April/May 2007

Developing Positive Self-Images & Discipline in Black Children

Author: Jawanza Kunjufu
Publisher: African American Images
RRP: £7.99

Review by: Marsha Blake

You would be forgiven for judging this book by its cover (and title) and expecting a self-righteous 98-page rant from an overly-educated and somewhat out-of-touch individual. To some extent that is what you get! However, academic Jawanza Kunjufu redeems himself by giving readers much food for thought. With his concise and not-too-wordy style, Kunjufu gains and maintains your interest with his emotive and provocative essays, delivered in a thoughtful and articulate manner.

Kunjufu has written over 20 books dedicated to the ‘uplifting’ of the black community. In the early 1980s, this Chicago native founded African American Images Inc, a company that publishes ‘books of an Africentric nature that promote self-esteem, collective values, liberation, and skill development’.

In his book ‘Developing Positive Self Images & Discipline in Black Children’, Kunjufu aims to address the importance for black families to surround themselves with pride-instilling images. He provides some all too familiar examples of stereotypical images and influences currently promoted under black ‘culture’. He paints a dismal picture of the impact of this trend and the potential dangers if it continues.

Addressing the power of television in encouraging mental laziness and promoting materialistic tendencies, Kunjufu writes: ‘Television is the media that sells products, not values’ .He recognises that due to the lack of black people’s control over the programmes aired, the likelihood of viewing positive portrayals is minimal. Although the value of the written word has ‘depreciated’ against the growing popularity of entertainment, Kunjufu believes writing is the way forward.

‘The print media provides the black community with the greatest opportunity to portray black people in positive ways,’ he claims.

Unsurprisingly, Kunjufu is a strong advocate for education, but he also recognises that the education system ‘trains’ children for the labour market instead of educating them to be entrepreneurs and self sufficient. He attacks schools’ ‘linear’ style of teaching (teacher talks, children commit to memory what teacher is saying) which - in his opinion - does little to encourage thinking skills. Instead, he argues, this just leads to passive acceptance rather than healthy interactive questioning.

But Kunjufu has no hesitation in finding fault, ultimately with the parents of black children, many of whom he believes demonstrate a worrying complacency towards teaching methods in schools and the curriculum’s content. ‘… Some parents do not see the need for black culture, yet continually allow white culture to be taught. Many parents still view education as the three R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic) and fail to see the significance of positive self-esteem, purpose and cooperative values.’

In less than 100-pages Kunjufu succeeds in tackling a range of issues of relevance to the development of black people globally. His quest for a return to a more African-inspired sense of community is threaded throughout the book. Although there is a distinct whiff of sentiment as well as the author’s own hankering for the traditional values of yesteryear, he does not undermine the weight of his arguments.

He avoids launching an all out assault on the black community’s failings in raising their offspring and goes some way to offer guidance and long term solutions. Kunjufu’s well-researched observations and persuasive arguments for change will hit a nerve with his readers, and may inspire them to bring about the revolutionary action he feels is required.

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