MICHAEL FERGUSON II: Read my lips: We can’t read

This article will conclude the three-part series that addresses the failure of the Dougherty County School System to eradicate illiteracy.

The state of Georgia ranks 42nd out of 50 states with a 76.4% literacy rate. The governor dispatched literary coaches throughout the state to address this epidemic. Dougherty County’s student population is nearly 90% African American and, according to Superintendent Ken Dyer’s statistics presented at the Feb. 29 Dougherty School Board meeting, the impact is greater on students who live below the national poverty level.

The majority of this demographic in our county falls into this category.

Georgia is one of 12 states in which more than half of the prison population is African American. African Americans make up 61% of those incarcerated, yet we make up only 31% of the adult population. According to the National Adult Literacy Survey, 70% of all incarcerated adults cannot read at a fourth-grade level, hence the need to use drastic measures to remedy this shortcoming.

The ability to read introduced me to the scholarly research of Dr. Asa Hilliard III, Dr. Na’im Akbar, Dr. Francess Cress Welsing, Dr. Cheikh anta Diop, Dr. Leonard Jefferies, Dr. Joseph Holley, Dr. Booker T Washington, Dr. W.E.B Dubois, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Dr. Martin Luther King, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, Dr. James Cone, Dr. Howard Thurman, Dr. Albert Cleage and countless others to which I am unable to pay homage. Please charge it to my head and not to my heart.

Critical thinking is essential in this day of misinformation. The ability to adequately research a matter and conclude the best solution for you and your community is essential. What you read is just as important as the ability to read. I once read “As a man thinketh; so is he.”

Where do we go from here? The silent majority are no longer going to allow business as usual. We are going to engage the governmental entities that we elected into office to serve us and our interest. We are going to hold elected officials accountable on the local, state and national levels. This engagement will be on all fronts and will be solution-driven.

I look forward to partnering with like-minded individuals and organizations that have a mandate to see Albany and the surrounding region live up to its full potential in the areas of education, safety and economic growth. Habakkuk 2:2 informs us to “Write the vision,” so we shall; and we will work tirelessly to bring it to pass.

In truth.