Opinion

By MURPHY BROWNE

The same people who control the school system

Control the prison system and the whole social system

Ever since slavery!

Excerpt from 'They Schools', released March 14, 2000 on Dead Prez's debut album, Let's Get Free.

Ten years ago, the duo Dead Prez made their famous statement about the systems that encompass our lives and the people in control.

In 2000, these two young men (both in their 20s) were rapping about their reality as Africans in America. The situation was the same for Africans in any society where their ancestors had been colonized and/or enslaved.

By PAT WATSON

Blame American Benjamin Franklin for germinating the idea, back in the late 1700s, that has become the annual torment of trying to get out of bed an hour earlier between March and November. This annual discomfort commonly referred to as "Daylight Saving Time" or DST (or incorrectly, Daylight Savings Time) will again make its unwelcome presence felt as of this coming Sunday. That is, when 1 a.m. becomes 2 a.m. in an attempt to save daylight time.

One of the most grating messages that weather forecasters and others foist on us unbelievers is that DST gives us an extra hour of daylight. That man has done what God cannot do is truly a miracle since to add an extra hour of daylight is to go beyond the current parameters of nature.

By MURPHY BROWNE

International Women's Day (IWD) is a United Nations-recognized day which, according to the UN, is dedicated to "looking back on past struggles and accomplishments and, more importantly, for looking ahead to the untapped potential and opportunities that await future generations of women".

In 1975, during International Women's Year, the UN began celebrating International Women's Day on March 8. However, IWD supposedly "emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the 20th Century in North America and across Europe".

By PAT WATSON

Yes, it's true. Some of us are only special occasion hockey fans. We only care about the Leafs when they are in the playoffs, which hasn't happened since the 2001-2002 National Hockey League (NHL) season.

We jump on the bandwagon when there is something momentous like the unforgettable eighth game win by the Canadian National Hockey team against the Russian national team on Sept. 28, 1972 in that Summit Series. That was a weekday that people took off from work in order to watch the game, and it was understood. In the last seconds of that game, Paul Henderson scored the goal that was heard across two continents at the end of a hard fought series that gave Canada the 6-5 win.

By PAT WATSON

Travelling around Toronto on public transit can be a great way to get to know this city if you are a newcomer or if, for financial reasons, you cannot afford to take your vacation out of town. The city has many fascinating neighbourhoods, which, if you can overlook the winter weather, can be much fun to explore. For a $3 cash fare you can have a great adventure right here in the city.

But if you are pressed to get to work on time or have a medical appointment and all you can afford is public transit then, given the current troubled climate in the Toronto Transit Commission, your trip could go either way.

By MURPHY BROWNE

A poll conducted by TD Canada Financial Group which was released on January 24, 2010 showed that only 32 per cent of people across Canada and only 43 per cent of people across Ontario know that February is Black History Month.

It is unfortunate that even though the acknowledgement of the existence of African history and culture is mostly relegated to this one month that most Canadians do not even know of its significance. That is why it is important that we continue to advocate for the inclusion of African history in the school curriculum at all levels from elementary through to post secondary education.

By MURPHY BROWNE

Much of the history of Africans in the Diaspora has been of struggle against and triumph over chattel slavery. In every location where Africans were enslaved they resisted in various ways including, in some instances, armed struggle.

Some of those struggles are well-documented, the names of the leaders known. In other cases the struggles to be free of chattel slavery are not well known and the names of those who waged battles for their freedom have long been lost or even distorted. An African proverb states that until the lion has his own historian, the story will always be told from the point of view of the hunter.

By PAT WATSON

With the Winter Olympics taking place in Vancouver and its environs, Canada is in the world spotlight this week. Just in time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper left the country for a two-day official visit to Haiti.

Harper is an interesting person to observe because he appears to be so different from recent leaders. Brian Mulroney had been the target of bitter criticism during his tenure - considered fawning perhaps, given his "Irish Eyes" duet with Ronald Reagan - but no one in memory characterized him as ruthless. The irony of time passing is that one could bet money and win some that there are voters out there today willing to trade Harper for Mulroney, and not least because Mulroney's projected environmental program had merit.

By MURPHY BROWNE

By PAT WATSON