Congrats to Urban Prep in Chicago; now work on plugging that Minority Startup Gap!

An average ACT score of 16.5 means Urban Prep will have plenty of future Tech Startups

We at Stuff Black People Don't Like congratulate the students of Urban Prep in Chicago where, once again, the entire graduating class of Black students - 104 in all - have been accepted to college:

For the second year in a row, the entire graduating class -- 104 students -- at Urban Prep Charter School's Englewood campus has been accepted into a four-year college or university. 

Urban Prep Academy is the nation's first all boys public charter high school. It is comprised entirely of African American students. 

The students who recently received their college admittance letters were presented with the new stripped ties Wednesday. 

"I received a couple of scholarships...Now it just feels amazing. It is all around amazing," said Matthew Williams, student. 

Mason Fuller has received a full athletic scholarship to Northern Illinois University.
"I want to major in engineering, mechanical engineering in college, and then if possible go in the NFL," said Mason. 

Eighteen-year-old Alfonso Henderson was accepted by 21 universities. He will receive $719,000 in scholarships. Alfonso wants to be a lawyer and is considering Harvard, Yale and Wheaton College. 

"I have been praying each and every day and just asking God to show me the way," said Alfonso. 

"It's so amazing what he's been doing," said Nathaniel Jones, father.
Tim King, founder Of Urban Prep Academy, says students, parents and teachers all come together to ensure the success of the young men.

Urban Prep is like a Black Hogwarts, but instead of witches and wizards you have Black kids from underprivileged backgrounds who get sorted (sadly not by a talking sorting hat) into "Prides" where they work together as smaller units.

Small class, extra tutoring (think college athlete levels) and speeches from such luminaries as Spike Lee, Gary Sheffield and Henry Louis Gates are a hallmark of the non-profit institution (Newark anyone?).

It should be noted that the average ACT score of the Black students at Urban Prep is 16.5, hardly an overall score that screams "college prepared":

Robert Schaeffer, the public education director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, a Cambridge, Mass.-based testing watchdog group known as FairTest, said the “stagnant” ACT scores reflect a failure of the promise of the federal No Child Left Behind Act to boost achievement and improve college readiness.

“Politicians can make all the claims they want that it is raising achievement, but even when there are improvements in state test scores, they don’t show up in college-admissions test data, or on [the National Assessment of Educational Progress],” he said. “So where is the beef?”


Mr. Schaeffer also noted that a FairTest analysis of ACT score changes between 2008 and 2009 shows little narrowing in the gaps between racial and ethnic minority students and their white peers. The ACT scores show only 4 percent of black students and 10 percent of Hispanic students meeting college-readiness benchmarks in all four subject areas in 2009, compared with 28 percent of white students and 36 percent of Asian students.

Strangely, the average ACT for Black students at Urban Prep is below the average Black score nationwide:

Participation in the ACT has been rapidly increasing among African American and Hispanic graduates over the past five years, far outpacing overall growth. Since 2003, the number of African American test-takers has increased by 18 percentage points, while the number of Hispanic test-takers has increased by 23 percentage points. The overall number of ACT-tested graduates has increased by 11 percentage points during this same span. 

Asian American students again earned the highest average composite score at 22.6, followed by Caucasian students at 22.1, American Indian/Alaska Native students at 18.9, Hispanic students at 18.7 and African American students at 17.0.

How are these kids going to be ready for college when they have basically had their hands held during high school?

What is the culprit behind this racial gap that even the vaunted Urban Prep cannot undue? Poverty maybe? Racial Segregation? Can't be, because the students from Urban Prep all come from poverty-stricken families and at least - on paper - are accepted to college. The sons and daughters of the artificially created (thanks affirmative action) Black middle-class score just as poorly on standardized tests when they move to Whitopia's.

Charter Schools even have horrible scores for Black students that still best Urban Prep.

The United States already spends an ungodly amount of money on education (with white and Asian students providing an amazing return on investment) but it is Black kids in every school system in the country that continue to weigh down state averages on aptitude tests.

With Black students heavily populated in the southern United States, its no wonder that Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas and Louisiana appear near the bottom of overall US educational statistics. Weighted down by low Black scores, these states stand no chance against lily-white states from the Northeast.

