Intellectual freedom

I was invited along with 2 other former Fulbright Scholars to be in a panel discussion at a digital video conference with famous African American poet who is also Prof of English in North Carolina, Prof Brenda Flanagan. We met at a dinner hosted by the US Embassy last year.

A remarkable poet.
A fantastic scholar.

We had fun and I got educated far more than I expected.I went in quite skeptical since it was hosted by the US State Dept, US Embassy.I thought Brenda would be so politically correct that she would only be in praise of how far the US had achieved when Obama moved into the White House.

I was so wrong.Brenda was genuine.She tibai habis, pukul mati.A true scholar who's not afraid to speak the truth.What amazed me more was the openness of the US Embassy people...Kaufman who enjoyed the session as much as us, Prof Kelly (Brenda's friend who came online to assist her in addressing some of the sociological issues to do with AA ~ African American)

Brenda addressed my questions (sent earlier via emails) decently.I asked about american black muslim writers.She said they were also responsible for enlightening AAs to things just and equal esp in the 60s and that the largest Muslim population in the US is AAs.Sonia Sanchez converted to Islam cos' of Elijah Muhammad.Malcolm X was held in high regard by most AAs.Nice kan? She paid tribute to these writers and read Sanchez's poem)

She said despite the many names which had made it to international fame (one nobel laureate win)..there's still much racism and discrimination towards AAs.Studies on AA is not extensive to all unis/colleges.If you have one or two token writers, the slave history is NEVER discussed, etc etc.

Ben was saying Prof Gates (the Harvard Prof who was arrested for trying to get into his own home and whose neighbour thought was a burglar) wrote how aids/privileges given to the so called blacks were actually not given to TRUE african americans born and bred in the USA but to first generation black immigrants from Africa, the caribbean, etc.Becos' they were former Brit subjects, they were better articulated, better educated...so they'd 'qualify' to receive grants, opportunities created for AAs.

I think AA is an interesting field to study and as we found out, is not only about America but humanity (or humanity gone wrong) at large.

By the way, the dvc was held in conjunction with Black History Month which is celebrated every February.

Alas, I finally had a nice taste of intellectual freedom in KL.