just reading that book shows that he is the one that thinks globally and the local part of it is a part of his life too so i really think this is a unique thing an experience for the history of this country absolutely but his story is no different from leon panetta story or daniel in the way or the sort of my or who is now with her first name it's gone out of my h r but here are these people from the all of these different backgrounds who have made this one of the most shining countries in the world we're not the best we're not the worst we have warts we don't do it right all the time we make mistakes but there's no other experiment on the face of this earth like that that is the united states of america that's right and they it's like playing the piano your piano you know i've heard concerts where they only played the white keys and i've heard concerts where they try to only play the black keys but the piano sounds best to me when both sets are played yes and when you push the pedal a little bit and when you do certain things with the to make beautiful music and i think that's what this country is and it took the italians the irish the swiss the germans the both of us from all sorts of parts of africa those of us from every part asia we have come together and made this a wonderful country and i'm sorry so sorry that the twenty seven twenty eight days that are in this month the shortest month of the year has to be cut up into women's history to black history to whatever else is going valentine's day all of this stuff goes on in this month but we should celebrate our history every day of the week what i just saw in a sleepy awards and one of the most beautiful things in the world was to see that admiral that tiny little female admiral here honored i remember when they had saved that fellow from the somali pirates and i saw this little lady pushing this man to go into another room i said well gee that nurse must be really something she's really forceful she was the admiral of the entire fleet is that right a black american woman and american black woman admiral in the united states navy that's history you just help that movement be what it was that's american history as it is it shouldn't be pushed over to the side to be talked about in one month that's true you know it's should be every day of the year absolutely is made on a daily basis absolutely  absolutely so i think short changing is not what we're need to be about in this country but i want to take my hat off to the city of berkeley the city of berkeley has been made fun of things like the hurricane used to call it all really this is heaven all for the things that have happened in this city and my hat is off to the people who had the wisdom to not only have ethnic studies african american asian studies put it in to put it into the school district so all children have a chance to learn from fifth grade up and really learn that's true it's amazing because the curriculum development that occurred here in the school district was amazing at all levels of the in the system so i really think that having someone like you on our show is just really in lightning inspiring and motivating that on every day we need yes thank you so much you're very well what you're doing and also i think as we extend this just a little bit if you have another closing comment i think we have time for that listen get your children to a school to their church to where ever learn about what's going on around you because you are history all of us have the opportunity to make some type of history every day life is history become a part of it all that's right now but reminds me of something that i heard  this morning that related to that's what is missing in education is motivating whether you're it doesn't mean that you start out with the excellent but you start out where you are and move on from there and that people are not nurtured as we should be as human beings and that's what's missing in education is to nurture what is well i don't mean to say give up on black history because we have a long way to go he doing it but i'm hoping that one day we won't have to sit here on in february and talk about black history that's right and then it has been made a part of history as it is already that's what it really is so in a way i think we've had the opportunity to talk about this particular month february that we're in right now but we don't have to get stuck in february right every month of the year right so i don't march has something to do with women's studies is absolutely well i'm want to go to school and talk about the history and things i've done every month of the year and the we have twelve months in the year so we really do have an opportunity to do it at least twelve times and then start all over again well i certainly thank you for your enthusiasm you are such an inspiration so in light and evidently the producer wants us to talk a little more the second book is based on two characters from the first first book and they are two gossipy little ladies who tell stories about everybody and everything and i think everybody should get it it's available on amazon dot com and if anyone wants to reach me my email address is mack attack am a c a t t c k at a o l dot com so if you are interested in talking to me more about my pontification on how the world should i should have been a minister i didn't i should have told that to reverend mcknight when i should have been a minister but a marriage came before that type of every sort of sojourner truth algol yeah because she was a minister oh absolutely she really was in full we're listening to her she was to take telling people the message and i think you would be an excellent truth teller if i had my opportunity to make a story about sojourner truth i would if i knew someone making movies i would have them do her life over again i've seen several field films on her and they always for train her as a woman with a southern accent sojourner truth was for a holland was she was raised she was from a dutch portion of africa and when she came here to the united states she very deep voice with a dutch accent and i wish somebody who's doing as a historical movie about this woman would do it historically correct one of these days that will be done thank you so much maybe you should do that story as well i really think that's a great thing that you're doing i'm going to get quentin tarantino who just did jane go and who doesn't pay any attention to history he just makes movies and that's ok because he's a movie maker but i'd like him to get to together with tall and had a wonderful bearing about herself and that's what i'd like to get done all right thank you so much and i think truth will is on its way all right thank you