We already know that in Black Run America (BRA) the goal of the education system is to provide Black people with the best opportunity for success at the expense of all other students. The only gap that matters in closing is the Black-white gap in achievement.

Waiting for "Superman" is the goal of all teachers, all schools and every educational institution in America. Meanwhile in China, the best and brightest are challenged daily knowing that the tomorrow belongs to them while Americans piddle away their nation with dreams of closing an impenetrable gap that nature never intended nurture to seal.

But hey, congrats to Urban Prep. Its success give Teach for America and Crusading White Pedagogues everywhere cause for celebration and hope. Meanwhile, school districts across the nation consider closing science labs in a bid to stop the racial gap from growing.

In a related story - to NASA's search for a Black scientist and Black History Month Hero August Gorman - a writer at The Huffington Post bemoans the lack of Black startup companies:

For the past two years I've been spreading the message that people of color are missing out on the technology startup revolution. In an era where companies can be founded and within a few years can surpass the market-caps of companies that have been in existence for decades, and companies that are created in a weekend can go on to raise millions in funding and create jobs and opportunities for success for others, we are notably absent. It's a topic that almost no one wants to touch. 

Technology conferences brush over the concept by focusing their "lack of diversity" panels on low numbers of women leading startups rather than tackle the almost complete absence of African Americans and Hispanics as founders in the space. Or they highlight minority celebrities that have taken an interest in the space to make a passive attempt to show, "Look, they are here. Our education system does not promote science and mathematicsin general and promotes them even less in minority and urban areas: if children have parents who promote the importance of these subjects at home they are truly fortunate because the focus has all but disappeared in many public schools. When science is taught from rolling carts and "discovery math" concepts are introduced instead of real problem-solving, those children are already at a disadvantage. 

We have a value proposition problem: I wrote a blog post about this topic over a year ago. Minority children today are led to believe that it is easier to be an entertainer or a pro athlete than it is be a startup entrepreneur.

Look, white and Asian students do fine in science and math. Black students don't. Creativity, an entrepreneurial spirit and innovation aren't taught, but reflect an individuals intelligence, ability, drive and determination. Kind of a "get rich or die trying" spirit that Black people sometimes showcase in a criminal sense.

The Sorting Hat from Harry Potter couldn't find a Black scientist either

One Black blogger has said startup America needs to look like America. But that can never happen, for one unfortunate reason. The races weren't blessed with an equal distribution of talent (Black people seem to be better athletes at football and basketball, but that pesky Peyton Hillis came along exposing a caste system) and you can't force Black students in areas of studies they aren't equipped to excel at.

I'd simply say this: America needs to look more like America. Looking at patterns of residential living, most of America already does with third world enclaves spread throughout that most people - who can - assiduously avoid.

So congrats to Urban Prep. I'm drinking a glass of white wine and smoking a cigar in your honor. Though your average ACT scores indicate your woefully unprepared for college (that test is culturally bias anyways) I'm sure you'll do just fine outside your controlled, Black Hogwarts environment.

You at least give the Mainstream Media something to gloat about for a few days.

Black History Month Heroes - Sky Marshal Tehat Meru of "Starship Troopers"

Black History Month is a time to celebrate the contributions and achievements of Black people in the United States. Here at SBPDL, we are going one step further. Like our fans at Wired magazine, we believe that cinema provides the undisputed and preeminent examples of fantastic – albeit fictional – images and characters for Black people to aspire to emulate.

Juxtaposed with reality, the magic of film and the portrayal of Black people through the wonderful myth creators of Hollywood is diametrically opposed real life. Outside of sports, positive images of Black people are hard to come by and thus, must be manufactured.

Thus, the need for fictional Black History Month and today, we highlight a bellicose individual who helped bring sanity to a world besieged with the threat of extinction. Humanity has united and conquered interstellar space travel, begun the colonization of planets in far way galaxy’s and encountered a diabolical arachnid threat that desires hegemonic dominion over the puny people of earth.

Robert Heinlein’s masterpiece of prose, Starship Troopers, burst onto the big screen in 1998 with Paul Verhoeven’s delightfully campy yet insanely joyous homage to Fascism of the same title:

Starship Troopers is a 1997 American satirical military science fiction film, written by Edward Neumeier (screenplay), directed by Paul Verhoeven, with some names and details taken from Starship Troopers, a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. It was the first of three films released in the Starship Troopers franchise. The film had a budget estimated around 100 million US dollars and grossed over 120 million dollars worldwide.

