Misguided Education Priorities

[From article]
Such "educators" teach minorities born with an incredibly valuable windfall gain -- American citizenship -- that they are victims who have a grievance against people today who have done nothing to them, because of what other people did in other times. If those individuals who feel aggrieved could sell their American citizenship to eager buyers from around the world and leave, everybody would probably be better off. Those who leave would get not only a substantial sum of money -- probably $100,000 or more -- they would also get a valuable dose of reality elsewhere.
[. . .]
If you prefer to get your education in the comfort of a library, rather than in person amid the horrors, you might study the history of the sadistic massacres of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire or the heart-wrenching story of Stalin's man-made 1930s famine in the Soviet Union that killed as many millions of people as Hitler's Holocaust did in the 1940s.
Mao's man-made famine in China killed more people than the Soviet famine and the Nazi Holocaust combined. And we should not deny their rightful place in history's chamber of horrors to the 1970s Cambodian dehumanization and slaughters that killed off at least a quarter of the entire population of that country.
[. . .]
slavery was a worldwide curse for thousands of years, as far back as recorded history goes.
[. . .]
More whites were brought as slaves to North Africa than blacks brought as slaves to the United States or to the 13 colonies from which it was formed. White slaves were still being bought and sold in the Ottoman Empire, decades after blacks were freed in the United States.

http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2014/10/14/draft-n1904942

Irresponsible 'Education'
Thomas Sowell
 Oct 14, 2014

AU Protects Food Aid In Somalia

[From article]
"The al-Shabab militants already have killed men who tried to escape the famine with their families, saying it is better to starve than accept help from the West.
[. . .]
In the past, the militants have blocked aid workers from helping those in need in Somalia, fearing that foreign assistance would undermine their control.
[. . .]
Somalia has been mired in conflict since 1991 when long time dictator Siad Barre was overthrown by warlords who then turned on each other. Islamist militants led by al-Shabab are attempting to overthrow the weak U.N.-backed government that is being propped up by about 9,000 AU peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi."

http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110728/ap_on_re_af/af_east_africa_famine

6 die in offensive to protect Somali relief effort
By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press
July 28, 2011
AP

Food and Famine

Food and Famine

Exporting food during a famine is not unusual. (JEFFREY GETTLEMAN, "The Food Chain," The New York Times, August 10, 2008) In "Development as Freedom," Nobel Prize winner, Amartya Sen says "coexistence of hunger and food exports is a common phenomenon in many famines." (page 170)
"What is crucial in analyzing hunger is the substantive freedom of the individual and the family to establish ownership over an adequate amount of food, which can be done either by growing the food [. . .] or by buying it [. . .]. The focus has to be on the economic power and substantive freedom of individuals and families to buy enough food, and not just on the quantum of food in the country in question." Displaced Sudanese have no means of earning money to purchase food.
Sen goes on, "Food is not distributed in the economy through charity or some system of automatic sharing. The ability to acquire food has to be earned." (Page 161) "Famines kill millions of people [. . .] but they don't kill the rulers." (page 180) "inequality has an important role in the development of famines." (page 187) "The sense of distance between the ruler and the ruled--between 'us' and 'them'--is a crucial feature of famines." (page 175) Sudan officials are most concerned for themselves rather than the plight of the poor. UN Officials lament exporting food because of higher prices than the UN will pay.
"Democracy can be a very positive influence in the prevention of famines." (page 184) But he adds, "Famines are in fact easy to prevent." (page 180) "A free press and an active political opposition constitute the best early-warning system a country threatened by famines can have." (page 181) Sudan is no Democracy.

Roy Bercaw - Editor ENOUGH ROOM

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/world/africa/10sudan.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin

August 10, 2008
The Food Chain
Darfur Withers as Sudan Sells Food
The New York Times
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN