Dare to Compare: Fitness Five

Dare to Compare
7000 College Station Drive, Ky. / Williamsburg, 40769

News Release

April 23, 2009 Contact Information
For Immediate Release Dr. Cindi Norton, Chair of Health
Office: (606) 539-4315


University of the Cumberlands Hosting Free Health and Fitness Fair
Awareness for Improving the Community’s Health


Williamsburg, Ky. - The annual Dare to compare: Fitness Five Health Fair will be held this year at the University of the Cumberlands in the O. Wayne Rollins Center on Thursday April 23, 2009 from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.
This free fitness program is sponsored by the Health, Exercise and Sport Science Department of UC and the Cumberland Health River Comprehensive Care Center. The public of all ages are encouraged to participate in the fitness assessments and screenings. Screenings that are free to the public include free blood glucose, cholesterol and blood pressure.

Dr. Cindi Norton Chair of the Health Department said, "This program benefits the community because it provides free fitness tests for the UC faculty, students and the community. It helps people who are not economically stable to check their health without any costs and put a stop to unknown problems in the body."

The five components that the tests of Dare to Compare are focused on involve

1. Cardiovascular Endurance
2. Body Mass Index and Body Composition
3. Muscular Strength
4. Muscular Endurance
5. Flexibility
This fair will provide information regarding all questions from the public about health and fitness needs by professional health and fitness experts.
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Misunderstood Patriot

An intruder barges into your house while you and your family are sleeping and threatens your life and the lives of your loved ones.

What will you do?

Would you allow the intruder to abuse and hurt you and your family or would you defend yourself and family by any means necessary?

Malcolm X’s answer to this question would have been to defend yourself and others.

Malcolm X is a fallen patriot whose radical beliefs confused many people because they did not understand him and his speeches, which tended to be taken out of context by the media and his enemies.

Misunderstood

“When I think of Malcolm X, I see him as a racist against white people, because of his violent teachings,” said Brian Abshire, a student at the University of the Cumberlands.

This is truly a misunderstanding that many people have about Malcolm X. People who do not fully understand the concepts of his teachings and life perpetuate the lie that he was a violent man, when in reality he always followed the law in his crusade for equality.
Eileene Tejada, an English professor at Napa Valley College and teacher of the class Unlearning Racism said:

“There are several reasons why I believe Malcolm’s views were misunderstood in his day. First, I believe that American society and the leadership at the time were unable to accept the ideas Malcolm was sharing because the ideas threatened the social thinking of the day. Malcolm exposed the systems in the United States that were used to control African Americans, tactics like state-sponsored terrorism through the use of violence. Because of the deep influence the Eugenics ideology had in the United States, challenging racist views had major economic and political implications. The country wasn’t ready to share its access to equality with the African American. The idea of separate but equal allowed for tremendous economic advantage for the mainstream American. Malcolm advocated using the laws to challenge racist ideology.”

Tejada continued to explain her second reason by saying that, “Malcolm elevated the African and African-American experience from the racist ideology that somehow these people did not have a culture to a reframing of cultural standards. Malcolm started the Black Pride Movement; everything from “Black is Beautiful”, “Black Power”, and “Black Nationalism” had its origin in Malcolm. This ideology challenged the status quo in the United States in the 1950’s and 1960’s. I believe to some extent the mainstream is still uncomfortable with these ideas.”

His Unfortunate Past

Malcolm X’s views were radical perhaps because of the violence that he had experienced in his life. He wanted so desperately for people who suffered from racism to get justice and not be dehumanized.

According to the “Autobiography of Malcolm X”, when he was young his family moved around numerous times because of threats from the Ku Klux Klan, and his house was also burned to the ground. His father, who was a Baptist minister and a loyal follower of Marcus Garvey, was killed by the KKK for starting trouble in Black communities who followed Garvey’s “back to Africa” movement. After the death of Malcolm’s father, his mother and eight siblings had to depend on welfare to survive. His mother still suffered from the death of her husband and from threats by the KKK. She became mentally ill and was put into an institution for 26 years.

Malcolm and his siblings were split up and sent to foster homes. After living in different homes he was sent to live with his aunt where he began his life of crime. When he was sent to prison for ten years, accused of drug dealing, he became a devoted Muslim and follower of Elijah Mohammed, the leader of the Nation of Islam in the U.S. for African Americans. This was how Malcolm started his quest for equality.

Malcolm X vs. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Malcolm invoked fear in most white people because of his confidence and strength in the black community. He wanted the government to be held responsible for the persecution of all humans that were ethically different from whites. Martin Luther King, Jr. was easier for white people to accept because he was not as threatening as Malcolm.

Tejada said, “‘The American Establishment’ played a ‘Divide and Conquer’ strategy. They saw Malcolm and Martin as opposites along a spectrum of options. Malcolm got tagged the more radical, King the more reasonable. But in reality, both men wanted the same thing. The unconditional protections and privileges granted to all American citizens under the law.”

Mainstream America was able to use Malcolm’s different quotes from his speeches to make him seem more violent when he was really just advocating self-defense. King was harder to sabotage because he was always preaching of peace and loving one’s enemy. In a way Malcolm helped King become successful because white people wanted to deal with King more than Malcolm.

Kendra Lewis, a student at the University of the Cumberlands said, “I believe Martin Luther King, Jr. was influential in the sense of overcoming barriers and stereotyping but Malcolm X created more immediate change.”

Another big misunderstanding between Malcolm and King is that Malcolm did not support King in the Civil Rights Movement. This is a misconception. Malcolm wanted more than what the Civil Rights Movement was asking for. He was more focused on supporting human rights.

“Before Malcolm went to Mecca he disagreed with King’s Ghandian strategy of Civil Disobedience because it escalated the violence acted on the African American community with little promise of resolving the inequities in the law at the time. Also, Malcolm did not believe that the Civil Rights Movement was asking for enough,” said Tejada.

She also stated, “After his pilgrimage to Mecca, Malcolm wanted to bring the United States before the United Nations and file a petition to sanction the United States for the violation of Human Rights in the African and Native populations of the US. This would have opened the door to reparations and other entitlements due to those communities.”

A Changed Man

After Malcolm made his spiritual journey to Mecca, which most Muslims try to make in their life, he changed his views on white people being evil. He worshipped and shared physical space and food with white men, which is described in his autobiography. He saw that racism could be unlearned.

In 1964, the “New York Times” released a letter Malcolm wrote of his new views on white people and racism. The caption for this article was “Malcolm X Pleased by White Attitude on Trip to Mecca.”

“Malcolm recognized that racism was sustained by systems of privilege. He revised his views that white people were devils. He realized that institutionalized racism had global effects and could be fought when individuals acknowledge and unite to fight the systems that sustain it. He also realized that whites could participate in ‘The Movement’ as powerful allies,” said Tejada.

The Legacy

Even though Malcolm X was not as popular as Martin Luther King, Jr. he still left his inspirational legacy on this planet. He was a strong man who believed in what he was fighting for and knew that he might lose his life doing it. He advocated black people defending themselves and this did make him unpopular. For people who could not follow the nonviolent ways of King, Malcolm was the perfect leader to follow.

Malcolm X and his teachings are still misunderstood today because he was such a complex person, but he will never be forgotten.