The story follows a young soldier named Johnny Rico and his exploits in the Mobile Infantry, a futuristic military unit. Rico's military career progresses from recruit to non-commissioned officer and finally to officer against the backdrop of an interstellar war between mankind and an arachnoid species known as "the Bugs".

Starship Troopers was nominated for an Academy Award (visual effects) in 1998. The film has attracted controversy and criticism for its social and political themes, which some critics claim promote militarism^[2]; and for its distortion and misrepresentation of the novel whose name it bears. The film received mostly positive reviews from major movie critics.

The film is unquestionably a positive depiction of a highly militaristic society with the unified goal of human expansion and the unmitigated desire to bury the weak and step over the dead in the desire of seeing that objective to fruition.

Johnny Rico, played by Casper Van Dien, is the protagonist of the film and we follow his journey from pampered, effete snob to his eventually enlistment in the Mobile Infantry and promotion on the smoldering battlefield to a full-blown lieutenant. However, the underlying theme of the movie is that force is good and that an effort to live in a world in close co-habitation with your enemy is a recipe for weakness.

The pivotal scene of the film is in a classroom, long before Rico has joined the army. There, a conversation takes place between his non-crusading white pedagogue Jean Rasczak (who saves Rico later in the initially disastrous invasion of one of the arachnid’s planets), who relates the philosophy that guides the future world government:

Jean Rasczak: All right, let's sum up. This year in history, we talked about the failure of democracy. How the social scientists of the 21st Century brought our world to the brink of chaos. We talked about the veterans, how they took control and imposed the stability that has lasted for generations since. We talked about the rights and privileges between those who served in the armed forces and those who haven't, therefore called citizens and civilians.
[to a student]
Jean Rasczak: You. Why are only citizens allowed to vote?
Student: It's a reward. Something the federation gives you for doing federal service.
Jean Rasczak: No. Something given has no basis in value. When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you're using force. And force my friends is violence. The supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived.

Dizzy: My mother always told me that violence doesn't solve anything.
Jean Rasczak: Really? I wonder what the city founders of Hiroshima would have to say about that.
[to Carmen]
Jean Rasczak: You.
Carmen: They wouldn't say anything. Hiroshima was destroyed.
Jean Rasczak: Correct. Violence has resolved more conflicts than anything else. The contrary opinion that violence doesn't solve anything is merely wishful thinking at its worst.

Democracy will eventually be deemed an utter failure, as evidenced by the monolithic voting bloc provided by Black people, in the heroic election of Mein Obama. As the Obama ships sinks faster than the Titanic, Black people still support him with a 92 percent approval rating (according to Gallup.com).

As the film progresses, a conspicuous lack of Black people is evident. During Rico’s training for the infantry, Black faces are few and far between. Even after Buenos Aires is destroyed by the arachnids, the rarity of Black faces is noticeable and cause for great consternation. All of the pilots of the spaceships are white, too.

In this futuristic world, where did they all go?

However, after the horrific initial invasion of the bug planet Klendathu , the Sky Marshal – a very militant looking white guy - in charge of those questionable military preparations and defending the planet steps down:

The Federation's forces mount a large-scale invasion of Klendathu, which becomes an unmitigated disaster due to underestimation of the Bugs' combat abilities. Bug "plasma" discharges from the surface which were thought to be harmless turn out to be a surface-to-space barrage that destroys much of the Fleet. Cut off from air support, the Mobile Infantry is swarmed by thousands of Bug warriors on the surface. Over 100,000 troops are killed before a retreat can be made (when Carmen looks up Johnny, it shows over 308,000 died). Johnny's squad is almost wiped out, and Carmen believes he is dead due to an error on the casualty list. Federation scientists are baffled by the Bugs' use of military tactics and postulate that there must be a caste of "Brain Bugs" that serve as generals for the Arachnids.

