Why Reconstruct the Hood on an African-Centered Foundation?
Forging Community Partnerships and Collaboration: To keep the community truly African-centered, engaging with the broader African community and their knowledge is crucial. This includes forming partnerships with organizations, elders, artists, and activists.
Creating a Culture of Safety and Belonging: Children of African descent should feel safe and affirmed in their communities and learning environments. This requires addressing anti-Blackness and colonial policies that threaten their safety. It involves analyzing, redesigning, and replacing these policies with ones promoting equity and belonging, and creating opportunities for children to learn and celebrate their identities and cultures.
Our current educational model fails to center the experiences, perspectives, or needs of Black children and the communities they will grow up to serve. The current system does not acknowledge, reflect, or honor the diversity and richness of the African child’s experience, history, and culture. Through our CREATORS who BUILD Framework, Melenated Masterminds creates educational eco-systems that honors the Black child’s humanity and community by:
Prioritizing the Inclusion of African History and Culture in the Curriculum: Education's primary function is identity development. A key step in building an African-centered community is ensuring our curriculum features a comprehensive, accurate history of Africa and its global contributions. Children of African descent must know who they are and where they come from
Cultivating Culturally Relevant Praxis Through Deep Study: Culturally relevant practices are vital for fostering a positive learning environment for children of African descent. They include integrating cultural practices and perspectives into teaching and creating opportunities for children to connect learning with their lived experiences and backgrounds.
Developing and Sustaining Self-Determined Leadership: Educators and community leaders representing the Global Majority should lead the building of an African-centered community. We focus on developing leaders, enhancing understanding, and increasing capacity to lead change in schools and communities. We must support Black leaders to lead in classrooms, communities, and globally.
Reconstructing our community on an African-centered foundation requires a fundamental shift in how we approach teaching and learning. It involves centering African people's experiences, perspectives, and cultures in education, and creating a community-driven educational ecosystem that reflects and honors African and African-American history and culture.