TOPIC: ACTION PLANS (IDEAS) TO TAKE HOME:
I. TO SUSTAIN and CONTINUE WHAT BEGAN HERE:
1. Continue workshops like this
a. Have the next one in a southern venue for cultural awareness/experience for northern PWI’s.
b. One focus could black issues in the South.
c. At Tougaloo College with the experience of Jackson, MS.
2. Continue networking
a. Listserv
b. Black Board Site
c. Web Site
3. Disseminate in various forms the outcomes/feelings/tone/ideas of this workshop.
4. More research
a. Bibliography
b. List of literature
c. List of videos
5. Prepare the next generation by working with HS and first year students
II. FOR INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE
1. Report on conference to Presidents, Deans, community and to fellow students.
Go prepared, with support from lots of places, including right attitude Cite College mission/vision statements as evidence for support and focus
2. Ask Presidents/Deans for letters to support and to spread focus on Black men
3. Ask (demand?) for Space, Staff, Speakers, Statements of Support
4. Repeat/Implement some of these sessions:
a. ABCs
b. Black identity
5. Article in the College newspapers
a. Stating problems
b. Possible solutions
6. Present outcomes to President and Board (citing institutional mission)
IIA. Most significant Action Plan Recommendations?:
1. Visit with Presidents and Deans (II above)
2. Show high morale and unity to build a closer knit campus ("110% of you")
3. Duplicate this workshop as an annual event with representatives from all classes
4. Make Black male identity a topic at Freshman orientation.
5. Community service required as part of general requirements.
6. More opportunities for us to tell it – town and campus meetings
7. Use college mission statements – leadership, service, education
III. PERSONAL/INDIVIDUAL ACTION PLANS
1. Special responsibility to "uplift my brother."
2. "Show you care" – "we are our people’s keeper"
3. "I want to take action"
a. Run for office
b. Go to freshmen men
c. Hold forums
4. Understand the problems
5. Study and go to class
6. Encourage unity within Black groups
7. Read Haki Madhubuti’s "12 Secrets of Life" from Black Men: Obsolete, Single, Dangerous?
(Chicago Third World Press, 1991), and other books
8. Read and distribute Danny’s Black Male Identity and Development handout: "Unshackling the Mind"
9. Agree it’s okay to disagree
10. Intra-group differences are okay – differences in fact enhance action
11. Question of Honoring Black male identity regardless of sexual orientation
12. Question of Relations between Whites and Blacks – how much White support?
13. Question of Black Women/Sisters: "Don’t forget Black mothers."
14. "Cultural grounding" as a foundation for action
15. Modeling: "In order to be a man, you need to see a man."
CLOSING QUOTE (from Lee Jones): "You can lift African American people to a higher level of consciousness. . . and embrace all the diversity in the community."