And low and behold, the fate of mankind is placed in the hands of his successor, Sky Marshal Tehat Meru, a Black woman:

[reporting on the failed invasion of Klendathu]
Newsreel announcer: Crisis for humankind. Fleet officials admit they underestimated the Arachnids' defensive capability.
[switch over to the Federal council]
Newsreel announcer: Accepting responsibility for Klendathu, Sky Marshal Dienes resigns. His successor, Sky Marshal Tehat Maru, outlines her new strategy.
Sky Marshal Tehat Meru: To fight the bug, we must understand the bug. We can ill afford another Klendathu.
Newsreel announcer: Would you like to know more?

Yes, a rotund Black woman is placed in charge of humanity and she is tasked with leading mankind in its darkest hour, with the ominous threat of a sudden, untimely destruction palpable and the complete genocide of homo sapiens a seemingly inevitability.

Steve Sailer makes the astute point that it is only the military that is capable of creating an environment where racial tensions are replaced with a monoculture, where victory is the only goal. Divisions are replaced with unity through the desire of achieving a stated objective. Only the military can provide that atmosphere.

Sky Marshal Tehat Meru has gone through the rigors of training that all potential members of the military must pass. She is obviously an exceptional soldier, promoted to the top position based on her ability, as the government in Starship Troopers is one of the purest forms of a meritocracy:

The next FedNet broadcast shows us more reasons why Verhoeven proposes we should like this militaristic society. After the Mobile Infantry's failed first attack on the bugs, the director shows us there's still freedom of speech within this society by having the Federal Network opening up with ominous music as it announces the staggering number of casualties ("100,000 dead in one hour").

And then we're told that Sky Marshal Dienes has "accepted responsibility" for the disaster and is replaced by Sky Marshal Meru. Here we see Heinlein's "unlimited democracy" as a black woman replaces a white man. What's not to like?

She is a Black woman we can all be proud of, actually. She earned her position through merit, and her role in the film underscores the state of the United States military in 2010. Racked with goals of reaching quotas in the officer corps, the military brass seek a politically correct fighting force that reflects changing demographics of the United States, standards be damned! Already, the Naval Academy is attempting to bring diversity through a destruction of meritocracy and merely awards positions at the once venerable institution based not on character, but on color.

The US military looks nothing like the fighting force united in one goal in Starship Troopers, as the stated goal of the 2010 military should be strength through disunity:

For instance the Air Force, long the most resistant of the services to affirmative action, recently changed its promotion policy to increase its number of black pilots. Now, 90 percent of black applicants are accepted, compared with only 20 percent of white applicants. Do you believe this is the result of pure "equal opportunity," with nary a drop of "racial preference"?

Both the Navy and the Marines have set themselves five-year deadlines to make their officer corps 12-percent African-American, 12-percent Latino, and 5-percent Asian-American. In a Nation article supporting these quotas, an ex-Marine recruiter boasts of his tactic for meeting these goals: "I routinely turned down long lines of qualified white males to save room for blacks. I denied whites interviews. I put their names on waiting lists. Every few months I threw stacks of their résumés into the trash."

But what about the Army--the service most celebrated for its history of colorblindness? The Army implemented its affirmative-action policy in the mid-'70s, responding to rising resentment of white superiors among the black rank and file, which had resulted in race riots on bases. To diversify its officer corps, the Army began targeting scholarship money disproportionately to ROTC programs at historically black colleges and began heavily recruiting blacks for West Point. At least 7 percent of each West Point class must be black. That's an order.

Colin Powell is a byproduct of not merit – like Sky Marshal Tehat Meru – but the recipient of affirmative action based maneuvering to find Black people marginally capable of leadership. While real American heroes remain nearly uniform in their whiteness, the goal of lowering standards to create a racial-responsible military threatens our way of life. Pilots, who live in a merit based world, are strangely a nearly all-white vocation as well.

Sky Marshal Tehat Meru would not put up with a society that invites disharmony and disaster. She is a sister of renowned virtue and honor, whose stated goal is to defeat the bug.

Stuff Black People Don’t Like welcomes her to the list of Fictional Black History Month Heroes. She personifies the stated goal of Martin Luther King, as a society based on merit of each individual is a worthy goal, as opposed to a society where the color of your skin gets you access into a quota-based system of disunity.

Starship Troopers provides yet another shining example of a true, fictional Black person. In reality, Black people aren’t against affirmative action, as polling data shows most people are against these policies, but Black people are only narrowly against them.

We may never have a true Sky Marshal Meru, but thankfully Starship Troopers provides us with one.